I was a member for about 12 years. As the site has always had a vocal leftist agenda, I always kept my head down and concentrated on using the site as a place for all things yarn! I briefly joined a conservative knitters group, but left after a few weeks, as I didn't feel it was the place for politics. I am pretty politically active and loved that I had a place to get away from it all.
Fast forward to the comrade Casey's crack down on conservative talk, patterns and eventually posts, which culminated with his banning anything positive that was said or posted or in regards to POTUS. But left for all to see were the Fu@k Trump items, other hateful, and inappropriate items.
Then the purge began. People started to have their accounts closed, designers had patterns removed, and many business owners were hunted down on other social media platforms and bullied and attacked, forced to take a pro or con stance on this situation. Some people were so hounded that they closed businesses, had their followers harassed and some even experienced health problems because of it. I had my account closed by them, but luckily I had backed up all my purchased patterns sever months earlier.
Many people who oppose these fascist tactics have gone into hiding. Secret and closed groups are springing up. Groups are afraid that the most virulent of the pro-Rav groups will infiltrate and harass members, as they have done on Instagram and Twitter already.
Those who use force to silence, bully and harass those who don't agree with them need to be shown for the jerks they are. Once the dust settles I will be looking for alternative places to talk about yarn and knitting and leave politics out of it.
There is also new information that is looking like their payment platforms also post a security risk for anyone making purchases or selling through their site.
I have tried to reach out to them via email about refunds for purchases I made from them for add on usage, and why my account was shut down, but they refuse to answer.