Post by Jian Oreachi on Aug 29, 2015 14:41:16 GMT -5
Hi guys, it's me, Jian. Punchmaster, recent staff addition. I've been here for almost a year now and I'm writing this post because I'm ashamed.
I'm ashamed of myself. I'm ashamed of what I've allowed to occur on this site while I've been here, even under my watch.
Some of you may have noticed that Brianna, most likely known as Evelynn or recently Miyuki is now inactive. I had planned to write this when I had heard the news because I had let what I knew was wrong go on without stepping up and for that I was deeply ashamed. If you don't know why, it isn't hard to guess but I'll explain.
This place has become toxic.
At the time Bri was leaving I thought this was a problem that, while more widespread, seemed to effect primarily our former staffer of two years. I was an idiot, because the proof had been lying right in front of me this entire time. Shortly after Bri retired, we had a deluge of people come to us explaining to us problems they've had with harassment, issues of bullying that had come up, fears they've had posting because of the things people talk about openly, brazenly even. The lack of awareness cannot be placed simply on the burden of people not reaching out to tell me, there is no small part of willful ignorance on my own behalf.
I am sorry.
We've had people tearing down members, old, new and staff. I've seen new members afraid to enter the CB, I've seen people torn down the second they leave. And it had been going on infront of me the entire time I've been here. We have vitrolic rage over spelling mistakes and formatting, over people's roleplaying and over general misconceptions that some seem more content to use as ammunition to fuel fights instead of clear up. There is a deeply entrenched elitism I'm embarassed to have witnessed let alone participated in, even passively. I have to ask, who would put up with this for an online internet Bleach roleplay? What of our new members that witness this? What of our prospective members who may have been driven away because of what they see? What of our long standing members whose standing investment into this place has been turned sour?
It has to stop.
I could post the logs, quite honestly I want to do it just to really drive home what and who I am embarrassed for but instead it will be addressed privately and cleanly. I have little interest in speculation of the who and the why about it or publically shaming. People will be given a chance to decide whether or not the effort to be a positive member of this community is worth it to them and I hope we will all move forward together.
This community doesn't have a lot of rules, and I liked that because it had the most important one, namely that we do not permit harassment of any kind. It was simple, but clear cut. Unfortunately, there has been an intently hands off approach to the enforcement of this, and it seems quite plain right now that it just doesn't work. I cannot, and will not be implicit in a community that allows this sort of thing not only to happen, but to thrive. We have all allowed this to go on, and we should not any more.
Unfortunately, it cannot rest on staff alone to do this, it's simply too big a task. Everybody needs to be involved. If you see someone participating in harassment, bullying, or promoting a toxic environment, ask them to stop, or please, please tell staff about it. I know it should be obvious to us, I know personally that I had seen it and simply hadn't done anything about it. That time is over for me. If you have a problem, please reach out. If you have an issue with someones conduct, inform them politely, or reach out to us and we will help.
Communicate openly. Stop talking behind one another's backs. Stop tearing people down over shit that doesn't matter. If you have concerns, find a positive outlet to address them. We are all here for a lot of reasons, chief among them I hope is to have fun, to improve our writing, to spend time with this otherwise fantastic community. I want to get back to that. I want us to tackle this head on, and as a Community move forward.
If you have a problem, please reach out. We're here to help, whether on CB, through private message or on Skype.
Thank you.