I tried to send an appeal message in my application as a response to being banned, but I don’t even know if they ever get read. My original account’s application probably wasn’t even read at all, which caused trouble for me later on. Here’s what I said after I got home and saw what was done:

Appeal message

"I couldn’t find any avenues to appeal my ban, so this is all I have. First of all, I just want to say that I’m genuinely hurt. I created my account over 5 months ago after following the site as a lurker for over a year now. I specifically said in my account’s creation that I was unsure which communities I would be participating in, and that I just wanted an account to have the option to help out and contribute when my mental health makes it possible.

After 5 months of my mental health being in the trenches, I finally worked up the courage to start participating and contributing very important content that had absolutely nothing hostile to the mission of Marxism-Leninism. I was trying to build an archive of educational videos that people could link to (just provide links to the post) and I was really proud of what I was able to setup.

I also made it a point to respond to people in a timely manner, so naturally I made a People’s Court case immediately once Wisconcom’s post went live. I had a long, bad day at work yesterday and I get home and see that he had griefed ProleWiki, and that set me off because I genuinely care about the work all of you do and wanted to offer solutions that would put a stop to his bullying and deception.

I spent the rest of the night being upset about it, before going to bed. At work I was thinking about my People’s Court case, looking forward to CriticalResist’s feedback and setting up a system that would prevent this kind of thing from happening again.

You have no idea what this meant to me, and I’m at a loss for words that someone would be so quick to ban me without looking into my history, my contributions, even keeping an eye on me going forward to make absolutely sure I wasn’t Wisconcom. I’m honestly heartbroken and feel so betrayed that I would come home tonight and just see the total opposite of what I had hoped for.

My account is gone, all the contributions I’ve made in regards to extremely important historical archives are now gone. Everything has been completely ruined. It’s so upsetting that I’ve been driven to tears. I feel thoroughly demoralized and hopeless now, and just after I had finally crawled out of the pits.

I understand your positions as admins and that you have to deal with troublemakers all the time. I’ve been in your shoes and have made this kind of mistake in the past.

There were so many things I had to offer, but now I’ve been publicly humiliated, shamed, and now I’m probably hated not even three days after just beginning to spread my wings. I don’t expect a response, not that there’s a way to do it directly anyhow. I wish all of you good health and prosperity, and hope you take care to avoid shooting first and asking questions second.

Thank you for at least allowing me the opportunity to contribute what I did, and helping with my confidence about posting content (CriticalResist8). At least it served to further the development of historical literacy and will have hopefully affected discourse in a positive way.

I really wish you all would’ve talked with me more, and gotten to know me better. I was even planning on creating an ML Blender community so we could share projects we’d worked on to boost creativity, morale, and encourage the development of artistic skills. Art is massively important to the movement for communism.

It’s such a loss and I need time to process this, because it’s a slap in the face from the people I had held in high esteem. In the meantime, take care of yourselves.

  • aeon"

It’s been a few days, and I’ve been able to get over the worst of the shock. I’m so confused as to why I was shot down so hard like this. All I’ve done since I got here is support Lemmygrad’s development as a resource for oppressed peoples. I seriously encourage you to actually take a look at my resume. Here is everything I’ve contributed:

Contributions

[Africa]:
https://inv.tux.pizza/watch?v=VftR9vOn8xE - Thomas Sankara: the Upright Man
https://inv.tux.pizza/watch?v=cobVBgQKdlc - Faces Of Africa - Sankara’s Ghost
https://inv.tux.pizza/watch?v=LVKgvakY_Io - Thomas Sankara speaks
https://inv.tux.pizza/watch?v=aGQlUxkP1XQ - President of Socialist Party of Zambia: Human development is not sustainable on basis of plunder
https://inv.tux.pizza/watch?v=wUhfpb4Uhis - Why is the U.S. promotion of democracy viewed with suspicion?

