TenSura WoG Rule Addition

[Ciel_Trinity439]

Hello. As we said in the RvR, I created a thread to discuss WoG in tensura.

Sources of WoG​

Currently, there are two sources of WoG

• Syosetu
• Official interviews

Types of WoG​

Although there are only two sources of WoG, the scenarios that WoG can come from are diverse. So here we will be discussing all of them and how to deal with them.

1. Web Novel Impressions
2. Activity Reports
3. Direct Messages
4. Interviews
5. Guidebooks

Let's explore each one of them thoroughly.

Web Novel Impressions​

These are a collection of a little more than 1400 pages (at present). Basically, it is the web novel readers in Syosetu giving their reviews on each individual chapters or in general.

Word of God from here refers to the replies Fuse wrote to some of the reviews here.

Now generally all of the WoG that can be sourced from here at present is valid, for the following reasons:

1. It is public, so anyone and everyone can access it themselves.
2. All of the actual WoG from here is during the time of 2013 to 2016, back when tensura didn't have an anime, wasn't popular outside Japan, and most importantly, when VS battles wasn't nearly as popular, so none of it said here falls under the category of "this uses terms and phrases unique to our power scaling definitions".
3. The Author is actually not just a yes/no man. Here is an examplatory page from the reviews. As you can see, Fuse is writing all his replies in details.
4. The WoG itself can easily be tracked using the Date & Time of each message which is unique and in perfect order.
5. All of this WoG is from reviews and replies on chapters, meaning Fuse was replying while simultaneously writing the actual novel (web), thus avoiding the hole of inconsisteny or death of author, as there is active context (chapters) to the questions and answers.

So unless some specific wog breaks some rule (such as being unclear), it is generally usable.

Note: This only applies to the replies Fuse has made so far, from around page 600 to all the way back to page 1400+, which date back to the time interval of 2013 to 2016. After that he stopped replying (and possibly even reading) due to his busy schedule. Therefore, none of more "recent" years where reviews were occasionally filled with powerscaling things was actually read or answered. However, if Fuse starts relying here again in the future, we would need to make adjust the rules accordingly.

Conclusion: This WoG is generally safe as of now.

Activity Reports​

I personally haven't seen WoG being sourced from here yet by someone else, but nonetheless it exists.

"Activity Reports" are basically like "Community Posts" from YouTube where the author can share information with his readers/followers. However, the one major difference is that all the replies are one-sided, directly replying to the original post. They cannot reply to each other, and the author cannot reply back to any specific reply.

In the case of Fuse, so far he's only used this feature to give one-sided updates about new volumes of LN, Manga, new spin offs, anime, movies, etc. There is also a large time gap between each activity report and it doesn't seem like the author replies (directly or indirectly) to anyone's reply.

I personally have read all of the activity Reports (only Fuse's OP) and did not find anything suspicious, but I've given the link so anyone can check.

Conclusion: This WoG is generally safe as of now.

Direct Messgages​

Basically like our Forum's direct message feature. You can directly say something to Fuse in a topic title —> format.

This source is generally unsafe becuase no one else other than the questionor and author can see or confirm the WoG. Therefore, given the type of things fan can ask here and the act that it's so easy to fake a screenshot, this should he considered unsafe and banned on vsbw.

Each person can also get their own unique answers varying on how they word their question, so inconstencies would undoubtedly exist.

Conclusion: WoG from DMs is generally unsafe and not trustable.

Interviews​

Interviews come in various types. There are English interviews, Japanese interviews, interviews about Fuse's own life, interviews on TenSura as a whole (like how tensura cams to be), Interviews on special occasions (like interview on the 10th anniversary), etc.

All in all, they have a few things in common that make them trustworthy:

1. They come pre-made from big sources, so the fans themselves cannot decide what the questions are and only find out when it's already published.
2. They are professional, so are the answers from Fuse in them, so they can't be excused with "are half hearted" or the like.
3. They are available to anyone and everyone.

While there may be some limited edition interviews form Japan on limited edition special volumes or merch, so far I have encountered none.

Conclusion: WoG from official interviews is generally safe.

Guidebooks​

There are also actually interviews in some of the guidebooks. For example, there's an interview with Fuse in TenSura about 100 things about Fuse, and there are the various interviews (maybe there is a different word for this in particular) between the Author Fuse and his Editor I-san on each Volume, both in tensura X.

These should be usable because:

1. They are indirectly part of the novel, directly part of the guidebook.
2. Written by Fuse himself.
3. They are official and published under Micro Magazine (the official Japanese light novel publisher for tensura).

Conclusion: WoG from Guidebooks is completely safe.

TL;DR​

Regarding the WoG in tensura:

1. Generally all the pre-existing WoG are safe becuase they can be officially sourced or are valid due to being outside the scope of vsbw powerscaling chronologically.
2. WoG based on private DMs is unsafe and not trustworthy at all, and should never be used.
3. WoG from the Impression Page (as of now), Activity Reports, Official Interviews, and Guidebooks is safe, trustworthy and usable.

Votes​

Web Novel Impressions:

Agree (10): Reiner04 and Twilight-OP and Just a Random Butler and DarkDragonMedus and FinePoint and Elizhaa and RitsuØ1 and Qawsedf234 and Vietthai96 and KingTempest

Disagree (4) : Plank69, Mr. Bambu, LephyrTheRevanchist,Theglassman12

Activity Reports:
Agree (12) : Reiner04 and Twilight-OP and Just a Random Butler and FinePoint and Mr. Bambu and Theglassman12 and LephyrTheRevanchist and Elizhaa and RitsuØ1 and Qawsedf234 and Vietthai96 and KingTempest

Disagree (4) : Plank69 and LephyrTheRevanchist and Mr. Bambu and DarkDragonMedus

Direct Messages:

Agree (16) : Reiner04 and Twilight-OP and Just a Random Butler and FinePoint and Theglassman12 and LephyrTheRevanchist and Elizhaa and Plank69 and Mr.Bambu and DarkDragonMedus and RitsuØ1 and Random-Helper323 and Qawsedf234 and Vietthai96 and KingTempest

Disagree (0) :

Interviews and Guidebooks:

Agree (16) : Reiner04 and Twilight-OP and Just a Random Butler and FinePoint and Theglassman12 and LephyrTheRevanchist and Elizhaa and Plank69 and LephyrTheRevanchist and Mr. Bambu and DarkDragonMedus and RitsuØ1 and Random-Helper323 and Qawsedf234 and Vietthai96 and KingTempest
Disagree (0) :

 

[Ciel_Trinity439]

also
Can you give the main/active tensura supporters unlimited post perm in this CRT?
@PrimeHydra64 @Cipher72 @Astral_Trinity439 and @AstraphelNoctis4

 

[KLOL506]

@Mr. Bambu @Planck69 @Elizhaa @LephyrTheRevanchist @DarkDragonMedeus @LordGriffin1000 @Dereck03 @Maverick_Zero_X @Just a Random Butler @Qawsedf234 @Firestorm808 @Abstractions @Celestial_Pegasus @GrathOfLux @Everything12 Your input in this thread would be appreciated.

 

[Reiner04]

These are a collection of a little more than 1400 pages (at present). Basically, it is the web novel readers in Syosetu giving their reviews on each individual chapters or in general.

Word of God from here refers to the replies Fuse wrote to some of the reviews here.

