Teen Gothic

I noticed someone made multiple posts today asking about the status of certain bands and whether they are considered goth or not – specifically The Cult and Joy Division. The post about The Cult has been open for about 8 hours, while the post on Joy Division has been locked after a little under 2 hours despite having the same rates of interaction. I don’t understand the reasoning behind locking posts that are made for the purpose of discussion. I noticed the same thing happened not too long ago when someone mentioned that The Doors were one of The Cure’s inspirations. The post was very quickly denied relevance within the sub and was locked shortly after (then deleted).

I’ve noticed lately that this group feels devoid of interesting discourse and conversations about the overlapping of genres tied to the goth movement. I’m very aware that there are other, much smaller groups like the gothclub sub where people can openly talk about music beyond the specific genre of goth, but it feels as if this group may be wringing itself dry by not allowing ANY sort of conversation beyond a “no, not goth” and locking or deleting the post. The very hard and fast rules on what may be discussed feels as if it hurts the community more than it helps. It seems as if people have been interacting with posts in general less and less over time because of these regulations.

I understand it may be tiring to hear the same “is this goth” question asked time and time again, but for a group focused entirely on musical interest – I don’t see the harm in it! I joined this group because I was interested in the development and growth of the genre, which includes a vast range of inspirations and genres spanning several decades. It does not serve our community to not acknowledge them.

It seems like Goth has become this cryptic over-mythologised monolith of a thing which none of us can emulate. All these users scrambling here with their lists and their questions about subgenres and fear of being seen as poseurs…

We need to ban these posts and ask the mods to make a pinned post saying "your goth is valid" or some crap because it's pitiful seeing people worry about whether they can consider themselves goth. Bro, if you're here, you're goth! Do what you like. But most of all, DON'T limit yourself.

It's concerning to see the term distorted by the internet (mainly tiktok) into something that makes me even question how well I belong here. Can we nip this in the bud and return to our batcaves, please?

Longtime lurker. Worried about the subculture becoming bigger than itself and putting off daunted newcomers!

Anyway, stream Five Ten Fiftyfold.