New Prediction: the next shift in the conversation will be someone Important writing a long and reasonable sounding thread about how this has gone too far and that no one actually knows what they’re fighting for here.

It will be different from the ones we’ve already seen because unlike the threads that came out yesterday and today it won’t be from a survivor of abuse it will be from someone who is worried that their innocuous mistakes will be next on the chopping block, but they won’t say it.

It’ll be written thoughtfully and with care for the people who were hurt and it will be retweeted 3d100 times, including by people you thought you could trust in this space even though you’ve never spoken to them before.

By Friday we’ll be talking about the people in our communities that only look out for themselves and we’ll have completely left Mike Mearls behind.

Then in a couple weeks WotC announce a new D&D splatbook and everyone will go googly eyed over it.

See you in six months when the book comes out with Mike’s name listed as Lead Designer and oh hey guess what he’s heading up 6e too what a comeback

That last tweet is a joke (probably), but if you take anything from this thread let it be this: this shit has a pattern and it happens like clockwork, and it’s basically gaslighting on a grand scale and it’s gross but if you start thinking about it now you can avoid the pits.

Sooner or later somebody sees the storm and thinks “shit, I don’t know anything about this guy, what if he’s like me, am I next?” And instead of asking a friend for help or doing a google, they spend three hours penning a manuscript explaining why callouts are wrong.

So it’s up to us when that happens to sit that person down or pull them aside and be like “hey you fucked up today, sit this one out and let other people do the activism today”