I only skimmed it but didn’t see this: part of the issue was that forums were prone to be shut down completely, or lose user data when migrating to a different forum system. It made it hard for you to have a repository of knowledge on a topic/ hobby when it could just disappear. Reddit/ Facebook/ discord promised an easier way for organizers to set up their communities, and community members had more trust that these new communities weren’t going to go anywhere.
Being Mormon.
They always told us that people who gave us anti-mormon literature just made stuff up and it was Satan’s way of tempting us. They said to never take any anti-mormon literature and if someone did give it to you then to throw it away without reading.
But at the same time they taught us that the Mormon church was the true church. And they also taught us truth was absolute. Well, i figured if truth is absolute, and if the church was THE true church then it would be able to withstand any criticism. So i read anti mormon literature, like the CES letter. From there i did my own research about various things and found that the Mormon church made up a lot of stuff and did lots of gaslighting.
There was some specific issues that i also had been struggling with, like their treatment of women, gays, and black men/women. That also helped push me to want to make sure if the Mormon church was really true. And it wasn’t. Now i can love my friends unconditionally.