In my time lurking the sub, and more frequently participating in it, there have been some truly memorable moments and great learning experiences. The sub really opened my eyes and helped me understand the world in greater detail. Especially politics.

That's why I'm sad to say, I'm out. This is not about the users or the content of the sub, even though at times it gets boring or exhausting with all the politics and political agenda pushing shills, useless low effort one liners, and lack of discussion. The sub helped get me out of my shill induced gag order (-500 karma) which prevented me from expressing an apparently incredibly dangerous opinion. Look at me now mom, triple digit karma! The story there is that /r/conspiracy took me in as a welcome member when I ran into some blatant Monstanto shills for the first time in another sub and they brigaded me with down votes into the negative so I couldn't post anymore and was auto-banned from most subs. Those users were incredibly disingenuous and outright nasty towards others. I stuck up for those being attacked and took the hit for it. I'd like to say I'm part of the reason they've lightened up now. Many subs have been informed of their tactics for the better, thanks to me and the users before me who seeded the knowledge here on Reddit.

I will get to my reasons for leaving /r/conspiracy below, but let me share one my ideals first. Be a rebel. Go against the grain. Grow your own food. If you see that lone ranger firing shots from the trees while everyone else is marching straight for him in an open field, pitchforks in hand, give the guy a listen. At least give him some water, that day may be his last. Maybe he's right about a thing or two. Maybe he's protecting something sacred to him. Maybe that flock of people are a bunch of fools on the payroll of an oppressive system.

There is a massive cyber war going on, and you're part of it. There are corporate and government reputation management firms, there are astroturfing campaigns, there are intelligence psyops, there are stealth advertisements, there are shills everywhere. As crazy as it first sounds, it's all meant for you - to control your opinions. Unfortunately, that means a large portion of the shills are just useful idiots parroting something they heard. These shills for lack of a better word have worked their way into various sub's mod teams, and they have even gotten their tentacles into the Reddit administration. Hell, Reddit itself is a corporate news agency with fairly run of the mill corporate interests, money making schemes, and executives with agendas. It's a fun environment for me to be in, and to figure out who's who. I like to sniff out the liars. You can choose to drink up that kool aid, or figure out who's pulling the strings. But you should never allow yourself to be pushed around while being unable to push back a little. Don't get trapped in a corner by stupid demands. If someone wants to make you a docile creature who could never move a mountain, show some muscle they ought to be afraid of.

/r/conspiracy was my favorite sub because the users were far more tolerant of alternative perspectives and critical thinking than places such as /r/politics and /r/worldnews. I had always planned to stick to the sub's rules and do no harm to the genuine users there, and avoid the mod team when possible. I can honestly say I've only been abrasive at rare times when I recognize users are not being genuine in their discussion, or when I'm mistaken about a user, but it's nothing that really crosses the line for the average internet forum, or average subreddit even. You can't really get a full picture on an anonymous forum. In this environment people need thicker skin.

I'm giving a shout out to some of the members who made that subreddit great, there are many who have come and gone, some of which I can't currently recall, but here they are in no specific order - Balthanos (level headed), lucycohen (determined), Putin_loves_cats (love those token comments in half the posts, nostalgic), Rockran (yes you!), KiwiBattlerNZ (love thy enemy), moose (masterful poster), Go1dfish (insightful programmer guy), 911bodysnatchers322 (this mind goes deep), CelineHagbard (something about you I can't pin down), kebutankie (fight all the shills! programmed a shill detector bot), Bernie4Ever, Orangutan, George_Tenet (taught me about limited hangouts), elemenop, zyklorpthehuman, BrotherSpartacus ("Northrop Grumman did it"...hilarious), TeslasMuse, AntiHasbaraUnit (woke me up to the middle east situation), Tito333, ba55fr33k, cannibaloxfords, Amos_Quito, NinjaKick666, magnora7.

You guys are great. You guys are friendly. You guys are hard working. You guys made the sub fun.

---

Falling out

First off, keep in mind this is not an attack on the mods or attempt to stage a coup / exodus.

I had seen and heard several unfair practices by the mods in my time being there, but I guess I was able to look the other way most the time as they weren't giving me trouble for expressing my own opinions. It almost felt empowering. That was never an issue until today, when Flytape banned me for some petty Rule 4 breaking. Yes that's one of the severely dumb blanket rules that can be interpreted in whatever fashion someone desires. Whether you're a seething racist bigot who stalks people around different subs, or you're responding to someone's assholery with equal assholery, it's the same rule that often leads to the same punishment, if they wish.

