‘Kay, so we were discussing making a group post on Clannad and true tears in our little Anime Bloggers Collective message board, and I confessed that I hadn’t bothered to fully watch either of those two titles. Owen responded with the above post. I replied and asked if he was joking; the next time I logged on, I got an error message saying that I was no longer a part of that community.
So now I’ve tried contacting Owen through email and other means, and I got a response via email while I was babysitting. Unfortunately, my internet is being slow, so my Gmail account is being a brat and not loading, therefore I can’t screencap it yet. But it said something to the effect of “You’re an idiot for not giving Clannad or true tears a chance, and you can’t possibly call yourself an anime blogger.”
First of all, I started Clannad and got bored. I watched episodes 9 and 14 just to see if they were as powerful as everyone said they were. While the episodes were good, they just didn’t make me love the characters. I am a character-driven blogger; if a series’ characters are bland, then I won’t watch it. And while I didn’t even watch true tears, it’s because I was already trying to watch 5+ series (Shion no Ou, D.Gray-man, Persona, Noir , Peacemaker and finishing Nanoha StrikerS) at the start of the winter season.
Is anyone else getting this crap from Owen? Or is this a hazing thing done to ABC newbies?
~CJ
I don’t watch Clannad at all, because I am not impressed by all the hype around it (especially the whole KyoAni shit, etc pp). Yet, even so that would be no reason to ban someone… Then again, it’s his space. As such, I guess he has the right to exclude you.
…I somewhat get the feeling that someone’s trying to create some drama, in perspective of the ABA.
Short answer: yes.
Having seen worse from Owen, perhaps you are better off. You should see some of the chat that goes on in IRC; it can be pretty despicable sometimes. If you are dead set on getting back in ABC, maybe wait a week or two and reapply?
Eh, Owen is like this to everyone.
Owen has been a dick lately. I will have to speak with him about this!
@natsuneko: I really hope the ABA doesn’t stir up fake conflicts and such. >_<; That would spoil all the fun.
@Kabitzin: Perhaps you’re right. I should start my own blog community or something, ne?
@DS: So it’s not just me? x_x
What a dick.
I’ve been watching both, and I certainly wouldn’t hold a grudge against you for ignoring either one. I just reviewed Clannad, giving it a B for a final grade:
http://www.baka-raptor.com/2008/03/23/the-clannad-quiz/
I haven’t written a full review of True Tears yet, but I criticized it for overkilling metaphors:
http://www.baka-raptor.com/Metaphors/index.php
I guess I’m not a “real” anime blogger either.
I only watched like the first episode of Clannad.
But who wants to be in a group of jerk anime bloggers anyway? It’s like being a nerd in high school instead of being a popular kid. You sell your soul to be popular. That’s what I did! Oh wait. No, I was never popular.
You should just um, hang out at the Anime Nano forums or something!
I agree with Kabitzin; waiting it out is usually better. Coincidentally another friend of mine was banned from her forums for a few days because she “argued with a moderator.” It was really stupid, but I guess that’s how the Internet works.
Actually I tried to message him about it, too, on MyAnimeList when I saw that post, but I noticed right then he wasn’t on my friends list anymore. So I’m not really sure what that means.
…I’ll try saying something, though, in a day or two. I mean, it’s going to be awkward if I can still access things and you can’t.
@Hung: Don’t label the entire group as a jerk for what one member does. I’m not in ABC, but I highly doubt that all the members are like this.
Owen responded to me with a very rude (well, more rude than usual)email when I raised this issue with him. So I’ve now started a thread about on the MyAnimeList forums for the ABC.
@IcyStorm: Sorry, I guess I shouldn’t assume that everyone in ABC are jerks. But I think it’s typical for people to associate the behavior of “leadership” with their organization. He’s like, the leader or something right?
I’m sure ABC is a very well-meaning, elitist, exclusionary group.
Impz here.
…I somewhat get the feeling that someone’s trying to create some drama, in perspective of the ABA.
I do not like dumb dorama in general. More so if it affects something that I love a hell lot (The Anime Blog awards), even if there is a remote chance. So, considering that I am one of the five people in the committee, I can safely say that there’s no need for bad PR. I prefer good relevant news. It doesn’t help ABA in a pragmatic sense. So the conspiracy is out. Yes, I am a kill joy for dorama (like it is not known already), but I prefer to make it clear that I do not tolerate any attempt within the committee to create dorama deliberately for the ABA.
On ABC, I do not agree that it’s an exclusionary group. I cannot speak for Owen S, since his temperament is known to all, but I do not think that it is as awful a term as “Well-meaning, elitist, exclusionary group”. It’s really how you see it, positively or negatively. I just feel that any form of group can be accused for almost anything at all if you dislike it.
