Something big is happening, as Reddit seems to have purged literally every NSFW sub they know. Reason is always “unmoderated” despite some of the banned subreddits being fully moderated.


Edit: seems to have been a bug in automation (thanks @lefty7283@lemmy.world):

https://old.reddit.com/r/ModSupport/comments/1ii67mt/_/mb3fewv

It’s still a good reminder on how quickly a community (or communities) thousands of people enjoy and in some cases rely upon can disappear.

    • Wxnzxn@lemmy.ml
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      As a quick reminder: don’t expect them to handle your load (lol) for free. If you are a gooner/goonette with some income, leave a tip for the server costs and consider volunteering for mod duties if you have time and some internet social skills. If you value your nsfw communities, they don’t exist without work, like any other community.

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        Hosting NSFW content is an absolute ball-ache, so a lot of instances that are not NSFW focussed do not host it.
        In the early days of feddit.uk, we decided to go the path of SFW, to simplify things.
        I absolutely salute the lemmy-nsfw admins in taking that load on.
        And it makes a lot of sense: If you’re going to deal with the headaches, you might as well focus entirely on them!

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    r/transgender_surgeries wasn’t porn. It was a community outlet for results so people could understand what to expect. Queer folk always get swept up with porn, cishet only see us as a “kink” and assume our existence is entirely sexual.

    It’s fucking infuriating.

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      Queer folk always get swept up with porn, cishet only see us as a “kink” and assume our existence is entirely sexual.

      This is the whole point of these porn bans is to remove queer people from the internet. The porn cover just allows it to happen. So whenever you see anything about porn bans think queer ban first and then some porn removal that comes right back

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        it’s telling that they target trans content; but leave gay content alone.

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          They knew that their attacks on gay people weren’t as popular as they once were so they are taking the exact same tactics and language and moving it towards Trans people. It both predictable and sad at the same time

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            it’s sad, but expected from conservatives; the real sadness is an “ally” like biden who didn’t enact the equal rights amendment that would help protect trans people from the legal version of this shit and then very publicly pretended that he did.

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              Why are people still talking about Biden? He’s not the president and I thought we all agreed he was a feeble brained old centrist who needed to gtfo the way. Living rent free etc.

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                The damage he allowed to happen doesn’t magically disappear once he left office

                • nomy@lemmy.zip
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                  The damage they’ve all allowed going back decades. He’s bought and paid for just like every other pol. None of them are on our side and shouldn’t be treated like they are.

        • SoftestSapphic@lemmy.world
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          They lost the chance to scapegoat the gays after they failed to in the 80s during the AIDS epidemic

          Now there’s too many gay people in the population to keep them down.

          Once we get over this hurdle the same will be true for Trans people.

          • clif@lemmy.world
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            Now there’s too many gay people in the population to keep them down.

            Well if we made more gay people, let’s just make more trans people. Problem solved!

            • Schadrach
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              let’s just make more trans people. Problem solved!

              This is literally what right wingers accuse trans people trying to engage with kids in public of doing. Like trans story time, or trans teachers. That they’re going to trans their children, like it’s some kind of vampire curse.

      • SoftestSapphic@lemmy.world
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        The old ass fascists trying to hold together their plutocracy suppress anything that goes against their patriarchal values.

        Even looking at it as a fetish, trans porn has been skyrocketing in popularity

        https://www.pornhub.com/insights/transgender-searches

        And this terrifies right wingers

        The current patriarchy sees non-binary people as a threat to their heirachies. If the line between man and woman gets blurred then we start questioning why we aren’t all actually equal, and that leads to us removing them from power.

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          Really anything that shows or hints that any part of their “natural” order is something created. Gender is a big one but anything

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      It’s a shame. I’m not trans. I’m a cis male and I have no desire to be female. But I live in a very trans friendly community and as such I have many trans friends and they need outlets. I joined a meetup group which inadvertly became a trans safe space (original topic was anime) and many trans people just joined as it was the one space where they weren’t judged. We just did it in the way of anime, like their only safe space is something not trans releated and this is despite living in a friendly city. I will be an ally to all my trans friends and support them in this time of need.

    • marcie (she/her)@lemmy.ml
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      I’m currently discussing with people about mirroring it somewhere on lemmy, but there is also Transbucket which already exists as its own independent website.

