I've been a content creator for over a decade but I've only been a VTuber for about 3 or so years. (Rebranded once) I've been in plenty of communities and while it's true you'll find bad apples wherever you go, in the VTubing community you'll find the best of the best but also the worst of the worst, both ends of the extremes. The following rant is based on my actual experience in this community. I've never encountered a community that seemed more like a high school than this community, I've encountered people who've said "Hey I wanna do this for a living I'm very passionate about it!" and then dedicate more time into taking someone down for a minor inconvenience than they put into anything they produce for their target audience. I've never encountered a community that weaponizes "therapy speak" like this community, normal things people do get turned into something different once that person thinks they can gain from throwing a pity party over you existing in the same universe as them. Compliments? That's love bombing. Talking to someone bigger than you? You're chasing clout and using them. Talking to someone smaller than you? That's a power dynamic and you're using them. Arguing with someone and trying to explain why you think the way you do? That's manipulation. Support someone financially? That's also manipulation. Explaining yourself? You're trying to avoid accountability and manipulate your way out of it. Asserting your boundaries? You're having a power trip. Have you done literally nothing wrong to me? Sorry someone bigger than you said you were a meanie head with zero evidence therefore I have to block you, stay positive! uwu Want to know what you even did wrong? What do you mean? I already told you! You uh...did everything! You upset someone! I won't get specific, of course, because then I'm at risk of realizing just how trivial it is. Don't even get me started on how fake a lot of people are, every "I care about mental health." post equals two private "Wow hey lets laugh at this guy he's having a panic attack isn't he so pathetic?" This community is tarnished by a minority of adult children who've been pampered so much in their lives that normal conversation and talking things out is "confrontation" and being even slightly uncomfortable is the equivalent of being stabbed to them. So expect everyone in the entire world to hear about why this person has an issue with you before you even have a hint as to something you might have done to upset them, because a fear of confrontation certainly doesn't mean you're against being a coward, evidently. Additionally, if you do something wrong? Good luck finding out, they will tell literally everyone except for you and you'll have to find out about it in a hastily made google doc where they try their hardest to turn a minor inconvenience that could've been settled by a short conversation into them experiencing the worst trauma of their life in an attempt to gain support via sympathy. [I once had a dude legit say I "stole his voice" by including a clip of our collab a YEAR earlier in a post on TikTok, he waited an entire YEAR to complain and only when it was a public issue.] Privacy? Nah, nothing is private when you're dealing with certain people, when being entertaining takes effort and creativity, anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of public opinion whether its in context or not. You are respected as long as you can't be exploited at the current time. Nothing is their fault and they have similarly toxic people surrounding them going "yassss I agree with your current thing" and encouraging their behavior, Don't you dare improve upon yourself, either, because your toxic friends are going to grow insecure without the circle of validation being constant in their lives. And even IF you're somehow perfect and don't upset anyone? People will just make shit up and you're fucked either way. My solution? I stay in my lane and I keep a close circle of friends, I tried making a collab server and, within literal days, someone made a group chat behind my back and invited my friends to it to discuss problematic people I follow in an attempt to get people to block me. [Among other situations that made me just stop doing collabs almost entirely.] Despite this, I still stay in this community, because if I leave, I'm surrendering to the annoying minority of adult children and letting them define the community I'm a part of. I want to try and make it better if even a little. Thanks for reading, good luck with whatever you do next, Circuit.