What brought me here:
When breadtube became a thing around 2016 it was my refuge from the horrible reactionary shitshow the internet was at the time. It opened me to things further left than Obummer.
I lurked on Reddits sorry excuses for leftist subs and heard them whisper about the CTH sub as being "bad leftists" but they never explained what was bad about them so I checked for myself and checked out the podcast and was like "They aren't bad they're just a bit obnoxious." I didn't really hang out on r/CTH, only saw the occasional post, and I listened to the podcast every now and again (and not at all anymore, stopped listening after the 2020 primaries) and that was about it. Then r/CTH was banned, this place was mentioned and I got curious.
It felt like I had finally found a place that wasn't going to demand I be civil towards Nazis. I wasn't going to be banned for saying "kill all slave owners." I also thought you guys were really funny. So yeah, Ironally r/CTH made you guys more appealing lmao. It also helped that you retained the "fuck being civil to horrible people" energy while at the same time attempting to make sure marginalised groups weren't thrown under the bus.
What made me stay:
A community of weirdos that genuinely
want to make the world a better place and stand up for their marginalised comrades. Whether it's the mutual aid comm helping people the best it can, the news comm shining a light on events the world tries to bury, or simply the movie comm providing a safe fun area to chill, I feel like this place provides something other places on the internet don't. It also is a place I feel like I can ask any questions about leftism and not be called an idiot. You guys taught me things ranging from practical stuff how to take part in my local org, to mundane things how to make a rad bean recipe. I think that's worth something. Also I still think you guys are hilarious.
EDIT: added some more context because I was reminded of stuff I had forgotten.
Back after Bernie 2016 collapsed I started trying to look at the reasons why the Democrats said one thing and seemed to do another (spoilers: it wasn't seeming) and I honed in on what the fuck was up with Trump and found that liberals were fundamentally incapable of articulating why Donald Trump had won. I kept a close eye on the news and believed the bullshit that the walls were closing in because, again, I was ignorant and found no voices that spoke truth.
Then I found a video of the Chapo Trap House guys perfectly stating why liberal humor trying to make fun of Trump was just not fucking funny. They were shitting on liberals and it took me some time to realize that they themselves were not liberals, they were socialists. Or something like socialists. I didn't really understand. Anyway, I listened to them for a long time and it got me interested in politics in a different way, and I kept tabs on the subreddit to see what sort of other perspectives were out there. Kept doing that. Followed the Chapo twitters. Got to know them a bit. Tried to wrap my head around their perspectives and found all the other people they retweeted and who dwelled in their comments, even after the subreddit was killed. Then I found some jerkoff mention chapo.chat in a gloating "they're so unhinged they got banned from reddit" sort of comment which immediately made me think you guys were too cool for reddit so I followed you here.
And continued to lurk for a long time because I was insecure and dealing with a lot of personal issues and just scared of joining yet another online community and making such a gigantic ass of myself I get ostracized or banned. After this place transitioned to Hexbear I finally found the courage to join in and start leaving comments, and eventually start making posts.
The reason I stay here is because it's the only place, the only fucking place on the Internet where discussion of politics does not make me feel like an insane man surrounded by children struggling to pronounce the word "politics" as they cast their team sports mentality on it and don't even think to question things and wonder why the fuck everything sucks so much beyond "it's the brown people's fault." It's a vibrant community of wonderful people with moderators who take absolutely no bullshit and have created -- according to the trans folks here -- one of the most, if not the most trans-accepting and -supporting community online. Every day I come here I find comments that make he laugh or think or just feel like I'm not completely fucking insane when I'm thinking about the fucked state of things.
Coming to this community has given me support and the semblance of a social life when I didn't really have any, and kept me afloat in times of despair. At the very least no matter how shitty things are I can come and laugh at the pissing owl website. It's wonderful. I love you people.