I've not really looked into it too deeply because every single mile-long screed about this "controversy" starts off by clutching pearls about communists. Can you link me to where this is happening without paragraphs of dissembling preamble?

[–] lemdoeswhatreddont@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

This is the lead dev on Russia's invasion, total support here and other comments:

https://old.reddit.com/r/TheGangGoesLeft/comments/tcu04j/whats_with_all_these_totenkopf_symbols_on_your/i0g1itl/

A few months later, they've apparently flipped on the issue entirely and now support US aid:

https://old.reddit.com/r/SocialistRA/comments/y2rzhg/interview_with_anarchocommunist_combat/is5yno0/?context=1000

I'm not very concerned with the "communist" or tankie part fwiw. And while I do have strong opinions on Russia's invasion, I'm far more concerned with the 180 shift in position displayed here, and I have yet to find an explanation. I don't think he wants to talk about it, but a quick "I changed my mind because xyz" could alleviate my concerns. Clear communication is important if you're gonna have such strong opinions imo.

I'm not trying to villainize him or cancel lemmy, he seems like a decent person and we've even had a brief interaction here... But I hope you can see why I'm cautious about things. The whiplash is my main issue, not which side he picks.

And I'm not here to stir the pot, it's just that you specifically asked and I had already personally looked into things.

Mods: I won't be spamming this, just wanted to put it out there once.

However... if the platform prospers and attracts enough other devs, none of this even remotely matters, and that's why I'm still here, I want to believe this can be set aside.

[–] GarbageShootAlt2@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 year ago

undefined> I’m not very concerned with the “communist” or tankie part fwiw.

Then why were you doing the "red fash" spiel just a single comment earlier if you don't care about it? No one thinks Russia is communist except a minority of senile Republicans who literally forgot about the founding of the Russian Federation.

[–] underisk@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I appreciate it. This is not as damning as I would have expected, to be frank. I won't say I fully agree with that interpretation of the war but it's a lot more nuanced than just blindly supporting an authoritarian regime "wearing a communist mask". Russia is not now nor does it even pretend to be communist in any capacity.

To be honest even with this hot take on Russia i'd say his politics are still probably more closely aligned with any given Redditor than they were to the people who run Reddit.

[–] lemdoeswhatreddont@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Yup, I'd agree. But again our politics shouldn't need to align, that's not my yardstick at all. It's more the whiplash/volatility between such opposing strong opinions that spooks me.

[–] underisk@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yeah, it's just funny that some people are using that yardstick here and now when it never seemed like the political views of the Reddit admin were a problem until they took away the mobile phone apps.

[–] GarbageShootAlt2@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago

That's true, and the Reddit administrators are ardent neoliberals, but that's just the thing: People don't call things "political" until it's "politics that I disagree with" [or, sometimes, explicitly dealing with the topic of politicians/elections]. The reddit emigrants had no problem with neoliberalism being pushed hard on reddit with zero transparency because they themselves are liberals.

[–] GarbageShootAlt2@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 year ago

Since they didn't really answer your question, I can say that the people complaining are basically the type who are "As Progressive As They Come" who think it's evil and indicative of brainwashing or ulterior motive to speak positively of China, Venezuela, Cuba, etc. They just can't help but immediately jump to buzzwords instead of concretely describing people's positions.