Era was founded as a neutral ground that leaned progressive, but was still mostly about games and overall positivity. The polarization of the political climate was apparent, but IIRC moderation set out to try and protect conservative posters from the very beginning. That and trying to defuse any kind of hostility between sites, which included Gaf and bore, with an admin posting here at one point precisely for that reason (that admin is now banned on Era).
What Era is now resembles nothing of those first few welcoming weeks. It's a bizarre amalgamation of humorless negativity, paranoia, and misanthropy while pretending their hatred of the world and their fellow humans makes them the good guys because "everyone else is wrong". A constant plea for empathy when they display none of their own. Even if they want to call it a safe space for very niche groups (marginalized or otherwise), it's hard to really see it as one considering everyone is miserable there.
And then there's the possibility of the silent majority at Era having a completely different outlook, one that would get them labeled bigots if they so much as dared give their opinion on most issues. Not because they're outside the overton window on these subjects, but because the vocal segment of Era (which likely represents less than 1000 posters, maybe less than 500) is.
Era had the opportunity to really be something great. Those first few weeks showed an amazing amount of potential for a new forum in the age of reddit and twitter. Maybe not peak gaf levels, but certainly a pillar of online discourse among the industry. But nope, had to cater to a vocal minority that keep getting more and more radicalized, which is creating an echo chamber that's frankly SUPER unhealthy for them. Any mental health professional will tell you those kinds of spaces are ticking time bombs when they stop being safe spaces and start being misery pits. It's not going to be fun for them when it all blows up.
