cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/12550375

Regarding Mid-East-related Comments on !europe

Hi.

In the past few days, discontent regarding mod decisions in this community has been brewing, particularly when it comes to comments on Palestine, Israel, and Israeli politics and actions. There are also misunderstandings regarding mod intention and German law. We hope to clear that up with this post.

While the servers of feddit.org are in Austria, most of the mods of this community as well as admins of this server live in Germany. Speaking of, our server admins have also posted a write-up on the same topic.

And with that, let's go:

In Germany, antisemitism is specifically sanctioned in German criminal law, both for speech and as a motivation for other criminal behavior. In addition, Germany seeks to protect the Jewish state of Israel (the so-called "Reason of State" introduced in 2008) and thus verges toward protecting Zionism as well. Certain criticism of Israel/Israelis is also categorized as "Israel-related antisemitism".

Since criminal law is involved, enforcement can mean things like police raids and device confiscations. After such police action, it does not really matter if it was appropriate or if cases are dropped or never charged: The damage is done. All told, it's not that fun.

There is also no point in engaging in discussions about the veracity of statements that could get us into legal trouble. In addition, we believe that you can express most opinions without breaking rules.

If your comment contains the following, it will be removed from this community:

• Calling for the dissolution of Israel, or calling for a one-state solution without specifying equal rights for all people; Jewish in particular.
• Calling for a destruction, annihilation, an end of all Zionism or the like.
• Equating Israeli actions and (historical) Nazism.
• The slogan "from the river..."
• Endorsement of or justifications for Hamas or Hezbollah, or slogans or graphics positively referring to these organizations. These are considered terrorist organizations in Germany.
• ... and obviously: Any of the common antisemitic tropes or calls to violence against Jews or Israelis

Comments will not be removed for the following:

• Denouncing genocide.
• Denouncing Israeli war crimes.
• Criticizing Zionism as an ideology or political movement.
• Referring to the current Israeli government as "criminal," "expansionist," or "far-right".

If your comment is removed nonetheless, these are not the reason. I'd also like to stress that this community was never a free-speech-absolutist zone: It is a (usually lightly) moderated community. There may also be times when bans go too far. In such cases, please DM the @EuroMod@feddit.org account (which all mods have access to).

To help you understand why, I'll leave an assortment of sources here (translations via DeepL).

• A news report:

  Berlin in mid-May [2024] around 6 o'clock in the morning. A loud, continuous "banging" against the apartment door wakes student Alina T. from her sleep. [...] When her husband opens the door, several LKA officers, two employees of the district office and the SEK "storm" past him into the apartment. Puzzled, he looks at the search warrant. [...] The background to this was a Facebook entry in the student's profile: "From the river [...]

• A legal treatise:

  In November 2023, the Federal Ministry of the Interior and for Home Affairs also issued a prohibition order against Hamas.[60] According to the order, "the slogan 'From the River to the Sea' (in German or other languages)" is a distinguishing mark of Hamas[61]. [...] the current legal situation [regarding "Denial of Israel's right to exist"] is - contrary to what the statements of the Federal Ministry of Justice suggest[63] - anything but clear. Whether incitements to eliminate the State of Israel are prosecuted depends on the respective legal opinion and the prosecution will of the respective public prosecutor's office.

• Press release from the previous government:

  In this context, Section 111 StGB, which covers public incitement to commit crimes, may also be relevant. Incitement to extinguish Israel's existence by force may be punishable under this provision. The same applies to calls to publicly display the Hamas flag. If Hamas attacks are publicly cheered and celebrated, this may also be punishable. This means that people who cheer on Hamas's actions or publicly express their sympathy with the attacks may constitute the criminal offence of "approval of criminal acts" under Section 140 of the German Criminal Code (StGB).

• Another news report

  In connection with the controversial Palestine Congress in Berlin, the German authorities have also imposed an entry ban on former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis. "In order to prevent antisemitic and anti-Israel propaganda at the event", several entry bans have been issued, the news agency AFP learned from security sources on Sunday. One of these concerned Varoufakis. (Notably, Varoufakis would have spoken about one-state solutions ...)

• Overview Germany in 2024 by Amnesty International

• Overview Germany in 2024 by Human Rights Watch

federal reverse (on behalf of the mods of !europe)

Soooo the word is spreading that !europe@feddit.org might be biased against palestine supporters.

It all started with:

https://endlesstalk.org/post/88380004

Highlights:

Isn’t feddit.org German based? Seems that they’re following with the German government’s policy of defending Israel at all cost.

