ProtoDot

seeing that the people who harassed predstogen are coming over here and even some new ones coming out of the woodwork just really hammers in that once harassment gets pervasive enough no amount of moderation or format or platform changes will likely be able to curb it. it's genuinely depressing and aggravating seeing the same old shit that doesn't make anybody on any side of it happy time and time again. it's also aggravating that the broader solution (at least in my opinion) to such pervasive harassment, building community and belonging, only gets harder the longer it all goes on. if harassers had a stable community, a sense of belonging that wasn't hierarchical, wasn't dependent on the ostracization of those they deem different, they wouldn't need to pull this shit. if the targets of harassment had strong and broad enough communities they would be more difficult targets (although that would likely just mean harassers divert their attention to an easier target, unfortunately). however, the culture of the modern internet, as steeped in anonymity, cynicism, profiteering, and impermanence as it is renders it a poison to community. and like, even if things suddenly get magically better, if people start realizing we have nothing to gain from this, if people learn that we are all more alike than we are different, if people actually make an effort to change themselves and the internet for the better, well then where the fuck does that leave people like avery in the meanwhile