this post was submitted on 06 Feb 2024
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in summer 2023, when I moved here from reddit, the lemmy instance beehaw.org was extremely divisive. they wanted to create a website according to certain rules rather than a free for all. some people were saying it would be the end of the threadiverse before it even began.

since that time, there have been various other intrinsic and extrinsic threats. I do not see much panicking about beehaw. did the threadiverse survive beehaw? or is this only a shell of what we might have had otherwise?

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[–] lvxferre@mander.xyz 82 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (2 children)

I think that the "controversy" died down. Simply because there was no controversy on first place - just a conflict of interests, where you can see both sides being reasonable but ultimately wanting mutually incompatible things.

[–] sab@kbin.social 41 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I think a lot of the "conflict" was based on people expecting the threadiverse to be user owned Reddit, without understanding how the Fediverse operates. As people start understanding the nature of how this place works, one would expect them to also calm down a bit about different communities having different moderation strategies.

Then again, it's the internet. Some people are not exactly keen to understand.

[–] lvxferre@mander.xyz 11 points 9 months ago (1 children)

This, too. And additionally, perhaps some entitlement? Like, from my impression a lot of people were expecting Beehaw to conform to what they want (access to the comms and users from there), regardless of that going against Beehaw's goals.

[–] Blaze@discuss.online 11 points 9 months ago

Hello guys, just wanted to chime in and say that it's good to see you three explain things in a calm manner in this thread. Nice to see you around.

[–] otter@lemmy.ca 10 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Simply because there was no controversy on first place

To add on:

Most of the discussions I saw were highlighting the differences and discussing what the pros and cons were, so that users could make an informed decision when picking the instance to migrate to.

That's generally a good thing, as long as you don't harass others for what they want. There's a lot of different ways to do the fediverse

[–] amio@kbin.social 38 points 9 months ago

Was it really? How?

They are heavy-handed but are upfront about that fact, and their reason for it - wanting a safe space, since a lot of people go out of their way to make the rest of the internet as unwelcoming as they can. If that's not acceptable to you, you're just not in the target audience. If it's any sort of threat to the fediverse I am really not seeing how. If they want to be a bubble and deal with the "recruitment" issues that causes on an already miniscule platform, they absolutely can.

Reputation-wise for Lemmy instances and the FV in general, I would think we have significantly larger issues.

[–] doidera@lemmy.eco.br 30 points 9 months ago (1 children)

You are too dramatic. What happened is that many left beehaw (me included). You can see beehaw has a lot less activity now then it had last year.

[–] Five@slrpnk.net 7 points 9 months ago (2 children)

You can see beehaw has a lot less activity now then it had last year.

Fediverse Observer and FediDB show a drop in active users, but the pattern of peak in July 2023 and then a slow regression isn't unique to Beehaw, and is a pattern seen across the Threadiverse.

You left, but Beehaw being willing to give teeth to the concept of defederation is the reason I joined. I don't think the decision hurt their user-count. It definitely helped distinguish their culture from the rest of the Fediverse.

[–] Blaze@discuss.online 5 points 9 months ago

I agree. I could see Beehaw survive longer than most other Lemmy instances, their community feeling is much stronger.

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[–] AnalogyAddict@lemmy.world 28 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

I liked the idea of Beehaw, but it ended up being rather like an HOA. You weren't allowed to ever disagree, no matter how gently, because it "wasn't nice." They ironically tried to reduce bullying by bullying people.

Ended up with a bunch of Karens policing each other, so I think that's a win for all.

[–] cashews_best_nut@lemmy.world 10 points 9 months ago (2 children)

Lemmy.ml is just as bad. I suggested Nicaragua wasn't a democratic country. Holy shit!! I got downvoted to hell, pasted left and right. Given 24hr ban.

Then I got a 4-day ban cos I suggested "Tankies give socialists like me a bad name". Fucking hell fire. I'm not going near any of their subs again.

[–] doidera@lemmy.eco.br 7 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

I got downvoted to hell

What's wrong with downvoting? Ain't it expected when the community allow downvotes?
Do you think everyone should agree with you always?

Then I got a 4-day ban cos I suggested “Tankies give socialists like me a bad name”. Fucking hell fire. I’m not going near any of their subs again.

I am curious, what current of socialism do you subscribe to?

[–] cashews_best_nut@lemmy.world 5 points 9 months ago (7 children)

Do you think everyone should agree with you always?

No of course not but I subscribe to the original Reddiquette philosophy. Downvotes arne't for disagreement. They were originally a form of user-moderation to stop spam. Unfortunately about a decade ago after the Digg exodus the users of Reddit forgot that original usage and so you'd end up being downvoted and not knowing why. It doesn't foster debate or discussion. It's a cheap way to snipe someone down without being responsible or engaging them.

