I've received a number of notes from folks with lots of useful ideas. Thanks to all; you know who you are... :-)
Other bits that need airing have also shown up in the 'ol mailbag. Two folks forged ahead boldly and used their names. (A toony medal of bravery to all... :) and one came from FurrySpaceMUCK's OOC board. One of them of them is unattributed because the author didn't give me explicit permission to post their name. Of course, all bets are off for folks like Corben. Let's take them one by one...
Mara
Anonymous
Gigan
Grrolin
Corben
(From the FurrySpaceMUCK OOC board)
From: Mara 19:01:27 06/18/00 MDT
Subject: Toon: A Simple Solution
A little rule I have; If you don't like a particular painting in an art gallery, don't look at it. If you don't like a particular person, ignore them. Basically: If you don't like whats on Toon's website, then don't go looking at it every week. You already know what you'll most likely see. So just ignore it.
Madame, I'd like to shake your hand. You are 100% correct.
Boys and girls, please pay close attention. Mara seems to be one of the few adults that has taken the time to speak up publicly. If you don't like what I'm doing, don't come around.
Mara, how'd you wind up on FurrySpaceMUCK anyway? You're obviously smarter than the average bear...
Furthermore, by talking, ranting, screaming and, indeed, whining about what you see on the site in question, you simply give this Toon exactly what he wants: Attention.
Oooo. Close, but no cigar. What I want is to air the gov'mint's dirty laundry in public. That's the job of the free press, isn't it? Isn't exposure the only thing they really, really hate? Why does so much stuff on FurrySpaceMUCK happen in secret? Why aren't important issues discussed in public? Who benefits? Or as Mr. Rockford used to say, "Follow the money."
Oh, wait. I forgot. The money stuff is just plain broken on FurrySpaceMUCK.
Attention is what drives this person to do what they do. Reacting to it as I've seen some (who shall remain unnamed, for they know who they are), gives him the satisfaction of knowing exactly where to hit you. Exactly what gets you steamed up.
You know, if I wanted attention I'd just write up a yiffbot, like you-know-who.
Isn't the question more why this stuff is getting folks steamed up? If it wasn't striking a chord, if it wasn't on target, it wouldn't steam anybody, now, would it? Mara, you're 100% on target again: If this stuff wasn't getting folks steamed I'd have no reason to do it.
Why, I'd be out of work overnight...
You realize of course, that's the whole point, right?
So in the end; Stop giving Toon the attention that he thrives on. Eventually, he'll get bored with himself and disappear, as many annoyances do.
Dreamer. :-)
Oh, you are so right. The Nighthawk as a parody of Airplane.
I'm just not sure how to work in their casual disregard for human life, though, in a wacky, Airplane kinda' way. I wonder how many folks actually read the stuff that was posted in the OOC bulletin board on FurrySpaceMUCK? Imagine you were sitting in that sector when this went down:
Even the Chicago (or NY, or LA) cops yell "Freeze! Police!" after they've fired, for the sake of propriety. What's Melissa's excuse?
So would I, Gigan, so would I. Unfortunately, there is too much of the "bad stuff out there ... that really sucks" to ignore. You can only wander around with a scented kerchief held to your nose for so long. Eventually you have to stop trying to ignore the stench and roll up your sleeves and shovel some of the garbage out of the street. Well, the only folks that are allowed to do that on FurrySpaceMUCK are the "wizcore" (as they prefer to be called) and they don't seem to have a sense of smell.
Did you know that some organizations have been given special non-played characters to cover some of the costs of running an organization? I don't have all the details, but apparently they count as members of an organization, can have an income of their own (like any character) and Klono knows what else. Can you guess the name of some of these organizations?
>>><<<
I'll gladly accept your offer, Gigan. Send anything you think might spark my fevered imagination to The Address and you can be sure I'll look at it.
What's wrong with historical references? <SARCASM>Good Lord, man, get off the computer and go read a book!</SARCASM> But seriously folks, I hope this weeks toon of dogs playing poker (sorry, black velvet edition not available on the web) is a welcome change from the normal, overly-literate references. :-)
This is exactly the reason I'm doing this, Gigan. There are a lot of folks trying to have a good time and get along. Unfortunately, there are so many double standards, back-room deals and down-right nastiness going on that I feel it must be made public.