Now generally all of the WoG that can be sourced from here at present is valid, for the following reasons:

1. It is public, so anyone and everyone can access it themselves.
2. All of the actual WoG from here is during the time of 2013 to 2016, back when tensura didn't have an anime, wasn't popular outside Japan, and most importantly, when VS battles wasn't nearly as popular, so none of it said here falls under the category of "this uses terms and phrases unique to our power scaling definitions".
3. The Author is actually not just a yes/no man. Here is an examplatory page from the reviews. As you can see, Fuse is writing all his replies in details.
4. The WoG itself can easily be tracked using the Date & Time of each message which is unique and in perfect order.
5. All of this WoG is from reviews and replies on chapters, meaning Fuse was replying while simultaneously writing the actual novel (web), thus avoiding the hole of inconsisteny or death of author, as there is active context (chapters) to the questions and answers.

So unless some specific wog breaks some rule (such as being unclear), it is generally usable.

Note: This only applies to the replies Fuse has made so far, from around page 600 to all the way back to page 1400+, which date back to the time interval of 2013 to 2016. After that he stopped replying (and possibly even reading) due to his busy schedule. Therefore, none of more "recent" years where reviews were occasionally filled with powerscaling things was actually read or answered. However, if Fuse starts relying here again in the future, we would need to make adjust the rules accordingly.

Conclusion: This WoG is generally safe as of now.

Should be fine. Though, general sitewide rules regarding WOG are still applicable.

My position on post 2016 WOG is that they should only be considered valid if both the questions and answers originate from direct officials. Any WOG involving regular fans or general audiences, whether directly or indirectly, should be excluded to prevent 'loaded' or manipulative questions. However, real-time interviews with the professional press or at public events are acceptable, since it is nigh impossible to use pre planned, manipulative questions to steer an author toward a specific answer within real time interviews and in such cases, the author’s answers are more likely to reflect genuine narrative intent rather than a coached response to manipulative/scaling/leading questions.

 

[Just a Random Butler]

Should be fine. Though, general sitewide rules regarding WOG are still applicable.

My position on post 2016 WOG is that they should only be considered valid if both the questions and answers originate from direct officials. Any WOG involving regular fans or general audiences, whether directly or indirectly, should be excluded to prevent 'loaded' or manipulative questions. However, real-time interviews with the professional press or at public events are acceptable, since it is nigh impossible to use pre planned, manipulative questions to steer an author toward a specific answer within real time interviews and in such cases, the author’s answers are more likely to reflect genuine narrative intent rather than a coached response to manipulative/scaling/leading questions.

I agree.

also
Can you give the main/active tensura supporters unlimited post perm in this CRT?
@PrimeHydra64 @Cipher72 @Astral_Trinity439 and @AstraphelNoctis4

Only bureaucrats like @Antvasima can give you indefinite posting rights, so you should wait for him or other bureaucrats to come here and give all of you indefinite posting rights.

I'll give you and the people you mentioned posting rights for up to three posts, but make sure that your contributions remain relevant to the topic.

 

[Planck69]

My opinion on Word of God is that official author/developer/director etc. interviews with professionals are completely fine to use, since these are actual professional and scheduled interviews with the author or maker of a work.

Guidebook aren't even Word-of-God so that's never been in doubt. That section was unneeded since its still fine.

I find comment replies as dubious as any social media Word-of-God and would be extremely hesitant to apply it, especially given the recent debacle with this verse specifically.

 

[FinePoint]

Power-scaling has existed since long before this wiki, so the concern isn't just if they use our particular terminology. Any format where unvetted fan questions are posited is dubious.

For that reason I'm not sure I'd be comfortable with the DMs nor comment replies.

Everything else that's either one-sided or in some formal capacity should be fine.

 

[Mr. Bambu]

Some of the points in the OP are just blatantly untrue (ex: it claims VS Battles wasn't well known in 2013-2016, when it was extremely well known back when I first joined in 2016, etc), and some of the others just seem to have what I would call questionable judgment (ex: WoG written by Fuse being inherently a point in favor of acceptability, when this is more or less precisely what would make it WoG; this is just a strange facet to point out, I think).

I hold issue with the following:

• Direct messages
• Interviews (depending on who is doing the interview; most are almost certainly okay)
• Activity reports (Community posts share an issue with other WoG, that being that they are not always made with critical consideration to the truth of a verse; very often, things like that can serve merely as a notification to grab attention, a push for people to notice a certain thing, etc, and are not always made with the story fully in mind; I wouldn't accept them as legitimate outright, though they can be at times)
• Web Novel Impressions

Anything that is in response to the general community seems out of place to use, imo. This is also the concern with Interviews, since I would not want to unequivocally accept that and find that an author routinely gives an "interview" random people. Activity reports are a mild concern but also should not be accepted outright, I think. I think each would probably require some careful thought in regards to whether it is consistent with the story (even after acknowledging that WoG tends to be something of a third or fourth estate form of evidence).

And, while I agree with Reiner, I do think this bit is very optimistic:

since it is nigh impossible to use pre planned, manipulative questions to steer an author toward a specific answer within real time interviews and in such cases, the author’s answers are more likely to reflect genuine narrative intent rather than a coached response to manipulative/scaling/leading questions.

...but I am still in favor of professional interviews being (generally) usable for clarification purposes.

also
Can you give the main/active tensura supporters unlimited post perm in this CRT?
@PrimeHydra64 @Cipher72 @Astral_Trinity439 and @AstraphelNoctis4

I do not want this thread to be flooded with the many arguing voices, as the RVRT has been. It would make this a great deal more chaotic when it does not need to be. For now, I would rather their opinions come shaped in the form of filtering them through you (that is to say, I would rather you hear their arguments, and post on their behalf, since by default, you do have unlimited options to post on your own thread), if it is all the same, though other staff are of course free to extend temporary posting permissions if they see fit.

 

[LephyrTheRevanchist]

I was planning to write a very lengthy post, but upon further reflection and re-reading what I had typed, I ended up being too rant-y and unorganized. So instead, I will just highlight the comments from my peers that best reflect my position:

Any WOG involving regular fans or general audiences, whether directly or indirectly, should be excluded to prevent 'loaded' or manipulative questions.

I think each would probably require some careful thought in regards to whether it is consistent with the story (even after acknowledging that WoG tends to be something of a third or fourth estate form of evidence).

Pretty much; WoG already should only be supportive to the work, and the work itself should showcase whatever the WoG is saying within its narrative. WoG should serve to better explain the parts of the work that are confusing, but it in no way should ever be the basis from which to view the work. The work should speak for itself.

I severely dislike fan questions for power scaling purposes and as I expressed in RVR, if it was up to me, I would ban every WoG usage that has come from fans, precisely for what the situation on the RVR has highlighted.
So overall, I most agree with the two comments I have highlighted for what the conclusion from this thread will mean for Tensura on the wiki: Any kind of fan question is to be rendered unusable, anything else needs to be firmly rooted in the work and the WoG is to support what the work showcases.

This will be my only comment on this thread beyond moderating purposes, unless I see something that can change my opinion in some way.

 

[Theglassman12]

My stances on WoG is more or less what Lephyr is, there's a big difference between using direct author's note at the end of a novel that talks about some trivia or inspirations they used when writing their story or an official interview they get when talking about the thought process of making their fictional stories, and just outright having fans come up to them and ask them questions that's very intentionally leading them to answer a specific way to satisfy all the battle boarders online who just want to see higher stats for their favorite series.

