Dear /r/SandersForPresident and reddit at large,

As many of you know, on Saturday, August 8th, an event at which Bernie Sanders was to speak was disrupted by activists and, as a result, a great deal of drama has occurred on our subreddit and in other communities across the web. We would like to address some of this activity, as it reflects poorly upon both our community, on Bernie Sanders, on and his campaign.

First of all, we would like to address an issue affecting several subreddits: brigading. Starting last night, our subreddit (as well as many others) was attacked by brigadiers. We do not know where these attacks came from. We do not know why they happened. But, they came in droves, and they brought with them an amount of racism, hate, and toxicity that made my skin crawl. Some attacked the pro-Sanders crowd; some attacked activists, including those from yesterday; and some simply attacked anyone and anything they could get their typing-fingers on. So. In light of all that, we want to be perfectly clear:

We condemn brigading of all kinds.

Especially kinds that originate from our ranks. We don't care if you don't like what some other people did. You need to talk about it in a mature manner without any harrassment. Which brings me to my next point...

We condemn harassment of all kinds.

That is what we are all about here: providing our readers with a place to talk about the issues central to the campaign, and to talk about those issues in an open, transparent, and welcoming environment. If caught, those that brigaded our subreddit and other subreddits, and that harassed the users of reddit will be subjected to permanent bans. We will not entertain requests to reverse these bans, and we will lodge complaints with the Reddit Admins, who are already conducting their own investigation into the brigade. We have also been working with other subreddits over the last 24 hours to identify these users and deal with them accordingly. This condemnation of harassment is not limited to the walls of this sub. There exist spaces where people are ferociously harassing people and flooding online communities like r/all with negative energy and vitriol about yesterday's disruption. Many of them have never interacted with this community in an identifiable matter. We cannot control the actions of others, but we wish to make it known that we do not condone them.

Additionally, we have seen more racism than we would wish to see. And by that, we mean any racism at all. Though it needn't ever be said...

We condemn racism of all kinds.

We have always had zero tolerance for racism on our subreddit, but consider this an official warning for everyone. If you submit racist rhetoric, you will be banned. We understand some of you may get upset, irritated, even confused by this decision. However, we need to make sure we channel our feelings in constructive, positive, and mature ways, not ones that are demeaning and destructive. It may seem like a simple line or two won't do much, but it will. Media outlets, passerbys, and even long-time members may see this and become disillusioned and frustrated with our community. It could even turn them off of Bernie Sanders altogether! "Why would I vote for someone with these kinds of supporters?" one may ask. Please consider that question before speaking. We need to make sure we think things out and maintain a constructive dialog going forward.

To put it simply: What Would Bernie Do?

For the most part, the SandersForPresident community has been respectful, and we personally commend those of you who have stayed so positive in trying times. We hope you keep up the positivity, good work, and thank you for participating.

#WeStandTogether,

The Mods

P.S - For further reading on the Seattle Protests, please visit our two Megathreads. Here and here. And don't forget about our Seattle and Portland rally megathreads! We had turnouts of 15k and 28k respectively, and L.A. will be even bigger!