Apologies for the dramatic title, but I wanted to succinctly convey what this post is about. This subreddit is going to be archived soon. I do not feel capable of moderating it well, and I don't trust random internet strangers in the Club Penguin community ever since I started digging into CPPS and their "drama."
I'm going to be as clear as I can: I am closing this subreddit because of pedophiles.
Let me explain a bit more.
Club Penguin was originally a game published on MiniClip.com, which got bought by Disney. It was a game targeted specifically towards children, marketed and visually designed as such. Anyone with half a brain can see that this is a recipe for disaster. If you put a bunch of kids in an environment and advertise that is is a "kid-friendly" environment, one attracts both: (1) Children who are trying to socialize with other children in a safe space; (2) People who want to prey on children who have their defenses down, because they are ostensibly in a safe space.
Disney is a multi-billion dollar company that has the resources necessary to police such spaces to keep them safe and, more importantly, a vested interest in doing so. If they put children in danger, this compromises their image, in the public's and their investors' minds, and their profits.
When Club Penguin shut down, so that Disney could try to make more money with Club Penguin Island, alternative "Club Penguin's" cropped up. They existed before but, when they became the only alternative, they exploded in popularity.
The result is spaces that are coded as if they are for children, but which are run by people with no incentive or resources to properly police the spaces. Even worse, as anyone who remembers the whole "Riley" drama, there are people who actively prey on children, who make peoples' lives hell, who treat Club Penguin Private Servers (CPPSs) as "their kingdom."
Over the years, I've not put as much work into this subreddit as I wanted to. With Club Penguin shutting down, and the drama that ensued with CPPPs, I first grew distant and then actively disinterested by the Club Penguin community. Recently, two things have happened which have made me finally decide to put an end to this all:
First, an ex-moderator from Club Penguin Online (TwaseenCP) contacted me again to take down old posts which detailed allegations of his (ex-?)Bosses' abuse towards children, and attempts to cover it up. These are old posts, and AFAIK the user named "Riley" (the alleged pedophile) was arrested in the U.K. after Disney finally became aware of the problem and did something about it. But, despite this being old, I get a message trying to sweep this info under the carpet. I wonder why? Why is it relevant? Is something still ongoing? I do not know, and I do now want to investigate given that, last time I investigated the subject, I uncovered a lot of suffering I had no idea what to do with, and who to send to. I am unequipped to deal with vile people, and Reddit cannot enact justice. But Reddit can hide and confuse narratives, which is what the alleged pedophilic parties are interested in doing.
Second, I recently received a message from a user who wanted to take over this subreddit. Given the concerns I've listed above, both about the general CPPS community and this subreddit, I do not want to give anyone this subreddit.
I want no posts detailing allegations deleted.
I don't want a hostile takeover of the mod team.
I do not want anyone with interests which do not align with the community in charge.
No one can control the future. The only way to prevent this subreddit being used for nefarious purposes, the only way that any future wrongs can be avoided, and parties with conflicts of interest prevented from doing harm to others, is to archive the subreddit.
Anyone can make an account with a fake/new name, anyone can purchase passwords online, anyone can use online tools to pursue evil goals.
I will leave this post up and likely archive this subreddit with a week.
TL;DR: I am going to archive the subreddit because I'm paranoid about pedophiles in the CPPS communities. I am unable to actually moderate this subreddit, and recent communications have made me wary of entrusting others with the task. Shit posting here has been fun, and I never expected that fuckin' pedophiles would be the ones to ruin it all, but life comes at you fast.
Waddle On.
Comments section is left open because, as always, I'm interested in y'all's thoughts.
Edit: Corrected a mistake thanks to .
