Regarding author statements from Twitter, Facebook and other social media (Staff Only)

[ProfessorKukui4Life]

I know this is staff only and my apologies, but I just wanted to quickly point out something.

I put an example and see if youlre all fine with it: in Anima, since there's hasn't been new content in a long time, its creator used to walk through the official forums (more recently we have interviews in DIscord like 3 times a year), and gave us canon info about the lore and rules. They're mostly clarification, errata's corrections, expanded rules, and info about characters, like backstory and how strong they are compared to other characters.

For what I bolded out, this would already make it accepted information. Because in the case of your example, the information is greatly detailed, which already makes it different than the vague answering from social media platforms. Not to mention if the verse has next to no new content to dispute it, there's no reason to deny it. Anything that is well explained in detail should already give it the bigger likelyhood of being true.

Also, for those who claim that authors specifically make forums for answering questions, it would be helpful to provide evidence for that when on the subject of the verse it's for. Not saying I dont believe you, but it would always be helpful to prove what the forum's for before applying the answers from it.

 

[Antoniofer]

That is fair, one should prove that is the real author that say the statements (in this case, we have youtube videos, and there's even a com for the game).

 

[Elizhaa]

I also agree on the jugments should be on a case by case basis; I also think the current rules on the topic are sufficient.

 

[Spinosaurus75DinosaurFan]

I think our current rules are sufficient too.

 

[Nepuko]

I also agree on the jugments should be on a case by case basis; I also think the current rule on the topic is sufficient.

What is the current rule though? I thought with the whole "death of the author" thing in vsbw WoG was completely ignored

 

[Andytrenom]

It's not completely ignored, in universe evidence just takes priority over it

 

[Ogbunabali]

These are our current rules for author statements, and are more than sufficient if you ask me.

• Regarding direct information from the author/creator of a character: We do not use statements from them that are phrased in an uncertain, uncaring, and/or unspecific manner, such as "Could be", "Maybe", "Probably", "Possibly" etcetera. Brief or vague answers to fan-questions via social media are also generally disregarded, whereas more elaborate explanations in serious interviews are usually considered more reliable.
• When a statement from a character, guidebook, or even word of god contradicts what occurs in the series, they won't be used. For example, if an author says that a character from his work is incapable of shattering planets, even though it has destroyed galaxies on-screen, we will always go with the latter, rather than the former. The statement need to be consistent with what has been revealed within the fictional franchise itself. Otherwise, it will be considered invalid.
• Author statements will only be accepted when they clarify what has been shown or implied in the series itself, and will be rejected when they contradict what has been shown to the audience. Statements that technically do not contradict anything shown in the series will still be rejected if there is no evidence that they are accurate.

 

[AKM sama]

Agreed.

 

[Antvasima]

Should we close this thread then?

 

[Matthew_Schroeder]

The issue is that nobody follows them cause people only care about wanking their faves.

 

[Agnaa]

Hey man, a lot of people care about calling out wank whenever we see it. If you don't think the rules will work no matter what that's fine, but if we have rules that people can link back to I think that helps a lot.

 

[Agnaa]

I just noticed a weird piece of tumblr WoG that I'm not sure how to resolve, with WoG contradicting the text but the text also kinda contradicting the text in another way. I've made a separate thread for it since it seems a touch off-topic.

 

[SomebodyData]

@Matt you could always make a CRT for when that happens, like we do with all verses when they need to be corrected.

 

[DarkDragonMedeus]

Well, not just wanking their favorite characters and verses, but also downplaying verses opposite of their favorites. But this is off topic and shouldn't be on this thread.

I agree with SD, that making CRT regarding verses and addressing those author statements is a better idea. Although, that has often led to even more problems.

 

[KLOL506]

TBF tho, we've already been doing that with other verses for years now what SD said. I really don't think anything needs to be changed at this point.

 

[Antvasima]

Okay. It seems like we have reached the conclusion that our current rules are fine. Should we close this thread then?

 

[KLOL506]

Ye

 

[Antvasima]

Okay.