I think it's interesting that I am seen as an awful person, just for giving my opinions on an internet webcomic. Look, I don't dislike fans or fandoms and even if I do, that has nothing to do with my criticism or what I was actually saying in my review.
I do not have to apologize for pissing on Homestuck. And ha ha ha I won't. I am being opinionated on Homestuck because those are my actual feelings on the webcomic. I am no troll, no hater, no anti-fan, but rather a person who has seen Hussie's crap and is tired of it finally. So, yes, as a critic I am pissing on the webcomic, and I'm going to keep pissing a sunflower-yellow stream urine of critiques and comments on this webcomic if prompted because I have a right to an opinion, my own, in fact. If you feel like you want to respond, please do respond to me. I love a challenge and a debate and would love an intelligent one. But stop with only going after what I said about the fandom and shipping stuff. I've addressed these things (for the record, I dislike obsessions and addictions in general and find them unhealthy. As an adult male I don't understand inordinately focused shipping or its prevalence in the webcomic if not for fanservice. I have no opinion on the people who do it in a healthy manner, and I thought I made that clear. If not, here it is! If you have a problem the let's discuss in a way that is intelligent.).
I have no desire to insult the broad fandom or the people who ship, even if I don't understand it. My main points were about the WEBCOMIC and how I dislike where it is, despite liking it very much in the past. I have a right to an opinion and a critique (and humor within my review) without being seen as a "douche," "pretentious," a "dick," or a ton of other little insults. Maybe I'm feeding the trolls while being seen as a troll myself. Okay.
Look, if you don't want to read an honest criticism on Homestuck, that's fine. And if you do, here it is again. I have no desire to further justify myself, and if you have a problem, direct it to me, not to my girlfriend who has absolutely nothing to do with my own opinions. I wrote this review up as a criticism on Homestuck, as a review on bad writing, and as a critique on something I used to love and have seen go down the crap-tube. I knew I would be attacked for a simple opinion, but I did not think that people would actually gloss over the opinion and attack me personally. I find this behavior offensive and childish.
Also, I have to say I find it endlessly amusing to be called a "douchebag" and that people "can't stand" me. Look, I'm criticizing something you obviously like. Okay. And that obviously means I'm a terrible person who should be called names, not even to my own face, mind you. I had to find this out from my girlfriend because she was getting hate-mail on me. Wow. Very mature.
Also, I have to say I find it endlessly amusing to be called a "douchebag" and that people "can't stand" me. Look, I'm criticizing something you obviously like. Okay. And that obviously means I'm a terrible person who should be called names, not even to my own face, mind you. I had to find this out from my girlfriend because she was getting hate-mail on me. Wow. Very mature.
Listen. I'm not going to defend the people who have given you hate (foremostly because I have no idea what kind of hate you've gotten) but I'd ask you to be sensible about this. To be honest, I'm kind of addressing a problem that goes far beyond you and this review.
ReplyDeleteYou have a right to your own opinion. Everyone does. But if your opinion is insulting and you post it in a public place, people have a right to get upset at you. And I find it almost funny to see, time and again, people posting inflammatory opinions on the internet, the most public of places, and acting shocked at receiving angry messages.
As a general rule, people believe that the things they like are 'good' in a way that is more than purely subjective, and that the things they hate are 'bad'. It's in and of itself an implied insult to tell someone that the thing they like is 'crap'. It thus takes time and effort, as well as tact and delicacy, to be negative about something without insulting anyone. You showed none of these things in your review. In fact, you took it a step further and actually insulted a lot of people.
You referred to Tumblr social justice groups as a 'community who believes that everything must be defined and put in its proper place despite these same people wanting to not be defined conclusively'.
You referred to the people who compose the 'base' of Tumblr as 'shippers and teenage girls who believe that they have a leg to stand on when it comes to thinking they understand more about life and hardships than anybody else'.
You referred to the Tumblr Homestuck fan community as 'ready to froth at the mouth at the slightest provocation from other fans, anti-fans, or Hussie himself'.
You also said that they 'often only enjoy the webcomic for its highly intriguing shipping content and very little else'. (While there's not necessarily anything wrong with that, it was certainly intended to be a negative in the context of the entire article.)
You again referred to Homestuck fans 'going on about shipping' as 'rabid', and later again referred to an unspecified section of the fanbase as 'rabid'.
