Journal of Other Forum Analysis (Volume II, Issue 2)

[Potato]

Morrigan is going on the shitlist for a perm isn't she 

I hope not. She's unironically become my favourite Retarderan.

[Taco Bell Tower]

https://www.resetera.com/threads/capcom-cancels-lecture-about-monster-hunter-wilds%E2%80%99-optimization-as-devs-face-threats-and-harassment.1237329/
Another   thread

[benji]

IT'S A FUCKING VIDEO GAME FORUM 

Never forget:

Staff have been discussing this internally over the last week or so, with trans staff members leading that discussion and consulting on the specifics.

We've so far prepared the following guidelines for threads on trans issues:

Official Staff Communication
Dismissing the concerns of trans people as outrage or cancel culture (or words to that effect) is belittling and demonstrates a disregard for the issues that affect them. If you can't treat the matter with respect it will be regarded as transphobic trolling and you will be moderated accordingly. We encourage dialogue and learning opportunities that are initiated in good faith, but this requires listening to our trans members rather than shouting them down.

Regarding pronouns: It is not up to you to choose whether or not to respect a trans person's preferred pronouns. We are not interested in allowing any exceptions to this, and misgendering will always result in a severe infraction against the offender's account.

Trans people are individuals: Some trans users will be less affected or less bothered by certain issues than others. Disagreements must remain civil and not result in hostility. Please respect that trans people are individuals with different points of view and do not attempt to police those who do not agree with you. Posts that espouse or excuse bigotry, however, will always result in bans regardless of the author.

Accusations that the ResetEra staff do not care about trans issues will not be tolerated: We have several trans members of staff who are consulted on both site policy and individual reports. All of us are volunteers who contribute our time when we are able, and it will sometimes take time for us to get to a report that needs our attention, especially when there are a lot of reports in the queue. Similarly, just because a moderator has posted in a thread does not necessarily mean that they have read every post in it; if you would like to call attention to a post that you feel violates our guidelines, please use the report system.

Claiming that our staff don't care, or attacking us for doing our jobs, is personally hurtful and makes us less likely to want to donate our time. In the interest of protecting the mental well-being of our volunteers, such posts will receive bans as steep as necessary until they stop. Feedback is always welcome when presented politely and through appropriate channels. You can use the contact form at the bottom of the site or reach out to the Moderator Captains. Thank you for your understanding.

Many of our mods, including trans ones, have been stressing out over the past few days. Mods are all volunteers, they're all human beings who deserve respect. Please try to understand that.

Hello everyone. Just wanted to pop in and say a few things.

First, I appreciate the knowledge and insight the trans community brings to the table. Most times I'm in relevant threads just reading what you all have to say to gain better knowledge not just about your lived context, but how to spot and confront transphobia when it rears its head. However, I hope this silence has not compounded upon the issues that I know have been brewing and expressed for months. If it has, I sincerely apologize for my failure, and if there's anything you personally want out of me going forward then don't hesitate to tell me however you need to. You all deserve a community to feel welcome in.

But first thing's first: I'm going to read that article Kyuuji posted earlier, and I'll wear the Hangzhou Spark avatar for the rest of the week since the colors are dead-on perfect. It's the least I could do.

Godspeed to all in the fight, and I want to finish by saying: Trans rights are human rights.

I don't post much about trans issues because I've just accepted that Era isn't a particularly safe space for trans/gnc folk. Which is sad all in of itself.

But the banning of KetKat, who even an aloof soul like myself knows has done so much for trans people and for mental health - two very vulnerable communities, is some bullshit.

Come out and explain yourselves, admins. Something needs to change in how this forum handles trans issues. Tell us what you plan to do to make this situation right.

#FreeKetKat

I gotta say, it leaves me uneasy to see mods coming in here and announcing their devotion to trans rights while simultaneously letting this stuff happen.

You can say "it's not in my control" and "there's more to it".... but is there? And control? You have control. You could grow a backbone and stand against this shit.

Wow, now I feel less safe here. That's not something I expected on trans awareness week but I'm not surprised. Thanks for catching me up folks.

A lot of us are. Probably most, tbh. I no longer trust this place to be safe.

Also consider the fact that a lot of those people in the mental health thread are also LGBTQ*. Not only has their help been banned, but they've received a very clear message re: their status in this forum.

