Good morning /r/Asheville,

I can't say I ever imagined that I'd be posting a "pandemic megathread" and a "protest megathread" in /r/asheville inside the same month, but here we are. I want to share some general information, put out some reminders about the "report" button, and have a place for folks to share information about protests happening today / this week.

First, we saw a huge uptick in pageviews yesterday, June 1st: 60,000 page views, which is 3x our normal traffic and 2x our highest "corona virus" day a few weeks ago. We also had a big jump in new subscribers: 79 new people joined yesterday and 40 the day before. Typically, we average 25-30 new subscribers each day (and even that feels like a lot!). We're over 23k subscribers now. Most of these pageviews were on mobile and, given the circumstances, my assumption is that people are coming here to get and share information about the protests.

Second, a quick word about trolling and dissenting opinions, which are obviously two different things. We encourage users to use the report button for comments that spread misinformation, comments that incite or encourage violence, or comments that are extremely rude or vulgar. The mods can't look through dozens of posts with dozens, if not hundreds, of comments so we rely on y'all to point things out. Please do not use the report button for an opinion that you simply disagree with. I've seen it on both sides that someone has a well written, respectful comment and it gets downvoted and reported. We're better than that. Save the report button for things that are truly inappropriate and keep the conversations passionate, but respectful.

Third, you might have noticed that a user was spamming the sub the other day with comments and posts about mods shadowbanning them. The ban and shadowban are a last resort after PMing a user to discuss the issue first, then giving them a temporary two day ban. If the behavior continues, a ban can happen. I encourage everyone in Asheville with dissenting opinions to share them here, but vulgar insults and threats of violence will not be tolerated. If and when users take those actions, the mods respond accordingly. We're happy to answer any questions about these policies.

Use this thread to discuss any plans for protests, share information, or ask questions. Thanks to everyone who is working together to keep others informed!