What happened to infoshop.org?

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anon (not verified)
What happened to infoshop.org?

I was never a big fan of their anarcho-liberal approach, but I do recall it being a very important site in my baby anarchist era (pre-occupy). So I’m just curious. Chuck retired, and ancaps bought the domain name? Has there ever been an ancap infoshop IRL or were they just grabbing a popular anarcho-relevant name? If this has been written about elsewhere I can’t find it, and the new owners do not provide contact info, whois is also not helpful.

rocinante
infoshop news glossary

Infoshop News

https://web.archive.org/web/*/infoshop.org

Infoshop News hold a very special place in my heart. As a very young, blissfully unaware of so many things, their collective published numerous texts and even featured some stickied to their front page essays by yours truly. 2001 anarchist media on the Internet was visiting Infoshop.org and reading the content and maybe even leaving a comment. Early on you could even post anonymous comments, however as with all great things – this soon came to an end. The Infoshop News collective soon started to closely moderate and censor anarchist comments they disagreed with or found out of place. The comments on the website went from a largely bountiful place of discourse to a much more closely manicured trail. Due to frequent downtime, very strict moderation of comments now only permitted to registered users, and an inability to work alongside other anarchists the Infoshop website soon became a land of ghosts. Up until a few years back one was able to visit Infoshop still and see that what little new content they posted wasn’t even anarchist material, but much more leftist focused. Infoshop URL is now dead and can only been seen via archive.org.

- from https://stalkingtheearth.net/content/anarchist-media-come

anon (not verified)
I too was very fond of

I too was very fond of Infoshop.

"The Infoshop News collective soon started to closely moderate and censor anarchist comments they disagreed with or found out of place. The comments on the website went from a largely bountiful place of discourse to a much more closely manicured trail. "

This is exactly what is happening to Anews though I wish it wasn't. Unfortunately, this comment will likely be deleted instead of considered.

Anarchists are doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past instead of learn from them, I guess.

anon (not verified)
anarchists are also doomed to

anarchists are also doomed to make the same simplisitc arguments. the internet of today is VERY DIFFERENT from the internet of infoshp prime years. the ways those differences play out are not always obvious, bu definitely include more online bullshit.

anon (not verified)
I think your comment is a bit

I think your comment is a bit of a cop-out or justification of the same authoritarian practices that Rocinante was remarking on regarding Infoshop. I do not think it's the "same simplistic argument" but it is the same behavior of control.

Can you describe "those [VERY DIFFERENT] differences" that are some how allowing you to attempt to justify today's Anews moderators' decisions to closely moderate and censor anarchist comments they disagreed with or found out of place turning a largely bountiful place of discourse to a much more closely manicured trail?

To me it seems exactly like what occurred on Infoshop.

anon (not verified)
if you don't know how the

if you don't know how the internet has change din the pst 20 or so years, then i'm not sure what to tell you.

and if you're unwilling or able to see how that could make a difference between 4chan and oh, i dont know, some moderated site that you enjoy, then i'mnot sure how hlpful i can be there either.

TranslationButt (not verified)
"I got nothin' but u r wrong

"I got nothin' but u r wrong coz I say so"

CalvinSmith (not verified)
the issue with your analysis is

That you think internet discussion is somehow "bountiful". No, overall its really fucking stupid. Its like what happens when the state forces a bunch kids to interact with each other the whole day.

anon (not verified)
The "bountiful" line was a

The "bountiful" line was a quote, CalvinSmith. I know lumpy has got you all flustered in the other article's comments, but do try to follow along more carefully.

Consider also that you are interacting in internet discussion the whole day (every day, it seems) before disparaging the bountifulness of internet discussion. Whether valuable (to you) or not is not the point but rather its bountifulness and its being closed/limited or as was put above: "closely manicured".

CalvinSmith (not verified)
you really shouldnt expect

Every internet user to read every single work in a thread, because by that logic, then every internet user should then fallow every link in the thread and carefully research everything, and nobody on the internet does that unless they are writing a book or something.

