What brought me here:
When breadtube became a thing around 2016 it was my refuge from the horrible reactionary shitshow the internet was at the time. It opened me to things further left than Obummer. I lurked on Reddits sorry excuses for leftist subs and heard them whisper about the CTH sub as being "bad leftists" but they never explained what was bad about them so I checked for myself and checked out the podcast and was like "They aren't bad they're just a bit obnoxious." I didn't really hang out on r/CTH, only saw the occasional post, and I listened to the podcast every now and again (and not at all anymore, stopped listening after the 2020 primaries) and that was about it. Then r/CTH was banned, this place was mentioned and I got curious. It felt like I had finally found a place that wasn't going to demand I be civil towards Nazis. I wasn't going to be banned for saying "kill all slave owners." I also thought you guys were really funny. So yeah, Ironally r/CTH made you guys more appealing lmao. It also helped that you retained the "fuck being civil to horrible people" energy while at the same time attempting to make sure marginalised groups weren't thrown under the bus.

What made me stay:
A community of weirdos that genuinely want to make the world a better place and stand up for their marginalised comrades. Whether it's the mutual aid comm helping people the best it can, the news comm shining a light on events the world tries to bury, or simply the movie comm providing a safe fun area to chill, I feel like this place provides something other places on the internet don't. It also is a place I feel like I can ask any questions about leftism and not be called an idiot. You guys taught me things ranging from practical stuff how to take part in my local org, to mundane things how to make a rad bean recipe. I think that's worth something. Also I still think you guys are hilarious.

EDIT: added some more context because I was reminded of stuff I had forgotten.

  • HelluvaBottomCarter [comrade/them]
    ·
    4 days ago

    I started using reddit around 2013-2014. I pretty much immediately gravitated to places like r/top_minds as I still had a bit of the deboonking spirit in me from the early aughts. I also liked the other reddit critique subs. I never got into the podcast when it started, I avoided it. I also avoided the sub. It wasn't until 2019 that I started actually listening to the podcast. Of course the sub got removed. I was part of a CTH discord that sucked pretty bad and I wanted a new place. Reddit sucked. I heard about chapo.chat about a month after it started.

    I stayed because it was a great reddit replacement and I felt way more comfortable posting here than anywhere else. I have gotten to watch the site grow and change. I have changed a bit too.