Is there a "toxicity" in this fandom?

[Jester]

Such is any fandom enjoyed by humans with quirks and differing opinions.

[plastroncafe]

In this Fandom The Drome has a reputation of being a toxic place. I can confirm this anecdotally, as more than a few people have said this to me on various other social media platforms.

And having spent a good deal of time here, I can't say I disagree.

Other places being worse doesn't negate our well earned reputation.

[sdp]

If it's so toxic why do you stay? You've mentioned before that you've found better platforms than forums to discuss TMNT in. Just wondering.

If this forum is toxic, those guys haven't been members of that many forums to compare. Every forum will have it's specific issues, the Jurassic Park community is JP/// and the Spinosaurus beating the T-Rex For many years I was a member of a KoRn Message Board where you coldn't discuss KoRn and KoRn fans were made fun of because the majority of the members had outgrown KoRn There are places where fandoms are automatically toxic, like most tumblr communities for any franchise or the shipping subculture in fandoms. In general fandoms as a whole will be exclusive until you "get in",

[Sumac]

'Drome is not any more toxic than any other fandom. I'd say in many regards it is more lax. At least, when it comes to TMNT. As for relationships between people - it has nothing to do specifically with Turtles and more with just people being jerks.

Originally Posted by Sabacooza

It certainly can be when it goes too far just like anything else.

Then it stops being Feminism and becomes zealous ranting.

Originally Posted by sdp

The Booty Sig Scandal

Can we get it back? Please, with cherry on top.

[plastroncafe]

Saying something isn't any more toxic doesn't make it not toxic.

And I stay because leaving wouldn't be anywhere near as much fun.

[Vegita-San]

Originally Posted by sdp

If it's so toxic why do you stay? Y

Sometimes a place is just more active than other places one visits.

Again, going on the prop forum. BubblyShell suggested I leave, because it was getting to be a headache. but, apart from a few members causing problems and being combative (just like here, only X5 more aggressive and insulting) I really did enjoy the more calm conversation of the place. It wasn't until I made the mistake of telling off a mod that he wasn't doing his job at stopping problems before they escalated that I 'decided' to permanently leave ;o).

and despite some of it's annoying problems, this place can be fun when it's calmer. you do have to have a certain sarcastic shell to survive at times though.

[Wretched Reptile]

I've participated in many fandoms over many years. This is no different than anything else. Differing opinions is all well and good and completely normal. It's often the inability to "agree to disagree" (like everything else in life lol, look around you right now) that sparks the feeling of toxicity and the like.

I do think, however, that TMNT fans are far more passionate and opinionated than some other fandoms out there. And that's a good thing, no matter which side you fall on whatever argument. I'd rather someone passionately care immensely about something I disagree with to a certain extent in this fandom (or any other) than care nothing at all - because once you can't be bothered to care, this fandom and many others will inevitably die. And that's not what any of us wants, no matter what we might think on occasion otherwise. It's natural to be possessive of something you care tremendously about. We all have personal perspectives, feelings and memories tied up in all of this that belong to us and us alone. I think THAT often gets in the way of realizing not everyone can and will think of all this the exact same way you do. And why should they? And what fun would that ultimately end up being? It's interesting to see how a property like this has continued to enrich and touch people's lives in varying ways and how they feel about it years on.

I don't post all that often but I do lurk a lot and enjoy seeing the opinions and the energy on display here. It pleases me greatly that so many still care so much about these characters. That's the best feeling to me I can have regardless of the particulars at any given time. TMNT is alive and well and looks to continue to be so for a long, long time.

[Sumac]

Originally Posted by plastroncafe

Saying something isn't any more toxic doesn't make it not toxic.

Not really. There is difference in toxicity between 'Drome and, say, 4Chan.

Besides, people nowadays call "toxic" anything that they don't like or that don't align with their ideas. So, in general, the word "toxicity" is overused and lost pretty much any serious meaning, like the words "offended", "outrage", e.t.c.

