This felt newsworthy enough to be "news" not "society". The original charge was practicing medicine without a license. But the abortion charges are unusual I'm suspicious of the charges, though I...
This felt newsworthy enough to be "news" not "society".
The original charge was practicing medicine without a license. But the abortion charges are unusual
But Ms. Rojas was not charged with the highest degree of the charge, which occurs when the abortion results in termination of the pregnancy. It was not clear why she had been charged that way. A spokesman for Mr. Paxton did not respond to requests for comment.
But in court documents, Ms. Rojas was accused of having “attempted an abortion on” a woman identified as E.G. on two separate occasions in March and that she was “known by law enforcement to have performed an abortion” on another individual earlier this year.
I'm suspicious of the charges, though I wouldn't convict her if she did.
Possibly, it's just not clear what they're actually accusing her of doing. And I don't much trust Texas's legal system on the topic of abortions (or in general) so I'm particularly suspicious...
Possibly, it's just not clear what they're actually accusing her of doing. And I don't much trust Texas's legal system on the topic of abortions (or in general) so I'm particularly suspicious she's being made an example of.
Or maybe that they used a plant as entrapment? Idk.
@mycketforvirrad 2 other folks edited this topic without moving it to society and I specifically put it in news as a fairly news worthy event. What's the line? And you tagged abbot but he's not...
@mycketforvirrad 2 other folks edited this topic without moving it to society and I specifically put it in news as a fairly news worthy event. What's the line?
And you tagged abbot but he's not mentioned at all?
ETA: I'm genuinely confused by the placement and tagging (in general on tagging as well) not upset. I just see 3 different choices happening one after the other and have given up hope of ever tagging things correctly but then I also don't get the choices here specifically
It's an article that focuses on law and politics more than crime so it belongs in ~society. ~news isn't a group for news, it's a group for articles that don't fit in other groups. When articles...
It's an article that focuses on law and politics more than crime so it belongs in ~society.
~news isn't a group for news, it's a group for articles that don't fit in other groups.
When articles cover government policy the party in power and leader are included.
Since you and @cfabbro and @definitelynotafae are here, I want to raise the issue that I think some of the edge cases and boundary decisions of ~society may be being too strictly relegated to a...
Since you and @cfabbro and @definitelynotafae are here, I want to raise the issue that I think some of the edge cases and boundary decisions of ~society may be being too strictly relegated to a group that only two percent of the user base sees.
~life.women sees little content, but this article that Fae contributed, fits IMHO and I believe women worldwide might be interested. Edit, and also trans men. (~health would be another option) Content about the oppression of LGBT people would be comparable.
I am choosing not at this time to raise the issue in ~tildes and I think most of the decisions are reasonable but I don't agree with this one.
The strict-ish relegation of political topics to ~society is largely because it's a compromise group that was never really meant to exist, but was unfortunately forced to exist due to the sheer...
The strict-ish relegation of political topics to ~society is largely because it's a compromise group that was never really meant to exist, but was unfortunately forced to exist due to the sheer volume of political topics (especially American politics) being submitted to every group here. We previously tried to silo them in the megathreads in ~news but those were largely ignored and people continued to post political topics all over the site anyways. So, as far as I understand it, ~society basically exists to forcefully silo that sort of content so it doesn't continue to bleed into every other group, and take over the whole dang site, which it was absolutely starting to in more recent times.
I know the current issues in the US are incredibly serious, and you two are both highly politically active Americans, but not everyone is American or constantly wants to see, or is even able to handle seeing, that sort of American political content every day... which is also why ~society is opt-in rather than opt-out. I am also pretty politically active, generally interested in keeping up with American news/politics despite not being American, but even I need to take a break from American politics occasionally too for the sake of my own sanity. And so having it all siloed in ~society is especially helpful in that regard.
