Anti-censorship

was trying to post something to r/GME and had used a page on the DRSGME.org website as a source.

Specifically, it was the 2023 stockholder list viewing page that I had wanted to use a source because it is a good source. It is pretty much the only source of data that GME shareholders have that provide numbers about DRS versus DSPP. An imperfect, out-of-date set of data, sure, but it's all we've got.

Turns out, r/GME will not allow any linking to DRSGME.org.

Why would that be?

A free information website built by GME shareholders for other GME shareholders and anyone else, is not permitted in the r/GME subreddit. Huh?

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.whynotdrs.org/post/1455429

when superstonk isn't a problem, Reddit is.

Apparently, with no warning or justification, prominent superstonk poster of many years was spontaneously banned after having written this post titled: We’re Not In MOASS Territory (yet)

On December 22, 2023, our very own @jackofspades123 made a post on superstonk titled Plan is not DRS, which was mostly based on this original post by @Chives.

This is notable because superstonk has a history of removing posts like this, posts that talk about the distinction between plan (not DRS) and DRS.

I don't know how superstonk mods decide to remove or not remove a post, but they let this one stay up.

Regardless of prior actions and behavior up to this point by superstonk mods, this is a positive development. This is a major victory for the truth, in the ongoing war of competing narratives.

The plan versus DRS narrative competition is ongoing. For a long while, it was a topic that was heavily suppressed and deliberately confused in superstonk.

Eventually, this issue played a significant role in the banning of the DRSyourGME subreddit.

It is interesting to me that this issue in particular is one that ultimately became so controversial and disputed, and in particular the position held by the superstonk mods.

Regardless, somehow, some way, this is a post that was able to exist in superstonk at this time, which is an interesting development in the ongoing plan versus DRS narrative fight.

Kudos to jackofspades123! 🍻

Although I take the article's claims around intentionally propping up the DDoS landscape with a heavy grain of salt, the fact remains that anti-DDoS services can be critical for sites on the modern-day internet, and that our reliance on them is a weakness which certainly has been exploited before and will be exploited again to silence disfavored speech.

Note: we do use CloudFlare for our lemmy as well!

https://wallstreetonparade.com/

This is not new information, apparently it has been this way for quite a long time. It isn't clear exactly when this policy was implemented by Reddit.

This recent comment provides some information about this.

If for example you go on Reddit and try to post a link to wallstreetonparade.com, Reddit will give you a message that says:

Reddit doesn't allow links from wallstreetonparade.com: this domain was banned for shilling/vote cheating

whatever the fuck that means. Shilling/vote cheating? Okay Reddit.

I am sure this is honest and accurate and fair and was done with good intentions.

Surely there are no parties out there that are benefiting from the fact that a credible critic of Wall Street corruption is censored on a major social media platform.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/8612517

The offending comment…

Main discussion is already happening at the linked post, but wanted to copy over to !anticensorship@lemmy.whynotdrs.org censorship for relevance. Also this is a good tweet to reference too https://twitter.com/beyond_mythos/status/1702224228236288182

On Friday, October 27 2023, Pulte goes in to a GameStop store to do some "damage."

This was posted in at least 2 subreddits, notably theppshow and superstonk.

The interesting part, to me at least, is once again the different kind of reception that content like this receives in various subreddits, not so different than the time that @GameStop tweeted butterflies.

Pulte:

• is a GME shareholder and has repeatedly demonstrated support for GameStop and the GME community.
• supports DRS and has DRS'd at least some of his shares of GME.
• has made it publicly known on more than one occasion that he shares a pair of well-known activist attorneys with Ryan Cohen
• is one of the few individuals that RC repeatedly Likes on X/Twitter.
• is in a GameStop store, for whatever reason, and makes this hype video.

Superstonk mods didn't like this. The post was removed from Superstonk for violation of Rule 2, that posts in that subreddit must be relevant to GME.

"Posts should further contribute to the shareholders' discussion around GME. We appreciate Pulte likes the stock, but so do so many other wonderful stockholders. Let's not narrow our circle of celebration by focusing on just one person 🙏"

Superstonk mods clearly demonstrate that their definition of "relevant to GME" is ambiguous and always shifting. "Relevant to GME" is whatever they want at any particular moment.

The community clearly felt it was worth posting and discussing. How was this not related to GME? Why not just leave the post up? What was the actual problem that mods had with this post? Why would they go out of their way to make sure a post like this gets removed?

