Sounds like someone needs to read up on the Maoist idea of the "mass line". This theory serves as a Marxist justification for why organized participatory democracy is rational and productive.
Leftist Infighting: A community dedicated to allowing leftists to vent their frustrations
The purpose of this community is sort of a "work out your frustrations by letting it all out" where different leftist tendencies can vent their frustrations with one another and more assertively and directly challenge one another. Hostility is allowed, but any racist, fascist, or reactionary crap wont be tolerated, nor will explicit threats.
trust me on this comrade, the people that call you tankie or state bootlicker are not left at all. also, socialist countries do have mechanisms of direct democracy.
Direct democracy is very prominent on a local level in at least Cuba and China (at least that's my impression), and probably in the DPRK, Vietnam and Laos, too. Having no elected representatives is completely unfeasible on a national level for any country with more than a hundred thousand or so citizens (and even that's stretching it IMO -- I doubt most people would be interested in keeping track of the effects of policies and events on tens of thousands of other people, especially if that's not their full-time job), which is why AES countries use representative systems but ensure that officials can be stripped of their positions if their work is unsatisfactory. With that said, a disagreement on that front doesn't justify insults
(obviously, people who reject you for recommending Capital are just unserious and/or ignorant, likely both)