The community has grown steadily and now has more than 1000 subscribers. My approach so far was very laid back and I did not remove posts or ban many people, unless some very clear cases of spam and trolling.
In recent times, more user reports have reached me, which I did not act upon. This is also due to a lack of rules.
My original intention was to have a space for discussion, also with non-vegans. I see that the community is mostly passive with posts being links to external sites with few comments, also to sites of the posters. I personally don’t mind and the upvotes tend to be >80%, which is a sign that a large majority likes this kind of posts.
This is why I want to ask you:
- Would you like to see more regulation on this community?
- What rules should be applied?
- What would you specifically not like to see?
I’m also open to have more moderators than just me for this community and general ideas for improving this community.
Thank you for your input! 🌱
Given the nature of the fediverse, bringing this community more in line with the Solarpunk instance:
A place for hopeful vegans and curious folk, focused on the climate crisis.
Solarpunk is an anti-capitalist movement against the status quo. Apolitical means status quo. Capitalism will not bring about liberation for any earthling, nor will the NGOs who do the bidding for the state. We can’t rely on our institutions. We need a grassroots movement from below.
More discussions about activism and community organizing. Posts about art, music, and creative works. Optimistic or thought-provoking essays aligned with Solarpunk values. Zero waste recipes or DIY dupes. Projects we can support or take to our own communities. News about everyday people working towards a better world.
Less about corporate offerings, consumption, and processed foods wrapped in plastic. Less inflammatory missionary work, less debate bros, and less worrying about scaring off conservatives.
There are numerous vegan communities across the fediverse on generalist instances more in line with the mainstream movement, let it be those who get that type of activity. Or in the discussion community which could use some love: !discusswithvegans@slrpnk.net
I mostly agree with this. I have zero interest in studies showing that consumption of such-and-such legume reduces the risk of heart disease or that such-and-such company has a new plant-based plastic-wrapped food-like substance available. I’m much more interested in practical tips for achieving animal liberation and overthrowing the capitalist oppressors. (The term “capital” actually comes from “capita” meaning “head” - wealth was once measured in how many head of cattle someone owned. The Sanskrit word for “war” literally means something like “the greed for more cattle” if I remember correctly.) Artistic or literary works with a strong vegan message that could be useful as propaganda are also something that I enjoy. I recently read The Word for World is Forest by Ursula Le Guin after seeing someone in another community on this site recommend it, and there is definitely a veganarchist message in there.
I would not make the focus hope or the climate crisis, however. Hope and faith are poor substitutes for direct action, and while the climate crisis is an extremely important issue in general, it is only relevant to veganism insofar as it affects non-consenting beings and is caused by their exploitation. The focus of veganism is animal liberation, and human health or environmentalist issues only distract from that. Something like “A place for solarpunks working toward a world without speciesism” would make more sense for this community. Solarpunk already implies ecological sustainability and addressing the climate crisis.
Also, grass is one of the many tools of the devil, widely employed by the animal exploitation industry as the cheapest possible feed, destroying vast amounts of forest in the process, so anything involving grass roots has got to go.
I’m with you, but I do stress the optimistic and hopeful part given the utopian nature of the solarpunk movement. I’m not talking about toxic positivity, that’s gross lol and leads to inaction. Moreso on replicable activities, collaboration, brainstorming, sharing successes, not dehumanizing others, and rejecting despair.
A lot of your posts are in line with what I mean about keeping the focus, like those about biodiversity loss and deforestation. Definitely not saying that’s all that fits here or all this place should be, but those do fit more than what feels like advertisements.
Maybe it’s because I’d like to see each vegan community on the fediverse have their own flavor… Like blahaj highlighting the intersections of queer and animal liberation, or lifting up queer activists. Or .ml discussing veganism through a communist lens, .ca focusing on Canadian concerns and movements. Right now, it feels so homogeneous.
Thank you for the last bit 😂 Killing your lawn is vegan!
So you mean integrating the ethical with the practical? “How to get shit done” rather than “I hope someone does something”? Less advertising, more wheatpaste-able propaganda? I agree! As a subversion tactic, eating a pre-packaged veggie burger is questionable at best.
Plant trees, grow your own banana, share with your neighbours, get a vasectomy/bisalp, cancel your credit cards, boycott taxation, organise and strategise, flip tables, rescue the imprisoned, sabotage cruelty, read Ecodefense,and of course, don’t do anything illegal. The last thing we’d want to do is offend someone.
my only issue would be if we struggled with bots/users posting unrelated political/whatever drivel. i have not seen that. i personally wouldnt mind the comments being open to debate with nonvegans as long as it remains cordial, i know some vegan forums have a zero tolerance for a carnist pov and while i wouldnt enjoy anything violent, disrespectful, or even very annoying, i think space genuine debates from someone curious can help bring people in
Would you like to see more regulation on this community?
Unless there are people downvoting every post or similar, no. “A community to discuss anything related to veganism” has room for all sorts of posts and discussions. Carnist trolls currently seem to be few and far between, so current moderation practices are working.
What rules should be applied?
That depends on the direction that everyone wants the community to take. @HubertManne makes a compelling point about splitting a community like this into a vegans-only community and an outreach community, in which case each would have different rules. For now, this seems like a community open to everyone engaging in a respectful way, so the instance-wide rules should suffice. The site’s wiki even states:
A solarpunk culture would strive to dissolve every form of social hierarchy and domination – whether based on class, race, gender, sexuality, ability, or species – dispersing the power some individuals or groups wield over others and thus increasing the aggregate freedom of all; empowering the disempowered and including the excluded. It is rooted in the legacy of such liberatory movements as anti-authoritarian socialism, feminism, racial justice, queer and trans liberation, disability struggles, animal liberation, and digital freedom projects.
What would you specifically not like to see?
I would not like to see posts removed or users banned for
- disagreeing with or questioning a popular narrative;
- linking to external sites/articles that relate to vegan living, animal liberation, or the struggles of particular non-human beings;
- expressing Yourofsky-esque misanthropy;
- criticising people (including other vegans) who engage in oppressive practices;
- exercising free speech in general, so long as it does not consist of personal attacks, harmful misinformation, or calls to violence against peaceful beings;
- anything that does not violate the instance rules or the spirit of Solarpunk;
- posting in a language other than english.
That said, if someone makes a post saying that it’s okay to eat oysters, I would prefer that the mod(s) err on the side of caution regarding bivalve sentience and ban that user for inciting violence. “Better that ten inanimates go free than that one sentient be eaten” or something like that.
Honestly I feel many groups could use two communities. An internal group and an outreach group. If the name and sidebar rules make it plain then I think that should be all that is needed. Like if there was a vegans-only or vegans-talking vegans and the bar said hey this is for folks who are vegan to discuss the lifestyle. If your not vegan you are free to hang if your respectful to the lifestyle. Then like another community like vegan-curious or path2vegan or something and that can say hey this is to spread the word on veganism. If you want to debate cool but if you are 100% closed to becoming vegan then please find somewhere else to hand. If I saw that I would block the internal one as im not part of the crowd and don’t want to intrude (people get wierd about blocking because of the negative terminology but its just a thing. Since I don’t think groups can be locked it makes totaly sense to block something your not apart of if its made clear its an internal group thing). Anyway just some musing on my part about group structures. I often think of them like in person things. The vegan group that meets at the library also participating in outreach programs or such.
