The !android@lemmy.world community on this instance thrived for a while and reached almost 19k subscribers very rapidly and it was very active.

Recently the Reddit mods of r/Android created another community with a few hundred members on another different instance where they are mods and that one was then astroturfed on c/android by a person seemingly unrelated to that community’s mods.

Apparently some discussions then took place between owners of both communities and the mods of !android@lemmy.world community then unilaterally closed the community, thus, according to their own sticky notice, succumbing to the flawed reasoning that the Reddit mods are “more experienced” and therefore the rightful representatives of an Android community.

I find this behavior sad and it just shouldn’t be allowed here for two reasons:

  • this sets the precedent for more Reddit mods to just come and claim “ownership” of communities by bullying existing ones into closing;
  • does not respect the almost 19k subscribers who didn’t even have a say in this, and especially those who had already expressed that they joined !android@lemmy.world because they did NOT want to be moderated by the old Reddit mods.

!android@lemmy.world needs to be reopened now and the mods removed since they expressed that they no longer want to moderate a community on lemmy.world.

  • AlmightySnoo 🐢🇮🇱🇺🇦@lemmy.worldOP
    1711·
    1 year ago

    Those two mods forcibly closed the community and made it impossible to post on !android@lemmy.world, so we can’t organize that there. Admins should immediately reopen it, kick the two mods out for closing the community, and then people could apply to moderate that community.

    • Lvxferre@lemmy.ml
      14·
      1 year ago

      Okay, better course of action then: contact the admins in c/support and explain what’s going on, from the users’ PoV. In the meantime, try to gather a few potential new mods for the comm elsewhere, perhaps even in this thread.

      Three things can happen:

      • the admins say “okay, but who’s going to mod it now?” Then you give them the names of the people willing to mod it.
      • the admins say “no” and give you some reasoning. Then the course of action depends on what they say, really.
      • the admins give you crickets, Reddit style. Then you’re probably better off recreating the community in another instance.
        • Lvxferre@lemmy.ml
          41·
          1 year ago

          If there’s one thing that my times as forum moderator taught me, it’s that you sign up for “the test” once you step onto a position of power. All mods, all admins, all community managers, everyone with power over other users can - and should - be tested by those other users. No way to run, no way to hide.

    • Pika@lemmy.world
      71·
      1 year ago

      I agree with this mindset. If they chose to leave they should delete or replace the community. it shouldn’t be locked status, it’s against what I’ve found the mindset of lemmy is.