agreed. just shutting threads down is not the way to go in my opinion. trolls need to be dealt with by Mods, after all is that what community leaders should do? (and no i'm not saying it's an easy job)
I thought that's why people got banned? Ie the red person who got banned til.... I think 2043?
Unless you mean mods actually confronting them about their actions?
Discord gossip really can get out of hand, this isn't the first time I've heard about it on forums/communities I visited. And to be honest, OP, you're really helpful, you lighten things up, and you've been welcoming to a lot of new artists that showed up around the same time I did; I have no idea why that's what someone latched on to.
Being an artist community working on independent comics, the LAST thing we should be doing is gatekeeping, come on. Art is inherently hard to market and internet content is even harder, let's not step over each other and instead help each other.
Yes it restarted just fine in a new thread. the old thread could have been salvaged though by the ban then flagging or deleting the rude posts.
@mariusthered People who don't like you always will find a reason to disrespect. At first, people don't want listen to you, because you are "too" young, so you have "no life experience" and "no brains" to say anything smart... then, when you grow up, people don't want to listen to you, because you've become "too" old, so, you are "obsolete" and "don't know anything about contemporary life"...
About why some people truly don't like you - my assumption is, that it's because you often say unpopular opinions.
At least, I've seen it going this way to myself. When I say righteous, nice, good words, which are in harmony with dominant morality of forum participants, everyone are nice to me. But when I say something controversial, part of the people start attempts of trolling me or behave hostilely. ¯_(ツ)_/¯ The last one is the most applicable to people, who don't know me well and thus don't understand the context, in which I'm saying something or origin of my point of view... so they think I'm kinda bad guy and put their righteous anger to me 
Not that I'm surprised in any way. Of course, people are nice, when you are agree with them, and of course, at least part of them become "rightly angry", when you disagree. That's how society works.
I already respected you @mariusthered, but now I respect you even more.
I have to respect anyone who cares deeply about a topic. So, good for you for posting a well-articulated thread. But rot can be in the eye of the beholder.
Respect is important but so is a sense of humor. And so is tolerance for people with different perspectives. Not every person has to be taken so seriously or met with torches and pitchforks because they are a bit edgier or grumpier or more conservative.
A couple of months back I got flagged on a comment to @skicoak. It was a pretty innocuous comment, part of our usual playful routine, but some OTHER people, not involved with the conversation, got offended and complained. I ended up deleting the post and apologizing, but now I wish I hadn't. I should have stood up for free speech. (And, no, I'm not talking hate speech.)
I've seen @Kazsup post and delete many comments and one time an entire thread, now infamously known as the "Nothing Thread." I think a forum where people have to constantly second guess whether every word they say is going to bother some individual or subgroup is a problem. It stifles creative exchange and can lead to a very boring environment.
I've been in a number of these discords,actually a mod for one of them, and I can say that it's less "sneak-dissing" and more of people just venting what they've already talked about in the threads directly to whoever they were talking about or whatever topic they disliked. They'll even be in the same server as the person they disagreed with and will still vent. They usually talk it out, and it's done -- over with. Let's be honest -- you will not like everyone and not everyone will like you. As noted in the following thread, most people think this way:
Yeah, there is a rot in the forums. We still get people who have already been banned but keep coming back again and again under different accounts. Threads have been shut down because things became too heated. There are also users who purposefully misunderstand things (might even lie) in order to serve up drama both in the forums AND within some of these discords. Won't say who some of these users are, but it gets to the point where they're either banned or ignored until they leave. So yeah -- there is a rot.
But, as far as I know, when it came to these servers, no one had ever said "this person shouldn't make comics because XYZ". They have questioned the content and context of their work, which was also stated in the forums directly to the person.
Now, how to combat it is another thing to talk about. After all, even with banning, we still had people coming back. So I do question that, even if the forum mods talked to them, would they change their behavior?
I have noticed a few people that like to throw out "hot button" words trying to start a "debate" where they don't listen and just continually say they are right when someone takes the bait. It's a frustrating thing to watch. The negative attitude kinda resonates out every time they reply to something. I wish saying something to these types would help but...it really just does no good.
