Lemmygrad: Difference between revisions

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(→‎Purge of the c/Hoxhaism community and banning of its creator: Added several sources for claims. Qualified and hedged some charged/unsourced language. →‎Ideology: changed "often subjected" to "may be subjected".)
 
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{{Controversial|date=March 2023}}
{{ambox|type=notice|issue=This article has been edited by a user associated with the topic. It may not reflect a neutral point of view.|image=none}}[[File:Lemmygrad.ml logo.png|thumb|285x285px|Logo of lemmygrad.ml.]]{{Multiple issues|{{POV}}{{tone}}}}
'''Lemmygrad''' is a principally [[Marxism–Leninism|Marxist–Leninist]] instance of [[Lemmy (software)|Lemmy]] with [[Dengism|pro-China]] tendencies<ref>[https://lemmygrad.ml/post/668436 Please note Lemmygrad is a Marxist instance (principally Marxist-Leninist)!] by @CriticalResist8 (May 31, 2023) ''Lemmygrad''</ref> founded in August 2019. As of September 2023, the site is the fifteenth most popular instance of Lemmy,<ref name=":0">[https://the-federation.info/platform/73 Lemmy] ''the-federation.info''</ref> with it hosting nearly 50,000 posts and around 600 active users per month, although actual patterns of user activity varies.<ref>[https://lemmygrad.ml/ Lemmygrad.ml]</ref>


'''Lemmygrad''' is a principally [[Marxism-Leninism|Marxist-Leninist]] link aggregator (similar to Reddit) founded in August 2019. The site is powered by the [[FOSS|free and open source]] software called [[Lemmy (software)|Lemmy]] and is [[Fediverse|federated]] with other websites that rely on Lemmy to function (similar to Mastodon or Matrix, with which Lemmy is able to federate).<ref>[https://www.makeuseof.com/best-fediverse-servers-create-online-community/ The Best Fediverse Servers to Create Your Own Online Community] by David Rutland (8 October, 2022) ''MUO''</ref> As of February 2023, the site hosts nearly 40,000 posts and around 300 active users per month, although actual patterns of user activity varies.<ref>[https://lemmygrad.ml/ Lemmygrad.ml]</ref>
Lemmygrad was founded at a time when Reddit was cracking down on communist<ref>[https://www.reddit.com/r/Conservative/comments/cmwnnd/rchapotraphouse_has_finally_been_quarantined_for/ /r/ChapoTrapHouse has finally been quarantined for their repeated rule breaking and constant incitement of left-wing violence.] /r/Conservative at Reddit. 6 Aug 2019.</ref> communities as a way for communists to have their own space free of corporate rules and ownership.


Lemmygrad was founded at a time when Reddit was cracking down on communist communities as a way for communists to have their own space free of corporate rules and ownership.
According to an unpublished paper from data researchers at Binghamton and Cyprus Universities, lemmygrad.ml ranked among the top "domains of [[Tankie|tankies]]" on the internet.<ref>{{cite journal |title=A Data-driven Understanding of Left-Wing Extremists on Social Media |last=Utkucan |first=Balcı |last2=Sirivianos |first2=Michael |last3=Blackburn |first3=Jeremy|url=https://arxiv.org/pdf/2307.06981.pdf|journal=Unpublished; posted at ArXiv.org|accessdate=2023-07-23 |p=38}} Tables 11 and 12. See also text on pp. 23-25.</ref>
 
The website does not contain advertisements and does not collect user information beyond what is necessary for the site to function.
 
== Functioning ==
 
=== Federation ===
Lemmy, the software which is used to run Lemmygrad, is compatible with ActivityPub which is a federation protocol used by many other projects (such as Mastodon, Peertube). Websites powered by Lemmy are usually called ''instances''.
 
This means that it is possible to interact with other instances which run Lemmy or, since an update in 2021, even with a Mastodon or Peertube user, all from one's home instance, which is the instance they created their account on. This is similar to phone calls, where it is possible to call someone that doesn't have a contract with your phone company.
 
Each Lemmy instance comes with an empty blacklist by default, which allows them to block other instances from interacting with them.
 
