Oddities...

[secondlina]

 Well damn.

I made this face a lot this week. And it's a face I keep for special occasions. First off, i'm annoyed with aspects of my job, mainly idiots calling. Second, I seem to be in a bit of a rut this week. I can't write a comic or an LJ post worth a damn. Third, holy flying macaroni Batman, what is the internet up to?

For starters, Namesake showed up on fandomsecrets. Of all the elements I was expecting readers to nitpick about (such as genders, Lewis Carroll's reputation as a pedophile, sexual orientations of characters, comparing to Disney, etc), someone seemed to have been bothered by the ethnicity of the Wendy character. Huh. That's... a little odd. From what I gathered, she had a very clear vision of what the Wendy of Peter Pan should be. and our version... din't really cover that. It's unfortunate for the reader that feels this way. I still think she should have given the story a bit more of a chance (since Wendy has yet to actually show up).

To continue.... Oh, Deviant art. More deviant art issues. For some, anyways. Deviant art technicians have eliminated the "Other" choice in their "gender" categories. As a person who works with software, I suspect that the technical team did it because the marketing team wishes to add gender-defined campaigns to the site (jewelry stores for isntance would be show on "girly" galleries). However, this has offended many people (including some of my friends). Basically, this has offended people who do not feel attached to a gender or another. Such as Transgendered or Queer folks. 

I admit, myself, I didn't get the issue right away. I'm pretty naive. So I still though LGBT people identified to a specific gender. My friends have explained to me that that wasn't the case. so I see more where this issue comes from. 

Also, To me, the change in itself is not insulting. As I said, it's probably marketing based. But the Deviant art tech support was very rude to many who complained. and I find that is the bad point. Not understanding there's an issue? That's an honest mistake. Being rude to people who report said issue and refusing to fix anything? That's bad public relations and just doesn't cut it.

I won't quit deviant art (since I use it for work, among other things).

However, yesterday, me and dqbunny  were considering advertising namesake on deviant art. Now? Not anymore. Not if we can avoid it.

So, if anyone knows good sites to advertise Namesake (either through project wonderful or not), please let us know! We appreciate all guidance and suggestions. 

Also, have cool namesake drawings I designed for the banners to make you feel better.



Sorry for not drawing comics this week guys. I am really void of joke ideas.

- Isa

Comments

[shourimajo.livejournal.com]

It was really stupid on their part, first because of Spirit Day and then because deviantart has always claimed to be a "non-conformist" place. I honestly have had issues with the website since the whole 'Yellow Alien' issue (one of the co-creators left and they basically rewrote the whole site history so it would seem he never took any part in creating the site). Then the "erect penis = porn / photo of your open vagina = art!!" hyprocrisy and "underage characters drawn as adult in adult situations = bad / nude cosplayers wearing a wig of same underage character = good!" crap, I guess this was just the last straw. I don't think the whole uproar is because of the change itself (because honestly, it would have been quickly and easily changed if they noticed what a stupid move it was) but the whole PR response to the person who e-mailed them politely, that was really rude! I'm English as Second Language and even I know the difference between the terms and what words to use.

Sorry, I didn't mean to rant on your LJ :P I've been discussing this topic to my boyfriend on Skype all day and it just amazes me how sometimes people fail to treat their customers right o.o (plus all the other issues) And honestly? I'm female/straight/dating a straight guy/cis-female (or whatever the term is, sorry I don't know) and I **HATE** with a passion when they put "girly ads" for me. Sorry, I really DON'T care about your "baby maker software" at aaaaaaall. :P


(And Project Wonderful is your best option for webcomic advertising. Find websites that are in the same literary genre as yours, advertise there and see which sites they are on.)

[dqbunny.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed reading this rant. I think DA is a site I could easily give up, but it's like LJ - it's where most people I know are and I don't want to give up those relationships or seeing certain material. Now, Dreamwidth has enough people to where I keep both a DW and a LJ account, but far more people I know participate here.

The thing that sucks about DA is that a good bit of their users don't realize all the asshatery that's going on there. In a lot of ways, it's worse than LJ because LJ did eventually turn a blind eye to the adult stuff again once concrete rules were in place and the publicity backed off.

I think everyone who wants to run a major business should be required to take PR classes from both a professional reporter and a lawyer. It would eliminate so much of this, I think.

[shourimajo.livejournal.com]

It is indeed like LJ! I've used it for 'art networking' for years, but for the past... two or so, it's just been dying in my small niche. I'm not gonna delete my account cause I store a lot of information in there, but truth is, I haven't been very active in general. Also it's cool that everyone is posting links to new art communities, I've been looking for new ones for a while! :P

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

Oh, gosh, the erect penis versus vagina debate. It would bother me more to see Deviant art do it if it wasn't the case for every single online/offline gallery out there. The eye of the viewer is still considered so male, all over the place. It's annoying and sickening. Everytime I see teenage boobs on deviant art I want to bore a hole in my skull. Them banning this stuff isn't deviant art's fault per say. The viewers are often the ones that judge what gets banned or not, and they are the ones that go "PENIS!"

Don't worry about the debate stuff. I love it! I'm sorry I didn't get to reply to comments before now.

[shourimajo.livejournal.com]

The problem I have with it is that if you do report vaginas (and I'm talking camera between the legs using fingers to 'get a better view'), they reply back saying that "it's allowed by the Terms of Use". It's not only the users but they enforce it too. If you specifically have a gallery called "Nude Art/Erotica" and I don't know if they still have the "Fetish" one, I'd say that it should have everyone's likings, shouldn't it? :P

[secondlina.livejournal.com]

...okay, if nobody reacts to the reports, then this is officially no longer in "people are silly" territory. What the heck?