The finger curls. A user responds, fully explaining how the monkey’s paw works. The user discusses how the wish should be granted, but that it’s granted in such a way that the person regrets the wish. They even managed to convey the nuanced difference between that and just “it’s granted but this other random bad thing happens” that’s not in true monkey’s paw fashion (following the original short story that anyone can look up).

The community seems to gain traction from this post and new people flood in. It doesn’t take long before the shift starts becoming apparent. More and more wishes and responses appear that begin breaking lemmy instances’ policies, being filled with hate messages for particular groups. Where is it coming from?? As the community begins getting banned across the fediverse, the truth comes out. The user that had posted in response to the wish had brought it. They were from another banned community looking for a new home for their group’s hate. They found it in the monkey’s paw.

The post that started it all stood as a shining example of how the monkey’s paw works, but not seen by any in a banned and abandoned community.