I believe that the reason that Pulte in a GameStop store was something that was celebrated in the pp show subreddit and community is the very reason that superstonk mods removed it from their subreddit.

At some point along the line, among competing narratives, superstonk mods decided that they don't like the pp show community, and since Pulte has been giving that community a bunch of attention, he is guilty by association.

I think that this observation is worth consideration.

Look even at the comments in that superstonk thread. Look at all of the hostility and vitriol towards Pulte, a GME shareholder and supporter. The comments kind of give the narrative away, they reveal the narrative that is being pushed, and that narrative is clearly that Pulte is bad because it is already a foregone conclusion that the pp show community is nothing but grifters without any merit.

Superstonk mods are in harmony with this narrative, and they duly removed this GameStop-related Pulte post.

"Let's not narrow our circle of celebration by focusing on just one person" actually means: "Stop focusing on Pulte, because we the almighty mods have decided that we do not like him here."

To me the funny part is that Pulte never even held any shares of BBBY/BBBYQ, yet does holds GME and supports GameStop and makes it clear that he is a big fan of Ryan Cohen, and yet you've got people trying very hard to push that narrative that Pulte is somehow complicit in perpetrating a grift.

I know that everyone here already knows about this kind of nonsense that happens from the superstonk mods and that another post like this isn't really required to prove that point. I for one am kind of sick of even talking about it at all. But I believe it is important, for the purpose of having an accurate historical record, to keep tabs on these obvious demonstrations of bias and censorship, so that as narratives continue to evolve, we can look back at these receipts and see clearly the various ways in which worthwhile information was censored and contained by a group of unaccountable mods that didn't want the community to know about it.

Ryan Cohen is the executive chairman of GameStop and is also obviously somewhat of a celebrity among GME (and also BBBYQ) investors.

In the before times, it went without saying that anything at all that RC said or did or something that he was mentioned in, was relevant to the interests of GME investors on Superstonk and in other communities, and therefore had merit to be posted in the subreddit.

Reasonably you would think, therefore, that any tweet, or any "like" on Twitter / X that RC does is something that is relevant to GME investors on superstonk and merits being posted there and merits being discussed by those that want to discuss it.

Superstonk mods clearly don't see things this way. They have a long list of rules to choose from that allow them to remove a variety of content that they don't like for some reason.

A ton of content is posted on superstonk every day that is not explicitly related to GameStop. But their rule 2 says that "Posts & Comments: Must be relevant to GME", and this rule is used in any instance where something is not relevant to GME and the mods want to get rid of it. If there is something that is not related to GME, e.g. Evergrande, or many other subjects, the content typically does not get removed.

But if the content in any way shape or form related to BBBY, suddenly it is naughty and gets removed.

RC recently liked a generic tweet that Pulte made. RC, the executive chairman of GameStop "liked" something on Twitter. This is relevant to the interests of GME investors on superstonk and elsewhere.

But the post was removed by the mods for breaking rule 2: not related to GME. The online activity of the executive chairman of GameStop is not relevant to GME.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/16q03pr/why_would_ryan_cohen_like_pultes_latest_tweet_if/

Another post was made, this time it wasn't removed, but it was locked.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/16q9imu/rcs_latest_like/

The post was locked because, apparently, "some of the commenters decided to break Rules 1, 3, 5 and 8."

"This post has been identified as being brigaded from outside of this subreddit and actions have been taken where needed."

"This post is locked to prevent further "shilling" of other stocks, potential brigading of other subs due to attempts to redirect Superstonk traffic and rude/insulting behaviour."

"For those of you that engaged in good faith and are just enjoying the weekend vibe I apologise for this interruption and hope you're having a great time! 💜"

Damn, that's a lot of rule breaking. Good thing the mods were there to put a stop to all that rule breaking and all of that bad faith discussion and shilling of other stocks.

The truth is that the mods have clearly demonstrated through their actions that they don't want anyone talking about anything at all related to BBBY, even if it is Ryan Cohen himself.

