Clarifying

Subject: Clarifying
Author: Neshomeh
Posted on: 2020-10-21 04:16:43 UTC

I was under the impression Sonichu's author was known to have a severe mental illness, and that was the reason the comic was off-limits. Is that impression not correct?

Thing is, I think most writers identify strongly with their creations, especially writers of self-inserts. But, by and large, if we're considered old enough to post stuff on the Internet without a parent's oversight (i.e. at least 13), we're expected to be mature enough to learn how to distance ourselves from our work in order to respond to criticism, positive or negative, with objectivity. (Or, let's be real, how to get the excited squealing and ego-stroking or the wailing and gnashing of teeth out of our systems, then to have a think, then to respond with objectivity.) If over-identification were the only reason Sonichu got a pass, it wouldn't exactly be fair to, er, pretty much everyone whose stories we've sporked? Or even properly reviewed negatively?

~Neshomeh

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Hi, I'm Alyx by AlyxdeChrom on 2020-10-12 15:43:31 UTC Introduction Plug Reply

Hi, I'm Alyx, author of the Omegaverse stories (they may be badfics, though I'm not sure - will plug them later if anyone wants to do a mission on them) and am friends with a semi-famous author on Wattpad, Gore_Jus, who is the creator of the Emethyst's Journey series (which is VERY much a goodfic, 9/10 would recommend despite very infrequent grammatical errors.) I am a huge fan of Dragon Ball, Madoka Magica (something I'm afraid is hardly touched on in the PPC AFAIK, despite the high potential for Suvian characters due to the concept of Incubators granting wishes - something that is all too easy to play horribly if you don't give characters their downfall as the Faustian-style contract demands), Crusader Kings (not much fanfic here, but AARs could count, I guess), Ace Attorney, Undertale (oh dear gods, how many badfics does this fandom have?), and Helltaker (fortunately, it's a fairly new fandom, so there isn't much to cover.)

I'm also a Christorian, and while there isn't much positivity to it, there might be a chuckle or two had at the comic characters' expense (at least when they aren't doing NSFB stuff. Sonichu is hilariously bad, but it's naturally NSFB.)

EDIT: Adding links to the fics I mentioned: Omegaverse fanfic: https://www.wattpad.com/story/237992311-omegaverse-the-infinite-realm

Emethyst's Journey, Part 1:https://www.wattpad.com/story/204925347-pok%C3%A9mon-sun-moon-emethyst%27s-journey

Emethyst's Journey, Part 2: https://www.wattpad.com/story/225614558-pok%C3%A9mon-sun-moon-emethyst%27s-journey-continues

There's a crossover of the two planned, but she's been severely off-schedule.

Welcome to the PPC! by Tomash on 2020-10-15 20:11:38 UTC Reply

Have two cents! They're useful for chiming in to a discussion.

Are you wanting an invite link for the Discord?

They asked for an invite link... by GeniusGamer on 2020-10-18 14:48:11 UTC Reply

...in this post.

Hi! by Kittyauthor on 2020-10-15 00:36:13 UTC Reply

Hello! I'm Kittyauthor, also known as KitKat. Here, have a glass frog!

I go by they/them pronouns.

~~I really need to write a mission that includes glass frogs somehow lol~~
Welcome! Have an unwritten novel! by doctorlit on 2020-10-13 02:43:50 UTC Reply

I do want to mention, we have a general rule of thumb not to make fun of Sonichu here. The self-insert hedgehog is too tangled up in the author's identity, and we have a (much more official) rule to only mock stories, not the authors who wrote them. Just letting you know! : )

—doctorlit

Clarifying by Neshomeh on 2020-10-21 04:16:43 UTC Reply

I was under the impression Sonichu's author was known to have a severe mental illness, and that was the reason the comic was off-limits. Is that impression not correct?

Thing is, I think most writers identify strongly with their creations, especially writers of self-inserts. But, by and large, if we're considered old enough to post stuff on the Internet without a parent's oversight (i.e. at least 13), we're expected to be mature enough to learn how to distance ourselves from our work in order to respond to criticism, positive or negative, with objectivity. (Or, let's be real, how to get the excited squealing and ego-stroking or the wailing and gnashing of teeth out of our systems, then to have a think, then to respond with objectivity.) If over-identification were the only reason Sonichu got a pass, it wouldn't exactly be fair to, er, pretty much everyone whose stories we've sporked? Or even properly reviewed negatively?

~Neshomeh

Sorry, I didn't notice this thread was getting attention again. by doctorlit on 2020-10-25 18:01:19 UTC Reply

I'm really not comfortable talking about Christine's personal life at all, which is why I used such vague wording. Sorry if that came off as erasing mental health problems, or anything else disrespectful. I just don't feel I have any right to discuss a stranger's issues.

—doctorlit wasn't aware Christine had transitioned until this thread, either
If that wasn't the initial reason for it, it should definitely at least be part of it. by Larfen on 2020-10-21 12:55:28 UTC Reply

But also a lot of Sonichu veers hard into RPF; Chris herself is a major protagonist, and many side characters/villains are either straight up people she knows or are clearly parodies of them. Not to mention the plots usually just being stuff that's occurred to her, et al et al. Sporking it would be more like sporking someones like journal or whatever than it would be sporking a piece of fiction.

All around it just really isn't worth our attention. Like, a whole ironic fanbase formed around this with the sole person of bullying and harassing its author. It all just feels gross; I feel like the further we keep away from it the better.

Yeah I was under the impression that the primary reason was... by Thoth on 2020-10-21 16:43:13 UTC Edited Reply

Both the mental illness, and the context surrounding even criticizing it.

