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pr0ng3ls · 1 day ago

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Why I left the GITM Sub-Fandom and my experience with its Community

Hi, hello! I'm Prongl3z, but friends know me by Brie. So, I suppose I can get right into this and say that this post is likely to spark discourse. I ask that you read this and come to your own conclusions at the end. I'm not here to preach like a madman or call for witch hunts; I'm here to share my experience in a fairly popular sub-fandom within the DCA fandom, which I left on my terms. I was never kicked, nor was I banned from its server. I will say, this will get into so majorly uncomfortable topics such as mentions of NSFW, Bullying, and Cult like Actions(I will say this now; GITM is NOT a cult). Whether you like it or not, my experience and my friend's experience with this community will be taken into account. Block me, DNI me, report as Spam, I don't care. I need to discuss the events that have occurred over the years in this community.

Now, I need to explain some things ahead of time to avoid confusion:

What do I mean when I refer to the leading group of mods as Cursed? The reason I refer to them as such is not as a slur or insult, but rather a name they gave themselves near the beginning of the server. These were people who knew about events, characters, and information for the story that was not public and either would not be revealed until it was released or would not be disclosed at all. This group is mainly known as Qwille's immediate friends. Not everyone in this group has caused problems; those who have WILL be named when relevant.

The GITM central server is not as active or big as people claim and believe. Are there always people in the chat or on voice calls? Yes. However, it's the same 20 people in and out, out of a server with over 600 members. I recall being on this server when it had roughly 300 people, and many of them were quite active, including the mods and Qwille themselves. If they properly purge all accounts that have had no interactions whatsoever in the past 5 months, the number of users will TANK.

Everyone involved is no longer in any way, shape, or form in contact with Mimir. They are no longer on our servers, in group chats, or in DMs.

To get right to the point, I'm starting with my first of two main reasons for leaving: the Discord server is genuinely a hostile environment. There are two servers, really: Misutamojis (The Main Server) and Sanistickers (the Extra Emojis Server). I will not mention the OC server or any of its fandom's branch-offs unless on topic. There is an incredible number of issues that have piled up over the past 3-4 years that the server has been online. At first, they were small enough that it didn't matter. Qwille or one of the (once) very few mods would handle it because the server was small enough that it was easier to catch things, and people felt like they could properly trust Cursed. Unfortunately, thinking back on things, the signs that something was wrong were evident from the start, and I'm upset at myself that it took me nearly 2 years of stress and anxiety to realize it. One of the main problems is that there are people who are mods only because they're Qwille's friends. They do not address or enforce as a moderator. They just... have the role. These individuals have completely avoided any issues. They simply interact with other server members and mind their own business. All the different problems that have ever been raised with the mods have been those who, as mods, seem to have let that position go to their heads, to the point of bullying server members (and previous moderators).

One of the last things to consider is how the server operates. This is where I state that for many people, the server has a cult-like feel, but it does not mean it is a cult. I'll go into detail on what I mean by' cult-like feel. ' The best I can do to start this is by saying I recommend doing your research into it, but from what I've seen, there's a lot that overlaps here in cult behavior and the ways this server regulates and controls its members. (I'm not saying control is bad, but in this case, it very much is.). Once more, I'm not saying Misutamojis or anyone in GITM is a cult; what I'm saying is that many of their actions have now become anchored in cult-like behaviors. Quote, "The BITE Model© describes cults’ specific methods to recruit and maintain control over people. “BITE” stands for Behavior, Information, Thought, and Emotional control. The BITE Model should be used within The Influence Continuum© to help determine authoritarian control. Not every group or relationship uses every one of these. Some are universal, such as deception (Information control), indoctrinating people to distrust critics and former members, or installing phobias to make people afraid of questioning or leaving."

The following are tactics I and others have personally witnessed:

Behavior Control

Rewards and punishments used to modify behaviors, both positive and negative

Discourage individualism, encourage groupthink

Separation of Friends through Favoritism

Information Control

Deception: Deliberately withhold information, Distort information to make it more acceptable

Minimize or discourage access to non-cult sources of information, including: Media. Critical information. Former members

Compartmentalize information into Outsider vs. Insider doctrines: Allow only leadership to decide who needs to know what and when

Encourage spying on other members: Impose a buddy system to monitor and control members. Report deviant thoughts, feelings, and actions to leadership.

Thought Control

Organize people into us vs. them (insiders vs. outsiders)

Rejection of retinal analysis, critical thinking, constructive criticism

Emotional Control

Instill fear, Such as fear of: Enemies(banned individuals), leaving or being shunned by the group, others' disapproval, and missing out

With these methods, people can be easily manipulated into thinking a specific way. In this case, by not accepting the fact that there are people who have been affected by people they admire, because they have never witnessed it. Tactics are being actively used to shut down conversations and utilize these methods to blatantly avoid any repercussions for their actions or those of other cursed members. Their tactics are rooted in manipulation, which has led them to believe that it's the correct way to approach this situation. There's a sort of pyramid of control that's a red flag as well; Qwille being at the top, followed by their closest friends/Cursed, friends who act as sort of mini mods/people who exhibit blatant favoritism, then the rest of the server. The connection between mods and server members to establish trust is lacking, with no available bridge.

There's this weird "if I show that I'm good(at art), then I'll be liked by the mods/qwille" energy in the server. They're not going to question or fight back against them if they think they'll receive the reward of being their friend and learning more about the characters.

