I never really considered myself a hard core cosplayer or anything. I have costumes. I wear them to conventions. I do some of the basic stuff myself (vs. buying store pieces or getting them commissioned). But because I wasn't making elaborate show pieces for masquerades from scatch, or twisting wigs into crazy shapes with the help of a caulk gun, I didn't feel like I really belonged to the illustrious "cosplay community".

That started to change when I met some really amazing cosplayers online and at cons. They were very encouraging. They were helpful. Many of them shared stories of how they started as "closet cosplayers" (it means what it sounds like, you cosplay with what you have in your closet). I realized that I was a cosplayer, even if I couldn't tell the difference between the stitches from a sewing machine or a serger.

I decided to venture further into the cosplay world. Learn a little more. Talk with my fellow costume wearing peers. There are a LOT of cosplay communities out there to choose from. I signed up at many of them. Sometimes I would chime in here or there.

But then would come the drama, and the swift hand of the moderators.

You see, most cosplay communities have gotten totally out of control.

I don't know when it all started. Clearly it was before my arrival. Maybe things were always this way, I'm not sure. But at some point or another, online cosplay communities became a cesspool of drama, backstabbing, backbiting, bitchiness, cattiness, rudeness, and disrespect. A simple post asking for basic advice would turn into an argument. People would post asking for constructive criticism and get replies about how horrible their costume was. It was insanity.

But what happened in response seems almost as bad.