VHL at 15: A More Mature VHL

[DMaximus 1,046]

15 years is a long time in internet years. A lot has changed not only in internet culture, but the world’s culture. Personally, I haven’t even reached my 3 year birthday in the VHL. Due to this fact, this article won’t have much journalistic integrity. I’m going to make a lot of general assumptions based on nothing but stereotypes and biases in my mind. Look, I’m not proud of it either, but I’m currently on vacation and if it weren’t raining outside at the moment, this would likely be the first theme week I’ve missed. So, let’s spew words until we get to 500 and hopefully I’ll make up for this sub-par effort with future posts or maybe I’ve already covered myself by riding on the quality of my previous posts.

 

Taking the wayback machine to 15 years ago lands us in 2007. Much of the internet was dominated by cis white males. Testosterone reigned supreme which means juvenile jokes sprinkled with homophobia and misogyny were par for the course. You won internet street cred by out insulting your target, the more vulgar the better. The more personal the better. Any sign of care or concern for another person or group was a display of weakness, so never do that. I imagine the general tone of the VHL followed this same ethos. One could argue the reason the VHL was created was to just give another avenue to allow angsty teens to yell at one another. Use the guise of a competitive hockey simulation league as a cover to let insults fly.

 

In those 15 years since 2007, internet culture has changed in some circles. Others, it’s gotten worse. It seems like in general culture every step forward is followed by a step or two back. Are there areas of the internet that still thrive on hatred and insulting of others? Sure. Are there areas that are much more accepting of many types of people. Yes. Maybe I’m kidding myself, but I like to think the VHL community is a member of the later. An accepting community of all people. A community that provides safety for people to open up and express themselves. 

I want to recognize the leaders of this community for making conscious decisions and changes to improve the community. Things like creating a code of conduct and having moderators around to protect everyone. I know that sometimes things like that can be controversial and everyone might not agree with decisions made by those in power. But that is part of growth, it’s not perfect. We do our best to make the best decisions at that moment with the information we have. Sometimes the end result isn’t ideal, but if the intentions are pure, we all move down the path of progress.

 

Thank you to those in power who helped move this community from where it was 15 years ago to where it is today, thank you. The VHL may not be perfect and who knows, I might write an article 15 years from now looking back and saying the exact same thing, but I think the VHL is a better place than it’s ever been. That’s thanks to the maturation of everyone involved. Happy Birthday VHL!