this post was submitted on 25 Jul 2026
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Ye Power Trippin' Bastards
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This is a community in the spirit of "Am I The Asshole" where people can post their own bans from lemmy or reddit or whatever and get some feedback from others whether the ban was justified or not.
Sometimes one just wants to be able to challenge the arguments some mod made and this could be the place for that.
Posting Guidelines
All posts should follow this basic structure:
- Which mods/admins were being Power Tripping Bastards?
- What sanction did they impose (e.g. community ban, instance ban, removed comment)?
- Provide a screenshot of the relevant modlog entry (don’t de-obfuscate mod names).
- Provide a screenshot and explanation of the cause of the sanction (e.g. the post/comment that was removed, or got you banned).
- Explain why you think its unfair and how you would like the situation to be remedied.
Rules
- Post only about bans or other sanctions that you have received from a mod or admin.
- Don’t use private communications to prove your point. We can’t verify them and they can be faked easily.
- Don’t deobfuscate mod names from the modlog with admin powers.
- Don’t harass mods or brigade comms. Don’t word your posts in a way that would trigger such harassment and brigades.
- Do not downvote posts if you think they deserved it. Use the comment votes (see below) for that.
- You can post about power trippin’ in any social media, not just lemmy. Feel free to post about reddit or a forum etc.
- If you are the accused PTB, while you are welcome to respond, please do so within the relevant post.
- Keep the comments in YPTB posts about the moderation action itself, not about the general topic in which the moderation took place.
Expect to receive feedback about your posts, they might even be negative.
Make sure you follow this instance's code of conduct. In other words we won't allow bellyaching about being sanctioned for hate speech or bigotry.
YPTB matrix channel: For real-time discussions about bastards or to appeal mod actions in YPTB itself.
Some acronyms you might see.
- PTB - Power-Tripping Bastard: The commenter agrees with you this was a PTB mod.
- YDI - You Deserved It: The commenter thinks you deserved that mod action.
- YDM new - You Deserved More: The commenter thinks you got off too lightly.
- BPR - Bait-Provoked Reaction: That mod probably overreacted in charged situation, or due to being baited.
- CLM - Clueless Mod: The mod probably just doesn't understand how their software works.
Relevant comms
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Okay, Patrick fucked himself hard. What he did was unacceptable, period.
But come the fuck on, there's absolutely zero reason to harass anyone, ever. Block them, ignore them, report them, but once you start bandwagoning someone, no matter what they did, you're an asshole too.
You know the old saying that two wrongs don't make a right? There's reason it's a saying. It's fucking true.
Just stop already. He knows he's now a pariah. This whole "look at me" bullshit of asking to be put on the list? It's fucking childish. This isn't just directed at OP, it's to everyone. The person at the heart of the drama had their ranting excuse post, and here people are making their point for them by being toxic as fuck. Grow the fuck up, people.
Besides, I think it rather obvious that Patrick is going through some shit. Has been for a while. I'm not saying it excuses anything, but maybe, just maybe, being decent human beings and at least just leaving them the fuck alone instead of fucking with them is the actual right thing to do here, if nobody can be bothered to reach out in kindness. Hell, I can't be bothered, I got enough shit on my plate in meatspace, trying to play support to a stranger just isn't in my reach right now. But I'm sure as fuck not piling on anyone.
The dude tried to control the experience of thousands of lemmy users. Anyone who used his software gets to take it up with him. Anyone on his lists gets to take it up with him
Well, I would agree with most of that.
But, OP wasn't on the list and was fucking with him just out of whatever smug self superiority they have.
But, again, there's a difference between taking an issue up with someone, which you just did with me, here; and harassing someone with shitty little messages.
What you just did here was grown up talk. You had a disagreement, approached the person directly, but with no unnecessary aggro, and said your bit.
Sending someone a shitty DM " add me to your list, dur hur", that's what junior high twits do.
Where I disagree is that he successfully filtered the experience of users. He did it in conjunction with admins that didn't fully audit what they were deploying. But, whether any of us like the way he said it (and holy hell was his "explanation" toddler level tantrum), it was there to be seen.
The problem was one of transparency. Normally, block lists are much easier to find, and the fact of them should be disclosed up front.
But it wasn't some 1337 haxxer shit, it wasn't some deeply hidden code. And, looking back through his account histories he did actually say he was going to be changing things.
Be angry. Actively communicate that anger. Just do it like a fucking adult
Again, not that this excuses a block list like this, but they had made a post in the 30 Rock community about how their childhood friend is in a medically induced coma. I cannot remember if there was any follow-up, but they were indeed "going through some shit".
Canonical link: https://dubvee.org/post/3610056
Mirror: https://quokk.au/post/27539
Active vs structural oppression. Why is one acceptable and the other not. They're currently using their position as developer to silence diverse groups of people.
As an example:
Fuck you asshole, why the fuck can't you learn to read and think?! Two wrongs don't make a right, get it through your thick skull.