=== Communities ===
As a link aggregator, Lemmygrad functions similarly to Reddit with communities in which people can post text or pictures (or both at the same time). Other users can then comment in those posts, which become threads (similar to forums).
 
=== Users ===
Similar to Reddit, users can create accounts (and provide short answers to some questions to make sure they are not spammers, percived wreckers, or "ideological undesirables").
 
Once their account is approved, users can ''subscribe'' to a community so that posts from that community will appear in their ''Subscribed'' view.
 
There are three views:
 
* Subscribed, which shows communities one is subscribed to (including federated communities on other instances),
* ''Local'', which shows all communities from the instance one is on, and
* ''All'', which acts like Local but additionally shows all communities from all federated instances
 
Users are able to create communities on their home instance and become its moderator.
 
=== Administration and moderation ===
Lemmygrad possesses an administration team, which is able to act on the whole instance as moderators.
 
Moderators are different from administrators in that the former can only act on their own communities, and not on the whole instance.
 
This means also that while moderators can only ban people from their community, administrators can ban people from the whole instance.


== History ==
== History ==
Line 45: Line 12:


==== GenZedong migration ====
==== GenZedong migration ====
In March 2022, the [[GenZedong]] subreddit was quarantined on Reddit. As usual during a ban wave, it mostly targetted right-wing subreddits but a left-wing subreddit was added in the wave so that Reddit could claim they were impartial in their bans. Its accompanying communities of "GenZhou" (its educational outlet) and "GenZhukov" (its military history and tactics outlet) were banned, according to Reddit, for being used to evade the quarantine on GenZedong<ref>[https://old.reddit.com/r/genZhou GenZhou] on Reddit</ref><ref>[https://old.reddit.com/r/genZhukov GenZhukov] on Reddit</ref> despite being created prior to the quarantine.
In March 2022, the [[GenZedong]] subreddit was quarantined on Reddit. As usual during a ban wave, it mostly targeted right-wing subreddits but a left-wing subreddit was added in the wave so that Reddit could claim they were impartial in their bans. Its accompanying communities of "GenZhou" (its educational outlet) and "GenZhukov" (its military history and tactics outlet) were banned, according to Reddit, for being used to evade the quarantine on GenZedong<ref>[https://old.reddit.com/r/genZhou GenZhou] on Reddit</ref><ref>[https://old.reddit.com/r/genZhukov GenZhukov] on Reddit</ref> despite being created prior to the quarantine.


Lemmygrad received a huge influx of users at that time and had to establish user account vetting as, at the same time, trolls from GenUSA (a pro-US imperialism, chauvinist community made in response to the growing popularity of GenZedong) were also making accounts to troll Lemmygrad.
Lemmygrad received a huge influx of users at that time and had to establish user account vetting as, at the same time, trolls from GenUSA (a pro-US imperialism, chauvinist community made in response to the growing popularity of GenZedong) were also making accounts to troll Lemmygrad.
Line 56: Line 23:
Along with the migration of the GenZedong community, Lemmygrad suffered denial-of-service (DoS) attacks against it, taking down the site for a number of hours at some points between March and May. This prompted the administrators of Lemmygrad to switch to another hosting provider with better (D)DoS protection, as well as update the Lemmy code to patch the vulnerabilities the attackers were using.
Along with the migration of the GenZedong community, Lemmygrad suffered denial-of-service (DoS) attacks against it, taking down the site for a number of hours at some points between March and May. This prompted the administrators of Lemmygrad to switch to another hosting provider with better (D)DoS protection, as well as update the Lemmy code to patch the vulnerabilities the attackers were using.


