The moderator of a cryptocurrency Reddit claims a takeover attempt of his subreddit, emphasizing the need to maintain good online forums.

Going by the handle CobraTheymos, a reference to two well-known moderators of Bitcoin forums, the moderator presides over a minor cryptocurrency subreddit, /r/BitcoinForks, dedicated to the various forks of Bitcoin in existence. In a post on /r/BTC, CobraTheymos claimed that his subreddit was under threat from Bitcoin moderators attempting a takeover:

Well it just so happens one of the most vocal moderators of r/bitcoin (will only abbreviate his name, others have tried too) tried to take over my forum by putting in a request with Reddit’s main moderation team. The claim is that I was squatting, my name is supposedly a parody, and that the forum was inactive. Coincidently these multiple requests written by the mod ‘S&D,’ took place at the same time r/CryptoCurrency had seen some moderation changes.”

CobraTheymos then goes own to list the various online forums ostensibly controlled by a small group of individuals, including most of the more popular Bitcoin discussion forums.

Censorship, sock puppets, and trolling have affected the cryptocurrency landscape

The use of various narrative manipulation tactics in the cryptocurrency world are nothing new. The narrative war in the Bitcoin community has been extensively documented, which resulted in a split into two major coins and communities, Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash. The major general-purpose cryptocurrency subreddit, /r/cryptocurrency, has experienced similar controlling attempts, with a recent moderator shakeup occurring. In particular, this forum has experienced a significant amount of brigading and trolling against Dash, and a cursory search will reveal that nearly every single top search result of Dash returns a highly negative post, most containing misinformation and hyperbole. Meanwhile, a quick search for Monero reveals the exact opposite.

Dash has taken a purposeful approach to building a strong community

In light of the negative effects of censorship and narrative manipulation, the Dash community has maintained a strong stance to both encourage a productive and respectful community, and aggressively weed out trolling and other attacks and manipulation attempts. Because of this, other actors in the cryptospace have noted that Dash’s community stands out as an anomaly in the cryptocurrency world for its professional and mature conduct:

To help preserve this, Dash Force has long implemented the “Mod Squad” program, reaching out to prominent community members and engaging with them directly to maintaining the community’s friendly and productive atmosphere. Additionally, the treasury has funded the maintenance of strong community forums in the past, in particularly the Dash Nation Discord channel.