I tried to send an appeal message in my application as a response to being banned, but I donā€™t even know if they ever get read. My original accountā€™s application probably wasnā€™t even read at all, which caused trouble for me later on. Hereā€™s what I said after I got home and saw what was done:

Appeal message

"I couldnā€™t find any avenues to appeal my ban, so this is all I have. First of all, I just want to say that Iā€™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 accountā€™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 Peopleā€™s Court case immediately once Wisconcomā€™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 Peopleā€™s Court case, looking forward to CriticalResistā€™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 Iā€™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 wasnā€™t Wisconcom. Iā€™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 Iā€™ve made in regards to extremely important historical archives are now gone. Everything has been completely ruined. Itā€™s so upsetting that Iā€™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. Iā€™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 Iā€™ve been publicly humiliated, shamed, and now Iā€™m probably hated not even three days after just beginning to spread my wings. I donā€™t expect a response, not that thereā€™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 wouldā€™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 weā€™d worked on to boost creativity, morale, and encourage the development of artistic skills. Art is massively important to the movement for communism.

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

  • aeon"

Itā€™s been a few days, and Iā€™ve been able to get over the worst of the shock. Iā€™m so confused as to why I was shot down so hard like this. All Iā€™ve done since I got here is support Lemmygradā€™s development as a resource for oppressed peoples. I seriously encourage you to actually take a look at my resume. Here is everything Iā€™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 - Sankaraā€™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 ćƒ¬ćƒƒćƒ‰ćƒ©ć‚¤ćƒ³ (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 peopleā€™s democracy work?
https://inv.tux.pizza/watch?v=AMy--2KhozY - Whole-process peopleā€™s democracy: Chinaā€™s domestic reality vs. the international rhetoric

[GenZedong]:
https://inv.tux.pizza/watch?v=DMRdPp-TU9w - ā€œSoviet Mediaā€™s Portrait of the United Statesā€ (1986) Reel America Preview
https://inv.tux.pizza/watch?v=dlYqISgwVYQ - Soviet Mediaā€™s Portrait of the United States in 1986 (Extended version)

[Korea]:
https://inv.tux.pizza/watch?v=g1h8XsQhT5o - Who is to Blame for Koreaā€™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 ā€œStill D.R.E.ā€ 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 ā€œForgot About Dreā€ Remix [Official Video]

[Laborwave]:
https://inv.tux.pizza/watch?v=xvRACQl5zos - 怐Laborwave - North Korea is a paradise怑
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 - ā€œWe will travel one road foreverā€ - North Korean Patriotic Song
https://inv.tux.pizza/watch?v=LnR0pN8o63g - Immortal North Korean Propaganda Masterpiece - ā€œģˆ˜ė ¹ė‹˜ģ„ ė”°ė¼ ģ²œė§Œė¦¬ ė‹¹ģ„ ė”°ė¼ ģ²œė§Œė¦¬ā€ (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 - Washingtonā€™s REAL Policy on China - ā€œRepairing Tiesā€ 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 shouldā€™ve added tons of value to Lemmygrad, and yet everything was wiped out. Thatā€™s a tremendous loss, not for me, but for everyone involved here from admins, to users, to lurkers.

Iā€™ve always been candid and sincere in all my interactions with everyone on this site. Two people offered feedback that they werenā€™t happy with my cross-posting for a few videos because it was obstructing their feed, which I respectfully addressed and promptly stopped. Iā€™ve always taken care to be respectful and uphold good etiquette, but that doesnā€™t mean Iā€™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 donā€™t know how everyone feels all of the time. Most of the siteā€™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 donā€™t know them, even if theyā€™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 doesnā€™t mean youā€™re a fugitive (Wisconcom).

I remember seeing a post by an admin that went a little something like this: ā€œYouā€™re free to criticize anyone, even admins. However, youā€™re only free to criticize our actions, not our political position. Take that to leftist in-fightingā€, which is perfectly reasonable.