Italics are typically used for emphasis: sorry i haven't petfectly manicured my reading selections on here. Maybe you should stop using this website on a regular basis if you have a problem with me doing it. There's really nothing wrong Netflix and chill, or the more anarch-friendly alternatives...no internet usage or pirating. There are also still thousands of message boards to choose from.

anon (not verified)
"you really shouldnt expect

"you really shouldnt expect every internet user to read every single wor[d] in a thread," --CalvinSmith

Yes, CalvinSmith, I do expect people who are giving their strong opinions about a thread to read the thread they are giving their strong opinions about.

It used to be 'Anarchist News: I only read the comments," but I suppose it's now: "Anarchist News: I don't even read the comments before commenting"?

I think you and I have nothing left to say to each other. Stay hydrated, CalvinSmith.

CalvinSmith (not verified)
oh wow dude

Your claim that i didnt read your comment is really fucking stupid. It's amazing how comfortable anarchists are with their smug and anonymous snobbery. Stop blaming others for responding to your posts, and stop romanticizing the old days the web...you'd probably get flamed a lot faster for your pretentious bullshit there.

Also, i never gave any opininion about a thread here. You desperately need to improve your communication skills. Stop blaming me for your mistakes, its VERY embarassing. Maybe you should accussing the mods of being such perfectionist landscapers when they obviously aren't? Your trainwreck of a judgement is EXACTLY why i don't read all your bullshit anon posts.

anon (not verified)
Different anon here.

Different anon here.
Calvin, please scroll back and look what you wrote.
The things you're saying you didn't do, well, you did do.
This contains your opinion: https://anarchistnews.org/comment/56518#comment-56518
This contains your opinion: https://anarchistnews.org/comment/56532#comment-56532
You're not making sense.
G-d help you.

CalvinSmith (not verified)
you're forgetting about the

Fact that that the above anon didn't quote what they said was a quote, and totally misinterpreted the originally posts they were responding to:

"anarchists are also doomed to make the same simplisitc arguments. the internet of today is VERY DIFFERENT from the internet of infoshp prime years. the ways those differences play out are not always obvious, bu definitely include more online bullshit."

Where was this anon defending anything like the anon argued with was accessing them of? Yes, God help me: this anon system is crap, and why did rocinante basically romanticizing info shop for letting people post comments anonymously? Nothing makes sense here, so stop trying to get me to do it.

anon (not verified)
Different different anon here

Different different anon here, Everyone just c-a-l-m down. Rocinante is the real villain here. He's to blame for confusing everyone from his throne of lies!

CalvinSmith (not verified)
i think rocinante's issue main issue

with the old info shop is that they no longer allowed anonymous users to post: you can deduce this from the fact that anarchist news does allow anonymous users to post despite the obvious problem in terms of CARING about what they post.

The anon you are responding to is correct: the internet now a days IS very different. Such a large portion of it is dedicated to facebook, google, and twitter's shady practices. Ads are everywhere and in your face all the time. Also, the anon you are responding to IS NOT JUSTIFYING ANYTHING. Could you please read stuff online more carefully, instead of just reacting to what you are thinking you are reading? This is exactly WHY i stopped using the anon handle, i realized that as a mere "anon", reacting to the internet, i stopped caring about what I post at all. Also, it really confuses people who read your posts, because what's stopping a different anon from joining the conversation and pretending they are speaking for you. YOU'RE WELCOME, ANON.

CalvinSmith (not verified)
i just don't agree that anarchists need anarchist media

to do those things as that article asserts, that version of reality would make things too easy for cops and opponents anarchists. I consider my ideas more aligned with anarchist ideology than any of the many other ideologies because I know that a lot of things simply can't be controlled, and when I get too worried about what will happen, that tends to do some really awful things to me and stress me out. Thinking that anarchists need explicitly anarchist media would also lead to authoritarian identity politics. I have my doubts whether or not I will see the complete destruction of annoying/alienating bureaucratic institutions in my lifetime, even though all things do come to an end, and it's probably impossible for the human race to avoid extinction at some point.

Probably the thing I like the least about the internet being used as an anarchist space is that I've realized how it's harder for me to read long essays and articles than if it were in paper format. However, the internet clearly has superior research capabilities compared to print only media, so i guess i could feel better about that.

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