GuyFleegman

I used to mod /c/Risa so I will back it up: this is exactly correct. There's a disconnect at the very heart of their approach to moderation they refuse to acknowledge. On the one hand, they want their written rules to be simple and common sense: be civil, don't be a bigot, don't spam, etc. etc. But at the same time, many of them have strong and specific opinions about moderation and/or Star Trek and they moderate to that effect. If you ask them about a removal which has tripped one of these hidden rules, at best they'll tell you it was covered under one of the generic rules like "no spam" or "stay on topic" and at worst they'll just start insulting you.

For example, one of the mods there is a huge Discovery fan and so if you say anything bad about Discovery without taking the praise sandwich approach to delivering it, it's gonna get removed and you might be banned. Anyone who tried to be critical of Discovery back on /r/StarTrek is likely familiar with this de facto policy. And of course, the mod who took over for me in /c/Risa is apparently not a fan of AI art or tabloid gossip and has banned these kinds of content, without changing my very simple declaration for the community: there are no real rules.

This exact kind of user revolt happened to them back on Reddit but between the fact that they were sitting on /r/startrek, the obvious place to have a Star Trek sub, and the fact that the most successful attempt at splintering was taken over by conservative dipshits almost immediately, /r/startrek continued to be the big main community on Reddit.

I'd love to see them develop an understanding of why hidden rules are bad for communities, but I don't see it happening any time soon. Looks like it's ales for everyone.

No worries. You're good, and your overall guideline for setting expectations is one I strongly agree with: be transparent about what the rules are.

Community rules are absolutely subordinate to instance rules and the instance rules are fully public. Therefore, Risa's written policy is no bigotry, and it always has been.

Of course that's the policy. I wouldn't have volunteered my time and effort to a project that didn't have that written in stone as a core principle.

Now, if that written policy is going unenforced by mods and admins... well that's a different story. But I'll be honest: I find that very hard to believe. I disagree with the content moderation approach endorsed by the admins of that instance, but in my experience they are all tolerant and empathetic individuals.

This answer you've given a few times now implies that /c/Risa allows bigotry and honestly, I take offense to that. I removed bigoted and uncivil comments the whole time I was modding either Risa under the same "no real rules" framework currently there. Risa has essentially the same rules about civility and tolerance that you have, applied instance wide.

The current problem with Risa isn't abstract. The lone mod is enforcing unwritten content rules.

Paraphrased from something I got hit with on /r/DaystromInstitute, years ago

I could go find it but... reddit 🤮

Thermianism can be fun, it's the selectivity that gets me. The fact that so many Trekkies will more readily accept FTL than a moneyless society is... something.