we only read the comments!!

A message from thecollective - ANews HQ August 2025

As part of our on-going efforts to make the website engaging as well as provocative-in-a-mostly-good-way, we're going to experiment. On September 1, ANews will start to require unregistered users' comments be approved, rather than having them be approved by default as has been the standard on ANews over the last 20+ years. This will not effect logged-in registered users, whose comments will continue to skip approval.

Of note, this does not mean that people need to register or stop posting as anonymous. It will slow down the posting by such users as ANews weeds through the pending unregistered user comment queue. It's unclear how long this experiment will last, at least in its first iteration, so let's see what happens.

If you want to register a username, you can do so here: https://anarchistnews.org/user/register


*About moderation

a slightly edited excerpt from the Anarchist News About Us page

Posts will not be published when they do any of the following: consist of single words or empty affirmation or accusation (eg: "this", "this is great!", "boring", etc); meaningless shit talking of this website; posts that are flamebait (yes, this is a judgement call); talking shit to another poster without actual content (eg: "You suck, idiot" will be removed but not--for example--"Comparing nihilists to literary figures is idiotically simplistic"). In the rare case of a post that is sufficiently worthwhile and yet has distracting and stupid words in it, we might edit those words out in order to keep the benefit of the good part, but in general we think that tone is part of the message, and are more likely to just not publish it entirely. Additionally, in our infinite and arcane wisdom, we may choose to edit comments/comment threads that use the legal name of Anarchist authors and actors should they fall inside (inevitably subjective) parameters.

Comments

anon (not verified) Sun, 08/24/2025 - 10:35

i haven't been around here long enough to know the ins and outs of internet @history. i am a history aficionado, as well as herstory. so can anyone help me figure out: when exactly did the mods cease to be anarchists?

anon (not verified) Mon, 08/25/2025 - 08:28

In reply to by anon (not verified)

Dunno if the mods are anarchist or not as I don't think I know them from IRL, or what they do besides running this site, but their moderation job was been very loose-handed and selective. Of course there's some who'll accuse them -or any mods whatsoever- of being the "police" due to removing hate speech, but that's just the little brain farts or a few birdbrained MAGA tools obsessed with their racial fairy tale (btw careful mods there might still be one or two in your own midst, likely).

anon (not verified) Wed, 08/27/2025 - 10:25

In reply to by anon (not verified)

I think they’ve removed a couple of my comments due to being perceived as “unconstructive criticism” - ironic??

Along with the rest of the internet, this site has seen a trend towards dismissing commenters one disagrees with as “trolls/bots/russian assets/etc”. In my years of visiting the site it seems to me that this kind of stuff is actually rare and the site is used mainly by an often conflicting, perhaps shrinking, undoubtedly sincere user base.

Again along with the rest of the internet, the idea that identifying/registering people more improves things … I think we just gotta be honest about the basic shortcomings built into the internet in general

thecollective Wed, 08/27/2025 - 11:13

In reply to by anon (not verified)

literally the only comments removed on this thread so far have been ones using racial slurs, other comments calling us gay and groomers, and finally one comment pretending to be thecollective. So which one was you? That's your idea of constructive criticism? I can't take anything you say in the rest of your comment seriously after that.

-thecollective_1.8

alex (not verified) Wed, 08/27/2025 - 17:51

In reply to by thecollective

respectfully y'all deleted that one calling you "zios" which was no doubt unconstructive, and the one preceding it which suggested this new policy might be a helpful change vis a vis zionist trolls--surely you're not including that as a "racial slur?" (i haven't commented anonymously or otherwise prior to this and don't have the art that some here do of telling which anons are which)

Le Way, (not verified) Wed, 08/27/2025 - 18:12

In reply to by alex (not verified)

Hi Alex, Yes, anonomity is a cowardly path to speak ones mind. It's refreshing when we post-left anarchs realize that there are certain sensitivities regarding the terminology one must use regarding Semitic and Abrahamic identities and their attitudes towards "non-believers, heathens, anarchs, agnostics and atheists" (the rest of the world), I myself avoid making any comment concerning these spooky folk, it's just soOo boorish a topic, it only drags one down to a moronic level of discourse which ultimately causes depression or maniacal rage.