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      You… see who’s in charge, right? Republicans always target LGBTQ+ folks for “pornographic” violations.

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      Well it is genitals but the purpose is entirely different. I don’t agree with it but I can at least see the logic.

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        By that “logic”, all obgyn’s are sex workers. It’s shit justification for bigotry and shouldn’t be given any credence whatsoever.

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          Not sure I follow the logic since an OBGYNs job is not get you off.

          If they are banning NSFW images, then that’s why.

          Like I said the purpose of those images in the trans subreddits serve an educational purpose. But you probably shouldn’t be viewing it at work. If they are banning nudity, that’s nudity.

          Like I said I don’t agree with the ban hammer, but it’s consistent. However, in my opinion, all it should be left as is regardless of the purpose.

          • inb4_FoundTheVegan@lemmy.world
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            since an OBGYNs job is not get you off.

            Neither is trans people posting the results of surgery.

            This entire line of thinking is contradictory, nonsensical and unhelpful.

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              I was replying to comment the “OBGYNs are sex workers” comment. Tran surgery pics are very useful and not porn.

              If you can’t follow that logic I’m not sure what to do.

    • BrundleFly2077@sh.itjust.works
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      I mean, ffs. #notallcishet? I don’t get how people who are being oppressed and all lumped together under one description (which you all definitely are) can be so nonchalant throwing around broad strokes like that.

      • Draces@lemmy.world
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        Lol was that hashtag ironic? You know “not all men” is frequently referenced as a critique about men who can’t hear criticism of gender equality because “not all men”? As a cishet dude: calm down, their point is valid and your reaction is cringe

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        You got a problem with trans people? No? Then it wasn’t talking about you. Christ, is that hard to understand?

        When a group of people makes an “us vs them” against a minority, it forces the minority to use that language back. As a cishet person, your identity is being used as a weapon to harm trans people regardless if you’re doing anything. Ignorance of the minorities plight can be weaponized to do more harm and that ignorance can be shielded through appeals to normalcy and tradition.

        When you respond to that language with “not all cishet people” you signal that your support is contingent on you not losing anything (your ignorance is one of the things you can lose). Which can and will be used to weaponize more harm against the minority group.

        • BrundleFly2077@sh.itjust.works
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          I realize that I’m outnumbered here and that this is apparently an unpopular opinion, but nobody is forcing anyone to say “all x are y” because someone else is (I agree, in bad faith) doing the same thing.

          You’ve both been quite rude to me and I’m done engaging you, but that’s the full extent of my point and I’m unconvinced by your rebuttals.

          Ciao now 🫡

          • Whats_your_reasoning@lemmy.world
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            nobody is forcing anyone to say “all x are y” because someone else is (I agree, in bad faith) doing the same thing.

            Legal documents are being made to say that all x (transgender individuals) are now y (the wrong gender) because someone else (the government) is making them say so.

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              I’ve never disputed that. I don’t know how reiterating that fact in any way supports the idea that it “forces” transgender individuals to use the same language to describe “all cishet” people.

              That was my point. It always has been.

              If I were visually impaired and protesting unsuccessfully for better accessibility in my work environments, I can’t imagine why I would make a claim in any capacity including the language “all sighted people”.

      • JackbyDev@programming.dev
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        Can you please learn and understand that when people are frustrated they often use a little hyperbole? It’s very selfish to respond to people like this.

  • fmtx@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    I see they’re following the Tumblr model:

    • Get bought at overinflated values.
    • Ban all NSFW content.
    • Users leave and seek NSFW content elsewhere.
    • Valuation plummets.
    • “Actually, moderating NSFW is really hard you guys. We’re just going to try best efforts moderation only.”
    • Sell at near total loss.
    • There is still NSFW content on the platform, and the policy is used as a cudgel against LGBTQ accounts.
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      As far as I remember they weren’t monetizing NSFW subs, so I guess their reasoning is that banning them reduces server costs while not impacting their ads revenue.

      Now what will be interesting is to see how much of Reddit’s userbase was there at least partly for the porn, and how many users will leave Reddit altogether because of this move

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        I’m curious if the pro bono porn increased the traffic for the monetizes subreddits. So this might lead to a gross loss instead of pure savings from the server costs.

