Thread by @ydeigin

🧵 WHAT REALLY HAPPENED IN DRASTIC

Ok, we need to set the record straight about how the DRASTIC schism happened. And no, it’s not because of the Radical R, although many of us did want to change it once we realized Billy originally used it for his RAGE University years ago:

Needless to say, most DRASTIC members want nothing to do with such radical anarchist messaging which we never signed up to endorse:

But what precipitated our decision to separate from Billy was the revelation that he appropriated the group email access and his subsequent refusal to comply with group’s majority vote to share it with the group’s appointee.

The original group email was created by @RdeMaistre, and he then shared its password with EdgeOfTheLeaf who was the website admin at the time. Later Rodolphe found himself locked out, and then learned it was Billy who changed not only the password but also the recovery email.

Billy then told Rodolphe a ridiculous story how EdgeOfTheLeaf deleted his Twitter account because of either getting cancer or fearing that he has compromised his anonymity. Surprisingly, Edge didn’t bother telling anyone else this or any other story before disappearing.

We found out about all this when @Rossana38510044 challenged Billy for his dictatorial behavior over access to journalists & filmmakers, but instead of agreeing to restore group access to email Billy insulted Rossana and then locked her and 3 more members out of the group.

That was on October 2, and a multi-day crisis ensued where several members tried to convince Billy to share group email access but to no avail. The group then held a formal vote to compel Billy to share email access with at least me but he still refused.

At that point we had no other choice but to create a new email and website, as Billy controlled both at the time. However, revealing his true terrorist nature, he threatened to engage in a slanderous smear campaign against me if we chose to make the new website and email public:

The group agreed that we do not negotiate with terrorists, and after we set up the new email and constructed the website, we made the announcement of distancing from Billy and his website.

Changing what DRASTIC stands for was proposed *after* the decision to split off from Billy, and was put to a vote in the original DRASTIC group, to which we were added back once Billy was removed.

As Andre and WhereIsHuangYanling left the group before that vote, 21 members remained, so 13 votes for and 1 abstention were enough to pass the proposal.

In closing, we never wanted to make this dirty laundry public, but with Billy’s misinformation campaign trying to portray the split as a result of disagreement on the name change we had to set the record straight. And no, rebranding was not my idea, although I fully support it.

Also, I am not trying to become “the leader of DRASTIC” or portray myself as some sort of “coordinator” — DRASTIC is and will remain decentralized and fully democratic. But I *will* always stand up to bullying, as that is something I simply cannot tolerate.

This was meant to be this video: