The Call-Out: Linkspam

[elf]

Overview: Caoimhe/Kynn/Keeva (she uses all three ID's on different sites; I don't believe she tries to keep them separate) had/has an RPG project, which has been scuttled since Jack/moofable called her out for rape.

Trigger warnings: Because this deals with rape, many posts could be triggery. Examples of sexism (especially in the gaming forum posts), transphobia, and various other bigotries are showcased. Be especially careful before reading any of the anonymous threads (wank_report and fail_fandomanon) where nobody bothers to keep bigotry in line.

Gaming Background:

7/18/2011: Caoimhe Ora Snow @ KickStarter.com: Heartbreak & Heroines Game fundraising post; has been cancelled

RPG.net forum posts: (Potential triggery content)
Jul 18 : Elvish Lore @ rpg.net: A Feminist RPG or Kickstarter Gold Rush in full swing?
Kynn @ rpg.net: [Heartbreak & Heroines] You've got questions?
Jul 20: Kynn @ rpg.net: [H&H] System Notes and Development
Cuppycake @ the Border House: Heartbreak & Heroines: Feminist RPG Kickstarter project
wundergeek @ Go Make Me a Sandwich: From the mailbag: Heartbreak & Heroines win, M:TG wtf

Jul 21: Ragitsumitsu @ rpg.net: Sexism in RPGs: A Civil Discussion
Kynn @ rpg.net: A question for the women: Sexism in RPGing?
xhaosdaemon @ rpg.net: A commentary on the Sexism in RPGs thread (now closed)....
Supplanter @ rpg.net: The "What About the Men?????" Companion Thread to Question for Women: Sexism in RPGs
Levi @rpg.net: Kynn, three days. Hecaton, one day.
Jul 23: Levi @ rpg.net: Recent Off-Board Allegations (somewhat tangential)

Reactions:

July 20-21
Jul 20: moofable: Untitled (begins, So my ex who raped me)
Jul 21: Ginger Stampley @ 20 by 20 Room: Heartbreak
anonymous @ fail_fandomanon: http://alexandraerin.livejournal.com/286563.html (Potential triggery content)

July 22
alexandraerin: Trigger Warning: Rape (But important to read if you can.); LJ crosspost Original Info Post – START HERE
moofable: Untitled (begins, Someone pointed out to me)
moofable: Caoimhe/Kynn in her own words (emails)
james_nicoll: Heartbreak and Heroines

July 23
apresvie: Kynn Bartlett/Caoimhe Ora Snow, Heartbreak & Heroines - and more genuine heartbreak (Transphobia in comments)
Greg Christopher @ Dark Horse Game Design: Well, this is disturbing
keeva: For the record; crosspost Comments disabled.
moofable: There Are Two Thing I Want To Say To You, Internet
Dennis N. Santana @ Spirits of Eden: Heartbreak And Heroines Quick Update
lendevi @ triplecrit.com: Heartbreak & Heroines: Foot in Mouth Syndrome

July 24
infinitemorning @ feminist_geeks: Feminist RPGs, Past and Future
keeva: Public Statement; LJ crosspost Comments disabled.
palmedfire: RPGs, Sexism, Kickstarter and the past ~48 hours
Jim Henley @ 20 by 20 Room: More Heartbreak
anonymous in wank_report: Warning: Rape triggers (Potential triggery content)

July 25
alexandraerin: News For Today
anonymous @ fail_fandomanon: Ithiliana supporting Kynn (Potential triggery content)
keeva: Public Statement Comments disabled.
dancesontrains: Talk of sexual abuse/assault Comments disabled.
NiTessine @ wordpress.com: Heartbreak & Heroines: Game Called on Account of Drama

July 26
aegflota: unpleasant signal boost, I guess
alexandraerin: Please help - rape survivor counseling request Screened comments.
alexandraerin: A note about motives and agendas Screened comments.
sparkymonster: Talking about rape & partner abuse in activist communities
the_future_modernes: Oh.
anonymous @ fail_fandomanon: kynn/keeva says she's innocent (Potential triggery content)

July 27
abydosangel: See, this is what will get you cussed out
acrimonyastraea: Abuse in anti-oppression communities
alexandraerin: Untitled (Begins, I just tweeted that)
alexandraerin: And a "final" note.
AlexandraErin @ Tales of MU: An Important and Personal Note

copperbadge: Untitled (tagged: radio free monday) Discussion in comments
deepad: When people say it for you
vom_marlowe: TW for rape, I mean it; LJ crosspost

