With zero judgment for making this personal choice (I almost certainly would have made the same one), this is why the obnoxious trollpile tactics work:
"I pretty much dropped off the forums in the midst of all the drama."
Normal, sane people who just want to talk about nature-based spirituality don't have the same energy around engaging with the drama as the people who are there for the drama, so they can win a war of attrition.
Unfortunately, without support from moderators (which it sounds like there eventually was), neither "go hammer and tongs at the trolls with the same amount of energy" nor "ignore them and just keep having real discussions" are particularly effective strategies, which makes leaving/disengaging the rational move for the individual, even if that hurts the community.
Again, I bring this up not at all to criticize, just pointing out what a perfect illustration it is of the bind such bad actors put regular folks into.
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branchandroot
(no subject)
Date: 2022-06-09 01:40 pm (UTC)"I pretty much dropped off the forums in the midst of all the drama."
Normal, sane people who just want to talk about nature-based spirituality don't have the same energy around engaging with the drama as the people who are there for the drama, so they can win a war of attrition.
Unfortunately, without support from moderators (which it sounds like there eventually was), neither "go hammer and tongs at the trolls with the same amount of energy" nor "ignore them and just keep having real discussions" are particularly effective strategies, which makes leaving/disengaging the rational move for the individual, even if that hurts the community.
Again, I bring this up not at all to criticize, just pointing out what a perfect illustration it is of the bind such bad actors put regular folks into.