So question, how toxic this place is? IMO, not much.
It's just, as I said, people this days have become overzealous and want to put this label on everything that they don't like.

The better question would be, how much of 'Drome discussions they have seen or for how long they lurked here, before coming to such conclusion.

[ProphetofGanja]

This is the only thing I want to think of when I hear the word "toxicity":

[Andrew NDB]

[sdp]

[dl316bh]

Originally Posted by Sumac

The better question would be, how much of 'Drome discussions they have seen or for how long they lurked here, before coming to such conclusion.

I lurked for years and I kind of got the impression too. I think part of it is the infighting and jabs. It's not just the tags or anything like that, I feel like I've seen a lot of pissing contests over the years, some that got downright nasty.

But, you know, I still joined. To some degree, I think a fair number of forums with a decent number of active people will have problems, because with the different people around, you're going to have jerks. If you're going to measure degrees of toxicity, I'd think this place would only be mid-range. I've seen some uglier forums over the years. There were some big comic forums that were poorly moderated and insufferable years back, for example.

There are perks here, too. A good bit of you seem alright and are pleasant enough to talk to. I don't feel like anyone was ever "BEGONE, NEWBIE" or anything like that. I've only used it once, but the option to "block" people is a nice one to have if you need it and not every forum has the option. People involved in the IDW comics come here, which is cool.

[Ninjinister]

I think one of the catalysts might be that this place seems... I don't know, undermoderated these days? I see Jester here and once in a while Voltron, but like... almost never anybody else. That's not to throw dirt on any of the mods at all... there's scads more important going on in any of their lives than this place, I'm sure... but I may be misremembering, but there seemed to have been more of these conversations that get out of hand being nipped in the bud before they became too terrible back in the day.

[Jester]

Originally Posted by Ninjinister

I think one of the catalysts might be that this place seems... I don't know, undermoderated these days? I see Jester here and once in a while Voltron, but like... almost never anybody else. That's not to throw dirt on any of the mods at all... there's scads more important going on in any of their lives than this place, I'm sure... but I may be misremembering, but there seemed to have been more of these conversations that get out of hand being nipped in the bud before they became too terrible back in the day.

Yeah...i can't argue with this post 1 bit...

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by Ninjinister

I think one of the catalysts might be that this place seems... I don't know, undermoderated these days?

What are they supposed to moderate, exactly? This isn't 2003, everybody here is like in their 30s or 40s by now. Who is it that needs protecting, and from what?

[ProphetofGanja]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

What are they supposed to moderate, exactly? This isn't 2003, everybody here is like in their 30s or 40s by now. Who is it that needs protecting, and from what?

I agree with this sentiment.

I don't think we need our conversations policed, but the forums could benefit from more timely approvals of new members, username change requests, stuff like that

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by ProphetofGanja

I don't think we need our conversations policed, but the forums could benefit from more timely approvals of new members, username change requests, stuff like that

True, true.

[Ninjinister]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

What are they supposed to moderate, exactly? This isn't 2003, everybody here is like in their 30s or 40s by now. Who is it that needs protecting, and from what?

Not sure what you mean. People are obviously incapable of keeping themselves from GIFTing hard and they need a smack sometimes.

If users are in their 30s and 40s and still act like they're children... are they really adults at all?

[MsMarvelDuckie]

Toxic? Man you guys should have seen the Marvel boards in the early 2000's. It got so bad at times that some of the Mods even got threatening pm's. No joke. There were flame wars worse than the 2014 Bay movie forum especially in the character "vs." section. Trolls and fanboi rages were a regular occurance. And the list of nuked threads and flagged posts grew DAILY. Sometimes mods waded through a DOZEN pages or more of flagged posts every day. I know because I was one of them. It's one reason why I say I would never do that job again.

[dl316bh]

Originally Posted by MsMarvelDuckie

Toxic? Man you guys should have seen the Marvel boards in the early 2000's.

Haha, yeah. And the DC Message Boards were just as bad. I mean, wow. Insufferable from top to bottom. What was it about official forums that seemed to attract that?