Starting to get real upset by recent events in my gaming group, apologize in advance for all of text

Starting to get real upset by recent events in my gaming group, apologize in advance for all of text.

>friend introduces me to DnD 5e
>difficult getting enough people we know to play regularly
>friend sets up discord server, begins inviting people from reddit to play with us on roll20
>games mostly set up in a "West marches" format with friend DMing, meaning people can drop in and drop out freely. No big deal if not everyone is on.
>some players join and become server regulars, some just play a few sessions and sort of drop off the radar
>overall, server begins to grow over a course of a few months
>friend, who is both server admin and the only DM, is adamant about how he dislikes metagaming, and generally firmly but gently tries to point out and correct when people use out of character knowledge to make in character decisions
>manages to foster a general "anti-metagame" atmosphere throughout the server
>general server attitude toward PvP is that there are no restrictions against it and DM won't use the hand of god to stop it, but no encouragement for it unless you have solid in character reasons
>overall mortality rate is high, so having a character die in PvP wouldn't be such a huge deal since you might have died the next session anyway
>despite this almost no PvP has happened at all for several months because generally players aren't really going out of their way to fuck each other over
>server growth accelerates
>many more new people
>friend sets up an invisible channel that only the regulars that have been around for a while can see
>around this time some of the other regulars decide to begin DMing their own west marches campaigns, which friend encourages because he's one of those forever-DM types

>DM #2 sets up a game, friend is now a player for the first time in a while
>makes an obviously evil character but still the type of evil that is willing to work with the party and not fuck them over for random reasons
>player who just recently joined the server has a character that starts insulting him and being an ass in character
>is warned to stop multiple times
>still doesn't stop
>is threatened
>still persists
>friend's obviously evil character then finally attacks him and kills him in PvP
>most people are ok with it because he does it right after a tough fight where the other player ran away and mostly didn't help
>player gets mad, throws a tantrum and ends up banned from the server
>overall feel like the fighting that happened made sense from an in game perspective and the guy was basically asking for it
>after his tantrum, he becomes the go-to example on the server of "don't be like this player"

>DM#3 starts a game
>did I mention lots of new players have been joining in recently that we don't know?
>16 year old kid joins even though the server is advertised as 18+ only
>everyone, literally everyone finds this kid super annoying
>people who can access the secret regulars-only channel start talking about how they can't wait to find an excuse to kill his character in game
>it's like the previous PvP and resulting drama opened the floodgates
>finish up with tough battle, everyone is KO'd except new annoying guy and one of the regulars, both low HP
>regular takes the opportunity to kill him while no one else is conscious
>had an in game justification, can't remember what it was exactly but it was really flimsy and wouldn't have held up at all if it was against a player that we didn't all find annoying
>wins initiative, is able to kill him easily
>kid player gets upset for a minute, but then starts apologizing profusely as he realizes how annoying he must have been
>still gets banned, everyone starts circlejerking about how awful he was
>later on that same session
>we have another player who has been around a couple weeks, most people find him somewhat annoying and he has a tendency to talk over others, but not as annoying as the kid
>guy is actually really nice and chill, just tends to prattle on annoyingly and talk loudly and interrupts people.
>another regular starts attacking his character in game a couple hours later
>everyone else is conscious but at low HP after a boss fight
>friend, now playing a ranger, joins in and tries shooting him
>literally 0 in game reason to attack his character
>I'm playing a lawful neutral paladin, so I take his side, and defend him from friend and the other regular so he can run away
>start getting mocked for being "holier than thou" and on a high horse in the regulars channel

>fast forward to today
>DM#4 running a game
>I decided not to play because a lot of people were on and I hate group sizes above 6
>there's this other player who I don't really find all that annoying, but he's a bit of a rules lawyer and some people on the server take issue with that
>can see in the regulars channel people are talking about killing him

What do? Realistically do I have a chance at stopping this, or is the server ruined forever?

They've tasted blood, OP. Nothing can bring them back now.

It's too late, but don't leave so you can watch the shitstorm and have fun.
Looks like you learned the important lesson of never mixing up groups, just try not to lose that friend.

Not really much you can do to stop it, as soon as people realize they can fuck over people they don't like with little consequences they'll do it.

You could try and split them into different factions and have them competing against each other instead of just going after the ones they don't like

Try to avoid getting mixed up with the drama, least you have to pick between your friends and sticking up for strangers.

Alternatively suggest to the group that maybe they should close the application for new players, you have a decent chance unless a significant amount of people have fully realized that they enjoy the act of PvP killing.

>Realistically do I have a chance at stopping this, or is the server ruined forever?

Pick out the true frendos and establish backchannel communications. When the server tears itself apart and bans everyone but a clique of circlejerking shitheads and their wannabe hangers-on, use the backchannels to start a new game elsewhere.

The players are all refugee mages from an Unseen College that was infiltrated and toppled by illithids.

The problem is all the regulars are sorting themselves into the wannabe hangers-on category, if I forsake them there's pretty much only one other guy I've known for more than a week.

Other problem is the guy who set up the server is the only one I actually now in real life and he seems fine with this new direction.