Rot in the forum

[ben]

I do have a lotta issues with this forum so I tend to use discord more. For me it’s cus I have a lot of opinions on making comics that a lot of people don’t really like and I like to vent out my feelings in a space where I don’t think people will chew me out for it. And I do think some of my thoughts COULD seem really tough and discouraging to folks and I never EVER wanna be discouraging.

I’ve also seen and experienced some extra weird hostility specifically aimed at folks who do draw comics full time.

as for the gossiping I think that’s just going to happen when there are problem users in a forum. And there will always be problem users in any forum. I think the people I’ve seen gossip about tend to be people who have been confronted but continue to have issues in the community even after they’ve been brought to their attention. But it’s also not fair for anyone to keep doing that in a public forum over and over again and people do get frustrated.

[azzy-m]

damn, i was not expecting to hear that discord incident...

[SleepingPoppy]

I’ve also seen and experienced some extra weird hostility specifically aimed at folks who do draw comics full time.

Really? I feel like the majority of creators here gave the goal of making comics full time. I've seen a couple shots taken at hobbiests, but thankfully only a couple.

[yansusu]

I saw that with the discord in another thread and was shocked I never thought this kind of thing would happen with something related to Tapas since I always had a very good feeling about the community. On the other hand, exactly this same thing has happened to me in my old writing community (not because of age though) so I guess I should have expected it.
I honestly have nothing much to say to this and just want to shake my head at this whole situation. There's one thing though that I'd like to add in regard to what you wrote:

Experience in art is not something you will find in any of your fancy app’s or software, it’s something that takes time to learn, often the hard way. And that Experience is not given freely without the simple payment of respect.

This is very true and not just in regard to art. Experience is something that often (not always) comes with age. I'm actually very happy we have some 'old' people because this allows us 'young' people to get another take on things.
To be honest, what I really love about Tapas and its community is that it's so very diverse. Having people from all over the world and from different age groups is what makes many of the discussions here so very interesting. I often keep quiet in threads and only read and like but since I came here I've had a blast learning lots of new stuff from all the people here. So I guess thanks to our older community members for contributing to this. At least to me, your insights are very much appreciated.

[mariusthered]

oi misses i was reading that!

[irene_addler]

just a minute!!!! I hit the wrong reply button ughhhh

[irene_addler]

I've been wanting to say exactly everything that you just said, but I couldn't word it right, so thank you, that's exactly how I feel too! I love the diversity of community we have here, it's part of what makes Tapas special, I think.

[skicoak]

First off, the housekeeping...

Stan Lee was drawing up until his 70’s

What?!?

And for the serious stuff...

It has come to my attention that someone (one or more) has been talking behind my back on discord saying I should leave the forum because I am too old! (48)

I think while ageism is one of the key topics, it isn't the headline of what was/is going on there...it was the individuals/group that were planning to take a course of action to control the activity/membership of a public forum.

And while enough people are confirming it occurs that I don't look like the guy with the aluminum foil hat on, it still going to be handwaved away by certain folks as not a "big deal". Just like some people think it's not a big deal to "happy shame" people from posting negative thoughts or disagreeing with each other.

You say you don't want to get drawn into a petty argument ... But a statement like this...

End of the day the world is full of negativity. Making an effort to keep that away from this forum will result in creativity and make it a better place to visit.

...is EXACTLY the same kind of attempt to control the content of a PUBLIC forum as those folks that got you riled up about ageism. I don't know exactly what kind of -ism to call it but it's definitely a gate you're putting up to keep people out of your concept of community.

As one of the cats you're likely talking about, I don't care if you want to label me as ROT or not... Being even OLDER than you I can trump your experience card with mine. I can tell a whipper snapper like you that you're judging people from your point of view, and that means you don't have all the information you think you do...

