On the Future of Enhablr, and Internet Safety
TW: harassment, r*pe mention, s*icide mention, anon hate.
For those of you who don't know, a series of sock puppet accounts popped up over the past few days targeting large enhypen fanfiction blogs, zeroing in on one specific blogger who was a very gifted writer and kind person, who was a friend of mine.
This blog sent graphic messages to my friend telling her to unalive, that they hoped she was SA'd, while posting numerous defamatory claims about her, making a new account each time the last was reported or didn't get enough attention.
Naturally, my friend did the mature thing and decided to deactivate her tumblr, delete all her stories, and leave our groupchat as well.
While nothing is set in stone, it seems apparent that this person was lurking in our group chat for a while. For what reason, I don't know.
This person was clearly envious of my friend's success and envious of the fact that larger blogs in this corner of tumblr were friends and supported each other's writing. They were clearly mad that many of these blogs didn't respond to anon hate. So they did everything in their power to get our attention. Sending asks to everyone in the community announcing these new accounts, tagging them in anonymous hate posts, teasing big reveals that never came. When their first account was reported and deactivated they spammed my friend with those unalive and SA messages, then they made a second blog who most of us decided to ignore. When that happened the goth account appeared accusing my friend of making fake hate accounts against herself, teasing smoking gun evidence that never came, and my friend understandably had enough and decided to protect her peace and deactivate.
A gifted writer. A good friend. A page full of beautiful stories with stellar characterization and prose. All gone because of someone at home, behind a screen who I'm sure is very happy with their results. They chased a woman of color off the internet, for the crime of shining too bright for them, for the crime of being loved and acclaimed by her community.
And the thing is, I played a part in it. We all did. I was mad, and impulsive. This person was sending graphic mental abuse to a friend I respected and cared for, and I wanted to hurt that person back, and that only provoked them even more. We all fed the beast and gave them attention even after saying we wouldn't. I did that. I have to take responsibility for the role I played. My friend is a sweetheart who doesn't hold it against me, but it's something I have to take accountability for. It's a lesson I pray I don't have to learn twice.
And honestly, if any of you see a hate blog, a hate anon, anything, don't engage, just block. Don't put yourself on their radar. You don't know the difference between a run of the mill hater and a genuinely crazy person who's willing to doxx or stalk people. It's not worth it.
Questions have arose from our followers since then. Is there really a groupchat where we make fun of the messages we recieve? Do we really secretly all hate each other? The answer is no.
It's a boring discord group like all the others. We share memes and talk about our lives. The only difference is we also hook up with beta readers and seek feedback on our writing. I genuinely do not understand what it is with this side of tumblr that encourages so much envy towards others. The same thing happened when I was running the stray kids fanfic awards, people were being harassed and sent death threats and told to kill themselves. And I'm telling you guys, ITS KPOP FANFICTION. there's no glory here, there's nothing special here. It's not a sorority or a cliqueâ it's a group of women who write out their little fantasies about their favorite kpop idols in their free time. It's stupid. We all say fanfiction is a valid form of art and expression in it's own right, that writers work hard for free and deserve respect and all of that is true, but this is still just a bunch of nerds nerding out over nerd stuff. There's nothing to be envious of. But I often see people anonymously or publicly throw fits because big blogs don't interact with them, or reblog their fics, or answer their asks, and some of you need to realize that this is just people sharing their stories in between busy lives with school and work and family. None of us owe you anything, we don't owe you our affection, we don't owe you our time. Too many of you are lost souls who are hurting in real life and expect this to heal you. This is NOT a real life community or a friend group. Online friendships and communities can be a great SUPPLEMENT to your life, it can not replace your real life. Of course I love my real friends, but all of us prioritize the people we can see before us and touch. If you don't have that, you can't expect some people online to fill that void. I too idealized people I found on tumblr, you can outgrow it.
Finally, I made the decision to leave the groupchat, but I'm still friends with everyone on tumblr and will be interacting with people there. Considering there's some deeply envious people who are bored with their lives, be careful about how much of your tumblr friendships you show your followers and be careful when joining groupchats, and don't respond to haters. That's all I have to say.
~with love, Lamb. Please take care of yourselves.