RE: I wish for the Old EP so much.. SW is horrible!
We have lots of respect for the great platform EP developed, the community they built, the professionalism of their team.
We've never had a negative opinion of the "Old Site". We know very well (even previously being Admins before SW), how difficult it is to please everyone, to provide the "perfect & balanced" community, that we all wish for.
As well as the difficulty in routinely handling endless issues of offenses, from the smallest of incidents (indifferences between users), which we get reports cluttering our attention daily, to the worst of offenders that could be found online..
In light of some users repeatedly making false, defamatory statements against SW Staff (which we will be taking legal action against). https://similarworlds.com/25-Similar-Worlds/3229075-RE-Users-who-insist-on-repeatedly-Breaking-Rules
We would like to remind our community (or make aware), of what is likely the Largest Difference between Similar Worlds & EP:[/u]
The primary reason EP was closed (based on large amounts of feedback and information), was due to the mounting Legal Requests (information requests, subpoenas, search warrants) regarding Criminal Activities taking place on the site, and the difficulties in legally and financially battling such requests.
(We respect EP's vision, and integrity in upholding their beliefs.)
Conversely:
Similar Worlds is much more proactive in tackling illegal activities, especially those regarding abuse of minors.
Yes, we are very respectful of user privacy, and to date, have never had any user information leaked (although there have been numerous attack/hack attempts over the years, which failed).
However, a certain line is crossed (which we will never tolerate nor turn a blind eye to) when it comes to preying on minors or other vulnerable groups.
We are very cooperative in working with law enforcement to tackle such crimes.
(Maybe EP did too tackle such cases, behind the scene. We do not know as we haven't come across such information.)
We understand that we may not yet be as great as EP once was, but we are constantly working on improving this site, and strongly believe that given time, we will meet the majority of our user's expectations, and more.
Thanks for your help and support! -SW Staff
Related Remarks from another Post:
SW-Admin
Yes, we do work with law enforcement constantly, to battle sexual predators, as well as other illegal offenders of various types.
We work and directly communicate with numerous US Government agencies (U.S. Secret Service, Military & Law Enforcement Divisions, Child Protection Agencies). As well as Government & Law Enforcement agencies of various other regions, namely Europe.
(We would not be that naive to make a false claim publicly here, after just previously stating that we will be taking legal action.
So yes, everything stated here, is 100% accurate.)
Related Remarks from another Post:
SW-Admin
We are either updated on these cases directly by law enforcement, or by assisting divisions (such as Child Protection Services).
The incarceration status of these offenders are typically publicly logged, and some may also appear published in articles.
We can see that this ex-SW user, for example, is still incarcerated (and will be for life).
(Tiny segments of article + Incarceration Status)
Some convicted ex-SW user's sentences can be "40 to 80 years", for example, but at the offender's age, it is basically a Life Sentence.
Please do remember, the next time a user makes false remarks/libel such as: "SW staff invites and protects predators here!"
What is actually the reality..
or
When someone comments: "I wish for the Old EP so much.. SW is horrible!"
Please be more thoughtful of what you may actually wishing for..
I have very fond memories of the original EP, but I like SW as well. Both had/have their place in this world. The thing that EP became in the end was a whole new animal than the original site. The vision was there but it got large quickly after the GMA tour. I was there from almost the beginning just as I quickly accepted the invitation and came here. I can tell you that EP did work with law enforcement because when they received my request they did do and rather quickly the information was provided. I also know from my personal experience they were working to help law enforcement as well. That said though, I know that SW has done the same with things I have reported. I mentioned one particular one on another post, but there have been many. There is no way that a site is going to catch every predator out there, but that you care goes a long way. It is up to everyone here to help admins and law enforcement by reporting legitimate items and being willing to be a witness etc. Then following up with the appropriate persons to make sure the backlog isn't allowing any of the predator types to slip through the cracks. I like both sites and hope to see SW grow further.
@Fungirlmmm I remember finding experience project when I was young. I liked how you could search experience and you could actually tell that that person put in a lot of time and effort in explaining their experience and there was this one poem about depression and the ticking away of the clock that really hit me and I actually remember it enough to put the thought of it into one of my own poems ten years later.
@Fungirlmmm Every site works with law enforcement,especially sites like these. The questions are, do you serve them,or do they serve you? Have they paid enough for your service? Are you enjoying their service?
I kind of like both sites equally. I like SW because I like the attention that is paid to SW over EP (which is far superior in my opinion) but I liked EP's larger user base and the ability to create groups.
EP was great in those above aspects but EP had A LOT of problems as well. I remember when they set their flagging to automatic. The first few years of EP was great and then as it grew larger they needed an alternative.
I don't remember what exactly they did but the post would be automatically removed if it was flagged so many times. This would make sense if the users hadn't abused the flag button but they did. There were also users with 10 or so different user names and they'd use that to attack and also flag posts they didn't want there.
What ended up happening when users abused this system was that the flagged post would go into oblivion. The regular time to get a post unflagged was about 3 months, I don't think this was intentional, I just think the site was SO large that you ended up waiting a significant amount of time.
Thank you so much for posting this, I was losing faith in the sw community not because of the predators, because I can't see their posts thank goodness to your filters-although some peculiar slip through but you have always shown trust in my judgments and that's reassuring. But bsck to my point, I was losing faith in the people I once trusted and called friends. I'm increasingly finding the world and the Internet a strange place to navigate as all the social rules are changing. All I can say is this at least puts my mind at ease that we are being monitored and protected. 😊
I think there is something people need to get it right.
Human-made Laws&Rules, none of this is permenent, it changes as the society changes.
What you need to focus on, is not laws/rules, it's how to gain the approval of the mass population, not by depending on the users from EP to atrract users for you and take advantage of them. Then you are so obsessed with the laws. Why couldn't you make an effort to attract the potential criminals and make them well-behaved for the rest of their lives for them not to become one.Why are you so scared? What are you scared of?
If they really want to take you down, they will even if you are their pawn. Don't you think it's just a matter of time before this site shuts down because you are not doing your jobs but theirs, and wondering whose fault it is that this site never grows or even loses its users?
If it's actually useful and working in a way to improve people's lives, people will pay,it will grow, you still win even it touched the laws and got shut down, then you can start a new one through agencies. Can you tell the difference betweem "it succeeded but failed later,or is it" and "it never succeeded"?
Grow a pair, make a difference or worship the greatness of the law and strive to survive in a certain way of bait and catch? Can't you see the difference between this site and EP now?
Now think Why does this world need lawyers if the laws are what they say they are? Why does the world need this site? What are you trying to achive with this site/in your life? Do you have to do this? What to focus on?
Are you content with the number of users the site has now? What can this site offer that other sites can't? Will the number of users stay the same?
Please do remember, the next time a user makes false remarks/libel such as: "SW staff invites and protects predators here!"
What is actually the reality..
or
When someone comments: "I wish for the Old EP so much.. SW is horrible!"
That's not the point,the point is "what have you done (to them) that made them the way they are?"
@Success we don't care. if you have an issue with us please mute or block. we're not going to censor our feelings just because they annoy you. and missing EP doesn't mean I'm not grateful for SW. It just means there's room to improve.
EP started out slowly and achieved it's greatness after many years and, unfortunately, it's notoriety not long after. Those that were there know how it became before it's demise and could see that EP's days were numbered. Trolls, pedos and other assorted weirdos of society found refuge on a site that did little to deter them.
SW is a site in progress, there is room for improvement but compared to EP the Admins do a very good job in monitoring and reviewing reports by members and in my experience act quickly and I applaud them.
The only notable things I've found missing is the opportunity to create new groups, and whatever users never found their way here. The former I never really found to be that important and the latter isn't really any thing admins can do. Can't just go make the same users come back.
Everything else seems to be just as good or better. Its a hard like to walk trying to recreate an experience people shared without replicating the aspects that caused it's downfall. I think this place has done a pretty admirable job of that.
People these days are addicted to complaining though.
