There was a reason that r/RSA was created and that was because of mod abuse and censorship of anything outside of their own narrative. Can we be sure that this community will not end up the same?
No! And never will be!!
I wrote at https://www.reddit.com/r/southafrica/comments/14f31g3/the_future_of_rsouthafrica_survey_results/ that I’m more than happy to promote alternatives to reddit, but I wasn’t interested in managing those communities.
Most of the animosity towards r/southafrica are from people banned for blatant bigotry or racism. A few key these people took over r/RSA to use for “free speech” which means a safe space for them to talk fondly of the days of Apartheid and how the blacks have ruined the country.
The “Free Speech” that they wanted was what a decent person would call hate speech. However, even the r/RSA mods restricted “Free Speech” in their sub, so much so that r/SanitySouthAfrica (now banned for hate) was created by users banned or actioned by r/RSA.
r/southafrica has always been at the crossroads between extremists from all corners of the political spectrum. The anonymous nature of reddit means that these extremists feel comfortable expressing their hate. Beware it’ll come here soon enough.
And by the way, OP is angry at r/southafrica because they had a low effort discussion removed. https://www.reddit.com/r/southafrica/comments/1460bpg/real_political_party_pros_and_cons_excluding_anc/
With the elections coming up I find myself wanting to know more about the parties that I could vote for. I don’t want a bunch of propaganda, I’m looking for some of the best things these parties and their members have accomplished and also the worst. For those that will vote ANC or EFF, instead of commenting on those parties pros, focus on the opposition parties cons. I dont want to hear anything about ANC or EFF. Hopefully this can lead to some useful discussion.
Our policy on Discussions requires that the author adds their own thoughts and meet a minimum level of effort that they had missing here. They failed to do this, and their submission was removed and they got angry about it. Instead of addressing that or chatting with us, they moaned everywhere (including here) about this removal. But no, it’s “mod abuse”. And he’s sure that most r/southafrica aren’t even South African. That’s laughable.
I’ve extended this offer to anyone and everyone: Provide me a username and I’ll tell you exactly what they did to be sanctioned. Most who complain about being banned misrepresent exactly why they were banned.
nkunzi over here had a post removed (https://www.reddit.com/r/southafrica/comments/zakd8q/how_does_this_sub_differ_from_rrsa/) specifically on request by moderators from r/RSA, and a ban was included with that - I’m not sure why. The mod who did that deleted their account, so I can’t even see who that was. nkunzi, contact us please.
boetelezi was banned for “historical negationism”. Much like other subs have a hard line policy against holocaust denial, we have a similar policy against denying the horrors of apartheid. People like them yearn for the return to Apartheid. That’s “free speech” that I’m happy to not play host to. Dude seems obsessed with the ANC - see their history on reddit.
Anyways, beware of snakes in the grass. Amusingly depending on where they are on the political spectrum, we are left wing racists or right wing racists. None of the mods are ANC or EFF supporters, but people like OP would dispute that. We want what’s best for our country and happily remove toxic elements from our community.
I’m more than happy to share our approach to modding and our principles and philosophy. Reach out directly here or on reddit (I’m u/lovethebacon in case that isn’t obvious). I’ve been a part of the community for about 10 years and a mod for about 7 of them. And I am still happy to promote this community from r/southafrica, as long as you don’t provide a platform for hate to flourish.
We have enough hate in this world, and if hate’s agents want to accuse me of being guilty of mod abuse, well that’s a badge I gladly wear.
Hey Bacon… decided to dip a toe in here as well?
Just wanted to share some things on my mind :)
wow, thanks for sharing that. Its a mouth full…
I would say lemmy/southafrica is more than politics and we must keep that in mind. If it is just politics that they want to discuss, then they are welcome to open a lemmy/sapolitics community.
Ag I just had a long reply written that I lost 'cause I pressed the wrong button. It was some advice and wishing you luck. I’ll come back in a few days and redo it.
Thanks for identifying yourself. Now I can block you.
My pleasure and thanks for letting me know.
haha why so salty?
The guy explains how a bunch of people were banned for basically no real reason and thinks its justified and you’re asking me why I’m salty for blocking this toxic POS?
It took a long time and a lot of hard work (mostly by the current mods of r/southafrica) to make r/southafrica a place where white supremacists felt unwelcome… and I don’t mind doing it all over again here on lemmy.
haha okay. fair point. I’m a sucker that listen to people that vent…
OP’s a child, that’s why. Guaranteed he will turn on you if you make a decision they don’t agree with.
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Should we determine some rules for this group? Not sure.
I think having a set of basic rules is a good thing and it gives people an idea what to expect. For instance, how many times a week should a person be allowed to advertise their business? Do we allow political discussions?
I lean towards a more laissez faire approach where the community mostly self moderates, but its up to you.
Thanks! Sounds good. Will make a separate post for all suggestions!
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Agree r/southafrica mods ruined it. I once asked about legal, medical ketamine treatment and they took it down because evil drugs yada yada. Couple other issues but generally I’d say close minded, power trippy behaviour. Eventually got summarily banned because I asked what’s up with r/RSA in r/southafrica. I think it is/was in the RSA sidebar that you can’t really discuss southafrica in RSA because the mods would go complain to Reddit overlords. How scared can you be of free speech? Maybe not all mods were terrible but collectively that’s what I experienced.
No they were all terrible. And most of them weren’t even south africans. Sorry about your experience.
100% agree, censorship and abuse from mods killed r/southafrica for me.
what did they do wrong in your opinion?
