The Official Feedback Thread

[-Blue-]

It could just be that I've always had a reading and learning disability and so sometimes when I read something I still have to read it a few times to understand it, but it read to me that Aerith's post wasn't ever accusing anyone of such heinous actions on here. Just that anyone going online or just anywhere in general should realize that not everyone is going to have your best interest at heart.


It doesn't even have to apply to what was discussed above. For example a boss that acts like your friend could gut you like a fish the next day when it aligns with their interests. Your co-workers where you work can act friendly (or friends in general) but they're really wanting to sabotage you when you least expect it. Someone out there is waiting to scam some sweet old lady out of her life savings because she's too trusting. It's terrible it has to be this way, but there are truly despicable people out there.

Katie Beers is an example of this. She came from a troubled home from what I remember and a friend of the family became someone she really looked up to and adored. From what I remember he took her to an arcade place close to her birthday and then became a missing person. The man had dug out a hidden dungeon to keep her in and she even played in the ditch not realizing its future vile purposes. She survived and was found 2 weeks later. Me and my sister were almost kidnapped in broad daylight by a man who pulled up to our bus stop and if it wasn't for our neighbor chasing him away I don't know what would've happened. It does happen and it's good to be aware, but again I would never accuse anyone here of anything even remotely close to this.

I didn't catch any of the troll infestation or deleted posts, but I'm so sorry that happened to you. Or anyone that was affected by those posts.

 

[Jeremy]

i'm not going to read previous replies in depth, because recent events in this thread have put me in a very dark headspace, which is probably what some people here want, and the staff have done nothing but mishandle it. still, i think i deserve to say my piece, even if it gets deleted.

stop spreading misinformation about me. stop making false accusations and misinterpretations about me. stop harassing me.

nowhere have i said that child abuse and/or grooming are rare experiences, shouldn't be taken seriously or are outlier events. i myself am a victim of child abuse, grooming and repeated bullying, online and offline, that has now extended to even this website of all places, but nowhere did i force anyone into sharing their trauma or drag it out of them, so i will spare you the details of all mine. it won't help, and given the bias on this site, i will probably face repercussions for daring to share it if anyone were to believe me anyway.

the inaction towards what happened last night is appalling. i refuse to let it be swept quietly under the rug. you know full well i saw the posts and account, because you also deleted my post asking you to handle it after an hour. (and even that was after someone had to DM you offsite.) i still have the screenshots. where is the post telling people to stop being vile, ableist and blatantly homophobic towards me? you could manage one for people rightfully calling trolls by that moniker, but not this? those posts were up long enough for plenty of others to see them. this wasn't just a regular troll, this was full-on targeted harassment mocking me, all the way down to the account name, but there's been no public address of it or private acknowledgement/apology. furthermore, if mods are so neutral and unbiased, why was ladydestani out here appearing to choose sides in an issue between users and supporting misinterpretations of my words/views? not to mention doing so while a now-deleted post continuing the harassment towards me was still up. you couldn't delete, edit or respond to that? was showing your bias just more important at the time?

do better. the real life consequences of all this have already been bad, but they could've been a lot worse had this happened to me even just a few weeks ago. think about that for once.

Hi daringred, I'm not following what you mean when you say "mishandled" or "inaction," because I see that the troll account was removed very quickly- about an hour after registration. The staff member who was notified about the incident was actually unavailable, but dropped what they were doing to log in to the forum and cleaned up the posts within about 5 minutes.

But beyond this situation, I think it may be beneficial to reflect on some of the recent points of contention in this thread. It seems that you may have misunderstood one of the posts and have taken it very personally. Needless to say, we absolutely cannot have forum members calling others "dense" or using other such insults.

 

[daringred_]

Hi daringred, I'm not following what you mean when you say "mishandled" or "inaction," because I see that the troll account was removed very quickly- about an hour after registration. The staff member who was notified about the incident was actually unavailable, but dropped what they were doing to log in to the forum and cleaned up the posts within about 5 minutes.

But beyond this situation, I think it may be beneficial to reflect on some of the recent points of contention in this thread. It seems that you may have misunderstood one of the posts and have taken it very personally. Needless to say, we absolutely cannot have forum members calling others "dense" or using other such insults.

you are joking right? i get openly harassed with homophobia on YOUR site, and you're turning this back on me over miscommunication? as if aerith didn't do the exact same thing at the end of her response? no apology, no public accountability or condemnation, your response is to victim blame. because i used the word dense? which is a damn adjective, not an insult. meanwhile gabby's patronizing post touting blatant falsehoods is still up, and i don't see you mentioning that either. it's eye opening to know the staff team have a very clear bias against certain users to the point of all but condoning harassment, even at the expense of physical harm. this is the same nonsense you pulled at the start of this thread when airing seliph's dirty laundry, and it's clear you haven't listened whatsoever to people's criticism.

