Changing of the guard, and goodbye.

Submitted by taylorhayward_boston t3_yl0vb5 in CambridgeMA

Due to a considerable amount of backlash to my temporary ban of posts relating to the pro-bicycling pro-car debate that's been going on for a while here, and also due to the overwhelming amount of animosity resulting from it, I have officially handed over moderation of the sub to the user u/SoulSentry . You'll note from their history on the sub that they are an active member in the bicycling community, and from all accounts civil in the way they have handle discussions. They were also the first person to reach out to me in all of this and express that felt bad for the way things were going down. I really appreciated that and I look for to them working with the community here with all sort of different backgrounds and interests and making the sub even better than before. u/SoulSentry will also be joined by u/thatguy10095 who is somewhat new the area. They don't currently have any power to add or remove mods from the sub but I thought u/SoulSentry could use the help early on if they needed it then decide to compose the team however they would like.

I wanted to also say that I apologize for the way handled things with the temporary ban. It was not my intention to stifle conversation around the topic of bike lanes, safety, or any other concerns the community had but to dial the aggression back a notch while a new framework was put in place to better moderate discussions. I would also like to apologize for not being a better moderator over the years. I've been the sole mod since the sub was very small and I should have realized long ago that I didn't have the time to property moderate a sub that has grown to 17k people. I'm really glad it's gotten this large and I look forward to checking it out again in a little while and see what it's become.

As a brief retrospective, there have been some really great posts on here over the years, like DPW guy and all his great photos of the parks and his work around the area (miss you DPW guy), the tons of reviews of local coffee shops, cafes, and restaurants, the never ending complaints about the red line that we all had to navigate just right or we would miss work, and of course the hot button issues (Comcast?) around our local government and how the city is run. I had a lot of fun. :-)

I'll be leaving as a moderator this afternoon once everything has settled.

I want to leave wishing everyone well, no hard feelings, I take ownership of my mistakes, and I hope things turn out for the best for all of you.

Take care, Taylor

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Comments

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BuckyWunderlick007 t1_iuvx4p7 wrote

Thanks for all your efforts here. 🙏🏼

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WhatAboutJustBeKind t1_iv0eyig wrote

Bet the story about gettin spat at in the face wasn’t even true 😂

That’s the best part about this

#Aside from creating a better place to go:

#r/camberville

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Kensu96 t1_ixzoibb wrote

Is your username supposed to be a contradiction?

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artificial_bluebird t1_iuwi8hw wrote

Thanks for your work and for the apology. Let's move forward from here.

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tennotenno t1_iuwkm3c wrote

Thank you. This was hard to watch. I can only imagine what your inbox has looked like.

Be well.

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thatguy10095 t1_iuw660i wrote

Sorry to see you go, but thank you for all the work you've put into this sub up until this point. I look forward to working with SoulSentry to continue building this community!

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jmreagle t1_iuwhx2x wrote

Thanks Taylor. And what happened to DPW guy? Those were great posts. I feel like the city should pay him for social media activity.

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Reasonable_Move9518 t1_iuwlrsv wrote

Thank you for your efforts and for passing the torch.

To the new mods, maybe ask the r/Somerville mods what their approach/policies are? That sub seems to have a lot more activity and "local interest" posts that a "small city sub " should have, and less spammy/trollish posts (or just flat-out weird shit). I've always wondered why the r/Somerville and r/CambridgeMA subs seemed to be different and why r/CambridgeMA was often just so weird.

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thatguy10095 t1_iuy8ydc wrote

Thank you for the suggestion! That's definitely not a bad idea and something worth looking into.

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akanefive t1_iuww6v1 wrote

Despite the handwringing and frustration, I do appreciate the steps you're taking here. I'm a longtime lurker on this sub (and Cambridge resident for many years), and look forward to continued discussions on local issues and weirdness.

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BlisterTom2 t1_iuxsfz5 wrote

It's an unpaid volunteer position. Thank you for all you did!

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dny6 t1_iv13w1b wrote

You permabanned anyone who merely posted to state disagreement with your decision. This was never about toxicity or discourse. You can make up excuses all you want, but I do not believe them.

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SmoothShinyBrain t1_iuy7ihc wrote

Apology is as appreciated as it is necessary. Thanks and so long.

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defenestron t1_iuwzyqp wrote

> I wanted to also say that I apologize for the way handled things with the temporary ban. It was not my intention to stifle conversation around the topic of bike lanes, safety, or any other concerns the community had but to dial the aggression back a notch while a new framework was put in place to better moderate discussions. I would also like to apologize for not being a better moderator over the years. I’ve been the sole mod since the sub was very small and I should have realized long ago that I didn’t have the time to property moderate a sub that has grown to 17k people. I’m really glad it’s gotten this large and I look forward to checking it out again in a little while and see what it’s become.

Thank you for saying all this. And while you’re still making excuses for what was a transparent abuse of power that was never intended to make this community better, this post is almost exactly what many in this community had hoped you’d find within yourself to say. I think many here do appreciate the thoughtfulness you’ve clearly put into this post. You’ve done the right thing and that is not always the easiest thing to do.

I hope a break from this community and the onerous responsibilities of moderation allows you to focus on an area of your life that gives you pleasure and joy. You are still a member of this community and will always be welcome.

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Hajile_S t1_iuxhk9z wrote

Come on, they're not making excuses. They simply stated that the impact of their decision was worse than their intent. That doesn't sully the apology; it's very reasonable and human. Don't be a sore winner.

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defenestron t1_iuxp6kz wrote

Nobody said anything about winning. Everyone who was banned or muted is still banned or muted, so we’re still in the middle of this.

I was raised that an apology isn’t an apology if you’re still making excuses and/or lying about what you did and why. Taking responsibility means you stop making excuses.

I’ll take the downvotes for believing that and finding this apology somewhat lacking. Internet points mean about as much to me as “winning”. Downvote away. 🤷‍♂️

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KungPowGasol t1_iuxtmww wrote

Old Mod: the bicycle discussion has gotten toxic

Bicycle crowd: let’s go to other subs and call in brigades and then harass him via PMs. How dare he say we are toxic!!!

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ClarkFable t1_iuy4fz1 wrote

Seriously. Basically the mod folded like a lawn chair and handed power over to someone whose aligned with their interests. So like if the NRA brigades this sub, are we going to get a gun rights supporter as a mod next?

To the brigadiers who pulled off this stunt, well played. You don't have my love, but you have my respect.

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KungPowGasol t1_iuy51em wrote

While I certainly think the mod’s initial post was in the wrong, I don’t think it was nearly worth the drama of this scale. Had they phrased it better or just internally came up with a new approach it would have been fine.

I am stunned they decided to leave when anyone with a brain could see that a large portion of the angry voices were people with zero prior comment history in this sub. They could have easily rode out the storm and the people who agreed that the bike drama stuff was toxic would have stood with them.

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ClarkFable t1_iuy7sdh wrote

I think we mostly agree. In his defense, being a mod is mostly thankless, so it doesn't take much to just make you want to say "fuck it". If we are Monday morning QBing this thing, I would probably have just made a pinned biking megathread and moved everything there (until the multiple biking posts per day died down). I also probably would have restricted my bans to those clearly in violation of the rules (e.g., brigading and/or making relentless personal attacks). At the same time, I almost certainly would not have used an anecdotal experience as a platform to launch a tirade.

Most of the time, brigading resolves itself if you just wait them out, but it's a huge pain in the ass in the interim.

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