Read this first

[Edelweiss]

This Community is open to all leftists. Right-wingers are not welcome, but tolerated within this and only this forum. Right-wing messages will be ignored or deleted in all other forums and the author will be banned. If you are a right-winger or convinced capitalist and can accept this rule, good. If not, fuck off and never come back!
We were forced into this meassure by some cappies which infiltrated the community and turned every thread into a general debate, a healthy discussion was impossible. This is a leftist BB (a private place, not a society or country!), so please hold on with pathetic speeches about freedom of speech now.
Of course the general community rules are still valid here: No posts which are rascist, anti-semitic, sexist, homophobic, knowingly false and/or defamatory, hateful, threatening, invasive of a person's privacy.

[Jazzratt]

If you're new to this forum and have been restricted to this part of the forum and wish to remain a contributing member there are a few things that should be kept in mind:

NEVER, EVER, EVER post a thread about your restriction. If you feel it was unfair make a post in the current "Unfair Restrictions" sticky. Cheers.
Spamming is not tolerated elsewhere on the board and this is no less true in this subforum. One liners, image macros or posts of nothing but flames will be trashed and their posters will be dealt with as per the rules.
There is a good chance that your blindingly insightful critique of communism has already been discussed, use the search function if you suspect this to be the case - there is no need for thread necromancy.
Here more than anywhere else on the board posters make a lot of fallacious posts. Avoid this if at all possible, although no actions will be taken against you it does make your argument a lot weaker. Starting with wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Logical_fallacies) or fallacy files (http://www.fallacyfiles.org/) is a good way of learning what to avoid.
Read this thread, the dictionary thread and the who's who thread for more information on what we believe.
Fun though it would be for you guys to make non-political posts they will be trashed, unless you make them in the "Reactionary Chatter" sticky or one of the sanctioned off topic threads.
If you can't be civil, be amusing.

A quick and dirty guide to our thinking.

Nearly all leftists, regardless of ideological perspective have the same aim: Stateless classless society achieved through revolution.
This society will not rely on a class approach to production or social order and will have no state or other group with a monopoly on coercive force. The two main schools of though on how to get there from here - the easiest way to make this distinction is to use the terms libertarian (as in supporters of liberty, not of the American party) and authoritarian (as weird as placing this appellation on someone advocating stateless society seems). As this is a quick and ditry guide rather than an extensive piece I shall limit my comments on them simply to these two short sentences. A libertarian communist (anarcho-syndicalist, libertarian marxist etc.) believes that the transition from this society will be in the form of a revolution. The authoritarian (Marxist Leninist, Maoist, etc.) posits that between the new society and revolution a "transitional phase" of some kind will be needed in which state authority will still be exercised - the most common form is called the dictatorship of the proletariat.

Now, that's our goal - but why do we even want that? Isn't capitalism just fantastic as it is? Assuming we aren't too enraged/amused to speak after hearing something as hopelessly naive as that then our answer would be, frankly - "not on your life mate". We view the entire system as exploitative this is (usually) because the ruling class (bourgeoisie in Marxian analysis) own all the means of production (Factories and the like) forcing the working class (proletariat in Marxian parlance) to sell their labour power.

And that's it, the barest and most basic foundation you will be given in our thinking, remember to read The Anarchist Tension's two helpful stickies for more information and specifics.

[Jazzratt]

Made a quick update.

[Decolonize The Left]

Copy of the forum rules, because some people are lazy and they can be tricky to find:



These are the rules every member has to accept when joining RevLeft:

This Community is open to all leftists. Right-wingers are not welcome, but tolerated within the 'Opposing Ideologies' forum. Right-wing messages will be ignored or deleted in all other forums and the author will be banned. If you are a right-winger or convinced capitalist and can accept this rule, good. If not, fuck off and never come back!

Considering the real-time nature of this bulletin board, it is impossible for us to review messages or confirm the validity of information posted. Please remember that we at Revolutionary Left do not actively monitor the contents of and are not responsible for any messages posted. We do not vouch for or warrant the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any message, and are not responsible for the contents of any message. All posts express the views of their authors and not necessarily the views of this board or any entity associated with this board. You agree, through your use of this service, that you will not post any material which is racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, antisemitic, knowingly false and/or defamatory, hateful, threatening, invasive of a person's privacy, or otherwise violative of any law. You agree not to post any copyrighted material unless the copyright is owned by you or by this bulletin board.

Note: Fascists of all kinds are not allowed to post on RevLeft. This includes 'National Bolsheviks', 'third positionists' and all other pseudo-leftist fascists.

Privacy Policy

RevLeft guarantees that none of your collected private data such as your email address will be made avialable to others without your prior agreement.

Account Security

Restricted/Suspended/Banned members are not allowed to view or use the accounts of any other members. If any member allows other members to use their account under any circumstances they will have that account banned. Likewise, any member who posts on behalf of a banned member will have their account banned.

Note: Please do not post account information in the forums.

Always understand that the state is monitoring this website. It is a fact.

No explosives, no weapons, no drugs

It is against the guidelines to discuss, promote, glorify, instruct, agitate or incite the practice of terrorism, the art of weapons manufacturing, the making, distribution or selling of explosives or weapons and of illegal narcotics: Anyone posting such information will have it removed and could potentially be banned. It not only puts you at risk, it puts other users and this board at risk.

The state has already shut down and imprisoned website administrators for allowing the posting of bomb making materials (see the case of Sherman Austin).

No personal photos

It is against the boards guidelines to post personal pictures of yourself or of your comrades. If you do so you will have them automatically removed and could be banned from the board.

