Moderating our Debates: Confessions of the Tyga’s
Election Day on campus was quiet and peaceful, but tensions have been rising in our virtual, online campus communities. Yesterday afternoon (ET), Tyga San, the moderator of Tiger Confessions #, announced they will be lifting the “ban on political posts over the next few days because of the election.”
Tyga San’s most recent announcement comes after a heated debate about free speech and censorship on confession platforms that could, “contribute to the polarization and exclusion of conservatism at Princeton, especially in these tense times due to the upcoming election.”
Tiger Confessions #, with over 2500 members, is the largest and most active campus confession page where students can submit anonymous posts about anything from classes and friends to quarantine anecdotes, book recommendations, etc. Tyga San is responsible for publishing the anonymous submissions alongside other general housekeeping tasks to keep the platform updated.
“I don’t think it’s fair or realistic to try and ban all political discourse during the election, so I began letting political posts in,” Tyga San wrote in our chat-exchange earlier today. “It’s worth noting that there hadn’t been many conservative-leaning submissions in the first place, but I thought I might as well be transparent about it.”
In their announcement, Tyga San responded to concerns of how their political bias may affect their role as a moderator.
“Over the last few months, I’ve come to see that it’s impossible to separate my personal beliefs from what I choose to post. It’s not a secret that I lean liberal, like most of you. Also like most of you, I find it impossible to equate both sides of whatever farce of a ‘national debate’ that’s going on right now. You can’t say ‘both sides’ are equally bad; you can’t equate the social ostracism that Trump supporters experience with the ostracism that they gender [...] So yes, I’d post some submission that I might not post if you switched all the names around.”
Tyga Bush, the moderator of Chaste Right Wing Tiger Confessions, a private, anonymous confessions page for conservative students made a separate announcement in response–revealing the differing approaches of the two confessions groups in moderating their respective platforms.
“I do not support Tyga San’s brand of discourse and censure, and I explicitly encourage productive rhetoric and listening,” wrote Tyga Bush in an announcement Monday evening. “I, and many campus conservatives, are of the belief that even talking to someone who is wrong but willing to engage is million times more productive than echoing the same opinions around in a contest to see who can be the most virtuous, or worse, who can be most extreme and dogmatic.”
Tyga San posts all submissions except those that attack specific individuals or groups for holding a particular view, are unproductive and have nothing to do with Princeton, and are taunting/mocking in nature. To date, Tyga San has published 26,526 submissions. Less than 1% have been filtered out.
“I like to think that as the page moderator, I temper the worst aspects of anonymity,” wrote Tyga San. “Anonymity can be empowering to people who want to talk about personal feelings or fears that they would be hesitant to express under their own names. Others like to use anonymity to rile people up, which is just not fun. ”
According to Tyga San, the temporary allowance of political posts is a new addition that will “probably depend on the results of the elections and the general tone of the submissions in the coming weeks.”
“It’s difficult to be a perfect judge of what should stay and what should go, but I try my best, and I’ve received enough positive feedback during my time as moderator to feel comfortable with my process,” wrote Tyga San.
Tyga Bush, who manages a smaller group of 105 conservative students as well as few curious liberal students, takes a different approach.
“My role as moderator is like a customer service position,” wrote Tyga Bush. “The customer is always right, and only people who grossly violate the very limited community standards of the page get blocked. I don't share my opinions because as moderator I would make others feel uncomfortable, which is the opposite of what I want.”
Chaste Right Wing Tiger Confessions receives one or so submissions a day. Of these submissions, Tyga Bush shared they filter posts that (1) “make the community feel unsafe or are hostile to anyone”, or (2) “explicitly tries to shut down conversation”.
“There was a recent right wing post that I thought was worded in a toxic and ugly way but I’d rather conservatives on this page be able to redeem themselves than be protected by me,” wrote Tyga Bush. “Something that makes me proud about this page is the lack of hive mentality and the productive arguments between conservatives who differ on nuances.”
Tyga Bush will maintain their moderating style through this election. “Celebrations and complaints are equally welcome no matter who wins, and I hope they will breed productive discourse,” wrote Tyga Bush.