So I will go thru all of the cases brought up in whatever order I see fit, as well as some additional ones.

1. Pesterchum client

In 2013, after a while of maintaining it out-of-pocket, a free version of the Pesterchum chat client, developer ghostDunk decided they wanted to improve it in a way that would cost them greatly. They then turned to Kickstarter, not for profit, but for funding of the project itself. The project would, indeed, ultimately be cancelled after a request from What Pumpkin.

This happened little over a year after the Hiveswap Kickstarter, a controversial mess of its own. So yes, this brief project from almost 12 years ago had the plug pulled on it, at request of What Pumpkin, who likely did not want any sort of confusion around crowdfunding projects while they dealt with their own transition from webcomic to... Well, more than that. I wish not to be pedantic, but the words “Cease and Desist” have not been mentioned. I’m not naive tho, if they had continued the project, they would likely have received one, but I still think it is important to say that didn’t seem to be the case. What Pumpkin made a request, the dev complied. This is not a legal threat, as no threats were made legally.

This is, if not a position I would personally take, not only very normal, but seemed to be resolved amicably. Here’s a screenshot of the dev asking people not to make a mess out of it, the same day it was cancelled (which was, btw, a day after it started):

2. Homestrife

Gio is just wrong here. The link he himself provides straight up says they did not get shutdown or C&D’d. I went after the post where they announce the end of the project, I assume the same one Devin has found thru Makin on reddit. Before addressing the comment highlighted, I’d like to call attention to the last two paragraphs of the post itself:

Once again, it seems very clear to me this was ended amicably. We have another request to “not harass What Pumpkin”, as well as thanks for their support to fan projects. Homestrife was put on permanent hiatus due to both expense and the general desire to move into something of their own, which the team additionally recommends others do as well.

That said, here’s the comment itself:

The comment repeats that there are no hard feelings, and makes no mention of legal threats. The “no crowdfunds” policy also seems consistent with the previous case. And again, while I wouldn’t deal with things like this, I did not write Homestuck.

It bears repeating (something I seem to love to do): would they receive a Cease and Desist had they continued the project? Likely. It is still not what happened. A legal threat is like. An actual thing. The Sarah Z C&D was a legal threat, categorically, independently of one’s opinion of it being justified or not. This is not that. It wasn’t even hostile from any available evidence.

3. Read MSPA

The link provided by Gio in his blogpost doesn’t work. Throwing it on the Wayback Machine actually shows that has been the case since 2022, so why Gio would choose to link it to this instead of the Offline MSPA page confuses me. Luckily, as it was pointed out, we have an excerpt of what it says:

This is not only not a legal threat (no, not even sort of a legal threat), it is also straight up reiterating something that is said in the section above:

About the claim that there was an online version of this, I’m honestly a bit confused. The page seems to link to a short description that seems to imply so, but it is also worded in a confusing way that doesn’t make it very clear. I’d also point out that the Wayback Machine shows that direct contact with the creator was the main way of getting it since 2013.

4. The Overseer Project

As @maxnexus has pointed out, it is really hard to find any reliable sources on this, as it was a long time ago. Homestuck.net lists it as “revived and in active development by Jady Draconevix as of late 2023”, but I’m not sure how to verify that and have found the blurbs in the site to sometimes contain wrong information.

I also, perhaps controversially (tho I’d hope not), refuse to rely on r/homestuck comments from years ago as my only source to what might have happened. I’ll simply accept there is not enough info about this, and thus not really take a stance other than to point out it seems to be currently working fine, so. shrug

5. The Scalemate Sewing tutorial

So, I’ll try to keep this one short. After attempting to investigate more about the situation to very little success, I decided to simply reach out to metroidhat/Eyes5 on BlueSky. They seem to have become a rather successful prototyper of officially licensed plushies from various IPs on the Fangamer and Symbiote Studios stores. They are really good btw, I’ll sure be getting one once I have the means.

Our interaction was brief. I asked if she could clarify what happened all the way back in 2011, and while she seemingly confirmed it was exactly what it says on the tin (i.e., Hussie asking her to take the tutorial down), she also said she did not wish to bring it out back in the open, and would prefer to not talk to me any further. I respected her wishes and backed away, and I would ask that nobody try and contact her about this or any other Homestuck drama.

So yeah. Pretty scummy imo. The plushies weren’t being sold, nor was the tutorial monetized in any way, and it seemed to be advertised as a way for you to do your own Scalemate as opposed to how to manufacture them for sale. While it is true, as I’ve come to learn, that the taking down/DMCA’ing of pattern tutorials in the arts & crafts community is quite common, I’m pretty sure it falls under fair use, and even if it didn’t, again, I’m no copyright-lover. I have no defense, nor a desire to make one.

