"What's this? Is it a map of what the hell's going on here?" - Drew Carey
"You're traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of stupidity and trolls, but of wankery; a journey into a boggling land whose boundaries stretch beyond that of intelligence. That's the signpost up ahead - your next stop, the Twilight Zone!"

That's what happens when you find yourself on the other side of a flame war sparking by people who Malkavians would advise to seek professional help.

Our tale begins innocently enough (on a dark and stormy night!). I love a good ghost story and tales of haunted houses as much as the next person. Spooky Legends has been slow, so when I found out about Ghostly Tales, I was not only happy, but amused by the concept of the place. I join. Now, let's say it all together now, boys and girls: I don't know a single other member in the community. It was advertised in Community Promo, looked interesting, I joined.

I read a few comments. I see one that jogs a few things in my memory. I comment (and there's no longer a comment from me there), go along, and later make a post about a house I was living in 10 years ago.

All's well and good. I get a few comments from members who enjoyed reading it, and then out of the blue, Firebird replies to a post in my journal clueing me in to something being amiss in LJLand.

I was able to recover the original post from e-mails, and when I realized I was also removed from the community, I had the feeling this might turn wanky, so I started keeping tabs on stuff and posting them in my JournalFen.

I do some looking around, and apparently a spat went down while I wasn't looking and someone went on a delete spree. I wasn't associated with any of it, so I'm wondering what the hell, right?

I rejoin (with no intention of remaining once I got my answer) to make another post asking about it. It's since been deleted, but I kept saving the HTML source file with each new comment and exchange, so it's at least preserved. That link goes to my personal server.

I and another woman get pulled into it, as you can see. We're both still laughing over it.

Someone named T Zone chimes in with her charming assessment that this other woman is a troll. T Zone and I go way on back when I basically attempted to calm her down when she posted that another community member should die, and I got called a psycho for it.

Now, the dust is settling, I've been banned for apparently "not liking how the moderator was running things" all because I was peeved and wondering why a perfectly on-topic post with no flaming whatsoever was deleted, and why I was banned when the closest thing I ever did that was even remotely possibly in conflict with another member was to essentially tell her to chill out. I didn't even call her on her off-topicness.

I'm going to go back to laughing and boggling at the same time. Enjoy this accidental wankery.

ETA!: DenyEverything (the other "evil intelligent person" in this mess) just informed that the userinfo page on Ghostly Tales has been modified. It now reads: "this community is now exclusive and private and it's under new management: namely me. i am the new manager. if i like u, u stay. if i don't, ur gone.

many here are friends in private life. don't step on our turf then dis us up in here. if u do, it's adios."