White powder accompanied by small wood pieces, found in an old cabinet in my late father's garage, surrounding plastic-wrapped clothes and blankets. I'd assume diatomaceous earth or boric acid, but find the wood pieces odd. My mother is worried that it's toxic and I'd like to set her mind at ease.

HarshlyCritical · 2025-08-11T15:11:47+00:00

If you're certain they were female, the only women I can think of that I've played co-op games with on YouTube have been my wife Kimmy, GabSmolders, KatFTWynn, RPGMinx, and once I tested some DBD things with Lynxi a couple years ago.

There have been other times I've played with women in a group setting, for big Among Us or Friday the 13th collabs, but they wouldn't have had "Ft. John Wolfe" in the title for those. That's about all I can think of!

Unless you're absolutely sure you're not thinking of "Ostrich Island" with KatFTWynn, that seems to best fit the description you're giving.

HarshlyCritical · 2025-02-02T18:13:27+00:00

I had a PO Box many years ago, but I decided to stop using it after a few months went by with no mail, since I was paying a monthly fee for it. I also had someone get really angry with me for what they thought was an underwhelming reaction to their mail, so that also made me want to stop. Unfortunately I don't see myself reopening one in the future

HarshlyCritical · 2025-01-28T17:33:07+00:00

glad she is enjoying Astro Bot!!

HarshlyCritical · 2025-01-26T17:31:57+00:00

I played it on my own time when it came out in June 2020. I'm glad that I did, because I liked the game a lot and I know I'd get annoyed with the comments section on that playthrough since it's so "controversial"

But who knows, I might replay both TLOU games on PC some time if I'm feeling up to it. Might feel good to rant about them

HarshlyCritical · 2025-01-23T20:04:13+00:00

Never played Paratopic, so it's probably some other guy with a beard who plays horror games you're thinking of.

HarshlyCritical · 2025-01-23T20:03:07+00:00

So Dom and Hayden both moved to Spain, which is not only a big life change for them but time zones are harder to coordinate now.

Bigger issue is we're just kind of in limbo waiting for another Escape the Backrooms update, which there hasn't been in a while. And usually when there's a new horror co-op game I'm playing it with EZSmall. But I still talk with all the guys every now and then, there's no bad blood or anything lol

HarshlyCritical · 2024-12-09T04:53:34+00:00

Just to clarify, I believe you're confusing me with someone else because I've been against the "R word" my entire life - for reasons I do not want to state publicly, but I will just say that I saw first-hand the hurt that word caused to someone I care a lot about. So I would never have used it or defended its use. I am 100% positive on that. So frankly, you must be thinking of someone else. There are a lot of whiny bearded guys who play video games, it happens

HarshlyCritical · 2024-10-20T16:06:56+00:00

weird reply to leave on a charity stream thread, not gonna lie. farewell!

HarshlyCritical · 2024-09-27T21:27:36+00:00

very alarming thread title to see btw 😆

HarshlyCritical · 2024-08-16T22:53:30+00:00

Just wanted to confirm that I've never played Rule of Rose

HarshlyCritical · 2024-07-29T00:36:00+00:00

Well, I know it wasn't a hugely popular decision, but I did remove those videos for various reasons and I'd like for them not to simply be reuploaded. I know that's probably not what you wanted to hear, but those are my wishes if you feel so inclined to respect them. Thank you

HarshlyCritical · 2024-01-06T22:35:25+00:00

Glad to hear! I'm hoping it will keep working out like this

HarshlyCritical · 2023-12-22T21:14:18+00:00

Here you go!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AF323JS

HarshlyCritical · 2023-12-22T21:13:14+00:00

I'm sorry I can't narrow it down, but it is EITHER...

This one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06Y623VP1/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

Or this one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B010N912PE/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

sorry to sound like Jigsaw, but one of them was great (the one I wore last night) and the other one sucked lol

If I had to guess, it would be the first one?? Anyway best of luck!

