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It's Trans Awareness Week! (Nov 13th -19th)
- Thread starter Kyuuji
- Start date
Great to see some changes, but there's still no transparency on other key issues.
What happens with the Acephoic mod who is still on staff?
Will Royalan be replaced by a BAME mod? It's pretty frustrating to lose yet another minority mod, especially with Bronson peacing not so long ago. Do we have any Asian representation on the mod team?
What happened with privacy issues that made all the staff team feel so uncomfortable? How was this resolved?
What happens with the Acephoic mod who is still on staff?
Will Royalan be replaced by a BAME mod? It's pretty frustrating to lose yet another minority mod, especially with Bronson peacing not so long ago. Do we have any Asian representation on the mod team?
What happened with privacy issues that made all the staff team feel so uncomfortable? How was this resolved?
Ketkat's own post stated that whatever it is that she saw, it was an incorrect misunderstanding of the situation. With that out of the way, and royalan stepping down (though I think his views on asexuality probably evolved from what his comments on gaf indicated before this incident), I don't think there is any acephobic mod.
OP
OP
Congratulations to the new promotions - Pirate Bae and Sophia - it's nice to see trans representation grow and I've no doubts you both will be working to better our, and the wider, community. I look forward to the upcoming discussion between staff and members of TransEra to understand what some of that might look like.
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To a broader point - I don't want this to come at the expense of representation elsewhere, as others have said. It's important that black representation within the mod space isn't diminished, being a minority on the forum that has long-felt the issues recently brought to the fore. Recommendations for me are heartwarming but that is where the thought should lie. Many non-trans members of the BAME community gave their support to get us here, and though there are very specific conversations to be had between trans members and the staff, the same opportunity should be afforded for other minority groups that have long-since felt the same sentiment.
Immediate communications and actions have been good (though moderators need to address Brock unless I've missed a communication), I think recent posts have begun to show that topics like these can exist in the open. Can include moderators and members discussing issues without it inherently being threatening to either party. One of the earliest occasions of this was Nepenthe stepping into a difficult situation and coming down to meet us where it hurt. Facing the tougher questions with patience and appreciation of the context in which they were asked. Her compassion helped a lot, and I think sustaining dialogue in this effect would continue to do so. Naturally this is not a blanket suggestion, it does not apply to all issues, but I think bringing it this way a bit would work wonders. I appreciate the concern around bad-faith actors using such things as a springboard, which is why it is a tempered suggestion. I just think that this has highlighted that there are certain situations where a little more tolerance is warranted to foster less of a perceived divide between staff and members.
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To a broader point - I don't want this to come at the expense of representation elsewhere, as others have said. It's important that black representation within the mod space isn't diminished, being a minority on the forum that has long-felt the issues recently brought to the fore. Recommendations for me are heartwarming but that is where the thought should lie. Many non-trans members of the BAME community gave their support to get us here, and though there are very specific conversations to be had between trans members and the staff, the same opportunity should be afforded for other minority groups that have long-since felt the same sentiment.
Immediate communications and actions have been good (though moderators need to address Brock unless I've missed a communication), I think recent posts have begun to show that topics like these can exist in the open. Can include moderators and members discussing issues without it inherently being threatening to either party. One of the earliest occasions of this was Nepenthe stepping into a difficult situation and coming down to meet us where it hurt. Facing the tougher questions with patience and appreciation of the context in which they were asked. Her compassion helped a lot, and I think sustaining dialogue in this effect would continue to do so. Naturally this is not a blanket suggestion, it does not apply to all issues, but I think bringing it this way a bit would work wonders. I appreciate the concern around bad-faith actors using such things as a springboard, which is why it is a tempered suggestion. I just think that this has highlighted that there are certain situations where a little more tolerance is warranted to foster less of a perceived divide between staff and members.
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Ah, thank you. I missed that, good to know that's resolved and hopefully the others issues I mentioned can be talked about too.
How many BAME mods are there? It's great there's representation on the admin side, but I've noticed most admins only show up when there's a major issue. A BAME member to replace Royalan, who deals with the day to day stuff would be very much appreciated.
I agree with this wholeheartedly. This may come as a surprise to some, but the overwhelming majority of our staff are women and/or minorities. I myself am a black woman, but also bisexual, and come from a migrant and religious minority background. We have a very mixed variety of staff. Some are very outspoken and post frequently, and others pour all of their volunteer time into handling things behind the scenes, so their efforts are invisible to the community. Either way, we all provide our perspectives, and these relevant perspectives are given priority when handling moderation and creating policy. Our moderation philosophy is detailed in the General Guide/FAQ.
Regardless, it's clear that the community is in need of even more representation and diversity, as well as a further examination of both our policies and moderation philosophy. This is something that we will be putting even more focus on going forward and are currently discussing extensively.
I've mentioned it before, but it bears repeating. Sincere thanks to you and others for your efforts in combating bigotry in the community.
Roughly half of the staff are BAME.