        Anyhow. R/all is among the worse places on the internet. It can get fucked.

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      Man, like I’ll welcome new people, but I don’t want all flooded with porn. I already had to block a bunch of communities/ profiles, and I’ll have to work more to fix my feed. Having said that

      Give me your tired, your goons, Your huddled masses yearning to goon free, I guess.

      • half_fiction@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        Try jerboa, you can just block the nsfw instance instead of doing it piecemeal. Total game changer. (Some of the other apps probably have this functionality but I don’t know which.)

          • half_fiction@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            I didn’t want other NSFW stuff blocked, just porn. When I was originally signing up it seemed like NSFW was being treated as an all or nothing for most instances. Idk if it’s changed or if I just needed to look harder.

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              What’s an example of NSFW that you want to see that is banned by instances banning porn? Which instances are you referring to?

              • half_fiction@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                Idk it was like 2 years ago. I just remember looking through fediverse guides and instances were labeled as either allowing NSFW content or not, no nuance. I didn’t dig into whether the specific instances were defederated from lemmynsfw nor did I even know to look for that at the time.

                There’s not that much NSFW stuff that isn’t porn but I come across it occasionally. Usually jokes, sometimes people will also be very cautious and mark shit that isn’t really. I prefer to be largely unconstrained with what comes across my feed, just don’t care for the random puss intermingled.

        • Raiderkev@lemmy.world
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          I do this in sync as it is. Just saying if a shitload of reddit refugees come here and my feed becomes 90% full of porn, I’ll likely have a few more to ban.

          • half_fiction@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            As far as I can tell, you can only block communities in sync which is why you’re having to do it one by one. Jerboa you can just block the whole NSFW instance, one and done.

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              I can block instances. It’s really not that big of a deal. Just pointing out that an influx like that, I’m sure would bring more instances, and more stuff I wouldn’t want in my feed I’d have to block.

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          I’m not an admin or anything, but there was a recent meta post about this topic. A lot of NSFW and political stuff is restricted but not blocked. All that means is that it won’t show in any feed unless you actually subscribe to the community. If you subscribe it will show in the all-feed like normal. I think it’s a good middle ground.

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      I’m against the ban, but I also don’t want that gooning here. Although that’s what drives like half of the internet so maybe it’s a good thing for the fediverse.

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    I don’t care about NSFW subs per se, but they’re useful canaries in the coal mine. If they’re gone gone, it’s a fine indicator of what’s about to come next.

    • Schadrach
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      No, your canaries are already long dead. It’s long been a process when Reddit admins don’t want a sub to exist but it isn’t actually breaking any rules to laser focus on the moderators, ban them the moment they have an excuse, immediately ban the sub for being unmoderated, refuse to give it to a new mod via reddit request and ban any replacement subs for recreating a banned sub. Hell, r/GamingCircleJerk has been laughing about some right wing gaming memes sub having that done to it just a few weeks ago.

      They only care about it not looking like they are just nuking subs they don’t like is because they don’t want to scare off other users who might get antsy about having a community under those sorts of capricious admins.

      This sounds a lot like an automation of that process that misfired. That they were all specifically banned for being “unmoderated” is what jumps out to me as telling.

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    This has been predicted for many years. Most were expecting it to happen before the IPO, since investors are afraid of porn.

    They had also been gradually heading down this path for a long time, making porn harder and harder (heh) to find and view.

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      It’s not only porn. Today i google-image searched a skin condition. Most results were reddit links, but i wasn’t able to open any of them without their app as the subreddits were apparently 18+!

      I wasn’t able to view any of the information as i refuse to install the app. Google should deprioritize the results that can’t be viewed in the browser.

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            That’s understandable. There are a whole lot of little tricks and workarounds you’ve gotta constantly keep in your head and recall on the spot to try and navigate the crap that is the modern Internet. In addition to all the other life stuff we’ve gotta remember!

      • Carrot@lemmy.today
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        In the top right of your internet browser, there should be a menu button. If you hit that, there should be a “Desktop Site” button. If you check that, the app prompt goes away. It’s annoying that it’s required, but at least you won’t be locked out

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      It’s only a matter of time. They don’t display any ads on nsfw subreddits currently, so management likely sees these subreddits as nothing but a cost, especially because they tend to be heavily image/gif based. what they are unsure about, which is why they haven’t been purged yet, is likely how much traffic to non-nsfw subreddits nsfw subreddits drive. I think we are likely to see purges of them when/if ad money dips or plateaus and they turn their eye to minimizing operating costs.