alex (not verified) Wed, 08/27/2025 - 18:42

In reply to by Le Way, (not verified)

well i love being boorish, pounding a couple beers and commenting on the issues of the day on hostile and dysfunctional digital platforms, and so on etc whatever, which certainly i cannot do if i cannot say the word "zionist" because the "post-left" fools in question have internalized its most spo0o0oky non-definition. but you cant fool me: every stoner ive ever known has been sure to tell me that "le way that can be named is not le way"

Le Way Wed, 08/27/2025 - 19:07

In reply to by alex (not verified)

Actually my ancestors were French, and Le Way is just an abbreviation of my great great grandmothers maiden name Le Waiecunty. My grandfather was Jewish, he missed his brit milah due to unforseen circumcisions.

thecollective Thu, 08/28/2025 - 04:49

In reply to by alex (not verified)

Hi Alex,

You seem to be misremembering the comments. The comment you mention is from a different article and it is still alive and readable. It's on the current TOTW thread about anarchist muay thai and has never been a comment on this forum post thread.

-thecollective_1.8

anon (not verified) Sun, 08/24/2025 - 18:56

It's a good idea for a change, and I don't see what would be the problem as far as the mods don't put their personal bias into approving comments. That'll shut down the resident MAGA trolls for good, among other benefits.

Tho why keeping that annoying Javascript bot defense if you're going to selectively approve comments? You won't need it anymore, so you can just remove it and back to a javascript-free site.

Tim Declercq Mon, 08/25/2025 - 05:13

Ultimately this won't change much, whether comments are posted automatically and then the mods remove the ones they don't want or whether comments are put in a queue and only the ones the mods want get published, the end result is pretty much the same.

The advantage of this change would be that there wouldn't be so many broken threads, threads where people have been discussing and then later the mods remove some comments from the middle and so the whole thread doesn't make much sense anymore.

The disadvantages are that discussions would take longer to unfold as you have to wait for the mods to go through the queue which may take several hours if they're all asleep and also that multiple people may have responded with a similar response to some already published comment before the mods get to publishing them all, so discussions might get "duplicated" in a way. This latter point may be made worse by that some users get to skip the queue and get published immediately.

So all in all, we're trading off broken threads for slower discussions and possible discussion-duplications. Not sure if this is favourable trade-off, we'll see how the experiment goes.

anon (not verified) Sun, 08/31/2025 - 05:53

In reply to by Tim Declercq

faster discussions are inherently better than slower ones. There's already enough politics spam on the internet, and it largely consists of false generalizations (which absolutely cannot be policed once the door has been opened to talking about it). I'm also pessimistic that this rule is really going to change anything though, but for me, it's just i've observed that the moderators don't really think about what they remove and how they effect strangers when they do it. Authority is the problem.

lumpy (not verified) Tue, 08/26/2025 - 08:35

whatever they want to try, i wish them luck!

i don't know how this seems like a simple admin process discussion to anybody who's been paying attention. for me, it would make more sense to ask how many museums like @news still exist today? this style of moderation is from a very different era of the internet! and even in that context, it was weird, edgy and pretty damned permissive compared to its peers

personally, i think this is ultimately a good thing with some huge drawbacks but mostly, it's like seeing an extinct species walking around

anon (not verified) Tue, 08/26/2025 - 09:02

So now at least you are being honest. But, we have never needed your approval, and based on how little comments seem to be made here these days, I'm not sure anyone will notice. How far Anews has fallen over the years. You suck, idiot(s).

