I made the mistake of checking Instagram on Tuesday.

Sometimes the best way to keep my foot out of my mouth is to not say anything at all. Six days might not seem like a long silence to most people, but it’s practically an eternity for me sometimes. I have a blog so I can occasionally blow off some steam when it comes to my mental health, too. This week has definitely been that kind of a challenge.

I’ve noticed recently that there are some incredibly volatile, toxic, reactive people in our little TTRPG hobby. I have opinions on a certAIn subject that will get me all kinds of flak from the TTRPG “community.” It is just not time for the discussion I’d like to be having about that subject because it’s the talk of the town and it sounds like my opinion is incredibly unpopular right now.

Then there’s Jes the Human. If you don’t know who they are, please go check out their YouTube channel at this link. I owed Jes an apology over on Threads the other day as I unintentionally used the wrong pronouns for them. They corrected me. I changed the post. I think we’re okay now, maybe.

Jes got into hot water with some of the “community” over their No ICE in Minnesota bundle on Itch.io. Here’s the link to the game jam if you want to take a look. Personally I can’t contribute to the game jam itself on Itch because I’m exclusive to DriveThruRPG.com and I kinda use that art style that gets me in hot water these days. I have to live with knowing how unpopular my choice of art styles is, apparently; but I digress.

Anyway, Jes posted to Threads that they had received some incredibly nasty emails including what can only be described as a deplorable photo. Jes is okay and has reported the email which likely came from a throwaway alt account somewhere. It just goes to show that now matter how much you might disagree with someone, it’s not okay to send hateful emails.

I try my best to stay out of politics and religion here.

The No ICE in Minnesota bundle’s main purpose is to raise money for the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota. This one hits closer to home for me as I live in Iowa and we’re a decidedly (hostile) conservative Republican run state. I keep an eye open for the American Gestapo daily as we have several immigrant families that live around here in the neighborhood.

We also have a member of our family who is very openly LGBTQIA. (Ask them how many times I mess up their pronouns on a daily basis.) So far ICE is only hauling off immigrants. At least they’re not going after people who appear to be homeless, addicted, or mentally ill (read LGBTQIA among other things) yet. Emphasis on the “yet” because the USA is backsliding pretty fast these days. Make America Germany 1933 Again is still running Iowa and it’s just a matter of time.

Okay. Okay. Deep breaths. I can relate to the plight of those affected by tyranny in Minnesota. They say things like this don’t happen in the Midwest, and yet here we are. Let’s put a stop to the hate before it gets worse even if it’s in a small way.

Jes is just trying to do right by people.

If you watch Jes’s YouTube Shorts or follow them on social media, then you know they’re kindhearted, warm, and friendly. They’re an asset to the TTRPG “community” and do tons of charity work. Although honestly, can we call it a “community” when people are being downright rude and disrespectful to one another? I’m growing more skeptical by the day.

Needless to say, the more I try to avoid social media, the more I end up checking my feeds. I don’t actually tend to post a whole lot on Threads or Instagram except for what WordPress puts out automatically and the occasional repost of a cat pic, gaming promo, or duck meme. I send cute things to my friends, but I try to stay out of all the politics and petty infighting, especially on Threads.

I used to be on X (Twitter) a lot more than I am now. Things are still pretty nasty over there but nowhere comes close to Reddit in my opinion. Again, I just try to steer clear of the crap now. I repost a few things for various friends’ content and go. I check my notifications once in a while in case I actually need to respond to something, but it’s rare if I do. I make the oddball comment in response to TTRPG, horror or 80s toy posts. My main goal in social media life is to avoid another incident like the one I had with Ginny Di a few years ago.

People are more polarized than ever on social media these days.

In recent months, the TTRPG space has felt increasingly fragmented, with conversations that once revolved around creativity, discovery, and shared enthusiasm now often drifting toward identity, legitimacy, and belonging. Social media has amplified this shift. Platforms designed to reward visibility and engagement tend to elevate the most emotionally charged perspectives, creating the impression of constant extreme conflict even when most creators are quietly working, experimenting, and supporting one another behind the scenes. This has created an environment where it can feel risky to simply explore, learn, or produce without being drawn into broader cultural fault lines that have little to do with the joy of the games themselves.

The healthiest response I’ve found is to step back from the noise and return to the work itself. Creative momentum is grounding. Building adventures, writing encounters, and developing ideas reconnects you to the reason you entered the space in the first place. It also shifts your focus away from reaction and toward creation. Curate your environment intentionally: limit exposure to spaces that drain you and invest your attention in projects and people that energize you. Over time, consistency, authenticity, and craftsmanship speak louder than any passing wave of discourse. The creators who endure are not the loudest, but the ones who keep making things.

My final thoughts headed into another week:

First, don’t be a douche waffle to people you might disagree with online. I shouldn’t have to say it and yet I hear about it on Instagram and YouTube all the time. Someone always seems to have runaway hostile idiocy in their comments. That is just not okay. Don’t do it. If you are doing it, please just stop.

Second, please focus energy toward things that light you up more than tear others down. Find that joy in creation. Let other people find theirs even if it’s not exactly how you picture it. There’s no wrong way to TTRPG as long as people are chilling and having a good time together.

Third, no one has the absolute authority to define how anyone creates TTRPG material. Telling someone else they’re “doing it wrong,” “you shouldn’t do it that way,” or “learn how to do it the way I do it,” is just unnecessary and most of the time counterproductive. Just because someone has a different approach and different tools doesn’t mean they’re doing it wrong.

Last, and again I’m saying this as a friend, it’s no one’s job to police the internet. You never have to comment on someone else’s post. You don’t have to react to a social media comment in the heat of the moment or like, ever if you don’t want to. Sometimes it’s more productive to simple let it go. They have their opinion and it’s not likely to change because someone popped off in their comments.

Publius.