Jul 28
eatsscissors: Kynn accused of rape.
lady_ganesh: Rape culture, social justice, and listening. (signalboost)
Tim Brannan @ blogspot: Heartbreak & Heroines: Dead

Jul 29
alexandraerin: Still so good at the not addressing
heavenscalyx: Choice
lookninjas: This Will Cause Drama. Right Now, I Don't Give a Fuck. Screened comments
Mary Anne Mohanrag@ mamohanraj.com: An Ongoing, Erratic Diary
paradox_dragon: Kynn / Keeva / Caiomhe Ora Snow accused of rape (TRIGGER WARNING for rape); LJ crosspost (signalboost)

recesesional: PSA screened comments
rydra_wong: Because it's important (signalboost)
vito_excalibur: proof is not the final word for everyone; LJ crosspost
pyratejenni @ unfunny_fandom: Heartbreak & Heroines

Jul 30
abydosangel: The Post In Which I Break Ish Down….
drewkitty: untitled (Begins, I am not fond of the court of public opinion)
greyorm: Hypocrisy, Rape, and the "Social Justice" Culture
keeva: Jack and Alexandra's false accusations of rape (removed)
ravan: Rush to Judgment Draaaamaaaaah; LJ crosspost

anonymous @ wank_report: CAPS OF LATEST KYNN POST (Strong triggery content)

Jul 31
emerald1972: Rape, Abuse & Issues of Consent in BDSM
ithiliana: "Although my eyes were open, they might just as well have been closed"; LJ crosspost Screened comments
labrat: OK. I Tried To Stay Quiet.
redsnake05: Sexual assault, rape, and apologists
Will Shetterly @ failfandom: rape and the righteous community: a little sympathy for Kynn and Sparkymonster, far more for Jack and Alexandra

Aug 1
bcholmes: The Rules
flourish: In case anybody was wondering
ithiliana: Might as well be public since some Fail_fandom anons don't give a fuck about flock; LJ crosspost Screened comments
jemyl: Why wait two months?
jemyl: On the recent rape controversy raging between Alexandraerin and Ravan; LJ crosspost

maevele: I haven't posted about; crosspost
marlowe1: Hiding in shame and that us vs. them mentality
marlowe1: kynn the rapist - part 2
ravan: On Abuse Within Community/Subcultures; LJ crosspost
staranise: Thoughts on sexual assault in fandom (why yes! triggers)

Aug 2
caitsith: This post is not about rape apologetics
coffeeandink: Trigger Warning for rape, partern abuse, and suicide Comments disabled
theweaselking: What, again? Discussion in comments

Aug 3
azn_jack_fiend: Signal Boost
marlowe1: Can't look away

Aug 4
jemyl: So, How DO you out a bad actor?; LJ crosspost
littlebbob: Kynn Thing!

Aug 8
littlebbob: TRIGGER WARNING: RAPE (Contains false accusation of rape.)
Tempest @ Between Boundaries: Community, Trust, Responsibility, Consequences

Aug 9
Tempest @ Between Boundaries: Intra-Community Behavior – How Do We Address Problems Constructively?

Aug 10
littlebbob: So -

Aug 14
nellorat: Social Oppression & Anger

I'll be adding LJ crossposts as I get access to them; the DDOS makes those difficult to round up.

I'm aware that I'm not an unbiased observer here; I'm hoping that my practice with other linkspams will allow me to manage as close as is possible to an unbiased link roundup.

ETA: Some threads frozen. Gah. It's okay to question the effects of net publicity on our communities; it's not okay to say that a rape survivor should keep quiet for the good of those communities. It's okay to question how accurate anyone's story is (although this post really isn't a good place for that); it's not okay to say that mainstream/outsider attention & reactions are more important than the truth.

ETA2: Updated with new links 7/30

ETA3: Updated 8/23; likely final.

Comments

[dharma_slut]

Fuck fuck, fuck.

You know what else pisses me off about this? If this were a male-oriented project, there would be plenty of guys around to take up the reins and finish the project-- regardless of whatever charges and repercussions about those charges were happening.

Because men... compartmentalise that way. And there are enough men around to do it.

[elf]

I suspect there could be volunteers to take up the project; I think Keeva's dropped it because she's not willing to deal with confrontations about whether she's living up to her feminist ideals. Jack didn't ask for the project to be boycotted, and I don't know that the removed pledges dropped it below the target amount. I'm pretty sure that there'd be enough economic support for it on gaming sites that consider "personal drama" beneath their notice.

The reaction on gaming sites (I'm still collecting links) ranges from wary to "meh, drama, whocares, I just wanna game."