I'll be honest if she doesn't come back either from being perma banned or of her own will then I'm done with this place. The mods have been great but the admins have proven time and again to be unfit to handle this community.
I keep giving this place more chances but the admins always kill the goodwill the mods build up and I just can't stand the all this self-serving "stay in line" bullshit.
This doesn't mean much to most, I'm new to being trans and I've not been a very active member of this community. I wanted to try and change that because I love a lot of people here, but I haven't felt safe here for a while.

Official Staff Communication
This is being posted on behalf of the team:

Ketkat has been banned for violating a safe space for minorities in a private channel on a staff server, a channel that has very limited access and the expectation of privacy. We have investigated this thoroughly over the past few days, and that she did this is not in dispute. In fact, it confirms a pattern that had been suspected for a long time.

There is no question that Ketkat understood the importance of privacy in safe spaces, as she has championed this herself, a fact that makes this breach all the more frustrating and sad.

The entire staff was given an opportunity to weigh in on this case over the past few days. In light of the violation of their privacy, many expressed that they would not feel comfortable or safe volunteering here if such intrusions were tolerated. For this reason, the ban has been made permanent. This decision was not and could not have been made without careful consideration and large consensus.

Fighting transphobia is an entirely separate issue that we care about deeply. We spend a lot of time and energy on this and are always working to improve our moderation on this subject, including through sincere feedback from our community. This is something that will never change. We would like to thank the many of you in the trans community who have reached out to offer your understanding and support.

Certain individuals have been persistently trying to hijack this thread to fight a ban. Despite the pain it has caused our volunteers, we have been more than patient with the animosity in some of those posts. The decision is now final and it's time to move on. Not everyone is going to be happy with that, and that's okay. Excessive vitriol, however, will be moderated.

Please return to the important topic of trans awareness week.

I also want to add to the staff message, from the perspective of a mod who's been here a while, and is somewhat detached from this issue while being part of the Discord channel in question.

As one of the mods who was a part of the initial mod team, I have seen mods come and go, often due to the pressure of doing this job. I have seen my fellow mods be doxxed. I have been privy to the stories of mods receiving threatening tweets on their private accounts, and even threatening phone calls at their jobs. And I want to stress that I'm not expecting sympathy here. We understood this was a risk when we signed up, and I also know that a lot of you understand all too well what it's like to be targeted in this way online. I'm only mentioning this to make the point that, when it comes to the privacy of our designated safe spaces, we value it as much as anybody else. Most of you are members of community Discords that have private channels that function in a similar way. And while I don't expect this to take away the anger and frustration of Ketkat being banned, I sincerely hope that it will allow some of you to consider how important this is to a lot of us.

The mod chat that was violated is not a harbor of the nefarious. It isn't a place where we retreat to say all the evil stuff that would be ban-worthy if any of you said it, or unveil our "true selves." This channel is where we go to share mundane aspects of our lives. Where we gripe about our jobs, share our frustrations about our partners (or...lack of partners), post pictures of our pets, and ask the dumbest fucking questions. It's a place where we go to question ourselves, or uplift each other - about any number of things. It is where go to share things that, while mundane, are personal, and private, and shared under a blanket of trust. We don't stop being Black, or Queer, or Trans, or Women, or NB when we become mods.

And again, many of you are members of community Discords that have private channels for similar purposes. The idea that somebody would violate that and dissect our lives is unforgivable to me. We are not the law. We are not elected officials. We are not paid with tax payer dollars. We are not paid at all. Our status as Resetera Mods does not extend to our real lives when we log off. We leave our computers, and our phones, and our tablets, to live the same lives that you do. We do not owe you our lives in order for you to trust us. We are not undeserving of privacy in order for you to trust us. If that's what it takes for you to trust us, then you weren't ever going to trust us at all.

I didn't really have a relationship with Ketkat, but I respected her. But when she crossed that line, she crossed the line. Banning Ket was not easy and it was not secretive. It was discussed, and in all of my time here, among a team more diverse than any group of people I've worked with in real life, I have never seen a decision with broader support.

We hope you continue to hold us accountable as mods. We hope more threads on trans issues will be created in the future, and we hope to continue to absorb your feedback to be better in addressing and handling trans issues. But Ketkat, unrelated to any of the above, is banned. And that is final.