There was the time they temporarily censored discussions about WSJ reporting that RC was under investigation by the SEC, for the time that he sold his shares of BBBY. They later backtracked about this one claiming that it was an honest mistake.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/16crwx2/wsj_news_exclusive_sec_probes_ryan_cohens_bed/

There was the time that, in a discussion about RC buying shares of Nordstrom, that a mod on superstonk pinned a post to the top of the discussion stating: "RC's buys are not your buys. Only one stock is the play." "Keep in mind that RC got out of towel leaving a lot of tin-foil theories and why he did and causing plenty of dual investing apes holding the bags of a company that is heading towards bankruptcy at full speed."

There was also that time on September 17 when somebody in superstonk posted a thread called "Consider this. a business structure called Keiretsu"

Post was removed by mods, stating: "Please take your thinly veiled bbbyq chatter elsewhere", removed for rule 2, not related to GME.

What has been demonstrated by the mods of that subreddit is a pattern of persistent censorship of any discussions at all that so much as hints at anything at all about Bed Bath and Beyond, spanning over nearly a year, even if the source of the discussion comes from the executive chairman of GameStop himself.

Many things get posted to superstonk all the time that are not even remotely related to GME, that don't end up getting removed. But if something that GME investors want to discuss gets posted there that happens to be even loosely relate to Bed Bath and Beyond, it gets removed, even if it relates back to GameStop or Ryan Cohen.

If, in the not so distant future, Bed Bath and Beyond emerges successfully from their bankruptcy as many speculate will happen, and transforms into Teddy or anything like that, and if Ryan Cohen is one of the primary individuals behind all of this, then this pattern of censorship will be evidence that superstonk mods have been proactively trying to prevent GME investors in "their" subreddit from giving any attention at all to this particular narrative, and to the benefit of who?

Put another way, if BBBYQ, a stock in the basket of naked shorted stocks, was a vulnerable spot for the short hedge funds, and if Ryan Cohen was planning some action on that company that would cause the stock price to go up, what kind of actions on social media would be beneficial for the short hedge funds that wouldn't want investors purchasing BBBYQ?

Original post: https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/16nxrg3/everyone_should_decide_for_themselves_how_they/

When Plan vs Book conversations come up, the superstonk mods have many rhetorical words they like to use such as "there is no wrong way to hold GME".

And yet, a post like this shows up using similar rhetoric but concluding that shares should be put in pure DRS book, and this post gets removed without any explanation provided as to why. It's as if they don't actually believe the words when they say "there is no wrong way to hold GME".

The reason why there is any significance to this is because it is part of a larger pattern of behaviors from the mod team of superstonk that demonstrates that those mods have an agenda that is not in alignment with the community itself.

with respect to Plan vs Book, superstonk mods:

• In late 2022 and for a while afterwards, in discussions of Plan vs Book, deliberately and persistently inserted their confusing template message into conversations that suggested that there is no real distinction between Plan and Book and in conclusion it's okay and maybe even preferable to hold shares in Plan
• From 2023 onwards heavily censored all discussion of Plan vs Book
• Censored heatlamp DD that was posted on the DRSyourGME subreddit as heavily as possible though they ultimately failed to contain the discussions
• after their failed attempt to censor it, pretended as if the OP of the DD had always been welcome to post it on superstonk and that they were confused as to why that OP wouldn't post it there even after they so graciously invited them to
• Publicly denounced and mischaracterized the DRSGME.org team for their actions regarding the stockholder list
• banned nearly everyonoe from the DRSGME.org team from superstonk
• banned many other individuals that resisted their authority
• to this day continue to advocate for Plan over Book
• to this day continue to accuse anyone that doesn't agree with them of acting in bad faith
• to this day continue to remove posts and otherwise censor and contain the notion that shares should maybe be put in pure DRS book

It is sincerely questionable why those mods consider the Plan vs Book discussion to be so controversial and at the same time to use their authority to favor one side of the argument over the other. They either don't see the damage that their actions have caused to the subreddit, or they see it but they are unconcerned about it. It seems as if Plan vs Book is the hill that they will destroy the subreddit on, if that is what it takes.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/159lxyj/its_time_to_unban_millertime/

u/TheMonkler

https://twitter.com/magsonthemoon/status/1681653137835171840/photo/1

u/alilmagpie

https://www.reddit.com/r/drsgme/comments/15a4shk/plan_is_not_pure_book_mods_suppress_this_sec/

https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/151fuc1/the_sec_confirms_that_plan_is_not_drs/

u/_foo-bar_

Yesterday, within about ten minutes of Bibic-Jr's Superstonk ban, I also received a ban notification from the Superstonk subreddit team.

