Dear Readers,
Sorry, I know the first post is long but I thought of more that needs to be said.
"I fought the Haven, and the Haven won.".
My speaking out against it's policies didn't do anything. There wasn't even much of a debate stirred.
It's been suggested now that my stance has me blacklisted in the TG Fiction Community.
One day I'm going to be gone. One day I'll either retire or die and that's the end of Gensabi. The Haven has the allure of my works being preserved but not accessible by all.
I had over 5,000 group members on Yahoo. I would not want them or anybody else have to go through a fascist setup in order to view my works.
You see, the TG community used to be very inclusive. Very open to all. It was nice. It may not have been perfect but it was right.
Then came the Haven. I was shocked that all the old school captioners were okay with it's policies. It went against what the community was, because now you had to pay your way towards access in order to read the creations of others.
It was oppression.
And it was suppression.
Suppression of the art until you jumped through enough hoops like a collie at a dog show.
I saw the community, people I thought I knew, just give into it. They just let it happen.
I spoke up and gave the opportunity for other good people to do the same. I did the hardest part of being the first to go all in and genuinely criticize it. I spoke about freedom and liberty.
I fought for reader's rights and nothing got changed.
I kept fighting even after getting recognized as a "Laureate" because I won't be bought. Like I said, I believe in equality.
They were creating a captioner class and a reader class, making people second class citizens in the community.
Worst part?
When I'm gone the Haven will probably still be out there letting fascism represent the TG Fiction Community online.
Think about this:
I've been doing this for 15 years already. This issue occurred around I'd say 2008 or so. That's several years ago now.
If they're still that mad at me that I'm blacklisted to this day, and so much so that not even newer cappers that may not even know about all this still won't make caps of things I've created?
That's pretty powerful, isn't it?
Petty and powerful.
So I've just been capping along doing my thing, and I seem to still be successful at it.
But because I won't partake or support a corrupt system, because I still believe in equality and openness for the community, what am I?
A pariah? A political deviant? An outcast? A black sheep?
I'm a TG Fiction writer without a community. The old one sold out.
But for that to still be affecting the new captioners out there?
The new blood of the community that has come since then?
I hope it's just a conspiracy theory. I really do.
But if it isn't, then who else will it happen to?
Who's going to be blacklisted next?
I've always thought of this as an art form. Creative expression.
I never in a million years would've thought that it was even possible for my works to be blacklisted, or banned from being used by the community.
Am I really that frowned upon?
So I guess no matter what I do, or what I create, it's not going to matter.
Because I'm obviously TG Enemy # 1.
Well, I do pretty well as a renegade thank you very much!
Sincerely,
Gensabi
Wait, who's blacklisted you? I think the reason people don't write the things you create is because you're not that well known to the Blogger communities, honestly. I love your work and I hate seeing you feel so down, but I think you should stop feeling like the community is out to get you. I think that the only thing holding you back is your lack of positivity; you're still one of the greatest TG writers out there.
ReplyDeleteThanks. Sorry, it's just something that reared its ugly head from the past. The last comment made on the "Legacy?" post suggested that's why. I kinda explained it better in the part one of this.
DeleteSeveral years ago I had a battle of ideals with the TG Fiction Community at large because of how the website "Rachel's Haven" works.
The Haven was created as an archive of TG Captions from everyone from even before I started. Sounds good, right?
Yet you have to join the site and then they gauge your level of participation. Your access to TG capped pics is based on what your level of participation is.
I pointed out that's fascism, called them NAZIS for restricting access for people to read the capped pics, and the problem? The majority of the TG Fiction Community were just ok with it. They didn't see how it was wrong. Or even why.
This happened so long ago it was no longer present in my mind, but when someone suggested that's the reason, well, this is what happened. These last two posts.
I love reading your captions, as you have a unique style and method of story telling.
ReplyDeleteHowever.
You need to stop acting as though the Haven is a cruel and heartless dictatorship.
Asking that members participate in a community is hardly on the same level of the Nazis. Even making the comparison is a huge leap, and one that doesn't even be made.
Last I recall, you needed 50 posts to access the Gallery. Yet, you can still view the dozens and dozens of sub forums all containing constantly created content. The gallery is a massive dump of older captions and archives from those posting. My own included. All of this is being horribly oppressed behind the cruelty of asking for participation.
Many communities are full of people expecting something for nothing. The caption community is rife with lack of feedback. The haven started the rule to try and change that, and hopefully get someone into the community as an active person.
As for the fact they don't agree with how your content is presented, I dont understand the complaints. Its their community, so they can put their own rules in place. My grocery store doesnt allow me to come in without a shirt on, but it doesnt make it a place run by Nazis.
The art isnt being hidden away. Its still freely availiable. You must think people who charge for access to TG Comics and stories are also Nazis, for hiding content behind a paywall, and not letting everyone have it for free.
I apologize for the fired up comment, but your comparison is weak, and offensive. For someone concerned about the unity of a small community, to call people Nazis for a simple participation based entry fee is both silly and childish.
I haven't brought it up in years until someone said that's the reason why nobody adapts anything I do.
DeleteNAZIS were more than just concentration camps. They burned books, stole artwork, imposed strict cultural rules, and more.
There's people out there that enjoy capped pics but barely understand English well enough to comment, and others still hide this from their families and will change e-mails constantly just to make sure they aren't found out.
When you draw something and charge it's different than capped pics. Capped pics are based on fair use copyright law, and you cannot charge for those legally.
The Haven crossed a moral line.
I stood up for the readers they were trying to exclude, to segregate, and that's what it was.
Nobody else was against it though. Why? Because they were tired of the days of no comments.
The Haven took an inclusive community and made it exclusive. It forced people to participate to see content that was originally 100% free whether you commented or not.
Forced participation to get access is not free will. Those comments are meaningless because they are just a means to an end.
And I tried to compromise. I tried to do the right thing. Rachel herself told me there's no way my capped pics could be archived there and be seen by everyone no matter what. It's my works and my request. She wouldn't even accommodate the writer. So who's inflexible?
Before the Haven the TG community was much different. It was inclusive, understanding, and nobody excluded anybody.
Then the Haven came along and all the people from the way it was just let that rule stand without a fight. Because those rules don't apply to Laureates. That's inequality. They made a captioner class with all the privileges regardless of participation and a reader class that had to participate to read.
That's not equality.
create a alternative to the haven ,get in touch with the others that have been black listed, and run it the way you want.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if I'm blacklisted or not, someone just commented that could be the case. Honestly before that comment I was happy to just be done with it in the past. When this went down years ago it was pretty heated. I was very passionate about it. I figured what was done was done but obviously, several years later it's not. Seems like people hold a grudge against me. That one comment ruined my day because it brought all this back. I was probably going to do new capped pics tonight but I'm now just trying to get this off my mind.
Delete