I certainly understand that the job of a GM is hard, and they must sometimes be arbitrary ...but the GM (or the sysadmin of a server) isn't supposed to be a dictatorial jerk, either. Along with the authority to run a game comes a tremendous responsibility to be fair. Just between you and me and the web, do you think for one minute that my character on FurrySpaceMUCK (if I had one, and I can neither confirm or deny that I do :) would be immune from persecution if (some) of the wizzcore knew who I was?
Hey, I calls 'em as I sees 'em. I was sent logs from more than one source on that, and I drew what I saw. Don't forget, the winners get to write history; the folks that were dumped on (with the help of at least two of the wizzes, I might add) aren't around for you to ask, now, are they?
What is it with everyone that sends me mail with the least little bit of heat to it? Folks, I don't have to "misrepresent" what you write to make my point. Frankly, I've received very little mail that hasn't been complimentary or, at the very least, encouraging. If you're trying to annoy me, you're going to have to try harder.
Why thank you! I thrive on attention, or so they say... :-)
You're right. I hope you find this week's offering more to your liking.
I'll also point out that the original FSN cartoonist had an editor that (I believe) wouldn't post all of the stuff that was drawn or offered. If there is any way I can lay my hands on that material, I'll see if I can get permission to put it up. Stay tooned. :-)
Well, I can only draw stuff that come from (MUCK) life. If folks send me logs, I'll troll for ideas and do what I can. Frankly, most of the stuff I've received is chock full 'o' bitterness, and I can't blame my correspondents one bit. Individuals stalked by wizzes (the stalker's punishment was a slap on the wrist, too), blatant double-standards, self-centered, obnoxious role-play, booooring role-play held up as a paragon of gaming, awful game systems (that won't be fixed by those that can and can't be fixed by those that would), and on, and on, and on.
Frankly, I don't find this funny at all. It's just that somebody as to say something, and it was my turn to do what's right. Do you think this isn't work? Do you think that I don't have other, more fun things I'd rather be doing?
Please don't take my comments personally, you're just the first (rational) person to ask about this. I take this seriously and am trying to do my best to make folks aware of unjust things. My purpose is not, per se, to entertain but to inform. You were spot on about shifting my focus, and I hope this weeks toon is more to your liking.
Thank you so much, and keep those cards and letters coming. :-)
Well, now you know.
So... let me get this straight. You saw all this happen and stood by and did nothing, right? Didn't speak up, didn't try to talk sense to Victory, or try to convice her she was wrong? Victory was your "one of [your] best friends" and you let her "going far over the top" and didn't say a word? You saw Victory "going so far to get Red out of 'her' Org" and stood by, "the quiet little wuff."
You didn't confront Red on her grandstanding or melodrama, on her misuse of the system, her self-appointed police powers, or using a Zombie to "keep tabs" on conversations Red wasn't involved in and now you're complaining that I got it wrong. Don't you think it's a little late for that?
You were there. So? I don't see you trying to mediate, calm folks down, make a point, get involved. I've got logs of the same stuff you saw, I'm as "there" as you were. Aparently more so...
Victory tried to throw Red out of the CSA? How exactly would that have worked? Wasn't Chastity the organization leader? Can you imagine Chastity telling anyone: You no longer belong in the CSA. You'll have to go. Chastity won't speak against Red, or anyone else. Victory's insidious plot worked real well, too. Chastity doesn't lead the CSA (Is she even in the CSA any more?) and Victory has been driven out of the game. All the stuff (including the characters) were given to Red. For its own protection, I'm sure. Once they've been educated in the ways of democracy, I'm sure he'll allow them to vote.
Exactly who was it that told you that Victory's arguments didn't hold up? The person that won the fight, right? Poor picked on Red, I'll bet. Don't you think it's just the least little bit suspicious that all of Red's enemies are ..gone.. and Red has all their stuff?
