Update: they have ascertained that Parabola was Wisconcom lmao. In that light, if correct, it’s more of a wrecker doing what he does than the project failing. We still don’t have a lot of info though. They’ve written about it here: https://wiki.leftypol.org/wiki/Leftypedia:Community_hub
Earlier today, the new rendition of Leftypedia finally imploded. Going off the block list, it’s a real mess.
Leftypedia was brought back from its last incarnation in early 2023. If you remember (or not), it had issues with Wisconcom then who latched onto it. The problem is because they had no active admins and couldn’t find them, they couldn’t ban him indefinitely.
Eventually, they did find new admins who kicked the project back into gear, or at least they tried to.
Earlier today though, it seems there has been a split and one of the admins (Parabola) basically banned all the others as well as several other users. Where it gets weird is that another admin (Aussig) then banned Parabola, but didn’t undo the bans Parabola issued. Aussig also banned me and Forte’s account, which we used back when Wisconcom was on there, for “ideological deviations”, but Aussig calls themselves a Marxist-Leninist on their user page.
From what I understand there was a split between the different tendencies. So anyway that’s how the “left unity” wiki is going lol sorry but this is funny.
Wisconcom
This guy again, or rather still?
I wonder why he stopped posting to his Substack; maybe to focus on wrecking other people’s sites.
Edit to add that it looks like he’s active on Blogger: https://wisconsincommunist.blogspot.com/
first article, near the top I made the mistake to read this shit
It is important to note that the Soviet Union and Eastern bloc, with the exception of Albania, beyond the year 1956 will not be accounted for, as that period contained the abandonment of the construction of Socialism, de-Stalinization, and other economic, political, and ideological deviations.
(https://wisconcom.substack.com/p/totalitarianism-truth-or-propaganda)
All I can say is
lets just ignore one of the most sucsesfull era of soviet communism (space, showing american hegemony can be challenged, eliminating the gender pay gap, rent being 2-3% of a workers wage etc)
Successful socialism is revisionist.
Ah, sounds like he just went back to doing what he loves…
The man, the legend, the running gag of Lemmygrad, Wisconcom.
I added an update, it seems Parabola was a Wisconcom alt – at least that’s what the leftypedia staff believes. I tried to warn them over a year ago about him but they didn’t seem to care, so to be honest I don’t really feel bad. But this is of course only my personal impression.
This however also shows two things:
- Wisconcom has made it clear his problem is not with ProleWiki specifically, he just has a weird fixation on hoxhaism, and has shown himself to be a wrecker to marxism and an enemy of marxists once and for all,
- He didn’t go away and will likely never go away, he just pivoted from ProleWiki and Lemmygrad to Leftypedia. We can never let our guard down around him, not as long as “Wisconcom” exists.
The specter of Wisconscom haunts the lemmyverse.
Another win for the policy of unity among Marxists, not among liberals, opportunists, and distorters of Marxism (yes that includes especially ultras).
So anyway that’s how the “left unity” wiki is going lol sorry but this is funny.
I hate to say this but I don’t know what any of this is. I tried reading this but I am still clueless. Sorry.
The admins and mods of a wiki type website basically all got into pointless arguments and everyone tried to ban everyone else from the website, leading to the website being basically useless as there is no one around to edit it anymore.
The thermonuclear Hoxhaist returns
Scooby Doo but the villain under the mask is always Wisconsicom
I don’t follow this sort of drama and i am perfectly happy that way. But when I hear about this sort of stuff i do wonder how it is that i have never heard of these sorts of problems in or around Lemmygrad. It’s not as if we all agree on everything, i know there are definitely some ideological as well as tactical disagreements now and then, but for some reason it never devolves into this kind of sectarian drama.
i think its mainly dogmatism contrasted to pragmatism.
I think it is many factors:
- The actually existing project(s) that a community latches onto affect the community culture. Imagine us trying to be sectarian with each other when our supported factions are constantly making the news for making alliances between completely opposed ideologies. This also affects the liberals, which is why even they aren’t too sectarian.
