So, at this point, I'm done with Myst fandom. I've had a lot of very good experiences in it, but again and again, I've seen a subset of Myst fans tear apart almost any attempt for someone to take charge of something to get things done. Every time, people get accused of 'power grabs' and 'trying to make thenselves feel important.' There's a subset of loud fans who are obsessed with taking pot shots at people and take the 'question authority' schtick to the extreme of 'question anything that might possibly be seen as authority at all as rabidly as possible and then claim they have been wronged when people finish lash out at them.' Even some of the more reasonable people seem to fall back on the utopian ideal of everything being run by consensus in every single case.
I'm tired of dealing with that sort of abuse. Especially from people who don't actually do anything but hand out abuse. It's been going on for YEARS in the community, and it's usually the same people who cause it. And when they get called on it, they get offended and indignant and use that as an opportunity to take further shots.
... I'm pulling out of Myst fandom as much as I can for a while. I made a commitment to help with Mysterium 2010, and I'll keep that commitment. But otherwise, I'm done.
When Uru-related harassment and abuse follows me into other virtual realities, it's time to walk away. When standing up against people being rude and antagonistic gets me summarily rejected by long-time friends, it's not worth the drama anymore.
People want to carry chips and grudges, lash out at people just to prove they are right, that's fine for them. It's a waste of my time and energy to try and engage them.
Until the community responds by rejecting argumentative, attacking behaviour, *and* Cyan can pull off actual community management: someone(s) with actual, unquestionable authority and voice,this sort of backstabby nastyness will keep showing up again and again.
To paraphrase a bumpersticker "Myst, please save me from your followers"