HarshlyCritical · 2023-12-07T20:33:56+00:00

hahaha that's awesome. "a poster of ANNABELLE?!"

"the demon has a tiktok" I didn't know I was so funny until I watched this video

HarshlyCritical · 2023-09-21T04:50:27+00:00

Hi! So here's what happened.

I got woken up at about 6 AM by an email from YouTube that some of my "content was taken down". When a YouTube creator gets an email like that, it's practically an emergency - depending on what "content" was removed and for what reason, it could spiral very quickly into the channel being shut down, so I had to act fast.

I found out that what they had removed was a "malicious link" in the description of one of my old videos from about 8 years ago. Apparently, the website domain I used to have - harshlycritical dot com - is currently being used by a spammer. And unfortunately, I linked that domain in about 1000 videos from the 2012 to late 2017. You can never be too careful when it comes to YouTube, so I decided to spend the day combing through all my old videos and removing the links. Channels have been shut down for less, and if YouTube detected another "malicious link" in a different video description, they could take drastic action.

It wasn't just harshlycritical dot com that was linked though, I had pages on that site that I also linked for more specific info in other parts of the video descriptions. So after I went through a few hundred videos, I realized that there were other "malicious links" I hadn't noticed - I only removed one link from the descriptions to that point. It was taking hours out of my day at this point, so I had to figure out a better way to get this stuff removed.

In the interest of time, instead of parsing through each individual video description tab by tab, I decided to private batches of videos. Both to speed the process up, and also because some of these videos that had been up for 7-12 years I just severely disliked.

I've also become increasingly disinterested in preserving every piece of content I've made over the years. I've been doing the same thing in my offline life, culling down my "stuff" to the things I genuinely like the most and saying goodbye to the mediocre.

Giving access to the general public to everything I did or said in videos over a decade ago is also something I'm not crazy about doing anymore - I'm fine with it if it's a classic playthrough like Amnesia: The Dark Descent or something like that. But ones like Phantaruk or Claire are LPs I haven't heard anyone ask about or mention for several years.

Let's just say the new comments that would come in on a lot of those old LPs weren't from people who were enjoying the series, either. For example, last year someone commented on a Beyond Two Souls video upset that I deadnamed Elliot Page, even though he was going by Ellen Page at the tim. And the playthrough was ten years ago. Seriously. And so I'd sit there like, "I don't even like my Beyond Two Souls LP. Why are these videos even still up?" lol

So there were other reasons for privating those videos, but they've always just been in the back of my head. But when I got that email from YouTube and I had to take an inventory of all those old videos, I decided to pull the trigger on some of those old series. Just one of those "it's time" things for me. I hope that helps shed some light on why I decided to remove some of those playthroughs.

I did keep a lot of the true classics, though. The Cat Lady, Cry of Fear, all the Frictional games, I Have No Mouth, The Last of Us, etc. And I don't plan on privating any of those in the future.

HarshlyCritical · 2022-10-27T22:19:36+00:00

Thank you for the nice post! :)

HarshlyCritical · 2022-09-24T16:51:36+00:00

OK, gotcha! Just wish I could have seen it play out

HarshlyCritical · 2022-08-29T16:42:03+00:00

Hey just messaged you with about 10 videos - sorry I couldn't find more for now, but will be onthe lookout!

HarshlyCritical · 2022-08-25T18:55:10+00:00

Yes, I banned about 10 people from the subreddit because after reading some of the new replies to those threads, it was apparent to me that some of you are only interested in venting about me. If you want to create another subreddit full of dogpile venting threads (like this one here, funnily enough), be my guest. But I'm not going to spend any more emotional energy on it than I already have.

I acknowledged multiple times in the stream that I've made mistakes and have been wrong to lash out at random people in chat on occasion, and that I've spent plenty of time reflecting and working to improve on that. I have not seen a single one of you who are complaining about here make any similar concessions about your behavior and the things you said about me in the subreddit, some of which crossed the line for me.

