You still remember the events of just over a year ago like it was yesterday. As the announcement filtered through, surprise gave way to shock, which gave way to indignation. CE was to be made private, new users wouldn't be able to access it and anyone who broke the rules a little too hard would get kicked. You'd spent almost half your life here, and the powers that be had laid the foundations to take it all away in an instant.
You had to admit, after the initial 24 hours where various posters had made the extra effort to get banned, things died down and became almost peaceful. The ones who were left valued CE, and a rare spirit of cooperation arose. Posters, both users and mods, went out of their way to ensure no one would unnecessarily lose access to board. For a while, it was good. But that soon changed. Fandom removed the volunteer moderators and brought in new ones; ones who were "trained in matters of Trust and Safety", as the claims went. The truth was much more sinister.
It started out innocently enough. Fallout season 2 had released to critical acclaim; they'd adapted the events of New Vegas, and everyone felt they had done the source material more than justice. As the news of the double-pack remake+sequel dropped, people naturally started discussing the original, and in particular which companion they preferred to romance. The topic was quite active, getting hundreds of posts, until it completely disappeared, everyone who had posted in it getting banned. When asked about what had happened, the mods simply replied "hornyposting". What seemed at first to be a complete overreaction suddenly became crystal clear when a key piece of information dropped:
Fandom paid out hefty commissions for every user that was moderated, to both the mod and the poster who reported the infraction.
It was as if a switch of greed had been flicked within the remnants of CE. Posters rushed to report each other over the most minor things, and the mods were only too happy to turn reports into moderations. 14 days is all it took for CE to fall, and at the end, you emerged as the sole survivor, the ruler of a dead land.
As you logged on, you decided to make a topic. But which CE meme did you feel like referencing?
a) man fan died...
b) black pope lseem...
c) cultural differences
[teep is] an evil genius who will one day kill us all - Choco
teep is a God damn genius - Zodd