The Soccer-Flytape Conspiracy: A small group of users is squatting on extreme amounts of non-default subreddits in order to control information and discussion on a large scale. r/conspiracy mod u/flytape is directly complicit.

https://www.reddit.com/r/conspiracy/comments/1wi665/the_soccerflytape_conspiracy_a_small_group_of/

created by pimpst1ck on 29/01/2014 at 22:45 UTC

136 upvotes, 25 top-level comments (showing 25)

Hi there /r/conspiracy. I don't expect this to be up long until it's deleted by the mods but I hope it's read by as many of you as possible. I honestly I would never find myself posting here, but the situation calls for extreme measures. Before some readers trawl through my comment and out me, yes I am a regular poster to /r/conspiratard. Although I'll say now that I've never been part of any alt-account posting or brigading, and that this is the first time I believe I've ever posted or voted her. The my main problems with this sub are with a small number of posters who allow and permeate racist discourse. That's the reason why I'm here.

A few days ago I noticed that r/holocaust was modded and run as a Holocaust denial front. I had a serious problem with this, but I knew that reddit didn't grants subreddit mod requests based on racism. However I believed I had a case that the subreddit modship could be revoked on legitimate grounds of inactivity. 3/5 mods were shadowbanned (including /u/bumblingmumbling and /u/Occidentalist), one was inactive for over 60 days (/u/soccer) as per the rules on /r/redditrequest and one had been active elsewhere on reddit recently but had not made any contribution whatsoever to /r/holocaust (/EdSmith1384). Since /r/redditrequest is dedicated to handing over "abandoned" subreddits to new mod teams, I thought there was a more than sufficient case that the /r/holocaust team had abandoned the subreddit. On top of their inactivity, the activity on the subreddit had slower to a trickle, limited to posts by passerby users unaware of the Holocaust Denial material on the sidebar, and months old posts about Holocaust denial still lingering on the front page. Several users of /r/badhistory including me and the mod /u/Turnshroud posted a few links refuting the claims of Holocaust Denial which turned out to be the most concentrated activity on the subreddit in the last year.

However, despite these grounds, and despite making another appeal to the admins via PM, my request failed. This was becaus e /r/redditrequest allows a three day grace period for the mods to respond to the request (upon which an automatic message is sent to the mod team of said requested subreddit). The first mod to respond, funnily enough, was /u/soccer, who had no indication of any activity on reddit in the previous 80 days (25% more than the 60 day minimum for mod abandonment). Literally his only post activity on reddit in the last 3 months has been objecting to my request and posting one random link to r/terrorism. Since then he has not posted anything in the last five days. Now I found that this was especially odd considering /u/soccer is moderator for OVER SEVENTY SUBREDDITS. Shouldn't someone with that much power over reddit communties be a bit more active on the website.

I discovered that this had created some problems for other subreddits. Firstly there was /r/iran who was trying to remove /u/soccer as head mod to try and fix some of the problems with the subreddit. They appealed to him with a survery of the userbase[1] of which over half called for /u/soccer to step down. He ignored it. The userbase then [appealed on mass to the admins]( http://www.reddit.com/r/iran/comments/1vpk5v/ever[2] yone_please_message_the_reddit_admins_the/). They also did nothing. So despite reddit proclaiming an environment for free speech and democracy, the majority of a subreddit's subscribers are unable to remove a mod who is holding the subreddit hostage. In the last year, he has only made one contribution to /r/iran, which was heavily downvoted by the userbase.

1: http://www.reddit.com/r/iran/comments/1vmz6v/sticky_for_visibility_feedback_result/