A quick note:
First, I want to thank Kyuuji and everyone else who has expressed gratitude towards me for participating in the discussions that have occurred over the past few days. It warms my heart to know that my efforts were appreciated.
But I do want people to understand that was an extraordinary response to an extraordinary circumstance that took an appreciable mental and physical toll on me, and I'm someone who has no mental illness to speak of. Other staff members do suffer anxiety and depression (or they simply might not be too involved in the situation), so jumping into the fray like that might be asking too much.
My goal was to throw you all a lifeline and try to prove that we genuinely do care for you all. You bring invaluable insight and knowledge to subjects and situations that would get no airtime elsewhere on an Internet that is overtly hostile to our existence both as people and as a gathering on this forum. We need you here. I hope that you all understand and take that to heart going forward.
I don't want this post to be misconstrued as saying we're going to go back into the dark and not communicate with you either. Far from it; I agree this forum could stand for more public member-to-staff communication and I'm excited to see how that will manifest going forward. But I want everyone to understand the goal should be to never allow it to get to this point again in the first place where a staff member has to answer to hundreds. We need to take the lessons learned going forward into a better day. We can do it.
Now I'm at work, but it's slow and I'm still open for any questions and comments. After work, food...and sleep.
First, I want to thank Kyuuji and everyone else who has expressed gratitude towards me for participating in the discussions that have occurred over the past few days. It warms my heart to know that my efforts were appreciated.
But I do want people to understand that was an extraordinary response to an extraordinary circumstance that took an appreciable mental and physical toll on me, and I'm someone who has no mental illness to speak of. Other staff members do suffer anxiety and depression (or they simply might not be too involved in the situation), so jumping into the fray like that might be asking too much.
My goal was to throw you all a lifeline and try to prove that we genuinely do care for you all. You bring invaluable insight and knowledge to subjects and situations that would get no airtime elsewhere on an Internet that is overtly hostile to our existence both as people and as a gathering on this forum. We need you here. I hope that you all understand and take that to heart going forward.
I don't want this post to be misconstrued as saying we're going to go back into the dark and not communicate with you either. Far from it; I agree this forum could stand for more public member-to-staff communication and I'm excited to see how that will manifest going forward. But I want everyone to understand the goal should be to never allow it to get to this point again in the first place where a staff member has to answer to hundreds. We need to take the lessons learned going forward into a better day. We can do it.
Now I'm at work, but it's slow and I'm still open for any questions and comments. After work, food...and sleep.
At this point I'm hoping we get some solid, concrete change other than adding new admins or moderators. ResetEra had a more detailed, thoughtful statement to the community about the fucking layout changes than they've had about everything that's happened here with the trans community. It's messed up.
Just want to say that I appreciate your efforts.A quick note:
First, I want to thank Kyuuji and everyone else who has expressed gratitude towards me for participating in the discussions that have occurred over the past few days. It warms my heart to know that my efforts were appreciated.
But I do want people to understand that was an extraordinary response to an extraordinary circumstance that took an appreciable mental and physical toll on me, and I'm someone who has no mental illness to speak of. Other staff members do suffer anxiety and depression (or they simply might not be too involved in the situation), so jumping into the fray like that might be asking too much.
My goal was to throw you all a lifeline and try to prove that we genuinely do care for you all. You bring invaluable insight and knowledge to subjects and situations that would get no airtime elsewhere on an Internet that is overtly hostile to our existence both as people and as a gathering on this forum. We need you here. I hope that you all understand and take that to heart going forward.
I don't want this post to be misconstrued as saying we're going to go back into the dark and not communicate with you either. Far from it; I agree this forum could stand for more public member-to-staff communication and I'm excited to see how that will manifest going forward. But I want everyone to understand the goal should be to never allow it to get to this point again in the first place where a staff member has to answer to hundreds. We need to take the lessons learned going forward into a better day. We can do it.
Now I'm at work, but it's slow and I'm still open for any questions and comments. After work, food...and sleep.
Thank you to everyone who helped me get unbanned or mentioned my name at all, it really means a lot. I'm glad everyone else was unbanned as well, and congrats to the new admins!
Would it hurt to have more, especially from marginalized groups?
I'm not sure about their role, but more diversity can never hurt of course.
Sorry for the bump but.. Did the huge mods/trans thread disappear? I can't see it and tried searching, because I wanted to see if the staff had issued their big response yet. Thanks
Edit: found it, never mind.
Still no response..
Also, welcome back Brock Reiher
Edit: found it, never mind.
Still no response..
Also, welcome back Brock Reiher
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Thank you, for some reason I couldn't find it.
Is there.. A timeframe on a response?
Not sure what response you mean exactly. Regarding the specific incident, Ketkat was unbanned and there were staff posts around that. Regarding handling moderation better in the future, I think it's a little more complicated than just waiting for a single response?
Basically the staff have now been actively discussing this stuff with trans community members. Obviously some kind of timeframe for when a wider community discussion would happen would be nice, but currently I don't think we're really waiting for a single response to be posted as much as hoping that discussion goes well and leads to changes.