But even with all that said, if you truly feel like a particular piece of American specific, politics-adjacent news deserves the wider audience of a group like ~life.women, then by all means, feel free to post it there, which AFAIK is fine to do on occasion (@Deimos can correct me if I'm wrong). I would simply ask that you try to honestly consider whether or not people outside the US really would actually want to see (or benefit from seeing) that particular piece of American political news before you do post it in a group other than ~society, is all. cc: @DefinitelyNotAFae
p.s. I definitely think @Deimos and @mycketforvirrad should probably also be part of this conversation, since I can't speak for them, and Deimos is the ultimate authority/decision maker here.
I was originally moderating abortion and rights.reproductive into ~health, but Deimos moved a few of them into ~society. I took that as my cue to follow the same moderation template.
I was originally moderating abortion and rights.reproductive into ~health, but Deimos moved a few of them into ~society. I took that as my cue to follow the same moderation template.
That choice in particular I think should be discussed with the wider community of women and trans men and allies of women's rights here to allow for broader feedback to @deimos, but I am not sure...
That choice in particular I think should be discussed with the wider community of women and trans men and allies of women's rights here to allow for broader feedback to @deimos, but I am not sure that right now is the best timing.
There are a lot of powerful feelings associated with Trump and his actions and threats and the overreaching American right wing politicians and everyone is tired.
But if someone else wants to open that conversation, ~tildes would be the place for that, right? For myself I am going to wait unless someone opens a meta thread.
I agree that it should probably be discussed with the wider community at some point too. However, I do think it's worth mentioning that a fair number of users admitted to unsubscribing from ~lgbt...
I agree that it should probably be discussed with the wider community at some point too. However, I do think it's worth mentioning that a fair number of users admitted to unsubscribing from ~lgbt precisely because of something similar happening there; Way too much depressing LGBT-related American political news was being posted there, which they didn't want to keep being exposed to... so they simply unsubscribed despite generally being interested in all the other LGBT-related content and/or even being LGBT themselves. That is where the idea for the downer tag originally came from to try to help people stay subscribed to groups, and simply allow them to ignore the depressing stuff. But the problem with relying entirely on tags like that is they have to be manually applied to topics, and not many people actually do filter tags anyways. Heck, I imagine the majority of users don't even realize that filtering tags is a thing they can do.
So a potential unintended consequence of moving all the American abortion law/news related topics back to another group, whether it's ~health or ~life.women, is that people may then simply start unsubscribing from that group entirely to avoid seeing them. :/
Honestly, I appreciate that the content is siloed that way. Did not even realize that was happening, but it has contributed positively to my experience here
Honestly, I appreciate that the content is siloed that way. Did not even realize that was happening, but it has contributed positively to my experience here
I don't have the energy to initiate it either, but I'd agree with bringing it up in a future meta thread. I also get think I'd categorize a new law as politics but other abortion rights topics as...
I don't have the energy to initiate it either, but I'd agree with bringing it up in a future meta thread.
I also get think I'd categorize a new law as politics but other abortion rights topics as health, etc. Idk I don't want civil rights relegated to corners, but I don't filter my page at all so ┐( ˘_˘)┌
Thanks for spelling it out for me and for the community, and honestly, I have been aware of most those considerations already. I respect and appreciate the history and character of Tildes, even...
Thanks for spelling it out for me and for the community, and honestly, I have been aware of most those considerations already.
I respect and appreciate the history and character of Tildes, even when I don't always agree with choices made here. It's one of many places online. It's idiosyncratic, friendly and cozy.
Speaking for myself, I'm going to leave it there for now. As someone trained in law, I am well aware that creating a simple straightforward rule that is easy to administer but deals adequately with complex issues is difficult. Judges make choices all the time based on choosing the path that will make life easier for future courts facing similar questions.
I do try, I even probably use the megathread even more, I just think that actual arrests for allegedly facilitating or providing abortion are more than US politics. I want to know about them (and...
I do try, I even probably use the megathread even more, I just think that actual arrests for allegedly facilitating or providing abortion are more than US politics. I want to know about them (and similar issues) when they occur in the rest of the world.
I don't have the right answer and I hate how this thread is only meta conversation now too but at the same time if not here then where.
I don't think any of us do. :P Too much American politics everywhere on the site and people get frustrated, potentially leaving the site entirely; Too little and it feels like we're ignoring or...
