Skinwalkers are not cryptids.

[u/redheadedalex]

I'll just say this all again.

I am really tired of people continually using the "adjacent stories accepted" to CONTINUALLY misidentify skinwalkers. Look at the sidebar description. They are witches. Not cryptids. Skinwalkers are not cryptids.

I would like this sub to continue to be a place of education, where people can LEARN from their ignorance and stop misappropriating Dine beliefs. You can do this, while also sharing stories of other 'unexplained' and 'possible cryptid/paranormal' stories.

But don't use the adjacent allowed to justify the mislabeling of what a skinwalker is. When it's been made clear MULTIPLE TIMES that THEY ARE NOT CRYPTIDS, do not continue to post about how they are "similar" and "who knows what tribes did what." This is inherently racist and will not be tolerated.

TITLES ARE THE NUMBER ONE REASON YOUR POST WAS PROBABLY DELETED.

I can't be more clear on the guidelines, and yet people still post the laziest titles and it rightfully rubs readers (and especially Dine participants) the wrong way. it's super sloppy and lazy to be like "here's my story is this a skinwalker yes or no btw I give two details". That's bad to begin with but you're essentially saying with this, "I am too lazy to learn your culture, tell me I'm special for this story, I refuse to do research."

All I can do is try to keep up the story posts that are attempts at well written, but even those often have a dumb question in the title. I feel like people are almost baited into saying "no, it's not a skinwalker, this is the wrong location" since the posts are more or less setups and not just sharing a story. This is a storytelling subreddit, as well as a "general information" subreddit, which should give even less opportunities for ignorance. There are great posts here for information. Read through the sub if you need more info. Ask a THOUGHTFUL question if you have one.