> the subreddit rallied, rebounded and is hopefully now in a better place.

PEACE ONLY UNDER LIBERTY!

> It does not seem like Reddit itself has a functional mechanism for making sure that their generic subreddits like r/massachusetts have sensible leadership.

Does anything?

You know what this reminds me of? Daniel Radcliffe's movie "Guns Akimbo."

"I spend all my time off work drinking and playing video games. And What else? Troll the trolls."

Yeah that was an interesting one. I saw some comments calling that "terrifying," and I generally agree. One counterpoint is that I read it as a factual statement ("This website gives me these permissions/privileges"), and it was one more statement among many stream-of-consciousness statements.

It's left to the reader to interpret to what degree that power was abused / could be abused, so I'm left wondering if people actually have different images in their minds. Even though they all call it "worrisome," or "terrifying." No one elaborates so we all feel in agreement. IDK if it helps at all to get into specifics, but if we did I wonder if we'd all have different interpretations of that thread.

That's a really good thought! I'm mostly a lurker, I would never think of hacking Reddit karma like that.

That makes me feel better. Makes the behavior seem more rational.

Yeah, for me what was unique was the online diary. But in my personal life I've had times facing people who were 100% committed to seeing things a certain way, and acted against me like a black sheep, or against me and a group of friends. The power-trip aspect of this was disappointingly familiar.

That's pretty much the sum of my fears. Or that incel guy, Eliot Rodger.

Or is that just paranoia?

That's what I would hope, what I'm trying to come around to. The questions that bubble back up are like, the behavior was different from other CBG people types, and why?

Agreed, it was cool to see some people trying to talk directly to the person in an empathetic tone. It didn't seem totally effective but worth the try. I ultimately didn't do this, but I thought about submitting to the truerandomthoughts sub posts like "It is OK to take a tactical retreat" or "Even people trying their best to do good things can do bad, even especially when their values are compelling and pure."

You're right, taken private. I just mean it's inaccessible and likely to remain so.

There was a true-crime sort of thrill reading it, I got sucked in. And I'm not generally a true-crime stan. Also there was a sense of control - I was reading & finding out more about somebody on what seemed like a personal level, even as it seemed even more sinister or threatening.

I doubt that was all fake, given the months-long engagement and more. More likely to be a professional group operation making a character, than one person writing from a fake personality. But just one person dealing with their issues seems most likely to me.

Don't beat yourself up! The way everyone fought & raised hell should show you how it was a community worth fighting & raising hell for, and I think that shows people appreciate your mod approach. (Also thank you for not taking this down, I was worried it was off-topic, this is so cathartic.)