Hey, doesn't Red run some black-hat organization, too? This makes three orgs that Red runs, the CSA, the CDC and the bounty hunters. (Now that Red's in charge, maybe it's just one big happy family.) Did I miss any? Maybe Red wants Oloth, now that they've driven one of Oloth's creators away and kept the other from taking over as a "conflict of interest." Look out, Slipstream, I think Red's gunning for your job next.
Looking at a toon makes you feel ill? I can hardly wait till you check out your new best buddy, Red. Were you there when Red beat up the unconscous newbie? From the logs I've seen, the two folks that might have spoken up as witnesses were "in a coma" or "forgot to look" when Red woke the newbie's character so they were conscious for the beating. Everyone else in the room thoughtfully paged "I'm unconscious." Aren't folks supposed to ask permission before they initiate combat? Does anybody remember why he did this? Show of hands? How about this choice piece of garbage:
So, Red's player used his character in the game to beat up an unconscious medic to make a point to the medic's OOC player that rudeness wasn't going to be tolerated. Red, didn't your mother teach you that beating people up isn't a good way to impress them with your good taste and charm?
Hey, Moira, aren't you a wiz on FurrySpaceMUCK? How can you stand by and let this happen? Isn't it your job to make sure this stuff doesn't happen? Oh, that's right... you forgot to look. If you don't want the responsibility of a wiz-bit, you can't have the power. Oops. I guess you can.
Were you there when Slipstream gave all of the CSA stuff to Red (or Red's draft choice) without consulting Chastity or all of the characters before he changed their faction? He later lied about it, and told folks that all the characters had been consulted. What a yutz! (Don't tell me this is still a secret?)
Reading a bit much into this, aren't you? Let's take it at face value, though. Let's assume that Slipstream or the others "done me wrong an' I'm out to get 'em" by bein' ornery.
Does that make the things I've said less true?
Folks get special treatment by being "Friends of Slip",
newbies are treated like unwelcome intrusions by staff,
nobody dares speak out about anything controversial to the wizzes,
the areas run by some of the "old guard" are huge ghost towns,
new groups are treated like organ-donors,
and anybody with a suggestion on how to improve things is (to put it politely) rebuffed. Oh, heck, let's just say it: they're told to piss off not bother the wizzes again.
Can we dispense with the melodrama for a moment, please?
What makes this cowardly? I'm here, ready to read your mail, ready to reply. I'm using a persona on the net to do so. Are you suggesting that Mr. Johnson (or any of the wizcore) and I should sit down over a cuppa joe at some local pub and discuss this? I wouldn't have anything to say to him in person that I can't or won't say here.
Do you think for one minute that my character on FurrySpaceMUCK (if I had one, and I can neither confirm or deny that I do :) would be immune from persecution if (some) of the wizzcore knew who I was? Please... Brian and his appointees have shown no reluctance to abuse their positions. And you dare call me cowardly?
My goal is to poke fun at a bunch of self-important ninnies. Destroy FSM? Why would I want to do that? HOW could I do that? Point's server is reasonably secure, and I'm quite confident that he does backups on some plausible schedule. Besides, it would be illegal and downright rude to attempt to do something that tasteless.
Um. Bully for Slipstream? Which part of this is supposed to make me think that FurrySpaceMUCK is a wonderful place? I'm confused.
...and speaking of history, wasn't your application for a FurrySpaceMUCK character during the period Slipstream was trying to get all and sundry to emigrate to FurrySpaceMUCK and abandon FurrySpace? He was a bit (hm. desperate is too strong) concerned that he wasn't going to get enough folks over here to get some organizations jump started.
I've seen some of the notes he's sent to folks that apply for characters these days. I wonder if your application would be accepted today...
Holier than thou?
You seem to have this image of me, bent over a drawing board illuminated by a single, flickering bulb. My cramped hand scratching out vitrolic sketches full of righeous indignation, taking pot-shots at an undeserving target.
Which of my toons aren't true? Let's go down the list.
Well, let's see. You've said: My art makes you sick, I offend you (twice), I'm a coward, petty, a liar, a coward again, an assassin, bitter, twisted, I'll twist your words, I'm out to destroy FSM, I hold a grudge against FSM, I'm holier-than-thou, deluded and that you expect me to stoop to personal attacks. (Your score: 16)
Just to be fair, I'll count up mine:
The link to your letter is corben_whining, you stood by and let Victory take it in the chops, you watched Red walk all over folks, I said you were being melodramatic. (My score: 4)
Drat. You win.
