this post was submitted on 03 Aug 2023
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Anarchism
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can you give me some context of that history? I'd like to read more about it
In IDK like the 2015-2017 timeframe some really edgy people started taking over in /r/metanarchism (the private sub where moderation decisions are made for /r/Anarchism). They formed a clique—a cult, really—and managed to force out anyone else who weren't part of it, totally ignoring even the rules they'd setup themselves for how people were to be banned. Their notion was basically that you had to subscribe to and promote the most violent possible solutions to every situation, and if you didn't jump on board enthusiastically, you weren't a "real anarchist". It was basically the most dark aesthetics of anarchism without any of the actual philosophy.
There were whole drama wars about it, where the people they banned congregated in /r/LeftWithoutEdge, /r/AnarchismOnline, and other subs, and in response the edge cult setup /r/LeftWithSharpEdge, trolled those subs their victims fled to, and harassed people with things like bloody cannibalism fantasies about their victims. Those are the folks still moderating in /r/Anarchism, and they have at least a couple moderators in subs like /r/LateStageCapitalism as well.
One of the most prolific and obsessed trolls is the guy who setup Raddit. He was caught having whole conversation trees with himself in order to fake participation on the site and set its tone. A number of times he declared he was "stepping back" from moderating it and would just run the server...and then didn't.
thanks for the insight!
Sure thing. Edited to add a paragraph at the end about Raddit itself.
Yep... I remember that - the little shit was masquerading as a "concerned anarchist" while using Stalinist tactics to harass their critics off the sub - and then started Raddle essentially to have an entire leftist forum for them to play overlord with.
I abandoned r/anarchism pretty much at that time - arguing with right-wingers is a shit-ton easier than dealing with two-faced imposters like that.
edit: For the record, I feel I have to add that it wasn't actually this useless litle fucker's activity that drove me off r/anarchism - it was my disappointment at the fact that the mods couldn't spot their shitfuckery and come up with a way to deal with it when I've seen other mod teams manage it.
this all checks out, I was never on r/anarchism but I've tried to go on raddle numerous times over the years, and every time i basically just leave in disgust because there's so little nuance or good faith and if you aren't completely down there their particular particular green-nihilist tendency you basically get treated like an enemy -- not that I'm even against that tendency, but there's many kinds of anarchism. And the mod(s? was it ever more than one person?) they were always having some public meltdown or being viciously attacked by people who they could have just banned ( or were they talking to themselves? ) It just always gives the place a spooky vibe, deep web forums are less paranoia inducing.
Quite honestly it's difficult to tell whether it was all just an army of sock accounts or if this user (still going as ziq over on raddle) had actually managed to recruit some loyal followers into their weird little purity-testing cult or something. Either way, it's pretty fucked up.
But it did teach me an important lesson, though... any online space dedicated to leftists is going to inevitably attract these dangerous and toxic Napoleon-types (yes, I am naming them after the pig in Animal Farm - I'm going there) - people whose "leftism" only consists of that which facilitates their megalomania and who has the time and resources available to them to subvert those very spaces. It really explains why tankies have such a toxic presence online. Leftists should never fool themselves into assuming that someone understanding leftist theory automatically means they are acting in good faith.
So I don't get too heavily invested in leftist-only spaces - I prefer being out there engaging people and doing counter-propaganda. It just feels a whole lot more productive.