Iā€™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.

Hereā€™s the archive of whatā€™s left of my Peopleā€™s Court case post: https://web.archive.org/web/20230714191523/https://lemmygrad.ml/post/929993

Letā€™s take a look at the so-called ā€œreasonsā€ why I was accused of being Wisconcom:

Reason 1
  1. ā€œinstantly knows who defaced prolewiki, like they went into the edit history which nobody ever does lolā€

First of all, I donā€™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. ā€œtalks like wisconcomā€

This is an arbitrary statement that could mean absolutely anything. If youā€™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 wouldnā€™t hold up in court. The reason I say that is because itā€™s a serious matter banning someone, and shouldnā€™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. Weā€™re supposed to be the most educated, most competent, and most advanced politically, but also in numerous other respects.

Reason 3
  1. ā€œā€˜The site has been seemingly defaced yet againā€™ 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.ā€

Ok, then what is this?: https://web.archive.org/web/20230714191710/https://lemmygrad.ml/post/835854 - Oh yeah, wisconcom is back šŸ˜ƒ @CriticalResist8A to ProleWiki ā€¢ 16 days ago

Whatā€™s this all about, then? You tell everyone heā€™s only been allowed in once, yet here youā€™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 heā€™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 ā€œbut this game of cat and mouse with Wisconcom has become very tiresomeā€, we donā€™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. Donā€™t try that with me.

Reason 5
  1. ā€œI 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.ā€ this is child-level wrecking stuff. a) ProleWiki is wholly independent from Lemmygrad (but wiscon seems to think weā€™re connected in a love triangle with GZD too) and b) ProleWikiā€™s policies are an internal matter.

What did I just say in the post?: I donā€™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. Iā€™ve also never personally made an account or requested an account on ProleWiki. I use ProleWiki for the same reason everyone else doesā€“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 donā€™t you show any understanding about this? Where is your compassion?

In addition, Iā€™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 ā€œinternal matterā€ 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 isnā€™t an internal project in some obscure Discord or Matrix server where only a few people of the ā€œin crowdā€ 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 donā€™t care about this, then it would bring into question your commitment to building a communist world.

If you donā€™t like me, thatā€™s okay. If you donā€™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 ā€œreasonsā€ are full of holes. If your argument was a submarine, youā€™d have ended up just like those billionairesā€“soup in a tin can.

If youā€™re going to be an administrator, we all expect you to be professional and thorough in carrying out your obligations. If you canā€™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 didnā€™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 doesnā€™t mean you simply turn into a hammer looking for nails and just decide someone is ā€œgood enoughā€ 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.

Weā€™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? Iā€™ve decided to make this post because I havenā€™t given up on Lemmygrad. Thereā€™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 thereā€™s issues that need to be addressed and brought to your attention, maybe donā€™t be so heavy handed and act so unilaterally without having done your homework.

Iā€™m still quite upset, and might be for some time, but I still desire to contribute to Lemmygradā€™s development. If you donā€™t want me here, then tell me why based on my actual resume, instead of just deciding to take such an infantile approach like ā€œguh huhuh. i declare you wisconcom, lol kek banhammer go bamā€.

How about this time, you actually talk to me. Iā€™m not an unreasonable person, and Iā€™m fully willing to humble myself and admit when Iā€™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 wouldnā€™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 adminā€™s negligence.

  • CriticalResist8A
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    1 year ago

    Are you going to be replying to the people that donā€™t agree with you? How do you want to be taken seriously when you come in with great claims of admin abuse and an emotional story and then reply to only 2 comments that (nominally) agree with you?

    Since you allowed yourself to insult me and my character freely in your piece, youā€™ll agree itā€™s only fair I get to throw out my patience as well and say things like they really are.