==== Purge of the c/Hoxhaism community and banning of its creator ====
==== Purge of the c/Hoxhaism community and banning of Wisconcom ====
In June of 2022, a self-proclaimed [[Hoxhaism|Hoxhaist]] user by the name of [https://lemmygrad.ml/u/wisconcom Wisconcom] would join Lemmygrad.ml. He would quickly centre his posts around [[People's Republic of China|China]] specifically, hurling all sorts of criticism at it. Regular users of Lemmygrad, whom by and large supported the People's Republic of China, began to argue with Wisconcom who did not budge on his views, using dubious or anti-communist sources such as the [[Hindustan Times]], the [[Peterson Institute for International Economics]] or even tabloids such as "CAKnowledge".<ref>[https://lemmygrad.ml/comment/267414 Comment] on Lemmygrad</ref> However, it is important to note that the sourcing employed by the pro-PRC Lemmygrad moderation and usership were not of any higher quality, with their "sourcing" consisting of dubious and informal posts from GenZedong as well as poorly-formatted and articulated posts on small pro-PRC blogs, which themselves cited no actually academic sources.<ref>[https://lemmygrad.ml/comment/267398 Comment] on Lemmygrad</ref> 
In June 2022, a self-proclaimed Hoxhaist by the name of [https://lemmygrad.ml/u/wisconcom Wisconcom] would join Lemmygrad.ml. He would quickly center his posts around criticizing [[People's Republic of China|China]] specifically.<ref>[https://lemmygrad.ml/u/Wisconcom?page=1&sort=New&view=Comments Comments by u/Wisconcom on Lemmygrad.ml.]</ref> Other users of Lemmygrad, by and large supporters of the People's Republic of China ([[Dengists]]), began to argue with Wisconcom who did not budge on his views. Wisconcom was eventually banned from Lemmygrad for being overly combative after several user reports about his bad faith and insulting behavior,{{Cn}}although the founder of Lemmygrad later stated that he was banned for "ultra-leftism".<ref>https://lemmygrad.ml/comment/330430</ref>
 
Wisconcom was eventually banned from Lemmygrad for being overly combative and after several user reports about his bad faith and insulting behaviour, although the founder of Lemmygrad later said directly that he was banned for "ultra-leftism".<ref>https://lemmygrad.ml/comment/330430</ref>


He quickly created another account under the name of Ouisconcom and created the c/Hoxhaism community (c/ being the prefix to all community URLs on Lemmy). The community he had created was being used almost solely to criticise China and not, as the administrators expected, used to talk about Hoxhaism or [[Hoxha]] to any notable extent. A post was made looking for user input on this community<ref>[https://lemmygrad.ml/post/362912 The administrators want your opinion on the Hoxhaism community] on Lemmygrad</ref> and the moderation concluded that the Hoxhaism community should either be repurposed, or completely deleted and Wisconcom banned for ban evasion and his ideological.
Wisconcom quickly created another account under the name of Ouisconkom<ref>[https://lemmygrad.ml/u/Ouisconkom u/Ouisconcom at Lemmygrad.ml]</ref> and created the c/Hoxhaism community. The community he had created was being used almost solely to criticize China and not, as the administrators had expected, used to talk about Hoxhaism or [[Enver Hoxha|Hoxha]] to any notable extent.{{Cn}} A post was made looking for user input on this community<ref>[https://lemmygrad.ml/post/362912 The administrators want your opinion on the Hoxhaism community] on Lemmygrad</ref> and the general consensus was the community should either be repurposed, or completely deleted and the creator banned for ban evasion. Eventually, the Lemmygrad community was in agreement that Wisconcom should be banned and the Hoxhaism community repurposed. However, due to the functioning of the Lemmy software at the time, his banning also deleted the communities that he had created.{{cn}}


Later, the community of Lemmygrad claimed that Wisconcom had came back to Lemmygrad under different names trying to bait and stoke trouble within the community. The accounts which were supposedly his were quickly banned, as by that point nobody on Lemmygrad had any patience left for his antics.<ref>[https://lemmygrad.ml/post/468504 RationalWiki made an article about us] on Lemmygrad</ref><ref>[https://lemmygrad.ml/post/468568 A message to Wisconcom] on Lemmygrad</ref><ref>[https://lemmygrad.ml/post/497025 Possible Wisconcom alt] on Lemmygrad</ref>
Later, Wisconcom would come back to Lemmygrad under different alt accounts trying to bait and stoke trouble within the community.<ref>[https://lemmygrad.ml/post/468504 RationalWiki made an article about us] on Lemmygrad</ref><ref>[https://lemmygrad.ml/post/468568 A message to Wisconcom] on Lemmygrad</ref><ref>[https://lemmygrad.ml/post/497025 Possible Wisconcom alt] on Lemmygrad</ref> His accounts were quickly banned again for ban evasion.


