i am only still a member of moderation in one place on the internet - a discord server for a small gaming publication. there are times now that i feel ashamed of having such a visible role, even if my presence has been nothing but good for that server.
after last year? it makes me feel like a target. sure, i haven't had death threats, i haven't been doxxed (yet). but there are people i can't talk to ever again, places i don't dare show my face. and i know the internet is a small place.
i always used to believe that the enforcement needed to be "users first" - they needed presence, they needed to be helpful in things besides arguments and literally illegal activities, build the trust with the normally-privileged user base by being good citizens. of course, reputation has a way of tanking when it's one mistake.
far be it from me to say that 4chan had the right idea for *anything*, but maybe keeping the mod staff's identities heavily under wraps has its advantages in the 2020s.
in order to not have to put a CW on this, i'm gonna put this as vaguely as possible: it sucks that there are certain infractions that *NEED* to be acted on ASAP with zero delays or time spent questioning or investigating. for some problems, there can be no time spent to wait and see how a situation develops. for some problems, nothing short of immediately, permanently blasting the user is acceptable, and anything less can and *will* get the mod staff yelled at.
except. they get yelled at anyway
i wonder, sometimes, if hearing news about moderation decisions - especially ones that the public perceives as being especially poor, or have poor messaging/transparency - will ever *NOT* give me a fit of anxiety.
is this what it's like to have trauma? am i just not going to ever get past those chapters of my own life as a former moderator?
christ on a bike. if ever there was a profession in which a person can do no right...
One of the CSG anti-cubes on the side of the quarried mountain had this tree living in it and I felt love for this tree. Fall is coming in late and all the trees are green still, except this one tree, possibly a different species? Clinging to this impossible, unreal antispace, blooming a different color than anything around it
Thank you @SmudgeTheInsultCat for boosting this excellent #Thanksgiving Day advice courtesy of best big brother ever.
ππΏ
person golfing (dark skin tone)
https://emojipedia.org/person-golfing-dark-skin-tone
Found a place on Google Maps called "I'm Donut ?" and was like, ha ha, I want to eat at "I'm Donut ?". Then we found it and the line wrapped around itself twice then disappeared around a corner. The line was so long we never saw the end of it. I will not be donut today :(
It is finally done, Turn of a Friendly Card has been liberated from Wordpress and laboriously converted back to standard HTML+CSS. https://netizen.club/~wildweasel/friendlycard/index.html
I wrote most of this in 2017, but a lot of posts have been updated with more recent thoughts and factual corrections.
He/him. Puzzle-Adventure Hybrid with RPG Elements. Supports 3D Acceleration. He Is Essentially What He Believes. Just in case, π, LGBTQ+ π, DOS π, ππ©π.
Avatar by @mavica_again