Thread by @oysterFAKE

This thread is something I never thought I'd have to do and god, I wish there were alternative to public spectacle. However, recent events have left me little choice.

I need to address the malicious whisper campaign and rumors of abuse currently circulating within the industry.

This is gonna be a bit of a lengthy thread I'm afraid, since if a simple "fuck off, what you going on about mate?" would suffice, this wouldn't be needed in the first place.

(And to note - these accusations are of professional/social/financial abuse and manipulation rather than any other kind…)

In recent weeks, a number of people have reached out to me to voice concerns about them being approached by a man I have had previous professional association with.

This appears to have reached a tipping point against the backdrop of current events, and we are at at a place where I am viewed as abjectly toxic by swathes of the industry. Where my supposed toxicity and danger to those around me is now a talking point at social events.

Over the course of the week, I've come to find out that, without noticing it, I have been (or am being) transformed into an honest to god pariah.

Can't really sleep on that.

The man has been systematically approaching people within the industry to "discuss" grievances, events and actions that paint me as a pretty monstrous kinda person.

These conversations portray me as abusive, they display me as exploitative and possessed of little competence or integrity. The list of items I have seen are extensive, broad and stretch back a number of years.

I will not be addressing any specifics. I have not yet addressed specifics with third parties in private.

I need to maintain the anonymity of those who have reached out to me, and bringing things up now in public would be legally premature.

What I will stand up and say now is that the overwhelming majority of what has been shared with me is wholly false.

Close to everything I've seen is a fabrication, inversions of reality that can be disproven in a couple of minutes with one or two chat logs or a simple look at the facts.

Other points are slightly more insidious, accusations backed by some sleight of hand, highly selective quoting, laissez-faire portrayals of <what happened when> and webs of reference points that would take hours to sift through.

Regardless, the portrayal of me that is circulating, the facts used to back that up? They are abjectly without merit or authentic grounding in reality.

If it wasn't for the whole career killing side of things, this shit would be comically absurd.

Indeed, the person I have supposedly abused is someone I have no material power over what so ever.

In many ways, quite the inverse: While I'm some little bitch without much ties or connection to the industry at large, they have friends in high places and deep working contacts.

While I'm homeless and scrape by on saved residuals from Paratopic, he is comfortably employed and even, due to the nature of past work together, has a degree of financial control over me.

Where there are power dynamics between me and the person I have seemingly abused, they are weighted strongly against me.

This is a malicious whisper campaign carried out against me by someone I consider to be highly dangerous.

My experience - and that of others I know - is that this man is volatile and abusive himself.

I am not the first person he has pulled this shit on. This man has a history of wielding weaponized abuse allegations to drive the people he feels have wronged him out of the industry.

There are a number of people he has done tangible harm to in the past.

I am the target of a vindictive, malicious campaign that by all appearances, seems to be carried out with the intent of destroying me. The claims within, I'll reiterate, are wholly without merit.

This campaign appears to be exploiting current discourse in an attempt to drive me out of my career and take away my means for maintaining income, keeping myself housed, fed, all that.

While we have had our fair share of disagreement and interpersonal conflict, I have done --nothing-- that even remotely warrants this.

Things may come across as a bit tit-for-tat, just a dispute that's spiraled out. It is the skill of a proficient manipulator to manifest narratives that can be read as bilateral conflict.

As it stands, I seem to be a pariah at present. Persona non-gratis. Toxic myself, and toxic to those associated with me. This campaign seems to have succeeded.

Hell, I've been shared chatlogs of this man all but bragging about that.

I ain't down for this.

I've never had much enthusiasm for being a victim, so over the next week I'll be taking the initial steps for finding a solution to this. I'll be using what resources I do have to investigate and, if possible, pursue legal action.

(As a side note, those resources are pretty scant what with being a homeless tranny and all. Given that the nature of these allegations is going to directly impact my ability to find housing, what finances I have saved are particularly precious...

..but that doesn't matter. I've invested my entire being in this medium and industry, and right now my career is dead. There is no space for me here. If I'm going to burn, I'll choose an immolation induced by standing up for myself any day of the year. Seppuku is distasteful).

This post isn't in itself a definitive effort to stand up for myself or clear my name. I don't rate the success of that here since at the end of the day, I'm not the most sympathetic figure. I'm coarse, abrasive, contrarian and I rolled low on my charisma stat.

Just another English dickhead.

I've made my fair share of fuck ups and mistakes in the past. Tangiers has been a fukken mess, and Ive no doubt some folk quite rightly judge me by that (though prioritization of the long effort to fix that is a significant part of why I'm well into year three of homeless living)

I can even be slightly difficult to work with. Times I've used (and profusely apologised for) choice language during extremely difficult discussions while trying to stand up for myself against someone who, frankly, terrifies me.

I'm imperfect. I'm a deeply flawed person. Let plenty of people down in the past.

But I'm nothing like the lies that are going around about me.

We're in an arena where people need to be perfect victims. Where any attempt to assert oneself against abusive behavior needs to be perfectly written for an external audience or it is seen as "not a good look".

For victims to be credible in the Colosseum of public opinion, they have to prostrate themselves and take it without serious complaint. Shit be brutal.

I'm a messy, somewhat unpopular cunt even without this campaign over me so that’s not what I'm trying here.

I just want to get my voice out against an attempt to do me very real and significant harm that I am currently powerless to effectively resist.

Finally: I want to make it clear that any allegations going around are targeted at me, and me alone.

There have been concerns voiced about people previously and currently associated with me. That is unwarranted.

No one deserves to be hit by collateral from this. I'd fall on my sword at the drop of a hat than let people I give a shit about get hurt by this. In many ways, that's fundamentally what this thread is.

This is on me, and me alone.

Speaking publically is not my first choice, but when people are getting burnt by association with me... I got a responsibility to them, y'know.

Fuck, this is probably going to burn me a bit more.

Expect the rumour mill to go on overdrive, and for this to be seen as a declaration of war. Spotlights on me I don't have much mental fortitude for. Don't want to do this, but what choice do I have.

I'm going away to try to fix things and clear myself. Go to ground, find recourse and quietly keep making games.

Stepping away from this account and any public activity until a time where it's safe and appropriate for me to return. Might bump the thread later, but consider me gone.

If people really need me, my DMs are open, I'll check them sporadically.

Other than that, I'm off outta here. I really, really hope that I can come back.