[nashira]

...Wait were people ragging on a potential game because the writer wants it to be inclusive? O_O

[nashira]

Okay I'm reading AE's post and I understand why the people who know the writer are calling bullshit on the feminist angle. Because. Ick. :/

[elf]

As you saw, that wasn't the real problem (or at least, wasn't why I rounded up posts), but the gaming world is an amazingly misogynistic & privilege-laden place. Before the accusations, there were indeed people mocking her for making a game based on common female-oriented tropes instead of common male-oriented tropes.

Before Keeva's past was called into question, someone had said, "D&D has gone to silly lengths to ignore racial and gender inequality, giving a setting full of female paladins, black clerics etc."

Because a game that has elves and orcs and talking dragons and skeleton armies really needs to stick to medieval Europe's human racial demographics, or it won't be "realistic." He also claims there were no black clerics in medieval Europe, and "the closest would be tribal priests."

(Um. I should stop now, because those RPG.net threads are multipage trainwrecks of back-patting sexism with bits of racism on the side, and occasional patient attempts to correct the worst idiocies that utterly fail to address the privilege & bigotries at their core.)

[fridgepunk]

I hadn't noticed before, but yeah, she used his full name including initial. That seems a bit passive aggressive.

MFW DAT LOGIC

I DONT WANT THESE DIFFERENTIAL-WITTED IDIOTS ON MY SIDE! AND I CAN'T BE NEUTRAL BECAUSE I LOVE MINARETS TOO MUCH, IS THERE A FORTH OPTION?

[elf]

I never expect useful logic from a nonniememe.

I am baffled how it is "passive aggressive" to use a full legal name. It does seem to be formal, attempting to shift the discussion from "casual journal talk" (with all the spite and snark that's possible therein) to "official legal talk," which I think has its own set of issues, but "passive aggressive" isn't what I would've called it.

Threats by either Kynn or her friends seem to be already being made:

[thejeopardymaze]

http://alexandraerin.dreamwidth.org/282251.html

At least, that's how I interpret that message, and I think it's very hard not to for something like this:

"I am a ghost from communities past. You totally lied. You're dead as heck."

Re: Threats by either Kynn or her friends seem to be already being made:

[alexandraerin]

The purpose of that post was to explain... because I know people are watching my Twitter and anything directed at me... that the tweet you're quoting, despite all appearances, isn't a threat and it had nothing to do with kynn.

It's just an ill-timed attempt at being humorous from someone who had no idea what was going on, only that my last post on a site he knew me from (four years ago) was a declaration that I'm not dead.

I'm not winking and I'm not trying to be ~*clever*~ here. He's a bystander with no sense of timing, please leave him alone and don't lay his threat at the feet of Caoimhe or her supporter.

Edit: I've edited the post to further emphasize the actual explanation... a reference to what really happened was in the opening sentence, but I guess the seeming obvious interpretation can blow that out of the reader's mind.

Some links, if you're still updating

[rydra_wong]

http://vom-marlowe.dreamwidth.org/3298.html
http://eatsscissors.dreamwidth.org/311085.html
http://lookninjas.dreamwidth.org/135900.html
http://vito-excalibur.dreamwidth.org/323301.html
http://paradox-dragon.dreamwidth.org/151236.html
http://rydra-wong.dreamwidth.org/312701.html (just links)
http://recessional.dreamwidth.org/310457.html (just links)
http://www.journalfen.net/community/unfunny_fandom/14383.html
http://alexandraerin.dreamwidth.org/284310.html -- a really really important one, I think

(Goddamit, I can't stop accumulating links. And I need to back off and stop having this anxiety attack.)

Re: Some links, if you're still updating

[elf]

Thanks; I had a few of those but not all. And definitely want to keep collecting links; would like to get past the "what happened" link roundups and onto the "what does the community do next" stage.

(frozen comment)

[ravan]

This is actually the first I have read about what the actual accusations are. I figured one of the Sh*tt*rl*y mob tried to frame her for something federally illegal.

I guess what bothers me about this is the ohh so convenient (for her detractors) timing. The accusations get posted just a week or so after people start crank calling her and signing her up for disgusting email lists, and just after her game gets funded. Sh*tt*rl*y must be snickering up his sleeve.

I don't say that Jack or the others who presume to speak for him aren't speaking the truth as they see it or not. I really don't know. But the timing is very convenient for people who want to bring Kynn down by whatever means they can. Coincidence? I stopped believing in coincidence in net.drama a long time ago. Even if the accusations are genuine, the motives and timing are suspect. And the disclaimers that some people use are like persian carpets.

As with politics, I must ask, cui bono?

I must admit, I find "trial by net" to be a bit disturbing. What's next, the posting of addresses?

