Update:
The comments from this post will not be removed as to preserve the discussion around the announcement. Any continued discussions outside of this thread that violate server rules will be removed. We feel that everyone that has an opinion, and wanted to vent, has been heard.

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Original post:
Yesterday, we received information about the planned federation by Hexbear. The announcement thread can be found here: https://www.hexbear.net/post/280770. After reviewing the thread and the comments, it became evident that allowing Hexbear to federate would violate our rules.

Our code of conduct and server rules can be found here.

The announcement included several concerning statements, as highlighted below:

  • “Please try to keep the dirtbag lib-dunking to hexbear itself. Do not follow the Chapo Rules of Posting, instead try to engage utilizing informed rhetoric with sources to dismantle western propaganda. Posting the western atrocity propaganda and pig poop balls is hilarious but will pretty quickly get you banned and if enough of us do it defederated.”
  • “The West’s role in the world, through organizations such as NATO, the IMF, and the World Bank - among many others - are deeply harmful to the billions of people living both inside and outside of their imperial core.”
  • “These organizations constitute the modern imperial order, with the United States at its heart - we are not fooled by the term “rules-based international order.” It is in the Left’s interest for these organizations to be demolished. When and how this will occur, and what precisely comes after, is the cause of great debate and discussion on this site, but it is necessary for a better world.”

The rhetoric and goal of Hexbar are clear based on their announcement: to “dismantle western propaganda” and "demolish organizations such as NATO” shows that Hexbar has no intention of "respecting the rules of the community instance in which they are posting/commenting.” It’s to push their beliefs and ideology.

In addition, several comments from a Hexbear admin, demonstrate that instance rules will not be respected.

Here are some examples:

“I can assure you there will be no lemmygrad brigades, that energy would be better funneled into the current war against liberalism on the wider fediverse.”

“All loyal, honest, active and upright Communists must unite to oppose the liberal tendencies shown by certain people among us, and set them on the right path. This is one of the tasks on our ideological front.”

Overall community comments:

To clarify, for those who have inquired about why Hexbear versus Lemmygrad, it should be noted that we are currently exploring the possibility of defederating from Lemmygrad as well based on similar comments Hexbear has made.

Defederation should only be considered as a last resort. However, based on their comments and behavior, no positive outcomes can be expected.

We made the decision to preemptively defederate from Hexbear for these reasons. While we understand that not everyone may agree with our decision, we believe it is important to prioritize the best interests of our community.

  • gon [he]
    10540·
    11 months ago

    IDK, I don’t think this is the right move at all… The announcement post and the comments you pointed out were cherry-picked and misinterpreted. They are an ideological instance. You wouldn’t say blahaj.zone is trying to “spread” LGBTQ+ “ideas”. They’re just a specifically queer instance.

    Everything Hexbear said was, the way I read it, in the direction of “let’s behave and be good with the federation”. I think you’re just confounding your own ideologies, and the way you think things should be done, with what the community at large wants.

    That being said, IDC that much, but I do disagree.

    PS: Posting from my lemm.ee account because this post doesn’t show up on my lemmy.world account for some reason.

    • martoon
      2914·
      11 months ago

      We seem to be many to share this view. Really disappointing from Lemmy.world and very concerning for its future.

    • froggers@lemmy.world
      617·
      11 months ago

      They are an ideological instance. You wouldn’t say blahaj.zone is trying to “spread” LGBTQ+ “ideas”. They’re just a specifically queer instance.

      Can you not see the problem with this?

      • gon [he]
        145·
        11 months ago

        No. Can you try and make it clear, so I can see the problem?

        • froggers@lemmy.world
          194·
          11 months ago

          They are an ideological instance. You wouldn’t say blahaj.zone is trying to “spread” LGBTQ+ “ideas”. They’re just a specifically queer instance.

          Some things that we probably agree; Hexbear is an ideological instance. While blahaj.zone is an instance for LGBTQ peeps. My big problem with this comparison is that they are not the same. No one becomes LGBTQ, people are born that way, while your political beliefs are the exact opposite. You are not born thinking that you are a communist, a liberal, or a nazi. In reality, a bunch of things happen in our lives that make us feel closer to certain kinds of thinking. Your phrasing of that statement made me think that you might believe that one could be born a certain way regarding their political ideology the same way that people are born gay, or trans for example.

          • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
            105·
            11 months ago

            The choice to come out of the closet is liberating and I’m glad I did it, but being anti-closet is an ideological stance.

            • froggers@lemmy.world
              21·
              11 months ago

              My opinion on that is that blahaj.zone is first and foremost a place for LGBTQ people to post about LGBTQ/ LGBTQ adjacent stuff. Now correct me if I’m wrong but from what I can see, nowhere does it say anything about any sort of ideological belonging. Yes, it does talk about empathy for others, inclusion, and acceptance, but it does not mention any ideology. I believe that you can be inclusive, and have all these other traits, whether you are a leftist or a liberal. Maybe it just me but I don’t believe that empathy, acceptance etc are ideas that have to do anything with a certain ideology, to me they are just basic human decency.

              Meanwhile, Hexbear has the following on its this:

              A leftist social platform centered around community building through discussion, shitposting memes, and sharing content.

              So no I still don’t think you can compare blahaj.zone and Hexbear.

          • gon [he]
            1·
            11 months ago

            Oh no that was not my intention at all! I’m queer myself, and I love blahaj.zone. I meant it just in the sense that they both have a certain type of content that they ferociously support and defend.

            There’s a lot I have to say on this issue but I simply don’t have the strength to write a good dissertation in a Lemmy comment.

            Basically what I want to say on this issue is that ideas, and the way they’re talked about, shouldn’t be banned. Violence, bigotry, hate, yes. Hexbear is none of that (unlike exploding-heads, for example). The .world admins are curating what ideas can and cannot be talked about on this instance. Today, it’s because talking about American Imperialism and the effects of liberalism is not in our best interest, tomorrow it’s because most people aren’t trans so there’s no reason to have an instance whose biggest communities are about being trans.

            Ideology is why they defedded from Hexbear, and if we are OK with that, then they’ll use their ideology to justify defedding from all instances they don’t like, regardless of whether or not “you’re born with it”.

            Still, as I said, I don’t really care since we can just leave and join another instance (such as lemm.ee).