To CJ: I sympathize with your plight since I have incurred the wrath of Owen so many times that it’s almost uncountable (we are pretty different in character, you see). Nonetheless, I hope that it’s a mere misunderstanding and it will be resolved.
As this is an Impz comment, I end off with a piece of shameless advertising. Please continue to visit http://animeblogawards.com if you are a blogger, and has not voted yet ^^;;;.
Wow, you didn’t say something bad about KimiKiss, did you?
Wouldn’t it be better to just not tolerate that kind of behavior instead of constantly apologizing and making excuses for it?
Speaking of dicks… … …
http://wikichan.org/index.php/Eldrad_Ulthran
“I cannot speak for Owen S, since his temperament is known to all, but I do not think that it is as awful a term as “Well-meaning, elitist, exclusionary group”. It’s really how you see it, positively or negatively. I just feel that any form of group can be accused for almost anything at all if you dislike it.”
I agree here. The question comes down to why you dislike it though. I’d say don’t knock it till you’ve tried it. I think Hung and Owen need to calm down a bit. :/
Clearly I’m not around the ABC enough. This just seems ridiculous to me. :-/ Don’t let it get you too down, though. The ABC is not the “be all, end all” of good bloggers, anyway. I hardly ever blog as it is. ^.^:;
LOL I lurv drama!
Even though I have left that community for a long time now, I did experience the kind of “well-meaning, elitist, exclusionary group” when I first started out. But hey thats how they thrive and so be it.
If one group don’t work out for you. You can always look for others. In fact, why don’t you create your own group! RAWR
@Crisu: Let me know what happens, okay? ‘Course, there’s no need to tell you that… :)
@DS: So you got a nasty email too? >_<;; I’ll show you mine as soon as my mother gets off the good computer that actually allows me to take screencaps. @_@;
@Impz: I’m glad you’re taking this stance regarding the ABA festivities. I don’t want things to take a turn for the worse either.
@j.valdez: I didn’t. But I think he knows I didn’t watch it. :P
@TheBigN: I gave Clannad a chance; however, I just didn’t watch true tears because I was busy. I didn’t knock it, I just… didn’t watch it… x__X;;;
@alafista: Maybe if/when this all calms down, I will make my own group. I just don’t want people to think that I’m attempting to start World War III here.
And to everyone else… thanks for reading the post and providing your encouragement and conspiracy theories. ;) If things work out, I’ll still look back on this post and remember everything you guys said, regardless of what Owen says.
O.o What a jerk! I follow Clannad faithfully, but it’s not the absolute best out there. LET ME AT HIM!!! Jeez, I feel your pain…
ABC is a well meaning group, yes. The elitist part? That’s Owen, alright.
The way Owen carries himself in ABC kinda shows that he doesn’t really give a damn about what you think, especially if you’re one of the newer members. That kinda pisses me off.
This is Hitler!
This is Stalin!
NO! THIS. IS. FACISM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
LOL I know he was bad but I didn’t think he was THIS bad lmao.
Holy crap, glad I never bothered joining any of this crap, I think this whole ABC thing is ridiculous in the first place. People should blog because they want to not because they have to. lol.
Why hello there:
http://animeotaku.animeblogger.net/2007/12/12-days-of-christmas-a-confederacy-of-dunces/
Wow, now I’m big on denouncing some people for not giving Gundam 00 a fair chance and being unreasonable in their articles about it, but I’ve never banned them from my blog or called them an idiot for it. I’ve called into question their motives, but out of a genuine concern for the direction they are taking. Overall compared to this my beef with some people seems pretty insignificant.
This whole Kyoani popularity thing has really gotten out of hand (I predicted it eventually would early on, but nobody listened to me) if it’s the cause of such closed-mindedness. I can’t believe I just said I respect Owen S when he commented on my blog today if this is really what he’s like and I’m not sure I want much more to do with him if he truly is so elitist about his favourite series as to reject other opinions out of hand. He didn’t come across that way to me, but now I’m not so sure now. I think like others I want to hear him speak on the matter befor really forging an opinion on the matter. I don’t know what to believe about animeblogger at this point and feel like a guy caught in a crossfire just crying out for the bullets to stop firing.
This is just one more thing to tack on to my belief that their are to much politics and competition in anime blogging and not enough community. If it could be described as such I would even say it’s a little partisan, with different factions and fans of different types of genres or studios always going at each other and just plain being hacks in their unwillingness to accept another persons idealogy. In this sense maybe I myself have been a bit hard on Crusader as I’ve come to better understand where he comes from on a number of things.
Something needs to change, that’s all I’ve got left to say on the matter.