8i BAL,L (not verified) Tue, 08/26/2025 - 15:57

Noop yuis fiockoing wriongh, I m asm niot a fyuvking trioll Io fuixkijng idenmtufy asd a fyuckinbg loine weolf huillbuilly fuivking nihiolisdt, NOIT a fyuxkimg iodeiologuical sgheeop !, I anm NIOT A FYUCKOING TREOLL YIOU FUICKUNG CIONTRIOL FREWAK!.,? ,imnma ryural hillbikl.y nihiolidst, a a POIST-'ASNARTCH fyucjkinf nuianced sedentitry ryreal fyuvkong rebekl niohiloist anarcgh mmjk?!.,!

anon (not verified) Wed, 08/27/2025 - 07:01

How long will this "experiment" last until some sort of result is shared?

Le Way Wed, 08/27/2025 - 15:10

I was once an ignor about political correctness and just spoke my mind intuitively, often offending people and having my comments deleted. But gradually, thanks to TheCollective's stern lessons, I began to respect the sensitivities of other commenters (call this emotional maturity), and toned down my rebellious vitriol to a more nuanced and constructive critique of narratives I found to be authoritarian. Thus, my ego, now tamed and wiser, exults in an empathetic embrace of this site and only wishes to add positive intelligent comments regarding anarchist ideas and endeavours. Thankyou TheCollective for forgiving me and not deleting my comments constantly, even before reading them. Peace. *holds of non-sarcastic olive branch*

Le Way Wed, 08/27/2025 - 18:58

In reply to by anon 69 (not verified)

I registered 6 years ago hoping that by doing so, TheCollective would be less zealously driven to delete my comments. Alas (as a troll) no such discrimination existed, and so I sought another course, one of self-improvement and connecting with the deeper conflicting values and emotions which plagued my, at the time, anarch heart.

anon (not verified) Fri, 08/29/2025 - 06:03

Booo! Allow all comments. That's a good thing with this site. You even allow Ruscist comments. Where do you draw the line?

anon (not verified) Sun, 08/31/2025 - 05:48

to finally make this change. They've been allowing empty trash for years under the moral of "protecting the anonymous". I think there's an inherent power imbalance when it comes down to moderators vs. non-moderators, yet i appreciate that they are finally realizing the inherent problem with praising anonymity as if it's an enemy of the state, racism, patriarchy etc. (no, it's just a mode of existing that's more susceptible to feeling like you need to be afraid of "the dangers of talking")

CalvinSmith Mon, 09/01/2025 - 10:42

They haven't been honest about the reasons they delete comments for years, this is why i see this "new change" as being fake and empty.

It would be rare for someone to complain about deletion of a blantantly racist, aggressive, or stupid comment, but the truth is they allow all 3, and then must be opaque about which ones they delete. It was a nice experiment, but it seems to have already failed.

CalvinSmith Mon, 09/01/2025 - 12:17

In reply to by popgoesthe (not verified)

I want to have on here: that's whats confusing, i was passionate about anarchist ideas, but it seems like no one is a good example. I like that they wanted to have this conversation again, yet that's the only thing i can say about their efforts.

Ive been saying to myself for a while that the website would probably improve without any comments if they want to be assymetrical in enforecement, but the admins like the comments because they generate traffic.

Over the past year, i probably come on here to make comments for a week long (or less) period every couple of months or something...for my sake, i hope i eventually stop doing it entirely.

Le Way Mon, 09/01/2025 - 17:30

In reply to by CalvinSmith

They let it through because it didn't upset their AI-esque algorithm which has been programmed to only accept anti-individualistic collective revolutionary themes, activist graffitti, and letters from people in prison who can't do the time because they smashed shit.

CalvinSmith Tue, 09/02/2025 - 08:45

In reply to by Le Way

My perspective on how those repitive/empty discussions on pedo accusations tend to unfold on both @news and reddit. I insist on an evidence based approach:

Okay, if hakim bey is bad (and nambla is an entire issue that ALSO needs to be slowly unpacked and scrutinized), then what did he do to children, just ONE example will suffice, and the more evidence associated with the claim, the better: it then becomes an actionable problem.

But no: if one of these anonymous internet users says anything about, it must always be vague, and sound extremely manipulative and persecutory.

