A few concerns about the state of this community

[Regulus]

Before I begin, let me preface this by saying that I have been a long-time member of this site, in excess of five years. When I first joined in 2011, I didn't expect to stay for long. I was going through a brief obsession with The Lion King following its revival in theaters, and I came to this forum as a place to talk strictly about that. I stayed much longer than I ever intended--not because I have some desire to talk about the movies and characters every day, but because I enjoy chatting with the many people I've met here. The people here were friendly and welcoming, and despite the drama that would occasionally arise, I quickly found this site to be a second home.

I've found it depressing that, over the years, we've had so many members go. Many grew bored or tired of this site, and left for completely understandable reasons. Many have been banned or forced out for misbehavior. Regardless of the reasons, we've come to the point where a great number of the long-time members are no longer here, and there is a lack of newcomers flooding in to replace them. As a result, the quantity of active members has continued to go down, year after year after year. Back when I first joined, roleplaying used to be extremely active, for instance. We had graphics design contests every week, as well as fanfiction contests and neat things like MLK radio on special occasions. Now, the activity has dropped and excitement all over the board is so low, the board is nothing even comparable to what it was before.

Guys, if this continues, what will this site be like in two more years? What about five more? How much longer will it be before the activity level is just so low, the whole forum goes under?

If we want this site to be the happy, healthy, and lively place that it has been in the past, we need to be welcoming to new members, as well as forgiving of older ones. Pretty much everyone on this site has said or done something worthy of being banned at some point or another--that much is an inevitability when you've been part of a community for so many years. Members have made mistakes, and at large, most of us have forgiven them over the years. On the other side, the mods have made mistakes, and we've forgiven them too. I understand there will always be drama from time to time, but this is the general attitude I've come to expect from this community.

Earlier this year, I thought MLK was making a nice revival when we had members like Amanda, Kops, and Malibu come back after so long. I would love to see us continue in this direction. With so many long time members gone for good, and hardly anyone coming to replace them, I believe this forum could be much more lively for many years to come, if we all just step back and take a more friendly and relaxed attitude. I've noticed tensions have been too high as of late, and if I'm to speak my mind here and offer my two cents, I just don't think it's necessary. We're a community comprised largely of adults now, and the overwhelming majority are really cool people who have made this place the amazing forum that it is.

Being weary and banning long-time members the moment they do something questionable is one contributing factor to the problem, not a solution. Returning members such as Claws, Amanda, and Malibu have added so much to the forum, and do not deserve to be banned on the spot. As a former moderator, I understand how tempting it is to give certain people the boot whenever some conflict arises, but that's not what's good for the community as a whole. Speaking from my own experience, there were times when I banned people on this forum thinking I was doing the right thing in the moment--but in hindsight I turned out to be very wrong. I strongly encourage the current staff not to make those same mistakes.

[Carl]

We all have concerns about the state of this community and after hearing many of them and discussing everything in depth have only done what we feel is necessary. Quite a few members have left or come to the staff because they no longer feel comfortable posting here. We have to consider them as well, and considering how small and tight-knit this community is, the way some members have been behaving publicly has led to a lot of discomfort, stress, and drama for many members and the staff. If long time members who were previously banned want to come back and have fun that doesn't involve scaring off more members and logging us with complaints, then that's fine. If they do nothing but create drama then they don't need to be here.

[Simbaholikov]

Amanda came back and very quickly made it quite clear she had a vendetta against certain members from years ago, me included.
Very curious to see her re-intro topic "apologising" for being mean and nasty to people... then immediately starts doing it again. This is not the kind of community MLK wants or needs, and is definitely not a healthy one to harass people and lie.

I was unbanned in 2013 and I'm still here, why? I didn't act stupidly. Kops was unbanned earlier this year and she's still here, why? She also didn't act stupidly.

These people have made it very clear from the moment they came back that they had no intention of acting nicely. Why should there be continuous forgivings for peoples' actions who caused so much hell in the past and intend to do it again? To turn the forum back into that nasty state? There's no problem giving banned members another chance, IF they've actually matured.

I'd much rather have a smaller community full of decent people, than a more active community filled with nasty ones. Negativity breeds negativity.

As another long-term member who's been here through the drama they caused in the past, it's been interesting to see the parallels to the problems they caused before in the last few weeks and I am happy to see them gone before they cause more problems again, the forum doesn't need people like that and can definitely survive without them. The forum isn't going to wither away because a few trolls got banned.

[Regulus]

[quote="Carl"]the way some members have been behaving publicly has led to a lot of discomfort, stress, and drama for many members and the staff.[/quote]

Being a moderator is a volunteer's job. No one is forcing you to do it if it's too much. I mean, having to deal with drama and other issues on the forum is kind of a mod's whole reason to exist.

[quote="Simbaholic"]Amanda came back and very quickly made it quite clear she had a vendetta against certain members from years ago, me included.
Very curious to see her re-intro topic "apologising" for being mean and nasty to people... then immediately starts doing it again. This is not the kind of community MLK wants or needs, and is definitely not a healthy one to harass people and lie.

I was unbanned in 2013 and I'm still here, why? I didn't act stupidly. Kops was unbanned earlier this year and she's still here, why? She also didn't act stupidly.

These people have made it very clear from the moment they came back that they had no intention of acting nicely. Why should there be continuous forgivings for peoples' actions who caused so much hell in the past and intend to do it again? To turn the forum back into that nasty state? There's no problem giving banned members another chance, IF they've actually matured.

I'd much rather have a smaller community full of decent people, than a more active community filled with nasty ones. Negativity breeds negativity.

As another long-term member who's been here through the drama they caused in the past, it's been interesting to see the parallels to the problems they caused before in the last few weeks and I am happy to see them gone before they cause more problems again, the forum doesn't need people like that and can definitely survive without them. The forum isn't going to wither away because a few trolls got banned.[/quote]

This is actually the first negative post I've found on this forum in many weeks.

[Simbaholikov]

[quote="Regulus"]

[quote="Simbaholic"]Amanda came back and very quickly made it quite clear she had a vendetta against certain members from years ago, me included.
Very curious to see her re-intro topic "apologising" for being mean and nasty to people... then immediately starts doing it again. This is not the kind of community MLK wants or needs, and is definitely not a healthy one to harass people and lie.

I was unbanned in 2013 and I'm still here, why? I didn't act stupidly. Kops was unbanned earlier this year and she's still here, why? She also didn't act stupidly.

These people have made it very clear from the moment they came back that they had no intention of acting nicely. Why should there be continuous forgivings for peoples' actions who caused so much hell in the past and intend to do it again? To turn the forum back into that nasty state? There's no problem giving banned members another chance, IF they've actually matured.

I'd much rather have a smaller community full of decent people, than a more active community filled with nasty ones. Negativity breeds negativity.

As another long-term member who's been here through the drama they caused in the past, it's been interesting to see the parallels to the problems they caused before in the last few weeks and I am happy to see them gone before they cause more problems again, the forum doesn't need people like that and can definitely survive without them. The forum isn't going to wither away because a few trolls got banned.[/quote]

This is actually the first negative post I've found on this forum in many weeks.[/quote]

Not very observant then are we. A very compelling arguement you make.

[MalibuTrashDog]

Yeah honestly I haven't even personally attacked anyone since being let back. I was banned for making an inside joke to Amanda in the crush thread.

Even while being in my temp ban I contributed to this forum by discovering a dangerous person that was on here and submitting evidence for it. Not that anyone cares though or will know about what I did because apparently banning people because a select few are easily offended is more important than protecting the safety of younger members on the forum.

[FlipMode]

[quote="Carl"]We all have concerns about the state of this community and after hearing many of them and discussing everything in depth have only done what we feel is necessary. Quite a few members have left or come to the staff because they no longer feel comfortable posting here. We have to consider them as well, and considering how small and tight-knit this community is, the way some members have been behaving publicly has led to a lot of discomfort, stress, and drama for many members and the staff. If long time members who were previously banned want to come back and have fun that doesn't involve scaring off more members and logging us with complaints, then that's fine. If they do nothing but create drama then they don't need to be here.[/quote]

Yeah so what drama did Malibu or Jose or Amanda or anyone else create? Because all we were doing was having a laugh, okay yes I will admit we kinda aimed some of those at SS01 because he drew pics of his OC doing the dirty with Amanda's underage OC and she was rightfully a little bit mad about that but it stopped when we realised it was going a bit too far.
I mean if he can laugh it off and still chat to us then why can't other people?

But everything else has just been friends having a laugh.
What does it offend anyone else if I say "LOL REGULUS YOUR THREAD SUCKS!"? If someone wants to leave over that and get offended then that's up to them, because he's my friend and he knows I'm just messing with him.
Right now I feel scared to be on here, not because of the drama but because of people being accused of starting it when that's not the case. If you're going to dish out warnings and bans for actual rule breaking then sure I get that but "Bringing toxicity to the forum"? Give me a break.
Where do you draw the line between having a laugh and causing drama? If you can ban people for causing drama then what constitutes drama needs to be more clearly defined. Otherwise long time members who are older and want to have a laugh with their friends while also remaining active and contributing are walking on egg shells.

[CatchTheRain]

[quote="Simbaholic"]Amanda came back and very quickly made it quite clear she had a vendetta against certain members from years ago, me included.
Very curious to see her re-intro topic "apologising" for being mean and nasty to people... then immediately starts doing it again. This is not the kind of community MLK wants or needs, and is definitely not a healthy one to harass people and lie.

I was unbanned in 2013 and I'm still here, why? I didn't act stupidly. Kops was unbanned earlier this year and she's still here, why? She also didn't act stupidly.

These people have made it very clear from the moment they came back that they had no intention of acting nicely. Why should there be continuous forgivings for peoples' actions who caused so much hell in the past and intend to do it again? To turn the forum back into that nasty state? There's no problem giving banned members another chance, IF they've actually matured.

I'd much rather have a smaller community full of decent people, than a more active community filled with nasty ones. Negativity breeds negativity.

As another long-term member who's been here through the drama they caused in the past, it's been interesting to see the parallels to the problems they caused before in the last few weeks and I am happy to see them gone before they cause more problems again, the forum doesn't need people like that and can definitely survive without them. The forum isn't going to wither away because a few trolls got banned.[/quote]

Ahem

I feel such a toxic aura here!

[Carl]

[quote="Regulus"][quote="Carl"]the way some members have been behaving publicly has led to a lot of discomfort, stress, and drama for many members and the staff.[/quote]

Being a moderator is a volunteer's job. No one is forcing you to do it if it's too much. I mean, having to deal with drama and other issues on the forum is kind of a mod's whole reason to exist. [/quote]
Yes, and that's why we are handling said drama and issues. We can't let other members suffer just so someone can have some fun, it's our job to look after the members and do our best to make this place fun and welcoming to everyone here. We are only human so yes, we do sometimes make mistakes and we don't always have the best solutions. We are certainly open to suggestions on how to improve the site and the way we handle things, but above all we have to take care of the members.

[Elton John]

The only poster here who has made me legitimately uncomfortable was adofo. The more I learned about some of the things he did, made me look back on some of the things he said to me while pretending to be my friend and it just makes me shiver a bit.

I know that I won't get along with or agree with everyone, or like certain opinions...but I think banning someone is something that shouldnt be done because of stuff like that. People who might be harmful to others? That's what banning is for.