 

[Ciel_Trinity439]

Should be fine. Though, general sitewide rules regarding WOG are still applicable.

My position on post 2016 WOG is that they should only be considered valid if both the questions and answers originate from direct officials. Any WOG involving regular fans or general audiences, whether directly or indirectly, should be excluded to prevent 'loaded' or manipulative questions. However, real-time interviews with the professional press or at public events are acceptable, since it is nigh impossible to use pre planned, manipulative questions to steer an author toward a specific answer within real time interviews and in such cases, the author’s answers are more likely to reflect genuine narrative intent rather than a coached response to manipulative/scaling/leading questions.

I recall that you had researched a bit about Syosetu and read some of the impression replies in a previous tensura thread.

Did you find any QnA section that seemed manipulative?

Also, the Author-Reader interaction would be such that a reader reads a chapter and then asks about that chapter. So per say the author explained something poorly in the novel (since it was his early days of writing), the readers would ask something and the author would answer.

And mostly the "ask" was joking remarks. They would say something and make their own conclusion, and the author would actually correct them.

That ensured that he didn't answer manipulative questions but instead only elaborated on what he seemed wrong or misunderstood.

That is how most of the Question-Replies went

Also, it's not just any social media, Syosetu was the very site hosting TenSura (Web Novel), and that site just happened to have a review section for author and readers to engage in questions.

It wasn't like Reddit, X or similar where basically anyone can tag an author to answer a question anywhere and he will come and reply.

Some of the points in the OP are just blatantly untrue (ex: it claims VS Battles wasn't well known in 2013-2016, when it was extremely well known back when I first joined in 2016, etc), and some of the others just seem to have what I would call questionable judgment (ex: WoG written by Fuse being inherently a point in favor of acceptability, when this is more or less precisely what would make it WoG; this is just a strange facet to point out, I think).

I hold issue with the following:

• Direct messages
• Interviews (depending on who is doing the interview; most are almost certainly okay)
• Activity reports (Community posts share an issue with other WoG, that being that they are not always made with critical consideration to the truth of a verse; very often, things like that can serve merely as a notification to grab attention, a push for people to notice a certain thing, etc, and are not always made with the story fully in mind; I wouldn't accept them as legitimate outright, though they can be at times)
• Web Novel Impressions

Anything that is in response to the general community seems out of place to use, imo. This is also the concern with Interviews, since I would not want to unequivocally accept that and find that an author routinely gives an "interview" random people. Activity reports are a mild concern but also should not be accepted outright, I think. I think each would probably require some careful thought in regards to whether it is consistent with the story (even after acknowledging that WoG tends to be something of a third or fourth estate form of evidence).

And, while I agree with Reiner, I do think this bit is very optimistic:


...but I am still in favor of professional interviews being (generally) usable for clarification purposes.


I do not want this thread to be flooded with the many arguing voices, as the RVRT has been. It would make this a great deal more chaotic when it does not need to be. For now, I would rather their opinions come shaped in the form of filtering them through you (that is to say, I would rather you hear their arguments, and post on their behalf, since by default, you do have unlimited options to post on your own thread), if it is all the same, though other staff are of course free to extend temporary posting permissions if they see fit.

Can you give an example of how "popular" it was? As in compared to now.
Because popularity is subjective. You could just say it's popular for having a thousand members, compared to now when there are tens of thousands of them.

And if there were vsbw members who were interested in tensura back then they would actually try to bring it to the wiki. I don't think the WoG Rule existed back then but you can correct me if I'm wrong.

And I myself am not old enough to know by first hand experience how popular vsbw was back then, before 2016, and it's not even close (the time I got to know vsbw), so my claims regarding that are simply based on what I see from past conversations, and to me it just seems like there were only a small amount of members that would quickly discuss stuff compared to now where every community has hundreds to sometimes thousands of members. Actually, what was the member count back then?

For there to be a chance of at least one vsbw member to just to coincidentally use Syosetu and simultaneously just so happen to know tensura and also just so happens to be asking questions there?

There's also the fact that there was not a single question like "Is X multiversal" or "is Y higher dimensional" back then before 2016, at least not one I encountered while reading the pages.

Because unless the members were also in tens of thousands back then, the chance of that is just so low. I recall that the first time someone used WoG of tensura at all was back in 2022 or something.

Doubt my words? The forum and Syosetu are open to you, so you can check for yourself whatever I'm saying. I cannot give you "proof" of something that does not exist, can I?

If you ask me to prove my claim of certain types of questions being nonexistent, you'd have to simply read it yourself because the only proof I can give you is the whole of the 1400 pages themself.

These are random examples of WoG that vsbw supporters could use for upgrades.
It includes chain scalings, like clarifications on which in-verse character is stronger than who, the working behind certain attacks and techniques, and much more
Since no one used them yet we didn't get all of them translated either, so you'll have to use whatever spruce you trust to understand what's written, whether that be privately translating via MTL or asking a friend.
And I had to scroll a lot for these because most of the "WoG" was not about power scaling at all but rather just readers pointing out Japanese grammar mistakes or light hearted comments

Power-scaling has existed since long before this wiki, so the concern isn't just if they use our particular terminology. Any format where unvetted fan questions are posited is dubious.

For that reason I'm not sure I'd be comfortable with the DMs nor comment replies.

Everything else that's either one-sided or in some formal capacity should be fine.

I can't exactly say the questions on the Syosetu are vetted, because they really aren't. Anyone can ask them

But whether the author even replies is up to the question (at least in the past 2013~16)

However, they are somewhat one sided, in that another person cannot suddenly intervene in an existing reply chain. And most If not all of them are only single question-answers and not in chains (you can't question the author's own reply if you get one). So you simply ask a question and wait to see if the author answers it.

At the very least tho, the site is official and not a social media type like Reddit or X, the questions are only askable via the mentioned methods.

But I did propose that we entirely ban DM questions and answers due to the reasoning mentioned in the OP.

I was planning to write a very lengthy post, but upon further reflection and re-reading what I had typed, I ended up being too rant-y and unorganized. So instead, I will just highlight the comments from my peers that best reflect my position:


Pretty much; WoG already should only be supportive to the work, and the work itself should showcase whatever the WoG is saying within its narrative. WoG should serve to better explain the parts of the work that are confusing, but it in no way should ever be the basis from which to view the work. The work should speak for itself.

I severely dislike fan questions for power scaling purposes and as I expressed in RVR, if it was up to me, I would ban every WoG usage that has come from fans, precisely for what the situation on the RVR has highlighted.
So overall, I most agree with the two comments I have highlighted for what the conclusion from this thread will mean for Tensura on the wiki: Any kind of fan question is to be rendered unusable, anything else needs to be firmly rooted in the work and the WoG is to support what the work showcases.

This will be my only comment on this thread beyond moderating purposes, unless I see something that can change my opinion in some way.

This is exactly what WoG is doing in this case. Check the examples I gave

The reader brings questions relating to the actual plot. And the author answers. And this is topped off the fact that the questions themselves are less than 1:3 in a ratio of questions: regular reviews

You can, for example, bring any WoG from the link I attached, and I could show you why the reader asked that based on what chapter was published at the time of the question date.

