I was a member of DKos years ago. I actually bought Crashing the Gate and was not even finished reading it before Kos showed with his actions that he had no integrity regarding the arguments made therein. The site got too authoritarian for me around the same time I realized that I really am too liberal to call myself a Democrat after they completely morphed into the Third Way version. I'm one of the "fucking retards." All that to say that when I went over there this year to see what was going on out of curiosity I was really surprised to see so much pro-Bernie content. I wasn't surprised that he had enthusiastic supporters, I was surprised Kos allowed that on his site based on my experience in the past. So I'm not surprised at all that he cracked down.

It's top-down politics in a microcosm. Kos controls the infrastructure but the only reason many go there is because of the diaries and discussion produced by the users. Instead of respecting that and giving the users some say Kos issues edicts furthering his own aims that are to be obeyed, regardless whether users believe that serves their interests or not. His actions should have consequences and the only way to do that is for the people who create the content for him who disagree with his edicts to stop creating the content and stop giving him clicks. Because just like with the country, it's really you that have the power. The only way he can control all of you is to convince you he's your only chance, as quarter-loaf as it is. There are other platforms. I've been on reddit for years and honestly think it's better for discussion. I hope you all come here instead of DKos because I really enjoyed reading the discussions there and I'm not going to give DKos any "clicks for authoritarianism."

One thing I'd mention is that Reddit is so much better about activism and participation. For example, if I only visited DKos I would never have even known that I could easily phonebank from home and join a volunteer slack team who will help with any questions. I would never know that there's a movement to research, promote and elect down-ticket progressives like r/GrassrootsSelect. I wouldn't know about any of the official campaign social media pushes. Reddit facilitates so many branches of activism, and these are going to go beyond this election.

I hope that this becomes a positive thing and that all the very smart and passionate Bernie supporters come here from DKos and start participating in the campaign more. It wold be a poetic justice if Kos' attempts to stifle your voices ended up amplifying them in this way.

Anybody who has questions about phonebanking from home please let me know and I'll be happy to walk you through it. There are ways to do it free even if you don't have unlimited minutes. All you need is a computer and a phone. There is also a slack group (slack is a messaging program used to coordinate people) CallTeamBernie where you can get live help and direction. There's even a chrome plugin that will track the number of calls for you. Anything I can't help with I guarantee we can find someone on here who can. This is ALL done and run by volunteers and no matter what Kos believes or wants you to believe there are many of us and we're still fighting. Welcome to Reddit. Please stay and join us in our work.