@ViciDraco Thank you for the comments and remarks.
We have "Consolidation of Groups" as a top priority.
We know that it has been long overdue, but we have very recently been actively discussing this again, and will be working to have this completed as soon as possible.
Once the groups structure is improved, we will look into if/how we may allow users to create new groups, or some other alternative that serves their purpose.
Let us not forget that any forum is really only as good as its users. If there is a difference between the two, that difference (no matter what may have shifted behind the scenes) it is down to Us the users as a group and our handling of ourselves within this forum.
The one thing EP did do better is promote itself which led to a bigger more diverse user community. You couldn't google a question that EP wouldn't come up in the search results
@bookerdana thanks for the feedback. Yup, we are aware that we haven't even begun to start promoting ourselves.
The reason being, we are not satisfied with the state of SW just yet. However, we are working towards reaching a state we are satisfied with, soon, hopefully within this year.
Once we are content with the state of SW (development and clean community), we will begin finally promoting this site, and we are confident that membership and activity with multiply rapidly.
@SW-Admin Thanks for responding. one more particular item :could we perhaps change group names so everyone doesn't begin with I,ie I adore poetry.just a pet peeve,no biggie
My only feedback to you is Good work cracking down on the Pedos.
However my concern is merely that the underlying vision that guided EP and the one that guides SW seems to be different in the sense that this site has taken on a more casual bent and is less inclined to be a supportive community.
I don't really fully understand EPs situation what I do understand is it's intuitively obvious many there were more comfortable opening about the kinds of issues that you might tell a therapist about to the online community because for better or worse many of us prefer talking to a friend over talking to a counselor.
even though they've got training, etc. It is a bit riskier it does open you up for potential sexual/romantic attraction forming as a result but that risk is part of the whole point of perfering to open up online.
EP's community was a very Support oriented website- this one seems to be a more casual social interaction site.
@BetweenKittensandRiots EP was great but had a lot of problems, they set it to automatic flagging and you can imagine what resulted in that. Think about writing a non-insulting atheist religious post and getting it taken down within minutes. Then I remember I had to wait up to 4 months to get my post reinstated. It was horrible.
@SatanBurger I'm pretty much incapable of writing a non insulting religious post at this point, I can't conceal the utter contempt I hold the bible thumpers in...
@BetweenKittensandRiots Lol fair point, the ones who mainly act bigoted are unfortunately part of larger movements like Evangelism.
Personally, I always like to remember there are groups like Quakers who were founded based on the civil rights movement and went to prison for refusing military service. I haven't met them personally so they could be secretly like Evangelicals for all I know but they are one of the few Christian groups who don't believe in preaching and stuff.
So I like to find the good out of some groups, it's just too bad that those beliefs are not mainstream and the mainstream Christian beliefs end up infecting the entire country, same with Catholicism and Islam.
I find it hilarious that I just arrived here via a link directly from shitposting world's fb page to the SW-Admin account profile! 🤣
The primary reason EP was closed (based on large amounts of feedback and information), was due to the mounting Legal Requests (information requests, subpoenas, search warrants) regarding Criminal Activities taking place on the site, and the difficulties in legally and financially battling such requests.
So you close one site because you don't want to/can't afford to co-operate with legal requirements such as search warrants and criminal investigations then you open a replacement site and expect us to believe that you're suddenly best buddies with "U.S. Secret Service, Military & Law Enforcement Divisions, Child Protection Agencies) As well as Government & Law Enforcement agencies of various other regions, namely Europe"?
Are you not aware of how unbelievably sketchy that whole scenario sounds? Badman to Batman in one easy move? It's little wonder people are mocking you.
My chief complaint about SW is that EP chose a targeted traffic model whereas everything here is essentially broadcast to the entire site.
the net result is that a lot more trollish traffic makes it's ways to my writing...
because the moment I post it goes out to the entire site rather than requiring users to go search for a group or for me and then find that content themselves.
I prefer the old way of doing things, Not all traffic to my post is "good" some of it comes with explicitly ill intent.
