A key feature of authoritarianism is that it is not supposed to be equal. "I'm on top. I set rules for you and you obey." Trying to adhere to an objective standard, or letting the roles be reversed for a thought-experiment, conflicts with the whole paradigm.
Authoritarians don't like nuance, full stop. You're trying to take a nuanced view to the varying opinions and perspectives that interact on Lemmy? Get the fuck out before you start inferring that we should see users who disagree with us as "people."
I tried to limit blocks to a user-by-user basis, but fuck it, I just blocked that entire miserable instance. I won't have any deficiencies in Russian propaganda exposure while Trump is in office anyway.
I blocked .ml and .hexbear and my experience has been infinitely better.
There are a few .ml tankies who try to invade other instances with new accounts. But they are easy to identify and it's hilarious to watch them be frustrated that nobody outside their bubble agrees with them.
The hours old accounts are always hilarious. Sometimes they put effort in and have something like an 8 month old account but it only posts every other month and only to whine about nato imperialism.
I don’t get why you guys haven’t just blocked the whole instance. It’ll save you a lot of time dealing with stupidity.
Honestly, I consider Tankies to be a threat to the Lemmy-verse at large. I've seen it quite a few times, new user comes, sees some Tankie going off with their shit and goes "Oh, this place is just a bunch of tankies" or "oh this place is just Voat 2.0" leaves and then never comes back. Then likely ends up being one of those Redditors who comments on those reddit Lemmy threads about how "They tried it but it was just a bunch of Tankie bs"
Sometimes they do come back, try a different instance and then realizes they just need to block them
If the bigger instances want to take their sweet time defed'ing from them, fine, but there should at least be a visible loud objection of their crap
It's more worth while to drum up support for defederation since that removes any instances who take it from being part of their userbase, and weakens the network effect they have here. Remember they're still dominating the Linux and Privacy communities on Lemmy and the discussion based fediverse in general.
Hey look, it's me! I saw my comment got removed and laughed "of course that tankie shit was from .ml" I said again. Considered posting it here actually but was too lazy, thanks for doing it for me in conjunction with the other ones!
Their beliefs do not hold up to scrutiny. So they use the censor method.
Hot take: I mean what are we supposed to do? I'm tired of having to witness the spread of propaganda/misinfo. I'm am even more tired of having to accept the fact that they can suppress and silence any of the smallest scent of opposition against their propaganda.
They should be defederated from every other instance. How much disinformation is acceptable? how many lies are okay? How many walls of text, questions and bombardment of links meant to stall any debate can pass as valid counterpoints when their objectives are clear?
I know I can block them but it's not about me but the fediverse in general. Their mindset is poisonous and completely detrimental to what we are trying to achieve as a collective group.
I don't want to instigate any other vote on my instance as I feel like I've already gone too far on getting a vote on hex and grad to be settled. I certainly do not want to impose my way of thinking on fellow users of my instance.
But I don't want people joining lemmy and having to see or go through this rubbish.
Do what I'm doing
-
cross-post good content on a .ml sub to the nearest relevant non-.ml comm
-
Keep talking about it, if you notice, whenever someone brings it up they always say shit like "oh you're bringing it up again, why don't you block us?" Because they would rather us keep quiet about it.
-
Make memes
-
Documentation, documentation, documentation. If you're on a .ml thread and you see some removed comments, take a look in the modlog to see what's up. Screenshot and put it together on !meanwhileongrad@sh.itjust.works or heck maybe if you're just bored just look in the modlog to see if there's anything interesting. It usually doesn't take much looking lmao. See a thread where they're just going off? screenshot and post
-
Warn any potential new users, you would warn a friend coming to your city of the "bad parts of town" so do the same with people coming to Lemmy. If they're coming from Reddit, they probably know what Tankies are already so even just a quick "The Tankies are on lemmy.ml, Hexbear and grad, but you can do an instance block easy or choose X instance because they defed from them already" can be enough
I know I can block them but it's not about me but the fediverse in general. Their mindset is poisonous and completely detrimental to what we are trying to achieve as a collective group.
I talk about that all the time, I consider the tankies probably the greatest threat to the Lemmy-verse. I worry that if there's not enough push back we'll start getting a reputation of being "Voat 2.0"
I don't want to instigate any other vote on my instance as I feel like I've already gone too far on getting a vote on hex and grad to be settled. I certainly do not want to impose my way of thinking on fellow users of my instance.
If you feel like it's getting to be un-welcome, just focus on the above so others can join your calls. .ml really don't like it when you document their behavior and they always try to discredit it and !meanwhileongrad@sh.itjust.works as a whole and any similar comms for a reason.
We might not be able to get most instances to defed from .ml and their propaganda, but the next best thing we can do is keep pushing back so any new users can clearly see that it's not just a bunch of tankies over here
Thanks for the long reply. I was just ranting but that what I try to do but I don't want my time on lemmy be spent with infighting but at the same time I cannot let their ideas go around unchecked.
MeanwhileOnGrad
"Oh, this is calamity! Calamity! Oh no, he's on the floor!"
Welcome to MoG!
Meanwhile On Grad
Documenting hate speech, conspiracy theories, apologia/revisionism, and general tankie behaviour across the fediverse. Memes are welcome!
What is a Tankie?
Alternatively, a detailed blog post about Tankies.
(caution of biased source)
Basic Rules:
Sh.itjust.works Instance rules apply! If you are from other instances, please be mindful of the rules. — Basically, don't be a dick.
Hate-Speech — You should be familiar with this one already; practically all instances have the same rules on hate speech.
Apologia — (Using the Modern terminology for Apologia) No Defending, Denying, Justifying, Bolstering, or Differentiating authoritarian acts or endeavours, whether be a Pro-CCP viewpoint, Stalinism, Islamic Terrorism or any variation of Tankie Ideology.
Revisionism — No downplaying or denying atrocities past and present. Calling Tankies shills, foreign/federal agents, or bots also falls under this rule. Extremists exist. They are real. Do not call them shills or fake users as it handwaves their extremism.
Tankies can explain their views but may be criticised or attacked for them. Any slight infraction on the rules above will immediately earn a warning and possibly a ban.
Off-topic Discussion — Do not discuss unrelated topics to the point of derailing the thread. Stay focused on the direct content of the post as opposed to arguing.
You'll be warned if you're violating the instance and community rules. Continuing poor behaviour after being warned will result in a ban or removal of your comments. Bans typically only last 24 hours, but each subsequent infraction will double the amount. Depending on the content, the ban time may be increased. You may request an unban at any time.