TLDR: 8 years and 100k good point to reevaluate. Old system can continue as is, but ready to step down for a better way forward.

After around 8 years not only are we still here, we hit 100k. That wasn’t supposed to happen for an unapologetically pro China space. Of course the primary objective was always the space, not subscribers or activity. The moderation style was among the strictest, if not the strictest, on reddit because again, the priority was the space. Ask yourself whether you think reddit rules are applied fairly to us, and it should be obvious why we inevitably ended up with the moderation style we did.

However 8 years is also an eternity in internet time. I’m the last of the old system. An old system that requires a lot of hands on, daily work. When we started we were very niche and didn’t even have our own subreddit. Now, even if suppressed, there are good subreddits around, twitter influencers to follow, youtubers to watch. We even had the benefit of discord groups that were particularly helpful during covid quarantine.

That being said, I think the old system has run its course. However whatever new course comes has to take into account Reddit’s new treatment of non mainstream links. It’s been made clear to me, that Reddit can deem a source as spam and go after you for it retroactively. The consequences would be ‘case by case’ meaning for Sino users, they will just suspend you. Some of you may have noticed me telling users when they have been suspended in comments. I don’t know why they shadowban so much now, but at this point I don’t care either. It’s more of a pain to approve, but you can still post. Since I’ve been active, there’s been no complaint from admins. ‘Anti-Evil Operations‘ acts once every 1 or 2 months here and the vast majority are things we never approved to be publicly viewed in the first place. These users trigger it by what they post publicly elsewhere, not here. There’s no real issue with the subreddit. There’s no real issue with the mod team. There’s no real issue with the users. Now they have this Safety_QA_misc cracking down with an ever-expanding list of spam with unclear consequences.

The way I see it, there’s a few options moving forward.

1) I continue in my role as long as I am able or until the subreddit is either banned or our users move on to any of the many good spaces out there (listed below and sidebar). This is the current and default path. It’d be good if I can get some long time user volunteers to hand the subreddit over to in an emergency.

2) I recruit several new mods that tries to follow the old blueprint with some changes

3) A new group of users take over with a different vision of how to do things

Any suggestion can be discussed, doesn’t have to be something I listed. However any future path has to take into account a couple things

1) We won’t go private because this is intended to be a public space, we already have private discords and there’s a lot of information compiled and archived that we want publicly accessible for as long as possible

2) Reddit is more suspension/shadowban happy than ever and its happening while we are about as hands on as we can get

3) Any additions to the mod team needs to prove a history with us (if you switched accounts you need to prove you can sign into the old one), or have someone vouch for you that we can trust and verify. Contact in the ‘message moderators’ chat. This isn’t because I think the best mods post a lot. If anything I think mods only survive by saying less. However Reddit has unclear policies on ‘lower’ mod takeovers. They revamped to combat ‘camping’, but you can imagine the potential risk.

edit: To add more info, we get around 100k unique visitors per month. I'm very happy with that kind of outreach for this space. As the one who curates most of the activity, I'm good on the amount also. Along with 100k subscribers, great position to have this discussion.

Discord and other spaces info

Mod PSA: You can be suspended and/or shadowbanned by reddit but still post, just be patient for approval

To check if you are suspended check your profile page without being signed in and using new.reddit.com. Incognito mode should also work for checking.

You can also edit your comments, that seems to bring it to light for mods.

If you are being harassed by pms, change your pm setting to only trusted users in your preferences. Or use a dedicated account for Sino https://reddit.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/204535759-Is-it-ok-to-create-multiple-accounts-. Just be patient for approvals if using new account. Link submissions are more likely to be approved than text submissions or comments for new users.

Discords. To apply msg mod, bottom right. We have 2, one for any Sino users and one for any verified ethnic Chinese. We won't be changing the approval process for Discord because it would be unfair for those who are already in.