2: http://www.reddit.com/r/iran/comments/1vpk5v/ever

This issue has also extended into /r/xkcd, which has gained a bit more publicity. /u/soccer is the head mod there, yet recently the active mod was /u/Wyboth. He was popular and did many good things with the subreddit including creating the new CSS. Then he starting removing links on the sidebar to /r/TheRedPill, /r/mensrights and /r/conspiracy (which admittedly aren't seriously related to /r/xkcd). This resulted in him being removed from modship, which upset a large number of users. This is where /r/conspiracy mod /u/flytape starts to get involved. When soccer removes wyboth, he replaces him with flytape. Flytape attempted to say wyboth's removal of mod privilages was his own fault, a post which he later deleted.[3]. He then tried to convince the subreddit community that everythin g was running as normal, in a thread that was chockablock full of deleted/censored comments and then later removed from being visible on the front page.[4]. It's also worth pointing that the creator of xkcd has expressed his disgust at how his intellectual property is being abused[5]. In the same link you'll se that flytape has attempting to attribute the blame for wyboth's removal for talking to SRS about how /u/soccer is squatting on his own subreddit in a post about my attempt to get modship of r/holocaust. Despite wyboth only reiterated the point that soccer is squatting on subreddit's and holding them hostage, flytape says that he was committing some level of espionage - literally calls it "serious personal army stuff".

3: http://np.reddit.com/r/xkcd/comments/1wat2l/wyboth_has_brought_this_upon_himself/

4: http://np.reddit.com/r/xkcd/comments/1wb8ak/everything_is_back_to_normal/

5: http://np.reddit.com/r/anonymous123421/comments/1w8aie/petition_to_reinstate_uwyboth_as_a_mod_of_rxkcd/

So that brings it back to the situation with /r/holocaust and /u/soccer's intentional squatting on the subreddit to keep it as a front for Holocaust denial. Although several changes happened after I made my request for modship. You might remember that myself and /u/Turnshroud posted some anti-denial links. Suddenly, our links disappeared. I posted links to the Holocaust History Project and the Holocaust Controversies Blogspot page, which were on topic and did not violate any apparant rules of the subreddit. My hidden links can still be viewed directly[6] by url here though[7]. You won't find them anywhere on the page though. I find it incredibly ironic that an almost completely inactive user objected to a user taking over his subreddit on grounds of inactivity, when said user had created the most on topic subreddit activity in the last year. /u/soccer also started expanding the mod list, presumably as a way to ensure the subreddit's safety from further requests despite his own inactivity. One of these new mods was /u/0ccidentalist, an alt account for the shadowbanned mod /u/Occidentalist, who responded to my /r/redditrequest request with the convincing words of "Fuck You". However the most interesting new mod added to the /r/holocaust team was none other than our friend /u/Flytape. Flytape had already proven to be more than suitable for this modteam by already proving he was the least capable and desirable person to run an online community dedicated to the Holocaust. Most recently he had said this statement in a comment on this very subrddit[8].

6: http://np.reddit.com/r/holocaust/comments/1vsvgj/the_holocaust_history_project_a_useful_collection/

7: http://np.reddit.com/r/holocaust/comments/1vzher/the_holocaust_controveries_blog_one_of_the_most/

8: http://np.reddit.com/r/conspiracy/comments/1vozfg/the_moderators_are_shills_working_to_advance/ceuibf2

Nobody gave a fuck about the civil war ending in 1942 and we shouldn't give a fuck about the Holocaust in 2014. Yes it was bad and should be remembered as a historical anomaly, Jews should remember it and not let themselves end up in that situation again. But 72 years is almost 3/4ths of a century and people need to move the fuck on.

Let that sink in. Not is he only partly blaming the Jews for the Holocaust, but he is explicitly encouraging people to STOP TALKING ABOUT THE HOLOCAUST.

Ladies and gentlemen, I ask you, why would a person accept an offer to moderate an online community about the Holocaust when he has explicitly said he wants people to so stop talking about it? It only makes sense that he accepting it as part of an agenda to keep squatting on the subreddit and to explicitly limit the discourse on the Holocaust which happens there. And it's worked. The greatest contributions to the subreddit in the last year have been deleted and now only material promoting Holocaust denial is allowed.

