resistingredherrings

[resistingredherrings]

I'm not sure how an outdated pinned post is the bigger issue when it doesn't change the fact the presence of a pedophile in Octocommune was brought to the owner's attention with evidence, yet it had to take a post on Tumblr for action to be taken. Suunn was actively in a space with minors for far too long after the initial ticket in the Octocon server. Atlas's only public acknowledgement besides the comment on the pinned post by octoconbeware was the followup announcement that was full of excuses: "The situation was not as cut and dry as it seemed on the surface" despite there being sufficient evidence presented to the moderation team including outright admittance from the pedophile that he knowingly groomed a minor - evidence that Atlas dismissed as "appear[ing] to be in a self-deprecating moment psychological moment of distress." Suunn "purposefully kinda sought out a relationship one of [his] alters has with an alter in a minor system, and ditn stop them when it got sexual." Atlas further dismissed the situation as "appear[ing] closer to COCSA" like that is any less harmful than CSA.

Octocommune members were left in the dark about a pedophile amongst them until Atlas realized it would give them and their growing platform a bad reputation. They supposedly banned another predator in their community "instantly" in one other instance, but when it came to Suunn, they shook off any accountability, shrugged and said it's "best handled by authorities and/or Discord itself" because it was based on "years-old ambiguous evidence." The latter statement quoted from the announcement ("...we made a decision based on the years-old ambiguous evidence that was provided to us...") not only shows indifference but sounds regretful and protective of a pedophile who has current allegations against him! They claim they "swiftly changed [their] minds" on their initial perspective of the situation, but it was barely 24 hours after octoconbeware's post they took action. Suunn was not muted or removed as this ticket was open.

What was in their control as owner of the server (banning the individual, and in Atlas's words "a false positive [being] infinitely better than a false negative") was not acted upon as swiftly as it should've been. The announcement pointed a finger and put blame on genuinely concerned individuals who they claim to wish to keep safe, in the same breath dismissing their concerns by referring to these people as a "movement" who have the goal of "permanently burn[ing] [Octocon] to the ground." This is not a witchhunt and it is the biggest insult to many members of the DIDOSDD community who have been victim to CSA and COCSA. This is spreading awareness. Atlas perceived the consequence of not following through on their promise to keep members safe as an attack on them. Not once in the announcement did they apologize. Not once did they admit fault. It was a desperate scramble to clear their name of being the DIDOSDD developer who let a pedophile dwell in their spaces. I believe that's infinitely worse than an outdated pinned post.

Hi anon, thank you for posting and bringing up incredibly important points. Your post seems to come from a mistaken belief that this blog is similar to Octoconbeware in spreading important information about Octocon and this situation. This is not what this blog is for, Octoconbeware has been doing an incredible job in posting their information, keeping things up to date and I genuinely commend them for keeping up with the demand that doing this has, I only added my comment on the situation as a, I assume, separate anon asked for, within the scope of what this blog covers. This blog does not focus on the main issue that Octoconbeware brought up to light, I neither have the information nor contacts to attempt anything similar either.

This blog's purpose will only be ever to educate people on present misinformation, and how people can spot things for themselves in the future to help promote a healthy relationship with online information, this includes very small parts of any given situation, such as a pinned post that doesn't include current/recent information and how that *can* and *does* affect people when it comes down to it. I recommend my last post for viewing on some of the impacts. This will never be as important as the main issue that Octoconbeware has brought to light, but dismissing what this blog was made for and represents doesn't make the things I've already posted less of an issue on it's own as a separate issue.

Moving on, I see parts of your message contains misinformation:

"...yet it had to take a post on Tumblr for action to be taken." As stated in Atlas' announcement, octoconbeware's account creation and post did not factor in making the decision of banning the account. "However, a former member of our team was internally dissatisfied with how the situation was handled, and (rightfully) convinced us that [...] a false positive is infinitely better than a false negative". The decision to have a zero tolerance policy (a potential false positive) was only made after that staff member said something. I asked Atlas for more information regarding this part of the announcement got confirmation that this is the case.

"Not once did they admit fault.", in the announcement Atlas explicitly says, with text emphasis, "[...], and swiftly changed our minds upon realizing that even with these considerations, we were wrong." Including a second time, explicitly saying "[...]. That's why we're not attempting to "brush this under the rug," and why we're fully open to admitting fault." With a 3rd time, again being very explicit, "[...]. I will gladly and openly admit fault for our mistakes, [...]". These are all direct quotes from the announcement itself, ignoring similarly implied messages in that announcement, as well as ignoring both implied and explicit messages in the Talk to staff chat.

