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farlaI was asked if I'd fought with the sporker before, how I'd found out, and what the precisely the sexism complaints were over. Luckily I had all the pages saved and could actually answer the last one.
The result of it? A post and a PM.
So, as I am sure everybody is aware by now, there was a pretty big wank that occurred over a spork. The author of the fic in question came to the community and began to raise a fuss. I was pleased to receive multiple PMs about it, because that’s what helps keep the community in check—you guys all help pitch in and keep an eye on the posts and comments and immediately inform a mod when something bad starts to happen.
But not all of you did that. Some of you ignored the community rules and decided it would be better to just jump right in and start arguing—and they weren’t thought-out arguments, either. Sometimes, it seemed like people were jumping on the author simply on the basis that she was the author of the sporked fic and so had to be wrong. Basically, nobody in this mess came out looking good. Pretty much anyone who got involved was an asshat—EVERYONE. I am not happy with the way things turned out. You all behaved shamefully. I thank everyone who merely messaged me and stayed out of it, but this is not how we behave. We do not act like this. When things like this start up, you are always supposed to come to the mods; you do not just dive in like that and let it turn into a massive shitstorm.
While I get the PM:
Thank you very much for the extensive information. I’ve forwarded it to the rest of the moderators, and we have reached a consensus on how to proceed.
I would like to extend my most sincere apologies for the dog-piling you received, along with some of the nastier comments directed at you; the comm knows better than to do that, and believe me when I say I am very disappointed in their behavior. At least one official warning has been issued by Ket Makura. The comm recently opened up at the first of the year, and we had a very sudden explosion of new members and commenters, and as a result, it’s been somewhat chaotic. We’ve been waiting for the sporkers to get their free-for-all out of their systems before we restored order again, and this unfortunate situation has forced our hands.
As for the spork itself, I have requested the sporker cease the riffing simply because the spork is not up to standards. Said sporker normally produces quality material, but this one was not one of them. Sporkers may only take on fics if they provide thought-out arguments against the material, and it was agreed that she simply wasn’t doing that.
However, your own behavior was not necessarily the best, either. You engaged in several pointless comment wars with the members instead of bringing it to the moderators, and became angry when a moderator stepped in and ended a conversation that was going nowhere. Ket was not silencing you; she was putting a stop to unsavory behavior from everyone involved. That was more for your benefit than anybody else’s; she put a stop to it so everybody would stop attacking each other, and froze the thread until all of the mods could see what was going on and decide how to proceed. Also, you leveled a rather hypocritical accusation towards the comm as a whole—I do not find you telling us that we are wrong for hiding in our community and saying all of these things about stories behind the authors’ backs instead of to their faces amusing at all. You are a sporker. Unless you are personally telling Suzanne Collins and Stephenie Meyer and Margaret Stohl and Veronica Roth what you think of their works to THEIR faces, you are guilty of the exact same thing you are trying to lambast my sporkers for, to say nothing of your offensive and tasteless comments regarding Sith Droideka’s religious and political leanings behind his back on your personal journal.
In conclusion, I am very, very sorry this happened, and I am sorry on behalf of the entire comm, but nobody here behaved in an appropriate fashion. However, you have my guarantee that we are all going to do our best to ensure that these incidents are kept to a minimum.
Sincerely,
Das Mervin and Co.
So in conclusion, the problem is authors commenting on the sporks. But it's okay, they're really just protecting me from the mean people and I should have come to them immediately. You can tell by how very concerned the mod was that I needed to shut up and stop picking a fight and how very concerned they are now that everyone remember an author is a troll and you should report to a mod rather than respond ever. Presumably deleting everything that happened while saying it was a huge fight where everyone looked like an asshat is also done because they really, really want to protect me. And Act, I guess, since she's me again.
As you can see in the comments on the linked post, everything has been resolved in a happy and satisfactory way!
The result of it? A post and a PM.
So, as I am sure everybody is aware by now, there was a pretty big wank that occurred over a spork. The author of the fic in question came to the community and began to raise a fuss. I was pleased to receive multiple PMs about it, because that’s what helps keep the community in check—you guys all help pitch in and keep an eye on the posts and comments and immediately inform a mod when something bad starts to happen.
But not all of you did that. Some of you ignored the community rules and decided it would be better to just jump right in and start arguing—and they weren’t thought-out arguments, either. Sometimes, it seemed like people were jumping on the author simply on the basis that she was the author of the sporked fic and so had to be wrong. Basically, nobody in this mess came out looking good. Pretty much anyone who got involved was an asshat—EVERYONE. I am not happy with the way things turned out. You all behaved shamefully. I thank everyone who merely messaged me and stayed out of it, but this is not how we behave. We do not act like this. When things like this start up, you are always supposed to come to the mods; you do not just dive in like that and let it turn into a massive shitstorm.
While I get the PM:
Thank you very much for the extensive information. I’ve forwarded it to the rest of the moderators, and we have reached a consensus on how to proceed.