Le Way Tue, 09/02/2025 - 13:58

In reply to by CalvinSmith

Yes, it's a pity that the majority of commenters here lack that most pristene quality, the critical eye of the diligent investigative anarch in the quest for truth and justice. Their depth of analysis could not pierce an over-inflated party balloon at a knife throwing competition.

Le Way Tue, 09/02/2025 - 15:11

In reply to by CalvinSmith

Also yes, the nambla issue must be investigated holistically, and not be judged by the actions of a few deviants. Starting on an investigation of why it is men who mostly go to battle, with a few martially inclined women thrown into the mix? This toxic inter-male relationship of tough stoic heroic identity is primeval, and any process or institution which endeavours to change and abolish this form of cultural indoctrination is branded as gay/pedo evil. Borders, territorial imperatives, is boorish primeval retardation and the aggressive reflexive emotions are immature and flow down to domestic rape and murder.

Le Way Tue, 09/02/2025 - 15:40

In reply to by Le Way

Of course, I'm referring to the platonic wing of the nambla club which prohibits sex and instead develops empathy and non-toxic masculine relationships between men and boys. Very intellectual and anti-carnal.

CalvinSmith Wed, 09/03/2025 - 11:02

In reply to by Le Way

up: im a sympathizer with wanting to get rid of the imposition of the cold, stoic male, yet unfortunately modern nation states impose barriers to that with the armed forces. This is why i also have a lot of internal baggage against "individualism" (it's not a real thing anyone can claim for themselves)

Le Way Mon, 09/01/2025 - 18:01

In reply to by CalvinSmith

I suppose I need to explain my backflip on my earlier comments last week on this thread which praised TheCollective and the lessons I had learned. Well, I withdraw those feelings, nothing has changed here, my evolution as an anarch had nothing to do with the harsh censorship TheCollective imposed in an effort to silence my voice! Adieu Calvin,,,

anon (not verified) Sun, 09/21/2025 - 07:30

In reply to by popgoesthe (not verified)

If moderation is required to prevent some middle class grad student from destroying vital anarchist infrastructure with -ist claims and a defamation campaign, then I am happy to pay that price. Public callouts have almost exclusively been a fucking disaster over the last 15 years, and is a major reason most of the NA left is not taken seriously.

Tim Declercq Mon, 09/01/2025 - 14:57

In reply to by CalvinSmith

The Athens Indymedia has a nice system where deleted comments and articles are automatically moved to a separate "hidden" section of the website. This way people can verify what comments/articles have been removed if they so choose.

anon (not verified) Tue, 09/02/2025 - 18:17

In reply to by Tim Declercq

I recall that from Indymedia, yes, and agreeing with Tim on how that's a much better system than memory-holing. As it allows full transparency in the moderation, so that users can tell on what grounds comments were removed. Funny how Indymedia sites despite being flooded by reformists and other liberals, were a lot more anarchistic in their administration scheme.

Anews mods aren't hiding the fact that despite a commitment to anti-sectarianism, it is *their* site... run accordingly to their likings and principles. Not the best approach but definitely better than the shutting down of any conversation like on IGD, Lundi Matin and other "radical" Left monstrosities.

CalvinSmith Wed, 09/03/2025 - 14:22

In reply to by anon (not verified)

Impossible for anarchists to not police ideology, american anarchism is proof of this. Why the mods have to let so many malicous and flaming posts through (like a large percentage of what "lumpy" posts) is beyond me. Insults and mischaractetizations are not an attack on respectability politics, they are a political and hierarchical tool, no one is learning from the worst aspects of the Trump administration.

lumpy (not verified) Sun, 09/21/2025 - 14:02

In reply to by CalvinSmith

"hi i'M cALvIn! i think posts that piss me off are the same as oppression!!!"