They’re following with the German government’s policy of defending Israel fascism at all cost.

Followed by some other accusations:

https://endlesstalk.org/post/88461061

Apparently Deceptichum@quokk.au have been banned without even interacting with this instance at all.

https://endlesstalk.org/post/88623301

The admin answered here:

https://endlesstalk.org/post/88601627?scrollToComments=true

It's being discussed here as well.

https://endlesstalk.org/post/88622809

Also feddit.org was down for a few minutes. They apparently have been ddos'ed? There are also some mention of a troll named "antiyank". That guy sounds like a loser. Anybody know about him?

Anyway stimulating drama isn't it?

A continuation of 0G post https://lemmy.ca/post/26211900

On any of the donation threads where it came up and he replied to it, the most he ever did was some half hearted corporate PR "apology" (ironic)

cross-posted from: https://rekabu.ru/post/3857348

https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/modlog/6777

Most of the removals are for being "off topic", but one removal cites rules against disrespect and liberalism. The mod maintains that a leftist meme community isn't the place for political debate.

Hello all, I hope you have been well and I wish I could say the same for myself. I am refraining from being pessimistic in this moment but as it stands I do not feel too good. This has nothing to do with my health or the health of anyone in my family. Although we're all physically well, what happened left me shocked and unable to process everything. Due to the sensitivity of this subject I won’t object if the mods deem it safer for the community to lock this post.

Opening her eyes and then staring into mine, she eased into herself and said “Your aunt told me you were wondering what happened to my sons.” I nodded, mentioning what she said about how her sons had experienced some hardships recently. She looked away and nodded. With a slight smile she looked at me and said “She also said you had your own opinions on the genocide.”

At that point I realized my aunt had communicated my skepticism to her. “I have my own opinion but I would like to hear what you have to tell me if you don't mind.” Still staring at me, she asked, “What do you think happened to them?”

I told her that my assumptions were as follows: the son posted something online that they shouldn’t have, they got detained and were let go within the same month. After taking a sip of tea, the woman looked upwards for a moment and said “I would like you to listen to my story before passing judgement.”

A frown appeared on her face and she swallowed, trying her best to hold back tears. I refilled her tea cup and she nodded, thanking me. With both hands she turned the cup clockwise and then anticlockwise. With her gaze focused on the cup, she began to speak again.

“About a year ago they took my son and imprisoned him. Three men in police uniform came to the door and asked me ‘Where is (son’s name)?’ When I couldn’t answer, they let themselves in and searched my apartment, asking repeatedly where he was. I still couldn’t answer. They went upstairs, found (son’s name), and proceeded to pull him out of his room. He was in a state of panic but from his perspective he saw me with the men and so he cursed me and accused me of bringing them here. I couldn’t deny it. I think he still blames me to this day.”

A tear fell from her eye and left a mark next to her tea cup. I could see she was reliving this story as she was telling it. I wondered how many times she's put herself through this. Was that the first time she recollected these repressed memories or was it a daily routine for her? I felt a deep pain in my chest and swallowed back tears.

Continues here: https://hexbear.net/post/4764090

The user was banned

their instance is mastodon.hetzner.social View the post in sharkey (or another software that shows emoji reactions), https://calckey.world/@hetzner@mastodon.hetzner.social

Can someone make a quick summary please? I just quickly read that fosstodon must be blocked because someone with relevance there is a nazi and not being kicked out or something

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.blahaj.zone/post/25042034

This post is "FYI only" for blahaj lemmy members. It is not a debate, and is not intended for non blahaj lemmy users to weigh in and offer opinions.

I recently received reports of a feddit.uk user espousing transphobia. Specifically, this was a feddit.uk user refusing to use the word cis, repeating the "adult human female" dog whistle, and claiming that trans women are not women. I approached a member of the feddit.uk admin team and raised my concerns and sought clarification of their stance on posts like this, where the transphobia is mostly dogwhistles, and "civil disagreement" on the validity of trans folk.

I was told by the feddit.uk admin that their preferred response is this kind of transphobia is to "sort it out through discussion and voting". However, the comments in question are currently more upvoted than downvoted, and little "sorting out" has occurred. The posts remain in place.

At this point, the admin stopped responding to my messages despite being active elsewhere on lemmy. When it became clear they were ignoring my messages and had no intention of removing the posts in question, I made the decision to defederate the instance.

I know some folk agree with the feddit.uk admins approach of pushback through discussion and voting, but this instance is not designed to be that kind of space. Blahaj lemmy is meant to be a place where we can avoid the rampant transphobia universally visible on nearly every other social media platform, and where we can exist without needing to debate our right to do so.