Is that in any way acceptable? Had I said it for real, as an attack to you conflating two radically different things, that would be a shitty thing to say, and would make me an asshole.
But you are still conflating two radically different things. Maybe, if I said instead:
Look my fellow lemmite, what I'm getting at is that doing something nasty to someone just to be nasty doesn't change what they did. It does nothing to correct the wrong done, it doesn't even help the person being nasty, unless one wishes to also conflate being smugly self satisfied with being good for mental health.
This isn't some tin pot despot here. It's just a guy that made some software and doesn't want it used in ways he considers unethical. He did it in the worst way possible. Well, maybe third or fourth way possible.
There are many ways to go about handling that error. But there is no universe in which sending childish messages to harass the person are on that list. It's just an excuse for someone to feel superior by being shitty to someone. Justifying that by pointing to the wrong done is bullshit.
Do you see what I'm getting at? It isn't about what he did or didn't do. It's about what we do and are. Are you the kind of person that dogpiles hate and venom, or are you the kind of person that recognizes human error, finds sympathy and/or empathy to say "there but for the grace of the FSM go I"?
Me? I'm an asshole. It's a fact I've learned to live with. I have little tolerance for bullshit, and my filter broke a long time ago. That I'm the guy saying to chill out and remember that there's a human behind the error should frighten people into looking at what they're doing and why. I should never be the voice of reason in a community because I'm nucking futs.
What we should be doing, instead of sending shitty DMs with infantile virtue signalling is just let it fucking go. Block his accounts, communicate with one's admins to see if a fork is being used on one's instance, then either advocate for a fork to be in place instead of the shitty version or be prepared to move instances. That's it. That's the sane, adult response.
As a pure emotional outburst? No. As a response to someone who has openly refused to understand or acknowledge their abuse of influence. I can't blame them. If you want respect you show respect. Which dubs hasn't been known to do. I'm not going to @ them myself. But they've certainly soiled their own reputation.
Had the feature been opt in and transparent would this have been an issue? No. They knew what they were doing and obfuscated this on purpose. Further they've been unrepentant regarding it. Taking advantage to more or less be Shadow admin on the servers of those who run the front end.
I have little respect for the way the Lemmy devs run their own server. Among other things. But at least they keep their influence to their echo chamber. Unlike this.
So, to translate your stance:
When I get butt hurt by someone's actions, I can be nasty and childish, and that behaviour should be excused.
Again, it isn't about respect. It's about how a person comports themselves in a social structure. You know the whole sinking to their level idea? Where the more you sacrifice your own ethics, your own adherence to some kind of code, the closer you become to whatever it is you're angry at.
IDGAF what he did, I am a grown ass man. I will always strive to treat others in the way I believe everyone should treat everyone. That's who I am, and I think that should be the default, not an exception. In life, you may have to take action to protect someone or something, or even to avenge some wrong. It's up to all of us to decide how we'll do that, how ugly we're willing to be to achieve that goal.
What I'm saying is that if you want to talk to the guy, go ahead. Say what you need to say. But don't resort to that kind of childish, churlish, performative malarkey. Say to that other human being: hey, what you did sucked. I'm angry about that. I don't believe your explanation has enough weight to counter your poor execution.
I 100% agree with you, attack the ideas, not the man. The idea of a secret filter being applied, whatever the stated intention, is in itself a massive ethical problem. Of course, the person implementing such a filter can and should be shunned, but any overt forms of bullying and harassment are totally counterproductive, as it only serves to bolster the claimed need for such a filter, like you mentioned.
Having said that, I'm not in any way defending what he did. And tbh the memes have been quite funny and mostly on point.
Hmm, maybe you should start a list and put people's names on it who don't conform to your beliefs!
Okay, out of all the tangential silliness thrown at my comment, this approaches absurdity. It makes zero sense based on what was said
You're propping up straw, and it ain't even man shaped
I found it funny that in your text you basically validated every involved side's actions, be it the Tesseract guy's list, the people clowning on him, and the stance of the grown ass man. We're all choosing how far we are willing to go to protect something or somebody, after all.
So he's allowed to do things that impact people but people can't say things to him about it. I see.
Ah, as we all know, having a bad day justifys all actions!
Are you thick?
Say things, yeah. But make them something other than the shitty bullying attempts of a child.
Frankly, I'm starting to see his point. I really thought lemmy had more people with compassion and decency.
I'll say this again in all caps so it's fucking clear
TWO WRONGS DO NOT MAKE A RIGHT. Grow the fuck up lemmy
Won't someone be nice to the fascists? :'(
Boy, people sure do love throwing that word around. Over any fucking thing
I know, if you act like a fascist, hate trans people, hate leftists and break laws to get what you want, it tends to be called fascist.
Won't someone please think of the fascist?! He's just so misunderstood! Let boys be boys and get away with!
Okay
Agreed. Having been the object of a shit ton of harassment myself (along with doxx threats, death threats), I don't like the dogpiling.