"cALvIn aGaIn! i also take issue with the existence of insults! unrelated to free speech somehow! more rant later! k,bye!"

and so on ... and so on ... so much energy spent on this whiny gibberish

PS why am i in scare quotes now? is my existence also in question? then how can my insults do such harm lil' guy? :)

anon (not verified) Sun, 09/21/2025 - 14:17

In reply to by lumpy (not verified)

Lumpy, I wish you would be more interesting in your rebuttals. Its easy to poke fun at people, but Calvin's point about incivility being a sign of the times is worth considering. 

I'll just speak for myself and say that while I despise false courtesy, I also think there's some value in not going for the cheap shot quite as consistently as you do, or focusing so much on someone who isn't actually your enemy, presumably, anyway. 

just a thought

lumpy (not verified) Sun, 09/21/2025 - 14:38

In reply to by anon (not verified)

you seem thoughtful but oh does it sound like you and i disagree on several of your key points!

"incivility" is pretty flawed framing for the return of mask-off fascism. these are vulgar times and much worse! i question your passion for hating false courtesy, try harder maybe?

people tend to chirp at the person who claps back but what's the sum total cost over time of "civility"? the @news comments is one monument to that question and these days, there's many, many more.

most of the sincere comments got run off by the toxicity years ago, i'm just one of the few who mutated until i could hang out right next to the reactor core indefinitely lol

anon (not verified) Sun, 09/21/2025 - 16:19

In reply to by lumpy (not verified)

Yeah, you've had that "they started it" response before. I just think that you could have more agency than that. Have the conversations you want to have. But I guess you do just enjoy namecalling, etc. So, ok.

I know I'm not explaining my points about courtesy enough to be clear, much less compelling; I also get exhausted trying to talk to faceless, questionable people. 

I just have more fun when people find worthwhile things to respond to. But that's on me. 

lumpy (not verified) Sun, 09/21/2025 - 17:19

In reply to by anon (not verified)

"you could have more agency" is pretty dishonest. you're trying to persuade me with some appeal to the moral highground or ... your own sense of amusement or something, is that right? sooo ... that would be the literal opposite of more agency for me. perhaps you're only concerned with your own?

i see this bias a lot, flattening out conflict as equivalent to immaturity or somehow less interesting than everyone getting along. doesn't really gel with anarchist politics but a lot of people vibe their way to this conclusion and think it's insightful!

CalvinSmith Wed, 09/24/2025 - 11:39

In reply to by anon (not verified)

of my anarchist philosophizing has led me to believe nobody genuinely has any agency (i.e., free will), we havent advanced beyond floating space dust, but to me it's beyond absurd to play the cyclical name caller, then talk about how saying "you could have more agency" is dishonest. These conversations on here generally go way past my ability to understand the various perspectives, but the "lumpy" handle gives me a little context.

lumpy (not verified) Thu, 09/25/2025 - 09:38

In reply to by anon (not verified)

no ... it's not "on me" to figure out whatever tf your point was. you already conceded that you couldn't be bothered to explain it very well.

what's "on you" is, you tossed out a criticism and now you can't be fucked to explain why your opinion should matter. shall i assume we're done?

anon (not verified) Thu, 09/25/2025 - 12:39

In reply to by lumpy (not verified)

a conversation exchange, to be meaningful, does require at least some buy in from both parties. you are so mercurial about when you want to engage and when you don't that pardon me if it takes me a while to realize how checked out of a specific exchange you actually are.

i have definitely figured it out now though. thanks.

lumpy (not verified) Thu, 09/25/2025 - 19:41

In reply to by anon (not verified)

that's fair! if you're interested in context, suffice it to say i've encountered similar criticisms for a very long time and no-one's persuaded me with it yet

CalvinSmith Mon, 09/22/2025 - 09:45

In reply to by lumpy (not verified)

most of the sincere comments got run off by the toxicity years ago, i'm just one of the few who mutated until i could hang out right next to the reactor core indefinitely lol"

it's funny to watch you admit that you only flame others as an online survival strategy. Let me give you a hint: you don't actually have to do any of it. I would be pretty depressed if i had to spend most of my life on spaces like this. I'm not going to tell you how to live your life, but that's really funny that you think you must be nasty to people online.