Since the original is deleted, here is the old glorious lore. 💩

cross-posted from: https://hackertalks.com/post/8713785

The instances being used are

• lemmy.doesnotexist.club
• chinese.lol

Here is an example of the coordinated downvoting https://hackertalks.com/post/8692093

Of course its a controversial user who got someone angry enough to automated downvoting @DonaldJMusk@lemmy.today

But you can see every post they make gets 53ish downvotes from these two instances, plus some organic ones after a few hours.

Current downvoting Accounts

bot-list

LightIsland@chinese.lol MagnificentRow@chinese.lol FondKnowledge@chinese.lol SillyTowel95@chinese.lol HelplessDear@chinese.lol SomberBrain@chinese.lol InexperiencedCloset@chinese.lol NecessaryPerson11@chinese.lol ClosedEmployment@chinese.lol CoarseHair420@chinese.lol BurlyChampionship49@chinese.lol ZigzagNatural@chinese.lol QuestionableDirt@chinese.lol ProudDeparture@lemmy.doesnotexist.club JoyousDouble@chinese.lol UnitedPatience@chinese.lol MajesticArea@lemmy.doesnotexist.club SinfulConference@chinese.lol MoralDivide96@chinese.lol LeadingCarry65@chinese.lol FrillyOpinion38@lemmy.doesnotexist.club LimitedDiscount49@lemmy.doesnotexist.club ForkedScreen@chinese.lol MediumChemistry13@chinese.lol xXxLawfulGrassxXx@lemmy.doesnotexist.club VisibleSentence@chinese.lol AcidicLawyer90@lemmy.doesnotexist.club PriceySink14@lemmy.doesnotexist.club ExcellentBeach@chinese.lol VivaciousNews@lemmy.doesnotexist.club LankyIndependent32@lemmy.doesnotexist.club SpeedyFault@chinese.lol ConcreteHall89@lemmy.doesnotexist.club WorthyPoint12@lemmy.doesnotexist.club SurprisedAdult99@chinese.lol FlashyCrack@lemmy.doesnotexist.club MasculineBeing@chinese.lol RichWeird@lemmy.doesnotexist.club DryCash97@lemmy.doesnotexist.club AuthorizedChair@chinese.lol SlimKiss@lemmy.doesnotexist.club AromaticRoof78@lemmy.doesnotexist.club BewitchedInterview@lemmy.doesnotexist.club ImaginaryDraw@lemmy.doesnotexist.club PertinentGround@chinese.lol SinfulAssumption@lemmy.doesnotexist.club AwkwardAnybody30@lemmy.doesnotexist.club UnwillingRestaurant@lemmy.doesnotexist.club InsubstantialOven@lemmy.doesnotexist.club

A individual user airing their personal biases and manipulating lemmy isn't good for the community, regardless of how you feel about their target. This is a really bad thing (tm)

I am seeing posts from https://hexbear.net/ once again. Anyone know what happened since they lost their domain name? How did they get it back?

Curious if anyone has the original Universal Monk comment handy.

Another dust-up with Dansup lol...

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.crimedad.work/post/903768

The author of the article characterizes their findings as a vulnerability in Pixelfed, that it was treating all follow requests as approved. An update has already been released to make Pixelfed honor that setting, but the vulnerability still exists with ActivityPub in the feature itself. It gives users a false expectation of privacy, which is not safe.

So, for clarification, I was named in the feud but was never actually in the actual feud and am an observer, and can absolutely prove I was offline 100% of the time (deleted Lemmy comments linger, so it's not like I am erasing any involvement). I just happened to get namedropped as collateral damage (on another occasion, so did the Ask Lemmy mod Candyman337 simply for keeping Leni around, and Candyman337 wasn't in the feud either, and they are welcome to testify too). As an observer, this only made me want to observe it more though.

The whole thing was mentioned on Reddit. Leni was asked at one point by a .world admin if she (the admin) could ask questions in her server which is visible on her profile (I kind of wish she could have asked mine back when it would have been useful to reveal who I am despite the dangers like she had hence her old avatar, but whatever). That admin got a lazy streak due to how complicated things got before the Blahaj admins were given the offer starting in the replies of another so-called exposé (a recurring theme is these exposés are false and can be proven false, e.g. Davel on his main account tries claiming in the replies on another such thread of theirs that she is impersonating a Beehaw user when Leni's full name has been established for years and that it's the Beehaw user who is impersonating Leni). I'm would be inclined to say they actually took the time to listen because they, the most uptight instance, came to the exact opposite verdict, as seen by the "exposer's" fate after this deceiver was encouraged by another person to "downvote, report, block", ironically to deal with Leni's supposed troublemaking alts (which doesn't hold weight given that Candyman337 was themselves accused of being her alt). You know what they say, when the hecklers have egg on their face, they ought to eat it.

