An anonymous admin on Beehaw banned me for being “pompous”. In both my comments I was being fully cooperative and doing whatever the other person wanted me to do. However, the symptoms of my narcissistic personality disorder were visible in the way I spoke. I was visibly narcissistic. My symptoms didn’t affect my behaviour or how I treated others, they were just cosmetic. And the verdict from the Beehaw admins is that visibly having NPD is unacceptable. I think this isn’t nice, and I think it discourages diversity.
Of note, we’ve never banned a single person without openly discussing what happened with other individuals who participate in this community1 and asking for their input. We can’t promise this will always be the case, but we can promise that we’ll be open to having a discussion with any community member who feels that something unjust happened with another person or to themselves.
This excerpt is in the page “Beehaw is a community”, and it shouldn’t be. It’s not true anymore.
What is Expected of Community Moderators?
Encourage and promote respectful and constructive discussions, and address any behaviour that goes against our community’s spirit to be(e) nice.
Assist people by answering their questions, offering guidance, and helping them navigate the platform effectively, ensuring they feel heard.
Deleting the thread in which this happened and all records of it on the site doesn’t promote constructive discussions. Making it against the rules to tell someone they made a mistake doesn’t promote constructive discussions. Telling a disabled person the way they talk is pompous and unacceptable doesn’t promote respectful discussions. Banning someone who asks clarification on what they should say doesn’t address their behaviour, it doesn’t offer guidance, it doesn’t answer their questions or help them navigate the platform, and it doesn’t make anyone feel heard.
Assume good faith
I treat other Beeple with good faith, even when I think they are not responding to me in kind, unless they are unequivocally advocating for hate or intolerance of fellow humans.
I give others the benefit of a doubt when I read their posts/comments, I assume good intent and give others the opportunity to save face/clarify.
And there was no part of this treatment that treated me with good faith, or gave me the opportunity to save face or clarify. I say there’s nothing wrong with making mistakes and I had every intention of doing as I was asked, the admin tells me to shut up and go away.