and then abruptly deleted first thing in the morning by a different moderator who has a 1-month old account...

You're not really starting this off on the right foot, are you? You will not achieve anything with passive aggressive ad hominem allegations. If you want to be constructive, maybe take a look at my track record as a moderator instead of the age of my account (which, by the way, you have no way knowing if it's an alt). I habitually try being transparent and objective about the mod team's activity. It costs me extra effort, but I think it's the right thing to do, and I will do it now as well.

First of all, we as mods are here to enforce rules, with as little subjective judgment as possible. According to the current rules that are in effect right now, your submission was rightfully deleted, and mods who wouldn't remove it were the ones making a mistake. It is our responsibility toward the community of the /v/pizzagate sub (notice how I'm not saying "the entire Pizzagate community") to enforce the rules that have been vetted and accepted by the same community.

Now, do I personally agree that raising awareness is critical, and we absolutely need to reach a critical mass in order to achieve anything? Yes, I do. But I, as a member of the community, don't get to overrule my responsibilities as a member of the mod team. You've very rightly submitted this attempt at a rule change to be discussed outside of the main, investigative sub, and I would like to address it.

My main concern with allowing activism-related submissions on /v/pizzagate is the exact same as with any content that is currently not allowed: it is a loophole that can be exploited to dilute the sub, and bury actual important information. And not only that, but in this very special case, we're talking about events that our users will physically show up for, potentially risking their safety. Personally, the only way I see activism events being legally posted going forward is by them being "sourced". What do I mean by that?

I would like to see activism events fully planned out, date specified, location specified, details organized, participant safety considered, with some sort of proof that this all has been accounted for and the event is indeed happening (what this proof could be is up for discussion, but it is critically important in order to protect our users). But – and here's where the magic happens – the fact of an organized event like that is already a sourced submission that is directly related to Pizzagate, and as such, cannot and will not be removed even under current submission rules (unless other aspects of the post are rule-violating).

On the other hand, preliminary discussions about possible activism events are, again, a hotbed for hijacking strategies and possibly even honeypots that would endanger our users, and in that light I see no possibility of allowing this kind of content on the main sub in the future. Activists should be activists, and be ready to make a plan in advance and take responsibility for it, just the way we all expect researchers to be researchers, and go out on a limb often risking their own lives to bring some new information bits home. I don't think this is a farfetched expectation at all.

As for the actual organizing of these events: I think that should take place, much like research, behind closed doors. Fire up an encrypted Riot channel, or at least use our public one to get started with a draft. Set up a small working group to work out the details. Remember, what you share with us, you share with them, too. When you're confident about the plan, submit it with proof to /v/pizzagate.

So, accordingly, I think the actual subject of this discussion should be:

What constitutes satisfactory proof for an actual activism event?

(Bear in mind that I'm one mod, and my opinion doesn't necessarily represent that of the entire mod team. I encourage other mods and members of the community to weigh in. @Crensch @Millennial_Falcon @Phobos_Mothership @gopluckyourself @Vindicator)