TL;DR: I think we can now confirm that /r/conspiracy's mod team indeed have a right-leaning bias, deleting posts that do not put Trump or Republicans or the right in a favourable light after gain traction, and do not accept any posts that question their moderation policy -- kind of like T_D's moderation policy.
Long Story
It all started when this post about KGB agent that was tied to Trump's files was removed. It hit 10,011 points at /r/all, it was removed after being live for 10 hours, citing "/r/politics brigate".
Not believing that there are actual brigating from /r/politics to /r/conspiracy, I created this post to ask for mods clarification, titled "[Meta] Top post about "KGB chief linked to Trump file found dead" with 10,011 points removed from /r/conspiracy. Why?"
Thread post | Thread comments
I posed these questions to the mods:
- I would like to request the mods of /r/conspiracy to explain the reason and thought process behind the post's removal.
- Did mods receive any reports that contained links of actual posts from /r/politics contained posts that directed users to this specific post, if yes, can you please disclose them through screenshots? We'd like to make sure that there is proof that /r/politics has brigated the sub, other than the views shared on that post echoed the sentiments of the usual /r/politics users.
- I see that there are a couple posts in /r/conspiracy that claimed that /r/politics brigated the sub, but provided no source for the actual posts that led users to the post in question. These posts include this, this and this. Did posts like this play a part in the mods decision to remove the KGB agent post in question?
Is there throughout investigation on the brigating claims?
- Can the mods assure us that all conspiracies, and not just conspiracies that are targeting certain people or group, are allowed for discussion in this sub?
I did not get any answers from the mods for the questions I posed. There were several users who came into the post, some questioning my motives and going through my profile, checking what I have posted before. A user claimed that I posted in /r/politics before, citing that as proof of "users from /r/politics brigated" the original thread, which had more than 1400 comments after it hit /r/all. The fact is I just merely saw the post on /r/all and went to comment like any other Reditor.
The post stayed up for 2 hours before it got deleted. It was at 7 points 26 comments, 56% upvoted, and the reason for deletion was apparently "Thread was brigated".
In my second attempt for clarification, I then made another post titled "A post asking mods for clarification KGB agent post removal also got removed, citing "Thread was brigated", at 7 points, 26 comments. Why?"
Thread post | Thread comments
I added 3 more questions in my second post:
- Is 7 points, 26 comments "brigating"?
- Do mods have proof of "brigating"?
- What is /r/conspiracy mods' definition of "brigating"? I am leaning towards "threads with dissenting opinions that is not pro-Trump", but I may be wrong, I would like the mods of /r/conspiracy to clarify to every user of /r/conspiracy what is their idea of brigating.
One user commented the following paragraph and got upvoted highly, and I have no idea what does he actually mean, I think I may have reading comprehension problems, if anyone can help me out here it'll be great.
Like all good conspiracies posted in this community I prefer the ones that see through politics, they urge us to look behind the curtain. I love the idea of pulling energy from the vacuum. I think tptb tell us little of what they know about the world around us. It makes politics seem so silly for us to argue over. Welcome to our sub, I think you will find this is one of the most genuine communities on Reddit. Remember, move to move past politics when you're ready brother. Bigger truths await us all.
I did not get answers from the mods neither this time. This post only lasted for less than 1 hour, with 14 comments, at 50% upvote/downvote. I did get one response from 1 mod though,
BYEEEE FELCIA!
-- NotPStuLovesCrackk
I got banned immediately after that. Also I don't think he knows how to spell Felicia.
Anyway, nobody answered my question in both posts. When pressed about their pro-Trump bias, /r/conspiracy users became extremely defensive and started to downvote my posts heavily. I may have invaded their safe-space and poked their bubble a bit, and they did not like it.
I also think that their definition of "brigating", as I suspected, simply means that "people that is not pro-Trump/non-conservative commenting on their posts", it is not true "brigating" in our conventional sense of the word. So don't take their "brigating" claims seriously.
ここには何もないようです