With permission from Larae at DE, I've copied and paste this post below with my comments in red.

I very much agree with her and I couldn't have put it better myself. I'm seeing a lot of issues within the Vampire community, I've witness it in the Gothic Community and even noticed the Pagan community is having it's share of well, for a lack of a better word, crap entering it's communities. Since when does porn and violence and perversion and hurting others and animals have anything to do with these subcultures? Quite frankly I'm disgusted with what I've seen recently,  within these communities. If you take a stand on something you disagree with, you're a fluffy bunny or don't believe in freedom of speech. I've seen egotistical people entering communities and proclaiming themselves all powerful and spiteful and wanting to get revenge on people who they claim did them wrong. When do we start standing up for what we believe in? Why do we have to entertain these ideas when these ideas are against our own morals and beliefs?

-Melissa

Original Post by Larae

What has happened to our communities?

Lately, more than ever, I feel such a great sadness when I look at our vampire and Gothic communities as a whole. I sit bewildered and aghast as to what my eyes and mind behold. I know it has been eroding away for quite some time, but I hadn't realized it was doing so at such a fast rate and so extensively.

So many of our strong community leaders have left our scene leaving us with only small remnants of their grace, charm, and wisdom that made our communities as beautiful as they were. They were the cornerstones of our internet and social world. They inspired and uplifted so many of us with their intelligence, wit and grace. They gave us courage to confront all that was within, to embrace that which lay within the darkness of our soul and bring it forth into the light. They taught us to love ourselves again and to celebrate life and hold it sacred, to see beauty where we once seen grotesque. They were the Gentleman and the Lady that we all admired and aspired to imitate. I mourn their faded presence so very much.

I remember the Gothic Convergences and Vampire Balls of the recent past. I remember the magic and beautiful energy that flowed within our midst. I remember the recreation of the Victorian Era and medieval times that I have always been so drawn to. For a moment, I almost felt as though I had actually slipped into a time machine and had been given the opportunity to relive a past life I once knew. It was only a few hours, but those few hours gave me such great happiness and serenity. I looked forward to each passing years events, the people, and the conversation. I looked forward to conversing with others who loved Poe as much as I, or admire the same exquisiteness on canvas stroked by Van Gogh, Claude Monet, or Leighton. I remember speaking to others and admiring the elegant masterpieces within places such as Père-Lachaise Cemetery, Chartres Cathedral, and Notre-Dame who gazed upon it with the same splendor as I. I remember the dark, alluring romanticism that always had a presence, there was never a need to attach it to any mythological connotations, it was just something that existed and just was. I remember just “being” and submerging my soul in all of its brilliance.

These things have all but come to pass, and a new wave has come upon the shore crashing the existence of what once was. Domination, bondage, porn, rudeness, illiteracy, sexual deviancy, hatred, drugs, fantasy clinging, instability, perversion, suicide, death, depression, stupidity, and lack of self respect for one's self or others has been named the successor. It has been choking the beauty that existed in our gardens of darkness and there are but only a few black roses that remain, but they are struggling to survive. I wonder if they have the strength to endure. This never was and should never have been. I pray that they do not wilt and die. If only others could help tend our dying garden and nurture it back to the vigor it once had. I have to believe that there is always hope. I wish for the beauty that once existed in our culture to find it's way back again.. before it's too late.

Or, is it already to late? Am I only a dreamer?

Larae and I talked about that on the phone yesterday when I asked to "borrow" this latest post by her. I don't think it would work if we went around to other communities and voiced our opinions on the subculture. I think that could lead to alot of drama and chaos, which I try to avoid at all costs! LOL But, if we make changes, maybe we'll start seeing a difference! And maybe more will pick up on these ideas and maybe that will spread into other communities. In a way, we're both already doing just that, with what type of people we allow to come into our cyber homes and our rules and what we allow to linger in our forums. Maybe some of these people who remember what it was like in these online communities will come out of the woodwork, because they miss what it once was. The communities and people were fun! There was a bond there cause we all shared the same ideas.

The advertising is a little difficult now, because so many topsites/banner exchanges are just filled with the same type of sites that you ran across the other night and if you don't want to promote that type of stuff (or don't want some of that coming onto your own site), you have a very hard time finding good sites to link to or use their services. Both myself and Larae have been searching for good banner exchanges and topsites to use as promotion. So what do you do? Do you promote your site on these same banner exchanges or topsites or do you look for more obscure one's that don't contain the crap? I've been trying to figure out that one myself! LOL
As far as joining some of these other communities, that may work, I don't know. I'm so hesitant to join other communities, cause I rarely speak up on other sites, because of my shyness. You may not believe that, but it's true! lol But we definitely need to get back to the way things were at one time and make the Gothic and Vampire communities something we can be proud of.

I know exactly what you talking abut Poppy, I've seen the same thing. And I have to admit at one time I did go after members of my site out in the open. However, it was the type of members who would come onto my site and not bother to read the rules and continue to disregard the rules  or claim they are some kind of ancient vampire or from some White Wolf clan. These I did go after publicly. As I've gotten older and my tolerance levels have decreased, I don't want to even spend any wasted energy or time on individuals like this. I simply hit that delete button on the post, contact the member or if it's really bad, I just flat out ban.
I won't allow my forums to become a playground for children who want to sit and belittle each other. I worked too damn hard on a building a website to see it end up like that. That's also why I have so many rules in place. I've been building community sites for quite a while now and a couple of them were quite popular, to the point that I practically lived on my website in order to keep up with all the posts. Those days, I believe are gone, but I still think we can set an example of what the community should be like and as I stated above maybe eventually, it will catch on again.

Perhaps I am restating some of what has already been said, but as the saying goes:

WE ARE THE ONES WE HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR.

Not being technologically inclined, (but working on changing that,) I can only imagine what it takes to make Aquilus or DE happen. Here in this place we have an oasis for those searching for the elusive Something which exists in beauty beneath the illusory facade for which so many people settle. I would say that if anything, our subculture is like the moon. It appears to wax and wane, but is ever-present and ever-abundant for those who know what to look for, for those who know how to see.

I spend some time every day focusing on connecting with those who I consider kin. Every day a little time focusing on the well-being, the thriving of the group I have
come to think of as Family. Time well-spent, in my humble opinion.