We’ve talked about wanting to implement an automod solution for awhile, and finally there are some tools for that, I personally am going to start experimenting with some of the tools, and will begin to provoke more chats with the other admins to start creating a plan of action in regards to that.

Also, as far as separate instances like that, that can get muddy, I think, unless you have a really clear definitions of what’s “too hardcore.”

What we don’t allow on the site are

• things that are illegal (like CSAM and beastiality)
• things that would be illegal to host on the sites servers because of where they’re located (like animated beastiality, shota and loli)
• things that are generally considered very extreme (like scat and barf)

The last one is because lemmy doesn’t have a good automod system and most people don’t want to see that kind of thing. I would argue that, outside of those things, what people are into varies greatly and that’s why we allow pretty much everything else.

I think the problem lies in the fact that, unlike reddit and most other social media platforms, lemmy has no personalized algorithms. This means that everyone on an instance gets the same “hot” and “active” page. So I think the main reason the content seems all over the place is because the algorithms aren’t personally catered. Reddit has just as many, if not more, niche communities, but their “best” and “hot” pages have personalized algorithms so that you see more of what you like.

Personalized algorithms like that aren’t insanely difficult to create, but it’s the nuances of it that are difficult. It’s something I would like to look into and partner with some of the other admins that have dev experience to maybe create for use on any lemmy server, but as of now there is nothing developes on that front.

That being said, I don’t think the answer is to split the content even more by making more instances and then having potentially even more uncertainty about what is and isn’t allowed.

I think the answer is for us admins and mods to continue to do our best to reduce toxicity, to continue to improve our mod tools, and continue to have active discussions about what would be good for the growth of the instance.

But if you have other reasoning that you feel that the instance is having an identity crisis, I’m all ears, we’re always open to constructive criticism and suggestions to improve the overall user experience on the instance