Multifandomdrabble
19 Aug 2021 16:22![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
extrapenguin![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
multifandomdrabble has, to the best of everyone's knowledge, banned a pinch hitter for tagging their crossover drabble with WandaVision (TV) when the recip DNW'd Vision. They have also put out several long posts about how the pinch hitter was not banned for adding a fandom tag. This comment explains the timeline and why people are so outraged; I've copied it under the cut for posterity/in case it's nuked. It's by an anon. fiachairecht has also given updates on the situation.My comment on the post, for posterity:
I would like to add my voice to the chorus of people asking that you clarify why the participant was banned. It is very important that an exchange's rules for banning be kept clear, as they are the floor on which participation is built, and you now have a large amount of participants worried that the line is not where you said you would draw it. You have stated that the author was not banned for tagging an unrequested fandom. What were they banned for, then?
Given the particulars of the situation, I would also suggest that you take a deep breath and as a team, go over the communications sent to and from the banned participant. Did you state that this counted as a DNW violation and that they would be banned if they re-added the fandom, or otherwise warn them of the upcoming ban? You might also consider getting a neutral third party to review your e-mail to see whether it read as you meant for it to be read.
I would also encourage for you to take a second read of this comment for its summarization of how the situation appears to the larger populace and why your attempts to address the situation have been inadequate at best.
And the anon comment (Date: 2021-08-19 01:46 (local)):
I've been a participant for years, and have taken on many pinch hits, but the extreme failure of MFD's mods to communicate with both their participants and with the community is incredibly disappointing. You've lost the trust and goodwill on which exchanges rely, and simply updating the rules post seems tone-deaf at best. You banned a pinch hitter, and you don't think the community at large deserves an explanation? IDGI.The mods will check that your work matches a drabble type and fandom requested by the recipient. If your work is tagged with an unrequested fandom, we may ask you about whether it matches the request if a quick search does not make that immediately clear to us. This is in no way meant to stop you from tagging with relevant tags.
The rules need to clarify if a fandom name can be a DNW. I would strongly encourage saying no, as otherwise you risk putting yourselves in the impossible position of, for example, a recip requesting Greed from Fullmetal Alchemist, but they hate Edward Elric so much that they DNW both his name and the name of the fandoms named for him (Fullmetal Alchemist, anime and manga). In which case there is no fandom tag that can be used.You will be contacted by the mods if there is concern you have written a DNW or behaved inappropriately. You will not be banned without first being given an opportunity to fix it. Banning may be for one round or permanent, based on the severity of the offense.
If the mods contact someone for a violation, they need to make clear what stage along the route to banning the writer is at. i.e., "This is your first notice. If we need to contact you again about the same issue and you fail to correct it again, you will be banned."
If the warning is for something that is later on discussed in a mod post (for example, if the FMA writer dutifully tags with Undisclosed Fandom, but then the mods officially post a statement saying "You may now add additional fandom tags if you wish"), the mods need to be crystal clear whether that applies to all participants, or all but those they warned. Bear in mind that if mods allow participants to DNW fandom names, this will greatly disincentivize writers, because their fics will become impossible for readers to find.Don't be abusive, harassing, or otherwise a jerk to your recipient, other participants, or the mods.
As there has been no official explanation of the highly controversial banning of an author this round for tagging with a relevant fandom name, I've been following the discussion on fail_fandomanon. As I have no life, I saw the banning happen in real time (https://fail-fandomanon.dreamwidth.org/504689.html?thread=3044870001#cmt3044870001 in this thread: the writer reading the post-exchange update, deciding to add a tag, and being banned an hour later). The writer did not mention the fandom or the recip's name, and seemed genuinely baffled. Other participants on FFA tracked down the drabble in question (as mods did not remove it from the collection), and from the tagged pairing it was easy to deduce who the recip was, and what their DNW was.
I'm not sure what the mods' opinion of FFA is, but it's very common for exchange participants to vent vaguely about many things: a late recip comment, a gift fic with poor SPAG, etc. 99% of the time, it ends there, with steam harmlessly blown off. In this case, however, many, many participants in that thread and the successive ones loved MFD and thought of it as a low-key, fun, charming exchange that was a fandom happy place. That the mods would turn so viciously on a writer - a pinch hitter for a rare pair, at that - seemed beyond the pale.
There still are people on FFA who assume the writer must have done *something* egregious, but after so much time has gone by, what we are left with is what evidence available to us supports:
1 mods asked a writer to retag during the exchange, which the writer did
2 mods make an official post saying tags can now be added, and the writer did ("Well okay, then I will add that fandom tag back on.")
3 one hour later, "And nevermind, I've just been banned from the exchange. Apparently it was the recip not the mods who didn't want this fandom tag."
4 mods EDIT the official post in #2 in an apparent attempt to obfuscate what happenedTo reiterate for those who were not on the last post, the situation where a participant was banned from MFD is being handled directly with that participant and we will not divulge the details thereof. Somehow, it appears there is a mistaken impression that a participant tagged with an unrequested fandom, and because the fandom was unrequested, we banned them. That was not the reason nor the circumstances behind the ban.
At this point, you cannot say "that wasn't the reason" and expect anyone to believe you. I can't believe you're willing to let the entire community burn like this.
(This is also the comment
fiachairecht replied to.)
no subject
Date: 2021-08-19 14:20 (UTC)I want to be encouraged that they haven't deleted/hidden anything yet, but that's quite literally the bare minimum.
no subject
Date: 2021-08-19 18:38 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-08-19 18:23 (UTC)Seriously, WTF.
no subject
Date: 2021-08-19 18:41 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-08-19 18:51 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-08-20 13:39 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-08-22 08:33 (UTC)ETA: Turns out the exchange is being retired! Perhaps for the best, as the main mod considers herself not to be in a place to mod stuff.
no subject
Date: 2021-08-23 20:33 (UTC)O.O
(ETA: I should perhaps clarify that I just now read through all of the posts and comments at the MFD community since you first mentioned it. Hence the "wow.")