My experience with the forums
If you know me (in which you probably don’t), I joined the Episode forums around June of 2020. Back then, a lot of users were suspended and I didn’t know that until around October (I think). But I was so engaged in the threads created such as bad featured stories, how to create a good story, and just chats in general. It was so fun for me! 
But then around the middle of October, things started to change.
First off, the new threads that were popping up every minute on the Episode forums weren’t interesting to read because they were always R4R or asking for a background. But the worst part about the changes these forums went through is the flagging system. Every minute, a random user would get flagged for being off-topic or promoting spam. In some cases, these flags were comprehensible. But other times, they are completely unnecessary. Take me, for example. I must have been flagged around or more than 15 times between last year and this year. I just got flagged 3 times today for being off-topic when I wasn’t even that off-topic. I even blurred it to make sure the thread was on topic! I mean, what’s that all about?!
Me getting flagged
I remember the first time that I got flagged. I asked for advice on how to make my high school story worth reading, and I mentioned how it was not Episode-related because I was making this into a book (keep in mind, I didn’t directly state this in my post, though). When the Forum Admin (whoever he or she is) messaged me, they said that my post was flagged and removed for being spam/promotion. From perspective, I can see how my post violated the guidelines, but at the same time, I was asking for story advice. Not that that was the only kind of topic that I could create, but I thought Episode moderators encouraged users to ask others for story advice, so… What the hll?
I made another thread on if users would rather read my story on Episode, Wattpad, both, or neither. It seemed like a good idea, but again, it got flagged and removed for the same reason. So I guess that proves you literally can’t talk about anything but something Episode-related. We can’t even spread positivity to others because when we try, our threads get flagged and removed! What kind of grade A bullsht is that?! 
The forum moderators and others who control it
Idk how they were back then to you guys (except for Arlene thanks to @ShanniiWrites post), but ever since I’ve been on the Episode forums, they been unfair and stupid to me and others, especially Sydney H. I don’t understand how anyone even likes her. She keeps talking about how she’ll fix the flagging issue, and while she does do that by unflagging certain posts, that doesn’t stop the trolls or (my accusation and assumption) forum moderators by torturing us by flagging posts that don’t deserve to be flagged. I mean, there’s a whole thread on this issue, and guess what? Flags are seen on that thread too. Seriously, who hired these idiots to be forum moderators in the first place and why? They can’t even handle the biggest issue and downfall of these forums! These flags are causing innocent users to be suspended, and even banned for life!
Now that I'm done with the Episode forums...
- How do I permanently block the website from my phone?
- What am I gonna do about my high school story that hasn’t even been published on Episode? I’ve got only 1 background, which is not even close to the number I need (besides, my story is still ongoing despite my revisions which I haven’t even gotten started on yet)! I also need overlays, an organized Episode Instagram account, and plenty of writing help!
- Are these forums okay with chatting about Episode stories, help, and chatting? Dumb question, but Idk everything about these forums yet.
@PensiveShadow @liyahsdiamond @noyaan @AllyJay @line123462
@Episodians
@Discussions
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All you have to do is not go n there.
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Well I sent them a support ticket to delete my account from there but apparently they couldn’t so that just suspended me from there via request
So I can’t go back on there anymore.
I also hid my story from the platform within the portals and deleted a lot of stuff so people won’t find my story
I also had 1k+ followers on my episode instagram account and and came and deleted it
I had to wait (I think) a month before instagram deleted that account (they deleted it in January 5th ) so it’s no longer available and then I came and created a new account which I’m using now but it’s not episode related
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No worries! We have plenty of resources to help with Episode stories! We even have the weekly art update on this forum from Episode Forums. We are trying to cater more to writers on all platforms. I’ll list some threads below to help you out. We are still working on a thread to tie google drives to like on Episode but you can also check the last two links below for more overlays and backgrounds. I’m sorry that has happened to you on those forums. I usually only go on there for coding help or updates depending sometimes.
Coding help:
https://forum.shanniiwrites.com/t/episode-directing-help-thread/16779
Lamecasts Background and Overlay shop:
https://forum.shanniiwrites.com/t/lamecast-shop-splashes-backgrounds-and-overlays/11272
Joseph Evans website:
http://www.episodelife.com/p/backgrounds.html?m=1
http://www.episodelife.com/p/overlays.html?m=1
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@Dramatic15 sorry, I put the wrong thread down for coding. I changed the link to the correct one just now. Also, @Nil recommended this website as well!
https://wincywrites.com/
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Of course you can talk about your Episode and other writing platform stories here. I promote my episode stories here.
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Update: I got temporarily suspended from the Episode forums until March 12 last week. Like I said before, I didn’t like the Episode forums to begin with, and I only really stayed there for my forum friends and interesting discussions, so I’m officially done with them and their app. I can forget about that story since I already know that Episode will never listen to me. I’m gonna start on a new story on a new future visual reading app!
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Moved to general chat, added a tag
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Hey Dramatic! It’s great to see you again, sorry for the late response and thanks for tagging me. I think it’s definitely ok for you to seek help for your Episode story here, especially when it comes to writing and I see that a lot of people have given you loads of resources already 
If you’re thinking of making your story into a novel, you can also get plenty of writing help here, that’s the beauty of Shannii’s forums 
When it comes to the way Episode has been treating you, I’m sorry but I’m also not surprised. I don’t know any of the mods except maybe Jeremy who was pretty cool but he seems to have left the team and now the Epi forums are extremely hostile.
Anyway, I’ve been thinking of either creating or joining a writers’ team to boost inspiration in these difficult times and encourage better workflow so it might be worth for you to consider that too if you sometimes feel overwhelmed with your story as I know many of us do.
I’m not very active on forums at the moment but don’t hesitate to PM me on this one! Much love 
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Right, I forgot to mention that I decided not to write my story on the Episode app since I didn’t see the point of writing for an app that mistreats me. But I thank you for your support!
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So you’re writing on wattpad? I would love to read it
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Uh… Well, I could. Right now, I’m writing it on paper for some more drafting. I’ll see what happens this year.
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I support you in that decision too!
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ugh sydney is so annoying!! she messaged me 7 times about having multiple accounts which ik violates the tis (but stupid episode forums doesn’t give you the option to deactivate your account without going through hoops and hurtles.) And she straight up deleted my accounts. She’s not even responding to my questions… ugh i might just stop using the damn site.
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Probably smart. Anyway, welcome!
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The Episode staff on the forums are weird. But at the same time they have to enforce their rules. It’s their job after all.
But still, the rules and changes were highly unnecessary over there. 
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