The linked comment cited in the ban was on the beyond_uranus subreddit, a sub which does not discuss the same topics as Superstonk and a comment which did not mention or link Superstonk. The topic was regarding the sub owner advertising their own Lemmy community, which is also on this instance.

I'm also sharing my response to the mod team from about 24 hours ago - there has not been any reply from them yet. If I do get one I can share it here in a comment.

This offer stands for all GME and market reform communities who are looking to move away from Reddit as a platform and engage elsewhere. Reddit has become steadily more censorious with time, and the API changes and pending IPO make me skeptical that it is a proper long term solution for assembly.

Lemmy, by comparison, is open source / transparently moderated / communicates with other fediverse apps / free / is without influence of a for profit company / is without influence from advertisers.

I'm very glad this platform exists.

Update, it's not that you can't share the site, but also they won't tell me what I did other than it was brigading.

Hey apes! The censorship I spend most of my time bringing to light on this co is from (presumably) personally driven censorship decisions on Reddit. Today, I'm going to cover an ongoing story on censorship from the federal government itself.

https://www.dailysignal.com/2023/07/11/historic-first-judge-blocks-biden-admins-orwellian-collusion-big-tech-suppress-free-speech/

In case you missed the original injunction that came out two weeks ago, a Federal judge issued a temporary injunction on the Biden administration prohibiting them, in no uncertain terms, from urging/pressuring/inducing social media companies to remove/suppress content containing protected free speech.

What is particularly interesting to me is the sheer detail of this injunction - 155 pages citing examples of past actions, examples of targeted individuals, and naming dozens of specific individuals and departments in the government who are specifically being put on notice.

While I'm not any sort of legal analyst, I think the amount of detail in this injunction sets a clear tone for the remainder of case. Basically, I take this as presumptive evidence that the government has been caught with its hands in the cookie jar and is guilty here. (Not that this is a criminal action. I'm using guilty in the vernacular sense)

Freedom of speech is essential. Be suspicious of apparently "private" censorship on the internet. Demand accountability from your government. Demand transparency in finance. BUY, HOLD, DRS, BOOK, SHOP, COMMENT, SPREAD THE WORD.

Is it even legal?

Somebody ask RAdmin.

u herd me.

As a reminder, please limit content in this community to factual record. Please do not include commentary on presumed motivations, intentions, shillery, name-calling, etc. Thanks for keeping tensions to a minimum! (Especially with our always fair and steady-handed friend, the federal government 😬️)

Auto-crosspost: https://lemmy.whynotdrs.org/post/22100

Original: https://www.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/153zf5r/sec_currently_deleting_comments_on_proposal/

A short sample of the removed comments still visible in the index:

Because I mentioned our lemmy instance in a comment

As a reminder, please limit content in this community to factual record. Please do not include commentary on presumed motivations, intentions, shillery, name-calling, etc. Thanks for keeping tensions to a minimum!

Auto-crossposts:

• https://lemmy.whynotdrs.org/post/20551
• https://lemmy.whynotdrs.org/post/20434

On-reddit discussion:

https://www.reddit.com/r/GME/comments/1536yx9/my_post_on_booking_your_shares_got_removed_on_ss/

As a reminder, due to the unfortunate risk of escalating tensions, please limit content in this community to factual record. Please do not include commentary on presumed motivations, intentions, shillery, name-calling, etc.

Original post: https://old.reddit.com/r/Superstonk/comments/152a2r1/the_mod_team_seriously_needs_to_look_into_all_the/

Auto-crosspost: https://lemmy.whynotdrs.org/post/20348

On-reddit commentary: https://www.reddit.com/r/drsgme/comments/152d1bm/a_story_in_3_pictures_sad_to_see_history_repeat/

For context, I believe the "no meta content" mandate by RAdmins only covered content which was cross-sub or person-oriented, and not content on intra-sub moderation policy/practice, a belief which was not resolved in attempted discussion | with | mods. Nevertheless, the more expansively no-meta content rule adopted by mods is frequently used to shut down discussion of our own community's moderation policies and practices.

Update: Banned - https://lemmy.whynotdrs.org/post/22099

Due to the unfortunate risk of escalating tensions, please limit content in this community to factual record. Please do not include commentary on presumed motivations, intentions, shillery, name-calling, etc.