Short version: Jerks were using them to harass trans users so we got rid of them and then banned everyone who came out to complain about getting rid of them
my favorite chapo dot chat lore about that is that one guy who downvoted every single pinned post on principle and got banned for downvoting one about trans rights
My favorite part is a sub-section of that. That user made a second account to discuss the ban and explain themselves, and the first thing they did was downvote the current pinned post again, which got them banned again.
pretty far back, maybe 6 months into the site's existence (so about 2.5 years ago). And yeah, it was one poster (brookebaybee or something like that) who would post "I love my trans comrades" every day, and the people who were downvoting those posts got shamed, banned, and then we got rid of downvotes. Definitely one of the most significant events for the site leading to the current culture here.
There was a lot of growing pains early in the site's history as it was getting started. One of the big reasons we don't have transphobes now is because they were all viciously banned back in the day.
You can report them, and you can also hit them with one of these:
It depends on where the comment is though. Your report will be sent to everyone who moderates that community and if the community happens to be on something like wewelsburg.zone you might just be singling yourself out.