Hello users of hexbear after some discussion we mainly wanted to get your thoughts on the two pinned megathreads, one general and one news.
We’ve noticed that the news mega has basically become the general mega and the general mega has kinda slowed. Some are thinking that it might be time to tell people to stop posting random shit to the news mega because some appreciate the ever so slightly more serious, focused tone of the news mega
As of now there is not much of a standard for comments however we wanted to discuss with you regarding making a change. Where the news megathread is for discussion on current events and their history/implications for future while the general megathread is for commenting on one’s life, interests, or for shit-posting.
This would result in the news megathread being more heavily moderated to actively remove comments that are a better fit for the general megathread or off topic.
Please comment with any thoughts, opinions, comments, questions, or concerns.
Perhaps some perspective will help, because it is important to understand why we have the news megathread on Hexbear in the first place.
The news mega started off as Ukraine war daily megathread when Russia invaded Ukraine back in February 2022.
I don’t know if people still remember, but 2021 Hexbear was largely dominated by US-centric posts, many of which related to electoralism and soc dem related news in America (Bernie was still our socdem grandpa who got shoved by the DNC back then).
As the war in Ukraine dragged on beyond the first few weeks, people started to post about news and reactions from their respective countries in the Ukraine megathread, and the discussions that ensued attracted more international (non-US based) Hexbear users who gravitate towards non-US-centric news to congregate around the megathread and exchange their views.
Back then, if you post news or write up perspectives about left wing movements in your country, say Denmark, or South Africa, in any comm, you’d likely get very few engagements and would easily be drowned out by the rest of the US-centric posts. (This is still largely the case, today, I’d say, though the war in Ukraine has really forced a more international perspective on our American/Western comrades).
However, if you post them in the Ukraine megathread, people who are already interested in this kind of geopolitical affairs would be able to easily interact with them. You get a lot more engagements in the news mega than making separate posts in the news comm. It was then that people started to think we should probably turn the Ukraine megathread into a news megathread that provides a focus on non-US based global affairs (Comrade 72T was already posting tons of daily updates then, so the evolution of the megathread was completely natural at the time).
Since then, the news mega has grown into a niche enclave where the more international (read: non American) Hexbear users (and just based on vibes alone, a significant portion of them are non-white) congregate and hang out to share perspectives about their countries/regions. As familiarity and congeniality set in (I don’t recall even a single major struggle session occurring in the news mega since its very inception), it has cultivated a kind of sub-culture where some users understandably grew more comfortable expressing themselves in the news mega rather than the other places of the site, simply because of familiarity and the perceived safeness in the news mega.
What is happening in the news mega today (the memes and the shit-posting) is simply a natural progression of how the news mega came to being in Hexbear.
I am not saying it’s a good or a bad thing with respect to Hexbear in general, but it needs to be taken into considerations that some users may see the news mega as a space where they can safely express themselves, and most of the time without judgment or getting into arguments.
It makes it easy for me to catch up on news all around the world. I already get enough us news, i want to hear about what’s going on in the Sahel, or in Syria, or Brazil, or Vietnam. There isn’t really a place where i can get all of this content in one place, especially with a culture like it.
GOOD post
Let me tell you a secret. Look at all the posts on the front page right now, they all have many comments. The Lemmy algorithm highly prioritizes posts which have more comments to be shown on the front page. If you see a non-US post that you think is important, post a comment on the post, preferably something that is optimistic or positive. Post “good article” or why you think it is important, this will encourage the poster to post more similar articles. Post an emoji if you want. Your comment doesn’t have to be particularly informative. As long as you comment on posts that like, you will see more things that you like on the front page.
In the inverse case, do not comment on posts that you do not like. If you see a post that is malicious, western propaganda, etc. do not comment on it. You may be tempted to bully the poster or correct the narrative, but your comment is only going to boost the post in the algorithm. Most people who upvote a post probably don’t even read the comments, so correcting a narrative is pointless. Report posts that you believe are bourgeois propaganda, mods handle it. Make your own post with a more correct news article.
With this information in mind, I believe that having a “news megathread” where users post all world news is making hexbear more US-centric. Megathreads act as a containment, a quarantine. Let’s say you have a story where China does something extremely cool. User A posts “China does something extremely cool thing” in c/news and 2 people comment on it. User B posts the same article in the news megathread and 3 people comment on it. By having the discussion split, the c/news post does less well in the algorithm and never shows up on the Hexbear frontpage. Likewise, if the article was only posted in the news megathread, it would also not show up on the front page. In either case, a world news megathread is reducing the chances for non-US news to reach the front page of hexbear. Having a news megathread makes Hexbear more US-centric.
If you think that US news and world news needs to be split, Hexbear could have a international news comm and US news comm. Lemmy is a link aggregator software, the whole website is designed around the concept of posting links as posts, not as comments. If you want Hexbear to be less US-centric, then internation news posts should be posted as posts, not as comments.