Personally, I think it'd be funnier if had the caption of 'The Nighthawk training a new pilot in docking maneuvers'. Kinda' evokes that scene from Airplane 2. ;)
A small ship appears and maneuvers towards a station. A much larger ships decloaks and attempts to tractor the smaller ship. It fails and fires up its weapons and shouts "STAND DOWN AND PREPARE TO BE BOARDED!" The smaller ship flees. The big ship tells the station "[You] aint gonna be around to tell no one" and destroys it.
From: Gigan Tirell
I don't know about anyone else, but I kinda feel like this site is the Jerry Springer show frame by frame. All the worst is drug out and paraded around. Yeah there's bad stuff out there, there's stuff that really sucks. But I personally think that there are enough places to see nothing but the worst. I get 12 channels of them on TV. It's called the news. What I'd really like to see is funny and odd stuff too.
You want examples and logs of such, I can get it for you.
But geez, lay off on the historical refs.
And yes, I have a gripe with the way you are depicting things. I can't speak for every single individual on the MUCK, but I myself take great joy in having the things that I build being used, and looked at. The wizzes are the same way. They want to make an environment in which we can all let our imagination take flight. It's a gigantic, ongoing RPG, and we all get out turn at running a plot. There are gonna be disagreements and conflicts, and as the guidelines for GMs put it, if the players cannot abide by the decisions of the GM, perhaps they are in the wrong game.
I don't pretend to understand the situation with Victory, however from what I have heard it seems somewhat extreme to portray disagreeing with one person's standing upon things to be betrayal.
Feel free to use this letter, though be aware that if parts are taken out of context the entire version will appear on the OOC board. I dislike being misrepresented.
From: Richard
Just wanted to give you a few words about what I think of the site. First, I will say it's nice to have a place to see someone saying something, no matter what it is. I've found some of the cartoons you've done hiliarous, especialy the NightHawk one.
Second, it seems you've taken lately to doing nothing but drawing bitter cartoons that constantly put down the wiz staff. I won't say the usual 'if you don't like it, leave' routine, because that is silly. I would like to say that you are certainly not going with the spirit of the old FSN toons for the most part.
Not to say that you have to of course, but it does get tiresome after awhile of seeing the same basic thing every week. (That being of wizzes doing bad things.) Now, I realize you might find it funny, and a few others, and that is all fine and good, but you should maybe shift yourfocus a little.
Well, that's all I really have to say, and keep up the good work. Love your art too, btw.
From: Corben Henry
You claim that if you get hate mail, you'll post it to your e-mail section. I guess this isn't exactly hate mail, but I'm curious to see if you post it or not. So, I grant you permission to post this, along with my name, on your site.
So where to start? I suppose with your latest toon. Seeing that makes me feel sick. Not because of what you claim it shows from your 'logs sent to you'. More from what *I* see in it. You see, I was THERE for most of what took place in the CSA with regards to the Red/Victory argument, and what happened subsequently. I've heard the story from pretty much all those involved, including those who tried to stay out of the whole mess, and got ripped into, by Victory, for not taking her side. I guess my little 'secret' had to come out sooner or later, but *I* play Talsie. The quiet little wuff. I didn't see what you seem to imply. I saw Victory going far over the top, and hurting practically everyone who ever considered her a friend, and mistakenly thought she actually gave a damn about them. I saw her going so far to get Red out of 'her' Org, because she personally doesn't like Red, or her player. I'm sure there are any number of arguments that Victory will come up with for this, I've seen several of them myself, but it just doesn't work. And if Victory, or anyone else for that matter chooses to label me as 'biased' then perhaps they should consider this. Up till this mess, I considered Victory/Krysti to be one of my best friends. Period. I *really* enjoyed RP with her, especially with Krysti. How did I consider Red before this point. The truth? Kinda cold, too concerned with military action, and not enough concerned with PEOPLE and their feelings on a subject. I'm sorry, but that is how it was. Still a good person, and a friend. But to speak truthfully, before this mess, I considered Victory/Krysti to be a better friend than Red. Yet through the course of this mess, Victory has driven me to the point where I'm honestly GLAD to see her leave. The tension, and bad feelings were too much. I wish the situation could have been resolved otherwise, but apparently Victory didn't see it that way. And for the record, Victory was not 'forced out' by the Wizards, or anyone else. She left of her own free will, after driving away all the people that were close to her. If she wants anyone to blame for this, she should blame herself. Through this mess, Red has proved herself to be FAR more concerned with peoples feelings than Victory did, and I'm sorry to say that it seems I had her judged very wrong. In short, if anything, that cartoon should show Victory stabbing all the people she had fooled into thinking they were her friends, not them stabbing her. And it offends me deeply to see it portrayed in the way that you claim the logs show it.