 

[Saylor]

I really appreciate that staff member quickly deleting the account even though they were busy elsewhere, but I have to say now that some other members of staff have been online and available I do think there should be some sort of acknowledgment from them about what happened. When people felt like Goose was being piled on a bunch of people came to their defense (including Jeremy to tell us to keep things on topic), but yesterday there was a whole account made to harasss daringred_ (with a little shot taken at -Lumi- I think too because I guess all lesbians are the same person) that was extremely homophobic and those posts were just quietly deleted with no acknowledgement or apology to the affected individual. If you're going to publicly rebuke the usage of words that you believe to be insults, can we also please condemn targeted homophobic harassment campaigns?

 

[-Lumi-]

Hi daringred, I'm not following what you mean when you say "mishandled" or "inaction," because I see that the troll account was removed very quickly- about an hour after registration. The staff member who was notified about the incident was actually unavailable, but dropped what they were doing to log in to the forum and cleaned up the posts within about 5 minutes.

But beyond this situation, I think it may be beneficial to reflect on some of the recent points of contention in this thread. It seems that you may have misunderstood one of the posts and have taken it very personally. Needless to say, we absolutely cannot have forum members calling others "dense" or using other such insults.

Jeremy,

I am so confused and lost by this response.

It was very, very kind of Oblivia to remove the account and the posts as quickly as she did. I am incredibly thankful to her that she did so even while she was out and otherwise busy. I am in no way upset with the speed at which she took care of the account after being made aware.

I also completely understand why she didn't make a formal post about it because again, at the time, she was busy.

What I am confused by and what Daringred is rightfully hurt by is the complete lack of acknowledgement about what happened.

When Oblivia got that horrible email we were all made aware and told that it was inappropriate. When the staff felt as though we were ganging up on Chris we were again told that what was happening was inappropriate. When the most recent conversation in this thread felt like it was becoming "too much" you once again appeared to tell us that we were out of line, that we needed to remember not to insult each other.

However, when an account was created *solely* to harm Daringred it's met with silence. The posts the account made were horrible and I truly believe if Oblivia hadn't been able to step in when she did they would've continued and only gotten worse.

Daringred is completely within her right to be looking at you for some kind of acknowledgement. For you to tell the community that what happened was not okay, that that kind of hateful behaviour will not be tolerated. Instead it was ignored and while the posts were deleted - people still saw them, and it does speak volumes that it was never formally addressed.

The user created an account and targeted her for her sexuality, her mental health (calling her deranged), and was bullying and belittling posts she had made. Instead of acknowledging that and checking in to see if she was okay after this you end your response by telling *her* that calling another user dense is out of line?

I really hope you can see the hypocrisy in that decision and how awful this situation must be for her.

 

[Xara]

I wasn't planning on posting in here again because I'm genuinely heartbroken over the loss of what was my safe space just 4 months ago and how every single situation that has been addressed in this thread has been handled (or Not handled), but I also wanted to touch briefly on what happened yesterday.

Jeremy, I feel you are minimizing what happened yesterday by just referring to the situation as a "troll account". What happened wasn't just the typical troll account or bot joining just to post spam, it was an account that was created solely to target, mock, and demean daringred_ while also taking a little dig at -Lumi- with their "seasonal lesbian" user title.

Their username was deranged_lesbian, which was daringred_'s user title for the longest time. They quoted this post of hers and repeated this part of it

that's a topic i'd like addressed, frankly.

several times, mockingly, in large font, and then hit her with a condescending "calm down, luv" which is a name that bothered daring just a couple days ago when someone else called her that. They also made multiple posts that emphasized and mocked the fact that daring is a lesbian, and stated that she's obsessed with Gabby.

Regardless of any of the conversations that daring has participated in, your personal stance(s) on them or her, and/or miscommunications/misinterpretations, an account being made solely to antagonize another user in such a blatantly homophobic, childish way is insane and unacceptable. You're right that users calling other users "dense" is not great (and I'm saying that generally, not in regards to anything that's been said in any of the recent discussions that've happened beyond this one, because I was not staying in the loop and I'm not in a headspace rn to read/analyze/discuss any of it in a way that would actually be helpful), but neither is someone creating an account just to call someone deranged. Two wrongs do not make a right. And, I say this with as much respect as possible, you focusing more on daring's posts in here rather than the troll account itself and the harm it's understandably caused her, it almost feels like you're trying to justify the creation of it and the actions of whoever created it.