Doing what? Being transparent?

You asked for it, so I ask you: why is it ok for Kwt to hack our chats to get private information?

There is absolutely no acephobic mod among staff, and the mod post is on behalf of the entire team.

There is apparently an acephobic staff member who is getting away with being trash and all we get is being told to shut up and move on from cis mods.

Exactly. During trans awareness week of all times, too. They don't like us talking, so they'll probably lock this soon too; despite this literally being related to trans issues.

I'm still honestly taken aback by how poorly this was handled. Maybe I shouldn't be, but I really wanted to have faith that this place would be better. Instead, what we've learned here is that to most of the staff, we don't matter. They can apparently say whatever they want about us behind our backs without consequence, but if we learn about it, that's hacking, and we get permed.

They could have unbanned her, and perhaps the mod who was accused in question could have come forward and offered a sincere apology, or at least an explanation if there's something we've been misunderstanding. Instead, they have chosen themselves over the community that they are supposed to be protecting.

I'm very disappointed and upset with this decision. More of our voices are going to disappear from here because of this, and you all KNEW that, but you chose this anyway. You knew that the reputation of this place would take even more of a hit in the trans community by doing this, and you still chose it. I'm just so disappointed that things have worked out this way.

The fact that it's a goddamn meme at this point about how awful Era is to trans people and moderation has the gall to ban a super prominent member for barely referencing problematic comments made by a staff member in order to cover their own asses shouldn't be surprising really. Era will keep continuing on to perpetuate the visage of being ultra woke, when really its a bunch of nerdy ass white liberal men that cower the second they personally have to deal with anything that isn't "normal". Trash ass response, trash ass message, and trash ass staff. Go ahead and ban idrc since I barely ever log on anyway.

I'd say you should be ashamed of yourselves but clearly you can't see beyond the shelter of your privileges.

Less a timeline and an all-hands (ie not just the mod team) thread to talk about changes and reforms and try to build a consensus.

The question then becomes, how do you control a discussion like that? Do you put a moratorium on new members posting in the thread to prevent bad faith actors from creating accounts just to vent personal vendettas in public? How do you guide a discussion like that without it immediately descending into chaos?

More dialogue is a good thing but there has to be a way to manage it that doesn't just turn it into a bunch of people with gripes against each other or specific staff members sniping at each other. That kind of discussion will turn toxic and then nuclear VERY quickly unless it's curated in a very particular way.

I'm throwing this suggestion out here in addition to other suggestions and this is more of my governmental self on this, how about we establish a moderation watchdog similar to the Office of Inspector General or the Office of Special Counsel where the admin and staff, in unanimous agreement, or regular users who wishes to nominate a user, nominates an independent user as an inspector general to which to be advise and consent to every user on the forum or at least have users sign up for it. Having a simple majority or 60% say aye to confirm the user to a one year term which can be renewed up to a limit of 3 years. This user would be charged to lead with examining the actions of the moderators as a general auditor of their operations to ensure they are operating in compliance with generally established policies of the website, to audit the effectiveness of security procedures, or to discover the possibility of misconduct for the staff and admins. If there is misconduct conducted by a admin or moderator reported by a user, the IG will investigate this report and would determine if that moderator did operate in misconduct. If that moderator is found to operate in misconduct, the IG will report to the admin to determine disciplinary actions such as a ban or having their moderation powers revoked.

Another suggestion would be to establish an office similar to the Department of Justice's Office of Special Counsel where only regular users can nominate an independent user as an independent counsel to advise and consent to the same terms and rules except the powers of this counsel to ban and revoking a moderator without having to go to the admin.

Again this is simply a suggestion, if anyone needs to point out any flaws or loopholes, I'm right here.

East Coast, I'm still up. This is just a personal note from me.

If you want someone's head, frustrations aside that is the wrong way to go about this. My opinion is we should not be a site that comes for people's heads.

Now, I cannot speak for direct admin interactions with members, or anything in any LGBT+ related channels wherever they may be, because I am not an admin, and I do not have access to those channels for a very good reason.

But I can say this. I have spent hours upon hours at a time (into the wee hours of the morning on several occasions) banning people outright for their dismissiveness, prejudice, and harmful words towards people like you who are simply seeking to thrive at ResetEra. Not just because it's site policy, or because I have nothing better to do on a Friday night. Because it's the right thing to do for you, and for everyone. I have even advocated for not being so quick to ban in some cases. And while I'm speaking just for myself here, I have witnessed others do the same. For you. They're still around, even.

