Bean here all along

Out Of Character:

Do not worry, friend, this is not a stupid question. Tbh I ask this myself sometimes.

I used to be in a big ol' discord server with all of the other blogs, and we would talk about the game and updates and fun stuff we were posting. There were some really nice people there (there were also a couple of nuts but don't tell them I said that), and I'd like to think I got along well with them. Tracer and Junkrat were always the nicest to me.

We were never really an "official" group, but we were pretty well organized, and there was a clear hierarchy in the discord. There were a few times when the people in charge would try to enforce the (rather arbitrary) rules anytime someone (usually me) said or did something that didn't exactly fit the character they were playing. As you can imagine this happened often.

As for now, I'd like to say that we're all good friends who still talk and play Overwatch together...

But we're not.

A while back, after a series of members began shutting down their blogs, the discord server just kind of... dissapeared. There was no more hierarchy, no more arbitrary rules, no more anything. Did they kick me out, did they delete the server, I never found out.

The people I had been talking to for over a year just up and vanished. And we really haven't spoken since.

I've tried to keep up with this blog, it hasn't always been easy. I'm in college now, and honestly I haven't even been playing Overwatch for a long time. I've kinda lost all interest.

I really can't say for certain which blogs are down and which ones are still active, I kinda haven't interacted with any of them for a while. At this point if you want to join, you can probably just make your own blog and unofficially join.

I'm glad you still have interest in this blog and our little community type thingy. It's nice to know someone appreciated it.

:)

In Character:

PEaMnut Butte R

I was the person who started at all I remember it vividly, I was cleaning my bathroom in april 2017 and thought “what if a pharah blog but as shitposts” and immediately made it. Not sure how my friends found out about it but they were after me the first ones to make thingsoverwatchsays blogs after me because they thought it was a funny idea.

Fast forward a little and I was gaining rapidly followers and with that the first blogs that weren’t my friends showed up as well and started interacting with us. And so a discord server was made as well and here is where I think things were wrong again. My friends and I were one of the few adults and I think mostly me should have made and moderated that server because it was my thing and with that my responsibility but I was very apathetic about everything back then. Like no offence but a bunch of teenager in control is just bound to end bad, especially with so many of them in one place.

And with that a problem accured as well, people misunderstood the meaning behind these blogs. They were meant to be pure shitpost blogs but people started doing regular RP and that’s were the “community” was a little cut in half.

Some weird things started happening for example someone invited their weird late 20′s boyfriend who send reaper in lingerie to kids that were half as old as him. I left the server not much later afterwards because said person also turned out to be a snake who was in my friend group. Most of my friends and I left the server so she thought it was smart to tell all of you that she got kicked out of your groupchat when she actually just took her stuff and ran when we confronted her with all the stuff she did.

I think there were a couple major red flags that we as adults simply ignored and it put a bunch of kids in harm’s way. Yes, the group was fun and I had a great time that brought me closer not just to my core group of friends but also to the people we met along the way. But I personally think there were many things that were also harmful, especially to the younger members, and so I’m going to make this post hoping that someone out there reads this and hopefully leans from our mistakes.

First off, the discord server with 30 members wasn’t the first. We started as a very small group on a discord server made by the person who invited their 30 year old boyfriend. She was also the one who started inviting these other, much younger people. The rest of us protested; we didn’t think it was wise for us 20+ year olds who each came with their own damage to possibly influence actual kids. Despite our protests, it happened anyway, and although we should have done more, maybe left right then and there, we didn’t. Like P said, the 30 year old started sending some really lewd stuff while only him and the younger kids were online. I don’t know if there was any malicious intent behind his actions, or if he simply forgot that the people he was talking to were only half his age, but either way it was another huge red flag that we ignored.

When we left this small group (or rather, when it was deleted by the person who created it), we moved on with the kids in tow. Vetting was implemented by these kids themselves, and us adults just ignored the red flags and legit thought the vetting was too extreme. In truth and in retrospect, it wasn’t extreme enough. We should have protected these kids from further harm, but we didn’t.

It’s not that the lack of vetting brought on more people who started sending near-naked drawings of characters to these kids, but rather that the group started to grow exponentially. Most of these people were fine, fun and kind, and I have fond memories of them. But even so, nearly every single one of us came with mental damage, including the adults, that made all of us act out from time to time. Furthermore, there were clashing world views and personal goals that caused arguments which were sometimes taken to the extremes. As adults we barely exerted control over these situations. Not once did we step up and lay down the rules. We should have. If I remember correctly, it was these things that helped to drive off Jem, one of the sweetest people there. Jem, I’m so sorry we didn’t protect you from harm the way we should have as adults.

The thing that eventually drove us off was the change of direction. Like P said, many people came in who had different goals for their blogs, and like our Winston blog said, rules were set into place that enforced RP rather than shitposting, which we originally came to do. As such, us original members kind of lost interest, said our goodbyes, and left.

Like P said, many more questionable choices were made by many people that I also won’t list here, especially since many of these people were just kids back then. But I feel that as adults we should have vetted much more strictly, since everyone there already had emotional baggage, and the way everything spiraled out of control after a year likely served to only make things worse.

Albeit that a lot of questionable things happened, I do want all the people I met in this group know that they are good people, and I had a good time despite the mess that eventually went down. To answer the original question, no, this blog is no longer active, and I personally don’t really play Overwatch anymore. As for a possible reunion, I don’t know... Personally I can proudly say that I, and many of the members from the original group, have grown and matured a lot. I myself have since received proper treatment for my mental illnesses and am a lot more stable and responsible. Still, I don’t know if that goes for every single member of the thingsovwsays community out there, and I’d rather not expose the members who are still kids to that once again.

Please stay safe out there and watch out for the younger members of your communities!