I am a mod of a dedicated niche Discord fanclub server. We run the server well enough that the actual creator of the thing we like & owner/admin of the official server pops in occasionally to say hi, interact, and give updates on events & future releases. Hell, even the mod team from the official server joined our server for a more casual experience.

If I wasn't passionate about the subject, there's no way I'd be helping to maintain it out of the "good of my heart". The work of moderating something with an ultra-large fanbase? If you don't truly and passionately care about it, forget it! And even if you did, it can still be too much of am endeavor to put up with for free!

To let just any rando moderate a community will lead to its downfall. I'm especially worried when it comes to things like mental health & recovery subs.

I've been wanting to learn German for years now, specifically because "ich_iel" looked really fun.

Guess now is as good of a time as any!

My best friend had this happen to him. Except he's over 30.

He now worships T×m P×ol, El×n M×sk, and J×e R×gan. He also thinks that Tr×mp is "the ultimate epic troll".

He finally started saying that c×vid is fake & trans folks should be "purged". He also still thinks that you can catch AIDS from a toilet seat or a handshake.

His critical thinking skills have eroded to the point where I don't even recognize him anymore. He just parrots talking points from grifter podcasts.

We are no longer friends. I miss the "old" him everyday.

I don't argue anymore. You can't logic them out of something they didn't logic themselves into.

My father is too far gone and considered an "intellectual" man. My mom thinks she's "not that smart" (cool, thanks da), but she's become so much more open and accepting as she's gotten older and has shifted a lot of her views to be more progressive. Maybe because she realizes that my father, despite being very intelligent, is also an absolute moron who wrecks all his relationships. They're still together, though.

Therapy can help you cope with the situation, yeah.

My siblings are almost fully split on our views on religion and stuff.

Youngest to oldest: pastor, party girl, anxious wreck withdrawn from society, ex-military, brow-beaten family man, severe mental-illness-ridden mother, literal cult member, golden child/took over family business, ex-Rainbow gathering stereotype, and depressed IT guy who loves drugs, dogs, and the outdoors.

Things get better when you get far away from parents like this. Seriously.

ADHD advice from non-ADHD-havers has always been infuriating.

It's like yelling at a drowning person with no arms to "swim better!"

Why go back to a site that harvests your data, forces you to use its shitty app, astroturfs posts, engages in vote manipulation, uses constant ragebait to up engagement, forces constant ads at you, and has a CEO in charge who will lie about an innocent person to make them look bad?

Not to mention the state of the userbase, right now.

No thank you.

"The people we are making to feel unsafe & whose rights we are oppressing are showing that they will fight back!!! They are dangerous!!"

🤡

Fans keep buying the latest Pokémon games, which is why they'll never get an actually good Pokémon game.

You have arms, you coward.

Kill?

I have no love for the guy, but jesus christ.

Yeah, it wasn't great. They didn't believe in birth control and did very much believe that if they had another child, it was God's will & He would provide.

We're all pretty fucked up mentally. Don't love that part.

Yeah, my painful acne lasted far into adulthood. Found out it was 100% hormonal and finally got on something to treat it.

There's a lot of things that can cause acne.

My ex-spouse actually did the "tighten all the lids in the house"–thing when he was angry with me.

I had very little issue opening them. He did, though, which is when he was forced to confess what he did.

Not that I have seen so far. :(

Grody

Aye. Understanding it doesn't make them easier to get along with.

My da has unprocessed trauma yet refuses to address it, saying that his mental illness is cured because of Jesus. And if I was a good Christian, I would be cured, too.

Like.... my dude: a big part of my mental illnesses stem from my upbringing with you, but okay.

Because bad actors will search these terms and harass you for speaking ill of them, no matter the platform.

Not sure why you're being aggressive over someone taking precautions to protect themself.

I'm glad you were open to learning, though!

I have a very progressive siblings who is very pro-mental health and all that, but she never fails to mention how "those meds are so bad for you!" Yeah. I mean.. I guess. The alternative is me being unable to care for myself. But whatever.

"Try exercising!"

Cool, I'd do that if my brain didn't confine me to my bed for 18 hours without meds.

People just. don't. get it. And they need to acknowledge that they don't. It's fine!! Just don't try to act like we're on the same level playing field. We're not!

"I hate thinking!"

Like it's something to brag about.

Yeah, I didn't think German was anything special until a few years ago when I attended a German language group just for fun, on a whim. There was a native speaker there that I spoke to, and unexpectedly I just... I don't even know.

Anyhow, we ended up dating for a while.

Still have a weakness for the German language.

It's to protect myself from folks who will inevitably search these terms and harass others who criticize these people.

This platform is growing, and I will take precautions to keep myself safe.

If they're allowed to work, they should be allowed to vote.

You precious angel. 💗

Too real.

I know that folks have & will continue to do the "I don't dream of working"–thing, but I'll answer sincerely.

If I could do it in a way that could sustain me, I'd love to be able to design & make my own line of stuffed toys! I kind of do that right now, but it's not something I can do full-time and still survive.

I'd also love to do bearded dragon rescues/fostering/specialized veterinary care. I'm definitely not able to handle the schooling required to do any vet stuff, though. But I've done rescues/foster work in the past before I just couldn't handle the costs anymore.

U-haul syndrome?

Depression is also a condition that can cause this. Get a full health screening before you go fully looking into a diagnosis, but definitely keep it in mind if, physically, things turn up normal.

Also keep in mind that depression & anxiety can be comorbid with ADHD, which can often lead to frustrating misdiagnosis and being put onto medications that may not work quote right (if you choose to go that route). Hell, I've been told that "[you] don't have ADHD – it's trauma! PTSD!" As if the constant invalidatation of my condition wasn't one of the reasons in part that led to my mistreatment and development of PTSD.

I hope that you are able to get answers soon and have things improve!

Germans being tricksy? Well, I never!