I guess any time an accusation of rape gets posted/spread that is possibly politically motivated I get very uncomfortable. The whole Assange thing, for example, looked like a possible case blown out of proportion and into public prominence for purely political motives.

It's like third parties are taking a serious issue, especially for the victim, and using it in some sort of political/economic vendetta against the accused. It trivializes the whole thing, makes it like it wouldn't matter except as a way to bring someone else down.

(frozen comment)

[acrimonyastraea]

Oh yes, it's terribly worrysome that rape doesn't always happen at a time that is most convenient for the rapist.

(frozen comment)

[0jack]

Seriously, I cannot believe I just read this. I'm not even going to try and make a rebuttal to this because everything necessary to do so is so blatantly obvious and out there in the posts if you were inclined to read it from any POV other than that of a rape apologist.

This comment supports and perpetuates rape culture. That's all.

(frozen comment)

[jackandahat]

"I guess what bothers me about this is the ohh so convenient (for her detractors) timing."

I've been trying to think of a way to say this politely, but I think I need to just be blunt: People like you are one of the reasons rapes go unreported.

It took me years to talk about having been molested. When I did talk, the abuser was in prison for an unrelated matter. I was told that I was making it up and that I'd waited until he was in prison so I didn't have to "face up to the consequences of lying about him". Because tying it to timing was a convenient way to discredit what I was saying.

When several of us talked to our head teacher about an abusive teacher in school, it was chalked up to us being "bad students" - we were all frequently in trouble, therefore clearly we were lying just to deflect the blame.

And here's a thought - maybe if someone doesn't want the fact they're a rapist to be used against them... they shouldn't be a rapist.

(frozen comment)

[fridgepunk]

Read Jack's posts on the issue and ignore all the rest – Jack's account is believable and should and can be believed without reservations.

Jack bringing this out just as H&H was getting set to go actually wasn't coincidence; Jack saw the H&H thing, and that prompted Jack to finally come out about this because she felt that Kynn was using feminist credentials kynn had no right to due to raping him, and using them to make money. Which is perfectly understandable and fair thing for Jack to do.

Experience of past action A in the presence of catalyst B creates reaction C. No coincidence needed.

Strictly speaking Hastur wasn't a mob - TNH had a mob but then she ated it and Hastur then splintered off from that and mobbed itself.

Tangentially; hello wankas.

Just thought I'd ask the U_F peeps if they actually got jack's permission to post like they said they would. No biggie if they didn't, as I'm sure jack wouldn't mind, but it's not really your rape and it would have been somewhat classy to have gotten permission.

Oh, and all your transphobic fucks can fuck right off - using rape for reasons of grudgewank is pretty fucking bad, using it to dehumanise the rape victim and advance your horrible little toilet obsessed agenda is fucking disgusting. So could you please all quietly go diaf so that everyone can be happily appalled and shocked at ONE horrible and appalling thing at a time thankyouverymuch.

(frozen comment)

[elf]

I think the timing is very reasonable.

I've told nobody I know about the guy who raped me at Timecon. Well, many of my friends know I was raped at a con; some knew it was Timecon; nobody knows his name. (I don't know his last name, but I could find out.) I never told the concom or head of security about it.

However, if he were putting together a convention, I'd damn well tell people. If he were running for local office, I'd come forward.

Knowing how rape gets dealt with by the legal authorities means there was never any reason to report it to the police--what, you agreed to share a bed with this guy, and you got upset when sex happened? What were you thinking? There's never been any reason to report it publicly, and by the time it occurred to me that it might be useful to report to con staff, he was no longer working local conventions. I can't see the point in reporting "we used to have a predator in our midst." Because, wtf, it's not like there's any shortage of new predators; I just don't know exactly which ones those are.

So I find it not shocking at all that accusations of rape, of sexual assault, of harassment and spousal abuse, don't come out until the abuser is *doing something* that counts on public support. Because until that point, nobody listens. The public assumes it's a case of "well, the relationship wasn't working for you, so you gotta pillory the ex."

And in a lot of cases, the victim doesn't *want* to go public. Wants to cope with their damage privately as much as possible. It's only when they see their abuser getting great public acclaim that they start thinking, wait, why are all those people lauding that abusive jerk? And then realize, oh, because nobody's told them about the abuse.

When the hell *should* Jack have come forward? The weekend after the con, while he was still trying to sort out "did this really happen and what should I have done differently to stop it?" (Doesn't matter that there's nothing he "should have done differently;" that's part of the sorting-out-what-happened process.)

WisCon was in May. Coming forward in July doesn't seem that long a gap to me.

