Why do anarchists stay on reddit or other corporate-run platforms? - eviltoast

I know these federated communities exist as well as raddle, but it still seems like most people will stay on toxic and corporate-run platforms like reddit or Twitter. Iā€™m far from perfect myself and I still use reddit sometimes, especially for more niche communities, but when it comes to ideologically strong communities like the anarchist ones, it just feels wrong that the majority still hang out on reddit. Or you know, moving to something like Bsky when Twitter became too toxic but which is still run by a large, for-profit corporation (if they moved in the first place). What are your thoughts? Is there any justification for this?

  • TheOubliette@lemmy.ml
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    22 hours ago

    Did you miss me saying ā€œthe wholeā€ just before that?

    No, I am just pointing out that I had already correctly described this initially and we have now come full circle. You entered this conversation with a sense of correcting what I had said.

    OMG you are really deliberately obtuse. Thereā€™s anarchists on these instances but itā€™s not just anarchists. Cheezus crust!

    I am not being obtuse, you are being inconsistent. When it suits your criticism of what I said, you call those instances anarchist. When I say it is funny an anarchist instance has such an undemocratic process, suddenly you say it is wrong to call them anarchist.

    Sorry Iā€™m too dumb, can please explain where I did a naturalistic fallacy?

    By arguing that existing practice justifies it as not going against basic anarchist principles. It is all very confused given the apparent superposition status of these instances as anarchist and not anarchist, of course.

    Anyway, itā€™s not a major decision to define what kind of instance one federates on init.

    It is, of course, a major decision. It is censorship.

    I did as well when I defed lemmygrad and exploding heads. If done on start, people know what theyā€™re joining.

    Yes, that is true. If you establish bylaws of a collective first and then people join they consent to them, initially. But of course we arenā€™t talking about that at all.

    Again, a vote is not needed on everything and not everything is a ā€œmajor decisionā€ just because you claim it is.

    Of course nobody said everything needs a vote. This is just very silly straw manning.

    • db0@lemmy.dbzer0.comM
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      21 hours ago

      No, I am just pointing out that I had already correctly described this initially and we have now come full circle. You entered this conversation with a sense of correcting what I had said.

      I did correct what you said. The whole past 100 years have showed us lessons. Not just these dates. This is not hard to understand.

      I am not being obtuse, you are being inconsistent. When it suits your criticism of what I said, you call those instances anarchist. When I say it is funny an anarchist instance has such an undemocratic process, suddenly you say it is wrong to call them anarchist.

      The instances are anarchist because anarchists run them. They are not full of anarchists. An instance that is run by anarchists but open to others doesnā€™t always have to always require a voting by non-anarchists. There can be an internal affinity group handling this. There can be plenty of approaches to this, depending on the time and effort one can afford. Sure in a perfect world, everything would be done much more perfectly, but we do what we can with the time we have. If only you would request the same level of purity from the authoritarian regimes you supportā€¦

      By arguing that existing practice justifies it as not going against basic anarchist principles. It is all very confused given the apparent superposition status of these instances as anarchist and not anarchist, of course.

      How is that a naturalistic fallacy? Did I prescribe something as ā€œgoodā€ or whatever because of weā€™re doing it already? No, I said that the current practice is consistent with anarchist principles. To argue the opposite you have to argue 2 things. 1 that setting some rules as soon as the instance opens (including defederated instances) is anti-anarchistic. And that 2. Anarchist running an instance deciding that some instances are too toxic to federate with is a ā€œmajor decisionā€ that always requires voting.

      Yes, that is true. If you establish bylaws of a collective first and then people join they consent to them, initially. But of course we arenā€™t talking about that at all.

      Thatā€™s exactly what weā€™re talking about! Just because we donā€™t do it in your approved manner doesnā€™t mean this isnā€™t exactly what we did.

      Of course nobody said everything needs a vote. This is just very silly straw manning.

      ā€œAnd not everything is a major decisionā€, just ignore half of what I said, whydontcha.

      • TheOubliette@lemmy.ml
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        20 hours ago

        I did correct what you said. The whole past 100 years have showed us lessons. Not just these dates. This is not hard to understand.

        What I said initially: ā€œPerhaps they are thinking of the ā€œanarchistsā€ that just watch YouTube videos to get angry at ā€œthe tankiesā€ based on a misunderstanding of history in the 1920sā€

        I am of course not saying ā€œthe only things are from the 1920sā€, but that this is a primary focus. And when asked about the time periods you think of as primary, they popped up. Full circle, lol.

        The instances are anarchist because anarchists run them. They are not full of anarchists. An instance that is run by anarchists but open to others doesnā€™t always have to always require a voting by non-anarchists. There can be an internal affinity group handling this. There can be plenty of approaches to this, depending on the time and effort one can afford.