This is from a time where tensura was not a thing on vsbw. Heck, even tensura WoG itself was only ever first used after 2020, around 2022 I think, whereas the WoG itself is from 2013~16 (I would say 15 cuz during 2016 the author became increasingly busy and inactive there) when the author was writing the novel in real-time.

For example if the work has a statement that a special flame reaches hundreds of millions of degrees. And then there's a wog that explains how that's the case, should that not be usable?

What about if the work has statements on the existence of a special dimension for teleportation, and the WoG calls it the 4th Dimension. Will that be usable?

This is assuming everything is in a state where they don't violate other rules (such as being unclear or etc.), since that is judged on a case-by-case basis instead and would be addressed in a thread that uses such wog.

My stances on WoG is more or less what Lephyr is, there's a big difference between using direct author's note at the end of a novel that talks about some trivia or inspirations they used when writing their story or an official interview they get when talking about the thought process of making their fictional stories, and just outright having fans come up to them and ask them questions that's very intentionally leading them to answer a specific way to satisfy all the battle boarders online who just want to see higher stats for their favorite series.

In the 2013~2016 remarks I read, there was not a single case in my opinion where the questioner asked a power scaling filled question that would be used for battle boarding. Each question referenced some part of the chapter or arc that was ongoing, and you can see that in the reviews I gave as an example to Bambu.

Outside that, I cannot show you proof that doesn't exist (instances of questions like is "X multiversal?", "Can Y destroy universes?", "How strong is Z on a scale”).

The only questions that were there about how strong a character was, were in-verse questions. Like if Diablo > Benimaru, Zegion > Diablo, etc. those are perfectly reasonable questions a completely normal reader could ask.

 

[Mr. Bambu]

Can you give an example of how "popular" it was? As in compared to now.
Because popularity is subjective. You could just say it's popular for having a thousand members, compared to now when there are tens of thousands of them.

And if there were vsbw members who were interested in tensura back then they would actually try to bring it to the wiki. I don't think the WoG Rule existed back then but you can correct me if I'm wrong.

And I myself am not old enough to know by first hand experience how popular vsbw was back then, before 2016, and it's not even close (the time I got to know vsbw), so my claims regarding that are simply based on what I see from past conversations, and to me it just seems like there were only a small amount of members that would quickly discuss stuff compared to now where every community has hundreds to sometimes thousands of members. Actually, what was the member count back then?

For there to be a chance of at least one vsbw member to just to coincidentally use Syosetu and simultaneously just so happen to know tensura and also just so happens to be asking questions there?

There's also the fact that there was not a single question like "Is X multiversal" or "is Y higher dimensional" back then before 2016, at least not one I encountered while reading the pages.

Because unless the members were also in tens of thousands back then, the chance of that is just so low. I recall that the first time someone used WoG of tensura at all was back in 2022 or something.

Doubt my words? The forum and Syosetu are open to you, so you can check for yourself whatever I'm saying. I cannot give you "proof" of something that does not exist, can I?

If you ask me to prove my claim of certain types of questions being nonexistent, you'd have to simply read it yourself because the only proof I can give you is the whole of the 1400 pages themself.

These are random examples of WoG that vsbw supporters could use for upgrades.
It includes chain scalings, like clarifications on which in-verse character is stronger than who, the working behind certain attacks and techniques, and much more
Since no one used them yet we didn't get all of them translated either, so you'll have to use whatever spruce you trust to understand what's written, whether that be privately translating via MTL or asking a friend.
And I had to scroll a lot for these because most of the "WoG" was not about power scaling at all but rather just readers pointing out Japanese grammar mistakes or light hearted comments

It was not as popular as it was now, but it was still massively popular. I would wager good money it had more active editors than we have now, though this is, of course, a time when we have most of the most popular franchises more or less pinned down. I don't know what sort of metric you'd want: I did not become staff until two years after I joined (including the time I was banned), and thus I never had access to statistics. However, the activity of the site was more or less constant throughout that period, and the hearsay offsite was also similar. From no perspective did it lack the massive popularity it enjoys today.

I could spend the time determining if this specific rule was on the pages back then, but the rule pages were existent, and most of the rules (in some form) were written then, so I would also believe they existed (not that this is relevant). If you would like to check, that information is available to you, albeit deeply unpleasant to find.

I am not sure what about your response to me is precisely meant to influence me and in what regard. You point out that there are indeed powerscaling questions asked in this format, is it your proposal that the format should be allowed to be used for WoG because you have not yet used it, in spite of these answers? That's a very odd way to go about it, if so, but I may be misunderstanding. In any case, that there are questions on subjects such as scaling, answered with the same validity as others, I think that makes this very cut and dry, mixed with the recent controversy.

 

[Reiner04]

I recall that you had researched a bit about Syosetu and read some of the impression replies in a previous tensura thread.

Did you find any QnA section that seemed manipulative?

Also, the Author-Reader interaction would be such that a reader reads a chapter and then asks about that chapter. So per say the author explained something poorly in the novel (since it was his early days of writing), the readers would ask something and the author would answer.

And mostly the "ask" was joking remarks. They would say something and make their own conclusion, and the author would actually correct them.

That ensured that he didn't answer manipulative questions but instead only elaborated on what he seemed wrong or misunderstood.

That is how most of the Question-Replies went

Also, it's not just any social media, Syosetu was the very site hosting TenSura (Web Novel), and that site just happened to have a review section for author and readers to engage in questions.

It wasn't like Reddit, X or similar where basically anyone can tag an author to answer a question anywhere and he will come and reply.

I did say that WoGs up to 2016 are fine, imo. As you described in the OP, Syosetu’s WoGs seem to fall within the 2013–2016 timeline. However, general sitewide rules still apply to them, just as they do to any type of WoG. So, is there some other statement of mine that you take issue with? Because I think I made it clear that I’m fine with Syosetu WoGs as long as they are from before 2016.

 

[Ciel_Trinity439]

I am not sure what about your response to me is precisely meant to influence me and in what regard. You point out that there are indeed powerscaling questions asked in this format, is it your proposal that the format should be allowed to be used for WoG because you have not yet used it, in spite of these answers? That's a very odd way to go about it, if so, but I may be misunderstanding. In any case, that there are questions on subjects such as scaling, answered with the same validity as others, I think that makes this very cut and dry, mixed with the recent controversy.

This was the site rules page back then (which currently also has offsite rules)

https://vsbattles.fandom.com/wiki/Site_Rules?oldid=618936

And I don't find anything relating to WoG there. And note this is in 2016, when it was created. The WoG dates even older than that.

The powerscaling questions are asked, yes, but they are mostly if not all from after Fuse already became wholly inactive on replying on the site. So they cannot be used even if someone wanted, not just because they aren't allowed but also because there's nothing to use to begin with, no answers.

The point was that if a vsbw powerscaler was asking questions about it back then, he would have at least done something about it on wiki (such as using them in some way), but nothing of that sort had occurred during the past decade from 2013 to 2020. Which means there weren't any vsbw members asking questions before 2016 or 2017, at least. And thus battleboarding was not involved in the part of the WoG I propose to be allowed.

Though to make the rules more clear, I would be fine if we restrict the WoG we can use from specifically the Impression Page to only before a certain time period, so that any potential future question that may be filled with power scaling and may be answered cannot be used.

