Responding deep in this nest for convenience. @srayzie

First, an apology:

Empress was NOT going to comment to you, srayzie, because you're my friend. I just don't believe in that sort of thing. I told her to go ahead, since I didn't want her to censor herself on account of me being friends with you; I wanted her to say what she wanted to say. I never thought it would turn into a rivalry like this.

I'm sorry. To both of you. Truly.

I want to tell each of you why I admire you, but I'll speak to one about the other and vice-versa here in public where you both can see:

Srayzie, in PMs I was harsh with you today. The rule change is something that many mods have thought was a good idea at one point, and have been shown to be wrong about that in myriad ways. I was reminded of when I thought something similar might be a good idea. I remember my mistakes vividly, and the experience is very unnerving. I was harsh because I was unexpectedly unequipped to deal with what needed dealt with in real time. Again, to you, I'm sorry.

I imagine Empress was similarly affected. The fights goats have been through leave certain imprints that send similar situations straight to the trigger finger instead of to the mind to process. I won't pretend to speak for her, but in my case, it was entirely unintentional... I'd hope it's the same for her.

Empress has my admiration for creating her subverse from scratch in a Voat that didn't believe women could be good for anything. It was JUST around the time when a LOT of goats were getting Red Pill Rage about women fucking shit up. I think everyone at the time took shots at her and her subverse for weeks on end. She was called every name under the sun, and trolled by the goats and shills alike. Srayzie, you know traditional families are something the DS hates and wants to get rid of - Empress pushed her subverse through to become one of the accepted goatverses here, and something that nearly everyone on this site admires and appreciates. She's pushing for something good in her own way, and given what I know of her, that took a LOT of effort and perseverance to do.

She was also instrumental in helping Putt decide to keep the new account vote requirements by explaining to him how her subverse would be defenseless against the constant shills they were having to deal with.

Both of those accomplishments are HUGE, and I have extreme respect for her for following through.

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Empress, I first met srayzie in PG when ESOTERICshade decided to start attacking the mods, and she came along with him. I wrecked them both, and while she showed no signs of it, she didn't take it very well IRL. She was naive and misled from very early on by a user that specifically targeted new and naive users in order to manipulate them into believing the mods were all compromised and evil.

I don't know when it was, I didn't notice, but once Q came around, she made GA. She did this because PG wasn't too open to it, and the other Q subverse was low energy. At first I figured the Q thing would be another BS anon that would be outed soon enough, but it persisted, and GA started growing and getting front page submissions. I was curious, so I asked srayzie to help me understand Q, with the understanding that if I found it to be horseshit, I'd crusade against it until the narrative of the site was anti-Q. She didn't trust me, and admitted to being scared of me, but she tried to explain it anyway.

The details following are fuzzy, but the takeaway is this: With the evidence available, I came to the conclusion that Q is directly sanctioned by Trump, meaning I wouldn't be crusading against Q, and srayzie came to understand that she had been mistaken about me and the other mods of PG.

Srayzie started asking me questions about modding, and somehow wound up being well liked by a LOT of the goats I respect, and she found herself a mod of PV, and a mod of PG, too. Something about her personality or her behaviour made the users here both like and trust her. That's insane to me. Her rise to relevance is nothing short of meteoric, IMO.

Srayzie grew her sub to ~1200 if memory serves, which in pre-Q Voat is a HUGE amount. She took to asking me, kevdude, and Vindicator about modding and asked for our advice often. She went from being naive and thin-skinned, and thinking things were upside down to running a large, active subverse. She's toughened up, and made amazing progress since the time I Crensched her.

Srayzie, too, has been attacked by trolls and shills. Heavily. The kind that are likely very well funded and probably very dangerous. How she deals with them, and other issues, is nothing short of impressive.

She has been instrumental in outing many shills, including a very dangerous one that operated during the @she times, and planned on starting a coup recently. She has been attacked, directly, by thousands of Qtards from Reddit, and one of their hero bloggers, NeonRevolt.

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There's so much more I could say about both of you. I admire both of you, and think you're both perfect in the roles you play here on Voat. Empress is the best mod and the best spokesperson for TW like Srayzie is the best mod and spokesperson for GA. You're both AWESOME in my eyes, and I wish the two of you could both see each other the way I do, and see yourselves that way, too.

I didn't want Empress to behave differently just because I'm friends with srayzie. I didn't want that. I don't like it. I don't like that whole name-drop kind of mentality thing where you behave differently because X third party.

But I'm asking both of you right now. Please. For me. Start over. Introduce yourselves like nothing happened. Be cordial. You both run subs that have been attacked. You're both mods. You're both awesome mothers and wives. You're both awesome friends of mine. You're both deserving of respect for what you've accomplished here. You're not the same, and you won't be the same, and you won't address problems the same way, but I truly believe you two could eventually become friends. I would be so happy if that happened.

There aren't many goats, and there are even fewer goats that are mods, and I've gotten to know a lot of really great mods that can identify with the issues we all face.

And if that doesn't happen, or if it's impossible, maybe you two could just side-eye each other coldly.

I really did think that one day you would become friends, so if you're willing, give it a shot!