As we know for a fact that the state monitors this website, along with fascist organisations like Redwatch, we cannot tolerate people posting personal pictures of themselves. It jeopardises your safety and the safety of others.

No talk of or planning political direct actions or illegal activity

It is a stupid, stupid thing to talk openly on a forum like this about any potential or alleged direct action of any kind, especially if it is illegal, which could implicate activists to the police and security services.

Do not, under any circumstances, discuss or attempt to organise any illegal activities or direct action of any kind on the board, including with your Private Messaging systems (they are not secure).

Anyone openly calling for illegal/terrorist activities will be regarded as suspicious and will be banned immediately.

Further to all this: Do not ask for or give out personal information to people you don't know. If someone contacts you asking to arrange a meeting, asking for your name or your personal contact details report them to an administrator immediately.

Remember: The revolutionary left is an active movement of people who advocate the overthrow of the present economic and political systems. It is not a game and we will take very seriously people who violate these established guidelines.

Duplicate Accounts

Members registered on this board are not permittted to create additional accounts. Any duplicate accounts found will be unconditionaly banned, and the original account will receive a warning point.

If the duplicate account was an attempt at circumventing restriction, the original restricted account will besides receiving a warning point also be suspended for a week.

Advertising/Spam

This is a revolutionary left message board, not a promotions vehicle. Any use of this board for advertising will result in an immediate ban. This does not include on-topic links to relevent websites, but any post intended to sell product will be automatically deleted and its poster banned.

Spam/One-Line Posts

Please do not post any one-line posts like "I agree", "Good point", "Hear, Hear", or whatever to increase your post count. If you have nothing productive to say, don't say it! Notorious spammers/one-line posters will be banned.

Flaming

Excessive flaming is not permitted on RevLeft. While we understand that many issues discussed here are controversial and emotionally charged, we also understand that emotional responses can get out of hand. This means that posts containing little but personal insults, name-calling and/or threats are not permitted.

Repeated flaming in posts containing nothing of substance except flames will result in warning points, and incorrigible offenders may be banned at the discretion of the CC. In some cases threads which degenerate into "flame wars" will be locked with the participants prohibited from reviving them in any form.

Discriminatory Language

As this is an internet message board, it is impossible for us to know the intent behind posts. Accordingly, we take all members' comments at their face value.

Because of this, any use of discrmiinatory or oppressive language is not permitted. This includes all obvious instances of derogatory slurs related to race, ethnicity, sex, orientation, or any other immutable characteristic, as well as any derogatory use of applicable descriptive terms like "****", "gay" or "Jew".

Any use of discriminatory language may result in administrative action, and continued use will almost certainly result in a ban.

Procedure for administrative action, i.e. The Warning System

These guidelines are aimed at dealing with users who breach the board guidelines in relation to flaming, trolling, spamming or social prejudice.
When a user breaches these guidelines the following procedure applies:
1) Verbal warning by mod or admin, offending posts/threads are removed.

2.) If after a verbal warning the offensive behavior continues a PM warning by mod or admin will be given.

3.) If after a PM warning the warned behavior continues the user may be given an infraction.

Infractions are an option of last resort. Infractions should follow a verbal and then PM warning to a user. Infractions for spam or flaming should only be given after a PM warning and only for repeated, regular cases, not one-off posts.
Moderators are removed as moderator after 3 infractions and subject to the same consequences as all other members after 5.

Reaching 5 Infractions or 100% Warning Level

4.) When any user receives 5 infractions/100% warning level for the first time, it will result in a one week temporary suspension of posting abilities followed by a two week trial period with 4 points. After the trial period, an additional infraction is removed, reducing the users warning level to 60%.

5.) Each time a user reaches 100% warn again, the length of the suspension is doubled and a poll is held to determine the status of their membership with these options:

Do Nothing
Ban

Social Prejudice

Every time a user is given a infraction for a severe offense, such as sexist, racist, or homophobic posting, her/his position on the board can be reviewed with a poll with these options:

Do nothing
Restrict
Ban

Live Chat logs do not count as valid evidence in threads calling for administrative action.

Removal of warning points

Moderators can have their warning points reviewed immediately on being issued with it, providing the warning point in question is for spamming, insults or flaming. This is done by starting a thread.

Other general board members can have their warning points reviewed by the moderation team if they contact an admin or post a request in the members forum. The admin will start a thread.

Infractions for spamming, insults and flaming will be removed automatically after 6 months for each, providing the member has no more than 3 infractions for the same thing. In such cases any infraction above three is kept for three months, to be reviewed by the moderation team.

Warning points which have been given for racist, homophobic, sexist, anti-semetic or other reactionary comments can be reviewed after 6 months by the moderation team. Members must write a 100 word post to demonstrate why they have changed their opinion and/or have matured.

Warning points for reactionary comments are not removed automatically and general members must contact an admin who will remove warning points at discretion if it is obvious from their posts they have not changed or reviewed by the moderation team if it is not so obvious.

Warning points for restricted members remain at the discretion of the administrators.

Using pictures on the forum

Posting non-topical pictures in forums outside of Chit-Chat is strictly against the rules. There are many reasons for this, ranging from a general cluttering of the message board to the difficulty of loading picture-laden pages for those of us with slower connections, and we ask you all to respect these rules. Non-topical pictures are those which are not directly related to the subject at hand (LOL pics, etc...). An acceptable picture (or thumbnail) would be a graph, a picture related to a news story which is important to debate, etc... Again, please refrain from posting pictures in forums outside of Chit Chat, the action forums, and the cultural forums.

Read them carefully. Then re-read them. Then think about it. Then post.

- August