this post was submitted on 11 Sep 2025

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Democracy is the best form of governance but we use dictatorship for our forums. Is this for efficiency? Control? Something else? (lemmy.zip)

submitted 1 week ago by analog_fluffy@lemmy.zip to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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[–] Zoift@hexbear.net 18 points 1 week ago (1 children)

This is a webforum, not a nationstate, or a union, or even a book club.

[–] Sanctus@lemmy.world 14 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Because I could just vote with my 100 accounts on your ban.

[+] analog_fluffy@lemmy.zip -15 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

You know, it would be easier if you would just state your argument instead of being all cryptic and weird.

So yr saying that the fact that a person can have multiple accounts renders democracy nonworking? And that's why we don't do democracy?

[–] Sanctus@lemmy.world 13 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Its much harder to fake votes in real life. On a forum where the members vote I can potentially be as many members as I want. So it doesnt hold up unless you are invading user privacy (bad) and even then its not a good solution as I can just use my mom's ID to make another sock puppet.

[–] onslaught545@lemmy.zip 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

I do have to say that Lemmy by design is pretty anti user privacy. Anyone with an instance can view your post history even if deleted, your vote history, and your IP address.

[–] xavier666@lemmy.umucat.day 4 points 1 week ago

Lemmy is designed for public discourse and data availability. If you want your thoughts to be private, don't post here.

If you want privacy, you should use Matrix groups. But even in Matrix, you're at the mercy of the host admin.

[–] analog_fluffy@lemmy.zip -5 points 1 week ago

How might one do democracy then? I mean, is there a way? Can this engineering riddle be solved?

[–] SmokeInFog@midwest.social 11 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Eh, it's pretty straight forward

[+] analog_fluffy@lemmy.zip -8 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

And yet you didn't answer the question.

You clearly don't know what "straightforward" means.

[–] SmokeInFog@midwest.social 13 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Jfc, I'm not the original person who started this thread.

But if you're a child who needs it broken down:

forums such as lemmy allow users to create multiple accounts
each account a person has access to is a potential vote
casual honest users will then likely just have one vote
whereas terminally online jerkoffs like you sound like will have a dozen or more accounts and votes
therefore, it's not a good system for enforcing any kind of egalitarianism.

You might as well ask why we need login accounts at all. If you want to see what happens with such systems, you need only look at 4chan.

Now, fuck off I'm done with this thread

[–] scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech 11 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Ah, the forum equivalent of vaguebooking.

[–] analog_fluffy@lemmy.zip -5 points 1 week ago

I don't understand what yr talking about.

[–] Nemo@slrpnk.net 11 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Good fora operate as a republic: Those in power are elevated by the people, but a small dedicated group still makes the decisions.

Bad fora sometimes operate as under feudalism: One senior mod with ultimate power and her lackeys and yes-men with lesser power.

But the fediverse operates more like a gardening club: Someone cultivates a plot, sometimes with helpers, and allows passerby to enjoy. Sometimes they bar a person from entry, but if that happens to you, or you just don't like the garden, there's another garden just around the corner.

[–] analog_fluffy@lemmy.zip -4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Fediverse is a collection of dictatorships. The option to leave a dictatorship, or go to another dictatorship, doesn't make it less dictatorshippy.

[–] dwt@feddit.org 9 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Very few dictstorships allow you to leave at will. That ability to Build up your own Community on equal terms is quite un-dictatorial.

[–] analog_fluffy@lemmy.zip -4 points 1 week ago

Nontheless. Policy is dictated. That is the long and short of it.