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« on: January 22, 2023, 12:42:45 AM »
it's disturbing looking back at the legitimately malicious and/or predatory behavior here back at a time when it was all shrugged off and very rarely disciplined. i think back to the many times i raised awareness about a user openly flirting and sharing nude photos/videos with insecure, underage male users nine years ago and being told to ignore it. i even received a two-week ban for telling this known child enthusiast to "shut the forget up" under the guise of "flaming a user." yeouch!! internet boo-boo. it upsets me to retrospectively learn that so many then-impressionable folk here—both younger and older than me—dealt with being seriously groomed and preyed upon
even though i don't really think about this game/community anymore, i have occasionally come into contact with people i vaguely knew here 10-15 years ago to find they suffer actual trauma from their experiences here and are still distressed by how this website morphed their adolescence into something permanently regrettable or shameful if seen by others. especially given that their footprint is still accessible here. i've always advocated for the purging of this forum, not because of embarrassing posts, but solely for the sake of those who are actively haunted by words, opinions and actions they made as children/teenagers that were influenced and even encouraged by older men who had loveual or deceiving motives (promising friendship, giving affection, steam games, flirting w/ them, BLACKMAIL). from what i've heard recounted by previous users here, it's astounding this sort of behavior marinated in the background here for so long