6. Vast Error

The DECONRECONTRUCTION (makers of Vast Error) Patreon page dates back to 2019. Wayback Machine archives show that they were selling merch with their trolls on it as far back as 2021. A quick look at their Tumblr FAQ does reveal there were some copyright concerns, which is why the Bandcamp albums are priced so high and direct people to download the linked free version in the description (this is, btw, still the case? Even tho they’re FRAF now? Not pointing it as a sign of one thing or the other, I just wonder what’s that about), but it also outright confirms:

There seems it was, however, some Redbubble copyright bullshit happening back in 2021 that hit VE and other fan artists, when VIZ finished their partnership with Redbubble and took down designs that were absolutely under fair use simply for being tagged “homestuck”. This sucks, but Redbubble being shit and VIZ neglecting their now revoked share of the Homestuck IP is nothing new.

7. Befriendus

This is the part where Gio cites the mysterious game he worked on:

While he doesn’t make it explicit, this does seem to imply it is Befriendus, as Blueberry said. He specifies he’s seen it happen to a FRAF project, and the Befriendus credits page cite him as Technical Advisor, as well as sharing the Programming and Animation duties with project director Alienoid. He also wrote a joke secret route in the game. His portfolio page still cites him as occupying those positions currently (tho that may simply not have been updated), as well as takes credit for the creation of the Fansim Engine, which I believe is a modification to the Ren’Py engine for making visual novels more resemble Pesterquest/Hiveswap.

I searched both the Befriendus and the directors’ social media for any indication the game ever had any intention to be released on Steam and found nothing. Gio is no longer in the Discord server, and tho I cannot confirm when he left, his last messages date all the way back to 2022. This may indicate that this refers to another project entirely, or that Gio’s account is wrong.

Regardless, this claim, as it is usual for Giovan, doesn’t really have a source. And I’m sorry, Gio already loves to bend the truth around the things he does cite as we saw above (and beyond), so. I’m not about to just take his word on it. I’m not claiming it is completely fabricated, simply that “this is just like the mafia: threatening to sue people” doesn’t fill me with confidence that the facts are being presented as they happened here.

8. Rachel Rocklin

So these are the two examples I talked about that weren’t cited but that I wanted to talk about, as they are the closest Gio ever gets to having a point.

So, in 2012, two persons in the Homestuck fandom were approached by one Rachel Rocklin, a representative of What Pumpkin, and also the writer for the "A Fun Day for Bec", "A Fun Day for GCat", "Party Crashers", and "A Fun Day for Jaspers" Paradox Space stories. One of these fans was producing some Nepeta hats they planned to sell at a convention, while the other was planning to sell some unspecified cosplay items.

Both posts are linked in the article itself and you can go read them if you want the details, but the bottomline is that those fans were categorically threatened and intimidated by Rocklin, who did represent Hussie. The latter example, the cosplay person, actually transcribes the emails they exchanged, where the manipulative tone is quite explicit. To add insult to injury, this post was made after what seems to be a wave of harassment from the fandom itself, with the OP seeming very distressed.

While details are missing and hard to research, this is just. Shitty. Scummy. Pretty cruel. And petty, most of all. I genuinely feel for those fans, I hope they are doing ok these days.

Conclusion

So. Let me start by saying that I resent the idea I ever claimed “fanworks were never in danger”. Me mentioning there were fanworks that were able to monetize themselves, specially in more recent years (tho still pre-HICU and pre-FRAF), is a very different thing.

Secondly. Look. It’s very obvious at this point Gio exaggerates. And misrepresents. And lies. And uses words he does not understand, or pretends not to. All of the cited projects were presented as examples of Homestuck viciously chasing creators out with their lawyers.

Pesterquest client was not legally threatened. They were asked to cancel their kickstarter, which was then immediately re-worked into a new project, and the original Pesterchum was still allowed to exist without any bother.

Homestrife reached out to WP for a partnership and were politely turned down. They were also informed WP does not allow for crowdfundings for Homestuck. The negotiation was amicable, and the team decided to move on to other projects.

ReadMSPA has always been very open about the fact what they were doing was technically illegal. They were still allowed to operate, and you can get the Offline MSPA archive thru the main method it always had: contacting its creator.

The Overseer Project still exists. I don’t see the problem here.

So all that is left is, indeed, three instances where, over a decade ago, Hussie/What Pumpkin were pretty shitty to fanworks. I again say, I have no intent of defending their measures. It was shit. Shame on them.

That said. Am I supposed to ignore the very observable improvement on fan-creator relations we’ve seen? Am I truly supposed to believe that HICU and FRAF are actually a farce to conceal Hussie’s evil manipulation becuz Gio is not part of it BY HIS OWN CHOICE?

Gio likes to paint himself as someone who has been blacklisted from Homestuck. That Hussie is personally seeking him around the fandom to make sure no project he is a part of can flourish. Yet, he treats HICU and FRAF members as either traitors or victims of manipulation. He has literally chosen to alienate himself over and over again.

He is throwing a tantrum about the Homestuck website being fixed. He is calling people working on it scabs. As much as the UHC has been the main way to access MPSA the past few years, Giovian is terrified that the UHC might become, one day, obsolete. Becuz that would leave him as someone who has done next to nothing for the fandom.

This is the last I will comment on this particular conversation. I think I have made my points very clear already, and feel I’ve done my due diligence on the research, despite its admitted gaps.

I will now sleep and dream about my wife. Goodnight FRAF forums.