"Not once in the announcement did they apologise.", while this is true for the announcement, ignoring the sincere apologies Atlas posted in the talk to staff chat is another form of misinformation by withholding truth. The chat has the same permissions as the announcement channel, save for send messages, and is completely viewable for people to read back on what Atlas said.

Unfortunately, as I've stated in my pinned post, as well as one of my previous posts, this blog does not make comments or discussions on the validity of people's choices or the moral implications related to those choices, and sticking to this rule I've set for myself, I can't make much comment on the rest of your post anon, for that I do apologise.

[resistingredherrings]

Hey hey previous anon,

The pinned post was true at the time of it being posted, it rrly doesn't take much effort to scroll one more post or open the doc to see the updates and I don't think it's fair to expect someone trying to just make people aware of a serious situation (which is surely stressful enough as is) to be responsible for the lack of other people's effort.

As for the other server announcements, I keep seeing it painted as bad, but if the situation is true and happened (which has been confirmed by atlas themselves) then servers are completely within their right to warn people of such a situation. It’s not just a small oopsie especially in the eyes of those server owners who may have minors in their community. Even if said person isn’t there anymore it’s still a choice the staff made and expecting a community (who is made of up trauma survivors) to just be okay with that choice even though reversed is frankly silly.

I rrly appreciate atlas discussing the situation at the very least on the octocommune server, but that still doesn’t negate the fact that it happened. You say you made this account to provide factual information without bias but you clearly do have one, which isn’t wrong, everyone has a bias, but the unbiased account is the staff made a bad choice, they reversed it and now people are completely within their right to be mistrustful.

Hey anon, I really appreciate the update! It's important that everything gets laid out as-is. I'll address each of your points as you talk about them in your message.

The information being true as of when it was posted is correct! But it's frankly still extremely important to understand your audience, to understand how your posts can be interpreted differently than how you intended, and to account for other people's lack of updated information, despite it being available to them, it's the responsibility of *everyone* involved to make sure it's clear what's happened; what is happening; and what will happen in the future. Unfortunately, this is a fact that most people don't even realise is a key part of clear communication, especially in regards to combatting, or even preventing, misinformation to spread. As I said in my previous post, no one, especially not octoconbeware nor Atlas, are to blame for other people's actions, but that doesn't mean what I've talked about above is suddenly null and void.

For the server announcements, you're absolutely correct that they should be telling their servers to keep an eye out, and to be careful, I hope my last post didn't imply the server announcements were bad. However, the screenshot I showed in particular was just one example of misinformation having been involved as part of the warning, I'll highlight my previous post by repeating that it is important that people make sure the information that people see first and foremost is accurate. To be clear, that goes for both octoconbeware and Atlas. Why this is important will eventually be addressed in my part 2 of this post;

To give a short tldr; unfortunately, it's just how people have developed clear communication, there are plenty of psychological and other studies on this exact topic.

As stated in my pinned post, this blog does not discuss the validity of people's choices, I'll be updating that post to include that decisions and their moral implications are included in this, thank you for bringing this to my attention, even indirectly.

I refer you to Atlas' own announcement and messages in the "talk to staff" chat about his accountability of the choice he and the staff members made at the time, and his promises going forward.

However I will state you are wrong about the staff expecting the community to be okay with it, I'm not sure where exactly you got this information from, but as it's very clearly a concern for multiple people, I'll make sure to address this in my bigger post about my thoughts on Octocon, as I've referenced below. I refer you again to Atlas' own messages, all Atlas has explicitly asked for is the community's understanding in the staff being swamped and to give them time, not for forgiveness or pity.

I've acknowledged that my posts so far have been leaning in the favour of Atlas, I discussed that in my post here;

I'm writing another separate post that will lay out my exact thoughts in more detail at the end. As an update, I'm still working on both posts I've promised.

I absolutely do have a bias, my personal opinion is that I agree with octoconbeware on some things, and disagree with others, same with that I agree with Atlas on some things, but also disagree on others. But my opinion is less important than the information I'm able to share with people regarding misinformation and how people can recognise it. I refer to my other posts again where I mention that I will be discussing how misinformation spreads, and my thoughts on this situation with Octocon I consider to be "leading by example" combatting misinformation, which frankly, isn't a healthy nor ideal way to do so.

