re: use of minor attraction symbols in art@puppy yeahhh, i would never wanna imply that either, i think it's just naivety to play to these kinds of things. unaware of what the implications are for normalizing these symbols, and what real-world impact they have.
it's extremely tricky to have these kinds of discussions without veering into territory that'd validate people's perceptions against lolisho, since it's hard to find the right words that doesn't sound like arguments of those sorts
all that said i do worry a bit about how the other end of any possible conflict would be, since... well, frankly most people aren't going to approach it like this, it'll be a lot of me wrestling to stop the conflict from setting itself on fire.
'tis just how it goes, i've dealt with not-this-instance related conflicts where most of the conversation was me trying to tell the person to calm the hell down. and then, once they do calm down, they often see they took this way too far and back down. ...though that doesn't always happen and they just let the rage get to their head and go forward in the nuclear option.
which again i'd be personally afraid of happening, i'd hope to find some way to keep myself calm and find ways to calm the other party down if this ever happens here; again i want to avoid as much defederation as possible.
...all that said, there hasn't been much cause for concern as of late. this is just all theoretical, so who knows, maybe we won't have a single problem with other instances, and it'll just be individuals who are rowdy.
...my brain hurts now from trying to type this all up so i'll stop here lmfao, i hope i got my concerns and wants across for how i want to run this place
i knew what i was signing up for when spinning up this instance, and i don't want anything that's occurred to me happen to any of y'all. diplomacy is going to be the first and foremost option, which again should be the fucking default.
and of course there'll be conflict no matter what, human nature is unavoidable in that regard, but i'll do my damndest to make sure things don't spiral out of control at least, and give people options.
i say all of this if only because i have growing concern with how many people prioritize bullshit like callout posts, defederating instances and suspending people at the slightest inconvenience and the such. and i want to avoid that as much as possible, since it causes so much instability and ultimately doesn't benefit anyone and just harms everyone.
it's tricky managing a community, don't get me wrong, but some people go on the "does literally nothing" route, and too many people go for the "i must set everything on fire" route. i'd like to take the "try to stay and calm and rational as possible" route, for the sake of everyone here.
apropos of nothing, i still hope to effectively run this community without letting my personal opinions get in the way of anything, nor let irrationality steer the ship.
i'm of course never going to be perfect, but i hope to do better than the vast majority of fediverse who's power-tripping admins resorts to defederations and suspensions at the mildest of sneezes.
i've had to make one tough decision thus far, with the rest being... relatively obvious choices for the betterment of this community.
but if and when i need to make another tough decision, i'd want to try to leave it up to the community to decide. this is your place after all, and i don't want to negatively impact your experience by cutting contact with anyone abruptly.
i'm basically trying to offer the bare minimum, but it feels like the bare minimum is extraordinary these days x.x
