Hey all,
We've been running into some confusion over a rule we made a few years ago regarding a certain TERF author and the works that benefit her. When we created the rule, the conversation was largely because a popular video game at the time was garnering a lot of discussion, and it was bringing to light the fact that many in our community had not yet grappled with the truly abhorrent things she was saying and doing, and how buying products from her franchises would directly empower her campaign of hatred, unlike most of us (particularly those of us who are trans) who had grappled with this long before that game came out.The discussion at the time was so frought that we effectively blanket banned the topic, because many of us were just sick of hearing about her constantly, and it wasn't making our community healthier.However, as time has passed, the author's hatred has become a more consuming and central part of her public persona (who could have predicted that? /sneed). It has also now become clear that money given to any of her franchises directly fuels her hate campaign, and this has moved beyond the realm of reasonable debate into substantiated fact, and contributes to her efforts to damage the lives of trans people everywhere. As a result, we feel the center of this discussion has moved significantly and are comfortable with adjusting this rule a bit.We believe:
- Many of us need to discuss these current events in order to find peace on them as well as organize resistance.
- Everyone needs to be empowered to limit their exposure to these topics, which is the purpose of the serious role.
- Moderators will need to be free to use their judgment with regards to this rule while monitoring conversations
As such, going forward, we are opening up some room for discussion of Rowling and her works in the serious channels (and only the serious channels) subject to the following conditions:
- The discussion musthappen in a serious channel.
- There is zero flexibility on this
- If you don't have the @srs-eligible role (and thus access to #serious-entrance / ⚠│serious-entrance), then you may not discuss these topics
- Explanation of this role and eligibility here:
│announcements
- These discussions will only take place to strengthen the trans community on this server
- The minute any discussion veers into territory that might harm the trans community here, it will be stopped, warnings may be issued, and other moderation actions may be taken depending on the situation.
- The moderators may make exceptions to this rule, and there will be zero criticisms or arguments of the exception tolerated in that same conversation. We do care about user responses to moderator actions, but that feedback needs to be directed to @r/GG ModMail, not in the discussion that a moderator is trying to keep healthy.
- Decisions on the discussion may be made for reasons you might not understand, like general temperature of the discussion regardless of the topic, or histories of users in the discussion you might not be aware of. For this reason, we reserve the right to direct or end discussions without reason, and resistance to this may be met with further action on a case-by-case basis.
- If you feel a moderator did not handle something the best way, you should contact @r/GG ModMail (this is always true, even beyond this specific rule). This way, the entire moderation team is aware of the discussion. Please do not argue with moderators while we are taking an action in a conversation, especially when things are already heated. We will hear your feedback and handle it separately from the situation the moderator is acting to correct.
take that, JK!