I'm older too. (Only 29...not quite as up there but I get tbe same thing sometimes.) People have told me to leave social media platforms back when I was 25-26, and some discords have just kicked me out two days later because of my age. I get it in some instances, because I joined and immediately realized the whole group was teenagers, but you whipper snappers wouldn't have your hamsteaks and your markipliers if the internet had an age restriction like that. Public spaces do not have age restrictions and that is why there are adults only areas in the first place.
As for the "rot"... much like the horror of a leftover you forgot about in the fridge...it is unavoidable. The internet is public. There will be bad people. The best way to deal with them os to ignore them until you find the time to dump them in the trash.
Exactly, and these are the same types who misunderstand your words in the first place. They're also the ones to ignite the "debates" that close threads down. Not because of conflicting opinions but because of attitudes. A lot of the closed threads DID have conflicting opinions, but they're told in a civil manner. It's until the one or two users show up with that attitude problem and cause the chaos.
I still don't know where the "too old to make comics" thing is coming from. As far as I'm concern, there's more people in their late 20s - early 40s in the forums than there are younger people. As far as I'm aware, most people either vent directly to each other based on the words spoken, regardless of age.
On the Discord thing, out of respect for others I am not going to name names or anything, but I will say I have definitely seen at least one person on a Discord that would complain a lot about the Tapas forum and say some vile things. It seems their experience was much different from my own because this forum seems pretty normal. There will always be a time where you don't agree with the actions of the mods or whatever and I encourage conversations at those times. Ask questions, send private messages. Oh and try not to be an ass when you do it because people will then take you more seriously. Just my two cents.
On the issue of trolling, @mariusthered, if you saw my posts in the comic thread as trolling, then I apologize. That was ten billion percent not my intention. I can say I have no interest in trolling, I hate people who troll, and was just making a joke.
edit: I'm also going to add on that I am sorry if you thought I was making fun of the comic because of the way you created it. Again, that was not my intention. My intention was to make fun of the character models themselves and not the effort you put into making the comic. If it came off that way, then I am very, very sorry.
thanks to all the people who have taken part so far in this thread. when i came back to my computer I expected to need a tin hat ready for the hail of bullets, but instead I am humbled. (and no i'm not doing this for attention that should go to making the forum more pleasant)
yes I can be a silly sod joking around and on my flip side i can be straight to the point and honest in my opinions. but it is never my intention to offend and if I even do please just pm me and lets sort it out.
That's a shame, but that's happening on every forum. I don't remember having been on any relatively large forum that did not have private groups badmouthing specific people, and other groups bashing said groups, spies in all groups, etc. That's always like that. There are always a percentage of aggressive cowards. I'm younger than you, but still, I met that for the first time in the very beginning of ICQ. I remember when it got an option for more than two people to speak, my first moderation job became all the sudden way more difficult.
What I find particularily problematic and unusual on this forum is the percentage of people refusing discussion. It's a forum, but too many people are only there to state their opinion like if it was a fact and leave or even flag when someone is giving a different opinion.
That's where I don't get this forum. Usually, these private groups complaining about forum users happen because people need to get a frustration out, that they could not express on the forum. But here, it does not seem that it's the people who get shut up/ mistreated on the forum who complain, but rather the ones who are already responsible for the bad atmosphere. Disgusting, but still, we can't do much about it, so I would say, ignore and just take from that that you are more brave than these people.
This is probably going to be an unpopular opinion, but...I'm not sure those things count as 'rot in the forum'. If anything, that's 'rot in the discord, accompanied by occasional disturbances in the forum'.
As people have said many times before, this is a relatively calm and uneventful place for an internet forum (the replies so far in this thread only reinforce my point...anywhere else, the discord 'backstabbers' would already be here defending themselves and causing a riot).
Anyway, I have a sharp eye for conflict, and even I have to agree that this place is * unnaturally * peaceful. Instances of true unrest and anger are few and far between, and usually limited to the actions of one relatively unknown person (which is why they're often simply called 'trolls' in later discussions about their behavior).
And then, REAL disagreements between known forumers usually resolve themselves or just fizzle out into obscurity. Back in my early days on a different forum, you knew who hated who and how many enemies you'd made; that kind of stuff was obvious. But here, despite what people believe they've done to others, it's hard to tell whether there are any true vendettas going at all. =/