User:BrandonWM
To reach me, you can find me on Discord, IRC, or WikiForge and WikiTide with the same username. I can also be reached on my talk page on Meta. I am retired, but still somewhat active. Here’s my full story.
In June 2023, I resigned from Miraheze following unresolvable disagreements with Miraheze’s Board and members of its staff. Sound familiar? Let me continue. A few days later, it was announced that Miraheze was suspending operations permanently and would begin a wind down. That was met with a lot of community blowback and an effort to ensure continuity of operations was undertaken by members of the community, primarily Zppix and Labster, with the assistance of Void, RhinosF1, Paladox, and countless more volunteers. It was an admirable undertaking. I had my doubts that it would succeed, given the scale of the project and expertise required to successfully operate a company. I cheered it on nonetheless, hoping it would succeed.
During this time, conversations were ongoing in Miraheze Discord and IRC channels regarding how Miraheze 2.0, as it was called, would operate. I attempted to submit my ideas for consideration along with everyone else’s, but was met with insults and attacks at my competency, among other things. Keep in mind that I was submitting these ideas in good faith. I have been a member of Miraheze and a community volunteer for the project since September 2020, nearly 3 years. The last thing I would want to see is it all fall apart. That being said, it appeared to not matter, and I was essentially ostracized from the community while users have been continually looked at their input while mine was basically muted. Keep in mind that one such user that has continually harassed me is a user that has still-active Code of Conduct Commission (now Steward) investigations against them, and just recently, which is also still active, a Trust and Safety investigation opened against them.
I took a few weeks wikibreak to recharge and come back refreshed, hoping that all it was is that tensions were high and everyone needed a bit of a break from it all so that the best versions of themselves could come back. Sadly, that wasn’t the case. I return in early July 2023, and am met with hostility from two users in particular, both of which have been named above. I am subjected to needless public humiliation for simply sharing an idea that the users in question disagreed with. The users, one of which is a moderator in the Miraheze Discord server, tells me that the idea won’t be tolerated and to essentially shut up. I disagree, because again, it was an idea, not an attack or an argument. But nonetheless, I can’t do anything, otherwise the moderator would feel the need to flex their moderating muscles, so to speak. Or to simplify it, a ban.
So, fast forward a few hours after that. It’s evening for me. After being subjected to continual verbal abuse while I am present, I learn that it occurred in a ten times worse format behind my back. That is what’s prompted me to leave Miraheze here today. I cannot work with a community that ostracizes me and humiliates me, that has time and time again subjected me to verbal abuse with no end in sight. The fact that the abuse occurs by one of the main proponents of this Miraheze 2.0 makes it all the worse. That’s why I’ve left this community today. Miraheze’s leadership has grown toxic and unwelcoming, and I quite frankly have lost an immense amount of energy devoted to this project, for this outcome.
Again, I can be contacted via the methods above, and would love a friendly message just to say hi whenever you can. It’s always nice to remember the friends and allie’s we’ve made throughout this. It is my final wish on Miraheze that this message is preserved on my userpage and is not deleted for any reason. I wish for this to be a permanent recollection of the events that have occurred.
Truly, all the best, and from the bottom of my heart, thank you for everything. BrandonWM (talk) 05:40, July 7, 2023 (UTC)