The other reason for my leaving was the laughably low level of communication initiated by Qwille and Cursed. Yes, there used to be an NSFW server for GITM. Yes, Qwille approved of this server and actively interacted in it. Yes, (not all)members of the Main Server's mod team were also in the NSFW Server, and during the beginning, 2 of said mods were also mods in the NSFW Server. To put this into perspective, besides GITM, there was one mod per 10 people, and there were seven moderators, including the Owner and me. That is over 70 adults who were genuinely interested in this aspect of GITM. There was art created, writing produced, headcanons, and AUs with adult themes. This server was genuinely created because I discussed a potential 18+ Magma with my close adult friends, allowing us to draw our favorite characters together. It then turned into a private chat where Qwille was added, and we got to personally ask them questions that were only Headcanons and remain that way. From there, a close individual of mine, who was a friend of Qwille at the time, asked them in DMs if we could make a server for this, which was approved, and they had joined and interacted in. We had events, conducted ID checks, and interacted without issue; many of us thought everything was fine. Qwille themselves added to the drawings and writings, and even participated in the Banner Magma for the server. They drew in the server's specific Magma, and were part of the community. We were happy to have them there with their friends in a space that felt much more personal. Suddenly, we were replacing the old server with a new one. This was communicated and again, given the OK by Qwille. They were given the link to the new server.

They chose not to join, and we respected that. We didn't push for them or their friends to join; it was up to them if they wanted to join.

There were several reasons to restart the server, including a lack of organization, sudden growth, and the background situation of Mimir. Yes, Mimir was a moderator in the NSFW Server. This was before we knew what was going on. They were also a mod on the Main server, along with Palooza. They were quietly removed and blocked from all servers, and subsequently blocklisted from the new NSFW server, as well as blocked by the mod team. I will state this for everyone reading: Mimir was previously a friend of Qwille's as much as they were previously a friend of us and the mod team. As of today, no one associated with us is in contact with Mimir. I attempted to reach out to Fleur about the situation, but was gently shut down, which I respected. It was after the creation of the new server that things started to go downhill.

For starters, mods of the NSFW server began to notice that Qwille and/or members of Cursed had quietly started blocking us, so it was alarming when the owner of the NSFW server, who had the most communication with Qwille, found out on 6/27/2024 that they were blocked. This means that all communications regarding what to do about the NSFW Ban were directly cut off. They had to go through Icy/GalacticTwink to figure out what to do. The communication about this was made, and we made it clear that we would keep the NSFW server GITM Free—no new developments in the AUs, no new art, no new writing. Simple, and we respected that, followed it ourselves. This was before I was told by one of the old mods(my roommate at the time) of the 1st server that Icy expressed distrust of the mod team. There was no trust to begin with from one of the major mods who speaks for Qwille, and that spoke volumes about how the rest of Cursed may have felt about us. We were already alienated from the start, and it genuinely felt like we were set up to fail.

Only 1 of us was ever contacted by Qwille themselves. Much of the falling out that occurred could have been easily avoided if a small personal server for the mods of both servers had been established, allowing us all to communicate about issues that needed to be discussed. A central issue on why we had difficulties contacting the other mods was that they made it genuinely difficult to contact them. This is a conversation I had with one of my friends who was in contact with Qwille:

This kind of bully behavior, unfortunately, was not uncommon and rounds back to the central server being hostile, as many people have had problems with not just Icy in particular, but also Apollo, Ren, Gilly, Crow, and Star.

This is the conversation that followed Ashes' ban from the central server, during which some expressed discomfort within the server. This concern was brushed under the rug:

I would also like to discredit Ren regarding them lying about Ashes as they had DM'd Ashes about another subject and "cleared it up.":

The sad reality is that I've seen people within the server absolutely Dog Pile on others if they don't agree with Cursed or Qwille. The inability to think openly within the server has been shut down on multiple occasions. It is literally in the rules. A new point to note is that, yes, I understand Qwille is an official character designer, but not everyone will like every character, and I believe people need help recognizing this. It's perfectly fine to receive criticism on characters, and it's fine not to like characters based on their personality, looks, or just their being alone. What's not okay is allowing your Fandom to bully one another because they don't like your characters, especially if someone doesn't like Noon. The speed at which people will blow up a conversation if you speak negatively about Noon is ridiculous and has been a significant disappointment in the server's ability to remind its members to be decent to one another. Unfortunately, Noon used to be one of my favorites. What killed that was the actual Noon favoritism that goes on in the server. It makes it incredibly hard to get anything on other characters. If a poll is created for a drawing or drabble and Noon is on the list, the likelihood that people will rally to vote for Noon's option makes voting for other characters rather lackluster. (That and once you realize he's just a robotic version of their sona altered to fit the story is... Not great)

I'm not here to discourage new people from interacting with GITM, but I am here to voice that Qwille and some of their friends are not friendly individuals. If you wish to interact with the sub-fandom and these creators, it is recommended that you use Tumblr. Stay away from the Server, the art that is created there, and the information that will eventually make its way into the light one way or another. It's not worth the drama, the stress, and the real-life experiences. I still love these characters and the story, but I can no longer enjoy it due to the people associated with its creation. It's disappointing and disheartening.

And a personal note to any of the moderators of Misutamojis: You know who you are, you know how your friends act, and you know how they've treated people; it's disgusting. The fact that some of you can stand by and allow yourself to be associated with these individuals is horrible. Some of you are genuinely the most cancerous individuals I have ever had the displeasure of meeting. You're nothing but vile bullies, and you know you are. You can lie and pin the server's members against us, create that 'Us VS. Them' environment, but I've seen how horrible you are, and so have a lot of other people you've affected. I truly hope when reality punches you in the face, you lose a tooth to remind you how fucked up you were. No one should ever be driven to even idealize suicide because of the actions of a server moderator. And to those who care about how your 'friends' have treated others, consider reconsidering your relationship with them. I'd personally drop them immediately. I wouldn't mind explaining things in private with the people who have been affected, but I know that's not going to happen, so I wish you the best of luck.

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