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      Are they going to revert the changes in a few weeks when Musk loses interest? Seems like a huge loss of website traffic for some Elon virtue signaling.

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      It did happen before the IPO. It’s been happening for several years. They have not been doing mass bans all at once. They’ve been surreptitiously taking down subreddits over the years. Mostly smaller ones that woujldn’t draw much attetnion. Looks like they went for the bigger targets now.

      This isn’t a sudden change to ideologically align with the current US administration either. They have been at this for a long time.

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          I mean, one has to ask why they were setting up automated banning of these subreddits in the first place.

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            The reason for all of them was unmoderated. So it seems to me like they have/are testing a method to auto ban unmoderated subs. Not that crazy, imho.

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              Then why weren’t there loads more “unmoderated” subs of different categorize blocked?

              If it was just a glitch, I suspect that the affected subreddits would better represent a random distribution of topics than what we witnessed.

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                A glitch is when something doesn’t work as you expect it to. I don’t know why you’d suspect any kind of behaviour from a glitch. Glitches can do all kinds of crazy shit.

                To be clear, I’m speculating on what tool they may actually be working on.

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                  I’m aware of what a glitch is. What I’m saying is that they are already targeting these specific subs regardless of their moderation status. The only ‘glitch’ here was that they got caught pushing an agenda.

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              If they are really testing things like that, it’s quite worrying that they did it on the production server…

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                  I see, I assumed trans_surgeries wasn’t a nsfw sub, so I was weary of why it would be in the list with the rest.

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      I wouldn’t be surprised if it turns out they’re making a ban list for all these communities, but the ‘glitch’ was that someone turned it on before whatever PR move/manufactured scandal they were going to use to justify it was ready to go.

      Or this was just a test fire to see how people would react.

    • wuphysics87@lemmy.ml
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      That’s a pretty big glitch. 1. You have a nuclear button. 2. The omega thermal nuclear cluster bombs are pointed at a particular target

    • mindbleach@sh.itjust.works
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      Uh huh. Like the glitch that put T_D on the front page - the entire front page.

      One of those funny coincidences that keeps happening.

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    You mean all my reddit porn is now gone?

    Fuck it. They all should migrate to Lemmy. There was some hard to find porn that I haven’t saved yet…

  • Anarki_@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    <tinfoil hat> Other corporate social media has also had “bugs” that delete or hide advertiser unfriendly content, with staff scrambling to go “oopsie!”. That ain’t a bug, they’re testing something. </tinfoil hat>

    • vertis@lemmy.ml
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      I don’t think this is really tinfoil hat. I’d like to see they explain how it just happened to remove that subset and not other things.

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    Reddit is preparing to surrender to somebody who does not want NSFW content on their site in an attempt to appease advertisers. Possibly Musk.

    • 【J】【u】【s】【t】【Z】@lemmy.world
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      The anti-porn conservatives have always been about controlling women.

      That woman who founded OnlyFans driving around in 10 different Lamborghinis, that’s their worst fucking nightmare.

      Before that, it was that one lady whose husband died and then she discovered massive oil reserves under her land.

      That kind of stuff is an existential threat to the patriarchy, which conservative control freaks must preserve at any cost.

      They cannot allow women to become self-sufficient and thereby self-determinative. Otherwise, who will take care of the men, and raise the men’s babies?

      • MoonMelon@lemmy.ml
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        Literally why witch hunts existed. It was just a way for authorities to expropriate the wealth of some random dowager who won’t remarry (and therefore automatically cede all property to her new husband).

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        Also, frankly, I think sexual repression is just a HUGE part of the control mechanisms these people employ. Basically, “joy” is seen as a “sin” because there should “only be joy in God” or some stupid bull shit. You are supposed to take bride in being as missrable as possible so in the afterlife you will get eternal joy or whatever.

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      6 days ago

      Could be going for IPO finally.

      Edit: didn’t realize it already happened, I haven’t been on Reddit in a long while.