This is what I proposed originally
This only applies to the replies Fuse has made so far, from around page 600 to all the way back to page 1400+, which date back to the time interval of 2013 to 2016. After that he stopped replying (and possibly even reading) due to his busy schedule. Therefore, none of more "recent" years where reviews were occasionally filled with powerscaling things was actually read or answered. However, if Fuse starts relying here again in the future, we would need to make adjust the rules accordingly.

So questions back then before 2016 were not filled with powerscaling, and I gave you examples of that in the form of a link containing a few random questions

 

[Ciel_Trinity439]

I did say that WoGs up to 2016 are fine, imo. As you described in the OP, Syosetu’s WoGs seem to fall within the 2013–2016 timeline. However, general sitewide rules still apply to them, just as they do to any type of WoG. So, is there some other statement of mine that you take issue with? Because I think I made it clear that I’m fine with Syosetu WoGs as long as they are from before 2016.

You said that in context to "if both the questions and the answers originate from direct officials" and not general fans, or did I misunderstand you on that? I thought you meant that as in even the questions have to be from actual authorized figures (like press release staff at the time or similar)

Becuase tensura didn't have "official interviews" like actual press releases back in 2016.

At least that's what I understood of the word "official sources" you said

 

[Mr. Bambu]

This was the site rules page back then (which currently also has offsite rules)

https://vsbattles.fandom.com/wiki/Site_Rules?oldid=618936

And I don't find anything relating to WoG there. And note this is in 2016, when it was created. The WoG dates even older than that.

The powerscaling questions are asked, yes, but they are mostly if not all from after Fuse already became wholly inactive on replying on the site. So they cannot be used even if someone wanted, not just because they aren't allowed but also because there's nothing to use to begin with, no answers.

The point was that if a vsbw powerscaler was asking questions about it back then, he would have at least done something about it on wiki (such as using them in some way), but nothing of that sort had occurred during the past decade from 2013 to 2020. Which means there weren't any vsbw members asking questions before 2016 or 2017, at least. And thus battleboarding was not involved in the part of the WoG I propose to be allowed.

Though to make the rules more clear, I would be fine if we restrict the WoG we can use from specifically the Impression Page to only before a certain time period, so that any potential future question that may be filled with power scaling and may be answered cannot be used.


So questions back then before 2016 were not filled with powerscaling, and I gave you examples of that in the form of a link containing a few random questions

I feel I should inform you, at this time, that VSBW is far from the first powerscaling site. The concept of powerscaling (and, consequentially, the concept of bothering authors with stupid questions) has existed since the first comic books struck the first comic book stores, and perhaps even earlier.

I'm opposed to anything so informal as fan questions being usable, at all.

 

[Ciel_Trinity439]

I feel I should inform you, at this time, that VSBW is far from the first powerscaling site. The concept of powerscaling (and, consequentially, the concept of bothering authors with stupid questions) has existed since the first comic books struck the first comic book stores, and perhaps even earlier.

I'm opposed to anything so informal as fan questions being usable, at all.

What would be the problem with fan questions in this specific case?

Sure you said they would be filled with powerscaling, but I gave you actual examples that showed otherwise, that they were not willed with powerscaling and battleboarding but actual lore about the verse. They were like a guidebook back then, for the web novel, when the author liked discussing with readers back when he was actively writing the book itself.

So you have a timeline (2013-2016) where:

• Questions that talk about the lore only
• Author replies in explanation mode and actually cares.
• Author was writing the novel and actively making adjustments based off his discussions.
• Lack of powerscaling questions

This was not a light novel but a web novel back then. The author could read the reviews and correct or revise things back then. That's why most chapters have a "revised" next to their date

転生したらスライムだった件

R15 残酷な描写あり 異世界転生 スライム チート

ncode.syosetu.com

So if the author, for example, stated inside the novel that "the molecules accelerate and temperatures reach hundred of millions of degrees", the reader found it baffling, and the author explained why he assigned that number and gives a better, lengthier explanation, I don't see why that cannot be usable WoG, when the only problem is a "potential" (not even actual) existence of power scaling filled questions which I already showed is not the case by examples.

 

[Reiner04]

You said that in context to "if both the questions and the answers originate from direct officials" and not general fans, or did I misunderstand you on that? I thought you meant that as in even the questions have to be from actual authorized figures (like press release staff at the time or similar)

Becuase tensura didn't have "official interviews" like actual press releases back in 2016.

At least that's what I understood of the word "official sources" you said

That was meant for post-2016 WOGs, not for WOGs up to 2016 (inclusive):

Should be fine. Though, general sitewide rules regarding WOG are still applicable.

My position on post 2016 WOG is that they should only be considered valid if both the questions and answers originate from direct officials. Any WOG involving regular fans or general audiences, whether directly or indirectly, should be excluded to prevent 'loaded' or manipulative questions. However, real-time interviews with the professional press or at public events are acceptable, since it is nigh impossible to use pre planned, manipulative questions to steer an author toward a specific answer within real time interviews and in such cases, the author’s answers are more likely to reflect genuine narrative intent rather than a coached response to manipulative/scaling/leading questions.

 

[Mr. Bambu]

What would be the problem with fan questions in this specific case?

Sure you said they would be filled with powerscaling, but I gave you actual examples that showed otherwise, that they were not willed with powerscaling and battleboarding but actual lore about the verse. They were like a guidebook back then, for the web novel, when the author liked discussing with readers back when he was actively writing the book itself.

So you have a timeline (2013-2016) where:

• Questions that talk about the lore only
• Author replies in explanation mode and actually cares.
• Author was writing the novel and actively making adjustments based off his discussions.
• Lack of powerscaling questions

This was not a light novel but a web novel back then. The author could read the reviews and correct or revise things back then. That's why most chapters have a "revised" next to their date

転生したらスライムだった件

R15 残酷な描写あり 異世界転生 スライム チート

ncode.syosetu.com

So if the author, for example, stated inside the novel that "the molecules accelerate and temperatures reach hundred of millions of degrees", the reader found it baffling, and the author explained why he assigned that number and gives a better, lengthier explanation, I don't see why that cannot be usable WoG, when the only problem is a "potential" (not even actual) existence of power scaling filled questions which I already showed is not the case by examples.

Why are you saying that power scaling questions are the sole reason for these problems? We've pointed out already that authors give unsubstantiated or unaligned answers when giving them off the cuff like that. Even then, I just don't really believe that no powerscalers were asking questions at the time, since I reiterate, the hobby has existed longer than any of us have been alive. So my vote is no. No audience answers.

 

[Ciel_Trinity439]

Why are you saying that power scaling questions are the sole reason for these problems? We've pointed out already that authors give unsubstantiated or unaligned answers when giving them off the cuff like that. Even then, I just don't really believe that no powerscalers were asking questions at the time, since I reiterate, the hobby has existed longer than any of us have been alive. So my vote is no. No audience answers.

The questions are quite literally being asked as the chapters are written.

Fuse uploads changed 123. The readers ask questions about chapter 123. Fuse answers them right then, takes them into consideration, and most of the times revises the chapter based on them, then uploads chapter 124 and this repeats.

So I wouldn't call them Unaligned or unsustained.

You didn't even comment on the examples as to why they are unaligned or unsustained. You are giving general answers only, whereas in my opinion every verse has a right to be judged case by case, do they not?