I find it very ironic that many of the people who are bitching about being on this list, are some of the exact same people who fucking joined in on an old post saying I should be banned from the entire fediverse!! Just because I fucking voted third party and post news articles they don't like. 🤣 🤣
Patrick should have been more open about the list for sure. But I don't really hate on him for having the list. There are actually several instances that have me on a default ban list (Hi, Piefed and the other instances that have me pre-banned). People who are new to signing up on those have no idea that they can't see me.
So a lot of the posts about this tesseract subject drip with hypocrisy.
I'm on the list too, but I'm not gonna fucking send him DMs threatening him. That kind of toxic reaction is what drove him to do it in the first place.
I'm all for making light fun of the issue, but the threats are fucking uncalled for.
Nah fam.
This isn't an instance banlist. This is an attempt - and for god knows how long an incredibly successful one given the interface's previous popularity- to control who sees what globally in instances that they have no association with or authority over. This is some insanely high level trojan horse shit trying to dictate the entire fediverse, all based on their personal fee fees and they're utterly unrepentant about it
Which sucks. But it's no reason to harass or threaten someone's life over it. This is a fucking social media site. It shouldn't be a life and death thing based on what someone posts. I stand by what I said.
People need to calm the fuck down. Yeah, it was bad. He got called out on it. It looks like he quit and deleted everything now. Cool!
But to threaten someone's life over fucking Lemmy shit is insane (if that really happened).
Who's threatening? I've been all over threads as this unfolded (slow weekend), i haven't see any threats outside of "may his path be strewn with legos".
Not to say it's outside the real of possibility - this is the internet after all - but consider where that claim came from. Who is the source. And...i'm gonna ask for proof considering the violent hyperbole they've demonstrated over and over and over....
I'm assuming DM's. I received threats of harm in my DMs, and KYS messages back in the day on here for posting news articles from Newseek. So I can totally believe there are plenty of unhinged Lemmys on here who would do that to him.
Having said that though, he has a very very large victim complex. He also seems to be pretty dishonest in some of the things he does.
I read just now that his goodbye messages page had a DDOS attack virus in it that specifically attacked this dbzer0 instance. So Imm not really feeling sorry for the asshole.
But IF he received death threats, that's not cool at all.
Yo this is completely unrelated to anything going on, I just looked at your profile and saw that you link to the Socialist Workers Party's Mastodon and wanted to warn you that they are pretty fucking Zionist. Look at some of their articles on themilitant.com about Pissrael for instance: https://themilitant.com/2023/11/25/defend-israels-right-to-exist-call-for-cease-fire-is-support-for-hamas-2/
I don't agree with all of their views. But I support their worker's rights views enough to support them. I totally understand why you wouldn't agree, but this is how I look at it. I'm already so disliked over most of Lemmy anyway, that it doesn't really matter that much here. Thanks!
You support zionists? And these are really aggressive ones too... I mean if that's not the sign of a captured movement then it sure is a sign of movement that is willing to roll over as soon as empire says so
I don’t support or subscribe to all of its positions. I agree with its views on workers’ rights, unions, and class issues, and I value their labor coverage. That does not mean I adopt the party’s positions on Israel, Palestine, or every political issue.
My own views should be judged by what I actually say, not assigned to me through association with one publication or news articles that I may post.
I do not identify as a Zionist. Agreement on SWP's workers’ rights should not be treated as automatic agreement on unrelated foreign-policy issues. I try to stay out of foreign-policy debates. It doesn't interest me that much. Please move on.
I'm not pointing my finger at you, I'm trying to understand why you'd be supporting a movement that's by all signs of it captured?? That's what I can't understand.
"Yeah they have some questionable views about genocide but they're pretty good about unions" is a baffling take to me. What do you hope they can accomplish?
You replied before I finished my edit (for clarity) of my previous response, so I'm copying it here:
I don’t support or subscribe to all of its positions. I agree with its views on workers’ rights, unions, and class issues, and I value their labor coverage. That does not mean I adopt the party’s positions on Israel, Palestine, or every political issue.
My own views should be judged by what I actually say, not assigned to me through association with one publication or news articles that I may post.
I do not identify as a Zionist. Agreement on SWP’s workers’ rights should not be treated as automatic agreement on unrelated foreign-policy issues. I try to stay out of foreign-policy debates. It doesn’t interest me that much. Please move on.
EDIT: But thanks for pointing out where some of the confusion may come from, so I've updated the sidebar of the community.
I'm not talking about your views, I'm asking what you hope a captured movement can accomplish?
disengage
you're the only one in the thread speaking sense and you're getting downvoted.
it's like reddit drama in the fediverse, lately. and it's extremely boring at this point.
I'm only downvoting you because you downvoted me. But I agree with most of what southsamurai is saying too.
Eh, I figured out a long time ago that people with a screen in front of them are prone to their worst, and will react poorly to having a mirror appear where they desire applause.