I tried to be patient throughout that thread, but it was pretty telling that in both cases, the other person fell silent/moved on when asked for evidence. I can see why; the examples cited by their core Tumblr manifesto are more along the lines of generally offensive content rather than actual targeted harassment. It's difficult to avoid concluding that they're simply being coy about what they're actually upset about, and appealing to an allegedly systemic harassment problem to shore up support for an unpopular position, making censorship a core element of the site. I'm skeptical of any movements that are fervently anti-OTW, because it seems like again and again it always comes down to the liberal content policies.
Ah well. I'll keep supporting the archive and voting for board members who will uphold the site's core principles.
Oh, I didn't even see that link. Yeah, of the three examples, the first Transformers one I can possibly give it to them, though from the screenshots all one can tell for sure was that it might have been inspired by the events of 2020, but without appearing to take any stand on it at all, much less an overtly racist one. The second Chinese fandom one was just bizarre and I have no idea what to think or what I was even looking at but it would be a vast stretch to think racism was involved. Just looked like typical weird insensitive porn to me. Almost certainly created by a Chinese fangirl which is just hilarious since this is supposedly about protecting "fans of colour". And the last one they've literally got it twisted around exactly backwards. I happen to have encountered that fic and far from being a "Nazi fic" it's an *anti-Nazi* fic in which the Nazi character gets killed. And it was the *author* who was the victim of harassment at the behest of this "fandom scholar" (and lmao that someone apparently thinks that's a thing). *Everything* these people say is false and in bad faith and nobody should engage with them as if anything else were the case.
It's kind of hilarious that this is what they think constitutes the horrendous deluge of racism driving away Fans of Colour™ from AO3 (by which they actually mean themselves and fellow ideologues and dear Jesus if only it *would* drive them away). I've seen *far* more offensive stuff here in my time. I've literally encountered concentration camp guard rapes Jew porn on here. I think I even saw a fic where Hitler rapes Anne Frank. The Historical RPF 'fandom' is WILD. And actually, lmao, recently I came across one where the blackwashed Ariel from the new Disney live-action Little Mermaid was enslaved and whipped by Prince Eric or something. They're just troll fics and obviously so and not even well done trolls, since they never catch anyone's attention, not even the outrage of the self-designated fandom antiracism crusaders (or jihadists, I guess, would be more appropriate in this case). And it ain't driven me away. As a "fan of colour" (in whose name they're supposedly doing all this) I was a big enough boy to snort in disbelief and click the fuck away. And move on with my day. Like a grown fucking adult.
I found it hard to believe one narrative regarding the alleged systemic harassment of OTW members and/or users because there's conflicting ones and a lot of them with a butt load of minutiae. Was very difficult to pick a side and pick what's true so I stayed away from making a conclusion. I stil have no such thing to dish out.
I agree with you regarding the site's core values. The liberal content policies is something worth protecting. We don't have that freedom elsewhere
I understand that some of the demands was hiring a diversity consultant which, if they do and things go well, why the hell not. I guess I am very apprehensive about that though because I wonder what exactly this person would do and how would it affect the freedom of expression. I can't blame the people thinking that it will lead to censorship. I can't blame the supporters for being upset because it was apparently promised to them.
I think what a lot of this mess comes down to is transparency.
Comment on Resignation of OTW Director
acidbirth Sun 28 May 2023 02:32AM UTC
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tillwehavefaces Sun 28 May 2023 04:48AM UTC
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LordiTheRailgun Sun 28 May 2023 06:27AM UTC
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