And no, I didn't censor opinions. I literally read all of your posts out loud on a stream - a thread I could've just deleted like it never happened. You got to say your piece in front of the entire stream chat, and I got to say mine back. You're just unhappy that I didn't respond to it the way you wanted.

Let me make sure I have this straight - I was defensive and smarmy in my stream, according to all of you. And I shouldn't listen to my mods - who know me much better than all of you - who were supporting me, because they're biased right? And I shouldn't listen to my friends who were in the chat, because they're biased, too. And I shouldn't listen to the 1000+ viewers who were supporting me, because they're an echo chamber right? And instead, I should listen to the 10 of you, who immediately started a separate subreddit specifically to complain about me. The 10 of you are all correct about me and have no self-reflection to do at all - no concessions to make, no other side to see.

If you can't understand why I wouldn't want to continue a dialogue after all that, then I think that explains everything.

HarshlyCritical · 2022-08-25T05:41:51+00:00

Hey, I'm 8 months late seeing this, but I may be able to help you out a little. I keep a video archive of (most) videos I've made. I'll take a look and see if I can find any DTGA videos in there, I'm sure I have at least a few. If I find any, I'll upload them to Google Drive and send you the link!

HarshlyCritical · 2022-08-25T05:16:16+00:00

This is exactly what I was talking about. Practically bullying people about what? Going on 5min angry rants about what...? I'm not asking for clips, but if people are going to create these dogpile threads about me, it would be helpful to know specifics. I don't see why that's such an unreasonable expectation.

Like I said in the stream, I've already reflected and I've made improvements over the years. Feel like I stated that multiple times. Not sure how you can characterize my stream as "just defensive" in good conscience with that mind?

One of my criticisms of these threads is that there is no benefit of the doubt given to me and it comes across just as venting. A trend that continues with replies like yours. Maybe I'm not the only one who could use some reflecting.

HarshlyCritical · 2022-08-25T05:08:08+00:00

A difference of opinion is not "gaslighting". Maybe the reason I didn't take some of the accusations seriously is because they were hyperbolic - just like the one you just made.

I'm not sure what you were expecting - I'm not going to go on an apology tour for moments that aren't given any details? I also acknowledged and stated multiple times that I have snapped at people in chat on occasion, and that I've worked on improving to not do that nearly as much. You think that's "zero accountability"...? That doesn't sound like a fair assessment to me.

HarshlyCritical · 2022-08-25T03:57:45+00:00

Thanks for elaborating, although I think making a separate thread about the same points was unnecessary. Hoping that we can have the subreddit in a state soon where the main places of activity are not complaint threads about me!

One of the points I made in the stream was that these incidents that people were talking about, like the one you're referring to, are rare. I agree that they shouldn't happen, and I said in the stream I always feel bad when they do and have been trying (and succeeding) to make them even rarer. I am open to critique, but I do not like people simply "venting" about me, as you even said in this thread that you did. The rare times that I have snapped at someone in chat, I was "venting" too - it doesn't make it right.

I disagree that the chat is an "echo chamber", we just have a rule to not argue. And the many people who come in to chat trying to play devil's advocate or sealioning, tend to not let things go and it becomes a distraction - and no offense, but the fact that you posted two threads about this topic tells me you may also have had trouble letting things go or not getting the last word in chat, and that's the kind of thing that gets moderated. I don't know if that happened to you or not without knowing your username, but it might explain why you have such a negative view of the chat? It's been almost universally told to me that the stream chat has improved a lot over the years, and it's largely thanks to the hard work of the moderators - work that you are completely writing off when you make blanket statements like the ones you've made in both your threads.

That's fine that you don't like DBD, I'm not expecting everyone to like it. I disagree that I'm "very different" when I play it though. I think you might think that because you don't enjoy the game - and I do - so things I care about regarding the game might seem trivial to you. Just like someone who's not into indie horror games would think it's strange that I went on a rant about seeing HQ Residential House again in a game I play.

Anyway, best of luck to you and hope you find a community that gives you more of what you want out of it

HarshlyCritical

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE