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11 years ago
Gonna open my big mouth again; I both can't resist doing it and care about the community enough to want to say something. Putting aside my exasperation at seeing shit explode once again, I've tried to think more clearly about this site.
Personally, I value the art connections I've made here at FA to the point that it would be extremely difficult to get me to leave, but I've been reading other perspectives and trying to empathize with them. There's a lot of anger directed at the FA staff (ignoring those who are just using the occasion to vent out whatever venom they have inside about other issues in their lives) and I've seen it repeatedly said that, though angry, there are good intentions involved. I'm a firm believer in the importance of intent, I think it makes a real difference, like between manslaughter and murder, so I'm on the side of people with genuinely good intentions. The problem I'm seeing here is the lack of information on intentions from the staff side.
If someone makes a decision that, in hindsight, is a poor one, it helps to know about the person who made the decision and why they made it. It's extremely difficult to empathize with inexplicable actions, they're just confusing and irritating. In the absence of a rationale behind a person's actions, observers are going to make one up. Looking for explanations and assigning agency to events is a natural human response to phenomena, so when we KNOW there's a human agent behind an event, we naturally want to try and understand it in human terms. If no explanation is forthcoming, the intentions behind an action will then depend on the demeanor and experience of the observer. It could be an honest mistake, outright malice, a practical joke, a result of wishful thinking, willful ignorance etc. Because the standard line of action that the staff takes here is to bugger off until things simmer down, people are always left grasping at straws as to what motivated the decisions that are made. Of course, there's always the problem that, even if you did try to explain yourself, you wouldn't be believed. I think it's still important to try to explain, however. If nothing else, it separates those who really give a shit from those who just want to be as shitty and aggressive as possible, because they have an opportunity.
The other issue I have is the general dehumanizing effect of the way some people are arguing. I've seen Zidonuke described as a "sin but not the sinner", for example. In the past I've seen people tell Dragoneer that he is "human garbage". As much as one may enjoy thinking that the objects of their dislike are fully worthy of it, it's something to be avoided if you care about having any personal dignity. If you give a shit about understanding anything people do it helps to keep seeing them as people. Just a suggestion. Oh, and it's also possible to get so wrapped up in the excitement of drama that you lose your place in it and start acting like a conspiracy theorist. Shit like dehumanizing insults and blindness to reason are a serious pain in the ass and they don't do anything useful either. Either one is making evidence-based points or one isn't.
Personally, I don't want to make a judgment of the staff until I have more information. Not that my judgement would matter or anything, but I still feel like a lot of shit is missing and it'd be nice to have it filled in. Oh, and it'd also be nice if anyone could join the site staff and not get hounded off within days amid a sea of abuse, instead of being given an opportunity to do anything or even state their case.
Personally, I value the art connections I've made here at FA to the point that it would be extremely difficult to get me to leave, but I've been reading other perspectives and trying to empathize with them. There's a lot of anger directed at the FA staff (ignoring those who are just using the occasion to vent out whatever venom they have inside about other issues in their lives) and I've seen it repeatedly said that, though angry, there are good intentions involved. I'm a firm believer in the importance of intent, I think it makes a real difference, like between manslaughter and murder, so I'm on the side of people with genuinely good intentions. The problem I'm seeing here is the lack of information on intentions from the staff side.
If someone makes a decision that, in hindsight, is a poor one, it helps to know about the person who made the decision and why they made it. It's extremely difficult to empathize with inexplicable actions, they're just confusing and irritating. In the absence of a rationale behind a person's actions, observers are going to make one up. Looking for explanations and assigning agency to events is a natural human response to phenomena, so when we KNOW there's a human agent behind an event, we naturally want to try and understand it in human terms. If no explanation is forthcoming, the intentions behind an action will then depend on the demeanor and experience of the observer. It could be an honest mistake, outright malice, a practical joke, a result of wishful thinking, willful ignorance etc. Because the standard line of action that the staff takes here is to bugger off until things simmer down, people are always left grasping at straws as to what motivated the decisions that are made. Of course, there's always the problem that, even if you did try to explain yourself, you wouldn't be believed. I think it's still important to try to explain, however. If nothing else, it separates those who really give a shit from those who just want to be as shitty and aggressive as possible, because they have an opportunity.
The other issue I have is the general dehumanizing effect of the way some people are arguing. I've seen Zidonuke described as a "sin but not the sinner", for example. In the past I've seen people tell Dragoneer that he is "human garbage". As much as one may enjoy thinking that the objects of their dislike are fully worthy of it, it's something to be avoided if you care about having any personal dignity. If you give a shit about understanding anything people do it helps to keep seeing them as people. Just a suggestion. Oh, and it's also possible to get so wrapped up in the excitement of drama that you lose your place in it and start acting like a conspiracy theorist. Shit like dehumanizing insults and blindness to reason are a serious pain in the ass and they don't do anything useful either. Either one is making evidence-based points or one isn't.
Personally, I don't want to make a judgment of the staff until I have more information. Not that my judgement would matter or anything, but I still feel like a lot of shit is missing and it'd be nice to have it filled in. Oh, and it'd also be nice if anyone could join the site staff and not get hounded off within days amid a sea of abuse, instead of being given an opportunity to do anything or even state their case.
i agree fully, but i cant words correctly enough to tell you how. just that i agree and thank you.
But yeah, it'd be nice to have some proper explanations but it'd also take a fuck of a lot of guts and personal fortitude, which is something I have no right to demand from another person. Especially since I wont have to reciprocate.
People need to take the site as it is and remember that, unless they have donated a large chunk of cash, there is really a lot of drama over nothing...
I've had these very same thoughts in the last uproar that happened during the Zauch incident, but this time I think things have been quite different.
What formed -I will stand by this- wasn't really a lynch mob as much as a group of people genuinely wanting answers over very shady things.
The problem is that Dragoneer has damaged his credibility to such an extent, that he'd need a miraculous change of personality to be able to regain it; it would need wisdom that he has never displayed publicly, and resilience and humility that, again, he hasn't displayed.
I think I explain my view on how things could have been handled pretty well here
https://www.furaffinity.net/journal...../#cid:43207308
Summarizing, if Dragoneer had conducted himself differently, maybe even we'd still have StarryKitten here, being helpful and making a change for the better (depending, of course, on his own ability to remain constructive). Dragoneer promised transparency and broke his promise -again- by bringing someone to the staff who had actually been there for a long while, and under a fake name, among many other mistakes. Everything could've been handled differently, but he has wasted his chances and his credibility is on the floor.
At this point, even if he says the truth one day, people won't believe him, I'm not sure even I would believe him, because he's acted like the proverbial kid crying wolf; after being fooled so many times, who's going to believe him when he really says the truth?.
I can empathize with him, and forgiveness is a virtue, but so is responsibility and justice. Remember he has brought most of these problems on himself (and others have had to pay for his irresponsibility).
It is nice to know there are still a few people out there that can look at things from a middle ground and see a bigger picture. ^_^
Very well spoken
People starting drama are less awesome.
People starting drama that could jeopardize awesome features of our community are not even in the running for awesome.
other than that, all these incidents sound the same after a few years.