I wanted to post this in the previous topic, but I could not bring myself to do it. Thank you, 99, for facilitating this discussion. Now, I cannot pretend that I was fully aware of any of the events preceding the exile of J_Seed and Khawner, I know only what I sensed. What I sensed was a feeling shared by many users of this site, that we were falling apart as a group. I have no right to an opinion on the reasons for J_Seed and Khawner's expulsion, all I know is that I would like to remain a friend of them both, and of those whom now find themselves in positions opposing theirs. I would like to consider myself a friend of Bug, Khawner, Sev, J_Seed, Sasha, and of all of you who visit this site, whatever that friendship may mean to you. It is for this reason that I have such strong feelings about the events that followed the previous thread, and what comes now. Each of us will inevitably take something unique from this event, whether it be joy, sorrow, laughter, or apathy. What I pray, what I desperately want, is that our new collective awareness is a positive one, one that brings us closer together, rather than a schism that will further divide us. The removal of one or two members will inevitably alter our group dynamics, but I cannot bring myself to believe that it will make every aspect of this forum better, especially when we continue to find joy from someone else's humiliation. We would be no better than the traits we attempt to extinguish. Now, I know this is the internet, so everything I say will have a sarcastic precedence, but I say this from the bottom of my soul. Please, let this negative occurrence within our forum have a positive impact on ourselves. All the people involved in what happened are gone, and we don't know if they're coming back. That is what makes our perception of this event so ambiguous, nothing good came of it. No one was changed. If someone were able to remain here due to the sacrifice of another, it would be different, but that isn't what happened. If you believe that J_Seed had only a negative effect on this community, I will not try to convince you otherwise. At least let his absence be positive, not because of his absence in and of itself, but because of what it means to all of us. Let J_Seed's absence mean something. Let it serve as a catalyst for our own reformation, if you must, but at least let it mean something. Now you may think me naive, or find this tangled mess of feelings incomprehensible, but I hope at least some of you find a feeling amongst it that you too possess. Possess not as an entity of the internet, not as an avatar, but as a human. A human that many of us, including myself, have tried to deny existed in these forums.
