Post ASNMzgDNW2Wooc8W4e by Barmaid@eldritch.cafe
(DIR) More posts by Barmaid@eldritch.cafe
(DIR) Post #ASNMzgDNW2Wooc8W4e by Barmaid@eldritch.cafe
2023-02-05T16:57:31Z
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1. After some amount of reflection, a careful examination of our chat logs and a lot of collective debate, we arrived to the conclusion that Camille’s accusations were not without basis.She was right to point that the instance had, for years, failed to show initiative when it came to actively fighting racism. We must also admit that her voice as a black woman was not sufficiently taken into account by the overwhelmingly white moderation team. Worse, the administration team didn’t step in to correct the problem, because it didn’t even identify it.This created an environment in which Camille didn’t feel safe and heard and led her to leave the team.None of this was done with malice. But good intentions are not enough, and this event is clearly the result of a collective failure by both the administration and moderation teams to account for their whiteness and properly address the power dynamics at play inside their midst.2. We admit that our eagerness to get into day-to-day moderation right away and work out rules “on the side” created an environment of uncertainty in which no clear moderation guidelines had been set down, which we recognize contributed to Camille feeling unsupported and having no clearly stated guidelines to defend her moderation actions by.We now realize that we should have written such guidelines before moving on to everyday moderation to provide her and other team members with an unambiguous toolset to prevent conflicts between team members and situations that singled her out for unjustified criticism by other team members.3. Our initial answer to the Fediblock post was inappropriate. It was driven primarily by anger and fear and as such was not the calm, thoughtful and collected response that would have been better for everybody involved. In our panic, we didn’t take the time to properly address its claims, nor to reflect on our actions and the collective failures of the administration and moderation teams.What we should have done instead: we should have replied that we would immediately start to reflect on what happened, on what our mistakes might have been, and that we would take the time needed to write a level-headed statement and to start addressing each of our failures.We now know that we must do better in that regard and we hope the present post will be a first step in that direction.4. In our first public statement, we linked to posts previously made by several members of the moderation team. Our thought at the time was that it would allow people to have different perspectives on what happened and was currently unfolding.That was a mistake. It ended up putting Niléane in the spotlight, making her the target of harassment. It also created a situation in which we were effectively leveraging the word of a black woman against another black woman. It was not our intent, but the result was the same.In retrospect we now realize we should have strictly stuck with a collective statement and refrained from putting any member of the team forward — especially our only other black member. However, we also recognize Niléane’s right to stand up for herself without putting the team’s wishes over her own.For all of this, we apologize.First, to Camille, who has been the first victim of our collective failure and of the systemic racism at play inside our group.Second, to the people of color who call Eldritch Café their home on the Fediverse. We believe we failed you by not providing you with the level of safety you deserve.And last, to the wider Fediverse.[1/2]
(DIR) Post #ASNMzh10XWE9IXM9Qm by Barmaid@eldritch.cafe
2023-02-05T16:58:09Z
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So, what are going to do from now on?As soon as our new team was onboarded, we were able to resolve all of the overdue reports that had accumulated, and we doubled the amount of suspended servers in a matter of days. We wish to highlight that we will keep doing this work day-to-day, and to highlight that Eldritch Café now has a resilient moderation team. But we must do better. Several people reached out to express their desire to help us improve. We intend to seize these opportunities.To that end, our moderation team’s immediate goal is to resume the work on overhauling our server rules. That work was first initiated as soon as the team was assembled about two weeks ago in order to provide our users with a safer environment, more clearly defined rules, and an improved ability to report harmful behaviour.We will also immediately start drafting new guidelines for ourselves, so as to better be able to manage critical situations as a team, to better be able to reflect on our failures, and to collectively grow from them.Our team will keep you all informed on this progress via @Barmaid.To other instances teams: please feel free to request our moderation chat logs if you need to get a clearer picture of the events that unfolded. We reached out to Camille so she was able to review and confirm the chat logs beforehand. We are now in the process of sending them to the several teams that have requested to read them. If you’re an admin or part of a moderation team, you can address your request at @Barmaid directly and we will send them to you.We hope finishing our revision of the server rules and our moderation guidelines will, along with this statement and apology, contribute to restoring some of the trust that was lost due to our mistakes.--Eldritch Café’s joint moderation and administration teams[2/2]
(DIR) Post #ASNMzhYgWJAKyz72vI by dhfir@suya.place
2023-02-05T17:17:36.363178Z
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@Barmaid you guys exist?by the time I got on fedi people were talking about your instance like some kinda lost civilization, fallen for mysterious ill-defined reasons and half-forgotten in the aftermath.or at least, that's the vibes I got, when people mentioned you at all.
(DIR) Post #ASNOi9nmyKqtH4wIm8 by dhfir@suya.place
2023-02-05T17:36:14.638473Z
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@Barmaid or was it witches.live?can't seem to remember.
(DIR) Post #ASNP50IEUaZCRY4bom by Sylvhem@eldritch.cafe
2023-02-05T17:38:24Z
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@dhfir Oh, you are probably thinking of witches.town.
(DIR) Post #ASNP50pYUhDo6tfDl2 by dhfir@suya.place
2023-02-05T17:40:59.095227Z
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@Sylvhem yeah that sounds about right.