What is/was the most toxic community you've been a part of?

1. The athletics department at my high school was rife with egotistical parents who all thought their little Johnny should be getting a DI scholarship. Problem was, nobody at our school was really worth a DII scholarship. So naturally the blame always fell on the coaches. We once had a parent at a football game (also the wife of a SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER!!!) drunkenly threaten to murder the A.D. and the football coach by dragging them by a chain tied to the back of a pickup truck. Turnover was crazy, and usually the best coaches were the ones to go quickest. My favorite coach was a graduate of the school and spent close to fifteen years coaching the baseball team. He put his heart and soul into that team, yet he got the axe after I graduated because a bunch of asshole parents with influence hated him because they all thought their kids were simply God's gift to baseball. We've developed such a bad reputation that other towns' papers openly talk about how bad we are with coaches. The only people who will come here now are grads and folks with no other place to go. It sickens me because it leads to a lot of stress and heartbreak for the kids and that's NOT what youth sports is supposed to be about.
   — boringguy51


2. I'm gonna have the guts to say... some widow groups. Specifically, military widows. I am a veteran and the widow of a fallen soldier. He died active duty, but not in combat. These groups often inquire quickly about the circumstance of the death, how much money did you get, will you quit the army now and take care of your kids. It was legit, a pissing contest. Whose experience has been tougher. They go to every event possible to be paraded around and in a horrible person for saying.... I think it creates a type of, "professional widow." I went to several lunch events where I was embarrassed to be there. Many were rude to wait staff and often I was criticized for having goals outside of the home. I cut ties and have handled my recovery through private counseling, healthy habits and genuinely accepting that bad shit happens to everyone. That doesn't make me a fairy who is owed anything. EDIT: Thank you for the gold! My very first. I am so relieved to know that my feelings aren't unique.
   — mothertucker2306


3. theatre in any mid market city. about 20 years ago college art programs discovered they could get free labour by offering courses in theatre production. so now you end up with 100s of grads from every crappy town around moving into the closest city with a handful of professional companies and knifing everyone in the back to get and keep contracts for a handful of jobs. if one of them gets control of hiring for a company they'll get rid of anyone good and hire incompetent non threatening friends. I've watched dozens of great companies die that way.
   — SlitScan






4. The Yu-gi-oh community. At least, where I'm from it's filled with a bunch of would-be hustlers who think they're "pro" at the game. I've seen grown men swarm young kids that either have or pulled a rare/expensive card and try to take advantage of the kid by offering him some throwaway trade that they almost always take, because they don't know what they just got. Everyone was always looking to profit, or as the guys I played with called it, "go plus" (term applied to literally any situation where one party either gains monetary value or just has one thing beneficial happen for them). Stealing was a common thing. Dudes would take whatever they could from you if they thought they could get away with it. I actually have a bit of a story that goes with this. When I was 16 and playing at the local library after school, I had a fairly expensive deck due to some of the cards I owned (back when pot of duality and solemn warning were at the peak of their value, I had 2 of each). I put my stuff in my back to start packing up, and this 20 something, grown as man snatches my bag and tries to run off with it. Ended up pursuing, which in hindsight was absolutely idiotic of me, but I did it anyways. Ended up getting my shit handed to me. Who knew that a 16 year old kid can't match a bigger, older dude's physical strength? However, I hung on long enough to get library security involved, and police called onto the premises. Ended up getting a restraining order and pressing charges on the asshole. I ended up leaving the game after another 2 years or so. Didn't have any more crazy incidents happen to me, but I watched it unfold enough times afterward. Edit: Holy crap, I didn't expect this to blow up the way it did.
   — AkiraAce5


5. Babycenter. Seriously, go on one of those boards. It's a bunch of stuck up, snot nosed, middle aged, nasty women who bully each other.
   — autumnx


6. Not an online community, but I was in inpatient treatment for anorexia a few years ago, and the level of subtle competition between patients to be "the sickest" was ridiculous. We periodically had to go around in group to answer various prompts given by the therapist, and it was like everyone carefully crafted their response to appear the most desperately ill of the lot. Jenny says she's couldn't eat sweets because she's afraid of sugar? Then you better bet Molly was afraid of fruits because of their sugar content and Amy water fasted for 20 days because all foods have sugar and that was so terrifying she couldn't eat anything. One girl puts down her fork in dinner and starts crying because she can't handle eating anything else? At least 4 other girls are going to do the same. Then, of course the constant game of "who's been hospitalized the most number of times" because for some sick reason that's a sign of superiority. God only knows what it would have been like if we were allowed to discuss weight. I can understand having a difficult time some days, I certainly did, but I kept that shit to myself and ate my nasty ass cafeteria food so I could get hell out of there ASAP. After I was discharged, my therapist kept wanting me to go to group therapy and I refused, couldn't deal with more obnoxious bitches trying so hard to be sick.
   — BonnePomme






7. Student debating society. I just wanted to debate stuff, I didn't realise that a prerequisite for being involved in student debating is being literally the worst people ever.
   — reverseswang


8. Jehovah's Witnesses. Born and raised. Childhood deprived of making non-JW friends, after school sports, mature games and movies, and sleeping in Saturday mornings. Had to go doorknocking instead. Now I'm trying to leave the cult and I'm on the verge of getting kicked out, labeled an "apostate" and losing my family and all the friends I've ever known.
   — TortureStake


9. I used to lurk this forum called Guru Gossiper, it's just a bunch of people obsessed with trash talking youtubers, particularly beauty gurus. I stopped reading once I realised it only made me mad to see how intense those people were about other people's lives.
   — olivesolives