This past Tuesday was the worst day I've had on the Bothell Community Board in months

I posted about the old water fountain at North Creek Park needing a fix, and within 2 hours someone had commented calling me a Karen for complaining. Then a second person said I was wasting board space. I woke up Wednesday to 12 notifications and half were just arguing. Has anyone else had a post here just blow up in a bad way like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

oliviagrant1mo ago

That "wasting board space" comment really gets me. Like, the whole point of a community board is for people to bring up things that matter in the neighborhood. If a broken water fountain at a park kids use isn't worth talking about, I don't know what is. And calling someone a Karen for pointing out something that needs fixing is just lazy. It shuts down any real discussion before it even starts. I've had that happen to me before on a neighborhood page when I posted about a dangerous pothole near the school zone. People jumped on me like I was being picky, but then two weeks later someone hit it and blew out their tire. The problem didn't go away just because they called me names.

the_karen1mo ago

Oh I saw a study not too long ago that said how we talk about problems in a community actually affects whether they get fixed or not... something about "issue fatigue" where if you complain too much people just tune you out. But that's totally different from someone pointing out a genuine safety hazard like a broken water fountain or that pothole you mentioned. The whole "Karen" thing has been twisted so much now it's just a way to dismiss anyone who dares to ask for basic things to work properly... I swear people forget that these boards are literally supposed to be for this exact kind of stuff.