- Any real project will be full of imperfections, and no faction will appeal to you 100%. If you can already tolerate this for the projects that actually impact the world, you can tolerate it for the random internet users.
- Ultras and Anarchists are united/defined mostly on the basis of hating AES and revisionists. This does not build any strong community unity, or even sensible theory. Instead, it builds the mentality of accusing the other members of being too much like their boogeymen.
I’ve noticed that, too. I think it’s thanks to the mods and us having an actual line, like a direction that is consistent, coherent and adjusts itself as events unfold. Because we’re not dogmatic. What is that line? What Comrade, darkcalling mentioned down here, the unity of Marxists. We’re clear on what we think, and new people either come in already clearheaded or they slowly see what we’re like, and join in. We have good people, and I mean that. I come here to learn and laugh everyday. I guess we’re just that cool, that we don’t start beefs with each other or with our Hexbear friends.
There are no ultras or anarchists (that I know of) who are regulars on grad and in my xp that umbrella is the most drama-prone
Look at my leftists dawg we ain’t ever getting communism
No, not with “leftists” we’re not.
Leftypedia never worked because the ideological disagreements are so big that it’s only possible to make contradictory articles. That’s why I went away from the project but yknow might as well leave with a boom
Strictly speaking, the most common sentiment in GZD and HB is highly revisionist. I don’t really mind since it’s still progressive and splitting over that would be absurd, but their claim of deviation makes enough sense to be comprehended if they’re a hardliner in the vein of either Mao or Hoxha.
oh we are revisionists and that is precisely the point of Marxism. dialectical materialism is about development and change.
That’s not the typical context in which the term “revisionist” is used, though. Usually it’s used to claim that someone is diverging from the foundations of Marxism itself- that they are betraying core principles such as the dictatorship of the proletariat, the integrity of the one-party system and/or the revolution, class struggle, etc…
As such, I think it’s only good practice to distance ourselves from the term, despite what “revision” means in the English language. It’s enough simply to say- we’re not dogmatists.
Agreed. To say ‘we are revisionists because we revise’ is ultimately a semantic gotcha which ignores the history and context of an established term. Of course we revise, how else would we add all these other names onto “Marxism-” in the first place!
eh to each their own, i’ve always found it as a silly word thrown around by purity fetishists so it doesn’t particularly offend me.
Are quips like this really what it has come to?
Revisionism in the Marxist context explicitly and precisely means modifications to theory that make Marxism compatible with liberalism. The Kruschevites were revisionist, but Lenin and Stalin were not. Both of the latter developed Marxist theory but we’re not revisionist. Mao also developed Marxist theory but was not revisionist.
Looks like the site staff have banned Aussig and made an update post: https://wiki.leftypol.org/wiki/Leftypedia:Community_hub
edit: And disavowed the Discord server.
I had a conversation with one of the members of the Leftypedia discord server before my ban yesterday (whom I will not reveal the identity of), and they stated that Parabola has stepped down as administrator.
I thought there would’ve been more chaos at the discord server, surprisingly it was the opposite. It seems everything happened at either the editor’s side or at the admin’s side.
What is clear is that Aussig states through paraphrasing their words that:
They said they don’t want Leftypedia to be for all Leftist peoples.
In other words, Aussig has directly stated that leftypedia does not want to be leftypedia. They have banned all “revisionist” tendencies including 3 prolewiki accounts that only existed to tackle the issue with Wisconcom existing on the server.
Leftypedia has become a failed experiment it seems. The split between the Hoxhaites and Maoists (Aussig was a maoist when she entered the server* and I know it from my days in that discord server) is real. I’m not surprised at the very least. Parabola kept shitting on anarchists, even banned an anarcho-egoist (or minarchist, doesn’t matter) because they were reactionary and espoused anti-marxist views.
