★ ! COMMUNITY PSA · please read 🚨
I haven't been too active in the community, yes. I've been mostly watching from the sidelines. However, I've seen some pretty concerning behavior especially recently. A specific instance outside of Tumblr has brought me to make this post (not talking about what), but it won't be talking about that instance only.
Fellow magi's, we need to talk about internet safety.
⚠ TW : s*xual harassment, gr*oming, p*dophilia, mental illness, s*xual harrassment, manipulation, child ab*se, ab*se, s*icide, threats, and more.
If anything upsets you, please come back when in a better space. If anyone doesn't read even a tiny bit of this because it's too long I swear to God I will literally bang my head on the wall. May as well just reblog to spread awareness.
💻 Let's start with the basics ...
⊹🧪⁺◟Never click on suspicious links - even links that mask themselves as regular looking links exist. You can try hovering your mouse over the link (but be careful not to click) to see where it actually takes you. Install anti-virus apps so that if you happen to click something you can have any malicious hacks thwarted. If someone wants you to click on a link like "example.ngt", DO NOT. I don't care if they say it's a website for getting free movies, don't.
You can also use VPNs so any attempts to pull your IP are unsuccessful. Using nordvpn's link checker (my searching up "is this link safe" or "nordvpn linkchecker") could also help (by copypasting or retyping the link to see if it's safe). It's not 100% perfect but it's pretty good.
⊹🧪⁺◟Stranger danger - First of all, literally anyone can lie. I promise it happens more than you think and no matter how old or smart you think you are, YOU CAN FALL VICTIM TO IT. I say this with love, you are not an infallible perfect being. People easily lie about their age, where they live, what their face looks like, their gender, what happens in their lives, etc. You can be "anything" on the internet. Your online boyfriend you thought was 15 can be 19 and vice versa. Second of all I know some of you love your internet friends and love hanging out with them, but for the love of God...
⊹🧪⁺◟NOT EVERYONE NEEDS TO KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT YOU. Not your physical / mental illnesses, the state / country you live in, your real name (even if it's just your first name), what is happening in your household, your EXACT date of birth, your face, etc. I'm saying this because people can use all of these to their advantage.
Set boundaries, make a list of what you will and will not share. If you already shared some things that you probably shouldn't, you should either delete those things or just stop talking about those things and let them fade throughout time. If your friends are not respecting those boundaries and pressuring you for information (like a face reveal), well then they suck. And YOU don't need to know everything about your online friend no matter how close you feel you guys are.
Let's just say you're in some reddit thread that has to do with your location (like, idk, r/Bolivia), at least use a different account where you talk about nothing but that. I'm no legal expert but I'm pretty sure that Information people gain legally / through YOU giving it out doesn't make it count as "doxxing". Just trust me on this one, no oversharing or at least risking being traceable is a no no (and also bro why do some of y'all use the same users, online names, and passwords for ALL of your social media accounts).
⊹🧪⁺◟How this happens - I'm gonna keep it a buck, most magi's or people in the manifestation / spirituality / shifting sphere are younger people. Many are minors. Adults do a shit job at explaining what grooming looks like to people because they act like p*dos are gonna go straight out the gate being like "Hi I'm a slimey sweaty p*do and I wanna violate the youngins". Usually, that's not how it happens.
They can be anyone, even people we automatically register as "safe". I hope that this comes as obvious fact but this includes queer people, women, people in the same fandoms / "safe spaces" as us, people with the same politics as us, just people who share lots of similarity with you. Even here in the small niche irl magi community. It's really scary to think that a fellow person like us who has experienced regular human things like building a snowman for the first time would harm and traumatize minors (or anyone), but that's unfortunately the reality. They may not have any obvious "red flags" until much much later.
Groomers start off by building trust. They may be influential or popular members of a community or just get to know you really well. It could go on for days, weeks, and most of the time even months. This is where you have to be firm with your boundaries because people who repeatedly try to break boundaries are trying to test them. Be extra weary of people who want to learn all about you but won't say A SINGLE word about themselves (but then again, they may be lying because, internet). The attention feels great but it's a glaring red flag to end a talk knowing nothing about a person but them knowing about all of you.
Maybe they do speak about themselves but mostly about their trauma or how bad they have it (if you're a chronic venter I'm not saying you're a groomer, but all these combined with the end result of harming minors, does). This may get you to feel bad for them or feel bad if you upset them because they're just "going through so much". But it could just be regular daily talks.
P*dos and groomers on the internet could be in a "romantic" relationship and it's still grooming. It doesn't have to be s*xual at all to still be grooming.
⊹🧪⁺◟More stuff abt grooming:
You are a minor and they're an adult. Which, yeah duh. But let me tell you that it doesn't matter how much attention they give you, how lonely you are, how "smart" and "mature" you are, or ANYTHING. It's still grooming.
You are afraid that if you leave then they will spread rumors about you, no one will believe you, they will harm themselves, etc.
Forgot to also say: even people your age shouldn't be acting like this to try to get something from you or be in a relationship.
If you see signs of these anywhere, report them to the community.
Understand What Grooming is, Recognizing Warning Signs, How to Identify Grooming & its Various Types Including Physical, Psychological, and
Or search up "safekidsthrive child grooming and other abuse warning signs" to find it on google.
Rainn . org is an organization where you can learn more about online predators and talk to counselors at anytime 24/7.
I think someone made a post about community etiquette but I'll lastly remind y'all real quick.
Being a bully is just shameful loser behavior. Come on now, you're using a device with faceless people in it. It isn't that serious.
"Online harassment can include repeated attempts to impose unwanted communications or contact in a manner that could be expected to cause distress or fear." It can be illegal at times. Be normal.
Internet drama and rumors in the big 25... come on now IT IS A METAL BLOCK AND YOU'RE TAPPING BUTTONS. STOP CAUSING AND SPREADING DRAMA. IT WILL NOT MATTER IN 1 MONTH OR LESS.
If you really don't like someones concept OR if you don't have anything nice to say to someone about ANYTHING, don't say anything at all. Constructive criticism is different, and you know that.
If I say anything you disagree with / anything incorrect please correct me! Thank you for reading the important yap!