I appreciate that Oblivia took care of it as soon as she was made aware of it despite being busy and her understandably taking a step back from here, but again, this was not a typical troll/bot account that was created just to spread spammy bs, and therefore shouldn't have been treated like it was afterwards (deleting the account and its posts without a word). It should have been addressed (not specifically by Oblivia, but by someone), if not publicly, then at least privately with daring. her anger and upset by the creation of the account itself and then the silence afterwards is understandable, regardless of anything else.

also. unrelated. if anyone who's messaged me in the past month and I haven't responded to (which is. everyone) sees this, I am very sorry. life has been Not Good At All and I am in genuine hell, but I am trying my best and I will try to respond so, so soon.

 

[Gabby]

Hey, just wanted to make something clear: I do not support, am not affiliated with, nor appreciate what the two recent troll accounts were doing/saying/posting/liking/etc. They liked a bunch of my posts and I have no idea who this person was. I don't really supporting bandwagoning or dog piling on to daringred either, much like in my defense of Goosey (gotta admit, he did get me). My previous post to daringred was intended to be my final post on the matter. So, to whatever troll keeps trying to get on TBT please stop liking my posts cuz I don't support the homophobia.

And just to clarify earlier, my previous post was in direct response to daringred because of the comment they had made, and I intended for that interaction to stay between us in this thread. I don't think using my words to continue to troll or call them names or make fun of their sexuality is acceptable or okay. Obviously this whole situation has gone way too far, and I think we need to take a break. I have no input on what staff should do, other than perhaps temporarily lock this thread because its getting toxic.

 

[oath2order]

ohhh so that's why i got like 10 notifications

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

I leave for a couple days to go to work and to have a bit of a break and I come back to all this drama? I honestly haven’t seen any posts that were homophobic here before. Not trying to argue or cause any problems but I don’t know where the claim of homophobic comments is coming from. I also haven’t seen any ableist talk here either and I’m autistic and can pick up on ableist comments rather quickly. This is my input on the situation,

 

[Tude]

The posts in question were deleted. That's why you're not seeing anything.

 

[SkyKnight03]

I feel like temporarily locking the thread has already proved to be an inadequate conflict resolution. The same issues bubbled back to surface because it shut the door on a ton of problems left unresolved. Silencing something doesn't necessarily mean everything vanishes into thin air.

Unless there's an alternative proposition or if there's a feeling that progress just can't be made.

also making alt accounts for the sake of trolling is kinda a sad thing to do. maybe some introspection and reflection on ones character would be a good thing to do if that feels like time worth spent.

 

[Tude]

Is anything being done to find out who the trolls are? Is there a way to implement a minimum account age in order to comment on this thread? Like, the account has to have been here a minimum of six months. I say this because locking the thread would be stupid in the sense it'd continue to make people feel like things are being swept under the rug. It's bad enough there's a four hour limit.

 

[Bo Selecta]

Looks like I joined at exactly the wrong time lol. Thanks for the heads up about this thread. I'll give it a read. Might take me some time seeing as it's already the length of a book, but I will let you know my thoughts once I'm done. Needed something new to read during quiet times at work and on the train journey to and from, so it's no bother. Again, thank you for alerting me to this. I thought the place seemed quiet despite clearly being reasonably active at one point. See you on the other side.

 

[ShawnFuzz]

I have been away for bit. Is this thread still major drama? Good lord...

Is this thread worth it? Is this forum worth your time? How much stress has this thread caused people?

Is this really the place to fight about literally anything? Animal Crossing... its a peaceful place. So what the hell is going on here? I feel like politics and society is getting too involved in an innocent topic on this forum. I'm no angel, but this site is out of control.

I agree with most of you, but you should use your energy for more impactful things that could actually help humanity. Is this forum taken so seriously that you have to get angry and fight with authority? IT'S ANIMAL CROSSING.

Give the admins a break.... they support a wonderful game and have to deal with more drama than anywhere else in real life. This forum isnt real life. If you are making it so... then thats a different conversation.

If this was a corporate company, then fight your cheeks offs, but this is a forum of volunteers. They are doing their best. What else can you ask for?

 

[Yoshi155]

I have been away for bit. Is this thread still major drama? Good lord...

Is this thread worth it? Is this forum worth your time? How much stress has this thread caused people?

Is this really the place to fight about literally anything? Animal Crossing... its a peaceful place. So what the hell is going on here? I feel like politics and society is getting too involved in an innocent topic on this forum. I'm no angel, but this site is out of control.

