Board Thread:Off-Topic Posts/@comment-33167183-20181104014654/@comment-28112409-20181110152827

Alright, so Mayor has been consistently harassing Bet, fair enough. Consequently, asking Bet if he was making people feel bad for him on purpose is most likely out of malice or mockery rather than genuine confusion. Mayor deserves his ban 100%.

However, I still do not believe that the behaviour used to oppose this is justified. There is almost never proper justification to stoop to a wrongdoer's level. There has still been a condescending attitude exhibited by not only Bet's supporters. His anger towards someone who belittles his serious issues is understandable. What isn't understandable is bringing up such a serious issue on the ToS wiki.

This is not a suitable platform for such issues, and it is not closed off with several trusted members. Instead, it is open for everyone to see and for everyone to participate. Bet has previously complained about people consistently derailing his threads or not taking his issues seriously, then why is he still going on the wiki and not taking this to Discord where he can discuss it privately with whoever he trusts? With all due respect, but a wiki for a game is not a fit platform for something as serious as mental illness, in addition to further expecting people to take said issues seriously in the context that you're posting publicly on a game wiki.

When someone brings up suicide and mental issues multiple times, then threatens multiple times to commit a serious action only to return few moments/days later threatening again with the same action, it starts to become questionable whether said someone really has said issues or is doing this for attention. Exploiting mental illness for attention is not an uncommon behavior on the internet. A friend or other user that knows Bet well would recognize whether the mental issues are real or not, but it is ambiguous to a stranger. If a new user decided to pop in and looked at all this, they'd be justified in suspecting whether said mental issues really exist or not within the person in question.

Furthermore, communities can reinforce behavior within its individuals. Mayor is still in the wrong for what he's done, but the mob mentality shouldn't be swept aside. When Bet sees that his supporters are derogating and insulting a person in the wrong, he will follow suit and this can apply to anyone in the wiki as well. What ends up happening is that we venture in the polar opposite of being clear-minded and patient, but leaning towards frustrating ourselves and fueling the tension of the situation. For someone who is suffering with mental issues, frustration and tension is not a desired outcome.

I wish I could call Bet's anger justified, but he later referred to me as a psychopath in a talk with someone else outside of the wiki just for expressing my opinion. This goes beyond justified anger and delves into the territory of lashing out at anyone who doesn't support him for the sake of lashing out at them, and the community does not help when they share his flawed mentality and express aggression instead of taking the more mature approach.

To clarify, I did not mean Bet's behavior alone when I spoke of demonization. What I was referring to is the collection of behaviours exhibited by multiple users including Bet. Mayor is banned, so there is no more harassment unless there is another user picking on the guy that I'm not aware of. Furthermore, I don't think being angry due to being harassed while on the internet is a fair excuse. This is the internet and not only is this not a chat, it is a thread with comments. Bet is more than capable of disengaging and taking a break from any emotional stress he is having then replying later with a better emotional state, yet I haven't seen anyone suggest this or point it out to him nor does he himself decide to take action on that choice.

Flaws, errors and mistakes will not be looked at or paid attention to if they are not pointed out. Of course they won't be looked at either if the majority is focused on horde-rushing the wrong-er person so to speak.