I think online subcultures are usually damaging, though, because their activities are unmoored from physical reality and they don't have to deal with the rest of the world in their space. The most toxic physical-world subcultures I can think of are cults and they usually try to dissuade relationships outside of the cult precisely so the group is only influenced from the inside. Online spaces can have the same effect of eliminating outside influence because moderation can be extremely effective in enforcing a consensus.
I got a reality check when on a popular fan fiction website I saw a huge and well liked fiction on how to kill and torture one popular female writer, and when I complained to the abuse team they said it's fine, cause it's fiction! Makes me sick years after the fact!
This is probably true of all subcultures. Teens should "graduate" from them into broader society. Or so I suspect.
I think online subcultures are usually damaging, though, because their activities are unmoored from physical reality and they don't have to deal with the rest of the world in their space. The most toxic physical-world subcultures I can think of are cults and they usually try to dissuade relationships outside of the cult precisely so the group is only influenced from the inside. Online spaces can have the same effect of eliminating outside influence because moderation can be extremely effective in enforcing a consensus.
I got a reality check when on a popular fan fiction website I saw a huge and well liked fiction on how to kill and torture one popular female writer, and when I complained to the abuse team they said it's fine, cause it's fiction! Makes me sick years after the fact!