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*THREAD*
There& #39;s a community of interactive fiction writers that& #39;s shrinking today and it& #39;s because of a lack of community leadership. One member did some super racist stuff, and everyone had to decide where they stood, including the group founder. 1/8
There& #39;s a community of interactive fiction writers that& #39;s shrinking today and it& #39;s because of a lack of community leadership. One member did some super racist stuff, and everyone had to decide where they stood, including the group founder. 1/8
The only authority derived from the group founder and the loudest members. The founder abdicated their role, so it just became an argument between a racism apologist and several anti-racists, most of whom eventually had enough and left the group. 2/8
This could have been avoided if the founder of the group had laid down a code of conduct and told everyone that defense of racist acts would not be tolerated in the group. 3/8
If you start a community, even a small one, and it succeeds and grows, there will come a day when you have to acknowledge that you are in charge, or officially appoint moderators with the authority to lead the ethos of the group. 4/8
If you want your group to thrive then you will need to determine a code of conduct listing behaviors you want in the group, and behaviors you will not allow. Otherwise the group will wither, or get taken over by privileged bigots. 5/8
This moment happens to every community at some point. It defines the future of the community. This is the world we live in. This is a truth of our species at this point in history. 6/8
There is no such thing as an opt-in community that is successfully inclusive of both oppressors and oppressed people, nor can there be a community that is inclusive of both racism apologists and anti-racists. Including one necessarily excludes the other, by definition. 7/8
Pick one, and say so, or you fail as a community leader. This is just how it is. You don& #39;t have to like it, but if you value the community you have built and wish it to continue to succeed sans douchebags, you have to step up, pick a side, and enumerate and enforce the rules. 8/8