I would like to extend my most sincere apologies for the dog-piling you received, along with some of the nastier comments directed at you; the comm knows better than to do that, and believe me when I say I am very disappointed in their behavior. At least one official warning has been issued by Ket Makura. The comm recently opened up at the first of the year, and we had a very sudden explosion of new members and commenters, and as a result, it’s been somewhat chaotic. We’ve been waiting for the sporkers to get their free-for-all out of their systems before we restored order again, and this unfortunate situation has forced our hands.
As for the spork itself, I have requested the sporker cease the riffing simply because the spork is not up to standards. Said sporker normally produces quality material, but this one was not one of them. Sporkers may only take on fics if they provide thought-out arguments against the material, and it was agreed that she simply wasn’t doing that.
However, your own behavior was not necessarily the best, either. You engaged in several pointless comment wars with the members instead of bringing it to the moderators, and became angry when a moderator stepped in and ended a conversation that was going nowhere. Ket was not silencing you; she was putting a stop to unsavory behavior from everyone involved. That was more for your benefit than anybody else’s; she put a stop to it so everybody would stop attacking each other, and froze the thread until all of the mods could see what was going on and decide how to proceed. Also, you leveled a rather hypocritical accusation towards the comm as a whole—I do not find you telling us that we are wrong for hiding in our community and saying all of these things about stories behind the authors’ backs instead of to their faces amusing at all. You are a sporker. Unless you are personally telling Suzanne Collins and Stephenie Meyer and Margaret Stohl and Veronica Roth what you think of their works to THEIR faces, you are guilty of the exact same thing you are trying to lambast my sporkers for, to say nothing of your offensive and tasteless comments regarding Sith Droideka’s religious and political leanings behind his back on your personal journal.
In conclusion, I am very, very sorry this happened, and I am sorry on behalf of the entire comm, but nobody here behaved in an appropriate fashion. However, you have my guarantee that we are all going to do our best to ensure that these incidents are kept to a minimum.
Sincerely,
Das Mervin and Co.
So in conclusion, the problem is authors commenting on the sporks. But it's okay, they're really just protecting me from the mean people and I should have come to them immediately. You can tell by how very concerned the mod was that I needed to shut up and stop picking a fight and how very concerned they are now that everyone remember an author is a troll and you should report to a mod rather than respond ever. Presumably deleting everything that happened while saying it was a huge fight where everyone looked like an asshat is also done because they really, really want to protect me. And Act, I guess, since she's me again.
As you can see in the comments on the linked post, everything has been resolved in a happy and satisfactory way!
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no subject
Date: 2014-02-21 09:28 pm (UTC)I also think that because the level of discourse was so high in the main sporkings themselves-- Twilight, 50 Shades, etc.-- Mervin and Hyde errantly assumed that all of the readers were willing and able to upkeep that level of discourse and devote the amount of time it takes to it, and people are lazy assholes. The reason that level of criticism doesn't make up the bulk of the internet is because it's an actual skill that's difficult to hone and it takes a lot of time. It was a really tempting way to feel, and I totally don't blame them for it, but in hindsight it makes perfect sense that things fell apart.
The reason I fell in love with Das in the first place was because of the high quality that was hard to find elsewhere... as that's become increasingly diluted, I've found it hard to go back just because how far the average has fallen makes me sad.
Also: how anyone with half a brain couldn't recognize that spork for what it was I don't even know.
no subject
Date: 2014-02-21 09:51 pm (UTC)I agree. Just because you set a good example doesn't mean others will follow it.
The reason that level of criticism doesn't make up the bulk of the internet is because it's an actual skill that's difficult to hone and it takes a lot of time.
Cosmic Egg, yes. You can't simply gnash your teeth over the target's content or mechanics and expect anyone to congratulate you on your keen literary insight. You have to pinpoint what the problem areas are and analyze them carefully. Even if the purpose of your sporking is comedy rather than analysis, you still have to hold yourself up to standards. (I used to spork Gor novels, and watching Mystery Science Theater 3000 helped me improve my humor skills, though I made sure to avoid repeating the spirit of their...less sensitive jokes. Without that series, sporking probably wouldn't exist in any significant fashion today.) Farla actually is good at criticism, for that matter.
The reason I fell in love with Das in the first place was because of the high quality that was hard to find elsewhere... as that's become increasingly diluted, I've found it hard to go back just because how far the average has fallen makes me sad.
Me too. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, me too.
no subject
Date: 2014-02-21 10:10 pm (UTC)From the current post, they might have thought the readers would enforce community norms on their own at this point, and that saying criticism is allowed would be enough. And that can work in a sporking comm - just not one where your definition of criticism only covers the mildest of comments.
(And...given that, I wonder if part of the open community was they were uncomfortable with being the ones who had to say if a spork was good enough. There was modding but I'm unclear on what actually wasn't up to their standards, and the pokemon section did not impress. It's easier to just let anyone play and not be held accountable for the quality of every entry, just as it's easiest to delete the fight and not hold anyone accountable for that.)