As it stands now, this community serves mostly as a way to get money. That isn't a bad thing, but cash is not a 1-size-fits-all solution to every problem. Taking care of a persons needs is always priority #1, but at times, said person is unfit to handle money in a way that reliably alleviates those needs. Traditional, local, mutual-aid networks can usually address this in the form of community pot lucks, clothing exchange, etc. Here we are more or less limited to advice and more money.
Making a rule about unsolicited advice and being critical of users, limits us to just money as a tool to solve problems. Sometimes people need a tough conversation to grow as a person, sometimes people need to be reminded of the situation they are in. Yes, the capitalist system is oppressive. Yes, there are systemic issues that prevent us all from succeeding. That doesn't mean there is no situation where decision making is a factor. Sometimes, you do actually need help making better choices. This isn't to shame people for making bad decisions, sometimes there are psychiatric reasons, sometimes they genuinely don't know any better, but you still should speak up so they can potentially correct the problem and learn.
This rule effectively creates a hug-box where we all pretend that personal responsibility doesn't exist, that there is simply nothing to be done. It's incredibly infantile, it's a cope, and the people in this community deserve better than that.
EDIT: I feel I may have had a change of heart after reading the comments left by @EelBolshevikism If you are looking for a somewhat comprehensive response, those comments are likely a good starting point.
I don't know the context for this, but I think with the status quo of the internet being that everyone shits on homeless people, drug addicts, etc. I can understand wanting to remove comments that are being critical of the decisions someone has made that led to them asking for help here. There is a time and place for offering advice, and most of the time people here are not looking for it nor are they even in a position to hear it, and they are definitely not going to take much in from strangers. In healthcare settings it takes hours of building rapport to broach these topics, so unless you know the user well its pretty much pointless to be critical of someone unless you want to make them feel like shit. At best you could link people to resources that could help, or invest the hours to get to know them, then start trying to give advice.
I do think if this comm is going to be called mutual aid then there should be more than just posts requesting donations.... though it can't be as bad as the languagelearning comm not having stickied resources for learning languages
A fair point. I would hope that people on a leftist forum wouldn't immediately gun someone down just for being homeless or a drug addict. The context for this post without getting too into detail is that a person in this community got around 4k in donations, and pissed it away. People criticized them for asking for more, then they made an apology post, where plenty of people (including me) still criticized and offered advice. Then the admin made the post with the rule change.
I'm arguing that hard conversations need to happen sometimes, and in that situation, a hard conversation was needed. Obviously people can take things to far, but there is a difference between malice and good criticism, and I'm suggesting that criticism be allowed with situations like this in mind.