I don't have the right answer
I don't think any of us do. :P
Too much American politics everywhere on the site and people get frustrated, potentially leaving the site entirely; Too little and it feels like we're ignoring or trying to minimize important issues and silence people's voices. There is no right answer. We're all just trying our best to find the right balance, but since everyone has different levels of interest in politics and tolerances for depressing news that's especially difficult to do. :/
I know the feeling. Sadly, it feels like all of us are screaming into the void lately. Trump got 77 million votes despite the myriad of people desperately warning about the horrible things that...
I know the feeling. Sadly, it feels like all of us are screaming into the void lately. Trump got 77 million votes despite the myriad of people desperately warning about the horrible things that would likely happen if he won, which are now largely coming true. And I'm worried the exact same thing is about to happen here in Canada too with Poilievre. :(
But if all those voices on far far larger social media sites and in mainstream news media didn't get their warnings taken seriously, or have an effect on the outcome of the election, I can at least take comfort in knowing this place can't possibly matter all that much when it comes to politics in the wider world either... So I can simply focus on enjoying the company of all the lovely people here rather than trying to use the site to make a major difference in the wider world when it comes to political outcomes. It's one of the reasons why I very rarely post political news here anymore, despite being a bit of a political junky, and instead mostly just post cool/fun/interesting stuff I find and think others would enjoy.
And I considered life.women, but I don't like relegating abortion topics to only women, but at least more people would see it. Idk the answer either. If I'd put it there I'd have given a caveat...
And I considered life.women, but I don't like relegating abortion topics to only women, but at least more people would see it. Idk the answer either.
If I'd put it there I'd have given a caveat about #not only women
My problem and why I say I despair is that I feel incapable of contributing to my part of the village duties. So no, it's not actually helpful to think of it that way for me In this instance
My problem and why I say I despair is that I feel incapable of contributing to my part of the village duties. So no, it's not actually helpful to think of it that way for me In this instance
You don't need to be worrying about your contributions. Tagging is a very minor part of the many ways people chip in, and your written contributions to a vast array of topics is far more...
You don't need to be worrying about your contributions. Tagging is a very minor part of the many ways people chip in, and your written contributions to a vast array of topics is far more productive to our community. It's not something that I'm very skilled at, and that's why I lurk in the tag shadows most of the time.
As I said, if it's a village task I hate not being able to do my share. Talking here is the benefit of the work, IMK, not the labor of it. I know it gets done, and y'all do great, but it's like...
As I said, if it's a village task I hate not being able to do my share. Talking here is the benefit of the work, IMK, not the labor of it. I know it gets done, and y'all do great, but it's like when someone washes your dishes at work when you were just letting them soak before coming back and you feel like a jerk for them doing it.... Just me?
Ultimately my thing is, I'm frustrated (mostly internally) at the lack of clarity, and being told "don't worry about the murkiness" isn't actually helpful for me. It is what it is, but I just feel...
Ultimately my thing is, I'm frustrated (mostly internally) at the lack of clarity, and being told "don't worry about the murkiness" isn't actually helpful for me.
It is what it is, but I just feel like it's a complete mystery and that is something I find frustrating.
No need to worry so much. You contributed more than most by simply finding and submitting an article in the first place (and already got bonus points for providing a gifted link too ;). The tags...
No need to worry so much. You contributed more than most by simply finding and submitting an article in the first place (and already got bonus points for providing a gifted link too ;). The tags and groups are really just organizational minutiae. Do you despair when going to the library and not knowing exactly where a book you're returning goes on the shelves? If not, then you don't need to despair over groups and tags that much either. :)
Yes? I mean I don't, because I actually know where the books go on the shelves and I don't put them back because that's not how the process goes. But my point is, yes, I do especially when it's a...
Yes? I mean I don't, because I actually know where the books go on the shelves and I don't put them back because that's not how the process goes.