Thank you for giving hope, Blahaj admins hugs the admins

Let's look at the positives though. I think it's really cool that the Wayback Machine is in the fediverse, as shown by the fact that the part of your username showing your instance turns into "web.archive.org" when viewed under the Wayback Machine.

Matrix user of almost a decade here. A PluralKit-like project actually does exist, a friend/ former partner of Ours developed it.

They are no longer on Matrix, and We wish We could follow suit. Do not use Matrix, it is absolutely not a safe space for marginalized folks by any stretch of imagination.

We know this because We were the defacto head of the last public safe space that was left standing, a feat only accomplished by terribly dedicated helpers (mods) and programmers who would make custom tooling for that community. It wasn't enough.

See, not only is Nev Vector Inc. very corporate oriented, they're actively hostile to community contributions. You can loudly yell about flaws that are easy to abuse, or make full code submissions of things that have been hotly requested for years, and it will be entirely ignored, if it doesn't directly align with their corporate interests.

Right now most of those who remained are scattered in a new community that's bridged between Discard, which at least does something to prevent the worst cases of abuse, and Revolt, which is still a pretty basic project feature set wise, compared to Matrix and Discard, but you can tell that it's made with actual care, it's also EU based.

Yeah, this lines up with what we've heard from a number of other people, sadly... that Matrix has been more interested in pandering to cops, governments, and corporations rather than building safe and respectful tech for everyday people. And that yes, you could self-host, but that it's a nightmare that they have no intent of making easier because it would conflict with their managed hosting services. Not to mention ongoing issues with metadata and loopholes that can be used for abuse. Unfortunate.

https://www.reddit.com/r/plural/comments/1iyp159/encrypted_pluralkit/mf7v50f/

Stay safe out there, folks

It does not matter how calm or reasonable the comment is, if it's deemed to be in dissent of the Tankie mindset it's removed and you're banned

For context this next one ~~might have been~~ (have confirmed with Vitaly) was a comment to https://lemmy.world/post/26045579 (Crossposted version, original that was on .ml memes comm was removed as well so I can't pull up the original to pair the modlog entry to the post like I did for the first 2 screenshots)

I've been interested to ask this after seeing so much happen in this community. How would you define a troll? The modlogs show many communities have rules against "trolling" but what is actually going on that makes it register with people.

I'm making an instance of my own and wanted to know. The last time I was on here, there was a drama about a mod which was based on another drama about the same mod, and this in turn was based on another drama about the same mod, which itself was based on a drama about that mod. That's a revelation with many implications I never see mentioned, that these are all connected (why isn't anyone mentioning this). I know this person, I know it's slander against her. Everyone called her a troll though for defending herself, which a few argue is in the same way a lot of people don't see issue with outright releasing private information.

I am a community owner and am on hiatus from helping out in another instance. I wanted everyone to know the person making the claims about her has been vetted and given the boot at least once, while the mod has been vetted and cleared of all suspicions, especially with it coming out now the people involved have compromised their agenda. I see he has gone on Shitter (linking to it only because XCancel is a mess and doesn't have a "sort by user replies" category system, which is an enormous oversight, and because this is someone who was praised on here with a hundred upvotes) to mass-slander-campaign against the person, as that's the sole bulk of their reply history. In a way, he even makes us look bad. These people are obsessed enough I understand the motives behind a previous question here that caused a lot of raised eyebrows. And that's not a troll? Is Shitter suddenly okay to reference again, considering the indifference with them? I'm eager to make it okay in my instance if it is.

Lemmy doesn't like it when apologies :[

https://lemmy.world/modlog

Edit: Image description for Brits:

Dragon Rider (drag) being banned from the following communities for sharing DMs:

• !19684@lemmy.blahaj.zone
• !196@lemmy.blahaj.zone
• !egg_irl@lemmy.blahaj.zone
• !transgender@lemmy.blahaj.zone
• !accidentalrenaissance@lemmy.blahaj.zone
• !main@lemmy.blahaj.zone
• !trans@lemmy.blahaj.zone
• !mtf@lemmy.blahaj.zone
• !onehundredninetysix@lemmy.blahaj.zone
• !transmemes@lemmy.blahaj.zone