bumblefina

Let me start by saying this: as a 17 year old, believe me, I don’t want pedophiles on the server either. I don’t want to protect them. Nobody wants to protect them. It is not upholding an image. There is constant mention of LOTC having pedophiles and little to no actual reports. We ask that instead of talking about how there are pedophiles, you report the people who you know are. How can staff be ‘protecting’ someone when they have no idea who you’re referencing? How are we expected to do something when we know nothing about it? I get it, people in the past dropped the ball. But there are administrators now who are trying. We want to work with the community and get rid of these people. However without any information what are we expected to do? 

I dont know how many times I have to say it. There is no current situation involving pedophiles or someone being victimized that I am aware of. No one is withholding information. My statuses and subsequent responses have centered around protecting the community from becoming victims. There are undeniably instances in the past of staff members using their position to abuse minors. This should not be ignored in favor of keeping some perceived image of staff squeaky clean. People need to be aware that it CAN be a problem. I’m not saying it IS a problem right this moment, but HISTORICALLY it has been. Staff need to stop getting defensive. If you’re not a predator, you have nothing to fear. Instead, you need to be focusing on how you can help protect the community.

As someone who is also 17, I can also attest that pedophiles will not be accepted onto any platform that we control. I’ve had friends, both men and women, who have been a victim of pedophilia and/or sexual assault. However, as devnever stated prior, there is nothing we can do if we don’t have any information to go off of. To my knowledge, none of the current staff members (at least on the mod team) have ever defended or protected a pedophile. If there was information that a pedophile was in the community, even someone exhibiting questionable behaviour that could suggest such, we would look into it as soon as we can.

And as Joel wrote before, a fair few individuals are mislabeled as pedophiles due to uninformed accusations and rumours that get thrown around. I know this because I’ve been one of those people who have been told one thing when it was really something else. The false rumours take away from the real thing. It greases the cogs for bandwagons of more ill-informed people thinking there’s a bigger problem than there is. This is why I think your quote “I DO NOT CARE ABOUT PROTECTING SOMEONES IMAGE” is reckless. There are good people out there being accused and their reputation is tarnished in our community. This being said though, staff members have historically been guilty of questionable **** and one way or another they do end up being removed from whatever position they occupy and are ToS banned on top of that. However, regular players are capable of questionable behaviour as well. There is no system that protects pedophiles contrary to popular belief. The larger the community, the more undesirables there will be in staff teams. Before reputation-destroying accusations are made, caution needs to be exercised. Especially in a community where simply stating pedophilia is a dog whistle and the community will mindlessly agree with whomever called it.

If you want to spread awareness, the way you’re going about it is wrong. The reply you had made to Safety Team Update, although menippean, takes away from the fact that there are staff members who are truly concerned in keeping the community safe. Create a post, a guide even, of the correct measures to take if they suspect they’re being groomed or approached by someone wishing to cause them harm which you can accompany with a list of common behaviours of predators, and safety organisations to contact. Our Administration are always available to handle Safety Reports at [email protected], even if they don’t necessarily happen on an LotC platform. If it’s an Admin that you’re reporting, make a private report to another Admin or bring it to a trusted moderator’s DMs so that there is no worry about leakage or inaction towards the report. If a restraining order does happen to be issued through a real-life court, Moderation and Admins are more than capable of enforcing it on LotC platforms as has been done in the past.

A good example of a guide will be embedded in this sentence.