Classic Rant: A Response to G+ Censors

Recently, a certain G+ RPG group (I'm not going to say which, but suffice it to say one of the big ones) sent me a message letting me know that they'd erased my post there of my review of Venger Satanis' "Girls Gone Rogue".

The lead moderator there, who is a storygamer celebrity with a history of having reason to dislike me, informed me that the act of censorship was not, in fact, because of anything to do with Venger's work. But rather, with the text of my review blurb, where I said: "I could also really understand how even women on this side of the insanity spectrum from Tracey Hurley would still find some of this material offensive."

Their problem, apparently was that (according to them) I put into question Tracey Hurley's mental health.
The moderators claimed that they "will not allow personal attacks on any game designer rather(sic) it be Venger Satanis or Tracy Hurley or whomever".

He also, incredibly, said "we cannot have that neutrality if we do not moderate".


So here's my response to this asshole:

Well, that's ironic. On several levels.
I concede that people could justifiably have reasons to feel offended by this product on the grounds of misogyny, and that ends up being the post that does me in.
I nevertheless assert the author's right to be criticized but not silenced, only to have the post silenced.

Anyways, I'll take your claims of neutrality at your word. Of course, I believe in free speech, and you don't seem to. But it is your ballgame. I just hope to see your claims of neutrality hold up the next time Hurley or someone else from the Ctrl-Left Outrage Brigade post something about how D&D players are Toxic White Male Terrorists or some OSR writer is an aberration that must be expunged from the hobby and have his books wiped from human memory in the name of social justice.

I really didn't feel I was 'attacking' Tracey Hurley, or Venger Satanis for that matter (of course, I'd bet my right testicle, which happens to be my favorite one, that if I just insulted Venger Satanis then not one fuck would have been given by any of you).
Regardless, I was just being factual, in both cases. Tracy Hurley believes a fully-dressed classic D&D image of a beloved and heroic female cleric is proof of Rape Culture. I wasn't meaning to question the sanity of her mental health per se, I'm not a psychologist. I was questioning the "sanity" only of her claims, of her ideas. And contextually, I was saying that even people who do not believe such an insane set of ideas could still find Venger's book offensive in its treatment of women.

But well, lesson learned. Some ideas are not to be questioned here.


Also "we cannot have neutrality if we do not moderate" is an insane oxymoron.

See what I did there?



I'm not trying to start some kind of Jihad, just share my response because we need regular reminders of the way censors think, in our hobby.
Also, I'm sparing these assholes because they have not banned me yet. You can believe me the next time I see a post on their group about "D&D gamers are white male terrorists", I'll be calling them on it, and letting all of you know. But for now, they're at least trying to maintain a pretense of 'neutrality'.



Not like the groups that piece of shit "Claytonian JP" runs. He co-opted the largest groups for two of the most popular OSR games: Lamentations of the Flame Princess and DCC. And he has banned me from both of them for no reason other than not liking me.

He has done this and continues to do this against the explicitly-stated desires of Goodman Games, who own DCC, but he doesn't seem to care, even though he's stolen control of their presence on G+.

I have no idea what James Raggi feels about it, but maybe some people might want to ask what he feels about the owner of the biggest LotFP G+ group playing god with who he allows to post there or not based on nothing other than petty personal vendettas?

So yeah, feel free to go let people know what you think of Claytonian there.



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