"ChapoChat is dying"
"userbase has been torn to pieces by division"
"website is an absolute failure"
"the community is already dead"
"I literally saw Mother Hexbear get slaughtered by the CIA and served at an Outback Steakhouse during MysteryMeatMondays™" (vegan gang btw)
These are some paraphrased examples but I see this sort of defeatist, all-is-lost attitude all over the place and on c/main right now. It is annoying and actively contributes to the problem you are complaining about.
I know you all are liberals because this is the same kind of cringe posting that we'd see on our all favorite reddit defaults everytime those admins decided to make a change that removed 'borderline content' like child pornography and genocide. You'd have a million heroic posters coming out of the woodwork to declare "reddit just killed Aaron Swartz's vision", "I left digg for this", "admins are officially chinese" in order to 'save' reddit.
Have y'all been on an internet forum before? Bans always cause this sort of discontent in their wake, this community is not dying because some wreckers got banned and some good posters left. There are ten thousand posters here, give or take for the bots and alts. All of us are united in a sacred mission to destroy capitalism and dunk on the libs. Moderation and struggle sessions are part of both of those goals.
We trust the mods and admins to enforce the site policy and in return users are trusted to set site policy but also to adhere to it. The site currently has problems with wreckers and transphobic content, so the site policy was corrected and crackdowns began on those things. That is how things are supposed to work. Where is the issue? Besides YOU (the user, hi!) this process only has three elements.
- Acknowledging there is a problem with transphobic content and wreckers
- Trusting the Mods and Admins
- The site policy
Now topic no.1 has seen plenty of posts and I'm not here to rehash. Chances are if you're reading this you've read them too. There was a problem that needed to and still is being addressed.
Topics no.2 no.3 have been more recent popular topics, which is good because it reflects a desire for the userbase to improve the structure of the site. We have /c/userunion for those discussions to take place. Some people do have some legitimate questions and concerns about these two topics, and there should be discussion (in userunion) about them. That's participatory policy making, as socialists we literally demand it, express issues and suggest changes there. Improvements to site policy and moderation are good!
What is NOT good is seeing post lamenting the fall of ChapoChat, posting like doomers because the community has too much "drama" or "lost too many people." Just chill. The defeatism and complaining without suggestions basically wrecker behavior. You are a leftist in the 21st century, you should be used to setbacks and corrections of policy by now, you should know that we will face lost after lost until we suddenly win the world. All the dumbass stupidpol wreckers and every local internet Klavern who attempts to start shit on here are jacking off to your doomer posts right now. They have screenshotted you and are currently laughing at you and calling you a liberal. This is the worst fate for a poster: all that saves us all is our theory and praxis.
For this site: our theory is the Code of Conduct and the rules created in /c/userunion. Our praxis is seeking the issues in our theory, correcting them, and moving forward even more vigorously, with more knowledge and righteousness. Let us advance unified in purpose and constantly strive to forge the best leftist social platform possible.
Have a Marx quote in conclusion:
"If we have chosen the position in life in which we can most of all work for mankind, no burdens can bow us down, because they are sacrifices for the benefit of all; then we shall experience no petty, limited, selfish joy, but our happiness will belong to millions, our deeds will live on quietly but perpetually at work, and over our ashes will be shed the hot tears of noble people." Marx, Reflections of a Young Man (1835)
Well, all the more reason for this forum to adhere to standards for realistic organizations as best it can then, I guess. You're right that I should try and get in touch with an organization in the area though. There doesn't seem to be a robust one around me, and I'm pretty shy, but I'm trying to read more and pluck up the courage. I appreciate you patiently trying to explain, also! Participating in discourse here does help me feel a bit more confident, even if it's not 1:1. We all have to start somewhere.
But this is not possible because it is a forum, not an org. People don't know each other. People don't even converge on a ton of issues which depending on the kind of organization (big tent or dem cent) may not look at all like most orgs. In real life you don't get "banned" or "temp banned" and you can't make a new account. It's very different for many reasons. It's a forum, it's not an organization simulator and it can't be that, neither is there any point in trying to make it like that.
It's cool that you learn stuff here, it's just that when you start participating in organising you'll see it is much different from here and more serious. Now of course it depends on the specific org what it's gonna be like. You don't have to join the first thing you see, just contact people and see what's up, talk to them, hear what they have to say about their aims and tactics and what they're working on etc and see what best suits you, it's actually not a bad way to make friends too even if you're shy.