So this is a thing. We're here six months later. I intended to get this done last week two weeks ago, but I've been dealing with some of the absolute worst March weather I've ever experienced, plus some work-related shenanigans.
I'll be honest, I've sat here for about ten minutes trying to think of something radical, important and dramatic to say, or insane, terrifying events to relate in comedic fashion. Then I realize that's a good thing, because communities frequently wracked with turmoil or unexpected challenges tend not to last very long. Instead, we're pleasantly puttering along with no particularly huge dramas worth highlighting. Special mention however goes to @yukoschizo for being our first certifiable Unicorn who joined solely to pursue an insane agenda against a woman for not being the man she was leading around on a leash or something.
There's also been a substantial uptick in random member posts, as opposed to every page being the same few people. Not that I'm particularly worried; in my experience more than 90% of members on either large forums or IM platforms like Discord send perhaps one message a month, or merely lurk. Trying to farm artificial engagement rather than sift the masses for the dedicated people who'll stay the course is both pointless and counter-productive.
In terms of member behaviour and attitudes, I'm very happy with what I see. There has been a slight uptick in overtly sexual content and a few instances of things that should've been censored, but nothing that potentially blackens the name of the community as a whole. Mostly they've been reported promptly.
One very annoying thing I've noted is however a tendency to ignore dedicated threads. The recent Zaion LanZa incident is a highlight. This may have been because the thread was started when the suspension began but discussion about it only really picked up after the termination announcement which was much later, but I would estimate a minimum of double the discussion took place in the regular thread as opposed to the Events thread.
Keep in mind that something having an Events thread does not in any way preclude discussion in the regular thread, but whole extensive conversations took place that are now lost in the noise. I consider this a learning experience, and will be more careful about highlighting and policing these cases in future. I'd also like to forewarn overzealous people about dogpiling other users and insisting they go to the Events thread; a single request is enough. If you feel that vital context about an event (such as an important archive, a twitter screenshot, etc) isn't being posted in the right thread, either post it there yourself or Report the post so I can move it manually.
Apart from that, there has been a slight amount of tribalfagging here and there, which I myself have participated in to a degree. I'll be honest and say that 2023 has hugely soured my attitude towards Nijisanji and they seem very, very dedicated to continuing down the road of stupid decisions, failed talents and unprofessional drama. That said, I don't consider it a bad thing when people discuss objective problems with a company. It becomes wrong when you start bragging about how much better your favourite company is and how everyone who enjoys any talent from the other company is a stupid poo-poo head. For all I wish Nijisanji's management team would get eaten by wolves, I still enjoy Enna Alouette and that one horny Indonesian ghost girl whose lifestyle choices seem dedicated to making the 'ghost girl' bit an imminent reality.
Funnily enough, as I was starting to write this ramble @John Vtuber made a point that I think deserves highlighting.
This was in response to my own comment about the almost inexplicable ability of this forum (and extended community) to maintain a level of civil discourse in an environment that, by all rights, should rapidly devolve into a hugbox or tribal circlejerk. We know that such places do exist for vtubers, but old Johnny-boy really hit the nail on the head here. This is a place you can make jokes. You can shitpost (within reason). You can have a contrary opinion without immediately being pilloried by a minimum of 80% of the active users, with the remaining 20% being silent out of terror. Have we really come to this? Has the internet really fallen so far? Apparently so.
Of course, there will always be bad-faith actors who try and take advantage of communities with lax moderation policies. In many cases this has led to a 'Tragedy of the Commons' scenario. Many once-liberal (as in attitude, not political affiliation) digital spaces have been so heavily exploited that they become either desensitized to the point they allow literal paedophiles and other degenerates to dominate all discussions, or spiral into a moral quagmire of self-censorship and thought policing.
With this in mind, I'd like to reassure people that I will always consider this dynamic carefully when making any executive decisions about the content hosted here. Unless I receive severe brain damage, I am never going to compromise the principles already outlined in the rules, even if it prevents me from gaining access to things like additional revenue streams or a larger audience. If you come here, you abide by our founding principles. Whether it's a single random nobody or a representative of Cover Corps itself, this attitude will not change.
That said, do remember that I'm still bound by international law, and will not go to jail for things stupid users do, or leave themselves liable to. I consider it the user's responsibility to protect their identity and act in a manner that does not cast suspicion on themselves. If you do something stupid here that leads to you becoming a target of public mockery, that's your fault. This applies to the taking of offense as well. If you don't like what people say here, don't read it. If you physically can't bring yourself to ignore it, use the built-in ignore function to remove the temptation to respond.
Oh god I'm still typing why. Let's move on to my future plans.
Within the next month or two, I intend to do the following;
1) Register us with an actual domain name (this would've been done already but I want to make sure I pick a decent privacy-focused registrar first).
2) Devise a shamelessly pay-to-win system of video highlighting to encourage shekel-throwing and also hopefully spotlight talents who don't otherwise get much attention.
3) Consider some additional Live threads for talents with very dedicated fans who tend to post a lot when they've live. definitely not just kirsche shut up
In addition to the above I have a number of other ideas and plans that aren't concrete yet. Ironically the incredible success of this place has done more than anything else to reduce my eagerness to make changes, as it seems that even as a tiny corner of nowhere with no outward facing advertising and a generic URL, people just keep on showing up.
But as I've said before, communities evolve or die. Now that we have an actual presence and are demonstrably more than just a generic doomed splinter group, we can push outwards and establish more of a foothold in vtuber circles. I even envision a mythical future where suitably based talents have actual accounts here and contribute like anyone else. That's (likely) never happen, but it never hurts to dream.
I'm going to stop here before I write even more. I need to get actual work done now. Thank you to everyone who helped make this crazy dream a reality. You're all truly wonderful. Except the people who aren't. You know who you are, Adrian.
