spirit

Thanks for bring this up. I agree with you. They straight up denied those incidents. However, the conclusion of my comment still stands. They are indeed “tankie”.

The term is also used to describe people who endorse, defend, or deny the crimes committed by communist leaders such as Vladimir Lenin,[7][8] Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, Pol Pot, and Kim il-Sung.

Source

They did denied the genocide and massacre though. See https://lemmy.world/comment/311333, also https://lemmy.world/comment/329485.

People should go to whatever instance they feel comfortable with. At the moment, lemmy.ml is closed for signup though.

Beehaw.org removed the top link.

I have no opinion about donation or usage of lemmy, but I understand why you are unhappy.

Happy to help. :)

Update 3: @dessalines@lemmy.ml did stated they (singular) disagree that a genocide is taking place.

Update 2: My conclusion

• @dessalines@lemmy.ml, one of the developer of Lemmy, is a “tankie” who refuted the Uyghurs genocide.
• @dessalines@lemmy.ml is also an admin of and funds the website Lemmygrad.ml.

Update: So I dug around a little deeper, and found that

• @dessalines@lemmy.ml is /u/parentis_shotgun on Reddit. Source: https://archive.is/Ky9vd
• /u/parentis_shotgun moderates some subreddits, including r/InformedTankie, r/asktankies, r/GunZedong. Source: https://www.reddit.com/user/parentis_shotgun
• /u/parentis_shotgun got banned from r/socialism for “refuting the ‘China is genociding Uyghurs’”. Source: https://archive.is/CwFZC
• /u/parentis_shotgun then launched lemmy. Source: https://archive.is/132fW
• @muad_dibber@lemmygrad.ml, one of the admin of lemmygrad.ml, referred to themself as @dssalines@lemmygrad.ml in a post on lemmygrad. They also claimed that they built Lemmy. It seems like @dssalines@lemmygrad.ml changed their username. Source: https://archive.is/LlzKb
• At this point, I am convinced that the admin @muad_dibber@lemmygrad.ml is @dessalines@lemmy.ml.
• Another admin over lemmygrad.ml said that Lemmygrad is paid by @muad_dibber@lemmygrad.ml, while another mod said that @muad_dibber@lemmygrad.ml is funded by the NED. Source: https://archive.is/G5Dh7
• What is the NED? I have no idea, but Google suggests that could be The National Endowment for Democracy (NED), an independent, nonprofit foundation dedicated to the growth and strengthening of democratic institutions around the world.
• Lemmy was also funded by NLnet with financial support from the European Commission’s Next Generation Internet programme. Source: https://nlnet.nl/project/Lemmy/

On another topic, there are rumors circulating that we are fascists or supported genocide. These claims are completely false, and like most viral twitter threads, are coming from a single Mastodon user on a personal vendetta who didn’t provide any sources. Such slander doesn’t deserve any response and is best left ignored.

• Previous discussion on the moderation policy on lemmy.ml including response from @dessalines@lemmy.ml : Expressing concerns about moderation policy on lemmy.ml
• Accusation of a Mastodon user (probably the one they are referring to): https://mstdn.social/@feditips/106835057054633379
• Essays from @dessalines@lemmy.ml: https://github.com/dessalines/essays/blob/master/socialism_faq.md

Update: More info about @dessalines@lemmy.ml