[mod post] Public Apology

[youkofujima.livejournal.com]

To the members of the Hetalia Community: Hello, I am the lesser-known moderator and creator of this community, Youko Fujima. Today I am here to say something very important to the community.

I am sorry.

As some of you are well aware, a few days ago one of my co-moderators, mumumugen, posted a new rules/mod post concerning three things, which he addressed specifically in sub sections. Usually, the procedure for mod posts are--the post is written in a draft format and then sent to the other mods for proof-reading. However, this process was skipped during mumumugen's recent mod post, causing for a lot of misunderstanding, which then led to arguments, bad feelings, etc.

For that, I am deeply sorry on behalf of not only the other mods, but also as the head moderator. This was a very big oversight of mine and an incident that could have been prevented with a bit of editing and better tact in terms of choosing the right words.

We never intended to single out certain government regimes. We never intended to single out members who seemed more talented/have done more research and put them on a pedestal.

I understand that mods are to be unbiased and neutral in their stances on things, but please also understand that we are human. It is no excuse for what had transpired, but we do hope that you will forgive us, the mods, for not catching this sooner.

In light of this incident, mumumugen will now voluntarily resign his position as my co-mod. Please find his letter of resignation as well as his apology here.

And to clarify any misunderstandings:

-We will not be banning people based on how much research/how offensive their posts look with just a blanket rule. We will look at things by a case-by-case incident and decide then. However, any post that goes against the former rules will still be dealt with accordingly.

-However, it would seem that the popular opinion is on the fence for how strict a mod should be, and so here is the direction we are asking the members their opinions for:

Would you like the community to go Laissez-Faire. As in, the mods will still look for posts that break the technicality of the original rules (mature posts, cuts, etc), but will leave it to the members to address and consider the contents of the posts in terms of offensiveness, sensitivity, etc. The mods will no longer intervene voluntarily. Should problems arise and things get out of hand, feel free to contact us. But we will no longer rake through comments to delete or screen them.

[Poll #1352582]

Also, on a more personal note, in order to separate our roles between a mod and a member better, I (youkofujima) as well as MB (midnightbanshee) will be going on a members-hiatus. We will only mod and not post anything pertaining to fanworks which includes but is not limited to fanart, fanfics, doujinshis, comments or replies.

Finally, please welcome a_liger as a new co-mod.

Comments

[starshards.livejournal.com]

Not at all~ One of my friends is a guy who seriously thinks that communism was the best idea ever.
I'm not suggesting that they shouldn't be allowed to make or form their own opinions, not at all, but as I said; common sense. I think there's a time and place for everything. But then, if people are ultra-nationalists, neo-nazis, etc then they usually have their own groups of like-minded people to talk to, and so on.

The issue here is ignorance, and/ or people trying to be edgy. If they have an opinion, clearly, it is a perfectly valid one that they are entitled to. However, I seriously doubt that the vast majority of people glorifying the USSR/ Nazi Germany and so on, and so on, genuinely care beyond the fact that the character is cute.

And I do appreciate that it is incredibly pretentious of me to make so many assumptions, and yes, I may in fact be entirely wrong, but I think most people bawling over, say, Russia's loss of the Soviet Union and resentment towards the Warsaw pact states 'leaving' him is based more on the fact that Russia is an attractive and yandere character as opposed to a genuine agreement such initiatives such as Stalin's purges, or centralisation were a good idea.

LMAO. Sorry if I've come across as SRS BZNS. I'm really not. In fact, I'm not offended over most of this stuff in the slightest. I can just appreciate some people are. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, you're right, but I can't help but feel that the concerns of the people who initially complained to mumumugen have been somewhat sidelined in all of the fuss.

ANYWAY. I'M OUT. Haha. XD;

[rainbow-cnxn.livejournal.com]

I guess I'm just fine with people expressing an inaccurate historical opinion that is heavily colored by Hetalia's "zomg so moe~~". I trust in the users to respond intelligently to such opinions and educate those people as to why they are so very wrong. Basically, I think that policing opinions is the duty of the users and not the mods. I don't think that utter stupidity should be banned; instead, I think it should be called out and made an example of. It's educational, and it gets good discussion going.

Moreover, I want to have my historical views challenged. I want to put my interpretations to the test, and I want to be right, but if I'm not, then I'm still the more educated for it. Sadly, more often than not, the more radical views are the most offensive, and so I fear that limiting how offensive one can be also limits historical debate and alternate viewpoints. Of course, one may argue that Hetalia is not the place for tackling historical revisionism and deep analyses of historical trends. I think it can and should be allowed to be, but I can also see how others would disagree with me regarding this.

In short, I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree, and that's okay. Yay, civil discussion! =)