I never, ever downvote unless it's obvious link spam. If I feel strongly enough I tell the person they're wrong and why. That's what I believe in.

I am curious, what current of socialism do you subscribe to?

Libertarian Socialism. In the UK the closest parties/groups would be Black Rose Labour and/or Jeremy Corbyn's Labour. The countries closest to my beliefs are Denmark, Iceland and Norway.

However, the people on Lemmy.ml took further offence when I suggested DPRK wasn't a democratic country and they trotted out a list of articles on how democratic it really was. Then I was given a bunch of Stalin emojis of him pulling heart shapes with his hands.

I'm not a fan of autocratic dictatorships and I was dog-piled and taunted with a bunch of Stalinist and DPRK memes. Because apparently you're not truly left-wing unless you worship Stalin and Kim.

I would have been happy to debate these points with them but unfortunately my reticence of autocratic dictatorships was considered far worse than what was directed at me in response.

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[–] sudneo@lemmy.world 23 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

I stopped hearing discussions about it long ago. I suppose the thing died down.

One thing I will never understand is their endless complaint about moderation tools. They had/have a decent amount of donation, why they didn't just put a bounty on the features they needed in github and encourage contributions in that space (if not contributing directly)? It feels like it was sterile criticism when they had/have the means to actually work on the solution.

EDIT: Adding to the above. From their opencollective page, they are in +6k$. Even 1000$ on a feature and I think plenty of people will want to contribute. Considering that they were complaining about a handful of features, I don't see how it was not feasible. That will both give back to the developers and get them where they are. Win-win...?

[–] Blaze@discuss.online 17 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

Lemmy's code isn't that easy to get into, otherwise there would be much more contributors to it.

The third biggest contributor after the two main devs has 59 commits.

https://github.com/LemmyNet/lemmy/graphs/contributors?from=2019-02-10&to=2024-02-06&type=c

[–] sudneo@lemmy.world 8 points 9 months ago

And that's fair enough. However, putting a bounty on the feature is definitely a big incentive that might have caused those features to be implemented by someone else and/or prioritized.

[–] TORFdot0@lemmy.world 23 points 9 months ago

I don’t care for beehaw but I don’t see why it’s any different from any other non-federated general discussion forum.

They aren’t helping the fediverse grow but they aren’t actively harming it either. It’s a live or let live thing. Being able to choose who you federate with is part of the fediverse

[–] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 21 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

I don't see how a single instance doing something against the grain would be the end of the whole fediverse, considering how the system works.

And all they want is a place free from bigotry. Which is noble, but pretty naive. Even if you went to extreme lengths of vetting users before letting them post, you're still gonna get a assholes who slip through just to cause trouble.

[–] sab@kbin.social 13 points 9 months ago

A few will still slip through, but fewer, presumably. Which is the whole point. Content moderation does have an impact on content and in turn the user experience.

[–] Die4Ever@programming.dev 20 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

I'm surprised they're still on 0.18.4. They made that big post complaining about moderation actions not federating, then the 0.18.5 hotfix came out and the only change was that fix, and they never updated anyways? I even put a comment on their post to let them know the hotfix for their issue. There's no database changes, it's the simplest update.

[–] newtraditionalists@kbin.social 20 points 9 months ago (2 children)

I have an account with beehaw. It's my favorite place on the internet. I think most of us are happy with the way it has panned out. Some discussion here and there of potentially leaving activitypub altogether. If it happens, I will follow. If it doesn't I will stay. Beehaw is too special for those of us it speaks to and works for. I don't see it dying anytime soon, that's for sure.

[–] Buddahriffic@lemmy.world 11 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Care to elaborate a bit on what it is that makes you like it so much?

[–] newtraditionalists@kbin.social 9 points 9 months ago

It's nice to know that the odds of encountering bots, trolls, and bigots are incredibly low. Yes, there is less content, but it's the only place I don't have to scroll passed vitriol and misinformation regularly. It's wonderful.

[–] myfavouritename@lemmy.world 3 points 9 months ago

Yeah, my time on Beehaw is almost always pleasant. I really love seeing people arguing in the comments of a post and inevitably after a few exchanges they go out of their way to de-escalate tensions and recognize each other as people. Real conversations, real differing of opinions, but maintaining respect for people.

[–] RobotToaster@mander.xyz 20 points 9 months ago

Probably died down because they de-federated nearly everyone.

[–] halm@leminal.space 16 points 9 months ago (13 children)

Rilers gonna get riled. I've only seen Beehaw mentioned recently as a nice, drama-free space.