It's a relatively small diagnostic tool but I'd love to see some of the "positive" people's ratios...I give out an average of 22​ every day I visit here. I must be a grumpy old mofo​

[ben]

It is weird and something I didn’t really expect to happen because I know a lotta people share the same goals! But it’s happened a lot in advice-y type threads and it’s usually just quietly passive aggressive. Like when me or some other folks try to chime in with our opinions there will be a comment of like “well unlike some people I don’t want to sell out! I want to keep my vision because iM A ReAL aRtiST!!!” OR following up our advice with how clearly luck is apparently the number one factor in finding success (both of these things are just completely insulting).

I thought it was just me noticing but a couple other folks have noticed it too.

[mariusthered]

well peeps for once i'm kind speechless. thank you for restoring my faith in this forum.

as i said before I was expecting trouble posting this but it seems to have been the thing to do and I'm glad some of the things that are upsetting people got brought to bare. lets hope we can find a fix to the problems.

I spend much of my time alone, so this place is important to me and it would have made me quite sad to have had to leave. I guess the bucket can stay awhile longer..... I'll be in the corner eating all your doughnuts!

[mariusthered]

I never had you or any one person in mind when i wrote this thread, and as i said im not getting pulled into bickering you are entitled to your opinions as i am. have a nice day.

[Rodimus13]

I just kinda sit in the corner waiting to see when I can maybe help people play nice and be respectful about their opinions.... I normally miss the moment tho.
hands over cookie

[skicoak]

you are entitled to your opinions as i am.

Yeah... But according to you if it's a "negative"opinion, I shouldn't really share it here or you'll have to quit the forums.

So not really the same thing.

[vothnthorvaldson]

I can't speak for Marius but I did not understand it like that.
I understood his "full of negativity" more in the sense "full of prejudice" in the light of the rest of his message.
Which actually made sense to me as some of the problematic people here are full of prejudices while spending their time calling others prejudiced...

[skicoak]

I can't speak for Marius but I did not understand it like that.

Yeah, that's an interpretation of what they wrote but it's not contextually what the post says it starts of with all of this...

The 5th Guideline of the community guidelines says…

Have FunThis might seem silly, but seriously, we want everyone here to be happy. This might be my personal tyrannical decree, but I really want everyone to want to be here. If you're not having fun on the forums, please think of why and what we can do to make it better. After that, I want you to reach out to me and we'll see what we can do to make things fun again.

Well I’m not having fun. We have people openly annoying each other instead of trying to help and encourage them.People going over to discord and talking about people behind the back of others.people making threads just to cause trouble. Dose this sound like a community to you?

I thought this place was for artist’s to come together and help one another and form international friendships, sharing skills and ideas.

Which is absolutely not about ageism.

[AceRagz]

SKi I think you are taking it the wrong way bruh. Marius has expressed negative opinions on the forum before on some of the policies and what not so having a negative opinion expressed is not something he is against in my opinion. I think what he is getting at is the "cancel culture" that is going on with some of the discord discussions and the bitter arguments that have resulted in belittling and name calling. And not the playful name calling you get into with JR that pretty much is understood as a joke.

[vothnthorvaldson]

Yeah I can understand, we focused on different aspects of the message.

I do think forums like that must stay fun, in the sense that in forums with space left for random discussion (ie not only technical/art specific topics), people are posting generally for entertainment, not to feel miserable.

But obviously people should not feel coerced into keeping things fun. Otherwise, it become a part of that larger problem of counterproductive, authoritarian political correctness.

That forum guideline point is not great.. Could be better to encourage civility than fun in my opinion.

But I'm still not sure what was Marius intentions when citing this article.

[skicoak]

bitter arguments that have resulted in belittling and name calling.

Same point really...direct belittling and name calling are obviously infractions that can be flagged and don't require a plea for everyone to be happy or positive.

I could easily be misunderstanding some of their individual comments but the intent comes with all the similar comments from the other threads with the exact same debate. It's part of the same argument telling/asking individuals why they come here if they're not happy.

[AceRagz]

Well I agree with you on that because it is simply not healthy to be happy and positive all the time to the point you have to fake it. I hope and think that is not the complete point of the thread but rather be focused on the destructive behavior that has been going on lately.

[Trevor]