You accused the fanbase as a whole of 'tak[ing shipping] more seriously than the plot of the actual story'.
You referred to *anyone* who thinks 'that this comic hasn't sunk to the lowest dredges of comedy and storytelling' as fooling themselves.
I don't have the time to go through the entire article, but I think you get the point. These are merely some of the ways you've *directly* insulted large swaths of people. Your criticism of the work itself could be excused as a necessary part of legitimate critical analysis, even though things like 'Homestuck started to go rotten, oozing literal bile out of all its sickened pores as it grew into the diseased blob it is today' are still completely unnecessary.
I will certainly defend your right to insult people and things that people care about. Being negative about something without insulting *anyone* is a difficult task that takes time and care. What I find ridiculous is your expectation that you won't be insulted in return. Honestly, compared to the things you said, being called a pretentious dick is pretty tame. (I, for one, would rather be called a 'douchebag' than 'rabid'.) It's not a point in favor of your intelligence or maturity that you're getting this hate, it's a direct consequence of your own words and actions.
Tl;dr: it's fine if you want to insult people on the internet; you have a right to do that. But if you're then going to complain about people insulting you in return, you're being immature.
PS: to all those who are sending messages to his girlfriend over this, just stop. She didn't do anything to you.
Anon, thank you for giving me a very well-written and well-thought out response. I appreciate that more than you know. And I agree with you. I did not honestly think I was insulting anybody (or the fandom in general) by what I was saying. And if that was the perception, then I do actually apologize, although the things I was getting called out for was joking about not listening to my girlfriend because I had a heavy semester when she first told me to read Homestuck and didn't have time to read it until a month after she told me, and the perception that I am an awful and pretentious person (which I sometimes am, especially about criticism, I can't fight that one). But neither of those things should have people directly calling me names or attacking my relationship. I'm sorry, but that's not right. And maybe I am just not thick-skinned about this, but it's really uncool to go after that as a first response, essentially saying that my girlfriend should no longer date me because of my opinions.
DeleteI was giving my opinions on what I perceive to be the core of the "vocal" portion of the more negative side of the fanbase and the webcomic itself. Both of which I do not like anymore. I do not enjoy them, and I thought that the negative point I was making was to the more "obsessive-minded" fans, the ones that are unhealthy in their likes, drawing essentially child-porn and doing the negative things that make this fandom known as one of the absolute worst around. I was saying that I do not like the darker side of the fandom, which is also saying that most of the fandom, in my opinion, is actually quite positive, but perhaps the wording came out wrong, and if it did, then it was my fault for writing quickly and not reading it back over well enough to fix.
It was my intention to praise the majority of fans and call out the rabid ones, not call the fandom rabid as, at least, you seem to think I did. If I did call the fandom at large rabid like that, I actually and sincerely apologize. That was never my intent. I was airing my thoughts, thoughts that have long since made me feel a little bitter towards that same "vocal" and negatively known fanbase as well as the webcomic itself for what I believe is pandering to those same unhealthy "obsessive" fans. Yes, the criticism was trying to light fires in people. That was my intent, and for better or worse, fine, I did that. But I did not intend to attack the entire fanbase, and I think some of my more joking language, language that I often use in many of my other reviews, fell flat in this one.
I wanted to air my grievances, and why I think the webcomic has gone downhill. I know that incites people and gives them that fight and defend mentality, but I was sincerely looking for a debate and some actual conversation on the topics I covered. The funny thing is that I had a fan of Homestuck read my criticism beforehand, a Tumblr fan as well, and while this person told me to change some small things, they were actually quite positive about the criticism in general even if they disagreed with some (or most) of my points. Now, I know, one fan doesn't mean much, but I guess I thought the response wouldn't be quite so childish when I thought I wasn't being childish myself.
Look nobody has to read this review or any other that I write. I could use the same argument that many others said to me: "if you don't like it, don't read it." I do this (reviewing and criticism) for fun and to show my opinions, always have and always will. I like debates and talking, and maybe it is naive, but I expected some maturity to my arguments.
I've been on the internet a long time. I have over 200 other reviews just on this blog alone and have received relatively little hate, although, yes, I have received some. Yes, I was expecting a fallout from this review, but attacking my relationship is a pretty low blow, wouldn't you say?