[Art]:
https://inv.tux.pizza/watch?v=oL10Gt2uags - What can art look like when money is a secondary concern? Redline レッドライン (2009) Yellowline Race in 4k (EN, edited, 24fps, 5.1)

[China]:
https://inv.tux.pizza/watch?v=8HuM5S0fY3g - China Says Democracy Is Not A Single Flavor Coca-Cola Worldwide
https://inv.tux.pizza/watch?v=Vg7QOSyKMP4 - How does whole-process people’s democracy work?
https://inv.tux.pizza/watch?v=AMy--2KhozY - Whole-process people’s democracy: China’s domestic reality vs. the international rhetoric

[GenZedong]:
https://inv.tux.pizza/watch?v=DMRdPp-TU9w - “Soviet Media’s Portrait of the United States” (1986) Reel America Preview
https://inv.tux.pizza/watch?v=dlYqISgwVYQ - Soviet Media’s Portrait of the United States in 1986 (Extended version)

[Korea]:
https://inv.tux.pizza/watch?v=g1h8XsQhT5o - Who is to Blame for Korea’s Division and the Korean War?

[Hip Hop]:
https://inv.tux.pizza/watch?v=RvOGeaEP_c0 - The Culture Industry: How Capitalism Ruined Hip Hop | 1Dime
https://inv.tux.pizza/watch?v=1WkvomHrfVo - Ice Cube - Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It (CW violence by police and NATO troops and aftermath of violence (various levels of injuries))
https://inv.tux.pizza/watch?v=67Pylw3Kukc - Dax - Dr. Dre ft. Snoop Dogg “Still D.R.E.” Remix [One Take Video]
https://inv.tux.pizza/watch?v=H5IXuJ7llf0 - Zack Fox & Kenny Beats - Square Up (Official Video)
https://inv.tux.pizza/watch?v=nCGmeoyImIs - Dax - Dr. Dre ft. Eminem “Forgot About Dre” Remix [Official Video]

[Laborwave]:
https://inv.tux.pizza/watch?v=xvRACQl5zos - 【Laborwave - North Korea is a paradise】
https://inv.tux.pizza/watch?v=KfPwEL6PRqA - Laborwave - USSR (video version)
https://inv.tux.pizza/watch?v=48vW8LbQ6TE - Laborwave - USSR (audio version) - [VAPORWAVE] - Eddy Huntington - U.S.S.R. DISCO LABORWAVE

[TankieTunes]:
https://inv.tux.pizza/watch?v=s7Iig8dcs4s - “We will travel one road forever” - North Korean Patriotic Song
https://inv.tux.pizza/watch?v=LnR0pN8o63g - Immortal North Korean Propaganda Masterpiece - “수령님을 따라 천만리 당을 따라 천만리” (Millions of Miles following the Leader, following the Party)

[World News]:
https://inv.tux.pizza/watch?v=gTIRxpyX6EA - US-backed Terrorism Targets Vietnam & Myanmar in Wider War on China
https://inv.tux.pizza/watch?v=FQwoQnsiVOk - Washington’s REAL Policy on China - “Repairing Ties” is Theater Ahead of Sanctions, War

[Video Games]
https://vede.itch.io/the-communist-dogifesto - The Communist Dogifesto

Is there anything wrong with any of this? What did I do wrong, exactly? This stuff should’ve added tons of value to Lemmygrad, and yet everything was wiped out. That’s a tremendous loss, not for me, but for everyone involved here from admins, to users, to lurkers.

I’ve always been candid and sincere in all my interactions with everyone on this site. Two people offered feedback that they weren’t happy with my cross-posting for a few videos because it was obstructing their feed, which I respectfully addressed and promptly stopped. I’ve always taken care to be respectful and uphold good etiquette, but that doesn’t mean I’m immune to losing my temper when wreckers cause grief for fellow comrades.

Yeah, maybe none of you have seen anyone annoyed with Wisconcom, but guess what? You don’t know how everyone feels all of the time. Most of the site’s traffic is lurkers, and we have a lot of them. Do you know their stories? Do you know how they behave? How they feel? When one of them decides to start being hands on, anything can happen. You don’t know them, even if they’ve had a ton of time to get to know a lot about you.