To be clear, this account battles misinformation found online, and will (eventually) give the people reading tools to be able to combat misinformation healthy online themselves. This account is not to blame people, nor to throw around words haphazardly. I vet my posts extremely heavily before posting them to make sure I'm being truthful, informative, as well as objective. I'm not immune to mistakes, this does mean I'll update older posts with clarifications if people make a comment, and I'll address new information found if I find it helpful for people to read, but I have yet to speak a lie, both explicitly/directly and in any perceived implied meaning (as best in my ability to be able to recognise such things).

[resistingredherrings]

Can I ask where the Octocon beware posts suggest the person is still in the servers? As I can’t find anything suggesting such.

As this is a quote from their doc/posts:

“replied to my public post a little over 24 hours after I had posted it on the 6th of February, 2025, reversing the decision and banning the pedophile."

It's in Octoconbeware's own pinned post, I've attached highlighted images below that the wording chosen by octoconbeware actively influences readers to think that this user has not been banned for the last few months;

As you can see in the first sentence of the first paragraph alone, "A pedophile [...] is in the Octocon servers". This is the first post that people see when people go to their account, and for things like this, it is crucial to present correct information.

Unfortunately a lot of people don't read as much we'd like them to, this is no one's fault, especially not octoconbeware's, but spreading awareness inherently includes considering how people will see and react to your posts. Keeping old information posted like that is a great way for people to misinterpret not only Atlas, but also octoconbeware.

Below is another screenshot of a Discord server announcement a friend shared with me;

I would like to reiterate; it is important, especially for people spreading awareness, to make sure the information that people will first and foremost see is accurate, unfortunately that is the way of the world, in regards to situations like this specially, people will repeat things even if they may not understand the context it was in.

I would refer you to my other posts here on tumblr, in specific my standalone posts that aren't an answer to an ask, on common misinformation phrases I'm sure we've all heard at least once growing up, it didn't take 1 person for those phrases to be considered common or truth. I encourage everyone to read more carefully, but me saying this will only do so much for people to actually do that, and that doesn't stop the misunderstanding that people already have, like the server announcement above, regarding this situation.

(Note: This server announcement is from one server out of many that received the same or similar announcements, and I've been told that the server I got the screenshot from has posted a follow up announcement after Atlas' announcement, this is the result of octoconbeware's posts.)

[resistingredherrings]

can I ask for your input on the Octocon situation with the octoconbeware account

Yes! For now, I will keep this brief. There are some things I'd like to say first and foremost, I'll post the rest of my thoughts in a separate post, after my part 2 post I mentioned earlier today.

Truthfully I'm a little on edge with the phrasing that the octoconbeware account has used in regards to the actual facts, as well as their own opinions. I was hesitant after receiving this ask because it wasn't that long after Atlas posted their own announcement, but after reading octoconbeware's response, considering the misinformation they have on their account currently, I feel like adding the facts is the least I can do.

The below post explicitly mentions pedophiles

The pedophile has been banned from the Octocon servers since early February. Atlas has posted proof of this with ban logs. The octoconbeware account suggests that the pedophile is still within the servers. (This is not true.)

Due to the misinformation above, many servers have posted announcements about octocon saying they themselves don't support protecting pedophiles, Atlas' announcement made it clear that neither do they. This has also made the server owners posting announcements think that there is still someone who is known and actively dangerous within octocon's servers.

The way the octoconbeware account has handled information like this has a real world consequence on Octocon as a business and project, this includes, if Atlas wasn't anonymous, real world action taken against Atlas. The lack of regard octoconbeware has for this issue, considering they are acting as a voice for the victims, is objectively not okay. Please ask me to expand on this if needed.

I'm aware this post as it stands is mostly leaning towards being in favour with Atlas, unfortunately these are my primary concerns with the situation right now, Atlas has addressed most of my concerns with his announcement, while octoconbeware has yet to take accountability for their impact on the community.

I mentioned above that I will be making a second post about this situation, this will include more in-depth information about the concerns I've talked about in this post, and includes my grievances for both Atlas and octoconbeware. I thank you for listening and hope you find the information I've provided here to help objective and helpful.

[resistingredherrings]

Misinformation Online

One of the problems with having such an amazing way to share information with other people is that it's easier to come across something I call 'plausible misinformation' where it sounds plausible enough that it's easy to accept.

Some common examples of misinformation, or even disinformation, that people have come to accept as truth over time include;

Cracking your knuckles/hands causes arthritis

Sugar causes children to be hyperactive

Chewing gum stays in your body for 7 years/a long time

Humans only have 5 senses

There is a lot more to that list, and I'm sure there are many posts on tumblr alone explaining why these aren't true, along with the research the science and psychology world has provided. I won't explain why these are untrue here, I suggest anyone reading that they do their own research into why these are untrue, and how they came about to be accepted as truth, and why they're still thought of as truth to many people in 2025.

