Community Feedback for r/EngineeringStudents Discord Changes

While we generally all agree a 'spring cleaning' to make structural changes to the r/es server
was warranted, the current trajectory of changes seems to deliberately alienate a sizable
portion of the community in favor of a more corporate and authoritative climate that is
appealing only to longtime users and graduates. In addition, the manner in which the changes
were and are being presented has rubbed a large number of users the wrong way, dividing the
community far more than before changes were announced. This is a series of feedback and
suggested addenda to the changes detailed in the recent r/es update*, compiled from
sentiments expressed by many users that have refuged in multiple splinter servers following
the closing of the main server.

Responses to r/ES update on 6/27/20

1: Discord Moderator Changes
It is understandable that the r/es staff has been overwhelmed with the large influx of users
over the past few years, particularly the large spike as a result of the COVID19 pandemic forcing
many more users online. Thus new staff should be introduced, and the existing applications
serve this.
However, practical and possibly subtractive changes must also be made to the staff. Many of
the current staff rarely interact with the community, meaning that they are both not entirely
trusted to understand the community’s needs as well as often unable to perform the
moderating functions there is an admitted shortage of. This has manifested in an aged and
distant staff that is forcing control over a largely undergraduate server, sparking discontent and
deep divisions in the community. It has been mentioned by a current r/es admin that the new
round of moderator applications is intended to address this in part, bringing in younger
moderators that know modern student culture. At the same time, current staff are largely
inefficiently performing their functions, chiefly of which is being active community members,
and this must be addressed as well.
In addition, there are a few moderators that have stood out in rubbing regular users the wrong
way. The response to these is obviously a matter for deliberation among the r/es staff, but
community sentiments are strong in these cases:
AstroSpud/ Dingo of Dandy, who has repeatedly fuelled toxic conversations and violated server
rules, the least of which manifests in being extremely rude in some cases. Many complaints
have been issued against this moderator for some time, and have largely not been addressed.
The shortage of mods in the A/PAC timezone does not warrant keeping bad mods on board.
Labtec901, who is often condescending to undergraduates and new(er) users, outwardly
appearing to want a version of r/ES in which only graduates and longtime members are
recognized as facets of the community.

*https://www.reddit.com/r/EngineeringStudents/comments/hh30je/discord_moderator_applications_a
re_open_updates/
BrassBells, who best exemplifies the authoritative staff member that has made little effort to
interact with the community in recent times and is now forcing changes with indiscrete and
divisive methods and language, particularly that in the hours leading up to the r/ES shutdown.
The optics of her actions have led many users to believe she is solely responsible for the
destruction of the active r/ES community and deliberately alienating users that do not meet her
personal models while claiming to be fostering a welcoming environment.

2a, banning of drug talk:

This and other changes to strengthen enforcement of Discord partnership TOS are
understandably necessary, and largely supported by the community.
2b, no verbal warning before a .warn is issued:
This is understandable but must be executed on a case-by-case basis. Minor infractions such as
sending a message in the wrong channel are easily and agreeably dealt with by a simple verbal
warning, while things like explicit content are indeed best dealt with by a warning.
Banning users after their 3rd war in 2 years is reasonable dependent on the heavy-handedness
of the issuing of warns as described.
2c, requirement of a verified phone number:
There has been little to no conversation regarding this change, the extra layer of security at the
cost of a minor annoyance is trivial.
2d, removal of memes channel and banning of memes:
This is one of the most controversial changes listed. Discord is by nature an informal medium,
especially when populated by young adults regardless of the community themes, and thus
memes are an important facet of positive interaction. Memes are a healthy and largely
harmless source of collective enjoyment for a vast majority of r/ES users, and banning them is a
major element of creating an unwelcoming, exclusively corporate environment. The issue is
that the very small amount of memes that were being posted in r/ES that violated the rules or
Discord TOS were left unaddressed by the mods who were unwilling to enter the channel, not
having interest in memes themselves. Their response is then to ban it, and then paint a picture
that memes were a massive cause of the unwelcoming toxic nature of the server which was
simply never the case.
The memes channel must be allowed to continue to exist. New and existing moderators must
moderate it, because completely eliminating it due to a lack of motivation to do so is an
extremely bad move that has and will continue to see backlash from active and new community
members. This extends to other informal channels such as those for pet pictures, food, and
hobbies.
2e, removal of politics channel and banning of politics discussion:
The intent of the politics and economics channel was to provide a place for educated debate on
current events, however this was not the reality of its activity. All users, even those that
participated in it, recognized it as a toxic cesspool of bad faith arguments, baiting,
strawmanning, personal attacks, and even doxxing. Therefore there has been little skepticism of
the channel’s removal, even if it will take a great effort by staff and users to not foster this
theme of discussion in other channels.
2f, doxxing will result in an instant ban:
It appears that all staff and users are in agreement on this. Doxxing is one of the most toxic
actions one can make online, and had occurred multiple times in r/ES in recent memory.
2g, 5-10 second slowmode in general channel:
This is another contentious change. Many users do not see this as an issue or obstacle, many
see it as extremely disruptive of the natural flow of conversation. Additional dialogue is needed
to determine the efficacy of such a change, and while some users have stated they will not
rejoin r/ES if this is put in place it is largely inconsequential.
2h, “Rules are subject to change as we feel out the new state of things and get more
moderators”
This is arguably the most important line item, as it suggests that dialogue such as this document
will be received in reforming the server into a desirable platform for all users and staff, but staff
must take care not to alienate portions of the community as some recent actions have.
3, Reminder to ping staff for rule breaking:
There has been little to no conversation regarding this.

Suggestions for additional server changes

New channels:
The introduction of many new channels for formal discussion of academics and career advice
has been suggested by CaptainCard here: https://pastebin.com/3ZEXjh62
The ideas for these directed discussion channels were well received by a considerable number
of active users, with particular emphasis on introduction of channels specifically for graduates
and graduate students, as many of these groups have expressed condescending discontent
towards undergrads, on a server that should be welcoming for all engineering students.
However, the emphasis on creating an explicitly more serious server is not entirely healthy. A
healthy community has informal interactions, and this partly manifests in “shitposting,” very
rapid, informal, and sometimes meaningless conversation that people grow together with in
conjunction with the formal and directed conversations on other channels. Students can aspire
to be professionals while also being friends interacting informally, relegating the entire server
to only one of these would be oppressive, boring, and unhealthy.
More community building events:
The Homebound Homebuild competition was, unfortunately, largely a flop. However if this sort
of thing was regularly hosted, not to mention during easier times, it would likely garner
significantly more support and provide an excellent community building medium in addition to
encouraging building professional skills.
More cats:
The most overwhelmingly unifying and wholesome input to the entire server is undeniably
insight into the lives of the universally adored Milo and Juno.