✨ Nora Tindall  🪐

if there's no defined, consistently enforced cultural goal for a space, it'll degenerate into the worst aspects of itself over time. i've seen this happen on http://lobste.rs  and I've seen it happen on http://tildes.net  and i'm sure it happens elsewhere all the time.

for example: one of the most prolific commentators on lobsters is of the opinion, basically, that everyone one the internet should be willing to endure unlimited discomfort and that not doing so is a sign that one is unfit and unworthy, and should basically be culled

this isn't an exaggeration; in the thread about gallant's departure, he talks about how he's worried that "there are people who will never feel safe, at least not without massive sacrifices from the community, including systematic topic avoidance".

his conclusion here is that those people should not be accommodated on any forum, UNLESS the topics they want to avoid are "politics", which he refuses to define. that sucks! in fact lots of people _on lobsters_ think it sucks. BUT...

because he is also a frequent, and fairly competent, technical contributor, and because he is willing to write mostly coherent walls of text to support this ridiculous position, he's not only accepted but celebrated. even when he says and supports blatantly transphobic shit.

he was able to exploit the internal heuristics of the community, and in lieu of a strong guiding force, the community embraced those heuristics and re-oriented themselves around him and his fucked up opinions about moderation and what makes a good space.

what this means is that, while I did find the technical discussion on the site pretty good, I don't find it worthwhile to post there, because I'm interested in technology that affects humans, so half my posts are "politics" and thus attract low quality discussion and shunning.

for instance, in what is perhaps my most read blog post, i mention that "real name" policies can be harmful to transgender people, among other groups. that was, before i deleted my account, my most flagged post, despite being relatively uncontroversial otherwise.