CalvinSmith Wed, 09/24/2025 - 05:19

In reply to by lumpy (not verified)

, which, uhhhh...was the whole subject of the conversation, was to complain about how anarchist news says they don't allow:

"...talking shit to another poster without actual content..."

but then curiously i still see your posts on here. Seeing your posts disappear temporarily actually made me think this new system was more respectful towards people who want to read the articles on here and make comments that aren't just flaming or flamebait, but clearly i was wrong, and it's still is okay to attack other users on here as long as they do it in your style.

Flame on, sensei! May you find joy in your bot-like comments!!

lumpy (not verified) Sun, 09/21/2025 - 15:23

In reply to by anon (not verified)

here's a question to your thought: do you appreciate the distinction between tone policing while playing victim and somebody sincere who is making an appeal to more space for a reasonable discussion? cuz i like having reasonable discussions in good faith but people need to earn it

Josh (not verified) Tue, 09/30/2025 - 22:37

In reply to by lumpy (not verified)

That sounds insane to me. Like, have reasonable discussions in good faith as a default. And only go "oh fuck you, you're a lunatic/asshole" when they're clearly a lunatic/asshole; don't just start with the assumption that everyone's a lunatic/asshole who needs to prove themselves to you, That's depressing as fart-fuck.

lumpy (not verified) Mon, 10/06/2025 - 13:01

In reply to by Josh (not verified)

we're talking about the same thing. i'm referring to ppl who comment here regularly and have proved they aren't always doing basic respect

anonmysu (not verified) Thu, 09/04/2025 - 11:32

so now i cannot even read the real commenting before its deleted. and deletions happen oftentime, and a lot of it concerning controversies regarding ongoing events, so the view of anews line is imposed. what you are not talking about here is anarchist content being deleted, which is done all the time here. And you dont reveal any criteria for this.

anon (not verified) Thu, 09/18/2025 - 19:44

Oh wait let's go back to the central question I forgot to ask to Thecollective:

What are the criterias or values being privileged for selecting which comments will be published?

Thanks for clarfiications,

- A-non-bucreaucrat

anon (not verified) Sat, 09/20/2025 - 00:14

you clearly love your trolls. I have alot of respect for that.
what happened to the rupture press post. not stanning?

anon (not verified) Fri, 10/03/2025 - 10:51

this reminds me of how CVS has literally everything locked up behind plexiglass now as a response to rampant shoplifting. So now, when I wanna buy toothpaste, I gotta call up some worker to saunter over and unlock the case for me. It's super inconvenient and sucks a big fat mega donkey dick the way they've ramped up Order to curb Chaos. Way to anarchy, thought managers!

anon (not verified) Sat, 10/04/2025 - 00:06

In reply to by anon (not verified)

What Im saying is for me, to have to talk to someone in order to get something super basic out of a shelf works as a huge deterrent to me shopping there. Same thing for this experiment where instead of shoplifters, it's trolls who use the n-word or something. Yeah, it's a good way to filter the trolls, but the inconvenience of it just makes regular folks not wanna engage so much.

It;s also just not anarchist, m'kay

anon (not verified) Sat, 10/04/2025 - 14:19

In reply to by anon (not verified)

The comment approval is only for anon users and that is not every user. So if you want to expand your analogy, this would be like CVS members getting direct access to all products while non-members need to ask someone for access to products that are often stolen by non-members.

More fundamentally, part of the cost-benefit analysis should be about why the site should have anon comments at all. Why allow anyone to comment anonymously?

Once that quesiton is answered, then you can start weighting the costs and benefits of how anon comments are handled.

You should also factor in what else anonymous comments allow besides "trolls who use the n-word or something". Trolls are one thing, but trolls aren't the only problem. Automated spam and bots are also common problems for moderators around the web. Every time some shady company's automation hits a website with permissive user input fields, it can create 10's or 100's of comments that moderaters then need to clean up afterwards. That is pretty inconvenient.