But my point is, yes, I do especially when it's a village mentality. It feels like a thing I should be able to at least better contribute to. I also take the duty part of jury duty seriously. I cannot help who I am.乁( •_• )ㄏ
I think you might be taking the village metaphor (or simile/allegory/analogy, I never know the difference ;) a little too literally. But if you're going to think of Tildes like anything, then...
I think you might be taking the village metaphor (or simile/allegory/analogy, I never know the difference ;) a little too literally. But if you're going to think of Tildes like anything, then viewing it more like a gigantic, byzantine, library is probably more accurate.
A ton of actual libraries these days even have constantly shifting arrays of books being moved to various special shelves in the lobby and other high traffic areas for events, to showcase particular categories of books, and/or popular subgenres, authors, etc. So rather than a village full of villagers doing chores, think of Tildes more like that sort of library with lots of donations coming in (submissions), even more special shelves (groups), and a dewey decimal system (topic tags) that is still being refined. And think of mycketforvirrad like the head librarian, who was here when the library was being built so knows more about its organization than anyone else since they helped design everything from the ground up.
If you want to get yourself a Tildes library science degree, so you know more of the minutiae too, you certainly can given enough time, I suppose. But nobody expects you to. And even if you do get that degree, nobody is expecting perfection from you. mycketforvirrad even fixes my mistakes a fair amount too. :P
p.s. BTW, ~news and ~misc have always been catch-all groups where the only content that gets left in them are things that don't yet have a place elsewhere.
The Hierarchical Tags and Hierarchical Tag Short Rules pages on the wiki are useful references for general tagging conventions. I also have a folksonomy changelog wiki page to keep track of the...
The Hierarchical Tags and Hierarchical Tag Short Rules pages on the wiki are useful references for general tagging conventions. I also have a folksonomy changelog wiki page to keep track of the larger changes/standardizations I make to tags. (Though I have fallen behind on keeping that page up to date.)
Other than those links, the best way to learn how tagging is done, or why link/title/group changes are made to topics, really is to just observe and ask.
Using the app adds a layer of the opacity since I can't see the sidebar for edits or the wiki. And it's why I did ask her. But I watched three people make different edits to this and that's why...
Using the app adds a layer of the opacity since I can't see the sidebar for edits or the wiki. And it's why I did ask her. But I watched three people make different edits to this and that's why it's hard for me to follow I think.
I've read through wiki before though so I'll keep poking at it.
I think @cfabbro and @mycketforvirrad both covered it well with their comments below—in the end, we don't want half the groups on the site having "Republicans do another awful thing" topics, which...
Exemplary
I think @cfabbro and @mycketforvirrad both covered it well with their comments below—in the end, we don't want half the groups on the site having "Republicans do another awful thing" topics, which is the direction it was starting to go before I added ~society. Like I said in the topic about adding it:
political topics are also spread over a lot of other groups (politics-but-with-a-financial-angle ends up in ~finance, politics-but-with-a-healthcare-angle in ~health, politics-but-based-on-a-study in ~science or ~humanities, and so on).
A story like this is primarily about the US's (politically-motivated) policies and laws on abortion, which fits squarely in ~society.
You just perfectly described the front page of Lemmy. I've tried participating in the Fediverse a bit, but pretty much every group, subreddit, whatever-you-want-to-call-them on there, eventually...
in the end, we don't want half the groups on the site having "Republicans do another awful thing" topics, which is the direction it was starting to go before I added ~society.
You just perfectly described the front page of Lemmy. I've tried participating in the Fediverse a bit, but pretty much every group, subreddit, whatever-you-want-to-call-them on there, eventually devolves into politics and just non-stop negative news stories and their related memes. Gets pretty exhausting, honestly. @cfabbro mentioned elsewhere in this thread that it's a delicate thing to balance between allowing too much of it and risk scaring people off, or segregating it and risk hiding important topics and issues. I think you guys all do a great job of communicating your reasons and that alone is something that sets the site apart from many other heavily moderated spaces online. So thanks for always being so open about things.
This felt newsworthy enough to be "news" not "society".
The original charge was practicing medicine without a license. But the abortion charges are unusual
I'm suspicious of the charges, though I wouldn't convict her if she did.