        Right so they are anarchist instances. And they make important decisions about federation by fiat of a couple admins. And that is very funny for anarchists to do. Inventing scenarios that didnā€™t happen to say how they are reasonable isā€¦ not relevant. In many ways you implicitly acknowledge how silly it is, because none of your examples are, ā€œa couple admins just decide itā€, instead you talk about affinity group subsets. Or is that meant to be euphemistic cover for ā€œa couple adminsā€?

        Sure in a perfect world, everything would be done much more perfectly, but we do what we can with the time we have.

        Personally, I donā€™t think ā€œtwo people make the important decisionsā€ is complaining about imperfection when it comes to an anarchist instance. Itā€™s really just unexamined centralization that is otherwise an implicit part of the process of hosting software. And itā€™s very funny.

        If only you would request the same level of purity from the authoritarian regimes you supportā€¦

        The ā€œpurityā€ is ā€œbasic correspondence to the core principals of what you claim to beā€. Iā€™m not a big stickler, really. But please do tell me about the regimes I support and how I am inconsistent on this. I expect you to be able to explain this without my input, as you are so certain, right?

        How is that a naturalistic fallacy?

        A short version of the naturalistic fallacy is, ā€œwhat is, is what should beā€. That you justify what should be simply because it is how things are done. That is the logic you presented! ā€œYou donā€™t vote on each ban your> admins and mods take either.ā€

        Did I prescribe something as ā€œgoodā€ or whatever because of weā€™re doing it already? No, I said that the current practice is consistent with anarchist principles.

        You did not say the latter, actually. But you did say that you donā€™t vote on each ban, as if this justifies the practice. It sounds kind of like these instances should!

        To argue the opposite you have to argue 2 things. 1 that setting some rules as soon as the instance opens (including defederated instances) is anti-anarchistic. And that 2. Anarchist running an instance deciding that some instances are too toxic to federate with is a ā€œmajor decisionā€ that always requires voting.

        1. No I donā€™t and I already responded to that. This situation is not one of what people joined, it was a censorship decision, it required a change. Gotta flip that ā€˜blockā€™ button and all that.

        2. Yes of course it is, at least if you want to say you are anarchist. Thatā€™s a major decision and it is something that even ā€œauthoritarianā€ instances can accomplish. I know that anarchists could do it even better!

        Thatā€™s exactly what weā€™re talking about! Just because we donā€™t do it in your approved manner doesnā€™t mean this isnā€™t exactly what we did.

        No, it is not what we are talking about.

        ā€œAnd not everything is a major decisionā€, just ignore half of what I said, whydontcha.

        Itā€™s funny because while I didnā€™t ignore that, because Iā€™ve already directly said in no uncertain terms that I disagree 3-4 times, you ignored my response to what you said: itā€™s a silly straw man.

        • db0@lemmy.dbzer0.comM
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          13 hours ago

          What I said initially: ā€œPerhaps they are thinking of the ā€œanarchistsā€ that just watch YouTube videos to get angry at ā€œthe tankiesā€ based on a misunderstanding of history in the 1920sā€

          And I said thereā€™s plenty of other decades with ā€œmisunderstandingsā€?

          And of fucking course the 20s and 30s are the primary focus because thatā€™s the period with the last revolutionary potential which MLs squandered to build Capitalism again.

          Or is that meant to be euphemistic cover for ā€œa couple adminsā€?

          No, an affinity group is an affinity group a bunch of admins is something else, but can also be valid.

          Personally, I donā€™t think ā€œtwo people make the important decisionsā€ is complaining about imperfection when it comes to an anarchist instance. Itā€™s really just unexamined centralization that is otherwise an implicit part of the process of hosting software. And itā€™s very funny.

          Thereā€™s plenty of scenarios where anarchists take decisions without voting. Again, you donā€™t get to declare by fiat what is a ā€œmajor decisionā€. But Iā€™m glad youā€™re self-amused at least.

          The ā€œpurityā€ is ā€œbasic correspondence to the core principals of what you claim to beā€.

          Nonense.

          But please do tell me about the regimes I support and how I am inconsistent on this. I expect you to be able to explain this without my input, as you are so certain, right?

          Iā€™m pretty certain youā€™re a Marxist-Leninist, so you (critically?) support the usual suspects of USSR and PRC. Probably also Cuba and if youā€™re extreme enough North Korea. Am I wrong?

          A short version of the naturalistic fallacy is, ā€œwhat is, is what should beā€. That you justify what should be simply because it is how things are done. That is the logic you presented! ā€œYou donā€™t vote on each ban your> admins and mods take either.ā€

          Thatā€™s not a naturalistic fallacy. Thatā€™s me pointing out that this way of acting is obvious when you donā€™t decide by fiat why something is ā€œmajor decisionā€ for others. Iā€™m also pointing out potential hypocrisy.

