Yesterday was intense for everyone. Some quick updates as of last night:
- A large amount of the sitemod team has stepped away from the project. Other comrades from the community have volunteered to pitch in and been modded.
- Some core devs also stepped away from the project. For the time being, you should not expect any further development of new features or bug fixes as we reassess our capacity.
- Main has been locked. No immediate plans to unlock.
- Registration is closed and will remain so for the time being.
We 100% understand and support everyone who left yesterday and are also looking forward to the next stage of Hexbear.
We’re probably not going to be making any additional announcements or formal communication until after the weekend at the earliest. Thanks.
edit: these reads more doomery than I intended. Good snapshot of last night’s headspace. Feeling more bloomer now.
That is not what I’m saying in this post. I am communicating we are also tired of this. We’re reviewing how the vegan comm merger went down and will be taking things from there.
It seemed like a good fit since they’re also shitposting leftists and the massive reaction that unfolded surprised everyone. Whether you think we should have been surprised or not is whatever, but that’s what happened.
The culture clash and hostility between the site’s current userbase and most other leftist communities who have tried to also come here is now an established pattern and we need to evaluate that. It’s unfortunate and I realize there are multiple reasons for this. Either way, it severely limits the potential of this site as an actual leftist platform.
Either way, the folks who do choose to continue working on the site need to set better expectations on our capacity as volunteers. It feels like walking a tight rope right now and that sucks.
We literally cannot be as responsive as a full time team because we’re not able to actually do this full time. Despite that, a lot of us have effectively been putting in full time hours trying to get the site off the ground and self-sustaining.
With each wave of struggle session, exhaustion increases. We continually try to improve and yet it feels like it is never good enough. I am not saying we don’t want to hear areas we can do better. Growth is important as is feedback and also it consistently feels like there is a consistent lack of good will, an eagerness to jump to a narrative of us being reactionary or evil, and little understanding that this is an early stage project. This is not everyone in the community, but it is enough to wear a person down.
The fact I am having to caveat this point so much illustrates my point. I also write this out knowing it will be ignored in the future or even somehow weaponized against the project the next few times an issue arises.
If we cannot figure out a way to adjust expectations with the community and get on the same page, then I believe most of us will probably leave to focus on other things. The wave of resignations yesterday is a reflection of that. There are other ways to apply our time and labor that result in more rewarding outcomes.
Maybe it’s too easy to blame wreckers, but it feels designed to be despiriting for everyone involved. Especially the way it comes in waves and always eventually gets turned on the volunteers keeping the place running.
The waves part and the timing of them are big giveaways.