/u/flytape is directly complicit in a conspiracy headed by /u/soccer to control as many non-default subreddits, which would have potential communities, as possible. Following with the example or /r/iran, /u/soccer also holds many other national subreddit domains including /r/ivorycoast, /r/oman, /r/libya and /r/bangladesh. Following in the example of /r/xkcd, he holds many significant issue based domains hostage such as /r/gender which are moderated by legitimate users, but like in the case of /u/Wyboth could be removed at any whim he wishes. He holds a monopoly on most Israeli-Palestinian subs including /r/IDF, /r/mossad, /r/Palestine, /r/middleeastnews, /r/jewishstudies and /r/hamas. Ironically, it's not the Jewish conspiracy which is controlling the dissemination of information for pro-zionist causes on reddit, it's actually Holocaust denierswho are controlling and squatting on online communities to prevent pro-Israel material being spread. He has no intention of doing anything with these subs except to hold them and to prevent any user group or lower mods doing things with them he doesn't like.

If /r/conspiracy, you truly dislike censorship, the control of information and supression of free speech, then look no further than your borders. /u/flytape is directly complicit in one of the biggest conspiracies on reddit which are guilty of all these things, headed by possibly the most powerful non-admin redditor.

I'm kind of aware I'm going into 'enemy territory' with /u/flytape, but I hope as many of you receive this information as possible.

Comments

Comment by Cabal_stgm at 30/01/2014 at 15:58 UTC

51 upvotes, 3 direct replies

I see alot of people bitching about Jews, holocaust, conspiratards and brigades, and yet, no one dares adress another issue. I don't participate or post in r/conspiracy or r/conspiratard because frankly, I don't care. I am however an avid follower of XKCD for years now, and what your boy u/flytape and his buddy u/KamensGhost are doing in r/xkcd is inexcusable. Freedom of speech my ass. They have taken over a sub they had no participation in before being made mods by u/soccer, started with deleting comments of those questioning them or disagreeing with them, deleted all posts about the mod situation, started banning contributors in the r/xkcd sub AND blacklisting and deleting comic strips making fun of conspiracy theories, WHICH WERE ALWAYS A STAPLE OF XKCD and other strips they personally disagree with, like Pickup Artist. If that is NOT a hostile takeover and attempt to censor and screw a subreddit, I don't know what is. How do you excuse that? What "freedom of speech" are you exactly defending? Your own, over everyone else's INCLUDING the freakin' comic creator? I see alot of talk about shills. Here's a thought, conspiracy fans: If shills do exist, I'm pretty sure they are professional and smart enough to integrate themselves in a community and assume positions of responsibillity, and later use them to discredit said community with their actions. It's called being an "agent provocateur". Right now your subreddit is the focus of a lot of shit-talking and criticism because some people that are mods and frequent contributors in your subreddit are pissing all over other subreddits they had no business with in the first place and generally being total assholes to other communities. Just food for thought. There, I vented, go ahead and ban me now, defenders of "freedom".

Comment by nd4spd1919 at 29/01/2014 at 22:57 UTC

80 upvotes, 2 direct replies

This is probably the only real "conspiracy" here, but no one will listen...

Comment by [deleted] at 30/01/2014 at 02:38 UTC*

26 upvotes, 1 direct replies

[deleted]

Comment by Wyboth at 01/02/2014 at 18:49 UTC

7 upvotes, 0 direct replies

I am the former moderator of /r/xkcd who was kicked off by /u/soccer. AMA.

Comment by alllie at 30/01/2014 at 00:44 UTC

29 upvotes, 3 direct replies

We had a submission where we chose 3 new mods. I'm still pleased with them. Then, for reasons I don't understand, suddenly flytape was reappointed mod. What's up with that.

Comment by [deleted] at 30/01/2014 at 04:26 UTC

3 upvotes, 0 direct replies

You have been invited to /r/conspiracy201 for the advanced learners. Feel free to post whatever you'd like. There are no shills there.

I hope you don't mind, I re-posted this in that sub for safekeeping.

PROTECT YOUR DATA AND HAVE A NICE DAY :)

Comment by 1NightMan1 at 30/01/2014 at 02:56 UTC*

28 upvotes, 1 direct replies

/u/pimpst1ck is pretty much correct in everything he has already said.

While /u/Flytape will cry about the first amendment and censorship that isn't actually what this is about. This is him stomping out at least two communities who don't want him there.

