Absolutely no one is bashing or bullying you. Deae and you have been going head to head, sure. I am not sure why you are insist on being painted as a victim.
Philosophia Venti was not in good faith.
This includes, but is not limited to:
“You’re a bigot, I’m not”
“I’m a good person, you’re not”
“Rah-Rah” Campaigns Against Other Users or Topics
AI Debates
Politics
Fetish Ethics/Psychology
after saying a subset of people just want to argue. And then you moved those people’s posts over to that thread, including one of mine, which was on topic, which I can only assume is because I dared to question the moderator selection process. I never said that you were unfit to moderate. In fact, I have never said an unkind word about you at all. I like most of your posts. That is a fact. Please get out of your feelings. No one is out to get you. I don’t know if you have something going on in your personal life but I have never intended to cause you any harm and I think most of us here would say the same.
But you’re right, it is beating a dead horse at this point and I won’t say any more on the topic. I wish you the best, really.
I’m sorry you feel like people were bullying you but I don’t think asking for more detail/questioning why a seemingly random (again, this is not an attack) user was suddenly promoted out of the blue is inherently offensive. You’re taking this very, very personal when the majority of posts pertaining to this topic have explicitly said they have no problem with you as a person. You and Q are very bent on this “everyone who questions us has a political agenda” narrative and it’s not really the smoking gun that I think either of you think it is.
But honestly, if this is how someone reacts to any slight criticism, were they really the best choice for a moderator in the first place? Food for thought
I’d just like to reiterate that I have no issue with TheTraveler as a poster. It does sadden me to know how hard this whole process has been on him, and while I don’t take back anything of the things I said, I’m also sorry that I played a role in causing him distress. I hope he takes the time he needs to reflect and cool down and I’m not really sure anything else needs to be said. It was a weird choice of promotion and way of going about it, and I disagreed with some moderation policy. Otherwise, I really do wish TheTraveler the best. Seems like mostly a pretty nice guy before all of this
I think a few people have let their emotions get the better of them here. It happens.
The original inquiry regarding TheTraveler’s promotion to moderator was absolutely warranted. It is a shame it devolved into interpersonal squabbles while the underlying issue put forward was so relevant to the whole process. I did support TheTraveler’s candidacy but I think the fallout from this has shown that moderators should definitely be chosen with community consensus in mind. While it’s unfortunate that TheTraveler felt the need to resign, I think it is for the best that they did. For multiple reasons.
For the integrity of this topic, I think we should drop any further commentary on TheTraveler as their status on this site is no longer relevant to considerations regarding new moderators. I DEFINITELY don’t believe this topic should be locked out anymore than I believe the Philosophia Venti topic should have been locked out (look how they massacred my boy!).
Regarding an aforementioned use of the term political operative: no one here is the goddamn CIA. People have political opinions. We are a political species. When it comes up here it’s because it’s in our nature, not because we have some kind of nefarious political motives. Disparaging political users for the act of their politicizing of things rather than disparaging them for their politics is frank anti-intellectualism. Spare us, please. There’s enough stupidity on this God-forsaken planet.
That last point is one of my biggest things. It’s fine if someone disagrees with something but this constant disparaging of people who are outspoken about issues as “political” is incredibly dismissive and says just as much about the one saying it as it does those they lobby it against.
This statement is the reason you should take a more active interest in politics, friend. You don’t even know enough to know how irreverent this statement is.
A utopia would be a fetish forum that you envision solely as a porn site rather than an actual forum. None of us think we’re gonna achieve class consciousness posting here, and so neither should you assert that we do.
Ironically, everyone I know who cares about politics cares about politics specifically because they care about these things. Nazis are back, didn’t you hear?
An interesting political take but I do disagree, friend. Moral absolutism is ill-advised and not in line with the philosophies I know you try to practice. If you see us all as evil—your fellow fetishists—then what does that make you? You’re in our company, too.
Literally no one called you stupid, @TheTraveler. If this is truly your attitude and not your reactionary decision-making, then it would surely do you well to log off for a while. The forum is not your enemy. I hope you find some peace in the meantime.
EDIT: The above post was deleted so I’ll maintain this for posterity for now. If folks disagree with this gesture, we’ll delete it.
You’re all allowed to have political discussions btw (at least until they get out of hand/someone loses control of their emotions etc). The issue is when people want the rules of the site to specifically support their own political viewpoints and ban opposing ones etc.
The only thing people have largely opposed is open bigotry which you don’t think is a problem because it doesn’t affect you.
That’s not a matter of politics, that’s a matter of just being a decent human being. You can’t excuse racism, sexism, homophobia, etc as just a difference of opinions.
Oh and I guess AI too but do you really feel sorry for the guy who wanted to make a quick buck pedaling generated content and spoke like a literal NPC?
I take back my previous thoughts on the subject of Traveler getting “bullied”. Seems that he was being a little pathetic, at least at the end there, and indeed, nobody insulted him like he had claimed, at least with these last few posts. I suppose this is just another example of why reviewing things is important: things may come to light that you might not realize.
Anyways, those are my final thoughts on the subject.
100% agree. This ought to be a space free of biological, sexual judgement within ethical bounds. Racism, sexism, transphobia, homophobia, etc. ought to be taken more serious. Their occasional prevalence here has been a drag on the integrity of the forum.
I’ll say it again, and will say it again in the future. ANYTHING you read on the internet, don’t take it to heart or at least take it with a grain of salt. It’s 99.9% chance that no one here knows each other IRL so who cares who thinks a certain way of you? I certainly don’t, I couldn’t care less what people think of me. I am completely two faced when it comes to the internet, my personality on here is no where near my personality IRL, because it’s harder to have reprimands and consequences via the internet (and yes they still happen, just at a different severity than IRL)
I promise you if something is truly bothering you THAT much on the internet that you are taking it to heart, please do yourself a favor and log out. That’s the best part about cyberbullying, you don’t have to partake in it! (100% someone will come after me making that remark but it’s true). Yeah blah blah you want to be able to enjoy yourself on this forum online without constant bash, but I promise if you just pretend that it doesn’t exist, and you don’t acknowledge it, then it won’t affect you (but then again that’s just how my brain functions, I can’t say that everyone else’s does the same)
Or…hear me out on this radical idea: People can show basic respect and empathy for each other. You don’t have to like/agree/whatever to someone’s life choices but if that’s the case, you can take the high road and NOT comment on it. Isn’t it incredible how simple a solution that is?
I don’t really get why the idea of not being a dick is so hard and what you get for advocating for this very unrealistic idea of free speech absolutism when people can just…not say things that they know will incite and bother others. That’s not to say that you can’t mock other users or anything but it shouldn’t be about their Identity because at that point, you’re not actually criticizing the person, you’re criticizing some idea of what they represent to you.
Alternatively, you can continue to say whatever but don’t cry when it turns out that people don’t like it and don’t feel the same way as you about “nothing on the internet mattering” (I hate this mentality so much, personally).
People on the internet are real people. The idea of a digital self that is entirely divorced from our actual self is an outdated model of thinking about being a netizen. If you wouldn’t say something to someone sharing a space with you in person, why would you say it online?
No you’re right, I’m realizing that part of my thought didn’t word out right in my original message. Don’t just go around being an asshole 24/7 whether it’s on the internet or IRL, BUT don’t take it to heart if someone is being mean. No one is going to agree 100% on everything you agree on, but no need to take it personally when they don’t. My apologizes for not including that in my original message
True yeah, no one is agreeing with anyone else 100% of the time and that’s just being human. And I think the nature of this community makes it especially human which is why I feel it is important we have these conversations.