          You did not say the latter, actually. But you did say that you donā€™t vote on each ban, as if this justifies the practice. It sounds kind of like these instances should!

          No, I didnā€™t say that doing this justifies it. Thatā€™s bad uncharitable reading on your part to claim a fallacy. Iā€™ve actually done ā€œvoting on every banā€ so Iā€™m familiar with how well it works. Have you?

          Just for the record, do tell, what experience do you have running an instance or a comm?

          No I donā€™t and I already responded to that. This situation is not one of what people joined, it was a censorship decision, it required a change. Gotta flip that ā€˜blockā€™ button and all that.

          Do you know that for sure? Did you check when slrpnk defederated hexbear?

          Yes of course it is, at least if you want to say you are anarchist. Thatā€™s a major decision and it is something that even ā€œauthoritarianā€ instances can accomplish. I know that anarchists could do it even better!

          Again, why do you think you can declare by fiat what is a major decision?

          No, it is not what we are talking about.

          It certainly is. Again, do you know when such instances were blocked comparative to the life of the acting instance?

          Itā€™s funny because while I didnā€™t ignore that, because Iā€™ve already directly said in no uncertain terms that I disagree 3-4 times, you ignored my response to what you said: itā€™s a silly straw man.

          Just because you disagree what is a ā€œmajor decisionā€ for other groups of people you donā€™t belong to, doesnā€™t mean you are right. The impact of the decision and who gets to vote on it is determined by the people most affected by it. Thatā€™s the core anarchist principle you donā€™t seem to understand.

        • ProdigalFrog@slrpnk.net
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          12 hours ago

          Perhaps they are thinking of the ā€œanarchistsā€ that just watch YouTube videos to get angry at ā€œthe tankiesā€ based on a misunderstanding of history in the 1920s

          Curious what that misunderstanding is. Do you feel the betrayal of the Anarchist Kronstadt sailors, Nestor Makhnoā€™s black army, CNT of Spain, or the lengthy list of offenses against the IWW were just an oopsie?

          • TheOubliette@lemmy.ml
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            1 hour ago

            It would take a huge amount of space to do those 4+ things justice. Iā€™ll share in some of them but I think it would pretty quickly be something deserving its own thread or maybe just some reading recommendations.

            Re: Kronstadt, calling that a betrayal is just incorrect. First, they launched a mutiny directed at the Bolsheviks (ā€œno Bolsheviks in the Sovietsā€, so the lines went), of course the Bolsheviks would act in opposition. It was a direct, oppositional fight, not getting stabbed in the back. In addition, part of the ā€œbetrayalā€ narrative depends on characterizing the Kronstadt mutiny as emerging from those who had fought at Kronstadt for the October Revolution, as in, it was the people who fought and died alongside Bolsheviks for freedom who were later jailed and killed by them. But this is also largely inaccurate. The Kronstadt sailors mutinying drew heavily from new recruits from the south that had never been part of Kronstadt during the revolution, they were building their own structures (many of them questionable) using the principles they learned from the diverse ancom traditions in the south. I recommend reading contemporary accounts and items as close to the Soviet archives as possible.

            Re: Makhnovschina, this one really requires reading heavily, to get a sense of the oppositional forces. It is, of course, much easier to justify a betrayal narrative here given the repeated alliances and breaking of alliances, the Red Terror, etc. These were people who fought side by side against the Whites, there is no doubt, and the Bolsheviks went to war against the Blacks and heavily oppressed them. My gut inclination was initially to say it was simply a mistake, a wrong. But if you delve more deeply into the specifics of operations, what the realities meant on the ground, it becomes clearer that this was not simply a revanchist attitude by the Bolsheviks, but a direct, material opposition due to the need to feed the workers in cities. This is why the Red Army faced no resistance in the cities and why the Black Armyā€™s entire operation was deeply interlinked with the peasantry, namely a petty bourgeois peasantry premised on isolation and, oddly, frequent entitlement to the products of the city, which the Black Army often stole in order to support the peasant communes run by their mayors. Rather than bridge this divide, the Black Army greatly exacerbated it, worsening starvation conditions. And this was not limited in impact just to the region of Machnovschina, as it had long been an exporter of grain to the north. This did develop into a sectarian fight, though it was also not simply The Reds breaking alliances to attack The Blacks. As autonomous groups, subsets of The Blacks often declared agreements to be over sporadically and took up arms and killed of their own volition. So if we call it betrayal, I would say a qualified one.

            Re: Spain I would ask you to be more specific.

            Re: IWW that publication is a lengthy polemic about every perceived grievance they could muster, and mostly not about the IWW at all, including the inaccuracies about Kronstadt that were belabored without merit until the opening of the archives. I donā€™t know what you would want me to do with it except to suggest reading extensively and not relying on pamphlets. Every polemical claim requires investigation and specifics.