Hello. It's the morning after I realised that knitting is essentially playing out what happened in other interest/hobby circles (most notably gaming and comics). I am still in shock that we have to say Nazis are a hard, hard no. But here we are.

I'm pondering whether I should write on my blog about all this - including some of the screen grabs I've collected - but I don't know if I am brave enough. I'm stretched pretty thin as it is and am already pouring from an empty cup.

So, here are some tweets summarising what really should be a long blog post.

A) I've been anticipating a move from the alt-right ppl who left Rav after the Tr*mp ban. We've seen the ham-fisted fb groups and the ill-conceived lists circulating. I was sure the smart ones were biding their time. They always do.

2) I've also noticed a lot of ppl staying on Rav despite disagreeing, and using IG to form communities around their own beliefs. I noticed the Danish leader of G*n*ration Identity (a far-right org targeting young ppl) as being active, for instance.

3) And I've seen plenty of ppl who are not politically aware being frustrated with the continuing discussions in knitting. So, there is a ready-made group who just wants a quiet community with no fuss.

4) And this is just to say, the scene is primed for bad faith actors to come in as soon as they see an opportunity. And the opportunity came with the new Rav layout roll-out. It is what it is. It's textbook, really.

5) And so here we are having to say that supporting Nazis is a hard no. We also have to take personal responsibility and ask ourselves if the voices we amplify/RT/like are who they say they are. These ppl do not wear their agenda on their sleeves.

6) I know that it'd be super-easy if bad ppl wore badges so we cld identify them. Heck, I've been fooled before and I think I'm pretty attuned to dog-whistles. But before we jump on bandwagons and start promoting sites or hashtags (or even RT accounts), do research.

7) I also urge you to read up on g*merg*te (replace the asterisk with an a).