(Originally Posted by Hattie 15/9/2021)
We have previously stated that we have paused the Discord whilst we made decisions about whether to continue with it, and if so, how to make sure that it is a safe place where we can take care of everybody who works for us.
We have now concluded that the RQO server will remain closed for at least the next six months, at which point we will re-assess whether we can open a new server with a different format and management. It may well be that we do not open a new server. It is impossible at this stage to predict what may have changed between now and March and so we cannot make any promises.
As a result of this decision, the server will no longer be available to view by the general public within 48 hours of this announcement.
To provide some context, the server grew beyond our wildest expectations in a very short amount of time, and unfortunately, we were not fully prepared for all of the ramifications of such growth. Despite our best efforts, there have been ongoing issues within the server for a few years. We wished to keep it going to provide a place for our community to interact whilst we worked on better solutions but it has been clear for some time that it is not possible for us to continue with the server in its current form. With this in mind, we have been exploring alternative options. This is not just because of the burden placed on our moderation team, but due to several incidents where the people who work for or with us have been harassed online (on and off the Discord) by members of our audience, including death threats. We do not want to provide a space where this kind of behaviour could continue.
The vast majority of our audience are wonderful and blameless people who simply want to enjoy our content, and we will continue to provide ways for them to engage with us on a closer level via Patreon. Many ideas on how to do this are already being generated by our Patreon team and we are looking forward to interacting with fans on that basis and with firmer boundaries in place to keep all of us safe.