Some people in this thread say Beehaw defederated almost or entirely from the rest of the threading/fediverse; just a glimpse of their instance federation and block lists show that isn't the case. If you or your instance has been blocked by one that pretty much only requires users to be nice — I think that warrants some introspection on your part rather than dismissing them.

I'm completely for social sites that set an ettiquette standard and stick to it. And I'm getting too old for bored teenagers' edgelord hot takes, so in principle I should probably be in the target group for Beehaw.

That said, looking through the recent local posts on the instance... it doesn't look terribly interesting either. Not that I look for aggravation or confrontation in a forum, but I guess the people who sign up for a "nice" one, in this case at least, are fairly normie, and don't have much interesting to say?

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[–] phoneymouse@lemmy.world 15 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Haven’t heard much about them lately, which I just learned through this post is because they defederated from everyone else. Anything I’ve read about them is that they want a certain type of community, but beyond that they’re really vague. I avoided signing up for their instance because they seemed kind of uptight and I’d rather be in a place that is welcoming to more people with diverse interests. It’s going to be hard to replace Reddit and being too uptight about who joins just kind of seems like a recipe not to have enough people to have an active community.

[–] hightrix@lemmy.world 15 points 9 months ago

Lol. I hadn’t even thought of that random instance until this post.

I imagine most people are like me. They forgot this instance existed.

[–] wesker@lemmy.sdf.org 12 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Beehaw still exists? I guess I don't ever really see any communities hosted there pop up on All. Or maybe I'm just not noticing.

[–] 4z01235@lemmy.world 20 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Beehaw defederated from a lot of other major instances.

[–] wesker@lemmy.sdf.org 5 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Seems like they shot themselves in the foot.

Unless their goal was to create an echo chamber of about 15 people, and if so, they've been very successful.

[–] flamingo_pinyata@sopuli.xyz 23 points 9 months ago (1 children)

That is exactly their goal. They openly state it, and I respect them for that.
Federating with others was never really what they wanted. It's a semi-private discussion space with strict rules.

[–] doidera@lemmy.eco.br 5 points 9 months ago

Initially they were not so upfront about it. Things changed as they experienced more of the fediverse.

[–] ikidd@lemmy.world 10 points 9 months ago

See, here's how Beehaw affects the rest of the Fediverse:

It doesn't. Nobody cares about Beehaw except Beehaw. And we'll all go on for a few more months without thinking about them at all until someone mentions them again.

[–] Pratai@lemmy.ca 10 points 9 months ago (3 children)

Walled gardens don’t have a long shelf-life on the internet. They’re fading away.

[–] dumpsterlid@lemmy.world 9 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

Tell that to metafilter, or hackernews? Or a multitude of other smaller niche communities that chug along perfectly happy (Yes there are less now than there used to be but that is mainly because of the insanely aggressive way Discord is being pushed on communities all over the internet and destroying their foundations). Sometimes a nice little garden with a wall to help transport you away from the hustle and bustle of life is exactly what you need.

We shouldn’t aim to build the Fediverse into a walled garden but there is nothing wrong with small walled gardens interspersed along the periphery of the Fediverse. It is a good thing. Let them be their own place!

[–] gedaliyah@lemmy.world 5 points 9 months ago (2 children)

I think this is a really good point. It's a shame that they don't want to Federate with some of the larger instances, but that's the whole point of the fediverse. If you Federate with who you want to Federate with, and you have control over your own moderation and red lines. It's virtually impossible to have meaningful conversation among a broad group without someone getting offended. So you might choose to let people occasionally be offended, or you might choose to create a safe space for a limited group.

It's a philosophical question with no single right answer. The fediverse doesn't have to be all things to all people, which is exactly why it can be all things to all people. Corporate social media has to have one set of rules for everyone, and the system for deciding and enforcing the rules is generally just about money

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[–] Dirk@lemmy.ml 9 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I have never seen anything valuable and/or good coming from that instance. Only trolling or hate. So I put it on my instance ignore list.

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[–] dipshit@lemmy.world 8 points 9 months ago (6 children)

can someone please explain how one site existing causes other sites to fail? that’s not generally how it works.

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[–] XTL@sopuli.xyz 5 points 9 months ago

Nobody's been riled up. You need to go to Reddit for that :)

[–] BuddyTheBeefalo@lemmy.ml 5 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Lemmy users mainly have a positive view on Beehaw.

https://lemmy.ml/post/9896745

[–] PlantObserver@lemmy.world 11 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Umm what? Most of the comments there are telling them to get lost? Seems like them defederating for every little reason rubbed the rest of the fediverse the wrong way

[–] CorrodedCranium@leminal.space 6 points 9 months ago

Might have a bit to do with the regular admin posts where they talk about leaving Lemmy all together.

[–] MyOpinion@lemm.ee 3 points 9 months ago

They are irrelevant.

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