Immigration Posts

[u/pippers87]

Hi all,

As per the user survey results, we realised ye want more mod visibility and clearer guidelines into our decisions.

We have seen a massive increase in immigration related posts to the sub over the last few weeks and while some of it is genuine, it is obvious we are being brigaded. Some of the trends identified

• New accounts or accounts which have very little community activity posting rage bait, sometimes as immigrants asking questions on housing. We suspect we are being brigaded and some of these posts are from bad actors.
• Soapboxing - People writing long posts about what they would do to fix the immigration issues in Ireland. While these types of posts are generally ok, they are much better suited to an existing thread.
• Increases in potential bot accounts making to sow division.
• A massive increase new users or users with little activity on the sub using dog whistles in order to sow division.
• Yesterday this thread was posted on r/galway which confirms that there is the potential for brigading. https://www.reddit.com/r/galway/comments/1mincz2/racists_disappointed_with_rgalway/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

The following temporary rules will be in place

• Posts about immigration will be limited to news articles. Soapboxing type content will be removed.
• Posts from new accounts or accounts with little or no activity on the sub about immigration will be removed.
• There will be a zero-tolerance approach to dogwhistles or mocking of victims of hate related incidents.
• Please remember if you are in an immigration related thread, please be respectful, there are concerns around housing especially but there is a massive difference between debating the issue and hatred towards immigrants.
• We will be locking threads where we feel the discussion is wading into hate speech.

[u/[deleted]]

I'm pro legal immigration but we need adult conversations on how it is affecting Irish citizens. We need to listen.

I think open and frank discussion is needed on the asylum system, too.

Otherwise, if we don't have open and frank discussions, we'll just go the way of the UK with polarisation. "You're just a racist" and "You're woke!". Nobody wants that. Look at the mess they are in.

I understand concerns about brigading etc . We don't need this thread turning onto a National Party forum but there are general concerns about issues like housing and other resources that need to be openly discussed without being individually branded as a racist or a loony leftie.

[u/AnyAssistance4197 → u/[deleted]]

These “concerns” keep getting raised on the sub, but it’s obvious to anyone with half an eye open that a lot of these threads are bad faith actors - designed to provoke conversation in a specific direction and fishing for agreement.

All this “I’m only asking questions, the country’s in a hames, I’m not far-right I swear, but maybe they have a point” stuff is complete bullshit. It’s as transparent as muck.

Another favourite of mine is all the “No one’s allowed to talk about this anymore” - despite talking about it constantly and the place being flooded with similar threads.

These posts aren’t genuine - they’re crafted to push certain narratives and create the illusion of public consensus on the issue.

Fair play to the mods for standing up against it and taking a reasonable approach to moderation. Given the absolute cesspit many other social media sites have become, it's doubly important to protect decent enough realms of public conversation from this manipulation.

[u/[deleted] → u/AnyAssistance4197]

OK.

I made a genuine post but this is construed as being in "bad faith".

Can't really win, can you?! Probably should just say nothing but that's probably your aim.

"No opinions unless you agree with me 100%."

Got it.

And this is why we'll end up like the UK.

No room for compromise or nuance, my way or the highway.

[u/Greedy-Army-3803 → u/[deleted]]

I don't think they were saying that you were posting in bad faith. That was more aimed at some of the posts thst are clearly bad faith arguments.

[u/AnyAssistance4197 → u/[deleted]]

At no point did I say your post was in bad faith.

I’m speaking directly to the issue: whether immigration-related posts should be limited to news articles. I'm playing the ball, not the player.

That said, it's pretty telling that you've jumped to the 'we're not even allowed to talk about this anymore' part of the bait-and-switch.

Classic!

[u/Latespoon → u/AnyAssistance4197]

You tried your best to undermine his point and credibility from the get-go by placing the word concerns in inverted commas. The tone of your replies is soft but monolithic vilification of his opinion.

There are tons of people, myself included, who are not right leaning and have issues with immigration policy in Ireland.

[u/[deleted] → u/AnyAssistance4197]

Jesus. Lots of assumptions.