"Bandwagon" Harassment - We need a way to stop it

[Ebon_Jackal]

It's ridiculous, but it's happening all over the place on FA. Two very talented artists that I know of for certain have been scared off because of it already, and possibly a great deal more that I'm unaware of. One of them, many of us probably knew very well... for the entire week and a half she spent here.

Parfait

For those who don't understand it, I'll explain as best I can. Apparently, a lot of users on FA became jealous of Parfait because as soon as she rolled around she was getting tons of gift art. With good reason, too! A cream and pink sabertooth cat isn't a fursona that gets invented every day. But, anyway, these jealous idiots decided that they were going to harass Parfait by making unjustified slurs. One of the most popular ones was that she 'did favors' to get all that gift art done. It must have been overwhelming, because 15 days later she left. She's been gone since.

Is there any way that this sort of thing can be prevented? I understand that there is a Report Harassment feature on FA, but is it practical to use it over and over again for every stupid twit who gets jealous and flings mud at you over nothing?

Thanks for the time.

 

[Ceceil Felias]

What else can be done?

The admins can't do anything if they don't know.

The harassment/site violations forum is probably the best bet, though, since multiple offenses can be added to the same thread. The only issue is that the person being harassed should speak up for themselves in such a case -- not much is going to be done if they leave over a few petty idiots.

 

[Ainoko]

I agree with the above statement

 

[Jekkal]

Responsibility of FA aside, I'm not sure we're getting the whole story here.

Random good-looking fursona /artist does not appear out of nowhere with that kind of following. Hell, if she does, explain to me what I'm doing wrong 'cause I'd love some of that kind of action.

I realize you're probably not clued in to what's going on, or if you are, you're not keen on telling us. That's fine, but I still have a hard time believing that a girl arrived, and within one week had so much drama and gift arts that she had to quit over merely having a cute fursona.

 

[Fox Glove]

Uhm. Who cares? It's not anyone's business how much giftart she gets anyway!

Who cares how she got it? Are you insinuating whatever she did it was against the rules? That seems as far-fetched as her randomly getting gift art.

So are you saying it's right to harass someone just because they get a little more gift art than you?

Furries are generally a "swarm" so to speak. If there's one person with one thing 3 furries can agree that they don't like, then a swarm of harassment and bullshit will be flown in. I think it's about time you guys changed your attitude.

Flaming someone over giftart? Seriously? Furries have reached an all new low.

 

[WolfeByte]

Random good-looking fursona /artist does not appear out of nowhere with that kind of following. Hell, if she does, explain to me what I'm doing wrong 'cause I'd love some of that kind of action.

Female. Friendly. Draws big-breasted fursona in cute, popular and decently competent style with a side order of serious 'free love' type vibe. That's pretty much the only formula for instant success in the furry fandom that works better than 'frequent uploads of gay porn'.

If she had a thicker skin while retaining the pleasant demeanor, she could probably have given Bernal a run for his money in the desperate hetero male demographic.

 

[Le_Démon_Sans_Visage]

My fursona is a cute saber-toothed tiger. She is really fun and bubbly. She doesn't have any real preference of a 'partner' and is open to most things. She adores sweet foods, being naked, really fluffy and silky things, and being surprised

Yeah, I can't imagine why ANYONE would POSSIBLY want to curry her favors by showering her with gift art.

 

[Wolfblade]

Ceceil is right. There really isn't anything to be done about it besides reporting it.


If you see it happening, report it in a thread here, or file a trouble ticket, or for a quicker response, note an Admin about it directly (I try to respond to any note I receive within a day or two, tops).



If we don't know that something is going on, then we can't do anything about it. If you see something that you feel should be getting attention, and isn't, then we probably haven't seen it, so let us know.

 

[Arshes Nei]

Parfait is Spazzykoneko.

So of course friends that know that artist would shower that person with gift art when she submitted. But it's interesting how much of a double standard it is when the artist is female versus male. I just wonder why people CARE so much though. Like if they died they'd want on their epitaph "got furry porn from XXX artist"

 

[Mazz]

I demand FA devote a team to fallow around all the furries on the internet to make sure they have no reason to baww!
--
*groan*

 

[mapdark]

Look .. this story makes no sense.

Someone comes on FA , and within a week she manages to get trolld to death (because of GIFT ART?!) and leaves..

There IS something missing to the story..

but anyway .. like other people said up there . report abuse..

but then I wish eveyone could just grow up and accept criticism (AKA stop saying all forms of criticism is HARASSMENT) and stop telling they're leaving the website FOREVAR ..

And if the criticism is NOT based on any good facts.. well then just IGNORE it..

geez

Also ..the FA mods can't exactly do much more than what they already do.

Give them a chance .. they have lots of work to take care of .. so unfortunatly .. monitoring every single post for potential harasssment is not exactly a priority .. or so I would HOPE

 

[kayedarktail]

Suggestions like this are why we can't have nice things. Seriously, this is kindergarten shit -- you expect the admins to hold everyone's hands, but this is an unrealistic request because there simply isn't enough moderators to cover every single minute issue on the site.

And besides, if we were banned for saying anything but praise, this or any other place would stop being fun and attractive.

edit: Also, consider the fact that most of the users on this site are over 18. People who are over 18 are generally considered adults, and are able to resolve their own problems. If they rely on moderative staff too much, they will never gain the ability to defend themselves.

 

[Arshes Nei]

Look .. this story makes no sense.

