there was a public post/callout posted about aella some time ago that said she had some part in hurting MAPLE’s credibility / position in the community, it still is perplexing the most rational and enlightened humans in the world don’t see their argument is basically it’s cool when we do it

This post is so good. Erika nails Rationalists wanting the respectability Science would give their arguments without practicing the rigour.

The ‘uwu im just smol bean researcher :(’ is how any critique is usually responded to.

The waterboarding thing was introduced by Vibecamp’s head of safety at other events, and a lot of the pdku programming seems to be in the area of light bdsm / boundary pushing. imo they work from some base general formula and try and differentiate / create intake funnels for other events.

Fran has done some really great writing on this, really admire her ability to deconstruct a community she’s fond of.