extremely valuable commentary ahead (i am lying)

TLDR; I don't think the censorship claims are entirely valid, but I am empathetic. These are my thoughts on the retroactive tagging, claims of censorship, and my experience with cyberspace. Slight dick riding maybe?

The topic of censorship has come up at random intervals throughout my time on cyberspace; I want to say, I personally feel that it is heading in the right direction. I'm not one to shill for a site, organization, or even specific creators I enjoy, but I'd like to chime in with my personal experience.

Awhile back, I had a post that I believed to be unfairly tagged as a vent and when I reached out to both a mod and the creator, I was met with respect and honest conversation. The creator of the site entertained my ideas about how we might avoid this feeling of censorship, while also maintaining a safe platform. Despite having no knowledge of moderation at this scale, I can see bits and pieces of my feedback in the recent implementations. It isn't anywhere near my half-assed idea, but I can see that through something as simple as asking to shoot the shit, even someone like me was taken into consideration. This isn't to say something like "a DM will fix any issue you have" but instead that as it stands, you have the opportunity to contribute to the betterment of the community.

I think that as a user and member of cyberspace, you must consider your intentions for being here. Do you want this place to succeed or not? I like that it's a small community, I like that I can recognize every user on the feed, but I like it so much that I want other people to like it too. If this place is to succeed, then users must continue to move here. If users continue to move here, then there must be moderation, which in turn means the mod team will continue to grow. There will be an increasing amount of conflicting opinions as to what can or cannot be posted here as both sides grow, this is the nature of ALL public forums, IRL or not.

This is all to say that no, it isn't perfect and it never will be. But, my time here has led me to believe that the team wants to make a fun and welcoming space. Contribute or don't IMO.

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A few extra things:

1. This was inspired by some recent posts, but is in no way a criticism of any specific users. I read through them quickly and just felt like saying something. I think that public work is fair game for criticism and empathize with the frustrations which were voiced.
2. I didn't tag the mod or khan BC I'm certain it will be seen and don't wanna clog their feed. We all "know" each other here.
3. I believe everyone has at least one bias they're entirely unaware of; I'm glad we have SEVERAL mods, and hope to see even more later. BUT, I think I would be incredibly hard pressed to find any retroactive tags that would be egregious. Even the tagging of my own post, I still disagree with the decision personally but like it's fair ya know?
4. One specific complaint I saw seems to be a misunderstanding, as retroactive tags have seemingly been around for quite a while. It makes sense that as the tag feature expands, so too would the retroactive tagging.
5. I have no skin in the game - purely anecdotal experience and a bit of mod glazing, but I stand by it. For every couple of posts that I might feel aren't appropriately tagged, there are hundreds of grifters and bigots that I'm glad I didn't even have to accidentally see.
6. Censorship isn't inherently wrong, that is the opinion of 12 year olds. Censorship must exist.
7. I am an annoying, radically communist, unapologetically trans, 'luddite' user of cyberspace. If I can post here, I am CERTAIN you can too. Not because of "Oppression Olympics," but because I hold largely controversial, unpopular, and (again) annoying opinions which I love to voice publicly. I am certain that the team has fundamental disagreements with me, but I have never felt othered because of it.

I implore you to give feedback if you've made it this far! Sorry if it feels like I'm dragging it, but I've been sitting on these thoughts for a bit.