I'll be honest, I've sat here for about ten minutes trying to think of something radical, important and dramatic to say, or insane, terrifying events to relate in comedic fashion. Then I realize that's a good thing, because communities frequently wracked with turmoil or unexpected challenges tend not to last very long. Instead, we're pleasantly puttering along with no particularly huge dramas worth highlighting. Special mention however goes to @yukoschizo for being our first certifiable Unicorn who joined solely to pursue an insane agenda against a woman for not being the man she was leading around on a leash or something.
There's also been a substantial uptick in random member posts, as opposed to every page being the same few people. Not that I'm particularly worried; in my experience more than 90% of members on either large forums or IM platforms like Discord send perhaps one message a month, or merely lurk. Trying to farm artificial engagement rather than sift the masses for the dedicated people who'll stay the course is both pointless and counter-productive.
In terms of member behaviour and attitudes, I'm very happy with what I see. There has been a slight uptick in overtly sexual content and a few instances of things that should've been censored, but nothing that potentially blackens the name of the community as a whole. Mostly they've been reported promptly.
One very annoying thing I've noted is however a tendency to ignore dedicated threads. The recent Zaion LanZa incident is a highlight. This may have been because the thread was started when the suspension began but discussion about it only really picked up after the termination announcement which was much later, but I would estimate a minimum of double the discussion took place in the regular thread as opposed to the Events thread.
Keep in mind that something having an Events thread does not in any way preclude discussion in the regular thread, but whole extensive conversations took place that are now lost in the noise. I consider this a learning experience, and will be more careful about highlighting and policing these cases in future. I'd also like to forewarn overzealous people about dogpiling other users and insisting they go to the Events thread; a single request is enough. If you feel that vital context about an event (such as an important archive, a twitter screenshot, etc) isn't being posted in the right thread, either post it there yourself or Report the post so I can move it manually.
Apart from that, there has been a slight amount of tribalfagging here and there, which I myself have participated in to a degree. I'll be honest and say that 2023 has hugely soured my attitude towards Nijisanji and they seem very, very dedicated to continuing down the road of stupid decisions, failed talents and unprofessional drama. That said, I don't consider it a bad thing when people discuss objective problems with a company. It becomes wrong when you start bragging about how much better your favourite company is and how everyone who enjoys any talent from the other company is a stupid poo-poo head. For all I wish Nijisanji's management team would get eaten by wolves, I still enjoy Enna Alouette and that one horny Indonesian ghost girl whose lifestyle choices seem dedicated to making the 'ghost girl' bit an imminent reality.
Funnily enough, as I was starting to write this ramble @John Vtuber made a point that I think deserves highlighting.
This was in response to my own comment about the almost inexplicable ability of this forum (and extended community) to maintain a level of civil discourse in an environment that, by all rights, should rapidly devolve into a hugbox or tribal circlejerk. We know that such places do exist for vtubers, but old Johnny-boy really hit the nail on the head here. This is a place you can make jokes. You can shitpost (within reason). You can have a contrary opinion without immediately being pilloried by a minimum of 80% of the active users, with the remaining 20% being silent out of terror. Have we really come to this? Has the internet really fallen so far? Apparently so.
Of course, there will always be bad-faith actors who try and take advantage of communities with lax moderation policies. In many cases this has led to a 'Tragedy of the Commons' scenario. Many once-liberal (as in attitude, not political affiliation) digital spaces have been so heavily exploited that they become either desensitized to the point they allow literal paedophiles and other degenerates to dominate all discussions, or spiral into a moral quagmire of self-censorship and thought policing.
With this in mind, I'd like to reassure people that I will always consider this dynamic carefully when making any executive decisions about the content hosted here. Unless I receive severe brain damage, I am never going to compromise the principles already outlined in the rules, even if it prevents me from gaining access to things like additional revenue streams or a larger audience. If you come here, you abide by our founding principles. Whether it's a single random nobody or a representative of Cover Corps itself, this attitude will not change.
That said, do remember that I'm still bound by international law, and will not go to jail for things stupid users do, or leave themselves liable to. I consider it the user's responsibility to protect their identity and act in a manner that does not cast suspicion on themselves. If you do something stupid here that leads to you becoming a target of public mockery, that's your fault. This applies to the taking of offense as well. If you don't like what people say here, don't read it. If you physically can't bring yourself to ignore it, use the built-in ignore function to remove the temptation to respond.
Oh god I'm still typing why. Let's move on to my future plans.
Within the next month or two, I intend to do the following;
1) Register us with an actual domain name (this would've been done already but I want to make sure I pick a decent privacy-focused registrar first).
2) Devise a shamelessly pay-to-win system of video highlighting to encourage shekel-throwing and also hopefully spotlight talents who don't otherwise get much attention.
3) Consider some additional Live threads for talents with very dedicated fans who tend to post a lot when they've live. definitely not just kirsche shut up
In addition to the above I have a number of other ideas and plans that aren't concrete yet. Ironically the incredible success of this place has done more than anything else to reduce my eagerness to make changes, as it seems that even as a tiny corner of nowhere with no outward facing advertising and a generic URL, people just keep on showing up.
But as I've said before, communities evolve or die. Now that we have an actual presence and are demonstrably more than just a generic doomed splinter group, we can push outwards and establish more of a foothold in vtuber circles. I even envision a mythical future where suitably based talents have actual accounts here and contribute like anyone else. That's (likely) never happen, but it never hurts to dream.
I'm going to stop here before I write even more. I need to get actual work done now. Thank you to everyone who helped make this crazy dream a reality. You're all truly wonderful. Except the people who aren't. You know who you are, Adrian.
