Complaint Adhara, Goonstation Discord, July 25th 2023

[George_Manning]

Initially, I was going to post this as a reply to Kiki's post, but found it to be distinct enough to post on a separate thread. The two cover the same issue (hostile rhetoric on discord) but I think they're worth covering separately. Their post reminded me of an incident about a month ago I meant to post about here but did not have the time for.

Do note that both me and Adhara agreed this was a better place to post this.

I brought up a conversation in the Discord about a geopolitical issue I found fascinating, that being the purported use of the nine-dash line in the Barbie movie and its consequences on real-world international relations. Adhara responded by accusing me of spreading "conservative outrage bait", suggesting that I had no issue with the erasure of LBGTQIA+ characters in media, and wasting the time and energy of others that were willingly discussing this phenomenon they also found interesting. 

I have no issue with admins commenting on politics, the admin team seems to be very politically diverse and that is a perfectly fine thing. I take issue with the fact that an admin assumed I was acting in bad faith, assumed my post was influenced by political leanings I do not actually possess, and then explained how people with said political leanings turn their eyes from a heinous activity. This felt to me like a roundabout way of saying that I did not care about LGBTQIA rights in film, relying on an entirely incorrect assumption to do so. I received an acknowledgment from Adhara that they acted rudely, but no apology


The link to the conversation in its entirety can be found here (For the original conversation, click on the message from Adhara that I replied to): https://discord.com/channels/18224996089...1498090586

I would encourage everyone interested to read the entire conversation instead of just these images, as that provides a more complete picture of the conversation, and due to the image limit this may paint Adhara, me, or a third party in a way that is not accurate to the situation.


Here are some images from the conversation showing where I was coming from and what I take issue with in the behavior:





Images 1-3: Me initiating the conversation, everyone having a fairly nuanced discussion with multiple opinions at play



Images 4+5: Adhara's responses implicating my indifference towards the erasure of LGBTQIA+ people in films


Images 6-8: What I interpreted as a fairly hostile response:




(Apologies for the terrible formatting of this; it's never been my forte, no matter how hard I've tried)

Ultimately, I am not upset that Adhara shared their opinion. It led to an interesting conversation in itself. I am upset that they did so in a way that either intentionally or unintentionally attacked my intelligence, was based on a swift judgment, and accused me of ignoring a topic I am acutely aware of. This is the sort of hostility to the general community is something that Mentor and HoS applications get rejected for fairly often, and it disappointed me that an admin would engage in similar behavior.

[Frank_Stein]

Just want to respond to let you know the feedback has been read and discussed, and we do appreciate you coming forward with it.

I'm not speaking for Adhara or the team when I say this, but this is generally why they tell you not to talk politics and religion in polite company: People tend to have strong opinions about both

[George_Manning]

Just want to respond to let you know the feedback has been read and discussed, and we do appreciate you coming forward with it.

I'm not speaking for Adhara or the team when I say this, but this is generally why they tell you not to talk politics and religion in polite company: People tend to have strong opinions about both

Thanks for being so speedy with this. I know everyone on the team has actual lives outside of the space game. 

On the note of politics and religion, I agree that this is generally true. I would not have been as concerned if it was a "normal" player making such comments. Strong opinions are a natural part of human expression, after all. However, given the higher standard admins are supposed to be held to, I am led to believe professionalism and "keeping the peace", so to speak, take precedence over the expression of "strong opinions" -or, more accurately I suppose, the expression of said opinions in a way that automatically assumes malice.

[Frank_Stein]

However, given the higher standard admins are supposed to be held to, I am led to believe professionalism and "keeping the peace", so to speak, take precedence over the expression of "strong opinions" -or, more accurately I suppose, the expression of said opinions in a way that automatically assumes malice.

Absolutely, and your feedback is helpful in this regard.