Let’s start this off by saying that this is a unilateral post by me, but I’m sure my comrades on the mod team share my sentiments if not exactly then closely enough. So while I’m looking forward to a bit of time off from work, let’s get this all clear.
Firstly there is no threat of an ACP takeover of this sub. We are vehemently opposed to their ilk. I’ve detailed in several comments the issues we’ve had going back several years now so I won’t repeat them here.
But suffice it to say we are slow to get around to things and, unfortunately, that’s not likely to change with how much work this sub is and how many of us have the ability to be active in the way the sub needs (truthfully I’d estimate we’d need 2-3 mods that do nothing but sit and watch the sub 24/7, a daunting task especially when folks have bills to pay).
Secondly on removals, I’ve seen one of my comrade mods say it and I get the logic, the constant spam and posts that are more fit to r/shitliberalssay or r/shitfascistssay can be a lot. I will say that spamming posts about us having a sub on the sidebar is not the best way to get us to see it, that’s what modmail is for.
To add to that content going over “look at this thing an ACP member said” are never going to be allowed on this sub. Again that is what r/shitliberalssay is for, that’s why I made it 10 years ago. r/socialism is for discussing socialism the current real movements looking to implement it, news that affects socalists and our movement and discussions of theory. Simple as.
And finally, as probably illustrated above we do need new mods. Please and thank you apply and, uhhh, don’t run away when you see the work to be done (mama’s looking to finally retire too, so plz, ty she is very tired). We need dedicated mods of all tendencies who will be willing to do the work and advance the cause of socialism, in my personal request I especially want to see non-men from outside of the west or who are BIPOC within the west but all will be considered.
ETA: The application process send us a modmail with the following.
Your reasons for wanting to moderate the sub.
How long you’ve been a socialist.
Your general knowledge level of socialism.
And a piece of theory foundational to yourself.
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I appreciate the assurance and the clarity of message. The APC are diametrically opposed to socialists so it's encouraging to see that recognised in this space.
Of course, apologies that we couldn’t say anything sooner. It’s hard living both a busy life and running the largest communist sub here. Just speaking for myself with work and family and other loved ones, not as easy at this age as it was in my teens and 20s.
They have taken over r/AmericasSocialists too. All the posts are designed to paint socialism in a bad light, divide the left, or outright support the ACP.
One of the mods is also a mod of r/AskSocialists and removes comments criticising the ACP as well as calling anyone who comments on their stance as "LGBT nationalists". They don't even hide that they support MAGA.
I'm not even American, but I thought people should not that this is a bigger problem than just one sub.
The mod from the second sub you mentioned also directly contacted me - and then banned me from the sub when I made a critical comment.
I just saw that they've also taken control of MarxismLeninism
I’d love to moderate! Where can I apply?
Send in a modmail with your reasons for wanting to moderate the sub, how long you’ve been a socialist and your general knowledge level of socialism.
ETA: Throw in a foundational bit of theory for you just for the fun of it, too.
Sent. Thank you!
Aye, thank you for the application. Will check it out when I can and make sure the rest of the modteam have had a chance to see it as well.
Vouching, because I really enjoy u/EgyptianNational ‘s own sub and think they’re a good moderator
Same. Their own sub is very good and I think they'd be good here.
Real and authentic revolutionaries in control????? (/J)
What precautions will be taken to prevent ACP infiltration as you search for new moderators?
As we always do we’ll vet every application thoroughly and individually taking to account post history and the like (blocking out your post history is an instant disqualification, just saying). And again, personally, I’m looking for comrades outside of the west and outside of the usual profile of an ACPer. That said, because of this it will take a long time to process applications especially should we get a lot of them.
Glad to volunteer for a new moderator role if needed, the ACP is not a socialist party in any meaningful sense and does not belong on this sub.
Check this comment here for how to apply: https://www.reddit.com/r/socialism/comments/1p7jp5m/on_recent_events/nqycku6/
I really appreciate this post and the reassurance, this is one of the largest explicitly socialist subs and I would hate to see it taken over by the likes of the "ACP"
It was an important PSA because of their operational scale. Anyone who has encountered the ACP knows full well that it is an entirely different beast, not your usual, terminally online fringe group. They‘e known to engage in targeted hostile takeovers of leftbook modmins, which made the threat to this sub reasonable from an intel/security standpoint. Even as a discussion group, r/socialism requires protection. I strongly recommend the mod team include a dedicated opsec unit to monitor other compromised groups (not post about them) and watch out for new members trying to put out feelers for those nazbols in this sub.
Opsec would be huge
No matter how important something is spamming a topic does nothing to raise awareness. We don't need 100 posts about an extremely online group taking over 1 sub.
All it did was degrade the quality of the sub, as pointed out by other commenters, for the things they actually came here for. Not to mention the immediate jump to conspiratoriality which is something these groups love to use as well. Like it really is as simple as we mods have lives, some of us started modding in our teens and 20s a very different time in our lives with less responsibilities as we have now. A simple modmail might've taken just as long to get through to us but it would have saved the average user a lot of headache and it wouldn't have broken our rules either.
