Progressive Memberships

Memberships in Progressive Fire on G+ & FB, & Memberships in My YT Discord
2019-02-13


In the heady days of the election of 2016, the Google Plus community which was originally "Bernie Sanders for President 2016" and then "Berners for Jill Stein," which became "Progressive Fire" after the general election, had some 2400 members.  We were the largest pro-Bernie community on Google Plus, and then the largest pro-Jill community on Google Plus (larger even than the community which is "Green Party of the United States Official").  Some decrease in membership during the "off season" was expected, and at one point in 2018 we got down to 1640 members.  As of today, 13 February 2019, the number of members has picked back up a bit, but we have known since October of last year that the consumer version of G+ is being phased out.  In consequence, I set up a Facebook group for "Progressive Fire," and knowing that many were not keen on Facebook or the censorship and invasion of privacy there, I also opened up my own Discord server (where there are no ads, no fees other than for purely optional perks, no invasion of privacy, and very little censorship apart from what each server owner sets in his or her rules and guidelines) for my YouTube subscribers to members of the PF community on G+.  This offer/invitation was made back in October or November.

Now let's look at the membership numbers.  Each of the following screenshots was made just a few moments ago today.

In case you can't make that out, let's focus and circle:

That says 1,704 members.

1,704 members in a community on a platform which will be gone before the end of April.

Let's have a look at PF on FB:

Again, maybe you don't know where to look, so let's focus again:

That says 31 Members.

31 members.

Now let's have a look at the Discord server I own which I set up for my YouTube subscribers, where I post everything I post at either/both of those PF platforms (and where I also post quite a bit more than I post on either of the PF platforms):

I would hope that this is large enough and focused enough that I don't need to make it any larger, but just in case, ...

That says 68 Members.

Most of the members of both PF at FB and my YT subscriber Discord server did not come from PF on G+.  I am extremely annoyed with the fact that few of you have joined either PF on FB or my Discord.  I'd much rather have you in my Discord (and I suspect most of you would prefer it to FB;  we didn't use G+ because we loved FB, after all).

I know many of you are advocating some platform called "MeWe" (of which I never heard before the announcement from Alphabet, Inc. that they would be phasing out the consumer version of G+), and others are dispersing to assorted other platforms.  I fully understand the dislike many of you have for Facebook.  Discord can do everything which can be done on G+, Facebook, Twitter, and Skype, and more.  If you all had come to Discord when I first invited you, you would have been able to opt out of a change to their Terms of Service pertaining to arbitration/lawsuit, but some of you weren't listening when I said "Yes, it was started by gamers for gamers, but it has grown well beyond that now."  Some of you weren't listening when I stated, in response to concerns about "some new thing" (as if "MeWe" is some sort of legacy social media platform!), that Discord has been around for over 3 years (almost four now).

You want to disperse to the four winds instead of sticking together where we're more effective?

You want to go to a platform with a puerile name like "MeWe"?

You don't like the fact that I prohibited the divisive and unproductive discussions of "Gun Control vs the 2nd Amendment" and "Religion vs Atheism" in PF on G+?  Guess what?  Those prohibitions stand in PF on FB, but they don't exist in my Discord.  You will be expected to argue in good faith and follow the laws of Logic (and not spew a bunch of sophist bullshit), but as long as you do so and follow the other guidelines and rules (I believe there is only one rule I have set, which is a prohibition on hate speech), go for it.  If the SuperMod, one of the Mods, or I tell you to cool your heels for a bit, though, you should respect that instruction and govern yourselves accordingly.

So you have a choice.  Go disperse and become less effective through dispersal, go to a platform with a name a child could improve, come to FB and put up with Zuckerberg's ineptitude and capitulation to the Atlantic Council, or come to Discord.

Here's the link for the PF group on FB:
Progressive Fire group on Facebook

You'll need to let me know who you are if you be new to FB and want in.

Here's the link to set up an account on Discord and download either the PC client or the phone app (or both;  I use both):
Discord - Free Voice & Text Chat "for Gamers"

Once you've set up an account and downloaded the client and/or app, here's a permanent invitation to my Discord server:
Liv's Livestreams & Vids

You'll get an "NSFW" message upon entry;  that's merely a safety feature I installed.
You'll need to tell me who the fuck you are if you want into the actual server beyond the lobby.  The lobby is only for vetting newcomers.  You'll be able to see the rules and guidelines channel from there, too.  There are a lot of trolls and dipshits roaming around Discord, so I vet newcomers pretty severely, which is why you need to tell me who the fuck you are if you actually want in.

Thanks for your attention to this.  Have a nice day.

~ Giovanna,
Owner of Progressive Fire,
Editor of The Progressive Flame,
PMO Member of Real Progressives,
Philosopher,
YouTuber,
Blogger,
etc.