Why I left Reddit - Mountain_Tui

My Greatest Hits and Some Big Misses

I first joined Reddit November 2023. My user name, Mountain_Tui. I was pretty naive. I thought it was just a place to go share knowledge.

Yesterday I deleted that account. I loved that account. I loved my time learning about politics. I more than enjoyed the company and hold dear many of those I met there. The truth is I miss many of them.

Photo: Lottie Hedley for NZ Geographic

These are what I consider some of my greatest achievements on Reddit:

1. Researching and uncovering the NZ Government’s links to the Atlas Network:

   ACT are deeply affiliated with Atlas Group - “The Mother of all Right Wing Think tanks”. They are solidly anti-climate and have campaigned racist campaigns against Indigenous peoples in Canada, Australia, the USA & NZ. They were also behind Brexit & Voice.

2. Building on the knowledge and research I built to respond decisively to misinformation:

   David Seymour lies about his ties to the Atlas Network - A Response

3. Uncovering the relationship between the Treaty of Waitangi Principles Bill and the ACT Party’s true motives:

   The real reason David Seymour needs to reinterpret the Treaty of Waitangi

4. Highlighting the strategies and money behind Jordan William and David Farrah’s New Zealand Taxpayers Union:

   NZ Taxpayer Union and its systemic assault on our democracy

5. Uncovering corruption links and summarizing the state of play in NZ politics:

   Did we vote for this, NZ?

6. Providing visuals and updates that help folks evaluate the data themselves:

   For example: Fast-Track bill will facilitate seabed mining - why people call it anti-democratic and anti-nature & Cameras on boats reveal massive undereporting of wildlife deaths

There were many other highlights:

Friendships made, people that I admired and respected, the joy of communicating, and above all, feeling like I could play a very small role to help our country not fall down the same route of misinformation/disinformation that we’ve seen in the UK and the US.

It became a passion.

And that brings me to the misses.

And boy, they hit.

The main subreddit banned me after a few months. My crime was that I was prolific, and apparently had many people reporting me for being a “novelty account.” At the time, I thought, “So easy to manipulate.”

The small print says I editorialised titles to their Wiki but not to their main rule, or other things such as writing posts considered “biased” - you know, the ones with news sources and research that some people despised.

I didn’t know what that meant. But there you go.

A learning about Reddit.

After a while, they invited me back, with handcuffs. I respected and liked enough of them to agree.

I went back, stayed in their circle and tried to be content with it, out of respect, and thereby, a willingness to make it work.

It didn’t work. This post (I copied and pasted into Reddit format) was considered a duplicate. I understood and respected that, and yet, was it really the same as the other recent post?

My handcuffs prevented me from talking about politics or raising issues.

I realised though, overnight, that this is censorship on their part. Of me - specifically.

One time I was temp banned for saying - within a long response - “we can also let the moderators of this main subreddit know that it’s OK to let information through and to allow others to choose to see it.”

That was enough to put me in jail there.

I also moderated a small place called r/nzpolitics. My standard of moderation was bad faith and misinformation. Not good faith and hard work.

And so I left.

Could I have stayed? Of course. From my perspective, I bent over backwards as their actions against me accumulated. It was a constant struggle between the respect I had for them, versus the incredulousness of their actions against. That weighed.

Still, after the perm ban lifted, they were kind. Their communications were gracious enough. They made allowances even as they took a lot away. I acknowledge how I felt is mine.

Maintaining respect for most there, I disagree with their censorship. And nor do I think it was right, nor good for New Zealand.

It’s not about me. I’ve already gone - it’s over.

But well researched information, transparency, and helping to share information, understand nuance, is key to our well-being and country’s health. That is something I truly believe.

Project 2025 didn’t happen overnight.

Support New Zealand and support facts. There’s nothing to hide.