I agree with most of you, but you should use your energy for more impactful things that could actually help humanity. Is this forum taken so seriously that you have to get angry and fight with authority? IT'S ANIMAL CROSSING.

Give the admins a break.... they support a wonderful game and have to deal with more drama than anywhere else in real life. This forum isnt real life. If you are making it so... then thats a different conversation.

If this was a corporate company, then fight your cheeks offs, but this is a forum of volunteers. They are doing their best. What else can you ask for?

This comment reads as incredibly dismissive and poorly timed (considering exactly what just happened) to me. There’s other things I could say about it but someone else is inevitably going to do that within the next few hours. I don’t understand why people feel the need to come in here and post things like “please stop fighting here’s a meme” or “it’s not that deep lmfao.” This isn’t even the first time you’ve done it.

 

[-Lumi-]

I have been away for bit. Is this thread still major drama? Good lord...

Is this thread worth it? Is this forum worth your time? How much stress has this thread caused people?

Is this really the place to fight about literally anything? Animal Crossing... its a peaceful place. So what the hell is going on here? I feel like politics and society is getting too involved in an innocent topic on this forum. I'm no angel, but this site is out of control.

I agree with most of you, but you should use your energy for more impactful things that could actually help humanity. Is this forum taken so seriously that you have to get angry and fight with authority? IT'S ANIMAL CROSSING.

Give the admins a break.... they support a wonderful game and have to deal with more drama than anywhere else in real life. This forum isnt real life. If you are making it so... then thats a different conversation.

If this was a corporate company, then fight your cheeks offs, but this is a forum of volunteers. They are doing their best. What else can you ask for?

Hi Shawn,

When I come to post in this thread I am addressing very real issues that have the capacity to cause very real harm to people.

This is an animal crossing forum but it's also a forum that has general discussions and even if it didn't - it's a forum that is meant to be welcoming to different people. Ages, genders, races, sexualities, etc.

Maybe you've missed it or it doesn't ring any alarm bells for you but there is a lot of homophobia that has been spread amongst this website. Just this past weekend a troll account was made to target a user in part *for her sexuality*.

It's no small thing for people to come on here and share their experiences of racism and prejudice, sexual harassment or discomfort on the website and expect that the staff (even if they are "just" volunteers) do better.

 

[themysterybidder]

I've written this before on this thread and I write this with respect. Yes, it is important to remember that staff are volunteers, but it's equally important to remember they have made that decision to join staff. I would presume before hand they would have a good idea what to expect and the amount of work involved in all aspects of the forum.

 

[demoness]

well then. let's really test the mental gymnastics of this argument that the thread is some passe drama that we need to be reminded to put into perspective by some vapid-tongued user who needs everyone to know exactly how seriously they don't take it. if it were me, i'd use my energy for more impactful things to help humanity, rather than use the thread for irreverent cheap shots, impotent trolling attempts, and this insipid kind of tone policing by people whose posts take up space and talk to themselves mid discussion to ask goofball questions or posture with unwarranted, backhanded commentary in order to downplay say a blatant homophobic barb as just a tuesday

there is definitely a misappropriation of effort, but it ain't earrmarked for the victims. it's fixated on obtusity.

 

[Jeremy]

This probably goes without saying, but both homophobia and trolling (especially directed at an individual) aren't allowed here. Unfortunately, as an open community, we cannot control who registers an account, but these accounts are removed as quickly as possible, as we saw this past weekend. While we can't always tell who made the account (if any existing member at all), we were pretty sure who was behind the recent trolling, and they have been dealt with in the most severe way possible.

Regular members who aren't permanently banned trolls are still required to follow the rules in order to be a part of this community. Once again, the insults directed at others need to stop here, please.

 

[daringred_]

This probably goes without saying, but both homophobia and trolling (especially directed at an individual) aren't allowed here. Unfortunately, as an open community, we cannot control who registers an account, but these accounts are removed as quickly as possible, as we saw this past weekend. While we can't always tell who made the account (if any existing member at all), we were pretty sure who was behind the recent trolling, and they have been dealt with in the most severe way possible.

Regular members who aren't permanently banned trolls are still required to follow the rules in order to be a part of this community. Once again, the insults directed at others need to stop here, please.

this is just such a disappointing reply, and definitely reinforces that this isn't a community i want to be a part of anymore. what exactly is so difficult about an apology? had this been your first response, it would've been acceptable, but it wasn't, and your callous, victim blaming reply is not only still up, but you refuse to take any accountability for it, let alone publicly. really inappropriate, thoughtless behavior for a site owner, let alone without considering what and who you were responding to, and especially when other staff who were far less culpable have already apologized.