Unfortunately tankie as a word has lost its original meaning. Tankies themselves have worked to dilute its usage, but also liberals have picked up the word and use it indiscriminately against any radical leftists. It was a term specifically for authoritarian "leftists," originally being used to insult and criticize those that supported the USSR's use of tanks against the Hungarian Revolution and China with Tiananmen Square. I myself am an anarchist with a hate for MLs. I used to use tankie a lot, but after moving to Lemmy I realized it was not used the same way as I used it. I myself was getting called a tankie, and anarchists are obviously anything but authoritarian. I think the dilution of the word is a big reason why anti-"tankie" commentary is so prevalent. Most people don't realize they are using it wrong, and so it takes away any meaning when people are using it correctly. Can't take the serious stuff seriously cause its like the boy who cried wolf. I moved on to using the term "red-fash" to avoid the confusion. Plus I blocked Lemmy.ml, so that limits how much red-fash bs I have to put up with. But it definitely isn't perfect, it doesn't block users just the communities. But that does significantly cut back the amount of red-fash bs I have to see.