Harassing Authors on Twitter

[Sera_EX]

Okay, this may be a bit controversial. While we shouldn't care what people do or say outside our borders, there's a thick line that shouldn't be crossed. Lately, some users have been going out of their way to go to a creator/author's twitter just to ask them questions about vs debating. Now that's absolutely fine. But when you constantly do it, especially to a non-English speaking author who doesn't understand the language and has to use Google Translate just to communicate, it becomes harassment.

I personally believe we should not condone such behavior and should at least make a note kindly asking our members not to go too far when talking with these authors and kindly refrain from doing so. It's to a point that I'm being asked to translate their questions just for twitter.

This is a problem because the internet is vast but it will look bad on our wiki if we are known to have users harassing authors on twitter. My only problem with my own suggestion is that even some of our regulars use different sites so nothing can truly stop them from doing so but at the very least we don't want to be involved. What do you all think?

 

[VenomElite]

I don't know if there is anything we can do about that directly. But it's common sense to discourage it.

 

[Dragonmasterxyz]

This started with the whole Devil May Cry and Bayonetta stuff and has since become a bad trend as seen with the Demonbane downgrade attempt. Users then use these statement to try to upgrade or downgrade a verse.

 

[Promestein]

I agree with this. Even if we can't do anything about it directly, we should discourage it, especially with authors who don't understand English.

 

[Soldier_Blue]

I agree with @VenomElite. While there is nothing we can do to outright stop our members from doing this, we have to take a stand and tell everyone not to bug authors (regardless of whether or not they're English speakers) in an effort to back up their own biases.

 

[Matthew_Schroeder]

This is mostly done by google+ people, and it is saddening how petty and low people can be, and how shallow they focus solely on VsDebating things. You have the opportunity to ask an author anything, and you choose to ask him "Who would win".

 

[Lina_Shields]

Looking at this from the author's perspective, it is very likely that he/she gets hundreds of questions regarding various topics regarding that series (*cough Demonbane). Not like we are the only fans of that particular series...

Now, we all know that asking one or two questions regarding a specified verse due to curiosity is fine, as there are things within said verse in question that could cause confusion here and there (regarding DmC Mundus, Demonbane), but if you are going to ask a question, it is better to ask a single question that really needs to be answered regarding said verse, instead of multiple questions.

Basically, start asking people too many question and he/she gets sick and tired of answering them all. This would apply to real life as well, considering at some point we would want said person to gtfo if he/she asks too much etc.

I doubt the authors of said series even care about VS debating anyways.

 

[Matthew_Schroeder]

The only author I've ever seen who gives legit responses to these types of questions is J.M DeMatteis.

 

[Antvasima]

Well, I obviously agree, but the problem is that people do these types of things independently of us, sometimes to "score a point, and gloat about it" in an imaginary "war" against our community.

Hence, we could certainly create a rule about this, in order to officially state that we do not condone inappropriate behaviour, but it would likely not give any results.

 

[Matthew_Schroeder]

As long as we reprimand our own Wikia from doing this, and that our Staff concedes and does not bother authors on twitter about irrelevant minutia, it should be fine.

Couldn't care less what people do on Google+, of all places.

 

[Antvasima]

Okay. Suggestions for how we should word the rule, and where we should place it, would be appreciated.

 

[Reppuzan]

"Please do not pester or harass the authors of various works on social media about Versus Debating questions. They are often bombarded by numerous questions from fans and thus are rarely interested in giving a serious response. In addition, the statements they give to appease users are often contradictory to the feats in the stories of the works they've written. Thus it is frowned upon to bother them over this topic."

 

[Lina_Shields]

It would get the point across better if you remove the "please" on your paragraph.

Constantly asking questions like this towards the author of a verse/series is not just an annoyance, but a significant disturbance considering that they have hundreds of other questions from different people other than here.

To put it in perspective, you would start to get annoyed/frustrated as well you were being bombarded with questions that you probably have answered multiple times.

It's a matter of respect/giving the author some space really.

 

[Reppuzan]

That's fine with me. Anything else you'd like to add?

 

[Lina_Shields]

Nothing. Your proposed rule is solid.

So, we add this rule on the main page, or does this go under discussion rules?

 

[Austrian-Man-Meat]

Here are my thoughts on using twitter statements, I'll cite a message I posted to a thread a while back; do some modifications to it.

"Who cares where the comment originated from? It could be from his message wall on PornHub for all I care and as long as it's a direct answer which can be rationalised with and doesnt contradict what we see in the series. Then it's fine."

As for whether or not it's okay to repeatedly pester an author about questions regarding power levels, I obviously frown upon this practice. For reasons aforementioned. I'll ask a question, lets hypothetically say an author replies to one of these people who pester him; actually, gives a valid statement. Will it be disregarded due to the means used to extract that answer?

 

[Matthew_Schroeder]

Regardless of the answer, twitter WoG is the lowest possible level of confirmation and evidence. The evidence should be found in the actual text, preferably. And yes, if an author is known to be a troll, then his so called "serious answer" also becomes doubtful to accept.

 

[Austrian-Man-Meat]

I would prefer we not hold prejudice on statements based on who said it and where it was said, that's fallacious; it could have consequences in the future, such as disregarding statements which contradict nothing and on closer inspection make actual sense.

