Sparked in response to reading Prince-Koyangi's 'confession' post and this quote from a friend's blog:
I think the worst thing about this Prince-Koyangi thing is how much applause they’re getting for an absolutely despicable act.
People ass-patting each other for being dicks, to say the least.
I didn't buy into the whole bullshit posts and account of Prince-Koyangi, though their "confession", or whatever, post paints their motives as having been in some sense 'good intentioned' as a supposed way to get through to people in [insert tags] in a helpful "look at the errors of your ways and get out of this stuff". But what I see in that post is about three people who, regardless of whether they initially had any good intentions in making that blog or not, were ultimately not 'helping' people, and may have done, if anything, more harm than good, in whatever ways. Putting on a bullshit facade to try to trick people into thinking that you are a legit and sincere person of [insert groups, identities, etc.] (and knowing full well that at least some people *would* buy into it, stand up for you, even try to befriend you), for the purposes of leading them on, mocking and trolling them, and then 'confess' that it was in part to "help" people (whether those inside or outside of the targeted groups of that blog)--I find that immoral and wrong, and far from being "helpful" to other people and their efforts, experiences, etc.
Treating people in such a manner as to lead them on in a misrepresentation of oneself (or in this case, three people) and preying on the insistence of some people's beliefs to be open-minded and accepting, respecting, and welcoming of a wide diversity of beliefs and identity types (whether common or not) as though it's a belief and practice that is a "weakness" and something they should be "ashamed of"--so that you can satiate your desires to mock, troll, or otherwise 'bully' those you see as being 'weaker' and beneath you. It's immature, pathetic, and not remotely a good thing to do to people, especially people in groups who do tend to be dealing with some kind of significant (even if it's a relative level for them) issues, struggles, mental illnesses, or so forth (related or not to the given targeted identity group). Taking advantage of and mocking people's different, more widely accepting morals towards others is nothing worth being pat on the back/ass for like some "good job" has been done. We're not your fucking experimental subjects so that you can "prove" your hypothesis of how "stupid, pathetic, and fantasy-prone" (or whatever) we supposedly are.
Honestly, I think this whole Koyangi thing speaks much more in its 'results' about the three teenagers who made and sustained the account than it does about certain "communities", per se, of people in particular Tumblr tags. Those three people put a lot of time and effort it seems into that blog for weeks or a month+, and I'm nevertheless apt to think that there was something more to it, something more personally-involved about it that allowed them to start that blog and keep at it for as long as they did besides just for the sake of trolling (and besides the "we were trying to make a point that could help out X social justice groups"--which I don't buy anyway). It was a poor social experiment, and I think those three individuals should stand back from what they did and more clearly assess it to better understand what it really shows and says about each of their own selves, rather than what they think it supposedly says about some Tumblr tag 'communities'.
I think that might also be a somewhat similar case with the Melted-Snowflake blog, with it being something that individual who made the blog should be analyzing to understand what it says and shows about who and the way they are, rather than otherkin/therians/etc. (on and/or off of Tumblr). Though these people (the three under Koyangi and Melted Snowflake) are much less apt to stand back and assess themselves like that especially when they are tied up in trying to justify their actions as being, even if just in part, out of good, helpful intentions, and/or as being okay because it was supposedly "harmless trolling" done in fun.
I've trolled people before, and snarked people on public places frequently before, years ago, and I know at least for me the trolling cases I put the most time and/or effort into, are the ones that I later realized spoke a lot more about myself (usually in ways I didn't want to admit--to myself or others) than I had expected.
Also, blogs done in tactics like those of Koyangi and Melted Snowflake are not particularly conducive to helping keep people away from 'unhealthy escapist attitudes' nor 'severe mental illness' (to quote Koyangi). Trying to deceive people for the purposes of trolling, mocking, or otherwise denigrating them, is not a productive way to succeed at helping stave off or prevent those people from developing unhealthy or harmful attitudes or behaviors, and especially not severe mental illness (which isn't typically something that people just will themselves into while trying to fit into some internet group).
And what of the people who already have [severe] mental illness (which may or may not make them more prone to believing deceptive blogs/people like Koyangi)? Is this supposed to imply that mistreating them, their beliefs, and their 'trust' in such a way of deception is really going to be a positive step forward in managing their mental illness(es) in a healthy, long-standing manner? Maybe people like the Koyangi group and Melted Snowflake, among others, should focus more on practicing "social humility" rather than worrying so much about teaching lessons to the social justice people on Tumblr.
Stop trying to set yourselves on high because you can bully and/or deceive people who have beliefs, identity types, etc. that you don't agree with and view as being invalid, if not outright 'stupid', and trying to assert yourselves as better and more superior to them because you think you are doing some kind of good favor for certain other groups of people. And similar goes for those people who applaud and cheer for the immature and counterproductive acts of the Koyangi group and other similar blogs/people. Such applause doesn't surprise me, but it does, nonetheless, disappoint me.