This is what jury nullification is for. Though I'm sure holding that sentiment would be enough to not end up picked.
If you plan on actually nullifying a jury, the thing to do is not admit to that until you're on a jury.
To my understanding the very utterance of the concept tends to disqualify you, no?
Yeah it's basically saying you're not going to follow jury instructions
The DA may not think they can get a conviction for the full charge, but they can for “attempting”.
Possibly, it's just not clear what they're actually accusing her of doing. And I don't much trust Texas's legal system on the topic of abortions (or in general) so I'm particularly suspicious she's being made an example of.
Or maybe that they used a plant as entrapment? Idk.
@mycketforvirrad 2 other folks edited this topic without moving it to society and I specifically put it in news as a fairly news worthy event. What's the line?
And you tagged abbot but he's not mentioned at all?
ETA: I'm genuinely confused by the placement and tagging (in general on tagging as well) not upset. I just see 3 different choices happening one after the other and have given up hope of ever tagging things correctly but then I also don't get the choices here specifically
It's an article that focuses on
lawandpoliticsmore than crime so it belongs in ~society.~news isn't a group for news, it's a group for articles that don't fit in other groups.
When articles cover government policy the party in power and leader are included.
Whats ~misc doing, then? Even poor groups can't get a job in this economy /s.
That's for the really obscure shit. Pardon my language. 🙃
Since you and @cfabbro and @definitelynotafae are here, I want to raise the issue that I think some of the edge cases and boundary decisions of ~society may be being too strictly relegated to a group that only two percent of the user base sees.
~life.women sees little content, but this article that Fae contributed, fits IMHO and I believe women worldwide might be interested. Edit, and also trans men. (~health would be another option) Content about the oppression of LGBT people would be comparable.
I am choosing not at this time to raise the issue in ~tildes and I think most of the decisions are reasonable but I don't agree with this one.
The strict-ish relegation of political topics to ~society is largely because it's a compromise group that was never really meant to exist, but was unfortunately forced to exist due to the sheer volume of political topics (especially American politics) being submitted to every group here. We previously tried to silo them in the megathreads in ~news but those were largely ignored and people continued to post political topics all over the site anyways. So, as far as I understand it, ~society basically exists to forcefully silo that sort of content so it doesn't continue to bleed into every other group, and take over the whole dang site, which it was absolutely starting to in more recent times.
I know the current issues in the US are incredibly serious, and you two are both highly politically active Americans, but not everyone is American or constantly wants to see, or is even able to handle seeing, that sort of American political content every day... which is also why ~society is opt-in rather than opt-out. I am also pretty politically active, generally interested in keeping up with American news/politics despite not being American, but even I need to take a break from American politics occasionally too for the sake of my own sanity. And so having it all siloed in ~society is especially helpful in that regard.
But even with all that said, if you truly feel like a particular piece of American specific, politics-adjacent news deserves the wider audience of a group like ~life.women, then by all means, feel free to post it there, which AFAIK is fine to do on occasion (@Deimos can correct me if I'm wrong). I would simply ask that you try to honestly consider whether or not people outside the US really would actually want to see (or benefit from seeing) that particular piece of American political news before you do post it in a group other than ~society, is all. cc: @DefinitelyNotAFae
p.s. I definitely think @Deimos and @mycketforvirrad should probably also be part of this conversation, since I can't speak for them, and Deimos is the ultimate authority/decision maker here.
I was originally moderating
abortionandrights.reproductiveinto ~health, but Deimos moved a few of them into ~society. I took that as my cue to follow the same moderation template.That choice in particular I think should be discussed with the wider community of women and trans men and allies of women's rights here to allow for broader feedback to @deimos, but I am not sure that right now is the best timing.
There are a lot of powerful feelings associated with Trump and his actions and threats and the overreaching American right wing politicians and everyone is tired.
But if someone else wants to open that conversation, ~tildes would be the place for that, right? For myself I am going to wait unless someone opens a meta thread.