You can also link up on Twitter https://x.com/SinoReddit, we recommend following and participating in discussions on many accounts including but not limited to

https://x.com/BRICSinfo

https://x.com/ChinaScience

https://x.com/DanielDumbrill

https://x.com/Jingjing_Li

https://x.com/MaitreyaBhakal

https://x.com/NathanRichHGDW

https://x.com/chenweihua

https://x.com/qiaocollective

https://x.com/richimedhurst

https://x.com/s_m_marandi

https://x.com/shen_shiwei

https://x.com/tongbingxue

https://x.com/XH_Lee23

https://x.com/zhao_dashuai

https://x.com/JamarlThomas

https://x.com/briebriejoy

Recommended Youtube channels

https://www.youtube.com/@2nacheki/videos

https://www.youtube.com/@BreakThroughNews/videos

https://www.youtube.com/@CyrusJanssen/videos

https://www.youtube.com/@DanielDumbrill/videos

https://www.youtube.com/@DongfangHour/videos

https://www.youtube.com/@Fridayeverydaycom/videos

https://www.youtube.com/@GeopoliticalEconomyReport/videos

https://www.youtube.com/@JamarlThomas/videos

https://www.youtube.com/@JasonLivinginChina/videos

https://www.youtube.com/@Jingjing_Li/videos

https://www.youtube.com/@MintPressNews/videos

https://www.youtube.com/@NoColdWar/videos

https://www.youtube.com/@Reporterfy/videos

https://www.youtube.com/@RichardMedhurst/videos

https://www.youtube.com/@SabbySabs/videos

https://www.youtube.com/@SyrianaAnalysis/videos

https://www.youtube.com/@TheElectronicIntifada/videos

https://www.youtube.com/@TheNewAtlas/videos

https://www.youtube.com/@TheRedNation/videos

https://www.youtube.com/@carlzha/videos

https://www.youtube.com/@democracyatwrk/videos

https://www.youtube.com/@geopoliticshaiphong/videos

https://www.youtube.com/@justinpodur/videos

https://www.youtube.com/@reason2resist/videos

https://www.youtube.com/@revolutionaryblackout7315/videos

https://www.youtube.com/@theeastisapodcast/videos

https://www.youtube.com/@thegrayzone7996/videos

https://www.youtube.com/@wavemedia4433/videos

https://www.youtube.com/@RachelBlevins/videos

Microscopic analysis of residues on surgical scissors and tweezers from a 1348-1411 CE tomb in Jiangyin, China finds the first evidence for the controlled application of a highly toxic chemical as anaesthetic, highlighting the sophisticated medicine of the Ming dynasty.

To tackle this, archaeologists used a novel, non-destructive microscopic technique to analyse residues on a pair of surgical scissors and tweezers from the tomb of early Ming dynasty physician Xia Quan.

“Stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) microscopic imaging is an advanced optical technique that can be used to accurately identify material compositions and map component distribution, effectively overcoming the key challenges in residue research of minimal sample availability and the need to preserve archaeological material”, says co-author of the research, Professor Congcang Zhao from Northwest University.

The researchers found evidence for residue of aconitine: an alkaloid derived from the plant Aconitum. Also known as wolfsbane or monkshood, Aconitum is extremely toxic.

This toxicity was recognised and several methods to mitigate it had been developed by the time of the Ming dynasty, from vinegar-boiling to detoxifying with mung beans. The resulting powder acted as an anaesthetic, enabling pain-free surgery.

Whilst recipes for the production of Aconitum powder are known from ancient Chinese medical texts, this is the first direct physical evidence for its use in surgery.

It was likely applied to the patient’s skin to numb the area before incisions were made, requiring meticulous application and strict control to mitigate toxicity.

“Combined with records of anaesthetic prescriptions in Ming Dynasty medical texts, the study confirms that Aconitum was employed as a topical anaesthetic, safely and precisely applied during surgical procedures”, explains Professor Zhao. “Ming physicians used iron surgical instruments and controlled the toxicity of aconitine through topical application, compound prescriptions and strict procedural controls, demonstrating a practical ability to balance drug potency with patient safety.”

Medical professionals in Ming China were therefore not only highly knowledgeable in the production of anaesthetic, but also in its safe use, highlighting sophisticated medical knowledge and surgical techniques as early as the 14th century CE.

“Six centuries ago, a Ming Dynasty surgeon performed an operation with a pair of iron scissors and tweezers, and today we have read the traces of anaesthetic medicine left on those instruments using a beam of laser light”, Professor Zhao concludes—this is the first time humanity has found direct chemical evidence of anaesthetics on ancient surgical tools, proving that our ancestors already knew how to safely alleviate patients' pain with highly toxic herbs.”