He was added as a mod by /u/soccer to /u/holocaust to stop an attempt by another user to make it a more active place. Now he's one of many mods which includes /u/bumblingmumbling who made this sick holocaust joke:

http://i.imgur.com/2WweXzS.jpg

/r/holocaust isn't actually about discussion. Posts about the holocaust that suggest it may have happened are being regularly removed by said moderators. For example, try to find this post on the sub:

http://www.reddit.com/r/holocaust/comments/1w75hr/report_on_documenting_killing_sites_throughout/

/u/Flytape was then asked to mod /u/xkcd by the same /u/soccer who has been holding on to the top mod spot there despite the community saying they don't want that. They created a protest sub called /u/xkcdcomic. The creator of the xkcd comic has stated publicly he does not want /u/Flytape moderating a community about his comics:

http://np.reddit.com/r/anonymous123421/comments/1w8aie/petition_to_reinstate_uwyboth_as_a_mod_of_rxkcd/cezp63m

While /u/Flytape has continued to deny he is a holocaust denier he is actually a self-admitted holocaust denier. He correctly pointed out in the past that "holocaust denial" has different varieties to it:

http://www.reddit.com/r/conspiratocracy/comments/1tx3k5/holocaust_denial/

He has openly stated that he is in the middle category that he described in that post:

Some people believe that the numbers were exaggerated.

And now he's being an enabler to the category he claims is very rare:

Some people, an extreme few of them, claim it didn't happen at all.

This obviously isn't a free speech issue. Those communities don't want him and his buddies there. He's simply a trolling, community stomping, attention whore.

Comment by ShokosTiger at 30/01/2014 at 00:08 UTC

26 upvotes, 2 direct replies

Thank you for this post. IMO, /u/Flytape should definitely step down as mod for /r/conspiracy. This is one of the reasons people will never take this sub seriously.

Comment by ItsSing at 31/01/2014 at 08:48 UTC

3 upvotes, 0 direct replies

This better not get deleted...

Comment by [deleted] at 30/01/2014 at 02:05 UTC*

1 upvotes, 1 direct replies

[deleted]

Comment by Hatchetman4NWO at 29/01/2014 at 23:22 UTC

-4 upvotes, 1 direct replies

First of all, I personally don't give a fuck about the holocaust. Second of all, I know that /u/Flytape has previously been accused of some white-supremacy stuff, which I don't know the details of. So he might be biased.

That said, it seems like the only motive for you to try to rally people for your "cause" is to suppress content like this[1] and this[2]. Suppression of content is the opposite "free speech", which you ask for.

1: http://www.reddit.com/r/holocaust/comments/1wgjpu/six_million_jews_19151938/

2: http://www.reddit.com/r/holocaust/comments/1wecst/richard_e_harwood_did_six_million_really_die_pdf/

... online communities to prevent pro-Israel material being spread.

So you're basically saying you want /r/Holocaust to be a medium for pro-Israel propaganda, and want the rest of us to rally behind you? If you're against the material that is being presented, argue against it instead of trying to censor it, regardless if it's revisionism or not.

Besides, dead sub is dead.

Comment by modbuster at 30/01/2014 at 00:02 UTC

-9 upvotes, 0 direct replies

There's no law that says the people who run r/holocaust (a very small sub indeed) need to say nice things about Jews. Or need to follow the Holocaust dogma that we see every day in the mass media. What the fuck are you going on about? Go back to r/conspiratard and make pancake jokes with your slimy friends about Rachel Corrie's murder.

Comment by red-light at 30/01/2014 at 00:02 UTC

-8 upvotes, 1 direct replies

So because Flytape was modded by /u/soccer in just one subreddit, that means Flytape "is directly complicit in a conspiracy headed by /u/soccer to control as many non-default subreddits, which would have potential communities, as possible. "

You're after soccer and the control he has on reddit. Your attempt to conflate Flytape with all of soccer's activities is fucked up and you're trying to make something out of nothing.

Go after neo-nazi's all you want, fuck them, but don't try to involve /r/conspiracy in your bullshit propaganda war against /u/soccer.

