This is well-known but it looks like the rest of the world lives in their own bubble.
Virped tolerates transphobia. The most obvious artifact of this is research works by Dr. Ray Blanchard where he says every transwoman who is a lesbian are not really trans but have a sexual fetish (autogynephilia). Virped repels people who are trans. Some other communities are far more inclusive of trans individuals, and those who have conditions like body dysmorphia and multiple personalities.
Virped has been built in a very specific way that just so happens to create a negative feedback loop. It attracts very negative people who end up repelling anyone who has a higher level of self-dignity. Some individuals are so affected by the negative atmosphere, they claim it has made them suicidal, and after leaving to go to a more positive community, claim they have discovered they weren’t actually exclusive but that the negative atmosphere prevented them from discovering this.
Virped has a reputation for being “self-loathing”. Some messages and signatures don’t help this. Topics which exist seemingly for the purpose of beating yourself up like “Would you like a lobotomy?” makes most maps react with horror. Virped’s focus on PR (appearing to hate yourself is very popular in the media) comes heavily at the cost of an actual community.
Virped is overly clinical. It is the sort of place you go to for a really serious problem, not a long-term community. The rate of attrition is high. There are a small group of people who stay there for longer lengths of time. Most of the people I know who have been there have long left.
I don’t think I’ve found it very useful. I ask them about problems and it goes over their heads. It is easier to just research a problem myself. Most of their posts tend to be really short and miss substance entirely.
There is only one reason why I don’t explore other pedo communities. I don’t want to visit web sites that has a lot of pictures of children. I’m worried that the data traffic will lead to an investigation or that the images will be stored on my computer. I don’t know of any communities other than VirPed and MSC that doesn’t allow these.
Most platforms of this nature will strictly prohibit pictures of children whether they be real or fictional. Regardless, they are in perpetual danger of being censored.
There was a forum for MAP’s that operated last year, it followed every law but was still taken down by the NSA for no given reason.
Another thing to note is that virtually all MAP communities require the users to hate themselves to some degree, if they don’t they are suspected of being an active child molester and the site gets banned.
No, they’re just using pink and blue, which were the colours of the original MSC and are colours that paedophiles have been using for ages. There’s no link to the trans flag.
I didn’t find it useful myself so didn’t stick around for very long so can’t comment too much on my own experiences but those complaints are all pretty common (with the exception of the transphobia one, not something I’ve ever seen within MAP communities). Self-hating is very commonly used to describe the atmosphere on virped and I can see where it comes from.
MAP activism and support and the way people interact with eachother on the internet in general, and especially the needs of young MAPs now has come along rapidly since Virped was founded, and I think perhaps Virped just doesn’t work for the majority of young paedophiles any more.
Virped doesn’t lend itself well to a community feel I think by virtue of it being a forum, it will always struggle with that in this age. MSC is much better in that regard and I personally think more helpful and beneficial.
Virped works for some people though. It’s also well established and well known so it’s an excellent starting point that can help people find places they will find more helpful. But if this is how people are seeing Virped and it’s pushing them away they might not try and find somewhere else.