And when I am online volunteering for the site, I am obligated to read and address each report that comes in, no matter if it is written nicely, or in anger, or accurately describes the situation, or a misunderstanding, or a misinterpretation, or written in frustration - even if it contains conspiratorial suggestions about other members, or the staff. The conspiratorial posts and reports on Era about staff members (an aspect of Era culture which seems to have become generally accepted, even among the marginalized) really sicken me personally. But as I am working to address the concerns of others on the forum it is not about my feelings, it is about theirs. Yours. So I tolerate it as I go about my duties.

With all that, I refuse to air others' dirty laundry from bans on the site itself. If you want people to truly change, you need to give them the opportunity to do so, and airing their dirty laundry would only interfere with that. If someone is changing and growing or making up for a mistake, I will not contribute to an embarrassment campaign. Same with repeat offenders who have exhibited no change in behavior over a long sustained period, and are permanently banned from the site as part of support for the community. I will not air their dirty laundry on the site, even if that behavior continues to persist outside Era via other avenues. This means that you won't know everything about someone's history of participation on this site, including their interactions with staff, and bans.

But concerning behavior generally, I will say this: What I will not abide as a member, or as a moderator volunteering to support communities like yours, are members - no matter who they are or what they stand for - using site posts and reports in order to attempt to personally manipulate or gaslight me (or any member) into serving their own personal individual ends or games. This type of thing takes time and energy away from whole communities of members who prefer we support the concerns of their identities.

And It interferes directly with supporting you.

Manipulating or interfering with me or anyone on staff (including and especially the LGBT+ members of the staff), whether once or repeatedly over time, is unacceptable to me. You may not see it but you do feel its effects - it absolutely interrupts me and robs me of time and energy when those long hours are needed and the bans to stave off the dismissiveness and harm that can't be processed soon enough. I would think that these delays and interference would be unacceptable to you as well, but I will not speak for you.

Lastly, I will just leave these few questions, really for anyone who is reading this. Is there no room on Era to grow or change, for everyone, or anyone? Do you want to shut down all possibility of that? Again I will not presume to speak for you or your experiences, but from what I understand there are people out there in the world who think the only acceptable consideration for you as a person is removal first and foremost. Is that the only acceptable first step for you as well?

PS. I see another step taken being labeling of others. If I am mistaken, please correct me, but isn't undue labeling the second step taken on you as well?

Thank you for your attention to this personal note from me.

I'm happy to hear that there are staff who aren't okay with the state of things. I wish I could believe that you'll make it better. As we've seen from Nepenthe, there's clearly some mods that do care about us, and genuinely want to help rebuild the trust. But after seeing the response go from bad to worse, I'm only worried about the future of our community here.

This has taken up the past...eight hours for me (I've had work and the like today), and we're definitely trying to figure something out. We care about this community, especially since it's part of one of the tenets that we founded this site on - inclusion. We're committed to that ideal, just as we've always been. Obviously we know that things can always be better, but we're going to continue to work towards that.

Having another mod come in here after everything thats been said and attempt to turn this back around onto the community is exactly the problematic behavior so many are taking issue with.

Well I woke up and this thread exploded.

As an ace enby I am deeply disappointed in that initial staff response, and in Royalan, and in the banning of Yukiko. The mods don't get to turn a trans thread into 'yeah, but what about the staff?' Not the time. Not the place.

It's up to the admins to make this right. Unbanning Ketkat would be only the start, this forum has been bad on trans issues for a good while now. I've seen nothing so far that suggests meaningful change will happen.

Cerium, the buck stops with you. Prove me wrong. Or don't. I suspect the latter is more likely.

Hello everyone.

First, a thank you to the members who noted me positively, in PMs and in public. I want to say the recognition of my sincerity means a lot to me emotionally, enough to have given me my appetite back actually!

But enough of me. I promised to step back in here so I want to keep my word. I'm running on low sleep and on the clock at my job, so bare with bad writing or slow responses. Again, my job right now is to allow y'all to vent to me directly and to ask questions that I will try my best to answer.

So, let's talk. What do you need to say?

