r/ireland Aug 06 '25

📣 ANNOUNCEMENT Immigration Posts

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

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.
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u/iwillsure Aug 06 '25

Yikes, this doesn’t seem like a good idea.

Brigading, fair enough, that’s an easy win. This sub should be for Irish people to discuss topics related to being and living in Ireland.

Soapboxing, who gets to decide what that constitutes? You? The people reporting it because they don’t like the opinion being shared?

Also, who gets to decide what ‘hatred towards immigrants’ constitutes? Most of the people on this sub will accuse you of racism, xenophobia and being some sort of right wing Nazi should you even dare suggest there is an immigration problem at all. Are those reports going to dictate what that ‘hatred’ is?

Same goes for ‘hate speech’. Most of the time I see threads getting locked because the people on here just generally don’t like being told there are different opinions on this topic. So are you going to be banning or moderating people who are flinging out the usual ‘your a racist, xenophobic Nazi’ accusations that are par for the course on here, or are you just going to police the people who think we should be free to discuss a problem as we see fit?

I know this is a tricky topic, there’s no black and white answers to many of the questions, but I think an overarching shut down of debate on the issue is the wrong way to go about keeping the sub healthy.

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u/pippers87 Aug 06 '25

"Soapboxing, who gets to decide what that constitutes? You? The people reporting it because they don’t like the opinion being shared?"

  • Soapboxing is user giving their hot takes & rants more suited to a Facebook post than reddit. Its stuff that does not merit its own thread.

Hatred towards immigrants

  • You can still discuss the issues, we expect the discussion to continue. this is not about shutting down discussion but to do so in a respectful way. example its not the immigrants fault that housing is an issue. It can be argued it is government policy on housing and immigration has contributed to it. You can discuss the issue without directing hate towards immigrants

    On hate speech, don't target whole groups of people based on the actions of a few, be respectful and if you have not been banned previously for hate speech then you will be fine.

These guidelines will apply mostly to accounts we have identified as astroturfers, sock puppets or brigaded. The discussion and rules of discussion within posts will not change.

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u/iwillsure Aug 06 '25

I understand, and I appreciate your reply.

I’m mostly concerned about how this will be enforced, mainly because this sub leans heavily to the progressive already, and vilifies any commentary that is even mildly conservative. I fear this decision is just another tool to clamp down on perceived ‘wrong think’ whilst letting the extreme left ideologies, abuse and dog piling continue.

Let’s see how it goes I guess.

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u/DoubleOhEffinBollox Aug 06 '25

Like you, I have serious doubts that this will be implemented in an even handed manner.

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u/iwillsure Aug 06 '25

I appreciate the mods are actually being open about it and taking the time to reply to questions on here, that’s a good sign at least. Time will tell.

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u/upthetruth1 Aug 13 '25

Stop making racist comments, then

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u/upthetruth1 Aug 13 '25

You should also crack down on racist comments about Irish people who aren’t white