Now that this community has mods, I think we should come to something approaching a consensus on whether there should be a rule against posting “nice” comics from transphobic and other kinds of bigoted artists. People like Stonetoss and Jago who have a lot of innocent-looking relatable comics, but also post the most mean, bigoted propaganda.
And I’d like to present a third option besides yes and no: one might post comics from bigoted artists after removing the artist credit, if the mods think that’s a good compromise.
Hi! As of right now, here is my take on the situation: as long as the comics (and posters posting them) do not break the rules, they are allowed. If we were to ban content based on its creators, there probably would be a lot of content people would miss out on. Take for example Harry Potter. In my personal opinion, the author is a trash person, and I personally will no longer invest my time, effort, or money into their franchise. However, the stories and lore and fan base are still good. There is an actor who had a recurring (and popular) role in Star Trek: TNG (and a few episodes of Voyageur) who turned out to be a trash person. But, the memes and other content being posted about their roles are still funny and entertaining.
I guess what I am trying to say is that I feel that the content is not always a direct reflection of the bad values that their creators/portrayers may have. But, if the community as a whole wants to band together and downvote said content or petition for a new rule that includes a common identifier (i.e., artist name) in the title so it can be keyword filtered by individuals, I would certainly support those efforts. I am definitely not on the side of removing artist credit, even if the artist is not someone I like for whatever reason. They still deserve credit for their work; if anything, so as to ensure other people know who they are and what kind of work they produce.
And if you have other ideas for how we can address these types of situations, please keep them coming.
The difference is the creators in question aren’t the ones making that content. A webcomic about the world of Harry Potter created by someone else has levels of separation from the source material, but if JK started a webcomic, I would object to it being posted and promoted here.
Harry Potter has a character who is a slave who was freed, and then became an alcoholic. That’s what slave owners said would happen after abolition. I think Harry Potter is very much a reflection of the values of its creator. And she spends her royalties on donations to hate groups.
That said, I do want to read Trans Wizard Harriet Porber And The Bad Boy Parasaurolophus.
Minority populations do struggle with high rates of addiction because of trauma. It’s just not the argument bigots think it is.
I think on its own that makes sense, but without some blanket bans on known hateful artists, people are getting exposed to the innocuous works, and then looking up the artists to find a backlog of hateful content. And bad actors are free to limit test what extreme they can go to before any mod response.
The way I see it, if you as a user like a comic enough to research the artist, and you discover said artist holds values that are offensive to you, then you’ve learned something valuable. Plus, you get to make up your own mind whether you want to continue following said comic/artist. It is a fine line to walk as a mod (or person in power) to dictate what is and isn’t acceptable at any given moment. I learned this the other day when I posted updated rules re-enforcing the original “family friendly” intention. People were quick to point out that we are all adults here and should be given the option of choosing for themselves. And there will always be people who try to take advantage of the rules. I can’t say what will or won’t happen for hypothetical situations that haven’t happened yet, because I honestly do not know how I might respond until it happens. So for now, I am willing to give people leeway and go from there.
Or a person who liked the artist enough that they went to look for more views it under the context of “I like this artist” so they’re more likely to rationalize or defend the extreme or questionable positions and the community remains complicit in platforming hate.
That is literally the role of a mod?
I do like the idea of putting some sort of identifier in the post title, so I created a new post for discussion.
Wait, who was the Star Trek actor?
The one I was referring to is Dwight Schultz (Lt. Broccoli). There are other actors/actresses I’ve heard who have political ideologies opposite of mine. It’s been a disappointing year for me in that respect. 😅