Goodbye <3

Flare

Flare

Pro Adventurer
AKA
Flare
Hey there everyone. It’s with a lot of thought and deliberation that I’ve decided to leave TLS.
I resigned as Community Manager on Saturday and now this is all that I have left to do. I couldn’t leave without saying goodbye!

TLS became my first internet home. As people know I lurked for a few years before finally joining at Remake news, and I’m forever glad I joined. I’ve met so many people from here and gained so many friends; I started traveling because of TLS! I never would have began to achieve my dream of traveling this early on if not for wanting to meet so many of you. I feel like a lot of stuff in my life finally started when I joined TLS. I have a lot of good memories, and some bad ones; my intro into political threads here were uh…. Interesting. :P But despite that I realized I felt cared for here. TLS has given me a wealth of experiences and I’m always going to be grateful for it, I don’t think I could list all the ways TLS has affected my life (and much of it has been for the better, I would argue).
So many of you are awesome people, and plenty that I’m proud to call my friends.

I’m leaving TLS because the community doesn’t feel the same now. I’ve yet to precisely pinpoint all the reasons why, but it’s become a place that I don’t consider home anymore, a place I don’t care to hang out at. It no longer feels warm and welcoming. It often feels closed and like there’s a clique always chilling out in the room, a clique I’m not a part of and quite frankly would never want to be a part of.
Because of this and more, I’ve decided to leave.

If anyone wants to keep in touch with me, I’m active on Discord; my tag is Flare#3879, and some of you have me on FB too, so messenger also works. I can be a bit horrible about keeping in touch with friends if we don’t frequent the same communities, but I will chat from time to time with some of you! :wacky: Also I know I’ll be seeing several of you guys in Glasgow in just less than two weeks. Dunno if this needs to be said but I’m genuinely looking forward to seeing some of you again and me leaving hopefully doesn’t affect that, but if it does, then… well, I dunno what to say about it except, see you soon anyways. :mon:

I have no idea if I’ll ever come back to the forums, so I guess if you have anything you’ve ever wanted to say to me here, good or bad or whatnot, now’s your chance. :monster: I won't be checking back here once the day is over.

Peace and love, hope you all take care, and may there be some goddamn motherfucking FFVII Remake news this year!


~ Flare :reptar: <3
 
fancy

fancy

pants
AKA
Fancy
I am truly sorry that things have come to this point and that you're parting ways with the forum on a bittersweet note. :(

Please know that I wish you the best of luck with your job and life in general, loads more adventures travelling around the world and seeing your most treasured friends, and continued improvement in your artistic development (your works have always been stunning). Though you've declared that you will not be returning, I hope that, mayhaps, you shall cross paths with the community again on much happier terms. I'll always be grateful for the happy memories that you and I have shared personally.

Take care, eh?
 
Lex

Lex

Administrator
Again, thank you for your service. I understand there may be some issues from various angles, the only thing I would say is please be respectful (this is @everyone). That said there are a couple of small things I'd like to address in your post Flare, just from a community point of view.

Flare said:
I’m leaving TLS because the community doesn’t feel the same now. I’ve yet to precisely pinpoint all the reasons why, but it’s become a place that I don’t consider home anymore, a place I don’t care to hang out at. It no longer feels warm and welcoming. It often feels closed and like there’s a clique always chilling out in the room, a clique I’m not a part of and quite frankly would never want to be a part of.
Click to expand...

Communities are a constantly changing thing, and we need to move with the ebb and flow. Every now and again I stop to consider my own place within the TLS community and whether or not I myself fit (and I sometimes find myself NOT fitting, yet persevere), so I understand how our feelings may change over time.

I'm sorry TLS has come to be a place you no longer feel comfortable, but I do not think it's fair to the community to be insinuating that you are somehow a victim. In this very thread there are people who are sad to see you go, and to imply that a group of people are intentionally making you feel unwelcome is unfair to those people, and the community at large. I'll state now that I don't actually know who this group of people are, I've been slightly removed from the social circles of TLS for a while.

If I were in your shoes (and I have been before, in a very major way), I would maybe take a moment to consider what it is that has led to the current situation rather than say the community as a whole is no longer welcoming, because I find that to be an objectively false statement. I believe everything can be resolved, though I do respect your decision to just cut ties. Sometimes that is the easier course of action, and that's OK. But I think it's important to recognise that by leaving, you are making the choice to do so. I do not think that blaming a culture you yourself had a hand in is helpful or constructive.

