  1. Welcome to the Fantasy Writing Forums. Register Now to join us.

Change in Policy?

Discussion in 'Ask the Staff' started by Russ, Jul 5, 2015.

  1. BWFoster78

    BWFoster78 Myth Weaver

    4,369
    940
    113
    Reaver,

    I can't speak for anyone else, but I'm certainly not questioning Black Dragon's integrity.

    Truthfully, I couldn't care less about whether the site accepts political discussions or not. Or about the views stated in the piece.

    But I think that it's useful for the site administrators to understand how their actions are appearing at the moment:

    1. Site says, No Politics.
    2. Site posts what a reasonable observer could certainly interpret as a political opinion piece with a flimsy tie-in to writing. I understand that that is not what was intended with the piece, but at least two of your members have interpreted it that way.
    3. Readers go, "Huh?"

    Y'all can do whatever y'all want.

    Thanks.

    Brian
     
  2. Reaver

    Reaver Kwisatz Haderach Moderator

    3,082
    1,052
    163
    Brian,

    My post wasn't directed at anyone in particular and if it seems like it is then please accept my sincere apology. I'd like to think that I'm a fairly intelligent and reasonable fellow but I honestly didn't see the article for more than what it is. My overall point is that we simply don't post political stuff here. Having said that, I certainly respect our member's opinions and certainly meant no offense to anyone.
     
    Last edited: Jul 8, 2015
  3. Nimue

    Nimue Auror

    1,592
    1,017
    163
    Yeah, but "No Politics" is a forum rule. The website isn't the forum, and, as somebody pointed out, article comments are moderated in ways that forum posts aren't. The intent of the "No Politics" rule is to keep things on the forum from devolving into name-calling and gnashing of teeth--not, as I would understand it, some sort of Stance of Apoliticality on the part of MS staff or submitters.

    I haven't read the article, so maybe there is truly objectionable stuff in there, but I don't know if I'd take one political and/or poorly-written article as a sign of some terrible policy failing.
     
  4. Devor

    Devor Fiery Keeper of the Hat Moderator

    7,818
    3,426
    313
    So, I get everyone's reaction to the article as it was posted. But I don't think there's a lasting issue here. I think Black Dragon has made it clear how the article got published, and that despite appearances, very little was meant by it. I've been here for years and I have only the vaguest guess as to what Black Dragon's own politics are, and certainly I think we've all seen that the moderator team here is politically diverse. And we're not so oblivious as to not let people's reactions here inform out future decisions.

    React to the article, certainly. But this isn't forebodings of things to come. It's just a weird blip.
     
    Reaver likes this.
  5. T.Allen.Smith

    T.Allen.Smith Staff Moderator

    4,044
    1,940
    163
    After reading the article, it seems like a reporting of a political discussion on policing issues, which broke out on a writer's panel at a convention.

    Since the recent riots, I've certainly thought about the topic in fantasy story-telling. I've mulled over other political issues important to me as well. Haven't we all? Isn't this kind of discussion at a convention a good thing? Some writers view their art as a vehicle for change. A way to approach a difficult subject from a new perspective. A way to change how we think through story. That's a positive thing. It's a strength of the genre.

    I understand why some might view the article with suspicion, or raise an eyebrow while the phrase, "Do as I do, not as I say" rattles around in their mind, but I think that's a stretch.

    From what I read, this didn't seem like an essay on taking "the right" position, or a means of persuasion.

    As an add-on to Nimue's comment, which I agree with, it's important to understand that our forum rules concerning the discussion of contemporary politics developed out of need.

    Quite simply, it was too divisive an issue. Political discussion on this forum was destructive, tearing a normally harmonious community apart. They made the gender and diversity discussions look tame in comparison.

    It's a shame, considering how the fantasy genre lends itself so well to the discussion of serious societal issues. But understand, if debating political issues could be handled by the membership, it would be allowed....because it's important to art. However, it never turns out well in practice. There are always some that cannot abide a contrary political opinion. This occurs in other discussions as well, but not with the frequency and frenzy seen in politics. Protection of our community was deemed more important.

    That doesn't mean you shouldn't think about discussing these hot issues in your writing. In fact, you'd be encouraged to do so and discuss how to go about such an endeavor. Just don't debate the issues here. There are other venues for that discussion.
     
  6. what was this even about?
     
Loading...

Share This Page
https://mythicscribes.com/community/threads/change-in-policy.14747/page-2
mythicscribes.com
crawl=CC-MAIN-2020-50
71023
application/http; msgtype=response
sha1:F2CXYHODSO27KI5XNBEIHDQFQ25RAZVZ
<urn:uuid:456bf682-52c6-4cb4-9455-20b7743427e9>
2020-11-26T21:23:34Z
104.26.7.251
text/html
sha1:KUGPCLEOZF7PYLHEWT4KTBGRWWFAPIKQ
<urn:uuid:b5b02cc1-11d6-4868-a955-4443ff286169>
https://mythicscribes.com/community/threads/change-in-policy.14747/page-2
response
<urn:uuid:25641901-153f-4ef1-9fa0-addaac9d7129>
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2020-50
publisher: Common Crawl
description: Wide crawl of the web for November/December 2020
operator: Common Crawl Admin (info@commoncrawl.org)
hostname: ip-10-67-67-31.ec2.internal
software: Apache Nutch 1.17 (modified, https://github.com/commoncrawl/nutch/)
robots: checked via crawler-commons 1.2-SNAPSHOT (https://github.com/crawler-commons/crawler-commons)
format: WARC File Format 1.1
conformsTo: http://iipc.github.io/warc-specifications/specifications/warc-format/warc-1.1/