Why is this important?

This is important for people to know due to the limited amount of ways to combat mis/disinformation, especially in online spaces where people have assurance in a pseudonym, as opposed to being completely anonymous. This assurance is basic human nature, and not necessarily something bad, but when paired with harmful intent can impact many people in ways that frankly people just don't think about.

As mentioned in my pinned post, this account is to hopefully help people understand when misinformation is being used/spread, and what that actually means for everyone involved, including bystanders who are only viewing.

How can misinformation be combatted?

One of the surest ways to combat misinformation is by having knowledge. This may sound a little obvious, but there is a difference between having knowledge about a topic compared to understanding that topic, having the knowledge that something is bad or wrong doesn't help you understand why it's wrong.

Autistic people such as myself may understand this more, but when you're told as a child that you can't wave around scissors in classrooms, usually the answer you'll get from teachers/school staff is that it's dangerous. As an adult, you understand that it's dangerous because it can hurt other people, cause permanent damage or trauma to someone else, and that you wouldn't want people to do the same thing to you.

This is called nuance. That child doesn't understand all the nuances and implications that come with the dangers of scissors, but adults do. How you came to know about dangers of scissors outside of "it's dangerous" is different for everyone, some people may have learnt from experience and don't want it to happen again, other people may have had their parents explain this to them as a child, and there will be people who learnt that danger from growing up and having situational awareness from watching other people.

This nuance comes with the understanding that the list I made above of commonly accepted misinformation can mean that those things are either full lies, or half truths. This would also depend on your knowledge about the topics mentioned.

How does understanding nuance help battle misinformation?

The more you understand a piece of text, an image, or etc, as well as the nuances, the more likely you'll be able to spot misinformation out in the wild, this includes about specific topics like systems, as well as everyday life. This is a core part of being able to battle misinformation in the future, or at the least a necessary part of being able to ask someone else you know, or even this blog, for their opinion.

Correcting misinformation in of itself also requires communication, patience and understanding. You can't correct someone who doesn't want to be corrected, especially without having the patience to communicate with that person on the specifics.

This post currently answers the question of "what are the things I need to understand to be able to start looking out for misinformation", however, this post doesn't touch on much more than that. I'll be making another post about the rhetorical triangle for more information on how misinformation gets spread in the first place. (This doesn't include asks I receive, as this is a standalone Part 1 post.)

Please be kind to yourself and other people.

[resistingredherrings]

Whats lighthouse??

Lighthouse is an online journaling tool aimed towards systems! I would say their blog here on tumblr will answer some questions ( @lighthouse-app ), but I believe the actual site link would be more helpful in terms of what services the site provides.

I'm linking to the about page; https://www.writelighthouse.com/about

However the website has a lot of information to look through! The last I heard, the developer is doing background work to make Lighthouse better at the moment.

[resistingredherrings]

What is this blog about?

This blog is to *actually* help people with dealing with misinformation & incorrect rhetoric found online by using objectivity. This mainly includes giving people as correct as can be information at the time of posting.

This is particularly for the online DID/OSDD/system spaces, especially regarding discord proxy bots (Octocon, PluralKit, TupperBox, etc), or online system tools (Lighthouse, Simply Plural, etc) This is not be the only thing that this blog will deal with.

What does this mean for me?

This means that you can ask this blog for an opinion or explanation about something that's going on to do with the tech spaces of the communities mentioned above, or for in general, providing I've seen the context of both sides, as well as you providing the information you know to potentially get the correct word out there. This will help me look at things more objectively so people can feel like they can trust what is objectively and factually there in online information they come across in the future.

What is this blog not for?

This blog does not discuss syscourse (system discourse), the validity of people's choices, or the moral implications related to the choices people have made. This blog is purely to just get correct information about controversies out there by contacting people who are asking questions, and the people who are making claims.

General Information

The name Red with they/them pronouns will do fine for referencing this blog in a more useful manner than the usernames this blog uses.

I started this blog because I'm honestly so tired of people saying things to each other without consideration for the person they're talking to, nor any consideration for exactly what people's words do to another person, both online and in the real world.

This blog will not be fighting on any side that people choose to ask for my opinion on, you can say this is me claiming I play devil's advocate, or I'm just playing Fair. This blog aims to only post objective facts and opinions (this means contradictory opinions such as "this is bad, but in this way it's good" will be a staple of this blog).