@cfabbro, @definitelynotafae
I agree that it should probably be discussed with the wider community at some point too. However, I do think it's worth mentioning that a fair number of users admitted to unsubscribing from ~lgbt precisely because of something similar happening there; Way too much depressing LGBT-related American political news was being posted there, which they didn't want to keep being exposed to... so they simply unsubscribed despite generally being interested in all the other LGBT-related content and/or even being LGBT themselves. That is where the idea for the downer tag originally came from to try to help people stay subscribed to groups, and simply allow them to ignore the depressing stuff. But the problem with relying entirely on tags like that is they have to be manually applied to topics, and not many people actually do filter tags anyways. Heck, I imagine the majority of users don't even realize that filtering tags is a thing they can do.
So a potential unintended consequence of moving all the American abortion law/news related topics back to another group, whether it's ~health or ~life.women, is that people may then simply start unsubscribing from that group entirely to avoid seeing them. :/
Honestly, I appreciate that the content is siloed that way. Did not even realize that was happening, but it has contributed positively to my experience here
Absolutely. It's a difficult question that should be handled with nuance and care.
I don't have the energy to initiate it either, but I'd agree with bringing it up in a future meta thread.
I also get think I'd categorize a new law as politics but other abortion rights topics as health, etc. Idk I don't want civil rights relegated to corners, but I don't filter my page at all so ┐( ˘_˘)┌
Thanks for spelling it out for me and for the community, and honestly, I have been aware of most those considerations already.
I respect and appreciate the history and character of Tildes, even when I don't always agree with choices made here. It's one of many places online. It's idiosyncratic, friendly and cozy.
Speaking for myself, I'm going to leave it there for now. As someone trained in law, I am well aware that creating a simple straightforward rule that is easy to administer but deals adequately with complex issues is difficult. Judges make choices all the time based on choosing the path that will make life easier for future courts facing similar questions.
I do try, I even probably use the megathread even more, I just think that actual arrests for allegedly facilitating or providing abortion are more than US politics. I want to know about them (and similar issues) when they occur in the rest of the world.
I don't have the right answer and I hate how this thread is only meta conversation now too but at the same time if not here then where.
I don't think any of us do. :P
Too much American politics everywhere on the site and people get frustrated, potentially leaving the site entirely; Too little and it feels like we're ignoring or trying to minimize important issues and silence people's voices. There is no right answer. We're all just trying our best to find the right balance, but since everyone has different levels of interest in politics and tolerances for depressing news that's especially difficult to do. :/
I know, I'd just been intentionally thoughtful, I'd thought, about placement and meh. Maybe I'm just screaming into the void.
I know the feeling. Sadly, it feels like all of us are screaming into the void lately. Trump got 77 million votes despite the myriad of people desperately warning about the horrible things that would likely happen if he won, which are now largely coming true. And I'm worried the exact same thing is about to happen here in Canada too with Poilievre. :(
But if all those voices on far far larger social media sites and in mainstream news media didn't get their warnings taken seriously, or have an effect on the outcome of the election, I can at least take comfort in knowing this place can't possibly matter all that much when it comes to politics in the wider world either... So I can simply focus on enjoying the company of all the lovely people here rather than trying to use the site to make a major difference in the wider world when it comes to political outcomes. It's one of the reasons why I very rarely post political news here anymore, despite being a bit of a political junky, and instead mostly just post cool/fun/interesting stuff I find and think others would enjoy.
Within ~society, I think there is value to creating a record of what is being done when and by whom.
My angle is less "everyone needs to know" sirens "pay attention" here and more wanting dialogue on these topics. It is what it is
And I considered life.women, but I don't like relegating abortion topics to only women, but at least more people would see it. Idk the answer either.
If I'd put it there I'd have given a caveat about #not only women
I officially despair of ever understanding this and doing it right.
That's why Tildes is so great in that it utilises the village philosophy. We all do our bit to make it our community.
My problem and why I say I despair is that I feel incapable of contributing to my part of the village duties. So no, it's not actually helpful to think of it that way for me In this instance
You don't need to be worrying about your contributions. Tagging is a very minor part of the many ways people chip in, and your written contributions to a vast array of topics is far more productive to our community. It's not something that I'm very skilled at, and that's why I lurk in the tag shadows most of the time.