    You said in a reply as well as your original post that you understand lurkers can seem suspicious. Donā€™t you think itā€™s suspicious that you started posting on LG one day after RedArcher9 was approved on ProleWiki? And that your first actual post was asking for changes on ProleWiki which, by your admission, you know nothing about? What makes you qualified to talk on how Lemmygrad or ProleWiki should handle their processes and bans? (Maybe asking how editors are approved on ProleWiki would be a good, reasonable first step most people would think of first if they were being genuinely concerned). Weā€™ve cultivated a culture of taking responsibility on Lemmygrad, maybe you havenā€™t participated enough to know that yet. Iā€™ve had people DM me before to say they agreed with their ban (usually on communities), thatā€™s how responsible we are here.

    This is the post you made on Peopleā€™s Court, thereā€™s nothing ā€œleftā€ of it because nothing got deleted in it. You saw that for yourself when you made the archive link.

    If you understand that then I donā€™t know why you complain when you get banned. Once again, you can easily request a new account not tied to your previous identity and nobody would ever know. Not even the admins.

    While Iā€™m on the topic, Lemmygrad and PW are two completely independent projects. I donā€™t understand how you could, in good faith, think Lemmygrad should have any say in how ProleWiki is run, if youā€™ve actually been lurking enough to get a sense of both communities. Do you DM Zuckerberg any time Facebook is down for a few minutes? Do you tag Musk on Twitter any time your tweets get deleted and ask to be made CEO? Get some perspective. There was a vandal, he got banned, what more could you reasonably want?

    Regardless of being Wisconcom, if you donā€™t want to be compared to a wrecker, then donā€™t act like one. You had a lurker account that had only posted a few videos, do you sincerely think you were harmed in any way by this ban and accusation (that is still not off the table btw)? Thatā€™s a genuine question. I can understand someone whoā€™s spent years on Lemmygrad ā€“ but even they donā€™t cry as hard when they get banned ā€“ but you had like 5 videos posted across multiple communities. Your history can be rebuilt in 10 minutes.

    Hereā€™s one way you could have brought this up: ā€œHi, when you accused me of being Wisconcom, it really hurt as heā€™s a clown and I wouldnā€™t want to be compared to him or anyone like himā€ and go from there.

    Going the public route as the first step when itā€™s free to DM me or any admin already irks me.

    I donā€™t even know what you want out of this. Do you want to get unbanned? Do you want to get me removed as an admin? Do you want an apology? Do you just want to complain? You donā€™t say anywhere. How do you want a solution to be achieved if you donā€™t tell us what that solution would be for you?

    Also who takes archive pages of receipts to present them in this context? A context in which theyā€™re just venting and not looking for solutions. If we wanted to remove your entire presence from Lemmygrad, weā€™d have removed the Peopleā€™s Court post you made. Yet, itā€™s still up. Your post here is also still up.

    First of all, I donā€™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.

    red archer never had any picture of Hoxha or any picture at all on their profile.

    If you want to start throwing accusations back at least get your story in order, you look like a hypocrite.

    If youā€™re going to be an administrator, we all expect you to be professional and thorough in carrying out your obligations. If you canā€™t handle the responsibility that goes with that, then let us know.

    Who is ā€œweā€ lol, youā€™re the only one complaining about this. This is after you said I canā€™t lump in everyone together lol

    If you want us to get to know you, well, youā€™ve had your account for 5 months and decided to only post in the last week. Are we supposed to reach out to every lurker and pester them to post and start talking about our lives in DMs? Thatā€™s what community posts are for. Post in them.


    If you understand all of this then you understand why you look 99% like a wrecker right now; the only question left, since you like to compare things to the legal system, is mens rea.

    The one thing I am thankful for in this whole case is that at least our community is not so easily fooled and ready to believe anything.

    If I was in your situation I would just admit I was Wisconcom, whether itā€™s true or not. Because if youā€™re Wisconcom, then weā€™ll just chalk it up to his usual antics and move on. If youā€™re not, it means thereā€™s another weirdo weirdly obsessed with Lemmygrad and ProleWiki and I would personally prefer to save face on this one. But thatā€™s just me musing.