The problem I have is that we already did this struggle sesh back when rule 8 went in and ultimately reached a compromise and the dredge tank was created. I don't think there's an ulterior motive, but we saw then that a lot of people really wanted this content, why go to ban it again without like, really detailed and transparent reasons to win people over? (though some % ofc will hate any change) That's why people are assigning some amount of ulterior motive, I feel.

I think there is a certain amount of smug self-satisfiedness on the comm, and better guardrails against that would probably be appreciated (by me at the very least), but frankly to me, dunking on elon musk and other known quantities gets stale and pointless in a way the more dredgey content usually isn't, since it can come from anywhere. Randos with no PR department say the quiet part out loud more, about what liberalism really is (and other topics).

IMO, the line that should have been drawn based on your rationale is more "how people are engaging with the comm/content" and not "what type of people we're allowed to make fun of on the comm", I just don't feel like the latter rule solves the stated problem... We can be unnecessarily smug and shitty towards public figures too!

The actual problem is a very sticky one and ultimately a judgement call on the part of mods... but so is deciding what is notable enough for c/gossip now or c/the_dunk_tank before, that process is almost completely arbitrary and it doesn't even prevent people from being unthinking smuglords, so what's the point? At that point just let mods delete things for "everyone is stupid but me" smugness, it'd be equally arbitrary and more effective