I will also state that while I do understand you had some difficulties in the debate section to begin with, the staff at the time literally made a section that was just for you to feel comfortable posting in at the time. So TLS has over the years gone well out of its way to specifically make you feel comfortable sharing views that the vast majority of the community do not share. Had you joined a short time before you did, you'd likely have been chased away for some of the things you posted at that time by prior members - this is probably why I feel that it's unfair to denigrate the community, though I understand you joined this board in a far more pleasant climate than I did, so there will likely be some level of "the young'uns don't know how good they have it" mentality at play from me here.

That said, I'm glad we had built a more tolerant community that you directly benefited from when you joined, and we will continue to strive to make it more so.

Best of luck in all your future endeavours; see you in Glasgow :wink:
 
Carlie

Carlie

CltrAltDelicious
AKA
Chloe Frazer
Flare when you said that so many people thanking others posts in the political section didn't make you feel comfortable sharing your opinion an entire thankless subsection was made for you to feel comfortable to post but you didn't use it. The community has been beyond accommodating to your problematic political opinions so ask yourself who was really closed off here you or the community.
 
Last edited:
looneymoon

looneymoon

they/them
AKA
Rishi
Do what you gotta do and best of luck to ya! I took a few years break from TLS, mostly because I found my internet life was taking up too much of my time and energy. I just sorta stopped posting one day and didn't really think much of coming back, yet here I am. I don't think I'm really part of the "community" the same way I was before, but I'm a bit of an old hat that's seen plenty of people come and go. Hopefully after some space you might be able to show up again here and there, even if it's not in the same role everyone is accustomed to seeing you.
 
Flare

Flare

Pro Adventurer
AKA
Flare
I'll make one more post to clarify something, as I see it's being misinterpreted.
I'm not leaving because of politics; my blurb at my intro to the political threads being interesting was simply a reflection on a time where I was not very knowledgeable and sort of burst onto the scene without really researching anything I posted. XD I personally think I could've done so much better at it. Nowadays there's no lingering weird feelings towards things that happened there. indeed, I should've clarified in my intro post and worded it this way: That despite my politics, I still found out I was genuinely cared for, and I've learned a fair bit about politics in general because of TLS. So for that, I'm grateful.
There's not been any issues with politics and myself in a long time here, as far as I'm concerned. :) My decision to leave is not at all in reflection of any past political posts or issues.
 
CrashOuch

CrashOuch

she/her
AKA
Sara
Flare, you and me joined within just a few days of each other, but you seemed to find it so much easier to make friends here and get stuck in while it took me a really long time to find my feet. But now I have to say I couldn't disagree with you more about the community here. I think we're so blessed to have such a caring bunch of people who are so willing to go out of their way for each other and support each other. The more members I've had the honour of meeting in person, the more strongly I've felt that this is truly one of the very few safe and loving corners of the internet and one I'm really glad to be a part of. I know you haven't been quite so active here over the last year or so and I wonder if that maybe contributes to your feeling that way? But either way I think it's really a shame that you've struggled to connect with the community of late.

I was genuinely really surprised to see your post and learn that you're leaving and I wish you the best in your future, I know you've just started a new job and I hope that goes well for you. I'm sure that if you ever find your way back to us you'll be welcomed with open arms! Also I guess I'll see you in Glasgow in a couple of weeks so I'm sure we'll get a chance to say bye properly then!
 
solo player sab

solo player sab

normie trash
AKA
Sab
Take care, Flare! Communities are interesting like that, aren't they? So wonderful and difficult at the same time. I agree a lot with Lex's statement above that communities and our place in them are an ever evolving thing, and I suppose we all deal with that in our own ways. Regardless, good luck with everything and I wish you all the best. I hope that you're able to find that community you can call home, and that when things get hard there, you'll find a healthy resolution and persevere, for the sake of 'home.'
 
Claymore

Claymore

3x3 Eyes
Really sad to hear that you're leaving. I am quite shocked and surprised though. When I originally lurked and started tentatively posting here, I definitely would have agreed 100% on the clique atmosphere, and the whole like system (that seemed to just be an extension of that) I'd quite frankly throw in the bin, but the community has changed really drastically since. I'd certainly say that it was now a warm and welcoming place.

Wish you the best of luck. And who knows ... maybe your travels will bring you back here some day. Until then.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom