The Posting Dead

[Trap Queen Voxxy]

Whys this forum so dead nowadays? When I was last here it was a pretty bustling place now it seems to be in a slow period?

[Ele'ill]

it is the left com's fault

[Comrade Jacob]

We all got tired of the left-coms and left.

[The Feral Underclass]

Whys this forum so dead nowadays? When I was last here it was a pretty bustling place now it seems to be in a slow period?

It's a good question. I reckon it's probably a combination of things. Stagnation, the forum has looked the same and had the same layout for almost a decade, old users leaving or being banned, debate fatigue, repetitive discussions, not enough people staying. Take your pick.

[The Feral Underclass]

Also the Left Coms.

[Trap Queen Voxxy]

Are you guys fucking with me or were "left-com," users that lame? I really only remember Devrim and Leo and they were both pretty well mannered and what's not.

[The Feral Underclass]

I have no idea. I just wanted to belong.

[Vladimir Innit Lenin]

Trying to get this forum active is like flogging a dead pig these days.

Or as David Cameron would say, like fucking a dead pig.

[Anglo-Saxon Philistine]

Yeah it turns out that when you ban a lot of knowledgeable people with real-life political experience (or drive them out on threat of being banned), posting quality declines. Another problem is the lack of moderation and pretty insane posts being approved, leading to a site that probably looks very questionable to new users.

[Trap Queen Voxxy]

Well fack, lol, but hey I'm back! I can spice things up a bit, haha

[Ele'ill]

Yeah it turns out that when you ban a lot of knowledgeable people with real-life political experience (or drive them out on threat of being banned), posting quality declines. Another problem is the lack of moderation and pretty insane posts being approved, leading to a site that probably looks very questionable to new users.


experience and knowledge doesn't equate to good posts or flawless positions, if there's anything at all we could have learned from the forum (or real life) over the years it's this

[Anglo-Saxon Philistine]

experience and knowledge doesn't equate to good posts or flawless positions, if there's anything at all we could have learned from the forum (or real life) over the years it's this

It doesn't equate to flawless positions (obviously there is only one flawless position, Robertson-Seymour-St. John Thought), but it does tend to equate to higher-quality posting. Sure, you can find people who've been in the movement for a long time and whose posts are unreadable or actually meaningless, but they're a minority. Most of the long-term members at least know what they're talking about.

[Atsumari]

On top of that, who wants to have the same conversation over and over again? Whenever there is a new thread about some controversial event, I do not even bother to reply or even look at it because I know exactly what everyone will say and vice versa. And it is not just RevLeft, but pretty much all left-wing forums are the same.
That is why I mostly go to places like TeamLiquid for political conversations for the simple fact that there is a bigger variety of people there rather than petty shit like the 50 tendencies in Leninism or anarchism.

[bricolage]

It doesn't equate to flawless positions (obviously there is only one flawless position, Robertson-Seymour-St. John Thought), but it does tend to equate to higher-quality posting. Sure, you can find people who've been in the movement for a long time and whose posts are unreadable or actually meaningless, but they're a minority. Most of the long-term members at least know what they're talking about.
Exactly.

[Guardia Rossa]

Cmon, at leasts it gets you sharp, so when a newb comes by you convince him.

[Synergy]

Stagnation, the forum has looked the same and had the same layout for almost a decade

Who controls the layout?

Maybe it's time to redesign (template colors, combine inactive forums, etc) the forum. It could be a lot of fun.

[Sperm-Doll Setsuna]

Well fack, lol, but hey I'm back! I can spice things up a bit, haha

please don't, go back to being away, you're awful

[The Feral Underclass]

Who controls the layout?

Maybe it's time to redesign (template colors, combine inactive forums, etc) the forum. It could be a lot of fun.

It's supposed to be getting updated but Malte the owner seems to be taking his time with it. This conversation has been going on over a year.

[Anglo-Saxon Philistine]

Cmon, at leasts it gets you sharp, so when a newb comes by you convince him.

People who are new to Marxism are not the problem. Hell, none of us sprang from their father's forehead fully armed with a thorough understanding of Marx. The problem are people who hang around the site for years, and not only have they learned nothing, they're aggressive in spreading their lack of understanding, always being the first to opine on things they have absolutely no knowledge of. And it's not good for the people who are here to learn, either, when every learning thread turns into a dispute about basic issues anyone should have resolved with himself before calling himself a socialist (like the fact that markets are not eternal etc.).

[Ele'ill]

People who are new to Marxism are not the problem. Hell, none of us sprang from their father's forehead fully armed with a thorough understanding of Marx. The problem are people who hang around the site for years, and not only have they learned nothing, they're aggressive in spreading their lack of understanding, always being the first to opine on things they have absolutely no knowledge of. And it's not good for the people who are here to learn, either, when every learning thread turns into a dispute about basic issues anyone should have resolved with himself before calling himself a socialist (like the fact that markets are not eternal etc.).

Then there are The Marxists who have hung around for years, who are completely incapable of interacting with new ideas, thoughts, positions, and go to ridiculous lengths to maintain their line. I think a lot of new users see it and are turned off by it probably because they still have the patience to read through Those posts.

[Anglo-Saxon Philistine]

Then there are The Marxists who have hung around for years, who are completely incapable of interacting with new ideas, thoughts, positions, and go to ridiculous lengths to maintain their line. I think a lot of new users see it and are turned off by it probably because they still have the patience to read through Those posts.

That has nothing to do with tendency, though, all tendencies on RL are full of weird people who think they know far more than they actually do, and the person I had in mind proclaims himself to be a Marxist. But then, when was the last time "new ideas, thoughts, positions" made an appearance on RL?

[Ele'ill]

That has nothing to do with tendency, though, all tendencies on RL are full of weird people who think they know far more than they actually do, and the person I had in mind proclaims himself to be a Marxist. But then, when was the last time "new ideas, thoughts, positions" made an appearance on RL?

I don't think there are really that many tendencies on the forum. I would argue that some anti-civ currents are new or at least present sections that challenge established positions, and without any specific intent of destroying any other tendency i.e. it's not out-to-get Marxism but that is how it is interpreted so instead of engaging with the ideas there's a perma-moat and a parapet occupied at all hours by certain people who as you said yourself, aren't making much effort over time to engage with the ideas when they probably could benefit from doing so.

[Anglo-Saxon Philistine]

I don't think there are really that many tendencies on the forum. I would argue that some anti-civ currents are new or at least present sections that challenge established positions, and without any specific intent of destroying any other tendency i.e. it's not out-to-get Marxism but that is how it is interpreted so instead of engaging with the ideas there's a perma-moat and a parapet occupied at all hours by certain people who as you said yourself, aren't making much effort over time to engage with the ideas when they probably could benefit from doing so.

And I've participated in that discussion many times. The thing is, the anti-civ people who post on this site are not doing you any favours. First of all, getting them to make a definite statement is like pulling nails; getting all of them to agree to something one of them said is like pulling all of your nails, with a nail. Ninety percent of these conversations are "but that's not anti-civ". And that gets really tedious really fast.

Second, a lot of the users in question exhibit this weird throwback to the Maoist New Left with its hilariously aggressive, moralistic, preachy rhetoric. And some of the things said will, realistically, offend a lot of people. I mean, I can't believe they fuck things up so bad, they could talk about things like the abolition of work, the relative material affluence of various pre-state societies and so on, and they'd get brownie points for the rhetoric alone (with most people, at least), instead they go IF YOU'RE SICK USING MEDICINE MADE BY OTHER PEOPLE MAKES YOU A BAD PERSON O_____O.

[Ele'ill]

And I've participated in that discussion many times. The thing is, the anti-civ people who post on this site are not doing you any favours. First of all, getting them to make a definite statement is like pulling nails; getting all of them to agree to something one of them said is like pulling all of your nails, with a nail. Ninety percent of these conversations are "but that's not anti-civ". And that gets really tedious really fast.

I think anti-civ has been explained in detail in most of the threads down to the point where people are illustrating why they accept some/most of the criticisms that the position presents, how their positions are different from the various stripes of primitivism, why they are not 'anti-civ' while still adopting some of the points, why they are interested in some of the criticisms but find anti-civ overall to not matter at this point anyways, and so on. I think this is what you are noticing. That I and others can be interested in some of the same real life projects, ideas, that you are, but also carry with us, at times, a deeper criticism or concern. I don't mean deeper as in more advanced or correct. Those people you're talking about are also not all just anti-civ, I don't think that's really possible to begin with, and the core tendencies vary from person to person iirc (although probably not *that* much, there's heavy overlap)



Second, a lot of the users in question exhibit this weird throwback to the Maoist New Left with its hilariously aggressive, moralistic, preachy rhetoric. And some of the things said will, realistically, offend a lot of people. I mean, I can't believe they fuck things up so bad, they could talk about things like the abolition of work, the relative material affluence of various pre-state societies and so on, and they'd get brownie points for the rhetoric alone (with most people, at least), instead they go IF YOU'RE SICK USING MEDICINE MADE BY OTHER PEOPLE MAKES YOU A BAD PERSON O_____O.

I don't remember 10+ page threads in all capital letters making ridiculous statements like that though.

[Trap Queen Voxxy]

http://cdn2.mommyish.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/4Ww35Aw.gif

[Synergy]

Personally, I think revleft should focus more on analyzing current world events through a Marxist perspective instead of arguing which of the 500 forms of socialism is the most pure.

[The Feral Underclass]

Personally, I think revleft should focus more on analyzing current world events through a Marxist perspective instead of arguing which of the 500 forms of socialism is the most pure.

But not everyone here is a Marxist...

[Trap Queen Voxxy]

Personally, I think revleft should focus more on analyzing current world events through a Marxist perspective instead of arguing which of the 500 forms of socialism is the most pure.

Personally, I think we should be exchanging, creating, fostering and exploring new ideas instead of discussing at length whether Albania had bananas or how the same ideas which didn't work actually would've worked if it weren't for those meddling kids, etc.

[The Feral Underclass]

Personally, I think we should be exchanging, creating, fostering and exploring new ideas instead of discussing at length whether Albania had bananas or how the same ideas which didn't work actually would've worked if it weren't for those meddling kids, etc.

The problem with most Marxists is their conservative attitude towards 'newness.' The notion of exploring new ideas is anathema to them. People cling on to their deities.

[Vladimir Innit Lenin]

Personally, I think revleft should focus more on analyzing current world events through a Marxist perspective instead of arguing which of the 500 forms of socialism is the most pure.

You have much to learn, oh young one...

[Synergy]

But not everyone here is a Marxist...

It doesn't have to be a hardline "Marxist" viewpoint, I just mean a perspective that supports the proletariat.


Personally, I think we should be exchanging, creating, fostering and exploring new ideas instead of discussing at length whether Albania had bananas or how the same ideas which didn't work actually would've worked if it weren't for those meddling kids, etc.

I'm much more interested in current events but if people want to discuss indepth theory or whatever that's fine, I'll just avoid those threads.


You have much to learn, oh young one...

Oh Mr. Intellectual Master you're my only hope!