Wow… this thread sure is something else, I guess it's best to approach it in points.
Firstly I find the "conspiracy" part hilarious, like sure, without a doubt there are certain ppl who fall under the said category, but majority? Or enough to have a sizeable impact on the community? Thats just silly
I disagree. When I see 1 or 2 occasional "fake posters" / sensationalist posts vs. 20 in a week, it elicits a different feeling about the site, and the mods engagement with keeping the place emotionally safe. Mods now seem to be defaulting to giving EVERYONE benefit of the doubt rather than making it a point to police the site. That in itself breeds a different environment and a different feeling about the "standard of care". The amount of things I see getting ignored don't compel me as an individual to be a "good steward" of a site like that. A good steward looks after its fellow members in all regard no matter what; (which is what many of you feel is explicitly missing per this thread.)
At one pt post-2021, I remember seeing racist posts toward one particular ethnicity be ignored / accepted while anti-LGBTQ posts, for example, would be quickly censored. Seeing that tells me all I need to know about SaSu...periodt. ...and YES it destroyed both the posters in a particular thread and the OVERALL sense that SaSu was an emotionally safe place, in ANY regard for me...
However the more interesting part is that legacy members would NEVER have tolerated it so you just didn't see that type of posting / poster last. Cuz a member knew it could get them isolated QUICKLY! And no one joins a community to be isolated....periodt. Community stewardship had the affect of self-policing across the board (Which arguably makes a mod's job easier). It also makes people feel seen / heard and a part of something GOOD they seek to actively protect. Like each person mattered, especially when the time comes. Food for the soul. (Another sentiment in this thread.)
Secondly, I completely agree about certain people putting no real effort into their posts and then somehow getting lots of attention, or someone "known" inside the community posts and everyone flocks to them, meanwhile someone else is writing their heart out while sobbing and begging for someone to talk to with a post literally below the "popular" one and getting absolutely no attention, its soulcrushing and can lead to even more emotional harm for the poster.
I'm sorry but this phenomenon has and will ALWAYS exist on ANY site due to the nature of people in general. There is a reason I PM'd more than I posted. The 1 or 2 threads I started never got much foot traffic even back then. HOWEVER, the most "popular" members with whom I've had the strongest discourse with would ALWAYS come and provide true actionable effort-full uncensored advice (exactly what I needed.) Who needs the masses where there are a "true blue few"?
People these days fear stepping out or they tend toward snowflake-y or clan-like behaviours. I use myself as an example b/c I consider myself to be a somewhat hardcore, maybe even hard to digest person; if one doesn't take a deep look to see who I am or my values to understand and assess who I am.
The people here prided values and depth of posts over breadth of posts so the popularity contests were somewhat in balance with the greater joint stewardship of members. If I (for example) was known to provide good depth of advice it was certainly made a point to ensure that someone did the same for me REGARDLESS of my popularity vs theirs and regardless of my aforementioned "uniqueness". My contribution to all mattered, periodt. A thread like this would never have surfaced at that time.
Lastly I think a change from this "anti-social" community behaviour starts with each individual, especially those who themselves post, get responses, but rarely give back to others (you know who you are). Yes I understand that you might not have the energy, but at least do anything back, because they sure did push themselves for you. The last point is especially shameful imo, we really should do better in that regard.
So yeah… in a nutshell, next time you see a post with 20+ replies, instead of making another samey comment, how about you go check out the one above/below it with 0 replies and make that persons day by being there and listening? Do not abandon them like they were in high school, or by society at large, because if there is one place they should not be abandoned, it would be HERE.
Frankly I wouldn't respond to most people here because people only want motherly, coddled responses. Most people only see one type of response as caring and its a fairly limiting, unbalanced view of life and the world itself. I'm just not built that way.
But people won't / cant see the humanity in that too.
It doesn't mean I don't care but of course it will be interpreted as such. The tough, actionable responses are seen as being mean, or some foreign form of alien post with no value or validity. In fact, I see that as a greater problem with society. SaSu is just a sampling of that phenomenon. It may also be the reason there are so many young kids here seeking mothering, but I digress...
(And yes in some cases I will and do respond with what appears to be anger b/c I don't like people manipulating groups or sucking empathy out of the masses when their goal is just to be a disrupter, a fake poster, or hopefully a "sticky" in someone's mind or website. That's NOT a person who's going to offer the reciprocal memorable community stewardship I speak of!
I mean, truthfully, how can a person be a REAL steward of a community when the person has some predetermined, self-aggrandising goal of what their actions
should lead to amongst a group of dynamic humans who are troubled / traumatised / damaged / etc./ [insert favourite word to your liking] ??
How can a person like that truly CARE when they have a stated END-goal directing their behaviours rather than a REAL personalised desire to respond to you / your situation??)
