Online knitting and crocheting community Ravelry has banned all content supporting President Donald Trump, effective June 23.
We are banning support of Donald Trump and his administration on Ravelry. We cannot provide a space that is inclusive of all and also allow support for open white supremacy. More details: https://t.co/hEyu9LjqXa
— Ravelry (@ravelry) June 23, 2019
A statement posted Sunday to the group’s website outlined the new policy:
We are banning support of Donald Trump and his administration on Ravelry.
This includes support in the form of forum posts, projects, patterns, profiles, and all other content.
The policy noted that, should unacceptable project data be uploaded to the site, it would still be accessible to the person who had uploaded it. The statement also appeared to suggest that uploading such content could be grounds for a permanent ban from the site.
We will never delete your Ravelry project data for any reason and if a project needs to be removed from the site, we will make sure that you have access to your data. If you are permanently banned from Ravelry, you will still be able to access any patterns that you purchased.
“We cannot provide a space that is inclusive of all and also allow support for open white supremacy. Support of the Trump administration is undeniably support for white supremacy,” the statement concluded. (RELATED: Ilhan Omar Calls Stephen Miller A White Nationalist, Trump Jr. Hits Back Immediately)
Additional notes on the policy clarified that users were still permitted to support the Trump administration, they just would not be permitted to discuss it on the site. The notes also indicated that the intent was not to ban conservatives or Republicans.
Screen Shot/Ravelry.com
Updates also requested that users assist site moderators in flagging forum posts and projects that might be in violation of the new policy, clarifying that posts made prior to the policy’s implementation would be exempt for the time being. “You can help by flagging any of the following items if they constitute support for Trump or his administration,” the site read, noting also that unacceptable avatars would not yet be included in the list of offenses.
Ravelry’s policy was taken almost in its entirety from a similar policy implemented by RPG.net, a role-playing game forum, last year.
RPG.net introduced the policy on October 29, 2018, with the following comment:
The following policy announcement is the result of over a year of serious debate by the moderation team. The decision is as close to unanimous as we ever get. It will not be the subject of further debate. We have fully considered the downsides and ultimately decided we have to stay true to our values. We will not pretend that evil isn’t evil, or that it becomes a legitimate difference of political opinion if you put a suit and tie on it.
Many of the policy points and notes were identical to those posted Sunday at Ravelry.com — which did credit RPG.net for writing the policy — and included a number of links to stories asserting that the Trump administration was acting on behalf of white supremacists.
In spite of claims that the site was not making any endorsement, more than 160 pussy hat patterns remained active on Ravelry — and the original pattern on the site boasted over 12,000 projects made. Those hats, made popular at the Women’s March held just after President Trump’s inauguration, have become a ubiquitous symbol of the anti-Trump “resistance.”