That being said, lurkers are commonly seen as anomalies when they start making moves. But being an anomaly doesn’t mean you’re a fugitive (Wisconcom).

I remember seeing a post by an admin that went a little something like this: “You’re free to criticize anyone, even admins. However, you’re only free to criticize our actions, not our political position. Take that to leftist in-fighting”, which is perfectly reasonable.

I’m going to take them up on that and give you constructive criticism about me being wrongfully accused.

This part is directed towards CriticalResist8. I have also archived the relevant pages on the Wayback Machine just in-case you get any other cute ideas to recklessly erase history without due process.

Here’s the archive of what’s left of my People’s Court case post: https://web.archive.org/web/20230714191523/https://lemmygrad.ml/post/929993

Let’s take a look at the so-called “reasons” why I was accused of being Wisconcom:

Reason 1
  1. “instantly knows who defaced prolewiki, like they went into the edit history which nobody ever does lol”

First of all, I don’t know how to go into the edit history, or even where to find this function. I knew it was Wisconcom because the profile (RedArcher9) had a picture with a quote of Enver Hoxha in the banner.

Wisconcom is a notorious hoxhaist, so this was arrogant, unnecessary, and even unprofessional to respond this way.

And guess what? I linked that very picture in the image function when I created the post. I even explicitly said so.

Reason 2
  1. “talks like wisconcom”

This is an arbitrary statement that could mean absolutely anything. If you’re going to make a claim like this, the responsible thing to do is provide receipts.

Talks like them in what way? Where is your documentation? You erased everything.

Where are your side-by-side comparisons?

This is is not good enough and wouldn’t hold up in court. The reason I say that is because it’s a serious matter banning someone, and shouldn’t be the first option. How many times have innocent people been wrongfully imprisoned because they were mistaken for someone else? How many innocent people have you banned and alienated, for that matter?

You erased the history and the contents of the accounts in question, which has added unnecessary complications in the event of a proper investigation.

As the amount of power you have scales up in society, the level of responsibility you carry also scales proportionately. I expect a lot better from a Marxist-Leninist administrator. We’re supposed to be the most educated, most competent, and most advanced politically, but also in numerous other respects.

Reason 3
  1. “‘The site has been seemingly defaced yet again’ this is the only time wisconcom has been allowed in and defaced PW. He has tried getting accounts in the past, but they were all refused. Account requests are not public. Only he would know about this.”

Ok, then what is this?: https://web.archive.org/web/20230714191710/https://lemmygrad.ml/post/835854 - Oh yeah, wisconcom is back 😃 @CriticalResist8A to ProleWiki • 16 days ago

What’s this all about, then? You tell everyone he’s only been allowed in once, yet here you’re saying he got in just over two weeks prior to this incident and started wrecking 10 pages. You even provided photographic evidence.

Are you gaslighting us? Clearly he’s not the only one who would know about this.

You undermine your credibility and trust in the public eye when you either lie, or neglect to account for the relevant history of matters of interest.

Reason 4
  1. Same with “but this game of cat and mouse with Wisconcom has become very tiresome”, we don’t talk about him ever.

How many times have you all posted about him? How many times has his name come up? How many times has he been pinned? Just do a general search for his name and have yourself an endless scroll. Don’t try that with me.

Reason 5
  1. “I propose a freeze on the creation or promotion of accounts to have edit permissions, and restrict such promotion to only those who have been around (for a good while) and earned the trust of the Lemmygrad netizens.” this is child-level wrecking stuff. a) ProleWiki is wholly independent from Lemmygrad (but wiscon seems to think we’re connected in a love triangle with GZD too) and b) ProleWiki’s policies are an internal matter.

What did I just say in the post?: I don’t know the current policies for allowing people to become editors, but this game of cat and mouse with Wisconcom has become very tiresome.

I admitted upfront I am not familiar with the process, or policies. I’ve also never personally made an account or requested an account on ProleWiki. I use ProleWiki for the same reason everyone else does–to learn about Marxism-Leninism. It is a critical resource that is intended to provide a public service to all, and having someone grief it affects all of us collectively in a negative way.

