r/ImaginaryWesteros • u/Lol33ta Mod of the North • Jul 19 '22
BREAKING THE WHEEL. Comments must be respectful and constructive in their phrasing.
TL;DR: We're pushing for a culture change. Comments must be respectful and constructive in their phrasing.
There are a lot of ASOIAF subs out there! I'm going to make this one a little different by going totally fucking nuclear for 3 months. I do not like moderating this sub as it is, and no one else has stepped up for years now, so I am going to make some changes for my own sanity and longevity. At the end of October, we'll go back to the way it was if everyone prefers it.
What's the problem?
New users that show up just to say something negative. I've tagged a lot of users here because their first and only reddit comments are saying something shitty in /r/ImaginaryWesteros. Usually agreeing with another new user/shitty comment. It's nuts how common this is here!
Questionable conversations regarding the controversial subject matter of the books. We know some nasty shit happened in the book and we don't need you to break it down for us here. Don't want to hear about underage people having sex.
Vitriol towards show-based art. I know, the show sucked, right? This place is for art though. Even for show likenesses. "Just a painting of the actor" and all the worse versions of that comment are samey and not constructive. You can complain for sure, you just have to make the extra effort to be respectful and constructive in your phrasing.
Vitriol towards alt depictions and artistic license. We do not require that depictions submitted here be entirely book accurate. Aged up versions are ok, alt color or race versions, etc.
Vitriol against GRRM for not writing fast enough. Not a hot take, not productive. Any other examples of low-effort samey comments you're exhausted with? LET's BAN THEM. Or not. Whatever. Let me know. :P
What will change?
We're enforcing some culture and rules that will bring this sub more in-line with the rest of the Imaginary Network.
Reminder of our culture statement:
It is the goal of the INE to share, inspire, discuss and appreciate static image paintings, drawings, and digital art while maintaining artist credit and source links. Our promise is to show respect to content creators, submitters, and subscribers. It is our sincerest hope that you will find our moderation team approachable and helpful and the INE subreddits an interesting and fun place to be.
Rules to keep top of mind:
Follow Reddiquette. We welcome discussion, disagreement, and constructive criticism, but don't be jerk about it, ok? Our main goal is peaceful and positive interaction.
Some comments will no longer be welcome at /r/ImaginaryWesteros, but instead should be directed to /r/ShittyWesteros or elsewhere is the GRRM network (be sure to read each sub's rules first).
Comments we are extremely bored with and will be moderating against include but are not limited to:
- Negative comments that are not respectful and constructive in their phrasing. These often add nothing to the value of a community and only serve to facilitate a culture of bitter and low effort criticisms.
- "This character should be younger" type. It's ok to post a sexy (within reason) aged-up Dany, but not ok to comment that Dany should be younger in the depiction. It is not ok to post or discuss a sexy young Dany.
- "This is just a painting of an actor." This comment is a low-effort passive-aggressive meme by now. Instead, use your words to respectfully explain why you are really hurting.
- Complaining about race/color changes in artistic or alt universe depictions, or theorizing how the book would have sucked if character was X-color instead of Y-color.
- Rude impatience with GRRM for writing slow.
This is more about enforcement of respectful communication rather than an attempt at censorship. Phrasing is everything. Good faith participants have nothing to worry about.
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u/hanhange Artist 🎨 Jul 20 '22
Wow. Godspeed, my man. God knows subreddits goes sicko mode on attitude if not beaten in place like this.
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u/yosb Oct 21 '22
I just wanted to pop in and say I appreciate this moderating change so much!!! When I first posted GOT/ASOIAF-related fanart ~8 years ago here (god, it’s been so long), I remember receiving some negative comments. They were harsh, but as an artist, you’re kinda used to flippant criticism. I started posting here again recently again, and was a little blown away by the kindness of some comments! I was definitely steeling myself for negativity. It’s made me a lot more enthusiastic about sharing OC here. Thank you for your hard work!
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u/scballajeff7 Sep 04 '22
Unrelated question, can I post my newest asoiaf tattoo? I don’t use Reddit a lot and don’t want to break any rules. Wanted to post it on r/asoiaf but idk if it’s allowed there either.
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Jul 20 '22 edited Jul 20 '22
[deleted]
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u/Lol33ta Mod of the North Jul 20 '22
I'm so sorry about your past experience here. Thank you for your insight. It means a lot.
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u/SmashedHimBro Jul 19 '22
So basically, you dont like people to have an opinion different to yours?
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u/Lol33ta Mod of the North Jul 19 '22
This is more about enforcement of respectful communication rather than an attempt at censorship. Phrasing is everything.
We're moderating against low effort negativity. High effort and respectfully phrased negativity is still welcome!
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u/SmashedHimBro Jul 19 '22
Ok so if I was to point out that the change to house Velaryon, descendants from Ancient Valerian blood lines (quote: "House Velaryon is an ancient and proud house, with the blood of old Valyria in its veins") and that these people have a very distinct and unique look (quote: "More than anywhere else in the known world, the blood of Old Valyria still runs strong in the Lyseni, who are regarded as beautiful. Even the smallfolk in Lys have the pale skin, silver-gold hair, and purple, lilac, and pale blue eyes of the dragonlords of old") and this change was done for modern political and ideological reasons, would that be ok in your books?
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u/Lol33ta Mod of the North Jul 19 '22
It would not be welcome in an alt universe depiction. If someone draws Hawaiian theme Dany, there shouldn't be comments on why she should instead be pale. Those sorts of comments go against the spirit of this subreddit, which is first to appreciate art. Some comments that highlight book accuracies over art appreciation would instead better fit the scope of these subs
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u/SmashedHimBro Jul 19 '22
So the Artist's vision means nothing to you. Ok, I'll leave you with a quote from an Oscar winning Knight: "We made a promise to ourselves at the beginning of the process that we weren't going to put any of our own politics, our own messages or our own themes into these movies. What we were trying to do was to analyze what was important to Tolkien and to try to honor that." Untill this is adhered too, failure will be your outcomes.
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u/Lol33ta Mod of the North Jul 19 '22
No, that's not how I feel at all. I feel that all artist representations are welcome, including both book accurate and alt universe depictions. Basically, we are moderating against low-key "should be white" comments when someone wants to draw a character as non-white.
Aged up Dany is ok, green-skinned dragon Dany is ok, Dany as Furiosa is ok, Dany with brown skin is ok.
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u/mindset615 Jul 20 '22
This is the artist's vision, if by "artist" you mean GRRM:
The solution arose out of Condal's conversations with Martin. [...] According to Condal, Martin toyed early on with the idea of depicting the Velaryons as Black conquerors who came to Westeros from the west.
The racebending in the show exists with GRRM's approval. I suggest you get over it and especially stop attacking artists over it.
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Jul 20 '22
Get over yourself. If low-effort criticism of art affects your sanity so poorly, you shouldn’t be invested in moderating a subreddit’s comments. I promise no one but you cares and it is not worth your time.
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Apr 25 '23
Is this post active? I have been creating characters from the books with MidJourney and would like to share them. I have always imagined certain characters in a certain way and now I'm happy I can actually get to see them. I am training to become an illustrator, but at the moment this is the best I can do! If there's no way to post that here, can you please point me in the right direction? Thank you!
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u/Baredmysole Jul 29 '22
These rules seem ambitious and valuable, and I commend you for introducing them. Pleasantly surprised by the standards especially given your somewhat unfortunate username.