One thing I want to remind people of as we're airing grievances.

ERA is in a unique position regarding our genesis as a community and the minority demographics we wish to serve. As we continue discussing our failings, keep in mind we are surrounded by the active Internet at large that is looking for this community to become unrecoverable specifically because we ever had the desire to be be inclusive to the marginalized in the first place. I wish that we keep this thread and every other focused specifically on issues regarding Ketkat, the LGBTQ+ community, staff members, and the relationships therein. Unrelated staff actions about The Last Jedi, or Activision-Blizzard- trivial media entities- or even just ill-thought posts about the mundane, on ERA or elsewhere are irrelevant; staff have been told not to make this about them, and I agree wholeheartedly. But you also owe it to the LGBTQ+ community to not make this about personal grievances. We all need to focus on what's important.

In short, I want to mend things and get ERA back on the right track. I don't want to give the alt-right watching us right now any more ammo, and the way we do that is by allowing them the room to intervene and feed off of you guys' anger for their own benefit. You deserve a better community to feel protected in, and that sure as shit can not and will not include having your opportunity to strengthen ERA going forward taken away from you by gaslighting.

Be angry. Whether it's to me or all of us. Be angry. But focus that anger on what matters to ERA so as to not open the door for people who are only interested in our failure simply because I, you, and many others are marginalized. I can take your frustration, because I've been there. But I'm not going to let opportunistic grifters any leeway though. This is our community. Not theirs.

After seeing a Discord post from Windrunner where she is accusing Ketkat of "snooping" (made today at 6:15am), I'm not filled with confidence that the staff will do the right thing.

Jesus. No one wants to post on a forum where the mods are a part of a fucking social clubhouse. I know the nature of the work will always tend that way somewhat but if you can't be consistent and serious about resisting it then you're not shit.

Hey, Nepenthe, if you don't want us posting screencaps from Discord, maybe don't have mods posting replies to this shit in Discords, by the way?

I don't expect anyone to not be talking in Discord about this. Staff is talking. You are talking. To try and say we cannot talk in private is, frankly, ridiculous, because I'm not asking you to be quiet. I can't stop it anyway. I can only warn you not to jeopardize your own safety in the process because, while this is an ERA issue, I'd rather no LGBTQ+ folks suffer any undue harm because people are posting screenshots without the forethought that, again, alt-right folks are watching and participating. Be careful.

General update: Just got home. I'm starving. Will eat something then come back.

Administration will have an update as well, assuming that I'm not posting too late.

A quick note:

First, I want to thank Kyuuji and everyone else who has expressed gratitude towards me for participating in the discussions that have occurred over the past few days. It warms my heart to know that my efforts were appreciated.

But I do want people to understand that was an extraordinary response to an extraordinary circumstance that took an appreciable mental and physical toll on me, and I'm someone who has no mental illness to speak of. Other staff members do suffer anxiety and depression (or they simply might not be too involved in the situation), so jumping into the fray like that might be asking too much.

My goal was to throw you all a lifeline and try to prove that we genuinely do care for you all. You bring invaluable insight and knowledge to subjects and situations that would get no airtime elsewhere on an Internet that is overtly hostile to our existence both as people and as a gathering on this forum. We need you here. I hope that you all understand and take that to heart going forward.

I don't want this post to be misconstrued as saying we're going to go back into the dark and not communicate with you either. Far from it; I agree this forum could stand for more public member-to-staff communication and I'm excited to see how that will manifest going forward. But I want everyone to understand the goal should be to never allow it to get to this point again in the first place where a staff member has to answer to hundreds. We need to take the lessons learned going forward into a better day. We can do it.

Now I'm at work, but it's slow and I'm still open for any questions and comments. After work, food...and sleep.

I am a black woman. I am also a moderator.

This bit of intersectionality has been one of the hardest weeks I as an individual have had to deal with in my life. Right now I'm sitting in my car with a cry-headache trying to leave to go to my brother's house. I barely have the energy.

It's been interesting to see both sides of the spectrum, where on one end my input in threads concerning black representation and issues is valuable because I can speak from life experience and knowledge, and then on the other end I get called a cop with all of the pain and irony that entails simply because I was the fool who said "yes" to volunteering.