==== Lemmygrad.com imposter site ====
==== Lemmygrad.com copycat site ====
In September of 2022, alleged [[Patriotic socialism|patriotic socialists]] of the [[infrared]] community created lemmygrad.com, a website that was meant to copy Lemmygrad but with a "MAGA Communist" purpose.
In September 2022, alleged [[Patriotic socialism|patriotic socialists]] of the [[Infrared]] community created lemmygrad.com, a website that was meant to copy Lemmygrad but with a "[[MAGA Communist]]" purpose.


The administrators of Lemmygrad, to protect their reputation, announced they had contacted lemmygrad.com's hosting provider on the grounds of copyright infringement (one of the only things they could do that went against the Terms of Services). The host replied very quickly and took down lemmygrad.com, although the domain name was still usable by its owner.
The administrators of Lemmygrad, to protect their reputation, announced they had contacted lemmygrad.com's hosting provider on the grounds of copyright infringement (one of the only things they could do that went against the Terms of Services). The host replied very quickly and took down lemmygrad.com, although the domain name was still usable by its owner.


Presently, the domain redirects to a [[Transphobia|transphobic]] account on Twitter.
Presently, the domain redirects to a [[Transphobia|transphobic]] account on Twitter.{{cn}}


=== Formalisation of rules ===
=== Formalisation of rules ===
In the same month of September, the administrators of Lemmygrad would formalise two rules they had always operated on:<ref>[https://lemmygrad.ml/post/379908 We have added two new rules] on Lemmygrad</ref>
In the same month of September, the administrators of Lemmygrad would formalize two rules they had always operated on:<ref>[https://lemmygrad.ml/post/379908 We have added two new rules] on Lemmygrad</ref>


* ''No porn or sexually explicit content (even if marked NSFW).''
* ''No porn or sexually explicit content (even if marked NSFW).''
* ''No right-deviationists (patsocs, nazbols, strasserists, duginists, etc).''
* ''No right-deviationists ([[Patriotic socialism|Patsocs]], [[National Bolshevism|Nazbols]], [[Strasserism|Strasserists]], [[Aleksandr Dugin|Duginists]], etc).''


The first rule was formalised by popular demand, although like most Marxist spaces, Lemmygrad did not allow pornography or other sexual nudity content from the start.
The first rule was formalized by popular demand, although like most Marxist spaces, Lemmygrad did not allow pornography or other sexual nudity content from the start.


The second rule was also being operated on after some belligerent patriotic socialists attempting to create accounts on Lemmygrad and ultimately brought down the enjoyment the community had in using the website with their disruptive behaviour.<ref>[https://lemmygrad.ml/post/239568 <nowiki>We have [re]instated the Dongistan community</nowiki>] on Lemmygrad</ref> However, it was formalised after lemmygrad.com was created as a basis to provide transparency to the community and make the banning of future patriotic socialists easier.
The second rule was also being operated on after some belligerent patriotic socialists attempting to create accounts on Lemmygrad and ultimately brought down the enjoyment the community had in using the website with their disruptive behavior.<ref>[https://lemmygrad.ml/post/239568 <nowiki>We have [re]instated the Dongistan community</nowiki>] on Lemmygrad</ref> However, it was formalized after lemmygrad.com was created as a basis to provide transparency to the community and make the banning of future patriotic socialists easier.


=== Merging of "Shit X Say" communities ===
=== Merging of "Shit X Say" communities ===
Shit X Say communities, popular on Reddit (ShitLiberalsSay, ShitRedditSays...) were quickly brought over to Lemmygrad. For a while, c/ShitLiberalsSay was the biggest community. Eventually though, many more such communities were created by users and often left to abandon. Other users started complaining about these many communities that also, they felt, polluted their timeline and prevented them from seeing things other than hatful content. As such it was decided based on popular demand that all communities following the "Shit X Say" format would be merged under just two communities: ShitReactionariesSay and ShitUltrasSay. No other community of this type would be permitted on Lemmygrad after this.
Shit X Say communities, popular on Reddit (ShitLiberalsSay, ShitRedditSays...) were quickly brought over to Lemmygrad. For a while, c/ShitLiberalsSay was the biggest community. Eventually though, many more such communities were created by users and often left to abandon. Other users started complaining about these many communities that also, they felt, polluted their timeline and prevented them from seeing things other than hateful content. As such it was decided based on popular demand that all communities following the "Shit X Say" format would be merged under just two communities: ShitReactionariesSay and Shit[[Ultra-left|Ultras]]Say. No other community of this type would be permitted on Lemmygrad after this.


