To begin: This week has not received a complaint about the prompts, time, or schedule. There are two people who receive the messages for this week, and none were ever given. I was given a personal suggestion from a friend about two days in, but that was done on discord. No one ever sent a single comment to me or Mod F.
Second: No one ever mentioned the time zone was a problem this year. If people had asked, it would have simply been put to a vote. I figured that giving you a full 24 hours to play a game was fair for everyone, no matter the time zone. There is no need to accuse me of “purposely making it easier for myself and harder for everyone else.”
Third: The prompts were written and chosen by the fans, and I never once received a complaint about the prompts. If you didn’t like them, you were always able to simply select “free” on any day, or wait until the last day. I did not “choose” prompts I made or wanted to see, and I certainly did not “fake the week to get free commissions.”
Fourth: The reason this week was created was for fans to have fun and create content. That was it. I love the ship and I loved the fandom, and I wanted to do something to help a small fandom become inspired.
Fifth: I never purposely made things difficult for anyone. I never “disrespected” artists. When one artist came to me and asked if it would be possible to have artist-only prompts, I said yes and was working to making an Ignoct Artist Weekend sometime in May to figure out the kinks so that next Ignoct week could have something that worked for artists and writers. This is because someone asked for artist prompts, but it was two days into the event as is and I couldn’t just change things in the middle.
Sixth: I am not a mindreader. I cannot fix something if no one has said there was an issue in the first place. And I would like to remind you: No one messaged me about any problems. The suggestion from a friend on artist prompts was the only thing I heard personally, and Ignoct week did not receive a single complaint about how things were run. There were no complaints voiced to the mods, meaning nothing could be done with them.
This blog has just shy of a thousand followers, meaning that almost a thousand people were able to enjoy something about this fandom week. A handful of people viciously ripping me apart on Twitter… I compare that to the thousand that seemed to be having fun liking, reading, seeing, making art, making gifs, and writing. This is not a mandatory week. This is a week for having fun and enjoying the company of fandom. You were never obligated to participate, just as I was not obligated to put in my own time, energy, and money into hosting the event. I did it because I loved this fandom.
If anyone wanted to participate in making prompts or giving suggestions, the anon function was and is always open. This week is run by fans for the fans. It is not run to cater to one single person. I’m not going to throw out prompts I don’t like when they are voted as the most popular or put in “fake” prompts. If there is a desire for more voting rounds, that is something that can be done. We’ve always been open for changes.
Just because a small group of people wants to destroy the fun of an entire community doesn’t mean they get to do it. There are things out of my control. I can’t make your stories or art get notes. I can’t prevent “similar” things from being created. I can’t make “your prompt” win. I can’t make you feel “inspired” by the prompts. And I certainly can’t read your mind and how you feel. The issue here isn’t that there was a problem—I’m human. I’m not perfect. I make mistakes.
The problem here is that I can’t fix something if no one tells me it’s broken. There have been lines of communication, anon and unanon, open from the beginning.
Please remember that despite what you may think, there is a real human behind this computer screen. A person who has feelings and doesn’t like being called a thief, liar, lazy, or whatever else you have to sling because you weren’t 100% satisfied with a completely optional fan event that you were in no way obligated to participate in.
There were supposed to be four announcements today: the creation of the Ignoct Fandom Digest, the Ignoct Art Weekend in May, the next Ignoct Week, and a special event for October.
I genuinely don’t know if I am going to be running anything anymore, because honestly? I’m tired. Every time I try to do something in this fandom, a small but very vocal minority finds the need to absolutely eviscerate everything done… despite never bothering to voice said complaints to me so they could be fixed. They clearly don’t want anything to be fixed—they just want to complain. There’s only so much a single person can handle before being pushed over the edge.
Well, we’re at the edge and it feels like I am going over.
I’m taking a break from this fandom and the toxicity of its small but vocal minority. I don’t know for how long, but I just know I need to be far, far away right now.
I will be setting this week to reblog all of the entries, a few times a day, so that all of the beautiful and magnificent content gets to be seen again for those who may have been too busy during the event to really appreciate them.
For those who have supported me, Mod F, and this week: Thank you. Truly, getting to run this event was, for the most part, my honest and genuine pleasure. All prize winners and random art winners have either been contacted or will be contacted shortly.
Godspeed and take care, Ignoct fandom.
andulkaphoto
origamiaround
areudirty
