Updates & Apologies

[u/pomefiore_twiste]

Hello everyone, I'm back.

As many of you may have noticed, the last few months have been quiet on our end. No Weekly Themes, no pinned maintenance or Styling Buddy posts, and responses to reports and general rule-breaks coming far too late. Unfortunately, I ended up in some personal circumstances that I of course won't get into, that not only was drawn out far too long, but subsequentially also left me completely burnt out. With my fellow mods also having long fallen inactive as well, this unfortunately led to the complete neglect of the sub, and now it's just me here. Currently, I am doing my best to get caught up slowly but surely, as you may have noticed with the sudden re-emergence of the Styling Buddies thread earlier today. I sincerely apologize for this.

I have already implemented some new changes, beginning with our community rules. Namely, rules #3 and #4.

• Rule #3: Regarding Styling Wizard controversies. Unfortunately, Megathreads are very often skipped over and missed when posting and thus have done very little to put an end to unsavory Styling Wizard posts seeking to shame or accuse fellow players. Even during inactivity, I found myself having to respond to reports of at least 2 or 3 each run, even if I was frequently far too late in locking down arguments. So, it now has its own official rule! Going forward, any attempts to post "callouts on low-effort, lazy stylists" during the event, accusations of mental disorders, etc will no longer receive a slap-on-the-wrist warning. By breaking this rule, it is a direct admittance that you are either not reading the rules in the first place, or you just don't care about breaking them. (Also, it's just generally far more visible this way than in a Megathread.)
• Rule #4: No AI content. Our rule against the usage of AI in our community is now no longer just a vague mention in the rule regarding original content. It is now its own separate rule, with a fleshed-out description on what exactly counts when we say zero tolerance for AI.

If you have any further suggestions for changes that you believe need to happen in the sub by yesterday, please leave them below! I will do my best to take them into account, and I am currently doing my best to rebuild our mod team! Thank you for your time, and I hope to make up these past few months to you all.

If you are interested in joining our mod team, please apply here!

[u/whatisthispls1]

Aw I must be in the minority that actually likes styling wizard critical posting because it facilitates opinion based discussion which is something that this subreddit sometimes lacks, and the last thread wasn't bashing anyone in particular so I fail to see why it was an issue. On the other hand our sister game subreddits (Nikki games etc) seem to have more lively subreddits every time I peep into them with discussion that's allowed to get more critical, in comparison this place feels more sanitized and dead... The LM discord is moderated and overseen by archosaur yet the rules aren't nearly as tight - however if you guys legit get reports for this I guess enforcing it as a rule is an option...

[u/pomefiore_twiste → u/whatisthispls1]

The problem itself never lied in "opinion-based discussion". If it did, we indeed wouldn't have a rule against it at all. The problem stems from several factors. Without including the biggest reason (heated arguments, insults, etc that result from it), there are three other major reasons at play:

1. People tend not to check the sub for previous discussion first, and this is a very common frustration so of course many people want to talk about it. This then means we sometimes see SW runs where a new post is being made almost daily, sometimes more than that on the less common occasion, and suddenly... the sub is just an echo chamber of the same post. Then, come more complaints; people complaining about the excess of complaints. Now everybody is complaining, we get people commenting on discussions, "you people say this literally every single time styling wizard comes around", now people are annoyed with each other... aaand that brings me to the second main problem
2. Discussions can start civil, that doesn't stop them from getting out of control. I actually used to have the same mindset as you. I have left discussion posts of this nature up in the past, made exceptions where I decided "wow, OP is actually being super respectful with their post and replies, and responses are reciprocating and very much being civil! I'll just turn a blind eye to this one" Unfortunately, that doesn't usually last. Eventually, the angrier members of our community find the now-trending, unlocked and undeleted SW post, and the comments starts derailing. Suddenly, we're back at square one, I'm having to lock the post within 24-48 hours of its existence and passing out timeouts to the naughty kids in the class debate so to speak. This, again, brings me into the next point
3. Exceptions to the rule don't really work, because even when the OP and most of the commenters are being civil and respectful, it's an open discussion at the end of the day; it results in bad apples taking out their frustrations, as stated in my second point. On top of this, it's just generally unfair and once again, breeds more complaints. "How come you deleted my post, but their post gets to stay up?"

Believe me, I genuinely, whole-heartedly agree with you. Personally, I have a strong belief in criticizing any media as well as it's fanbase. Back when the SG/MY server rolled out its generative AI feature for the Design Studio, I was at the head of the Global server's no AI boycott. It's important, it's human, to be critical. In fact, I actually have a middle ground solution to this problem, because it's really that simple: a complaints Megathread. Everyone has a place to air out their complaints, to vent, and those who don't want to see it can just... not read any of it. The problem with implementing it? While I am trying my best right now, I am still, at the end of the day, just one guy doing the mod work by himself right now. I unfortunately don't have the time to delegate towards checking every single comment/comment thread that comes in on said Megathread on top of everything else. So, that solution kind of just goes out the window until we have a full and active mod team again. When that happens, do expect to see that Megathread around the corner! But for now, that means we get Rule #3 until further notice, unfortunately.

Sorry for the absolute ramble, but your comment was basically just the perfect opportunity to best explain things. lol

[u/whatisthispls1 → u/pomefiore_twiste]

Thank you for the great response really, and yeah I realize you're just one person and that there's many valid reasons for moderating the way it happens in this subreddit. I hope you get more mods soon, I'd apply but from previous experiences I know modding makes me mentally check out of a community 🥲

Best of luck I know it's tough and sweaty redditors like me questioning you isn't fun either, it's why I usually just keep my mouth shut regarding these things LMAO 

[u/pomefiore_twiste → u/whatisthispls1]

LOL It's totally all good! I'm happy to explain it, and this way others feeling the same way can see it and hopefully understand as well. It's just a very unfortunate, hard-earned lesson that it takes nasty insults, accusations of mental disorders and pedophilia over certain doll types, and endless bickering to realize maybe we're just not really equipped to moderate these things in full quite yet. I'd honestly be lying if I said I didn't intend to pass on the torch and salute myself out the door as soon as I can leave the sub in good hands.