At this point, there has been so much bullying and abuse hurled at the author that to write something like a spork would just... be in bad taste. It would be aligning yourself with a decades long harassment campaign against the author by some of the worst human beings on the internet. (People who have, might at add, previously doxxed PPC members, if I recall correctly). It's at the point where discussing the work can't really do any good for anybody.

You, sadly, do recall correctly by Tomash (on mobile) on 2020-10-21 17:23:52 UTC Reply

I actislly got doxxed by those folks (Kiwifarms, who're an outgrowth of the Christina Chandler harassment campaign) (though they didn't get obsessively stalked by them, thankfully) because I was dating someone they were targeting.

I also say that sproking Sonichu would be a bad move given the historical context and implicitly align us with some people who really don't share out community values.

I suggest we go and park the "no Sonichu" rule on the wiki somewhere - it seems like we have consensus for it

I agree that that should be some sort of rule (nm) by GeniusGamer on 2020-10-25 16:14:26 UTC Reply
That's probably a good idea. by Neshomeh on 2020-10-21 20:36:17 UTC Reply

Didn't mean to imply I was or am ever in favor of sporking the comic, for the record. Just checking that we have the story straight—myself very much included, since this is the first I've heard of Chris being transgender. I haven't heard much if anything about this in quite a long time. (And that is why someone who is not me should probably compose whatever goes on the wiki.)

~Neshomeh

As for the Wiki: by doctorlit on 2020-10-25 18:12:54 UTC Reply

I feel like a very brief, straightforward article would be best, probably with no outside links to keep it clear that we have no links with the comic or its "fan" community, and no discussion of the comic's contents?

"Sonichu is a webcomic whose so-called "fandom" are largely trolls who only follow it for the purpose of harassing the author. Due to that situation, and the close relationship between the characters in the comic and the author's personal life, the PPC community does not spork Sonichu. It's best not to bring it up."

Feedback, anyone?

—doctorlit, a "fan" of bullies

Perhaps some clarification on the nature of the Sonichu harassment? by Cicada on 2020-10-25 19:23:29 UTC Reply

I feel like it might be a good idea to clarify that our position is less about the sort of snark-based fascination that a typical Legendary Badfic like My Immortal might get and the far, far beyond that behavior associated with Sonichu. A lot of people might not know enough about the situation to understand why we'd feel the need to draw the line here.

Next draft. by doctorlit on 2020-10-26 01:52:04 UTC Reply

"Sonichu is a webcomic whose so-called "fandom" are largely trolls who only follow it for the purpose of harassing the author. The PPC has a policy of only drawing humor from stories based on their text, and absolutely not commenting on the personal lives of the authors who produce them. The former is criticism; the latter is cruelty. Due to the autobiographical elements in Sonichu, and the close relationship between comic and author that has resulted in so much harassment being aimed at her, the PPC community does not spork Sonichu. In fact, it's best not to bring it up at all."

—Today doctorlit learned that "darft" is the funniest possible misspelling of "draft."

Looks great to me! Thanks for doing the professional words. (nm) by Cicada on 2020-10-28 07:14:08 UTC Reply

Apologies for that! by AlyxdeChrom on 2020-10-13 18:31:36 UTC Reply

Oh, sorry! I do realize that Sonichu is a huge part of Chris-chan's identity, but I'm used to being in areas where people do make fun of it often (like the CWCki, where I've made a few edits - nothing major, though, so I can still try harder to not make fun of him here than I would if I had been editing for years.)

Of her* by Delta Juliette on 2020-10-14 14:30:36 UTC Reply

Christine's a girl, my dude. She transitioned back in 2015.

At this point, I'd like to point you back towards The Constitution, with a gentle but firm reminder that yes, misgendering people, even when they aren't present, is pretty solidly discriminatory.

Sorry (again!) by AlyxdeChrom on 2020-10-15 00:23:56 UTC Reply

I'm not particularly used to calling Christine a she, in fact, most people I've seen misgender her intentionally. I'm gonna drop the subject now, I shouldn't have mentioned it in the first place. Sorry.

Hey there! by ShriekingOrneryShrike on 2020-10-13 01:42:24 UTC Reply

Oooh, another CK2 player.

Welcome aboard!
Hello There! by GeniusGamer on 2020-10-12 17:49:45 UTC Reply

Welcome to the PPC! I hope you have fun here!

I’d very much like to read the stories you mentioned. Also, it’s always nice when more fandoms are represented in the PPC.

On a completely unrelated note... by GeniusGamer on 2020-10-12 17:51:57 UTC Reply

I didn’t want to make a new thread for this, so I’ll mention it here. Is the word “edited” missing from edited posts for everyone or just me?

I thought they were replaced with the little blue block thingys by Kittyauthor on 2020-10-15 00:39:40 UTC Reply

Although I might be wrong about that. They popped up... a few-ish weeks ago? I'm not super sure.

But, for me at least, the little blue blocks are next to any edited posts.

Yeah, that was a delibarate change by Tomash on 2020-10-15 20:10:38 UTC Reply

Nesh suggested it a good long time ago and I finally got around to it.

Huh. I never thought about it that way. by GeniusGamer on 2020-10-16 01:54:36 UTC Reply

I thought of it more as “the word ‘edited’ has, for some reason, been removed from the blue block in edited posts” than “a blue box with the word edited in it has been replaced with a plain blue box”. Technically, both of those things happened, but I think that gets my thought process across more easily.

...I hope that was easy to understand.

Hey, Alyx by hidaney on 2020-10-12 17:15:03 UTC Reply

Glad to have you with us.
Hello, new person! by eatpraylove on 2020-10-12 17:12:27 UTC Reply

Glad you found your way to us. Here’s some popcorn to eat while you read the Original Series (or throw at particularly irritating characters, whichever) and a box of cat-shaped sticky notes!