Since some people need a reminder,
Bigotry has no place in my swaps. 0% tolerance.
Let's talk about it.
Some people feel very safe being a hateful piece of shit because... they are. In a country where the government has sanctioned our deaths, in so, so many ways, people who hate others for our non-Christian religions, our disabilities, our gender or sexualities, whatever their excuses, are very much protected.
That being said, I can't do much about it besides send postcards, e-mails, and leave voicemails to every local and state representative I have energy for. Bullying corporations, who pay millions and sometimes billions, in lobbying money to our government, has also proven to work- take a recent example: Wendy's "surge pricing" has been repealed before it even went into implementation, because of online outcry. Working on THEM works better than working on our own government.
And changing our laws isn't going to make hate crimes "go away." If making murder illegal stopped all murders, duh, we wouldn't have them. Yeah, it doesn't. But DOES it give us grounds to prosecute someone for murder? Yes. Otherwise, we'd have to let them go. They did nothing "illegal."
I encourage people to get online and tell companies, publicly, BOTH what you like (encouraging them to do it more!) AND what you don't like (I would give you money, but...)
Those are the real people who change labour laws, housing laws, education programs, regulations on what is safe in your foods and what things can 'slip' (like why we have so much e. coli now, that regulations on CLEANLINESS have been repealed.)
Secondarily, get familiar with your local reps, which have the most immediate impact, and people from your region and state. I have a "cheat sheet" printed out with their names, ranks, registered parties, public addresses, and phone numbers. I also have a template for leaving voice mail. Representatives almost NEVER pick up their phones and voicemail needs to be under 1 minute, 30 seconds. Preferably, under 1 minute, while still clear-spoken. I use 5Calls.org frequently, which gives local numbers to certain reps depending on your zip code.
Okay, so what about Swap-bot? How does this apply?
Because *certain people* are SO comfortable, some have chosen to exploit the Swap-bot features (or lack thereof.)
I've talked about not getting alerts for comments on posts before. This is one feature some people have decided to exploit in order to leave hateful, blatantly bigoted comments which generally target the intended audience of a swap.
Because hosts get no alerts, I don't know when someone is using this feature to target others of a group they Don't Like, whether it be LGBTQ+/mogai people, people of a certain ethnicity or religion, etc. Hate crimes are on the rise for a reason and the vast majority of hateful conduct does not qualify for legal pursuit. I can't fix that.
What I CAN do is delete those comments and keep screenshot records of them. I CAN ban users from my swaps and block them on my profile. tbh I'm not sure if blocking a user on my profile also blocks them from my swaps, but I'll try to look out for them. I DO review every single user for ratings before assigning a swap, which is why it can take 24 hours after the deadline to assign them.
Blocking a user, in general, does not prevent you from being paired with them in other swaps. Another great "feature" in Swap-bot.
That is why I try to keep a list of harmful users to manually remove them from my swaps at all. If I am a host, I'm in charge. You can't get paired with a bigot (who may keep your address to lash out at you) if I don't let them in.
What kinds of comments am I trying to moderate?
"Moderate" is such a funny word to me.
Look, if someone calls me fat, eh. They suck and clearly they have things to work on. If someone goes on some rant about how I'm a worthless monster because I'm fat, that's a Problem.
The person in question said some specific, hateful things about queer and trans people. Autoban. You've heard of the Autobahn? It's like autoban, in that I'll do it very, very fast.
Someone has a general criticism of some religion or country? I criticize my country all the time. I'm not going to pretend that America is the perfect paragon of the best that humanity has ever offered when I'm surrounded by homeless children and literally hundreds of empty condos, all in ONE of many buildings in a 10 minute drive. Criticism of a general thing happens, including by people who are part of that thing.
Telling people that they're all unbelievers, doomed to burn forever, they're r-pists or paedos or something for being of ____ religion, auto-ban.
If you get comments attacking you/your group for race/ethnicity, gender, sex, religion, disability, the formerly-protected stuff, TELL ME. Follow this guide to do so.
You are NOT making trouble or whining. You are not the problem. Telling others that someone is attacking you or your group is letting me know that there is a problem. I do not want someone who hates you to have your address or the addresses of other potential targets.
(As an aside, I had a fundraiser for RAINN last summer during the hate campaign against queer people. Every time someone called me a groomer, paedo, or similar on Instagram, I paid RAINN $10. On credit because I don't have money like that, but what is the company gonna do, take the money from my dead hands? lol people like me don't live that long, sweaty~ good try, though.)
You can also follow the "What if someone is rude to me?" guide to learn about blocking and other steps you can take.
If you are being harassed or threatened via Snail Mail, that is a federal crime. Even if you don't think that person is "actually serious" or capable of carrying out the threat, the reason that person feels so comfortable SENDING threats is because no one has sufficiently held them accountable.
"Keep any letter that attempts to scare, threaten or extort you in any way, and report it to the Postal Inspection Service by calling 1-877-876-2455. If you or anyone you know is being bullied, online or in person, tell a trusted friend or a loved one."