Red OOC and we need to drill into her head that coms are IC devices that players pay a lot of money for, and you cannot page a group of people and expect it to be an IC com message.
And it offends me deeply to see it portrayed in the way that you claim the logs show it.
I am crushed, just crushed sir, that you are offended. But, as I've said before, I calls 'em as I sees 'em. I'll have to live with the disappointment.
What I see in this website of yours, is not some brave stand against tyranny, or the speaking of the truth. I see it as a cowardly attack on something that I personally love, and alot of others too. What is it? Perhaps at some time in the past Slipstream and/or some of the other wizards didn't let you have things your way, and so now you're out to cause them as much hurt and damage as you can? That strikes me as being rather petty.
You claim you keep your name a secret because of what the Wizards on FSM might do to you if they knew who you were, and on the SAME page of your site, you tell people that there are *lots* of other places they can play. So if there are so many places to play, why remain in the shadows? I say it's because you are a coward, who prefers to strike from the shadows at those who really, cannot defend themselves. Of course, I have no illusions as to what good this mail might do. For one thing, given how bitter, and twisted you seem to be, I'm sure that nothing *I* might say will alter your perceptions one little bit. And for another thing, I'm sure you'll twist my words in this, to make me look like an 'agent of the wizzes' (Or was the term 'pet'?), or something else to further your goal. What exactly IS your goal? To spread the 'truth' about the evil on FSM? Frankly, I think that's bull. I think your goal is to destroy something, because of some personal grudge you hold.
You think that Slipstream only allows his friends and those too 'afraid' to DARE speak badly of him to play on FSM? Lets review my history shall we?
At the time I sent in my application for a character on FSM, I was playing on FM. I sure as hell wasn't a popular sort around there. I'd managed to fairly royally piss off Galand (And believe me, it WAS my fault.), and I'd had a shouting fit at Slipstream on the *public* com channel. Why? Because I couldn't get my own, twinky way on FSM. I couldn't have DAS-UBER-DREADNAUGHT all to myself. Now... at that time, I was most definitely not Slipstream, or Galand, or anyfurr else's favorite furr. Infact, I was widely considered about the biggest twink going. Hell, my reputation isn't exactly wonderful as things stand at the moment. I still occasionally have a little tantrum when things don't go my way, and I'm pretty sure I'm widely considered an egomaniac, power gamer, and worse. And it's probably all true. Now, at that point Slipstream could have quite happily turned down my character request for FSM. Did he? No. I'm here today, and I'm still here, despite all my tantrums and sulking when I don't get my own way. So you'll forgive me (or more likely not, you don't seem a very forgiving type), if I say that I don't see things on FSM as you do. I don't see Slipstream and the other wizards as tyrants. They sure as hell ain't perfect. I've been brushed off by wizards on many occasions when bringing up what I consider to be flaws in the system, or whatever. On some occasions, I perhaps deserved it, on others I perhaps didn't. But who's perfect?
Nobody is, and anyone who claims to be perfect, and holier-than-thou (As you seem to think you are, and as Victory evidently seemed to think she was), is frankly, deluded.
I leave this now for you to make personal attacks against me in whatever manner you see fit, as I'm sure you will. My only hope is that in doing so, others will look on and realize that you are not 'exposing the wrong'. What you're doing is *WRONG*.
-Gareth Henry. aka Corben and Talsie.