(frozen comment)

[alexandraerin]

Ask "cui bono".

Who does benefit? Not us.

How's it "convenient" for us? I've seen myself be called "opportunistic", but what opportunity have I seized on? We spent most of the past year trying to convince Caoimhe to do something with her gaming ideas while she did her "Woe-Is-Me, I'm Not Good For Anything, Why Would Anybody Ever Pay Me For Anything?" song and dance so it's pretty bittersweet to watch her game fail now. If nothing else, the world would be a better place if she had something in her life that wasn't keeping score.

But say you don't believe all that. What benefit does anybody get for torpedoing her game? It's not like this was a shakedown. If it were, we wouldn't have gone public because we can't retract a public accusation so she'd have no motive to pay us. And it's not like she had money. The $5,000 in pledges she had were just that: pledges. They were secured on credit cards, but her canceling the game means that they never get paid to her so it's not like she suddenly has $5,000 to give someone to make them go away.

Let me talk to you about convenience, friend. I'm a crowdfunded author. I write, people give me money. That's my sole income. This has eaten my life for the past two months, so I haven't been writing much. What does that mean for my income? It means I'm stretched thin. And this past week, it got worse, not better.

I was supposed to do my own fundraiser (it's a quarterly thing for me) like a month ago but it felt like it would have been very hollow for me to start rattling the cup when I felt like I'd done so little. So I put it off. And I'm still putting it off, because I don't want to risk people who aren't my readers mistaking it for something connected to all this... either thinking that Jack and I need extraordinary help, or thinking that I'm trying to seize on the attention for a profit.

This is not a fun time for me. This is not a good time for me. This is not a moment of triumph for me. When Jack decided to go public, it wasn't because he wanted to kill her game. (At no point did either of us make any demands regarding that or anything else.) It was because the ambivalence he felt about it... a good project, a good outlet for her... was outweighed by the anger he felt at her feminist pose and the fact that she was using it to manipulate people again.

Go back through my journal and see if there's any evidence of a vendetta. I'm not one of kynn's internet enemies. I've spent the past year biting my tongue and trying to see the best in her and feeling sorry for her. I canceled an online D&D game that she was in rather than kick her out when she kept viciously going after another player session after session, even after being told to stop. I was more comfortable calling it a conflict of personalities than I was saying "she's a bully and she needs to go." Go ahead someone seize on that as my secret motivation... yeah, right, this whole thing is all revenge for her ruining my D&D game. That sounds reasonable.

But it's the pattern: she abuses, I make excuses. I'm not the least bit proud of that. Admitting it doesn't frame me in a good light or make me look like an Internet Hero.

Cui bono? The community, we hope, benefits. But not us.

(frozen comment)

[evewithanapple]

There's transphobia in the comments of apresvie's post. You might want to add a warning for that.

(frozen comment)

[elf]

I don't want to. I'm gonna do it anyway.

I don't want to, because I know I'm not up for checking back on every single post to see if transphobia has shown up. And I expect a lot of transphobia to be thrown around, and there's not going to be any way to be sure of avoiding it except by having someone pre-screen the reading list.

OTOH, yes, thar be some rather sharp transphobia, well deserving of some sort of callout. Because no, you don't get to say "I only accept someone's identity if I respect their actions." At least, not and be on the side of truth, liberty, justice and all those good things. Identity is not earned with good behavior; gender recognition is not contingent on public approval of one's personality.

[fascination]

I was recently sent this link, and...needless to say, I am completely disgusted by this woman's actions. I, completely ignorant of the accusations against her, had her access/subscribed to my personal journal, but removed and banned her as soon as I found out the accusations against her. I just...ugh. This is fucking disgusting and this needs to be made clear.

(frozen comment)

[alexandraerin]

elf, could you do me a favor and please put a ban on me? I would prefer to disengage completely from this ravan character, but I know myself and I know I won't be able to stick with it if they continue posting things in the same vein.

[ravan]

OK, I'm done commenting on this in your journal, elf. It's not fair to you to challenge the chorus here. My apologies.

[rosefox]

Here's a screencap of keeva's "Jack and Alexandra's false accusations of rape" post, which has since been edited. If you're putting up trigger warnings, I suggest warning for descriptions of rape and suicidal thoughts. It also includes transcripts of conversations between Jack and Caoimhe that I'm guessing Jack did not consent to having posted.

[elf]

Gha. I warned for the thread that has a link to the screencap; I want to know if I can get away with just putting "TRIGGERY STUFF HERE CLICK AT OWN RISK" up at the top, because putting warnings on some posts implies that the rest are somehow "safe," and that's not always true.