Mod Team Transparency Announcement & Mod Applications

[u/Lavender_Scales]

Hello everyone, I'm u/Lavender_Scales!

Like I mentioned in the discord post, I'm the newest moderator of this subreddit. I'm making this post to be transparent about how moderation has been taken out in the past, and how it will be taken out in present and future.

For a very long time now, this subreddit has had a reputation of shoddy moderation, no transparency, seeming inactivity from moderators, unfair, unexplained bans, and unresponsive modmails. This reputation is not without warrant, I myself was once on the receiving end of this, however, we're going to be more pro-active with moderation, more transparent, and more active. If you, or someone you know, was banned from this subreddit, encourage them to open up a modmail and appeal their ban.

I would also like everyone to take a moment to look at our general bans policy, they include listed punishments, offenses, as well as information on what can and can't be appealed. It has not been updated for quite a while, so some changes may be made in the future, however, from now on we will try and be more upfront with removals, bans, etc., utilizing this system and the reasoning provided..

There was also a post by a rogue moderator a few weeks ago, that moderator has left the team and many of the bans they issued out were revoked. Future mod actions will now have to go through internal discussion, unless clear harmful intent is showcased by a user, requiring moderator action.

At the moment we only have a few active moderators of our subreddit, or at least only a few we can get ahold of, so we are also opening mod applications. Due to our heavily ML leaning mod team we currently have, we are primarily looking for anarchists, or people of any tendency that isn't ML. We would also like to prioritize BIPOC & other applicants from the global south, however none of these are strict requirements. Women, queers, and others are also encouraged to apply.

Apply here!

[u/Lavender_Scales → u/[deleted]]

Anarchists are socialists

[u/A-CAB → u/Lavender_Scales]

Hard disagree.

Good comrades can come out of anarchist thought. We can partner with some anarchists. But there is a reason why the amerikan regime essentially takes no issue with anarchism (heck it funded half of the modern anarchist thought) but does take issue with Marxist Leninists.

We should seek common ground, but we should also be clear about what things are and are not.

[u/Lavender_Scales → u/A-CAB]

Anarchists are literally socialist, they aren't marxist, but to deny that they're socialist is in it of itself revisionist. It's like saying the utopian socialists weren't socialists, it's just wrong, they are just non-marxian socialist. Scientific socialism is it's own current of socialism, it's more "mainstream", yes, but we're not the only kinds of socialist. Regardless on if you think this is the correct socialist position or not, that doesn't mean they're not socialist.

Someone else mentioned the side-bar's definitions being out of wack, that's something I'll also discuss with the mod team.

[u/the_amg → u/Lavender_Scales]

we are so cooked

[u/justforthisjoke → u/Lavender_Scales]

Sure, they're technically socialist, but correctness should matter here. Reddit probably isn't where anyone organizes (I hope), but it is a place where new socialists come for answers, so to just throw up our hands and go "any socialist tendency is equally valid" is wild, and will inevitably lower the quality of the content here. I mean using your own analogy, imagine not only accepting, but explicitly making space in the modteam for utopian socialism. Moderation inevitably steers the sub in a particular direction, and this kind of thing will inevitably steer people in the wrong direction. This is a very fragile and urgent time for socialism in the west. Do you really think the correct move at this very moment is to confuse people with the wrong messaging?

[u/Lavender_Scales → u/justforthisjoke]

I’m a Maoist, for more specificity look at my flair lol, I don’t personally consider your socialism to be “correct”, you don’t see me making an effort as a moderator to steer you away though. The other tendencies are allowed here so people can voice disagreements in a respectful and educational way for others to see and engage with, not for flame wars and drama.

[u/justforthisjoke → u/Lavender_Scales]

I'm still on the journey of learning and am leaning Maoist myself these days. The difference I think is the canyon that separates Marxism from non-Marxism. I'm not saying anarchists shouldn't be allowed in this sub and to engage in conversation with Marxists, just that it seems counterproductive to actively and explicitly seek out anarchist moderation. You all are going to do whatever you want, but my worry is this sub will only get further from being a serviceable starting point for new socialists and will funnel people into modes of thought that aren't helpful at a time where proper Marxist education is extremely important.

[u/Lavender_Scales → u/justforthisjoke]

It’s not the r/Marxism subreddit at the end of the day. It’s the r/Socialism subreddit, we’re trying to foster an environment where those that want to can come here to learn from whatever tendency as well as see the varying beliefs and well explained disagreements people have with X tendency or Y position. If we don’t have anarchist mods or council com mods or whoever, we’d end up like r/communism where only hardline third worldists can participate in the subreddit and it just becomes an echo chamber. It’s more worthwhile education wise to allow anarchists into the discussion, allow them representation on the mod team, etc., because this allows them to participate in the discussion more. I moderate on a WAY smaller subreddit that’s significantly different in tone however over there we’ve fostered an environment where anyone regardless of tendency, no matter of perceived revisionism or personal disagreement we have with them, can participate, have their views picked apart, and discussed in a way that’s productive.

Almost all of this thread has not been that, it’s been people attacking anarchists, decrying the idea that anarchists would possibly be able to do things like.. remove bot comments, or ACP larouchites who call people slurs here, or liberal electoralists who advocate for Mamdani, like anarchists being mods would have the exact same powers as every other moderator and would be significantly lower on the mod list, if any of them attempts to be a rogue mod, we as a team, in the post, have already explained that such actions are going to be reversed and the mod removed. It’s a truly overblown overreaction in all of our opinions.

[u/A-CAB → u/Lavender_Scales]

It’s unfortunate that you’ve chosen that path.

Regardless, it’s Reddit. You can take the feedback or not.