The stuff I've been seeing from a variety of Falcom fans has been a reminder as to why I keep most my forms of direct contact locked down in one way or another. I'm sorry to everyone who's had to deal with that nonsense from that guy. Thank you guys for calling him out.

I appreciate people coming together and making it known that this had happened with him, and I don't want to make light of the situation that happened because it was very 'wtf.' --however, I've also seen people surprised that this could possibly be a thing in the Falcom fandom.

This fandom, that I had once toted as one of the best (and there are some incredible elements of it, don't get me wrong. I love all you guys who make it a great fandom!)- has become so toxic in some areas that I sometimes just can't deal with it.

I've been actively participating in it for over a decade and I've seen a LOT of shit happen. Things from translators making sockpuppet accounts to shitpost their own employers, to harassment and even threats because someone *dares* to not like the same characters as someone else.

The reason I actually started using my full name on Endless History came about from someone threatening to dox me, because I dared talk back to him- but his dox was so friggin' weak, it was only my actual name and not anything else. It was my way to take any power away from him.

Conversely, I've seen people become *obsessed* with trying to dox someone who actively tries to keep their RL life private and separate from their online life- to the point of spreading the *wrong photo* of her to 'stick it to her' and say she was a liar about who she is.

There are a lot of people in this fandom who seem to have forgotten an adage that I've learned from reddit, of all places. "Remember the human." There is a person on the other side of that computer screen. There are a lot of people in this fandom that have forgotten this.

At this point, there's a part of me that sympathizes with that particular fan translator. If this is the kind of shit I've seen over the past ten or so years- and it's just gotten worse rapidly in like the past two- no wonder he went the way he did... :(

The moral of this story is this: be nicer to others in this fandom.
* Don't be creepsters and go sliding into people's DM's.
* NEVER try to dox people. I don't care what you think about them.
* Let people like their characters/ships. I know they may not be the same as yours.

We're all in this fandom because we like the video games of a specific company. This is not a case of life or death. You aren't going to die if you aren't being dated by someone in the fandom. You aren't going to die if someone likes Singa's music, or if they ship Rean and Alisa.

I guess the past few months have changed my perspective on what is and isn't important. What's important is to remember that this community is what we have and we have to live in it together.

Oh, and one more thing. For god sakes, don't give someone shit because they decided to start with the Cold Steel series. That's super gatekeeper'ish and needs to be knocked off. I'm seeing people refusing to touch Falcom's games because of the fandom doing *that* shit, too.

I 100% agree that the player would appreciate the series more if they played the games in order. I'm a 'release order' kind of gal. *However*, that doesn't mean it's YOUR decision what another person wants to do or not do. You can still enjoy the ride vicariously through them!

Get out your popcorn and if they ask you questions they don't understand, just tell them 'Play and Find Out.'

...and keep enjoying that popcorn.

okay. my thread is done. i promise. i'm going to get back to actual work now. #offmychest