As always, I think the central thing to note here is that the mods understood, above all, the need of those facing marginalisation and oppression in broad strokes. There was never going to be an answer to the fiasco that resulted in shafting them. And the mods showed, in the face of some pretty stark adversity, that they were not going to buckle and betray those needs.

Furthermore, as a socialist sub explicitly for socialists it is all of our responsibility to always mitigate how we speak to be as inclusive as possible. It is our responsibility to oppose bourgeois ideology, whether it manifests in actions or words. We do this because we must provide the foundations for the oppressed to self-empower. We must not alienate or disparage them and pretend we represent their interests - that would be talking out of both sides of our mouths.

We can hold a high standard among ourselves for how we behave. This is socialist discipline 101.

Some people have said that "many" subscribers have taken issue lately. Those people are not wrong. But to suggest that "many" are in any way a majority, or in any way more entitled than the literal tens of thousands of other subscribers is ludicrous. And the mouth-frothing shouting about the issue did not aid those people in any fashion. Rather it only exposed them.

I've said it before elsewhere: The conversation was most disappointing because with those who took issue, there was not one iota of discussion about how to address ableism, and how to ensure that we, as a community, change for the better. There was only ever a rabid "me, me, me, don't tell me what to do" going on. And it was disgusting. Even the more placating and palatable threads and comments oozed that utterly disgraceful lack of concern for anything other than their "free speech."

I've also said it before, recently, principled "free speech" is both hypocritical and impossible when you are also fighting oppression. That is simply the exploitative, devastating and barbaric world we live in. Free speech achieves nought but victories for reactionaries and others who do not intend on challenging capitalism. If you have any illusions about whether socialists would allow capitalists the floor, or fascists the floor, or racists the floor, or any of the others on the list, to speak freely, it's best that you squash them now. Socialists are not, and never have been, about that. We do not, across most tendencies, mar our politics with that nonsense. We are in the business of hard truths, not playing at intellectual supremacy.

It can be a hard reality to face up to, that the way you speak can affect people in a way that propagates their isolation, marginalisation, and the social aspects of their oppression. No one wants to be told that they have done that. But when you are, it is not the time to dig heels in and defend your honour. It's a time to be humble, patient, and if you are so bothered, discuss it with enthusiasm to both understand and improve. This is not the first time we on the left have had these hard lessons. It happened with sexism, racism, homophobia, transphobia, and more. Ableism is as important to recognise and as serious as any other.

As for those people who have migrated away, I'm going to say good riddance.