Comment by [deleted] at 30/01/2014 at 00:05 UTC

-9 upvotes, 2 direct replies

[deleted]

Comment by [deleted] at 30/01/2014 at 01:04 UTC

-7 upvotes, 2 direct replies

The my main problems with this sub are with a small number of posters who allow and permeate racist discourse.

i.e., /r/conspiratard trolls.

Comment by [deleted] at 30/01/2014 at 01:15 UTC

-6 upvotes, 0 direct replies

Hi JIDF, how are you today?

Comment by Amos_Quito at 30/01/2014 at 17:37 UTC

-8 upvotes, 1 direct replies

*pimpst1ck**, you seem terribly obsessed with the Holocaust - with a fervor bordering on religious fanaticism. You seem to think of it as a sacrosanct event that should be held in reverence, and NEVER discussed except with a bowed head and contrite spirit.

No one wants to be called before the Holocaust Inquisition, and given the pseudo-religious aura of mystique that the Holocaust has acquired, the accusation of HOLOCAUST DENIER has become a spectre that strikes fear into the hearts of the masses, any of whom may inadvertently run afoul of the Holocaust Dogma because precise definitions have never been set in stone.

Would you be so kind as to define the Dogma and Tenets of the Holocaust? You know, the Articles of Faith that each and every person is expected to accept - **without question** - in order to avoid being labeled and ATTACKED as a "Holocaust Heretic"?

Given the potentially HARSH ramifications for "Denial" (prison time in many countries), I think it is only fair that the peasants be informed on what they MUST believe in order to avoid such charges.

Thanks in advance.

Comment by Mentat-42 at 30/01/2014 at 00:54 UTC

-15 upvotes, 1 direct replies

JIDF Garbage

Comment by [deleted] at 29/01/2014 at 23:24 UTC

-22 upvotes, 3 direct replies

To my fellow mods,

Please don't rule 10 this fellow or moderate this post even though it violates rules 1, 2, 9, 10, and 11.

He is very passionate about this subject and has every right to post this as a conspiracy, even though he is wrong.

The reason I am a mod of /r/Holocaust is because I was invited because of my history of protecting free speech here in conspiracy. The top mods at /r/Holocaust want to make sure that questions can be asked about the Holocaust without users being banned or accused of racism simply for inquiring about something they perceive as an inconsistency.

The users who are mounting an attack against me, as many of you have seen here repeatedly for the last year, simply want to control the conversation from their own ideological point of view.

We have all seen that anti-israeli comments and posts on most main reddit will get you banned, there is clearly no lack of pro Israel sentiment on reddit.

/r/bestof won't even allow users to submit a conspiracy thread because they are so afraid of something negative regarding Israel of making it to their front page.

Best wishes,

Flytape

Comment by SovereignMan at 30/01/2014 at 02:59 UTC

-6 upvotes, 3 direct replies

You come here from one of the most racist subreddits in existence (r/conspiratard) and whine about one of our mods because of *his* beliefs???

Typical.

Comment by iamagod_ at 30/01/2014 at 01:30 UTC

-10 upvotes, 2 direct replies

I want them to stop talking about it too. They lied about the numbers. They lied about the methods and facts. **AND THEY ARE DOING THE EXACT SAME THING TO PALESTINE. Their credibility is shot. They are known liars and cheats.

Comment by trinsic-paridiom at 30/01/2014 at 07:52 UTC

-3 upvotes, 1 direct replies

Nobody gave a fuck about the civil war ending in 1942 and we shouldn't give a fuck about the Holocaust in 2014. Yes it was bad and should be remembered as a historical anomaly, Jews should remember it and not let themselves end up in that situation again. But 72 years is almost 3/4ths of a century and people need to move the fuck on.

Im not getting any information from this statement that he is blaming the Jewish Community nor encouraging people to stop talking about the holocaust. This sounds like an interpretation on your part that he implied that.

What I read is that he thinks that it was a bad but that why should we dwell on it? which to me he is making a statement that sometimes dwelling on the past doesn't make it better. Which I do understand from one perspective.

Also that the there are people in the Jewish community at that time that are partly responsible for what happened to them. The reasons why is that when the Germans came in, most of them just rolled over. If your country gets occupied and you do nothing you are partly responsible are you not?