[CONTENT WARNING] Tales From the Cord - Short Stay
PLEASE READ: This entry contains mentions of very touchy subjects such as beastiality and wanting to harm minors. Read at your own risk. Any names in this are fake names, and take any entries like this one with a grain of salt.
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Anyone remember when Writscrib existed? The supposed alternative to Tumblr where people could seek creative freedom from the uptight morals crowd? It was one of those times where you'd blink and suddenly the entire thing's gone. It was here that I discovered a group of people who'd made a Discord server for those who wanted a break from the purity police/SJW types (yep, we're going back to that point in time). That server turned very nasty, very quickly. Probably not a surprise on that one.
The server was called something along the lines of "Now That's What I Call Problematic". It was a server for anyone to safely indulge in darker forms of media they liked, such as yanderes/stalkers, Mafia AUs, whatever kinks and fetishes that would make the general public raise an eyebrow, you name it. I was a young woman at the time who struggled to come to terms with my taste in fictional stuff, and never really had interest in guys in real life.
Stuff I wanted to happen to me in fantasies, I'd never let happen in real life. I abhor anyone who'd stalk others and not take a hint to find healthier outlets with their feelings. With my conflicted thoughts on my interests, I'd hoped that this server would help me find others to work some stuff out with me and get some advice on how to go forward from there. What I got instead was an environment I tried to ignore my gut on at first, but ended up quietly dipping out from.
I'll admit that my memory's fuzzy on how long I'd been in the server as a whole. But I do remember when things really shifted because of one user that came through: Scale.
Scale took the line that was supposed to stop at fictional content only, and tossed that thing so damn hard it would've took someone's eye out if it was a spear or something. Scale had a thing for dogs; they really, really "loved" dogs. Pictures of real life dogs would soon be posted with Scale talking about what kind of people they'd be if they were humans.
"This scraggly mutt would be a pervy old man. This one would probably be the creepy balding fat guy in the bar corner leering at the women on the other side." Things like that. Scale then said that they "preferred" male dogs over people because, in their words, "male dogs understand what 'no' means, unlike men."
The whole thing was sick to read, but I didn't want to cause issues by saying anything. This was supposed to be a place for people to have outlets, yes. But I didn't want to be around this type of stuff. Dogs weren't the only thing Scale liked talking about; they also had a very huge drive to talk about harming small children and even babies.
Why? Because they were annoying and their screaming and crying grated on the ears. Anyone could emphasize with not liking children or babies being loud; it's something that can't be avoided most of the time. Wanting to "smash skulls" or "stomp on ribcages" was crossing a line, however. I left the server after that.
Writscrib's been dead for years. Who knows if that server's dead or still kicking either. All I know is that I hope people like Scale are caught before they can even act on their urges. Should I have got some guts and asked the server owner why nothing was being done? Maybe. But like I said, though, I didn't want to end up being "that guy" because no one else seemed to have a problem with it. I just left without a word and tried to pretend that server never existed.
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I've been thinking a lot about my past experiences online, and tossing them into the void feels kind of like finally taking that old box in the basement to the dumpster. This is a heavier read compared to my usual stuff, so grab some tea if you need it.
-Mimi