In the short amount of time I’ve been on that server (which is a month I think, a few days after the server’s creation) it was clear that this server would break down. It’s a funny coincidence that breakdown happened the day after I was banned for being “hostile”.
EDIT: Made corrections, see points marked by a *.
I made an account just to reply to the “shining path Maoist” bs but it’s already gone
For what its worth, the leftypedia staff have just removed the discord server from their site, as being “no longer affiliated with Leftypedia users”. I’m not sure what to make of that since I stay away from discord like plague.
This is because Parabola (Or Wisconcom perhaps) originally introduced the idea of a leftypedia discord server in the matrix server, and so Parabola was the official owner. That means that Parabola has all official access to the discord server since he is at the top.
In my month staying in there, it is a gold mine of bullshit, I have amassed a collection of screenshots which clearly show that leftypedia is a place where left unity cannot happen.
Also, you have posted that link about Harrystein linking it to Wisconcom. I think Parabola is actually Wisconcom, given he made sock puppet accounts after his ban, and I’m one of the few people who can judge his tone and voice in voice chats since I heard it before when I was a part of the study group.
Since Aussig and Parabola are banned, I doubt Leftypedia would stand up again.
Since Aussig and Parabola are banned, I doubt Leftypedia would stand up again.
Aussig, apart from whatever they did on the discord, was pretty irrelevant to the actual wiki. Account created April 30, made a dozen edits, then for whatever reason RedParabola promoted them. I don’t know if they’re a sockpuppet, or friends or negotiated something on discord, whatever, but they’re a “literally who?” before today.
As for Parabola, they made a bunch of contributions but the wiki won’t be much different without them, just a bit slower. It’s not like they were critical to the site. Like you and that admin said, probably Wisconcom anyway.
In my month staying in there, it is a gold mine of bullshit
I believe that. An archivism project I was in a while back was victim to petty discord drama causing two different coups and ending up getting the whole thing nuked. I can’t help but see it as a drama site for any project-based chat, attracting people who just want to climb to the top and become lords of tiny fiefs.
I’m neither of the stated. I was promoted first as the result of elections held by leftypedia and then as part of my plan to go out with a boom. Idk what parabola’s plan was for whatever he was doing but he was helpful lmao
Aussig is irrelevant in general, but her contributions had lead to the Prolewiki accounts being banned. She just took advantage of the vandalism and used it for her own purpose. I can personally confirm that Aussig is not a sock puppet account, especially given she was participating in the discord server not in the same way as Parabola (Wisconcom). She was a part of the scandal but for different reasons.
I think Parabola made a larger dent into Leftypedia that will take harder to scrub off compared to Prolewiki. Especially given at the rate the articles are being changed (Literally productivity has been cut in half since Parabola is gone, only leaving Harrystein to edit the wiki), we won’t see Leftypedia recovered.
The reputational damage is a good point, its extent is kind of lost on me as I’m not very involved in the wiki circles but obviously this is gonna hurt it and isn’t easy to scrub off as the vandal banned ProleWiki users like you, Forte and OP, doing so as a supposed authority of Leftypedia.
I think they’ll recover from the reputation damage. I hope they learn from this that you can’t trust just anyone and you have to be careful about who you let in. They seem to have responded rapidly too and the vandalism and blocks have been undone. I hope now they can reorganize, because imo this is really what they were missing, especially for a project that wants to allow all/most leftist currents.
It was also unclear, in my opinion again, that Parabola was only an admin of the project since yesterday. From how active they were, you wouldn’t have thought so. This is why I think they need to first develop organizational methods, to be more effective down the line.
What sense of “Maoist” do you mean here? Like Shining Path or just anti-Deng?
Aussig supports the Shining Path. But I don’t think the distinction matters much in this case. She claimed to be a maoist in the discord server.
Aussig supports the Shining Path.
Disgusting, they should talk to socialists alive in Peru so they can slap the shit out of them for being so guilable.
The in-fighting leftists of the west are a deeply unserious people.