Someone comes on FA , and within a week she manages to get trolld to death (because of GIFT ART?!) and leaves..

As I stated before, this was actually a previously known and popular female artist, that decided to create a cute character. She uploads the art goes under the new character's name, and probably talks with a few friends who are also populart artists that went "EEEEEEEE! CUTE" so this bandwagon of gift art began. Since it was through other known artists, this catches more attention and watches.

So the female condition appears and quite a few women (some men) become really petty and jealous. I didn't even know about the drama until a friend posted a journal requesting to leave said user alone.

It was mostly OTHER women bitching about it- showing how shallow they are about stuff that doesn't matter. On the flip side of it, there were men running over to cuddle said user like it made a difference. If she felt she was really being abused she could have reported it.

If this was a male user, I don't think you'd see so many petty women, and you wouldn't see guys running to comfort. This was actually fascinating to watch like some bad psychological experiment.

User overreacts to the probably few shallow and petty women bitching and decides to abandon the account. (Few compared to the many watchers).

There was some other kinds of bitching about the gift art, like some people complaining they didn't even get a thank you for doing it, but it's still very silly.

If anything, I took note of the women who acted that way and removed them or didn't bother to watch them. I don't need that kind of headache in my life so keeping them out of sight and out of mind keeps it more peaceful. The other side of me found the whole thing hilarious.

 

[melaniecaffrey]

If the forums aren't helping her then she should get in contact with an admin directly. I do when I need help I talk to Dragoneer/Preyfar
he always helps...or do like I do also and put them on the block list

When I first came here I was attacked cuz I hate cub art and I think its wrong and well ya get the picture so I was attacked over it. Well I'm still here, your friend just needs to learn how to use the FA filters and block list. I'm sorry this has happened to her does she have a DeviantArt account? I would love to get to know her better she seems sweet and I think her art is beautiful and her character is adorable <3 I left her a message but incase she don't get it could you maybe give her my DA account if she has one?
http://naverafuerbrand.deviantart.com/

Tell her that people there are alot less full of drama they are more laid back maybe she would fit in better there who knows.

 

[Arshes Nei]

I'm sorry this has happened to her does she have a DeviantArt account? I would love to get to know her better she seems sweet and I think her art is beautiful and her character is adorable <3 I left her a message but incase she don't get it could you maybe give her my DA account if she has one?
http://naverafuerbrand.deviantart.com/

Please read the thread. You might become better informed.

 

[Wolfblade]

Suggestions like this are why we can't have nice things.

Nothing wrong with suggestions, so long as everyone understands that just because a suggestion has been made, that doesn't mean the Administration will, or even should, immediately leap to enact it.

So criticizing people just for making a suggestion is as unnecessary as people getting worked up when a suggestion is/isn't taken. If you disagree with a suggestion made, please feel free to state why you feel the suggestion to be a bad idea, but refrain from being dismissive or insulting to another user just for making it.

And besides, if we were banned for saying anything but praise, this or any other place would stop being fun and attractive.

People too often equate "discouragement of pointlessly and excessively hostile/confrontational remarks" with "banned for saying anything but praise." It really is a bit tiring. To my knowledge, nobody has been banned just for "saying something that wasn't praise." Constructive criticism and even strong disagreement will not get Administrative response until it either passes into the realm of directly insulting or confrontational behavior, or the user on the receiving end has expressed they do not want critique to whomever is offering it.

The purpose of this service is to allow people to share their personal creative talents. Plenty of users are here JUST to share, and are not viewing the site as a source for critique. Though they may be closing themselves off from a potential avenue for growth, it is not the purpose of the site, or the privilege of users, to attempt to FORCE that growth upon them should they be comfortable with their current skill level and are just here to share.

edit: Also, consider the fact that most of the users on this site are over 18. People who are over 18 are generally considered adults, and are able to resolve their own problems. If they rely on moderative staff too much, they will never gain the ability to defend themselves.

One would think adults would behave differently, yes.

But there are plenty of users who are adults, and more than capable of defending themselves, but who do not come here to be exposed to situations they have to defend themselves from. Our terms prohibit harassing, defamatory, and disruptive behavior. If Users find themselves on the receiving end of behavior that violates the site terms, they do not have to defend themselves. This is not the real world. It is not a training ground to prepare people to endure the artificially constructed harshness of the internet.

It is an online entertainment art community. If they choose to dismiss the petty slings and arrows of a juvenile attempt to start a conflict, and simply ask an Administrator to intervene and enforce the guidelines of the site, that is a perfectly mature and acceptable course of action.

Wishing to avoid a petty conflict with a complete stranger on a site that is not meant to be a staging grounds for conflict by asking an Administrator to enforce posted guidelines is not a marker of immaturity. If anything, the ones who are unable to acknowledge posted and stated guidelines, and who feel a need to become involved in conflicts frequently are the ones showing a lack of maturity.

If anything, I took note of the women who acted that way and removed them or didn't bother to watch them. I don't need that kind of headache in my life so keeping them out of sight and out of mind keeps it more peaceful.

And that really is the absolute best way to respond to this sort of thing (regardless of gender). The block list is there for a reason: to give users a tool to allow them to partially moderate their own pages. Nobody has to deal with that sort of headache.

If blocking and/or just ignoring a user doesn't end the problem, then Administration can be contacted and will respond.



People will not get banned simply for 'saying something less than praise,' no matter how many people may dismiss the actual reasons for suspension or corrective note in favor of that one.