r/crafts • u/AMVilla86 • Aug 10 '26
Let's talk about Harry Potter
… and other problematic IP
Hi folks,
We need your input. The mods have been discussing for a bit now about crafts with complicated Intellectual Property creators. Occasionally a craft will receive reports due to the theme of the craft and not about crafting itself. While we try to be as open-minded as possible, and we follow sitewide rules (such as no hate speech targeting identity or vulnerability, etc), there is still some nuance with moderating these types of posts. These posts have raised many questions, but we realized we needed to ask the community what they thought. If the community is uncomfortable with something, we want to know and be sure to moderate appropriately.
Some of the ideas we had so far, and why they would be tough to implement:
- Ban specific IP→ Where do we draw the line of what is and isn’t allowed?
- Create specific flair for ‘problematic’ → again, where is the line drawn?
- When a post receives enough reports about the theme and not the craft, leave a high-level moderator comment explaining how to block a user and/or hide a post → might be ignoring a problem rather than solving the issue for the sub.
With that being said, there’s only so much we can police. We want crafters to feel welcome, but with all the moderating we do, it would be hard to add on a layer of “educate a crafter on why the creator of this IP is bad” on top of our normal roles. We also don’t want our subreddit to become a lightning rod for debate. Ultimately, we are a crafts subreddit. While a few comments about inspiration of a craft is allowed, and questioning of said inspiration is also welcome, once we're many comments deep in multiple comment threads with no mention of crafting, it is no longer an appropriate conversation for r/crafts. There are many other subreddits for discussion and debate where you can converse.
So, what do you all think we should do with these types of posts? If we receive a large variety of ideas, we'll put it together in a survey or poll to further gauge how the subreddit feels. Also, feel free to message the mods if you're uncomfortable commenting on the post.
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u/AnnaJamieK Aug 10 '26
I agree. I personally find joy in the story and world of Harry Potter, and I refuse to let the idea that a bad person making money off of my enjoyment is a bad thing. And I am a person she hates.
You can link tons of current media and art to horrible, awful people. I don't think banning it or limiting how people can find joy and connection to those stories is reasonable.
To your point about examining the author or creator of every source of inspiration, I am with you. I also think if you shop on Amazon, or use Instagram or Facebook or X, you should reconsider a hard-line approach to the JKR stuff. Cause she's awful but are we pretending that Bezos or Zuckerberg or whoever are better? We cannot reasonably control for ethicality, so let's just try to keep this sub focused on its intended use- crafts.
I think a "Harry Potter" tag is reasonable, and users can filter or ignore posts tagged like that. Posts that support JKR specifically or praise her can be locked or removed.