From what I've heard lately, the moderators are allowing some rampant Trump shilling to take place right now, and they seem to be against the pro-Hillary / anti-Trump content. Why? They have gone full partisan, like our friends over at WikiLeaks in my opinion. I don't know what to think...maybe they were always partisan and I just never noticed. It's unhealthy for the sub's users who want to bring discussion / awareness to important topics or theories in general that the MSM won't cover. You can't do that through a warped lens.

Time and time again I had heard the sub was intolerant to anti-Trump users / content, sometimes banning users for petty offenses. I never really believed that to be the case, aside from the obvious CTR trolling, but over the last two days I have shared a few pieces of content that puts CIA / WikiLeaks / Trump in question when I hit upon the research and interest. Just simple articles and theories. Both times Flytape and another user showed up to down play the post or call me paranoid. I can handle that no big deal, as I so elegantly did, but slapping me with Rule 4...well you're damn right Flytape, this meant war. Flytape responding to my modmail asking for more info about the decision, right after banning me, is another "in your face" show of power. Having mr_dong return my message instead of Sabremesh or axolotl_peyotl like I asked for, is once again throwing around power and ignorance. Maybe the mods I requested didn't want to comment, I wouldn't know. Flytape rarely ever comments in threads, but felt the need to do so two times in the last two days. Did something trigger a nerve I wonder? I don't want an appeal from him or mr_dong, they should know where to shove it. Hope we are clear on that finally.

The thing is, the sub is not really their place (the mods) to dictate who should be there or how users should act. It's our place. We make it what it is every day, while they sit atop the high horse and expel anyone they don't like occasionally, without making much of an insightful contribution towards the sub's users or content, or really asking for opinions from the userbase. On the contrast, I am a daily contributor. They are afraid to banter among us, to talk and show color, to feel humility when wrong, because then we might realize a couple of morons are running the show from a manipulative vantage point.

When you jump into the propaganda to play devil's advocate, attacks will come at you from all sides (let's not speculate what's possible with mods and their alt accounts, we've seen it before with BP0 and jcm), then when you try to defend yourself as any self-respecting lad would, they throw salt on the wound. Rule 4 to demoralize you some more. When something appears unkosher, they want to push you into a corner with the rules and expect you not to fight back for what you believe in. I believe in expressing myself freely as long as I'm not ruining someone's day. They'd rather ban me than reel me back in as a friend, obviously. Maybe it's psychological conditioning. You should question their behavior because it's not right for mods of a conspiracy sub, where some F bombs and accusations are bound to fly, to be making such childish decisions. Especially over the minuscule comments I made.

Some of the mods of /r/conspiracy have no lasting rapport with the long time members (and ex-members) of /r/conspiracy. They've had plenty of chances, I don't get it. There has been an ongoing consensus that Flytape is corrupt, yet I've still maintained my peace with all of the mods and given him benefit of the doubt. That is until now, when that sad son of a bitch wanted to express his control over me for something petty as "what's your favorite kool aid flavor" and "time for recess kiddos". That is not abusive language at all, especially when you're being called paranoid and ignorant first, by an army of useless idiots no less, idiots you have never seen in the sub before. You know what's abusive? Making official bird mask podcasts without approval of the other team members, while embarassing the userbase.

Thread where I said "time for recess kiddos" and got banned:

https://np.reddit.com/r/conspiracy/comments/5zbobk/julian_assange_clinton_stated_privately_this/dex4vyv/

Thread where I said "what's your favorite kool aid flavor":

https://np.reddit.com/r/conspiracy/comments/5z7fyd/wikileaks_has_officially_lost_the_moral_high/

Keep in mind, Flytape did not make a request for me to shape up, he made a threatening demand. "Stop abusing people. This is your last warning." See if you can spot the totalitarian condescending asshole in this guy:

http://imgur.com/t0RiiPh

http://imgur.com/GZvadFv

http://imgur.com/3MvYf2G

http://imgur.com/70ADCOB

http://imgur.com/VSohSTP

I should be sharing more stuff to back up my reasons for leaving, but my time is short now that it's been spent. Something is terribly wrong with that sub and it probably won't get fixed with the current mods. No wonder several mods quit recently and I don't see many of the regulars there anymore. I'm sure some will agree with me and some won't. It's been fun. In hindsight, this has been an awakening moment. Back to lurking I go; you won't hear from me anymore in /r/conspiracy because I've been properly muted from the one place that gave me my voice back.

ragecry over and out