== Ideology ==
== Ideology ==
Lemmygrad has grown from an almost unvisited website back when it started to one of the biggest instances using the Lemmy software. This has caused many changes to happen in the working principles of the forum so as to respond to this external as well as internal growth.
Lemmygrad describes itself as "principally [[Marxist-Leninist]]" and supportive of "[[actually existing socialism]]". Users who do not entirely follow this line are allowed to some extent, may be subject to censorship and bans.  


Lemmygrad is principally Marxist-Leninist and militantly supportive of what they call "[[actually existing socialism]]". Users who do not entirely follow this line are allowed to some extent, but do not control discourse, and are possibly subjected to bans.
Lemmygrad has made necessary changes to its working principles in response to its growth over the years as a community.{{relevance}}{{clarify}}


==References==
== References ==
<references />
<references />
===Notes===
===Notes===

Latest revision as of 18:59, 3 September 2023

Logo of lemmygrad.ml.

Lemmygrad is a principally Marxist–Leninist instance of Lemmy with pro-China tendencies[1] founded in August 2019. As of September 2023, the site is the fifteenth most popular instance of Lemmy,[2] with it hosting nearly 50,000 posts and around 600 active users per month, although actual patterns of user activity varies.[3]

Lemmygrad was founded at a time when Reddit was cracking down on communist[4] communities as a way for communists to have their own space free of corporate rules and ownership.

According to an unpublished paper from data researchers at Binghamton and Cyprus Universities, lemmygrad.ml ranked among the top "domains of tankies" on the internet.[5]

History

Founding and early developments

Lemmygrad was founded in August 2019, with its first post being on the 17th of that month.[6]

GenZedong migration

In March 2022, the GenZedong subreddit was quarantined on Reddit. As usual during a ban wave, it mostly targeted right-wing subreddits but a left-wing subreddit was added in the wave so that Reddit could claim they were impartial in their bans. Its accompanying communities of "GenZhou" (its educational outlet) and "GenZhukov" (its military history and tactics outlet) were banned, according to Reddit, for being used to evade the quarantine on GenZedong[7][8] despite being created prior to the quarantine.

Lemmygrad received a huge influx of users at that time and had to establish user account vetting as, at the same time, trolls from GenUSA (a pro-US imperialism, chauvinist community made in response to the growing popularity of GenZedong) were also making accounts to troll Lemmygrad.

As a response to this huge influx of new users, the administrators of Lemmygrad made several posts to try and get them acclimated to Lemmygrad quickly, as it was different to Reddit in many ways (in the rules, the federation aspect, and the methods of moderating). Eventually, two moderators from GenZedong were made into site admins so there could be communication between the community of GenZedong and the administrators of Lemmygrad. One of them later agreed to leave the administration on amicable terms.

This increase in site activity was temporary and eventually subsided later in the year 2022. However, the c/GenZedong community on Lemmygrad remains the forum's most active community.

Denial-of-service attacks

Along with the migration of the GenZedong community, Lemmygrad suffered denial-of-service (DoS) attacks against it, taking down the site for a number of hours at some points between March and May. This prompted the administrators of Lemmygrad to switch to another hosting provider with better (D)DoS protection, as well as update the Lemmy code to patch the vulnerabilities the attackers were using.

