I guess I can give my 'outsider' view on this. I'm very much a lurker but read through the majority of the discussions on Ayu. The reason why I didn't post much/at all in the beginning was because I found this place a bit daunting and honestly didn't want to be 'attacked' for stating my own opinions. This place has changed a lot since then (for the better most of the time) and I mainly don't post now because I'm quite happy lurking and don't always have the time/want to make a post as I usually come on here on my phone.
I'm very much against 'censorship', I enjoy reading varying opinions on Ayu and her work. I think it's fine to compare her current work to her old, it's natural. Her voice has changed a lot with the past two songs and people should be able to say they like/don't like something without being told their opinion is invalid or has no place here. I agree that some opinions come across as quite extreme but unless people are being downright nasty (some of the stuff in the Timmy thread for example...
) then this really should be a place where people are allowed to express their views and that goes for both sides. I've witnessed many times where someone is told they are either a Stan for liking something and are unable to see how bad Ayu has become or, more often lately, they are told their negativity with not liking something is toxic. I had my opinions on MY STORY attacked on a different forum years ago when I said I didn't enjoy the album and suddenly I was being branded a hater and wasn't a true Ayu fan. It was ridiculous and I should have just ignored it but I didn't and it turned into a bit of an argument that no one was going to win. The same seems to happen here, people get offended by a comment and then a simple discussion turns heated.
Admittedly there have been a few posts where I have thought, "Wow, really?", but these are for the ones that come across as feeling like Ayu owes them something. She doesn't. Otherwise if I don't agree with someone's view (either positive or negative) I just move on.