Are you saying simply because someone is a power scaler, means they completely lack the ability to ask regular questions?

Regardless. I'll write down your vote

 

[Mr. Bambu]

Are you saying simply because someone is a power scaler, means they completely lack the ability to ask regular questions?

No. And I am growing tired of explaining the difference.

So I wouldn't call them Unaligned or unsustained.

I would.

You didn't even comment on the examples as to why they are unaligned or unsustained. You are giving general answers only, whereas in my opinion every verse has a right to be judged case by case, do they not?

General answers work best when dealing with a generally applied policy.

 

[Antvasima]

Just a brief note that, from what I can see in the screenshotted old visitor statistic graphs over a span of many years that Fandom used to give me access to several years ago, our wiki has grown to nearly 100 times the popularity it had when I first came there on March 3, 2014, not counting the month when we were trending on TikTok and temporarily received lots of extra visitors.

 

[TWILIGHT-OP]

Should be fine. Though, general sitewide rules regarding WOG are still applicable.

My position on post 2016 WOG is that they should only be considered valid if both the questions and answers originate from direct officials. Any WOG involving regular fans or general audiences, whether directly or indirectly, should be excluded to prevent 'loaded' or manipulative questions. However, real-time interviews with the professional press or at public events are acceptable, since it is nigh impossible to use pre planned, manipulative questions to steer an author toward a specific answer within real time interviews and in such cases, the author’s answers are more likely to reflect genuine narrative intent rather than a coached response to manipulative/scaling/leading questions.

I share same thoughts as Reiner here.

 

[Astral_Trinity439]

I'll give you and the people you mentioned posting rights for up to three posts, but make sure that your contributions remain relevant to the topic.

Using my post pem given by Butler:

I was planning to write a very lengthy post, but upon further reflection and re-reading what I had typed, I ended up being too rant-y and unorganized. So instead, I will just highlight the comments from my peers that best reflect my position:


Pretty much; WoG already should only be supportive to the work, and the work itself should showcase whatever the WoG is saying within its narrative. WoG should serve to better explain the parts of the work that are confusing, but it in no way should ever be the basis from which to view the work. The work should speak for itself.

I severely dislike fan questions for power scaling purposes and as I expressed in RVR, if it was up to me, I would ban every WoG usage that has come from fans, precisely for what the situation on the RVR has highlighted.
So overall, I most agree with the two comments I have highlighted for what the conclusion from this thread will mean for Tensura on the wiki: Any kind of fan question is to be rendered unusable, anything else needs to be firmly rooted in the work and the WoG is to support what the work showcases.

This will be my only comment on this thread beyond moderating purposes, unless I see something that can change my opinion in some way.

You quoted Reiner and Bambu and agreed with them, but they have conflicting opinions on the WN Impression section and Activity Report section. Unless I got it wrong:

• Reiner: Is fine with WoG from the Impression Page before 2016 (specifically the date of inactivity as proposed in the OP), although obviously even this WoG would be judged case by case in terms of other rules.
• Bambu: Wants the impression page as a whole banned.

snip

Snip

Snip

Apologies for the ping, but could you guys please clarify which method you agree with from the above 2?

I know you guys already gave answers but those were general answers, and I'd appreciate it if we could get some more specific answers instead

Thanks!

---

Also @Reiner04 what do you think about the activity report section?

Activity Reports
I personally haven't seen WoG being sourced from here yet by someone else, but nonetheless it exists.

"Activity Reports" are basically like "Community Posts" from YouTube where the author can share information with his readers/followers. However, the one major difference is that all the replies are one-sided, directly replying to the original post. They cannot reply to each other, and the author cannot reply back to any specific reply.

In the case of Fuse, so far he's only used this feature to give one-sided updates about new volumes of LN, Manga, new spin offs, anime, movies, etc. There is also a large time gap between each activity report and it doesn't seem like the author replies (directly or indirectly) to anyone's reply.

I personally have read all of the activity Reports (only Fuse's OP) and did not find anything suspicious, but I've given the link so anyone can check.

Conclusion: This WoG is generally safe as of now.

Since readers can reply back but the author cannot, and I don't see any of the articles having the "edited" tag either, I don't think Fuse can engage direclty. Most of it is not even something we can use for scaling, but there are some rare cases where there's minor things, like water manipulation for gobuta and Resurrection for the water dragon:

　　日は昇り切り、青空となる。
　　
　※映画のセリフで説明してもわかりにくいだろうという意見があり、究極能力だった設定を｜心核（ココロ）へと変更。どちらにせよユラ＝水竜 なので、必ず復活するし、強い希望があれば自我は継続しているだろうと思われます。ぶっちゃけ、ゴブタは風鬼になる予定ですし、ユラさんを通じて水の権能も得るのでしょうね～これもいつか、語る日がくるといいのですが(笑)

という感じで、作者所感でした！！

(I haven't seen the movie since it isn't available for me, so I don't know if these are things mentioned in the movie too or just in wog)

 

[Reiner04]

Also @Reiner04 what do you think about the activity report section?

I think i did said if they are entirely one sided (direct from author w/o him being influenced by some question) its fine. Tho if he does reply to some comments via some other means, like in next community post of originial post, then that won't be usable.

 

[Planck69]

Why am I on the Agree section with no elaboration? Same goes for the other staff there cause they gave pretty detailed answers as well.

Anyways, I'll say it now; Official Interviews are fine. Guidebooks are fine. Everything else is not.

 

[Astral_Trinity439]

I think i did said if they are entirely one sided (direct from author w/o him being influenced by some question) its fine. Tho if he does reply to some comments via some other means, like in next community post of originial post, then that won't be usable.

I don't recall him doing the latter two, at least.
The only similar thing I could find was this:

で、エピローグについて。
後書きでも書きましたが、編集Ｉ氏からは物足りないと言われてしまいました(笑)
でも、冒頭の方でも書きましたが、魔物の国や基軸世界のその後を書くとなると、ページ数がいくらあっても足りません。それこそ上下巻にしていたとしても、やはり足りなかったのではないかと思われます(笑)
実際、ヒナタも三上悟と会わせてシズさんの墓参りをさせようと思っていましたが、そのエピソードはカットしました。
これについては、もしかすると三上悟の物語として外伝を書くかも知れません。期待せずにお待ち下さいませ(笑)
編集Ｉ氏的には、ルミナス、ウルティマ、シズさん、この三名の描写がしっかりしていれば、後の事は細かく言わない模様です。ちなみに、エピローグを提出するなり「シズさんについては一言欲しいです」と釘を刺されました。
無論、「言われずとも書いてますとも！」と返答した次第です(笑)
タイムパラドックスがまた増えた訳ですが、そもそも仮面もシズさん関連なので、今更ですね！
シズさんを助ける際にシエルさんが何かしていても不思議じゃないですし、それがそのまま悟さんまで受け継がれて～～～その結果、色々とごにょごにょ、的な流れがあったのかも知れません。
本来ならヴェルダナーヴァに戻って統合されるハズだった人格の一部（失われた愛）なんかも、名付けられた結果として、リムルに定着しちゃったりなんかもしたのかもね！！
という感じで、重要なネタバレはこのくらいにしておきます。
かなり正確に予想されている方もいるみたいですし、後は色々と想像しながら補ってくださいませ～！！

Refer to the last line

But I'm not sure where these "predictions" are from. They definitely aren't from the activity report itself since it isn't edited at a later date AND the report was made a few days AFTER the last volume it was about was already out.