Why don’t you show any understanding about this? Where is your compassion?

In addition, I’m not the only one interested in the policies of ProleWiki, in the context of securing the integrity of the resource and making sure it can scale when needed. These are perfectly legitimate interests.

You saying the policies are an “internal matter” when the consequences of the failures of those policies to keep infiltrators out affects everyone as an external matter is dismissive and egotistical. It reeks of hubris. Do you think Linux would be so successful if Torvalds had this attitude about the kernel?

ProleWiki isn’t an internal project in some obscure Discord or Matrix server where only a few people of the “in crowd” suffer the consequences of something going wrong.

Have a look at this: https://web.archive.org/web/20230714195138/https://lemmygrad.ml/post/798887 - Traffic to prolewiki has doubled ever since we went viral on Twitter.

The project has gone viral in the past, and people who are still finding their way politically are the most vulnerable to hostile manipulation of the site. If you don’t care about this, then it would bring into question your commitment to building a communist world.

If you don’t like me, that’s okay. If you don’t believe my contributions to Lemmygrad are worth a damn, then tell me and we can discuss why. But to ban me because you sloppily jumped to conclusions purely out of impulse is just wrong.

You saw only what you wanted to see and made a huge mess with your follow-up actions. Your “reasons” are full of holes. If your argument was a submarine, you’d have ended up just like those billionaires–soup in a tin can.

If you’re going to be an administrator, we all expect you to be professional and thorough in carrying out your obligations. If you can’t handle the responsibility that goes with that, then let us know.

I am perfectly fine being hated for who I am, but to be hated and shamed for someone I am not is just cruel, inhumane and flat out uncalled for.

You didn’t even give me a chance to defend myself, much less get to know me.

All lurkers turned contributors are going to seem suspect in some regard. That doesn’t mean you simply turn into a hammer looking for nails and just decide someone is “good enough” to meet the criteria and completely erase them and all their hard work from the internet. You give them time to make names for themselves and become familiar faces around the 'grad. This should be common sense.

We’re supposed to provide a service that offers better than the practices of Big Tech. You publicly humiliated and disgraced me all over a misunderstanding. Was it worth it? I’ve decided to make this post because I haven’t given up on Lemmygrad. There’s so many wonderful people here and I have always felt safe with how understanding people are, especially to the most vulnerable who need a space to vent and open up.

This is also my first time participating on any public forum like this. I never used Reddit, Twitter, Facebook, or any of the other Big Tech platforms to engage in public discourse. If you want people to feel safe, welcome, and not afraid to actually speak up when there’s issues that need to be addressed and brought to your attention, maybe don’t be so heavy handed and act so unilaterally without having done your homework.

I’m still quite upset, and might be for some time, but I still desire to contribute to Lemmygrad’s development. If you don’t want me here, then tell me why based on my actual resume, instead of just deciding to take such an infantile approach like “guh huhuh. i declare you wisconcom, lol kek banhammer go bam”.

How about this time, you actually talk to me. I’m not an unreasonable person, and I’m fully willing to humble myself and admit when I’m in the wrong.

If you choose to double-down and insist upon these self-defeating practices, then I will gladly take my contributions elsewhere as Lemmygrad wouldn’t be able to provide a nurturing and encouraging environment for me to help organize and share as a Marxist-Leninist.

I came here to find solidarity amongst like-minded people who share my class interests, not be bullied by an admin’s negligence.

  • loathesome𝕏dongeater@lemmygrad.mlEnglish
    10·
    1 year ago

    The problem here is that you woke up a largely inactive account to try to question and shape the admin policies of ProleWiki, a site which has only a little overlap with ours, at a moment when the topic of Wisconcom’s harrassment and infiltration attempts were at the forefront of our psyche. I am not sure what you expected would happen.