I have simultaneously felt valued and valueless throughout this endeavor, and it's made me question whether or not I'm even a good person. I don't know how to parse the emotional toll, other than to just ignore it and make do with what I have and serve the community with the powe rand knowledge I myself have. Because I want this place to succeed. But I admit, my emotions have been all over the place.

That's all. I figured the most appropriate thread to open up in would be this one. To anyone who has given me and the other staff members a kind word, thank you. To anyone else who is dissatisfied with our performance: I understand, and I still apologize. Just remember we are human too.

I will be taking a break. I'm not leaving the forum, or my position, but I think I've exhausted myself to the point where my basic mental and even physical faculties are beginning to degrade. Continuing in my state right now is not fair to myself or to the people who want better.

I don't know how long it'll be either. I guess just long enough to bounce back. I love you guys. See you later!

All because Royalan had accurately said on NeoGAF.com years before that asexuals aren't as historically or currently oppressed as homosexuals.

[HaughtyFrank]

All because Royalan had accurately said on NeoGAF.com years before that asexuals aren't as historically or currently oppressed as homosexuals.

That was really the funniest part about it

[Taco Bell Tower]

Free KetKat.  That Walter dude with a cat pfp killed her 

[BIONIC]

https://www.resetera.com/threads/its-trans-awareness-week-nov-13th-19th.153146/page-41#post-26689342

A quick note:

First, I want to thank Kyuuji and everyone else who has expressed gratitude towards me for participating in the discussions that have occurred over the past few days. It warms my heart to know that my efforts were appreciated.

But I do want people to understand that was an extraordinary response to an extraordinary circumstance that took an appreciable mental and physical toll on me, and I'm someone who has no mental illness to speak of. Other staff members do suffer anxiety and depression (or they simply might not be too involved in the situation), so jumping into the fray like that might be asking too much.

My goal was to throw you all a lifeline and try to prove that we genuinely do care for you all. You bring invaluable insight and knowledge to subjects and situations that would get no airtime elsewhere on an Internet that is overtly hostile to our existence both as people and as a gathering on this forum. We need you here. I hope that you all understand and take that to heart going forward.

I don't want this post to be misconstrued as saying we're going to go back into the dark and not communicate with you either. Far from it; I agree this forum could stand for more public member-to-staff communication and I'm excited to see how that will manifest going forward. But I want everyone to understand the goal should be to never allow it to get to this point again in the first place where a staff member has to answer to hundreds. We need to take the lessons learned going forward into a better day. We can do it.

Now I'm at work, but it's slow and I'm still open for any questions and comments. After work, food...and sleep.

The bolded fuck me you can’t make this shit up

[BIONIC]

https://www.resetera.com/threads/tony-hawks-pro-skater-3-4-ot-are-you-tony-hawk-why.1237422/

Before anything else, please kindly consider reading through these threads:

https://www.resetera.com/threads/the-bds-movement-calls-for-a-boycott-of-xbox-and-microsoft-gaming-products-over-its-parent-companys-complicity-in-the-genocide-in-gaza.1155057/
https://www.resetera.com/threads/cancel-your-game-pass.1234761/

Why make the OT for a genocide enabling product in the first place?!?

[HaughtyFrank]

Should probably post this in the US politcs thread but whatever.

The more I hear about this guys background the more fascinating I find it that he gets a free pass.
Like honestly I had no clue about the history of Indians in Uganda but when you read the wikipedia article it sounds a whole lot like.... colonizers 

While not all Ugandan Indians were well off, they were on average better off than the indigenous communities,[5] constituting 1% of the population while earning a fifth of the national income.[11] Indians were stereotyped as "merely traders" and labelled as "dukahwallas" (traders, an occupational term that degenerated into an anti-Indian slur during Amin's time[10]), who tried to cheat unsuspecting purchasers and looked out only for their own families.[12] Racial segregation was institutionalised.[12] Gated ethnic communities offered elite and exclusive healthcare and schooling services. Additionally, the tariff system in Uganda had historically been oriented toward the economic interests of South Asian traders.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expulsion_of_Asians_from_Uganda

Not that I'd personally describe this as colonizing but it seems to fit whatever the DSA type of lefties call colonizing. The current day left movement is one I'd expect to celebrate Idi Amin for the expulsion

[benji]

All because Royalan had accurately said on NeoGAF.com years before that asexuals aren't as historically or currently oppressed as homosexuals.