And then on top of all of this, part of the cost-benefit analysis needs to be a hard look at how valuable the anonymous comments have really been. If the moderation is so inconvenient that it drives away anons, is that even really much of a loss? Maybe it is the opposite of a loss and the anon comments had been making the website inconvenient for registered users. That's a possibility.

anon (not verified) Sat, 10/04/2025 - 19:44

In reply to by anon (not verified)

If you don't understand the appeal of why someone would wanna be anon on an @ website, then I don't know what to tell you..

Next.. how many registered users are there? Less than 10? Gems like SirE? I'd say that some of the most thoughtful and productive comments have come from anons, who definitely outnumber the people who register their accounts, like a bunch of dorks.

PS: automated spam comments are dealt with by using captchas, which this site was already using, so wtf

anon (not verified) Sat, 10/04/2025 - 21:48

In reply to by anon (not verified)

Give me one or two reasons why anarchists want to comment anonymously that comment approval really impacts.

Next.. how many anons are there? How could you even know that?

PS: captchas do not deal with all of the spam.

You can yap all day about how it is dorky to register an account, but the MOST USED anarchist spaces online are places that you can only comment with registered accounts.

Reddit as one of those, r/anarchism:

287K Members, 51K Weekly visitors, 1.3K Weekly contributions

But on anarchistnews which has 8 whole comments in the past 24 hours based on the "Recent comments"... you think comment approval or registering accounts is going to be the game changer? You are making a mountain out of a mole hill.

anon (not verified) Sun, 10/05/2025 - 09:34

In reply to by anon (not verified)

Reddit is hot garbage, and is only used seriously by neckbeard incels.

Reason comments are low is bc of this CVS-style moderation.

Anyways wtv man that's just my opinion, no big deal. Go hold hands and dance around with your neckbeard brethren.

Our battle cry will be: "REGISTER EVERYTHING!"

anon (not verified) Sun, 10/05/2025 - 16:43

In reply to by anon (not verified)

/r/anarchism is by far one of the worst subs on an already problematic Reddit. Invaded by tankies and brocialists for ages, and you get banned easily just for any critical thought. And stats don't count unless you're a chump, chump.

CalvinSmith Mon, 10/06/2025 - 02:49

Having used this website over a period of years, I honestly was pretty happy thecollective were willing to try this as anons often do like to take advantage of zero-identity, simply using it to hurl abuse and make horribly stupid comments. I think this new policy has cut down a little bit on the abuse comments...but it's honestly not much of an improvement in my opinions, as it hasn't cut down on the un-true bullshit people say here, which honestly erodes the quality just as much as "uR a DumBee neekbeard! Hehee!" Like with reddit, the people the site attracts is just as much of a problem as the general design of the website.

I also wonder why dedicated anarchists, like you would have to be to run a project like this for so long, would need to draw in their comrades with a social website. If you are hard at work trying to smash the state or engage in some sort of anti-fascist activism, how could you possibly run out of friends?? Look at all the people who submit articles, look at all the people who despise the state and authoritarianism! Where does alienation that naturally comes from distance fit into any anti-state scheme? Thecollective has not given very many hints about the reasoning that goes into this, and i guess you'd expect them not to say anything about the experiment...

It is an interesting website in some ways, it's preferable to major social media platforms in a lot of ways, but in the end it is another example of an online flame-war dungheap with some irreparable contradictions.

Le Way, (not verified) Mon, 10/06/2025 - 18:27

In reply to by CalvinSmith

That's a good summary Calvin. I to am also a veteran of this site, I even think I preceded the distinguished troll Lumpy by a couple of years, it was 2008 when I first arrived, and if was not for this informative site I would never have heard of the magnificent Max Stirner. But I digress, yes, it is like any other site with the usual right/left binary cesspit dialogue gracing its comment section ;)

Add new comment

Filtered HTML

  • Web page addresses and email addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Allowed HTML tags: <a href hreflang> <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul type> <ol start type> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
CAPTCHA
@
S
@
F
x
N
m
Q
Enter the code without spaces.
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.