Recently the Arc V shipping blog and ship names involved have been getting out of control. A number of us now feel there are too many ships with no basis or thought into name development and are dissatisfied with the current state of affairs.
First, the blog’s own “rules” state there must be proof of shipping. It doesn’t even say where that proof must be but there must be proof.
Proof of shipping before it’s up to vote
Now, we’ve all seen what a nightmare a shipping list can turn into and thus we’ve implemented a new rule. Some ships, although the characters interact in canon - are not actually shipped in the fandom itself so proof will be needed before we put it up to a vote. It’s not much, just show us the tag in which it’s under - preferably a portmanteau, but we’ll accept anything so long as it shows us posts that there is a fandom behind the ship.
Many recent ships have been added with no proof of shipping. Ships like Hikage & Sora, Crow & Gongenzaka, Reiji & Sora, and many others. A group of several of us have never seen anything of it, please tell us where it is, or else ask for proof of ship while a name is being suggested.
On top of that, a number of ships have gone into shipping stage while only a handful of words have been spoken between them in canon. Else we get something like the “Photonshipping” predicament in the previous ZEXAL fandom (which was later changed to “Dokidokishipping” because it held more basis of interaction).
The blogs “rules” also state that ship names should be reasonable and should have more thought behind them than simply hair/eye colour.
Please have reasonable suggestions
We know that sometimes coming up for a name for these characters can be hard and trying to find a word to fit is challenging. All we ask is that it have some thought behind it and not be based on the first observation of a characters hair or eye color.
A lot of recent suggestions (we won’t link it here since the first few pages of the ship blog are full of examples) have had nothing in common besides hair or eye color, or else uncreative pieces about characters being from the same area (which would then make ship names like “Dimensionshipping” valid for basically everyone because everyone is from a different dimension).
The blog admins themselves have said that these aren’t rules. They merely ask people to try to follow them. In that case, they’re not rules, they’re guidelines and should be presented as such. Rules are not to be broken. It’s misleading and should be changed to set rules, or be labelled as what they are; guidelines.
Following that example, guidelines state that ship names cannot be changed after they’re voted on or after they’re “set in stone”. If these are not rules, but guidelines, then anyone should be able to request a name change for a valid reason. You can’t just get away with upholding some of your rules but not all of them. That’s not how it works.
Furthermore, the lack of monitoring in voting practices does not always represent what the fandom wants. It is a system where many people can vote many times, regardless of whether or not they’ve already cast one. Not only does this make all the name voting questionable, it also skews the numbers in favor of whoever was most passionate about getting their name through.
What’s stopping one person from voting ten times in every single vote so that their bias gets through? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. And what’s to say that this hasn’t already happened? Multiple times, at that?
None of the voting results can be stated as legitimate since this is the case.
Secondly, we feel it’s unfair that many people are simply throwing out names for any ship they can without actually shipping it. Those of us who actually ship these ships take time deciding on the perfect name. It’s unfair to see those who contribute art, fanfiction, videos and other efforts to the ship rushed into picking names rather than taking their time to find something right for the ship they love by people who don’t ship it or contribute to it but want to name something.
Understandably, half of the suggestions thrown at the shipping blog are from anonymous suggesters, and so there’s no way of checking whether or not the anonymous actually contributes to a ship tag. However, complaints from named people who do appear often in the tag should be taken more seriously than an anon’s suggestion of a name.
The shipping blog claims that they are only here to “organize and categorize names” and cannot force anyone to use them.
This blog is just here to organize and categorize the names in a fair manner. It’s up to the fandom / shippers to suggest the names and the name people like the best will win.
If they truly are here to merely categorize and organize, they have to accept they they have no longer have the right to decide yes or no to any ship name. The blog has to decide–do they want to simply organize and allow people to vote on every suggestion or do they want to have some control over what gets through the voting? They can’t have it both ways.
And while the blog says that they can’t control whether the fandom uses the names or not, they have to realise that by calling them “official” and by being an “official” blog they have some influence and control. By naming themselves the “official” list, people will use it like one and treat these names as if they are (and they actually are) set in stone. Please own up to your power and stop dodging your responsibility.
We request a general overhaul in policy and for the blog runners to step up and admit that they’ve been sorely lazy about upholding their own rules and have been dodging accusations to make it seem like they are not the ones in the wrong.
Signing this letter, “we” are identified as follows:
All reblogs will be appreciated in spreading this around. If you also agree with us, please feel free to add your name to the list.
For reference, the ship blog rules page has been cached here, as well as the following quotes cached from here and here, in case of any sudden changes to discredit our argument.
amandla
yousharknotpass
turnnoffyourmind
vaporwave
blakekathryn
gamechangershow
discoholicmusic
jimmyeatworldofficial
s-u-f-j-a-n-s-t-e-v-e-n-s
ellievsbear
