[Meta] The elephant in the room
What are our thoughts regarding posts focusing on (potentially unsavoury) views held by the author of the series?
Is !harrypotter@literature.cafe community a good place to discuss them, or should we hold such discussions elsewhere?
On Reddit, the Joe Rogan subreddit organically developed into a forum for trashing Joe Rogan. I think it's embarrassing that the most popular JK Rowling community on the Fediverse isn't dedicated to exclusively reporting on her quest to dehumanize and erase trans people.
There are plenty of places where discussion of her abhorrent views are either suppressed, or allowed to exist alongside fun memes about the work that funds her vendetta against women. If there is any uplifting moral message contained in those books, then the primary community for Harry Potter on the Fediverse should exist to lead a revolt against the author.
June is Pride month, and Rowling has announced her intention to use her fortune to escalate attacks on trans people. I'm surprised there are people who think we should be discussing anything else here but that. I know people love sharing uplifting HP memes, maybe a separate community can be created for that purpose. We could call it !slytherinmemes or !umbridgesoffice to highlight how evil it is to continue to fund her work, or !jkrownlingisatransphobe or !jkrowlingisabigot to play on the ironic meme common in community namespaces like /r/marijuanaenthusiasts being about arboriculture while /r/trees is about marijuana.
This is not the "most popular JK Rowling community on the Fediverse". For one it is not about that woman, and for the other the amount of subscribers to this community is ridiculously low.
there's already tons of places dedicated to doing all that stuff. can you just leave us fans of the books a place to talk about them in peace?
the Joe Rogan subreddit organically developed into a forum for trashing Joe Rogan
Interesting. I don't see why we couldn't do something similar on Lemmy. I did a brief search, and there don't seem to be any !jkrowling communities yet. As you seem passionate on this subject, would you be interested in helping to moderate such a community?
the ironic meme common in community namespaces like /r/marijuanaenthusiasts being about arboriculture while /r/trees is about marijuana
While this was a rather funny occurrence, it arose naturally due to the "trees" subreddit name being "taken". I'm not sure it would be quite the same if we set it up intentionally, especially given that a consequence of the distributed nature of Lemmy is that community names being "taken" is rarely an issue.
the primary community for Harry Potter on the Fediverse should exist to lead a revolt against the author
I hear where you are coming from, but there are other members of this community who may disagree with you. We will consider our options with care, but I suspect it will not be possible to please everyone.
I do have moderator experience and I am interested with working with you to make communities that aren't safe spaces for bigots. I can help you mod !harrypotter@literature.cafe and !jkisabigot@literature.cafe - but I don't support creating a separate community to direct discussion of JK Rowling away from the Harry Potter community. That places news about HP's toxic social side effects where it is easily ignored, and makes !hp a safe space for bigots.
I think directing JK Rowling discussion from !jkisabigot to !harrypotter and HP memes from !hp to !jkisabigot is hilarious. People who join the Fediverse and look for a Harry Potter community will probably come to !harrypotter first and experience a sorting hat of sorts. If they're not a bigot, and they learn that actual Harry Potter literature discussion happens in !jkisabigot, and !harrypotter is for the latest news on JK Rowling's hate campaigns, they'll get the joke. If they endorse JK Rowling's ideology, it will send the not so subtle message that maybe the Fediverse isn't for them.
We could maybe have a pinned post similar to this one? https://old.reddit.com/r/HarryPotterMemes/comments/10vk5e8/trans_wizards_are_wizards_this_is_not_the_place/
It used to be pinned over there, but I guess defending trans rights isn't trendy on Reddit nowadays
A pinned post is a possible option. Would a pinned post accomplish anything that a paragraph in the sidebar would not? I've had federation issues with pinned posts unpinning themselves on remote instances, whereas sidebars seem to federate more consistently.
Pinning from a post written by a local account from a local mod account usually works.
Based on experience, pinned posts are much more visible than sidebars (those are usually hidden on mobile)
I would personally lean towards keeping the focus of this community to the content in the books (and to a lesser extent their adaptations and other media), but I'm interested in hearing people's thoughts.
i think keeping it focused on content would be better. every other harry potter space seems to be devoted to posts like the one you described.
it'd just be nice to have a place where the fans can focus on the books and films.
Thank you for your input. We will consider our options carefully, but I suspect it will not be possible to please everyone.
This community isn't about JK Rowling, it's about Harry Potter. That's what I came here to see. If it turns into just a JK Rowling dunk fest, I'll unsubscribe.
i am the same. i came here because its a place away from all that.
Thanks for your input. We will consider our options carefully, though I suspect it will not be possible to please everyone. I hope we will be able to provide an update in the next few days.
Edit: Blaze and I are currently organizing a bunch of community migrations due in anticipation of lemm.ee's closure, so it may be a few more days until we can come to a decision on this community. Thanks for your patience, and apologies for the delay.
I love HP but I so desperately wish the woman who brought so much wonder and joy to the lives of many children and adults (including me) was not such an asshole about people who are simply different than herself.
While everyone is entitled to their personal opinion, everyone is NOT entitled to the control of the lives of others.