Post a response:
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I would argue that we can be a community centered around the common struggle that is our sexual orientation. I don't necessarily mean only the political or the academic parts that so many here focus on, but just the day-to-day of being who we are. The beautiful boys we see or interact with, the personal struggles, etc. Obviously I agree that not every individual is going to be "in community" with every other individual at a deep level. But there are going to be people you gravitate to reading more than others. Presently we don't have many of those. I don't share much about my personal life here either, largely because I think BC has reached the point of no return mentioned. Even if I started opening up about more personal things, I doubt many people would respond with genuine care or interest, and my life, while good, isn't interesting enough to attract much attention. More likely, a fair number of replies would come from people looking to use something personal or close to my heart against me. While that doesn't pose any real-life risk, it can still be emotionally hurtful. So I completely understand where you're coming from, and I'm sorry you had to go through that. I think you should reconsider, but who am I to urge you to do something that I am unwilling to do myself? None of this is to say that people in crisis or sharing deeply personal struggles are fully ignored here. Roamajous is actually a good example, thank you for bringing him up. He's one of the few people who mostly received genuine support, and that's a good thing. What I'm talking about is something different. People casually sharing the everyday details of their BL lives has become exceptionally rare. It feels like this board has lost its sense of being a place where people are comfortable opening up about ordinary, personal experiences. Some of that is fear and paranoia, certainly, but it's not just that. We also don't have the kind of community where people naturally expect empathy or positive affirmation. And even for those who do, there aren't many people here whose affirmation I'd actually value because this board is currently dominated by some genuinely unhinged people. As for what I'm looking for, I really just wanted to ask the question and get some feedback on my perspective. I was mostly just thinking out loud and wanted to see how others felt about it. Would I like to go back to the way things were years ago? Certainly. But my whole premise is that this is probably impossible, that we as a community crossed the point of no return away from that years ago. |