Privating r/CryBabyRants
Like most of y’all know, if you’ve read the Welcome Message pinned in the highlights, I have two different subreddits dedicated to Melanie Martinez.
The first one is this subreddit, r/IsThisACultOrWhat. It originally started as a meme subreddit (hence the odd name and I’d honestly love to change it but well… Reddit hasn't that option yet😭) but when I started noticing that the main subreddit had a lot of active snarkers, I wanted to create something different: a space specifically for fans.
The goal of this subreddit is simple: to stay positive and express our love for Melanie’s art and music.
However, I also believe that having a space for negative feedback, criticism, concerns, and personal experiences can be healthy. That’s why I created r/CryBabyRants: a place where people can openly discuss negative experiences and concerns while also trying to grow as a fandom, learn from each other, and recognize snarky and hater patterns on social media to prevent engaging with them.
The problem is that, over the last few days, some haters have started commenting on r/CryBabyRants. I know how these situations can work: people may find a space potentially negative like that and use it as an opportunity to create chaos, derail discussions, or fuel negativity.
That’s why I think having two separate spaces is the best decision. Here in r/IsThisACultOrWhat, you can be sure that people who are actively looking to spread hate aren’t intentionally interacting and if they are we immediately recognize them and take action. Meanwhile, r/CryBabyRants can remain the designated space for criticism, concerns, and more negative discussions.
After thinking about what happened, I decided to make r/CryBabyRants private. I feel like this gives me more control over what happens inside the community and helps prevent people from coming in specifically to attack or harass members for what they post.
Crybabies are more than welcome to request to join. 🩵
I really want both communities to have their own purpose and atmosphere, and I hope this makes that distinction clearer!