As I said, if it's a village task I hate not being able to do my share. Talking here is the benefit of the work, IMK, not the labor of it. I know it gets done, and y'all do great, but it's like when someone washes your dishes at work when you were just letting them soak before coming back and you feel like a jerk for them doing it.... Just me?
I love how our village turned into a staff room! 😂
Ultimately my thing is, I'm frustrated (mostly internally) at the lack of clarity, and being told "don't worry about the murkiness" isn't actually helpful for me.
It is what it is, but I just feel like it's a complete mystery and that is something I find frustrating.
No need to worry so much. You contributed more than most by simply finding and submitting an article in the first place (and already got bonus points for providing a gifted link too ;). The tags and groups are really just organizational minutiae. Do you despair when going to the library and not knowing exactly where a book you're returning goes on the shelves? If not, then you don't need to despair over groups and tags that much either. :)
Yes? I mean I don't, because I actually know where the books go on the shelves and I don't put them back because that's not how the process goes.
But my point is, yes, I do especially when it's a village mentality. It feels like a thing I should be able to at least better contribute to. I also take the duty part of jury duty seriously. I cannot help who I am.乁( •_• )ㄏ
I think you might be taking the village metaphor (or simile/allegory/analogy, I never know the difference ;) a little too literally. But if you're going to think of Tildes like anything, then viewing it more like a gigantic, byzantine, library is probably more accurate.
A ton of actual libraries these days even have constantly shifting arrays of books being moved to various special shelves in the lobby and other high traffic areas for events, to showcase particular categories of books, and/or popular subgenres, authors, etc. So rather than a village full of villagers doing chores, think of Tildes more like that sort of library with lots of donations coming in (submissions), even more special shelves (groups), and a dewey decimal system (topic tags) that is still being refined. And think of mycketforvirrad like the head librarian, who was here when the library was being built so knows more about its organization than anyone else since they helped design everything from the ground up.
If you want to get yourself a Tildes library science degree, so you know more of the minutiae too, you certainly can given enough time, I suppose. But nobody expects you to. And even if you do get that degree, nobody is expecting perfection from you. mycketforvirrad even fixes my mistakes a fair amount too. :P
p.s. BTW, ~news and ~misc have always been catch-all groups where the only content that gets left in them are things that don't yet have a place elsewhere.
Hey it is y'all's metaphor!
But my point was I do indeed know where all the books go at the library, this is just who I am.
The Hierarchical Tags and Hierarchical Tag Short Rules pages on the wiki are useful references for general tagging conventions. I also have a folksonomy changelog wiki page to keep track of the larger changes/standardizations I make to tags. (Though I have fallen behind on keeping that page up to date.)
Other than those links, the best way to learn how tagging is done, or why link/title/group changes are made to topics, really is to just observe and ask.
Using the app adds a layer of the opacity since I can't see the sidebar for edits or the wiki. And it's why I did ask her. But I watched three people make different edits to this and that's why it's hard for me to follow I think.
I've read through wiki before though so I'll keep poking at it.
I think @cfabbro and @mycketforvirrad both covered it well with their comments below—in the end, we don't want half the groups on the site having "Republicans do another awful thing" topics, which is the direction it was starting to go before I added ~society. Like I said in the topic about adding it:
A story like this is primarily about the US's (politically-motivated) policies and laws on abortion, which fits squarely in ~society.
You just perfectly described the front page of Lemmy. I've tried participating in the Fediverse a bit, but pretty much every group, subreddit, whatever-you-want-to-call-them on there, eventually devolves into politics and just non-stop negative news stories and their related memes. Gets pretty exhausting, honestly. @cfabbro mentioned elsewhere in this thread that it's a delicate thing to balance between allowing too much of it and risk scaring people off, or segregating it and risk hiding important topics and issues. I think you guys all do a great job of communicating your reasons and that alone is something that sets the site apart from many other heavily moderated spaces online. So thanks for always being so open about things.
/twocents