Going to lie down because it's hot as balls in my apartment and also because I'm just exhausted from not sleeping great. Thus why this is being posted randomly in the middle of the day. I was going to post this tonight but god knows if I'll even be awake.
I've always had really awful birthdays. Either it was outright ignored or I was punished for even having one. My parents were... unpleasant. Star Trek became my escape. Could see amazing people make amazing choices and be the best they wanted to be instead of lying and saying they were good people. Actions speak louder than words, after all, and the actions of the crew of the Enterprise-D (specifically) were what helped me sort of override a lot of the disgusting hateful stuff I was taught as a child. Also made me feel like a person instead of a burden.
I've not really been able to delve in deep to a lot of Trek communities sometimes because, well, it's the internet. People can get a bit toxic behind a computer screen. This place has been anything but. Pure kindness and love from everyone here. Top to the bottom. Honestly it seems pretty worth it to me to forego birthday gifts throughout my life to be able to find y'all.
You are all awesome. I don't want birthday wishes and stuff, I get enough of those from Starbucks and other companies trying to get me to buy their shit that I cannot afford, but I want y'all to appreciate yourself for a couple minutes. You're a great person, you've helped make an amazing community, and I am eternally grateful.
You are AWESOME. Love y'all.
Live so very motherfucking long and prosper more than you could ever dream.
I wasn't active in any of the Star Trek communities on Reddit, was that a problem?
It's reddit. Unfortunately that problem was pretty pervasive across the entire website. The Trek subreddits, at least comments, were completely unbearable for me. If it wasn't people screeching "NUTREK BAD NOT GOOD TREK BAD TREK NOT REAL TREK" then it was someone being a condescending asshole. If it wasn't that then it was just racism/sexism. The insane thing would be that they clearly deluded themselves into thinking they weren't being bigoted because they're Star Trek fans. I saw some pretty horrific shit said about Tilly and Burnham that got massively upvoted and praised. Was the most thinly veiled sexism around topped off with a dollop of racism.
I engaged with the Discovery subreddit but only in specific threads because the mods had specifically marked them as places where people couldn't do their typical "OH MY GOD THIS SHOW JUST FUCKING SUCKS" whinefest. That engagement didn't last long however. Got tired of being the only one defending the show. Seemed like I was just surrounded by people who were only watching it because they had no personality of their own so they supplemented it with hatred.
As you might have been able to tell from my monthish here, I don't like giving out that energy. I try to be as positive and polite as possible. Obviously I fuck up and fail sometimes but people there just never even tried. Started dragging me down. I had to leave that place, and reddit as a whole, because I noticed I was starting to get incredibly bitter not just to the people in the Trek subs but the people in every sub and people not even on reddit.
I definitely knew about the NUTREK BAD WAAAA response but I didn't about the others, which seems strange given Star Trek itself but who knows. I'm just glad this place doesn't seem to have that.
I've seen it pop up here like two or three times. In every case I blocked the person. I've got zero interest in seeing that type of negativity. I get having criticisms, and you can be fine sharing your personal opinion, but there becomes a point where it's just whining and bashing. Or when it clearly comes from a hateful place. Just not interested.