The Rise and Fall of /r/AskTrumpSupporters
Once upon a time there was a subreddit called AskTrumpSupporters. They started with noble enough intentions; show the world what THEY saw in President Trump. Founded by [deleted] in a bygone era, they started out with all the optimism afforded to the young and spirited. They wanted people who didn't support Trump to come and speak to them, to ask their questions, to learn how to truly Make America Great Again.
Well, that's how it started, anyway.
But the years have not been kind to ATS. For starters, Trump did not make America quite as great as he claimed. Quickly ATS was filled with hardball questions, far beyond what they saw during the campaign-era.
At first they said, "Hey, that's not what Trump believes" pointing to their list of Trump's positions. But then that became too onerous to explain when he kept changing his own positions, so it was far easier to simply take it down.
(Around the same time they quietly took down "THE RULE OF LAW WILL PREVAIL" from the wiki when it became obvious Trump didn't share that opinion.)
Soon the ratio of Nimble Navigators (as they call their Trump supporters) who were willing to answer questions dwindled. The incredibly optimistic MAGA! system for highlighting "quality Nimble Navigator responses" went unused. In fact, the slinging of "cuck" and "schlonged" was so common that they posted a convenient definitions list, to help out folks who had blissfully gone through life without needing cuckoldry explained to them by a fourteen-year-old child over the Internet.
Quickly things entered a pattern; Trump would do something horrible. Nimble Navigators would explain why it didn't really happen. Trump would clarify the next day that it did, indeed, happen. And every day less and less Nimble Navigators would show up to answer questions. Soon it went from dozens to A dozen to maybe a handful at best.
And, perhaps, that would be the end of our story: a slow march to irrelevancy. But like so many things Trump-based these days, a strange twist no one saw coming was just around the corner.
It all started with THE GREAT QUITTING, the aftermath of Trump's infamous Helsinki Summit. It boiled down to a handful of the already-scarce Nimble Navigators quitting their support for Trump. The reaction from the mods was telling; they cited a rule about "incivility" (sound familiar?), shuttered the thread, and banned dozens of folks, mostly those who were asking the questions.
This led to a new wave of unofficial rules: No encouraging people to turn against Trump, no swearing, no disparaging remarks towards the mods, etc. etc. Nothing particularly new in the world of conservative safe spaces.
But! There was another interesting side-effect, one that the mods of ATS did not think about at the time. If they go ban-crazy, and start kicking out the people asking questions... what's the point of the sub?
And though people are still asking questions, it was clear that the pace was not the same. With fewer and fewer Nimble Navigators to answer, and less hard questions getting mod approval, it seemed the Helsinki Summit might have been the sinking point...
... but what if we started allowing Trump supporters to ask Trump supporters? It's brilliant! Assuming that you really don't give a shit about trying to look even vaguely impartial.
And so the mods decided that a subreddit "designed to provide a way for those who do not support President Trump to better understand the views of Trump Supporters, and why they hold those views" would benefit from allowing Trump supporters to ask Trump supporters about why being a Trump supporter is so awesome.
Keep in mind that, thanks to the endless rules of the mods, NON Trump supporters aren't allowed to have top-level comments. So this is Trump supporters asking questions of Trump supporters, and all the top comments MUST be Trump supporters. I am truly and fully uncertain if a more circlejerky thing is possible.
Some lovely examples from the recent surge!
70 shot, 11 dead in Chicago this weekend. Should the federal government get involved?
President Trump's Approval Rating Among Republicans is at 90% and His Supporters are Sticking by him. Does this describe you?
Democratic congressional candidate is catfishing potential voters on hook up apps. What are your thoughts on the ethics of these campaign tactics?
Should Peter Strzok remain employed by the FBI?
What do you think of this recent tweet "The Fake News... purposely cause great division & distrust. They can also cause War! They are very dangerous & sick!
Trump supporters, what is the most flagrant instance of bias or blatantly false article you've seen from a prominent media outlet regarding Trump?
What do you make of the recent poll showing Trumps approval rating at 50%? What do you think of the 29% approval he now retains among black voters? What does this mean for the midterms?
What is your opinion on the hiring of Sarah Jeong as part of the editorial board, and the questions that arise from her past tweets?
And on and on and on. As you can see, the place has now transformed into just another dumping ground for conservative talking points. Basically T_D with slightly more interactivity... assuming you don't catch a ban.
Of course I probably shoulda seen this coming. To quote the mods themselves (before they removed it from the wiki)
Posted Aug 6, 2018, 5:37 PM UTC
So. Fucking Sad.
Donald Trump: great or greatest?
The Colbert Report would have been so good during the Trump presidency.
He's basically turned the late Show into Colbert report 2.
While you're definitely right, he's still crushing it.
eh it's kind of taken out of context here. The idea is that the top comment should come from a Trump Supporter, because it's AskTrumpSupporters. This is so there's not some massive circlejerk for every question.
That being said I got banned from /ats yesterday for pointing out that the conversation dries up at a certain point in the thread
Absolutely agree. Up until the last few weeks it was a necessary rule to prevent dogpiling.
... but, once it stops being non-supporters asking those questions the rule seems to do the opposite of preventing massive circlejerks. Just my hawt take, though.
It's one of the reasons I think ATS is hitting the end of its run. Those rules were created over two-years to address a very specifically built sub. Specialized, even. Changing a fundamental aspect of the sub, but not changing the rules, seems a bit like hammering a square peg into a circular hole.
cheers, I agree with everything you said