Purge of the c/Hoxhaism community and banning of Wisconcom

In June 2022, a self-proclaimed Hoxhaist by the name of Wisconcom would join Lemmygrad.ml. He would quickly center his posts around criticizing China specifically.[9] Other users of Lemmygrad, by and large supporters of the People's Republic of China (Dengists), began to argue with Wisconcom who did not budge on his views. Wisconcom was eventually banned from Lemmygrad for being overly combative after several user reports about his bad faith and insulting behavior,[citation needed]although the founder of Lemmygrad later stated that he was banned for "ultra-leftism".[10]

Wisconcom quickly created another account under the name of Ouisconkom[11] and created the c/Hoxhaism community. The community he had created was being used almost solely to criticize China and not, as the administrators had expected, used to talk about Hoxhaism or Hoxha to any notable extent.[citation needed] A post was made looking for user input on this community[12] and the general consensus was the community should either be repurposed, or completely deleted and the creator banned for ban evasion. Eventually, the Lemmygrad community was in agreement that Wisconcom should be banned and the Hoxhaism community repurposed. However, due to the functioning of the Lemmy software at the time, his banning also deleted the communities that he had created.[citation needed]

Later, Wisconcom would come back to Lemmygrad under different alt accounts trying to bait and stoke trouble within the community.[13][14][15] His accounts were quickly banned again for ban evasion.

Lemmygrad.com copycat site

In September 2022, alleged patriotic socialists of the Infrared community created lemmygrad.com, a website that was meant to copy Lemmygrad but with a "MAGA Communist" purpose.

The administrators of Lemmygrad, to protect their reputation, announced they had contacted lemmygrad.com's hosting provider on the grounds of copyright infringement (one of the only things they could do that went against the Terms of Services). The host replied very quickly and took down lemmygrad.com, although the domain name was still usable by its owner.

Presently, the domain redirects to a transphobic account on Twitter.[citation needed]

Formalisation of rules

In the same month of September, the administrators of Lemmygrad would formalize two rules they had always operated on:[16]

The first rule was formalized by popular demand, although like most Marxist spaces, Lemmygrad did not allow pornography or other sexual nudity content from the start.

The second rule was also being operated on after some belligerent patriotic socialists attempting to create accounts on Lemmygrad and ultimately brought down the enjoyment the community had in using the website with their disruptive behavior.[17] However, it was formalized after lemmygrad.com was created as a basis to provide transparency to the community and make the banning of future patriotic socialists easier.

Merging of "Shit X Say" communities

Shit X Say communities, popular on Reddit (ShitLiberalsSay, ShitRedditSays...) were quickly brought over to Lemmygrad. For a while, c/ShitLiberalsSay was the biggest community. Eventually though, many more such communities were created by users and often left to abandon. Other users started complaining about these many communities that also, they felt, polluted their timeline and prevented them from seeing things other than hateful content. As such it was decided based on popular demand that all communities following the "Shit X Say" format would be merged under just two communities: ShitReactionariesSay and ShitUltrasSay. No other community of this type would be permitted on Lemmygrad after this.

Ideology

Lemmygrad describes itself as "principally Marxist-Leninist" and supportive of "actually existing socialism". Users who do not entirely follow this line are allowed to some extent, may be subject to censorship and bans.

Lemmygrad has made necessary changes to its working principles in response to its growth over the years as a community.[relevant?][clarification needed]

References

  1. Please note Lemmygrad is a Marxist instance (principally Marxist-Leninist)! by @CriticalResist8 (May 31, 2023) Lemmygrad
  2. Lemmy the-federation.info
  3. Lemmygrad.ml
  4. /r/ChapoTrapHouse has finally been quarantined for their repeated rule breaking and constant incitement of left-wing violence. /r/Conservative at Reddit. 6 Aug 2019.
  5. Utkucan, Balcı; Sirivianos, Michael; Blackburn, Jeremy. "A Data-driven Understanding of Left-Wing Extremists on Social Media" (PDF). Unpublished; posted at ArXiv.org: 38. Retrieved 2023-07-23. Tables 11 and 12. See also text on pp. 23-25.
  6. Lemmygrad's first post
  7. GenZhou on Reddit
  8. GenZhukov on Reddit
  9. Comments by u/Wisconcom on Lemmygrad.ml.
  10. https://lemmygrad.ml/comment/330430
  11. u/Ouisconcom at Lemmygrad.ml
  12. The administrators want your opinion on the Hoxhaism community on Lemmygrad
  13. RationalWiki made an article about us on Lemmygrad
  14. A message to Wisconcom on Lemmygrad
  15. Possible Wisconcom alt on Lemmygrad
  16. We have added two new rules on Lemmygrad
  17. We have [re]instated the Dongistan community on Lemmygrad

Notes