PREFACE: If you've been active in the sub, then you know what's going on, and I think It's time for some transparency (but if you don't, I have some context below). I'm making this post to try and have a place for discussion to exist without it spreading to other posts. I don't want to make this into a "Wall of Shame" type post, but there's going to be pictures of some of the stuff we as Mods are having to deal with and why we've been so strict lately. Topics such as Transphobia, Brigading, and all the drama about it will be mentioned here. If you don't want to see or take part in the drama, go ahead and scroll past. Until it all calms down, we'll keep removing the discussion from other posts since it keeps devolving into shit-flinging and slur-slinging. So other posts will HOPEFULLY stay clean of all this. All I ask for with the discussion here, is to please just be respectful about it. There's most likely a Human behind the monitor.

SOME HISTORY: This sub has been around for a very long time, but around the end of 2024/start of 2025, this sub became a karma farming hotspot for repost bots, phishing scams, and stolen merch links. I made a few posts about the problem and asked for improved moderation, and considered making a reddit request myself, but had concerns that I couldn't step up and watch over a subreddit as I had no experience in it. So u/OliviaRaven9 made the request, got in contact with the mods that were understaffed and very inactive (months at a time), and was given control of the sub. Rules were changed, settings were shifted, and all the bot posts ceased. I, and a few others, were added in as mods to help. For months, the sub was clean of bots, rules were made more clear, and were better enforced. I didn't have much to do, as people in the sub seemed to be well behaved, and all was well.

THE PROBLEM: The sub's icon was a very out-of-date, if iconic, picture of the Mask of the Father from DS1. It was very hard to see when shrunk down with a bright-white background. So a vote was held for a new subreddit picture. There were a bunch of contenders, such as Solaire's famous pose, this hard as fuck Catarina picture, the Capra Demon arena, etc. but the picture of a basilisk won. It didn't have a background, as it was a transparent png, so it would be a tiny shrunken basilisk against a black background. Same problem as the Mask's picture. So, u/OliviaRaven9 added one, the trans flag. A bunch of other subreddits have done this in the past as a funny show of support, and I think we can all agree it stands out. OOPS, apparently. The past week had me more active as a moderator than I have been for the last 8 months. There's been a split in the community between the people who like it, the people who don't care, the people who don't like it, and the people who really, really, don't like it.

Let me say this now that we're at the source of the drama; We don't want to be removing so much conversation or be so heavy handed. But there's a few reasons why we have been. Namely, blatant transphobia, hate-mongering, and general asshole behavior (I wanted to put some of the worst ones here like "the percentage joke" but it seems that reddit itself removed them before I could nab them, they were that bad), including brigades from funnyjunk, xhitter, and other sites (basically, people who have literally never been here coming in just to stir shit while calling us terminally online. ironic.). So we've had to crackdown on ALL discussion on it regardless of how innocent it was, hence the "no PFP discussion" rule that now exists (and IS temporary), otherwise we could lose the entire subreddit due to Reddit's TOS. Let me repeat that, We could be shutdown if we didn't. We don't want to be "Dictators" like some people have called us, we just don't want to push our luck with the higher beings of Reddit's Admin Team, and there is just way too much for the Mods to deal with alone, hence the crowd control being activated (last resort). There have been arguments between users or with the mod team, but the commenters who had good-faith discussion about whether it belongs or not, I wish could have stayed. It simply got too difficult to stay on top of each discussion and pick through what is and isn't a bad faith comment. Ideally, a bad take wouldn't need to be removed, and good takes wouldn't be hard to identify.

I don't really know where to go from this, I don't think any of us do. I thought this place was well-behaved but even our sister brain-rot shitposting subs aren't as brutal as this place has been for the past week. Let me be the first to admit that I have been lax about this place and the role as a mod here. It just wasn't a problem until now. But I'll say one thing, I sure am involved now, and I'm gonna try and be more communicative with my fellow mods and the people who post here, since I personally think that's really what the core of the problem was. And all of the communication after was inherently very heated due to the sheer amount of disheartening shit we'd been seeing. I'm not gonna sit here and say mod-response was perfect or was okay, or to speak for my fellow mods. Remember, I could have gotten things wrong since I only have my perspective, whether it be flawed or not, and can't say how the other mods will operate. I'm just asking for understanding and forgiveness about it.

As a result of all the conversation, the second PFP poll was held, and (to let my own personal bias show here for a sec) I'm really glad that the top vote is the Trans Basilisk but inverted. Funniest choice possible. Humanity Restored. Anyway, we're all very tired of this conversation, I'm sure. Go ahead and converse freely here if you feel like it, let's get it out of all our systems and have healthy discussion (blatant bigotry obviously not included). I'm going to end this ramble off with a reminder that the people have chosen, and the simple request that you all be excellent to each other, and don't you dare you go hollow.

-Witch Bellatrix (u/Orion824)

(real quick final note, i wanted to sleep before posting this, but i can't sleep so i'm doing it now. i may not be able to address everyone since i don't know when i'll crash but i'll try to take part as best i can)

Since the other subreddits for dark souls don't allow memes, here's one that does. Any and all dark souls memes are welcome