It's also not from the recent WN impressions and previous articles since I didn't find anything relating to this there. So my guess is some limited means to contact him in Japan only (as I recall, they do host some special shows where Fuse comes and talks, but I don't follow them so... IDK, maybe he just read it from social media cuz the theory on Rimuru and Velda went really popular at some point)

This case itself is the only one of its kind tho, so I think it's fine to treat it as an exception (I don't think we even need to tbh since the Veldanava and Rimuru thing has nothing to do with scaling to begin with).

Why am I on the Agree section with no elaboration? Same goes for the other staff there cause they gave pretty detailed answers as well.

Anyways, I'll say it now; Official Interviews are fine. Guidebooks are fine. Everything else is not.

I told Ciel to put them differently but I think she was in a hurry so she didn't write much, since she left just a few seconds after with no reply.

Will get fixed when she becomes back

 

[Reiner04]

I don't recall him doing the latter two, at least.
The only similar thing I could find was this:

Refer to the last line

But I'm not sure where these "predictions" are from. They definitely aren't from the activity report itself since it isn't edited at a later date AND the report was made a few days AFTER the last volume it was about was already out.

It's also not from the recent WN impressions and previous articles since I didn't find anything relating to this there. So my guess is some limited means to contact him in Japan only (as I recall, they do host some special shows where Fuse comes and talks, but I don't follow them so... IDK, maybe he just read it from social media cuz the theory on Rimuru and Velda went really popular at some point)

This case itself is the only one of its kind tho, so I think it's fine to treat it as an exception (I don't think we even need to tbh since the Veldanava and Rimuru thing has nothing to do with scaling to begin with).

I don’t think making exceptions to the rule being enforced is really feasible at the moment, since the same argument could be made for many WoGs, and the rule would lose its value as a result. That said, if other staff members are fine with such exceptions, I wouldn’t have any issue with it.

 

[DarkDragonMedeus]

Official Interview statements and official guidebooks containing interviews with the creators are fine so as long as we make sure to deem them as secondary canon at best. Of course, primary canon should be treated as highest priority when it comes to obvious cases of contradicting what is in the actual work. And even primary canon works have a retcon policy to look at; it's common for sequals, remakes, remasters, or rereleases of published works to have information that retcons stuff in originals originals and/or older versions. And secondary canon sources are often supportive of things in the sequals or remasters retconning older works if that's the case.

 

[Astral_Trinity439]

Using my last post perm from Butler:

I don’t think making exceptions to the rule being enforced is really feasible at the moment, since the same argument could be made for many WoGs, and the rule would lose its value as a result. That said, if other staff members are fine with such exceptions, I wouldn’t have any issue with it.

Welp, I don't mind since there isn't really much in the Activity Reports other than minor abilities (like water manip) and trivia

There's also always the option that he's referring to one of the shows or whatever he comes on in japan only.

Official Interview statements and official guidebooks containing interviews with the creators are fine so as long as we make sure to deem them as secondary canon at best. Of course, primary canon should be treated as highest priority when it comes to obvious cases of contradicting what is in the actual work. And even primary canon works have a retcon policy to look at; it's common for sequals, remakes, remasters, or rereleases of published works to have information that retcons stuff in originals originals and/or older versions. And secondary canon sources are often supportive of things in the sequals or remasters retconning older works if that's the case.

So I'll put you as agree with the Guidebooks and Interviews, as well as the DM proposals since Ciel proposes that we ban them. However, what about the following:

Acitivity Reports: Basically Community Posts from the author about volume, movie and interview releases, except that the author cannot reply back to any reply and cannot (or at least has never) edited the original community post.

WN Impressions: From 2013 to 2016, Fuse used to engage with readers in the reviews section of the book while writing the web novel in real-time, and multiple times he'd drop important lore there, sometimes expantions, sometimes about which character is stronger, sometimes about heavy lore (like what happened to Rimuru in the original timeline, how X got to where they are, etc.)

(I tried to keep the explanations as short as possible)

Agree: @Reiner04, @Just a Random Butler, @Planck69, @FinePoint, @TWILIGHT-OP

Disagree: @Mr. Bambu

Neutral/Miscellaneous: @Planck69, @FinePoint, @LephyrTheRevanchist, @Theglassman12

I'll rearrange this in the meantime since idk when Ciel will come online.

Agree:
Reiner04 , Just a Random Butler and TWILIGHT-OP (Are fine with everything except the Activity Reports proposal, but said if other staff don't mind it then he's the same), FinePoint, LephyrTheRevanchist and Theglassman12 (Agree with everything except Impression Page proposal), Plank69 (Agrees with everything except Activity Reports and WN Impression proposals), (Essentially the same as FinePoint), Mr. Bambu (Same as Plank69, although for Activity Reports he said he'd not trust them outright but sometimes they can be fine; case by case?), DarkDragonMedus (Agrees with Interviews, Guidebooks and Direct Message proposals, didn't mention the other two)

Disagree:
Reiner04, Twilight-OP and Just a Random Butler (With Activity Reports proposals), FinePoint, LephyrTheRevanchist and Theglassman12 (With WN Impression Proposals), Plank69 (With Activity Reports and WN Impression Proposals), Mr. Bambu (With WN Impressions and Activity Reports, although he'd not trust them outright but sometimes they can be fine; case by case?)

(I'll keep this list updated through edits until Ciel remakes the one in the OP. If I made a mistake, kindly point it out!)

Spoiler: Alternate Summary

Reiner04 , Just a Random Butler and TWILIGHT-OP: Are fine with everything except the Activity Reports proposal, but said if other staff don't mind it then he's the same.

LephyrTheRevanchist and Theglassman12: Ban anything that has Fan involvement (WN Impressions), rest needs to prove they uphold with what is actually in the work (In other words, case by case).

FinePoint: Disagrees with WN Impression proposals. Agrees with banning Direct Messages. Is fine with anything that is only one-sided (Activity Reports) and Interviews & Guidebook usage.

Plank69 : Agrees with Guidebooks and Interviews usage. Agrees with banning Direct Messages, disagrees with everything else (WN Impressions and Activity Reports)

Mr. Bambu: Agrees with banning Direct Messages. Disagrees with WN Impression proposals and instead wants to ban them. Is fine with Guidebooks (as he didn't mention having issues with them) and Interviews (admitting that most of the times they are fine). As for Activity Reports, he doesn't trust them outright but sometimes they can be fine (I assume he might mean case by case basis for this)

DarkDragonMedus: Agrees with banning Direct Messages. Is fine with Official Interviews and Guidebooks as long as they don't contradict primary canon. Didn't say anything on Acitivty Reports and WN Impressions

 

[DarkDragonMedeus]

Actually, I didn't mention Direct Messages, but I would actually NOT use them. For one, impersonation is pretty common, and a lot of authors do not necessary like it when people share some Email Addresses and what not. And if it's a private message, it's harder to verify.

 

[LephyrTheRevanchist]

You quoted Reiner and Bambu and agreed with them, but they have conflicting opinions on the WN Impression section and Activity Report section. Unless I got it wrong:

• Reiner: Is fine with WoG from the Impression Page before 2016 (specifically the date of inactivity as proposed in the OP), although obviously even this WoG would be judged case by case in terms of other rules.
• Bambu: Wants the impression page as a whole banned.

