Much appreciation to /v/conspiracy and voat in general for keeping this place protected from the insanity

Hopefully some folks from /r/conspiracy will pass on this message.

I'm sorry I can't be there right now!! Here's why: I received a 7-day ban from reddit on Monday, the day before the election. I received no warning or explanation for my ban, and it's my first in over a decade of using reddit.

Recently the reddit admins included the news aggregate Zero Hedge on their site-wide domain ban. I've been an avid ZH poster on reddit for a decade, and I found this decision on the eve of a hotly anticipated US election very questionable, to say the least. Because it was no longer possible to submit ZH articles directly, I opted to submit an archive.org link of a ZH article. I made sure the article contained no TOS violations.

I had seen many other instances of archive.org being used in this fashion for banned urls, with no repercussions from reddit inc., so I naturally assumed this method was condoned (especially if the archived link contains no TOS violations). Despite this, I received no warning before I was summarily banned for a week. After watching events unfold over the last few days, I have no doubt the ban was coordinated in time for the election.

It's clear we need to seriously consider reddit alternatives. My ban is up on Monday and I will immediate begin discussion with the /r/conspiracy mod team. Ironically, my last mod mail message to them was, "guys, I think we need a contingency plan."

To those wondering where I've been, thanks for your concern, it really means a lot to me! The mod team here works really hard, and we all have our roles. One of my main roles is to combat the onslaught of trolls and shills that wish to merely mock, deflect and prevent real unity and progress.

Again, we all have our roles so this is not a slight on /r/conspiracy mod team, but it's been very revealing how my presence in combating this behavior has been severely missed during the last several days...the comment sections and incessant onslaught of abuse against our community is out of control. The writing was on the wall with the swarm before the election, but it's endemic now.

It's quite clear that this has become far more than a mere partisan distraction, and that we're facing the battle for freedom of our time.

I feel very passionately about the /r/conspiracy community, and no matter what it will live on. The best part is, we have retained our curiosity, one of mankind's most precious virtues. My ban is up on Monday, so I'll see you in two days!"