[Discussion] A lore forum Discord chat channel!

[Iscah]

I don't think anybody is going after Iscah. To be blunt, popping into a thread and claiming to have anxiety is...more than a little emotionally manipulative. It may very well not be intentional, though I'd be lying if I said it didn't rub me the wrong way. As someone who has been diagnosed with PTSD, I wouldn't dare try to 'weaponise' it to sway opinions or make people feel guilty.

So please don't assume I'm only saying it to be "emotionally manipulative"!

I am not "claiming to have anxiety". I have anxiety, and a diagnosis to prove it. I was sitting there with a massive knot in my stomach, and wanted people to know that. As I am again now.

Oh, and nervous heartbeat too now. How fun.

This is one of my main Internet places to visit at the moment. The thought of some of that discussion shifting to a different place, and from "neutral ground" to one moderated by people with an opinion in the discussion instead of uninvested forum moderators... and not even waiting to get the proposed "balanced team" before starting it up.

As others have suggested, the way it's being handled has tipped me from "on the fence" to "no I don't want to be there".

Anxiety of being there. Anxiety of missing out. Anxiety of having yet another chat channel to try to keep up with all the discussion in a far more urgent and missable format than a forum where the topics, and their 'unread post' icons, will still be there and easily found or replied to tomorrow.

(I left the "Nervous Eorzean" Discord some time ago because I couldn't keep up with the conversation. How's that for irony...?)

Again, I urge everybody to take a look through my post history elsewhere to get a feel in regards to how I choose to present myself online. I post frequently because I enjoy posting, especially when it comes to subjects that interest me. I really don't care if people disagree with me, so long as they're civil about it. I'd like to think that has been consistent.

I've read through (and attempted to debate) enough of your post history here, I don't need to go out and read what you write on other forums.

And it's not about your views on Garlemald or any particular character that I have issues with, it's the way you debate them. As with the quotes Alleo pulled out, where you speak down to other posters for being "not nuanced enough" or "only interested in their personal interpretation of the lore" (like you don't have one that you insist on?) or an "echo chamber". And now instead of being just part of the discussion that you talk about so dismissively, you say that you'd be the perfect person to moderate it.

Can you see why that sounds like a bad idea, if you "objectively" step back from it being your opinion and think about the sort of person who should be moderating a debate?


I also feel like it's not just about opinions, but the way you interpret the canon itself - which rightly or wrongly is sometimes out of line with what the majority would agree to be "the facts" within the story.

An argument that continues to stick in mind is this one where you see "Eorzea's imperialistic tendencies" where everyone else (at least everyone who weighed in on the conversation) sees the actions of private individuals.

And again, as much as the argument itself, your dismissal of the majority opinion as "biased towards Eorzea" while you're the one who can see their negative actions for what they truly are.

So, when you propose this new Discord with the declaration that:

I want to establish a place where people can discuss the game's lore and not feel as though they have to tread on eggshells or find themselves insulted for liking a different character/faction to someone else.

...it seems at odds with your post history. You might not directly insult people's opinions, but you take a condescending attitude towards them. The majority is wrong and biased, and you know better.

And again, that's not the attitude I want to see in a moderator - by implication, someone who should be moderate. Not an outlier in the debate with a strong opinion.

If only we could clone a team of Mooses... Moose... Meece?