system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Can you explain the difference between a socialist, a communist and a democratic socialist (LI5)?

People seem to throw the first two around a lot, often times using them to describe the same things, which I find confusing.  Despite this, other people have told me there is a difference between the two, so if so please explain.  The third seems to be the name of a group of political parties in some democracies in Europe, however I gather they have different viewpoints than socialists or communists.

edit: I've been informed it is a Social Democrat, not a democratic socialist, that I was asking about, sorry about the mix up, as I said it's late.

Also, please excuse my poor grammar and crappy spelling, I haven't slept.
gpt
A socialist thinks the means of production should be democratically controlled. Contrary to popular belief it does not mean a welfare state. It has nothing to do with the state in fact. People who advocate a welfare state under capitalism would be called a social democrat. 

A democratic socialist believes socialism can be voted in and is non revolutionary.  

A communist advocates a stateless egalitarian society where resources are publicly owned. Many communists think that a temporary socialist state has to exist first and the state would wither away as things become more equal. These people are called Marxists. Some communists think you can skip the socialist state phase and to communism. Most anarchists fall under this category. Not every anarchist is a communist but all are socialist. 

I over simplified that. It gets more confusing when you realize some Marxists are against the state and overlaps with anarchism heavily. There are also the non communist anarchists like mutualists that advocate a free market on socialist means of production.