Steve
Mostly Harmless
Dodged a bullet is right. Damn.Was going to be going to a gathering/camping trip with a group that I don't have experience with, hoping to make some more friends in the area. On their website, no one is listed as the pure head of the group, and didn't see any major red flags.
Thursday we had a zoom meeting, and they mentioned a discord. My buddy who was going to be joining too asked about it, and they said it's a paid discord run by the guy who's their main leader, and mentioned his name. Friday my buddy told me to look the guy up, and that he won't be going.
I'm glad he recognized the name. Among the long list of things I found about the guy..he's kicked people out (of the group, not just the discord) for being lgbt, or disagreeing with him on his discord, hangs out with white supremacists and when asked if he finds racism bad his answer is that it's complicated, but he doesn't openly support racism (but wouldn't denounce white supremacists), has made a living conning people out of money, promising things then saying he doesn't have enough money because he quit his job (being supported by these people) and buying a house, rather than spending the money on what he asked it for, claims that gods talk to him, and has demanded people make blood oaths to him (and cut people with knives deep enough they had to go to hospitals when they refused). That last one has happened when on camping trips similar to the one we were going to go on, where they'd be out in the woods alone with him and his essentially followers (though they didn't identify themselves as that).
If he hadn't recognized the name and pieced together this was the group of his followers (the groups name he never mentions, anywhere online) there'd be a situation where he tries to cut me, my friend, or someone else there, I'd respond in kind and either get attacked by his followers or put in jail for assault. Dodged an almost literal bullet here.