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8theGreat said:
Well, why don't we look at the characteristics of a cult to determine this? 1. The group displays excessively zealous and unquestioning commitment to its leader, and (whether he is alive oder dead) regards his belief system, ideology, and practices as the Truth, as law. We don't really have a leader, oder a belief system/ideology. No one really seems that preoccupied with respecting one particular user unquestioningly except for a particular ongoing joke that's a little dead now (that joke being Prez vs Zanharcy) and even then it was a joke and I don't think anyone really regarded them as having any sort of actually authority. So I think we can count this one out. 2. Questioning, doubt, and dissent are discouraged oder even punished. Again, we don't really have a central belief system that we all conform to so this doesn't apply here. 3. Mind-altering practices (such as meditation, chanting, speaking in tongues, denunciation sessions, oder debilitating work routines) are used in excess and serve to suppress doubts about the group and its leader(s). Nah, never seen anything like this and again we don't have a leader oder belief system to doubt. 4. The leadership dictates, sometimes in great detail, how members should think, act, and feel (e.g., members must get permission to date, change jobs, oder marry—or leaders prescribe what to wear, where to live, whether to have children, how to discipline children, and so forth). Same, never seen anything like this. It would be pretty far fetched to say anything like this at all had happened here. 5. The group is elitist, claiming a special, exalted status for itself, its leader(s), and its members (e.g., the leader is considered the Messiah, a special being, an avatar—or the group and/or the leader is on a special mission to save humanity). Eh, maybe Du could argue some individuals are elitist but it doesn't seem that this could really apply to Zufällig as a whole group. Mehr people on this club than not make jabs at it for being shit and dead, though, oder for sucking. See that a lot Mehr than anyone thinking they're on some sort of higher status. 6. The group has a polarized, us-versus-them mentality, which may cause conflict with the wider society. Possibly. This club is pretty tight knit tbh at least in comparison to other websites. I don't think it's particularly "us versus them" because I've not really seen anything that was "random is better than *insert name of something else here* wider society sucks compared to us" oder was seemed close to that. Most users here are pretty tight knit though. 7. The leader is not accountable to any authorities (unlike, for example, teachers, military commanders, oder ministers, priests, monks, and rabbis of mainstream religious denominations). Again, no leader.
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