You got my vote wrong. I quoted specifically the things I agree with their comments and gave a very direct continuation from that. Anything that's fan related questions? Banned. Anything else needs to be supported by the work. That's what I'm voting.

 

[Planck69]

Using my last post perm from Butler:

Welp, I don't mind since there isn't really much in the Activity Reports other than minor abilities (like water manip) and trivia

There's also always the option that he's referring to one of the shows or whatever he comes on in japan only.

So I'll put you as agree with the Guidebooks and Interviews, as well as the DM proposals since Ciel proposes that we ban them. However, what about the following:

Acitivity Reports: Basically Community Posts from the author about volume, movie and interview releases, except that the author cannot reply back to any reply and cannot (or at least has never) edited the original community post.

WN Impressions: From 2013 to 2016, Fuse used to engage with readers in the reviews section of the book while writing the web novel in real-time, and multiple times he'd drop important lore there, sometimes expantions, sometimes about which character is stronger, sometimes about heavy lore (like what happened to Rimuru in the original timeline, how X got to where they are, etc.)

(I tried to keep the explanations as short as possible)

I'll rearrange this in the meantime since idk when Ciel will come online.

Agree:
Reiner04 , Just a Random Butler and TWILIGHT-OP (Are fine with everything except the Activity Reports proposal, but said if other staff don't mind it then he's the same), FinePoint, LephyrTheRevanchist and Theglassman12 (Agree with everything except Impression Page proposal), Plank69 (Agrees with everything except Activity Reports and WN Impression proposals), (Essentially the same as FinePoint), Mr. Bambu (Same as Plank69, although for Activity Reports he said he'd not trust them outright but sometimes they can be fine; case by case?), DarkDragonMedus (Agrees with Interviews, Guidebooks and Direct Message proposals, didn't mention the other two)

Disagree:
Reiner04, Twilight-OP and Just a Random Butler (With Activity Reports proposals), FinePoint, LephyrTheRevanchist and Theglassman12 (With WN Impression Proposals), Plank69 (With Activity Reports and WN Impression Proposals), Mr. Bambu (With WN Impressions and Activity Reports, although he'd not trust them outright but sometimes they can be fine; case by case?)

(I'll keep this list updated through edits until Ciel remakes the one in the OP. If I made a mistake, kindly point it out!)

This formatting makes it look as though I agree with direct messages, even though I get that the OP disagrees with it.

Really, just summarize what the staff say if you have to.

 

[Ciel_Trinity439]

This formatting makes it look as though I agree with direct messages, even though I get that the OP disagrees with it.

Really, just summarize what the staff say if you have to.

Can you tell me why you don’t accept comments 2013/2016?

And in what situations do you accept them?

 

[Astral_Trinity439]

Got permission from @Reiner04 from his message wall to make this post

Actually, I didn't mention Direct Messages, but I would actually NOT use them. For one, impersonation is pretty common, and a lot of authors do not necessary like it when people share some Email Addresses and what not. And if it's a private message, it's harder to verify.

I think you misunderstood me. I said I'll add you to the Direct Message proposals agreement becuase we propose to ban them completely
As here:

as well as the DM proposals since Ciel proposes that we ban them

Conclusion: WoG from DMs is generally unsafe and not trustable.

Although I would love to have your vote on the other two sections as well

You got my vote wrong. I quoted specifically the things I agree with their comments and gave a very direct continuation from that. Anything that's fan related questions? Banned. Anything else needs to be supported by the work. That's what I'm voting.

Yes, so you're banning WN Impressions, correct?
Becuase Fans cannot intervene in Activity Reports, insomuch as make the author change their original post or get the author to reply to them (that isn't even possible for Acitivity Reports).

Meanwhile the rest do not have fan interaction even (insofar as that they cannot even review or comment on them)

"Supported by the work" would equate to case by case judgement, correct? The proposals of the CRT apply to general things, but of course, when they are actually used the case-by-case rules apply to them still (such as if they are clear, if they support the canon, etc.)

I hope that cleared your doubts (?)

This formatting makes it look as though I agree with direct messages, even though I get that the OP disagrees with it.

Really, just summarize what the staff say if you have to.

I Specifically mention "Direct Message Proposals", which as you said are that we ban them :d

But sure, I'll make an alternate summary in that same post.

 

[Planck69]

Can you tell me why you don’t accept direct messages?

And in what situations do you accept them?

None. A direct message is unverifiable on top of the general issues with social media based WoG.

 

[Ciel_Trinity439]

None. A direct message is unverifiable on top of the general issues with social media based WoG.

Ah, sorrythat was my keyboard typing it automatically.

What I meant was the author’s comments from 2013 to 2016, where Japanese readers would ask Fuse questions either right after a volume was released or while it was being written, and he would reply and clarify things for them.

I’ve read almost everything, and there aren’t any statements like “are there infinite dimensions” or “infinite worlds” or anything related to power scaling.

There are only things like “Is Diablo stronger than X?” and similar questions.

So I’m wonderingdoes this change your opinion?

Also, keep in mind that all of these are literally author responses about the story and how it works.

I can send you examples if you want.

Let me know your opinion for now.

I’d like to know your perspective on this.

Do you think it’s acceptable, or would you prefer to suggest specific cases where it can or cannot be accepted, or do you reject it entirely?

I’d also like to understand your reason for rejecting it there might be a misunderstanding, and I’ll try to clarify it in hopes that you might agree.

 

[LephyrTheRevanchist]

Becuase Fans cannot intervene in Activity Reports, insomuch as make the author change their original post or get the author to reply to them (that isn't even possible for Acitivity Reports).

Very simple question that will help clear what you seem to want from me: Does the author do these of his own volition? As in, he just randomly decides to make an update later to clarify things that no one ask him about it first.

If the answer is yes, then as long as it's not contradicted by the work, sure. If the fans prompt this in any way, then is a resounding no from me.

 

[Ciel_Trinity439]

Very simple question that will help clear what you seem to want from me: Does the author do these of his own volition? As in, he just randomly decides to make an update later to clarify things that no one ask him about it first.

If the answer is yes, then as long as it's not contradicted by the work, sure. If the fans prompt this in any way, then is a resounding no from me.

Let me explain it in a simple way.

For example, the author, Fuse, publishes Volume 5. After the volume is released, readers come in, praise his work, and also ask about things they didn’t understand in that volume, and of course the author explains them in detail.

And what he says aligns with the story it’s not like someone is asking “are there infinite dimensions in Rimuru’s hair” or anything like that.

Simply put, the answers fully match the story, especially since the responses are made at the same time the author is writing the volume or right after it’s published.

I can provide the publication dates of the volumes along with the comments where the author is asked about things readers didn’t understand in those volumes, and so on.

Don’t hesitate to ask for clarification on anything I’ll explain it and provide evidence or examples if needed. You can even use Google Translate and read some pages yourself, and I guarantee you won’t find anything suspicious. All the answers and comments are related to the actual plot, story, and what happened in the volume only.

 

[LephyrTheRevanchist]

My friend. I will reiterate for the last time, because genuinely this is very simple: Does the author make them alone, without any prompt from the fans? If the answer is yes, then it's okay with me as long as there's no contradiction. If a fan asks it, I don't support its inclusion.

Anything fan related, I will never support.