I want to add something to the discussion around apologies from these problematic, harassing, manipulative s-holes of SFF, & it's this: Geeks (okay... humans) love a redemption arc. So much so that when we see something that looks like on in life, some buy into it. Hard.

Don't.

There's a few reasons for this, but here's the big one: A community does not owe someone who harms the community or the most marginalized folks in said community anything, including witnessing the harmful person's redemption. If they seek public acknowledgement of redemption?

That means they're not actually redeemed. They're just hoping folks will see the surface and ignore the writhing maggots just underneath it. If one really wants to do better, be better, atone, work on themselves, eliminate that harmful behavior, they do it privately.

Because that stuff can only be dealt with privately. That's between a person and their counselor or psychiatrist or spiritual shepherd etc. They're not still putting themselves back in the exact same situations where they were a problem before. They're not recycling apologies.

The community doesn't need for them to come back and prove their not-sh*ttiness to us. If you harm the community you don't get to be in the community, anymore. That's how it *should* be. Doesn't mean you don't get book contracts or jobs or whatever. You just don't get us.

Because you proved with your words and your actions repeated dozens, hundreds of times across years (YEARS) that you are not safe, you don't care about most other people, and you'll do whatever you can get away with even if it's 100% horrible. Why would we want this?

I don't give a crap about your redemption arc. You don't need to keep going here. No one needs to be following you on SM "keeping an eye on you." You do not deserve to tiptoe back in hiding amongst folks who might not be aware of your callout or when you think we've forgotten.

This isn't a story where someone who has been the embodiment of evil for an entire 7 book series does one semi-decent thing and then gets to be forgiven. That story is for children (and written by an author with dubious talent). That forgiveness is for someone who isn't grown.