Let's talk about Harry Potter

[u/AMVilla86]

… 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.

[u/starmadeshadows]

Maybe a warning that JoJo K. Rowling is slap-happy about copyright enforcement on Etsy?

No in all seriousness, it should be allowed, but it's up to the community how they wish to respond to a given post (within civility rules). Like you can still go "hey this Gryffindor mug is kickin rad, I think it's well-executed. It's just a shame about the sentient mold colony who wrote Harry Potter. Have you ever read Diana Wynne Jones?". That's a legit art critique, because art critique should encompass subject matter and relation to the issues of the day. So like, if you want to have that conversation with the OP of this theoretical thread, that's your prerogative.

Or you could just not engage, or block.

[u/GhostofAllDays → u/starmadeshadows]

Or you could just compliment the art itself and not throw out some irrelevant and deranged conspiracy insult based on your personal hatred for someone or something? Like a normal person? Starting an argument in the comments of someone's art to feel better about yourself is pretty sad tbh

[u/starmadeshadows → u/GhostofAllDays]

Heyy, dude, have you read Diana Wynne Jones? Chronicles of Chrestomanci is very Potterian (or well Potter is very Chrestomancian, if you get what I'm sayin) and you can read it and make fanworks of it without supporting someone who tried to sue Amnesty International over being a raging transphobe! Isn't that cool?