That was really the funniest part about it

Would have been dismissing concerns to say "he's right. Pound sand." Which is funny because of how many other topics they establish this about and ban anyone who disagrees.

Then everybody on there that's not banned in those threads just dropped the whole subject even though there's no openly ace members on staff and many of the same posters have been saying it's still an unsafe space for trans people.

Also funny is Kyuuji being all over those threads making demands and lecturing staff and others when it's just a few months after he discovered he was non-binary (like strawberry ice cream) and claimed to be afraid to claiming to be trans and speaking over those who are.

Not to mention the follow up fact that even after Ketkat was saved, they never returned to saving people in the mental health thread and got permabanned again not long after for fighting with staff yet again but nobody ever even mentions their name like they never existed and the forum didn't try to revolt over them.

[benji]

https://www.resetera.com/threads/tony-hawks-pro-skater-3-4-ot-are-you-tony-hawk-why.1237422/

Before anything else, please kindly consider reading through these threads:

https://www.resetera.com/threads/the-bds-movement-calls-for-a-boycott-of-xbox-and-microsoft-gaming-products-over-its-parent-companys-complicity-in-the-genocide-in-gaza.1155057/
https://www.resetera.com/threads/cancel-your-game-pass.1234761/

Why make the OT for a genocide enabling product in the first place?!?

They don't recognize actual trolls so it'd take them a long time to catch on to somebody posting in that thread hundreds of times about every detail of the game but prefacing or ending each post with "shame I can't get this because of the genocide."

[HaughtyFrank]

https://www.resetera.com/threads/its-trans-awareness-week-nov-13th-19th.153146/page-41#post-26689342

A quick note:

First, I want to thank Kyuuji and everyone else who has expressed gratitude towards me for participating in the discussions that have occurred over the past few days. It warms my heart to know that my efforts were appreciated.

But I do want people to understand that was an extraordinary response to an extraordinary circumstance that took an appreciable mental and physical toll on me, and I'm someone who has no mental illness to speak of. Other staff members do suffer anxiety and depression (or they simply might not be too involved in the situation), so jumping into the fray like that might be asking too much.

My goal was to throw you all a lifeline and try to prove that we genuinely do care for you all. You bring invaluable insight and knowledge to subjects and situations that would get no airtime elsewhere on an Internet that is overtly hostile to our existence both as people and as a gathering on this forum. We need you here. I hope that you all understand and take that to heart going forward.

I don't want this post to be misconstrued as saying we're going to go back into the dark and not communicate with you either. Far from it; I agree this forum could stand for more public member-to-staff communication and I'm excited to see how that will manifest going forward. But I want everyone to understand the goal should be to never allow it to get to this point again in the first place where a staff member has to answer to hundreds. We need to take the lessons learned going forward into a better day. We can do it.

Now I'm at work, but it's slow and I'm still open for any questions and comments. After work, food...and sleep.

The bolded fuck me you can’t make this shit up

Can't help but notice how she somehow didn't identify as trans back in 2019. I guess that became quite helpful in future arguments

[benji]

When I was looking at the thread to find those posts I wanted, I had to keep reminding myself to look at the dates and remember it was 2019 because of how many of the posters were saying all the same stuff they say now about the staff and have never stopped saying over the last six years. Then they go right back to not caring like they didn't declare the end of days, there's even posts in there talking about how hard it is living under Trump and fascism plus accusing others of being chuds libs alt-right.

[Daffy Duck]

Dubs must know fat4cum is harassing him on blue sky yet doesn’t ban the fat pervert…why?

[Daffy Duck]

all these mods say its so bad for them and they wanna not being doing it. so quit bitch  no one ever just says that to them

Did they ever employ new mods from the recent recruitment drive? Or are we still deep in the recruitment process?

[NeppyNep]

Can’t wait for the ban baiting attempts that will start in that Tony Hawk thread when everyone ignores the genocide talk and dares to just talk about the game. Then they’ll run to the community thread to cry the ban bait isn’t working, they’ll close the OT and probably treat any mention of Tony Hawk like they do with Hogwarts. 