I think that's what bothers me the most. And it was the reason for this post. I don't care if people attack me so much, or call me nasty names that I didn't call them. (Remember I meant the term "rabid" to by synonymous with "obsessive," and in this case defining relatively few actual fans rather than using "rabid" to describe the entire fanbase.) What I care about is someone going after my girlfriend or saying that our relationship is terrible because I am a "douche" who has no valid opinion. That is something I think we both can agree on.
DeleteThank you for your mature response. You made some very good points, some that I didn't see before. I hope I addressed most of what concerned you here, but if I didn't I hope you let me know!
I'm the anon from above. I'm also Alexa/argentconflagration, and I anonned myself because I wanted to keep my comments about criticism in general separate from those about your initial review. I guess this post then is just from me to you as a person, and I'm going to talk about the things we agree on rather than the things we disagree on.
DeleteI basically agree with you. That's the main thrust of what I'm saying. It is definitely a low blow for people to attack your girlfriend and your relationship over this. I'm honestly surprised and impressed that you took my little essay up there as positively as you did, and I'm really glad because, you know, it takes effort to come up with and compose and proofread something like that, and one doesn't usually expect any kind of criticism to be taken positively, anywhere, at all.
I feel so ineloquent right now, so pardon the fact that I'm posting anyway....
I did honestly feel insulted by your first article. I'm a shipper, a roleplayer, a fanfic writer, and someone who considers Homestuck to be quality content. And I guess you know that now... Despite that, I responded to it because I felt that you were being more rational and balanced than other people who hate Homestuck, which there are certainly a lot of. I feel like Hussie has been getting a lot of stupid criticism recently, but you make some valid points, especially in your second article, which I thought was a lot more thoughtfully written. I might write another response essay, but I am kind of getting burnt out on these, and I don't have the drive anymore of feeling like you're completely misunderstanding everything.
Um, I don't really know how to end this, since I'm not going anywhere especially except to say thanks for taking my response well, and 'I'm glad we had this discussion' (that sounds stupid, oh well).
Yeah, it takes a lot to put everything you believe on the line on the internet. Boy, oh boy. The positive feedback helps, but criticism (especially of the constructive side) helps a ton as well. Your comment up there made me think about something I had not thought about because I didn't think it was even an issue. I think this is because I am so used to my own humor, my own writing style, and my own way of putting things pretty bluntly that I didn't quite see the problem. I honestly never thought I was insulting anybody... well, except Hussie and his comic... but I'm digressing.
DeleteI've seen a lot of the criticisms of Homestuck recently, and I disagree with most of them. A lot of the arguments that are vocally against Homestuck are incredibly inane, usually bashing shippers, the fandom, racism in the comic, or specific shippers or ships. I really have no idea how any of those things are criticisms of the actual comic, and find most of these "criticisms" to be downright insulting.
That is a big reason (besides finally getting fed up with the webcomic itself) that I wrote these criticisms in the first place. I was getting tired of seeing people call out the fandom and the ships/shippers for being what was wrong with the comic, when they have nothing to do with the comic at all.
Hussie and his writing are my ultimate problem and my ultimate criticism, especially his writing of late. I think he has lost something and simply hasn't gotten it back. Maybe someday the webcomic will improve again and be brilliant again... but I think believing that would just set me up for a worse disappointment than I already feel.
I have to say it feels good to have someone looking at the content of what I'm writing and feeling that there are some valid points. The second article was written mostly as a clarification of the first article, but also as a clarification of my stance. While I took more time on the first article, I also wrote it in my own voice, being a bit more flippant, a bit more humorous (to myself at least, although not to others, it seems), and a bit more blunt... but maybe less clear. I neutered my own language for the second to be as concise as possible, really evaluating and plotting out my points as calmly and rationally as possible. While I do have other thoughts about Homestuck, more criticisms, more analysis, and many more things I like about the webcomic, ultimately, right now, to me the webcomic is in a death spiral. I want to believe it will get better, but there's no evidence for this, and I've gotten tired of waiting for Hussie to get serious.
Thanks for all of your responses by the way! You've been one of the most mature people I've talked with as well as one of the best spoken, and while I'm sure we have disagreements, I think that we both want essentially the same thing: quality in the webcomic. The difference between us, the major difference at least, is that I've given up, while you think there's something worth staying for. If you have anything else to say on the subject, let me know! I'd certainly enjoy reading a well-thought out opinion!