September 2026 Photo Contest Discussion Thread: "The Street as a Livelihood" (page 12 of 12)

The show must go on... and that’s exactly what will happen when this sad discussion fades into the forgotten archives of VF.

But it’s a shame it’s ending with such bad faith triumphing—fueled by paranoia, persecution complexes, baseless accusations, and those same old grudges dragged from thread to thread. That exhausting, baffling bitterness, slathered across these pages without much pushback.

@Marien, you’ve written stunning, sprawling travel journals about everyday life that inspired so many amazing contributions (including mine, if you need a reminder)... and for one little bump in the road, you pull out the big words—harassment, provocation, destabilization—and delete everything? Just because you rubbed one person the wrong way—hardly a scandal on a public forum?

What’s the point of signing every post with a quote if it’s just empty decoration, if your actions don’t live up to the inspiring words of that Urdu poet?

VF, this devilish forum, a brilliant human comedy where what you try to hide often (always) comes to light... a surprising court of miracles and sometimes a playground (kindergarten level).

Well, look who’s back—the Delphic Oracle! (Promise, it’s affectionate)

without encountering many obstacles

Maybe because, contrary to the idea you’re trying to push, not everything you denounce is baseless. Some points are proven and verifiable, and a few people have seen them. But whatever, you’ll keep refusing to see it.

It’s not enough to adopt a superior tone and give the illusion of having some status to be right. Just a reminder—everyone doesn’t share your view of things, and apparently, that’s unbearable for you.

As for Marien, it’s his call to delete his travel journals for whatever reasons he finds justified. Why does that bother you?

The exhausting, incomprehensible bitterness, smugly spread across these pages without meeting much resistance.

Not writing, not taking sides, not wanting to get worked up, preferring to walk away and look elsewhere… doesn’t mean we accept everything. I obviously regret how this whole thing started and how it was handled, but what I regret even more—like you—is that it sparked such verbal violence, and above all, a real public stoning with plenty of help from the usual allies. All of it without proof, just an idea, like that

@Pagal, how about you keep up with your lovely Indian travel journals? 🙂 (Please don’t come for me, okay?)

Don’t shed crocodile tears: one threw in the towel, the other lost motivation—you won, and it’s even a triumph.

Crocodile tears? 😕 You’re all shoving each other aside to answer for one another—pathetic doesn’t even cover it.

One threw in the towel, the other’s demotivated: you’ve won, it’s even a triumph.

When the fight’s built on shaky grounds, and when you’re so short on arguments that you flaunt a victim card because playing the victim—or even the secondary victim—has become such a convenient stance, there’s no real victory. The only defeat is that of reason.

(I won’t be back)

Hi Kate,

(Please don’t jump on me)

This comment suggests I randomly jump on people for no reason. That’s the impression some are trying to push here. I only call things out when it’s justified. So why would I jump on *you*?

@Pagal, how about continuing your lovely Indian travel journals? Smile

You know that’s not happening. Thanks, though—that’s sweet. But were you really worried I’d jump on you?

I obviously regret how this whole thing started and how it was handled

Well, at least you regret it—some don’t even do that.

but I regret even more, like you, that it sparked such verbal violence

Go back and read how the discussion unfolded. Some people, with their little digs at my request—and fueled by the group’s momentum ("local allies?")—helped things spiral. Maybe they felt targeted and showed little understanding. I didn’t back down, and I responded how I thought I should. And honestly? I don’t regret it one bit.

and above all, a real public stoning with plenty of help from the local allies.

The person you’re talking about may not have been directly or indirectly behind the report. But several of us suspected the same member. Be honest—do you really think it’s some horrible coincidence that multiple people complained, and these attacks were baseless? That’d be crazy!

The truth is, you all know perfectly well—but you pretend not to see, out of camaraderie—that this member you’re defending has been roaming the site for a while, chiming in everywhere to make passive-aggressive remarks about posts from certain members they don’t like. What do those members have in common? A worldview and bluntness that disgusts them. Why the attitude? From what I gather, they’ve taken it upon themselves to be some kind of self-appointed guardian of *something* on this site. And since they never fully own their attacks, they hide behind pretentious, useless literary flourishes, which is why the people they target feel harassed. Maybe they’re not like that in real life—I don’t know. But in writing, that’s how it comes across.

So yeah, they’ll throw around big accusations to discredit what several of us think—paranoia, incomprehensible rants, etc. Easy. But instead of trying to sell us on some collective paranoia, just read their posts. It’s all right there, written on this site (except for the deleted journals, which erased some of their comments).

"Local allies"? If you only knew what a few people—without me even being close to them—spontaneously told me in private when I wasn’t expecting it... Not everyone will say it publicly, and that’s normal. Back in the day, moderation would’ve checked my private messages 😄

All this without proof, just a... hunch, like that

Eventually, you reap what you’ve been sowing for years. - Be honest again: you know full well that even if they weren’t behind the photo being censored, they’re happy about it. Yes, you know it. - You’d be lying if you didn’t admit they were quick to show hostility toward my participation in the photo contest—someone who was already making snide remarks about me left and right. If you set aside your camaraderie, would you really dare say otherwise and ignore these facts?

Back to the core issue. Why do some (conveniently in cahoots) so strongly defend the idea that the report came from a random passerby who never participates in the contest? Why such determination to push *that* hypothesis—possible, sure, but far from the only one—almost exclusively? Why refuse at all costs to consider the more plausible scenario: that it’s a regular participant still hiding? We’ll probably never know, but the fact that a group of allies *completely* rules out that possibility only fuels suspicion.

Forget it, like all the know-it-alls, they're just nasty. You're more likely to catch their disease by contagion than to cure them of their little quirk. In the best-case scenario, their insistence is meant to provoke you enough to get you banned or discredited. In hindsight, you're just glad you didn't end up like them.

Thanks Jojo,

For now, I’ll keep chiming in when I can because I don’t think it’s completely pointless to respond to inconsistencies, bad faith, or attempts at lecturing that don’t add anything to the facts.

If, as you say, some are trying to provoke me to discredit me, it doesn’t bother me in the slightest. The persistence you mention actually proves there’s a real underlying issue—otherwise, no one would’ve revived this discussion. If the goal is to get me banned, it’s the least of my worries, and I couldn’t care less. They can just hit the "report" button a little harder, claiming it was definitely some random passerby—it won’t change a thing in my life.