Then again, they seem fine with Sony being involved in the genocide and the game is coming to PS5 so 

[TylenolJones]

Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3 & 4 more like Tony Hawk Pro Enabler of Genocide

[Besticus Maximus]

I suppose a personality disorder isn't exactly a mental health issue, to speak of

[Gamegirl Nostalgia]

Imagine supporting a genocide by making an OP for a microsoft game and thinking you're absolved of guilt because you posted a link to a boycott thread.

Maybe follow the boycott next time? Seems easy. 

[Gamegirl Nostalgia]

Until the genocide ends maybe we should stop playing video games all together? Crazy thought, I know. All platforms aid in the occupation as well as human rights violations.

[benji]

-I haven't paid for Windows since the 7 key I still am using which I bought OEM.
-I've replaced Windows with Linux on my lapchops since 2007.
-I've never paid for GamePass.
-I've never bought a Xbox new.
-I haven't bought a Microsoft Games product full-price probably ever and haven't paid for any in years outside of whatever they get from Humble Monthly.
-I haven't bought any Bethesda or Activision products since before they were bought. I only bought 1+2 because Tim Sweeney paid for half of it.

No, I'm not boycotting them for genocide. That's dumb, you're not that important. But that said, I notice you're still support the legitimacy of the state and regularly calling on it to do more violence to people.

[D3RANG3D]

Ackshually it's GNU/Linux.

[Gamegirl Nostalgia]

Mental gymnastics of a "progressive" Era microsoft boycotter: It needs to be listed on the BDS website! It's okay to support other companies even if they give to Israel in some way!

Sorry, but you're still supporting genocide. If we can stop watching and buying JK Rowling products we can stop playing video games.

[benji]

Really shows the priorities of the cissies that Microsoft's been contributing to the trans genocide probably forever but we've never seen a boycott list for that.

[TylenolJones]

Boycotting is just one way to show your support!

Me for instance, bought the Indiana Jones game for full price at launch and have been playing it everyday since making sure I kill at least 100 nazis per day.

[Gamegirl Nostalgia]

Boycotting is just one way to show your support!

Me for instance, bought the Indiana Jones game for full price at launch and have been playing it everyday since making sure I kill at least 100 nazis per day.

so brave thank you for posting this

[benji]

That's a good point, imagine the good we all could be doing by all getting Xboxes and on Xbox Live to send messages to others on Xbox Live informing them that there's a boycott. Maybe my not getting Tony Hawk 3+4 is letting down the Palestinian people by not using my privilege to get online with it and let others on the game know about the efforts against genocide. 

[Lonewulfeus]

https://www.resetera.com/threads/for-those-involved-in-the-online-political-space-i-think-some-more-vocal-leftist-have-lost-the-plot.1237710/#post-142413009

Online leftist spaces fall deep into the hole of endless purity tests and performativity. It's so detached from reality.

Posting this on resetera

[BIONIC]

I suppose a personality disorder isn't exactly a mental health issue, to speak of

Factually incorrect.

Personality disorders are part of the DSM

[benji]

I find some online leftist very similar to Evagelical Christians waiting for the rapture. There's a very much "tear it down" component that misses the more vulnerable, like the poor, LGBTQ, immigrants, POCs.

Why has this undercurrent lacked so much nuance?

Because it's inherently opposed to nuance? It literally rejects the idea that there's anything but a zero-sum black-and-white all-or-nothing answer to every problem. All you need is the will to not waiver in your adherence.

Look at the replies of your thread:

I love how it's framed like "YOU didn't vote". No, the democratic party decided to stick to their guns on genocide. Libs need to own that shit.

Not conditioning our vote is why we are where we are. Acting like going for the lesser evil will actually change things is laughable.

I expect candidates who want to push left. No more centrism.

They're both in service of Capital. The lip service is better with democrats though.

Except for Gaza of course, because fuck brown people - especially if they're not christians. /s

Anyway, I disagree with the response video for that reason. I couldn't imagine voting for anyone who supports Israel.

It's on everyone else to cater to them, so it's not their fault if everyone else continues to cling to being wrong. Everyone else will always have a duty to do better and compromise their values.

[TylenolJones]

To everyone just saying, “you can just cancel gamepass”…

I have pre purchased 10 years of game pass. If I cancel my gamepass, all that will do is allow Microsoft to not have to spend money on my gaming habits and can instead spend all that money on genocide. 

So yeah, I’m fighting genocide and Microsoft by keeping my game pass!!!