    Contrary to what you believe admins are not necessarily thorough and definitely not professionals. We are volunteers. It is not a tough life by any means but we have to respond to spam, trolls posting intentionally obscene content, chuds and liberals leaking from federated instances and our own users fighting among themselves, all of which is topped by having to worry about a terminally online Hoxhaist stirring trouble. Most of the time we have to act on incomplete information and have to rely on our instincts. I am sure we get things wrong often.

    Regarding your content, I hate to say this but while the videos seem good on a cursory glance, in the end they are youtube links that you posted within a span of one day. Moreover, you have a list of links to the videos you posted. If you feel like you are missing some links, let me know and I will get them for you. I don’t understand why you are trying to make it sound like we razed the library of Alexandria.

    I understand that being banned can be hurtful but it is small risk that comes with online interactions. Doubly so if you try to discuss administration policies without building any sort of a reputation. There are ways to interact with our website still including making a new account either here or on a federated instance. It seems like you are well aware of these.

    • punk_outcast@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      32·
      1 year ago

      The problem here is that you woke up a largely inactive account to try to question and shape the admin policies of ProleWiki, a site which has only a little overlap with ours, at a moment when the topic of Wisconcom’s harrassment and infiltration attempts were at the forefront of our psyche. I am not sure what you expected would happen.

      This right here is the crux of the issue. I had a bad day at work and didn’t have a level head. I got myself involved in probably the most notorious issue the site has ever had, as far as a bad actor is concerned. Talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

      This had an impact, yeah, but also put me straight in the firing line because it drew all of the attention that was focused on Wisconcom to me. Now we’re in this situation, and it’s quite a mess. If people think you’re that person, it’s much more difficult to actually interact with people on an equal footing because your name is tarnished by their reputation.

      Undoing that kind of damage is very difficult (if not impossible), and is bound to linger in the form of distrust and skepticism for quite a while. That’s not the fault of the people who hold those feelings. It’s a natural response and I don’t blame them.

      Contrary to what you believe admins are not necessarily thorough and definitely not professionals. We are volunteers. It is not a tough life by any means but we have to respond to spam, trolls posting intentionally obscene content, chuds and liberals leaking from federated instances and our own users fighting among themselves, all of which is topped by having to worry about a terminally online Hoxhaist stirring trouble. Most of the time we have to act on incomplete information and have to rely on our instincts. I am sure we get things wrong often.

      Yeah, that’s why I tried to say in my appeal message that I understood your position as admins. My issue was simply that I was deleted off the internet and not even given a chance to speak. A lot of stuff was also erased, which complicated things.

      More importantly, I know people who hold admin positions here have a particularly tricky set of variables to manage. We’re not popular within the Western world, and most of the internet is in the Western world as far as engagement.

      There’s bad actors all over the place, what with over 60 years now of McCarthyism? And they have the state’s blessing to carry out hostile attacks against us, which puts us at a sizeable disadvantage.

      However, I underestimated just how much all this can or has taken a toll on you guys.

      Regarding your content, I hate to say this but while the videos seem good on a cursory glance, in the end they are youtube links that you posted within a span of one day.

      Yeah, I see how this can make me suspect. I’d been following a few channels for a little over a year now, and decided why not just gather the videos that had the most impact on me to share with Lemmygrad.

      The way I posted some of them was also intended to follow a chronological timeline. I wanted to paint a picture for people what the story was of a certain topic.

      If you feel like you are missing some links, let me know and I will get them for you.

      Thank you for this. I will certainly let you know if I can recall any.

      I don’t understand why you are trying to make it sound like we razed the library of Alexandria.

      It’s nothing that serious. I just felt Lemmygrad was lacking in some specific types on content, and wanted to add diversity in order to boost solidarity amongst different cultures.

      I understand that being banned can be hurtful but it is small risk that comes with online interactions. Doubly so if you try to discuss administration policies without building any sort of a reputation.

      That was a mistake on my part and I take full responsibility for it. I wasn’t patient enough and tried to get too much done too quickly without having built a solid foundation.

      Also, thank you for being reasonable with your response. My interaction with you in the People’s Court case was positive, and I only ever got the impression you wanted to help. That means a lot.