That was decently written but cringe worthy. Cringe goes out towards the NYT editorial Board and the people that felt that they are important enough to have a NYT editorial about silly internet drama. I should see if they want an article about the time I got butthurt about something that happened at the animal shelter I work at when an old lady told me I wasn't disposing of doggie doodoo in the proper way. Also noteworthy IMO is the fact that people are forgetting that: 1) /u/dacvak was apparently fired for being to sick to work (which is illegal in many civilized countries); and 2) redditgifts founder /u/kickme444 was fired after moving to SF a few months ago from the town he moved to because of the local family support for a family member that has MS. I am also surprised that more people have not been surprised that significant RES contributor /u/solidwhetstone has stepped down from his roles due to the toxicity.
Fair enough. But so is my volunteerism at animal shelters was a real part of my and others lives as well. I agree that the distinction between IRL and AFK are meaningless for "us" as they are so intertwined. On one hand I really could not care less about what happens with SRD, SRS, IAMA (where I proudly had zero karma which was a joke in between karmanaut and I) or anywhere else. I modded 2 defaults and was very involved and now I do not give a shit. On the other hand I kinda do care about what happens to people like kickme or dacvac or chooter who have been kicked in the balls and pushed out to the curb. But that still does not effect my daily life. reddit was a hobby that I was very involved in and If reddit or voat or hubski disappeared tomorrow I would not care. I modded secretsanta/redditgifts for a couple of years and got them their Guinness record, was mentioned in a blog post and many articles around the globe. Then I quit when I could not stand the bullshit and then modded mostly in the SFWPN for a couple for years and now quit that, Tis the cycle of Internet life. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I would be effected by maybe just reading paper or other sites more. No more than that. Just like I no longer volunteer at animal shelters as the stupid little old lady politics was too much for me there. I just direct my volunteerism energy elsewhere. Tis the cycle of life.