Summary:
- @[email protected] was posting at a high volume to [email protected]
- there is no written rule on [email protected] about post volume
- there is no written rule on ponder.cat about post volume
- !news is the one single community Cat was this active in
- !news has no ponder.cat mods
- from my understanding, all rules Cat did break were unrelated to volume (correct me if I am wrong)
- ponder.cat admin @[email protected] reaches out to Cat via comment and then DM essentially threatening account deletion if Cat doesn’t lower their activity level
- Cat understandably deletes their account because who wants that
Of course, PhilipTheBucket had the right to do this, but I also think it’s exceedingly bad form and people have a right to know that this admin is willing to go above the community mods’ head like that.
Internet etiquette has dictates for dealing with undesirable yet not rule-breaking behavior that was just ignored here. Communication should be chosen before simple fist waving and threats.
I agree with this comment that this is a bait-provoked reaction. Next time I recommend:
- at the instance/admin level, the creation of instance rules about volume
- at the community level, advocacy for community rules about volume (i.e. “[Meta] Petition: Limit daily submissions to !news to ensure community quality”)
- avoid personal slapfights to get your way
- avoid escalation directly to account termination threats
Source: https://ponder.cat/post/1731587
Same admin that asked if he was in the wrong for banning someone that reported a comment that he thought was fine. Response was basically unanimous that he was in the wrong.
Naturally, he doubled down and decided that he was absolutely in the right. I blocked him and the instance and am definitely happy with that choice.
In the linked thread here, the admin even says “This is a super weird and authoritarian philosophy,” when someone called out the bans as power tripping 🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄 because e-stalking people and banning them for participating in other communities is absolutely not authoritarian at all
I saw that one, not a great look for him, almost as if he was posting there simply so the other person couldn’t. Probably hoping he could spin it in a way people would see favorably, it did backfire on him though, greatly.
I certainly feel there is room for growth and improvement in that individual admin.