I understand that you guys are short on time, but it’s not exactly fair to say a simple modmail would take no less time when the one I sent you on this very topic was sent exactly one month ago today, and never received a response. And dismissing things as conspiratorial, or fed-jacketing, is just too broad in this case, because again, the methods employed by ACP are far more concentrated and persistent, unusually so, than your typical basement lords.
When I say conspiratorial the idea that any of the mods are ACP or sympathizers considering their MO has been to take over subs without active moderation. And while we're not the most active we have enough activity that wouldn't be possible. Further, folks would notice a shift in the modteam, they are not subtle at all. As you say they are concentrated and persistent and they also can't help telling on themselves within 2 sentences. As I've said elsewhere I've dealt with their ilk on twitter and have had several comrades harassed by them on the same.
Those are good indicators but I know from modding on another platform that they don’t just target unprotected groups. They’re more subtle than that. They gain favor from members of existing mod teams before getting more of their members added. Their MO is a social media version of HIV.
I think the major concern with all of those posts where we were seeing our spaces being taken over by this magacommunism bullshit and we didn't want to keep losing spaces, but most importantly losing the resources that these spaces provide. Your post here is probably the most reassuring that we've seen.
Hi there, I'm one of main leakers of all ACP related content. Have been infiltrating their public spaces for more than a year. Most of the screencaps and clips you see online are clipped by me.
So if you really need some extra intel on what they are doing or an attaché on the other side, hit me up.
PS: I found out about this comment because they were commenting on it on their Discord server.
A couple people mentioned potentially adding a rule or amending the rules to “denounce” the ACP is it possible we could get something like that to make it clear the stance of this subreddit on the matter? (I’m sure that something like this would make people feel a lot better :D)
Thank you for this though! I appreciate the explanation and transparency!! AND to anyone which is reading this other than the mods PLEASE APPLY IF YOU CARE AND CAN SPARE THE TIME!! 🫡❤️🙏
That sounds like a good idea tbh
I don’t think such a rule is needed. It’s already incredibly clear from our general bans policy that ACPers and their ilk aren’t welcome here. What we do need, as we work on getting newer and more active moderation, is for folks to be patient and that with the amount of reports we get we can’t get to all of them in a reasonable time.
Fair enough and sounds good! Was just mentioning it just in case you liked the idea since I saw others mention it :)
You have my patience though hope it all goes well!!
Of course, I definitely get the impulse but there’s no need to make a rule against a group that only really exists online when our anti-fascist, anti-reactionary and anti-liberal rules already suffice. They can’t help themselves and will always end up breaking at least one of those.
Thanks to everyone doing the work to let people know ACP toxic politics. There are a lot of groups and people new to organizations can get lost trying to keep them apart. At times it feels like the Monty Python "Judean People's Front" scene in Life of Brian
Hey there, I see that you’re needing more mods. Is there a place to apply? Also moderated other subreddits in the past, and currently moderate a medium sized one. I would love to help after the influx of the posts I saw here the last few days lol.
Now that I'm home, check out this comment here: https://www.reddit.com/r/socialism/comments/1p7jp5m/on_recent_events/nqycku6/
Thank you for the clarity!
please thank you so much and for calling out the spam 😭😭😭
spamming posting acp takeover just made the sub a hard place to navigate, and people acting like there literally isn’t a button to contact the mods themselves
greywitch subplot?
What about me?
Man it sucks cuz Eddie Liger was the guy that introduced me to socialism back on tiktok.
He swears up and down that he isn’t a class reductionist, but admits that if agreeing with MAGA people on the MAGA sentiment is what it takes to get them into socialism, he’ll gladly co-opt it. It’s sad really…
I feel like both him and Carlos are REALLY confused lol
Instead of a few mods that just sit around and look at reddit all day, it will probably be a lot more efficient to get more mods from different timezones. That is how I ran a small socialist group for a year or two; unfortunately we were mostly limited to the anglosphere, but America, Europe, and Australia basically covers the whole day
Eh, its not that hard to get mods from outside of the anglosphere if you explicitly post that you want them. As I have here. Its how the modteam at SLS shook out before I stepped down, that was a truly international modteam covering both the global north and the global south as well as a gender diverse crowd as well (incl myself of course on that second point). But it is a process and you have to not be willing to compromise on that point.
Appreciate the communication and clarity on this!
That shit liberals say sub is full of ultras perm banning "western leftists" for quoting Lenin about radicalizing vets and active duty. Pretty shitty tbh. Not sure where you stand with it but I don't think I'll ever shut up about the injustice.
I created the sub and the mods I left it in the hands of are those I trust (in fact by the same token I’m asking for here a large part of the mod team are from outside of the west, so take that into account with their criticism). So I would question this version of how events played out. With that said I haven’t modded either the sub or the discord for over a year and a half now so it’s not my place to speak on things, just know that I wouldn’t recommend it if I thought it were awful.