In conclusion, context is the most vital thing; while I don't approve of such practices (pestering authors). If it lead to authors giving coherent answers I won't hesitate in bringing them up.

 

[Austrian-Man-Meat]

I'd also like to ask a question to the people who are in approval of the proposed rule, how are we going to enforce it?

 

[Reppuzan]

@Austrian-Man-Meat

It's already been acknowledged that this would be nigh-impossible to enforce properly, but it's good to set a proper precedent in order to discourage this behavior.

 

[Austrian-Man-Meat]

@Austrian-Man-Meat
It's already been acknowledged that this would be nigh-impossible to enforce properly, but it's good to set a proper precedent in order to discourage this behaviour.

If we're just trying to show that this Wikia doesn't condone that sort of practice, I don't have much of an issue. However, I don't approve of making a rule which would encourage the use of genetic fallacies, like this statement "In addition, the statements they give to appease users are often contradictory to the feats in the stories of the works they've written." It's likely people will use this rule in order to throw away any statement obtained on twitter.

 

[Sera_EX]

No rule is necessary. Just that we should discourage it within our borders.

 

[Antvasima]

I think that Reppuzan's suggested wording is mostly fine. It is probably best if I place the text in the Site Rules page.

 

[Antvasima]

I have now done so:

https://vsbattles.fandom.com/index.php?title=Site_Rules&diff=1061317&oldid=941267

 

[Lina_Shields]

That looks good Ant. So, do we wait for other people's thoughts or can this thread be concluded?

 

[Ryukama]

I both heavily agree with Sera and see where AMM is coming from.

If a reliable author statement comes from anywhere, even Twitter, it should be accounted for.

However constantly bombarding an author on Twitter with VS questions he/she obivously doesn't care about in order to call for nonsensical upgrades/downgrades is of course not okay.

 

[Antvasima]

Well, the problem is that Twitter is not at all a good medium for in-depth conversation. Recently people that are extremely hostile to this wiki have used it to goad forth the answers they want in order to score "points" in an imaginary "war" against us, regardless how little the replies coincided with what has been explicitly shown within the series itself.

 

[Ryukama]

I think like AMM said it depends on the context of what is going on.

Messaging an author who obviously doesn't know/care about the subject matter, then goading their half assed response like like "hehehe we sure goteem! Time to upgrade/downgrade this dude and show those n00bs who's boss!" then yeah of course ignore it.

But if an author is saying something regarding his/her work that is meant to be taken seriously and is a geniune statement of their story. Then that should be held in a bit of a better light than the former.

However I do agree taking to Twitter and trying to ask authors all these questions should for the most part be discouraged and agree with the addition to the Site Rules page.

 

[Matthew_Schroeder]

There is a very obvious difference between this:


And Haganeya's and Kamiya's answers on twitter, which are generally either poorly written and contradictory (People are asking Haganeya about a game he wrote 13 years ago, in a language he doesn't know and uses google translator to answer), or trollish ("How strong is Mundus?" "Ask your mom.")

But in general, I consider twitter to be the lowest possible form of evidence.

 

[Antvasima]

I agree with Matthew.

 

[Soldier_Blue]

I agree. People give vsbattles enough crap as it is.

 

[Soldier_Blue]

I have now done so:

Looks good.

 

[Dragonmasterxyz]

I agree with Matt.

 

[Austrian-Man-Meat]

You're comparing an answer an author is giving to a well-intended fan; a snarky remark an author gives out when he's answering the same question (he doesn't like being given by the way) for about the dozenth time. If you want to show differences, get a better comparison. @Matt

All of you can think what you want, I can't stop you from disliking statements said on twitter due to some personal prejudice. But when someone in the content revision boards proposes anything; they happen to use a twitter response, we'll judge it based on its context; if we don't do that, then we're just encouraging the use of fallacious arguments which may toss aside coherent replies; to those who're thinking "this Wikia gets enough crap as it is", imagine what will happen when people find out that we support that practice.

 

[Zensum]

The ones asking is x charcter from this universe stronger then this charcter were pretty bad imo

 

[Matthew_Schroeder]

Kamiya never answered anything, he just said a single word correction.

 

[Austrian-Man-Meat]

Kamiya never answered anything, he just said a single word correction.

You've misunderstood what I've said, I'm telling you that if you want to provide differences between the two authors. Provide a better comparison than what you've given. If you want to know why it's not a good comparison read my post again.

 

[Matthew_Schroeder]

I don't think your post is a good comparison, sorry.

My point is that authors who give legit answers on twitter are a rarity, so it's best not to bother then. Kamiya and Haganeya's WoG on twitter are the worst kind of evidence one can get, and yet so many kids are obssessed with asking them daily.

 

[Antvasima]

I agree with Matthew. I would appreciate if AMM would drop this subject. Twitter can occasionally be used for minor clarifications, but nothing further, and it is generally unreliable.

 

[Austrian-Man-Meat]

"I would appreciate if AMM would drop this subject."

I'll comply, since this thread is about whether or not we should discourage the practice of extracting answers from authors via pestering them rather than the reliability of them; I've already given my answer to that.