I'm honestly so shocked to see how many people are writing off Gio's claims and acting like Hussie can do no wrong, or if they do, it's justified. I think it is in part easy to write off because of the title of Gio's article - in my opinion, this story is not particularly about the UHC being taken down (and when framed that way, the assertion is made, rightly, that it's still accessible and also Gio sucks, end of story).
This is a story of Andrew Hussie's entitlement toward the creative work of others, stretching all the way back to the early days. This is a story of how Andrew Hussie behaves when not able to control the behavior of others. This is a story among far too many of Andrew Hussie's continual weaponization of legal maneuvers to manipulate people. And in fact, it sure sounds to me like part of Gio's assertions of Hussie's shady behavior has already been confirmed in Miles' statement, where he said:
"gio was Not trying everything he could to make this work, because by his own admission in the article he refused to sign a license to continue to publish the Entirety Of A Body Of Work That Didn’t Belong To Him, and i also strongly suspect did everything in his power to dissuade bambosh from licensing when it was bambosh andrew was doing the initial negotiating with, Precisely Because We Were Worried About Situations Like This. at the time i actually thought that was TOO paranoid, believe it or not, but holy shit was i wrong about that, lol."
From Gio's article - In the messages from Miles during the early communication, Miles says that after giving Bambosh the NDA and a private conversation between them and Andrew, Gio would also receive an NDA and have a similar conversation, sort of an interview before the negotiations began. If it is true that no NDA was presented to Gio and Gio was not stalling, this was just an excuse to get Bambosh alone and not have to deal with Gio. Sure sounds like it tracks, at least to me. They cornered Bambosh, tried to only work with him and cut Gio out of the deal while weaponizing legal documents to do so. The NDA/non-NDA dynamic between Bambosh and Gio meant that they could not discuss the negotiations between them, and Bambosh then left the project.
Please don't think that just because Gio's article is dramatic, that it's not credible. To be honest, if I had been jerked around that much for that long I'd be pretty uncharitable too. The most credible part to me is how familiar it sounds. I know people are discrediting Gio and calling them biased...well, everyone has bias - I think it'd be worse had Gio pretended to not feel the way they feel about things at this point. The idea that language used with regards to abusive relationships is overblown - divide and conquer and DARVO are very real tactics people use to have power over others in many situations, like in cases of medical or financial abuse. Domestic violence is not the only arena in which these things happen.
Finally, I personally am not only interested in how Andrew Hussie treats their friends. I'm far more interested in how they treat people they don't respect. And the answer is...extraordinarily poorly and unprofessionally.
Sylvia - that was not my implication. I only am responding to the statement I've seen continually that all the UHC is is hussie's work, which is untrue. I don't really know what's up with the reader app specifically, truth be told. As I said, this story is not really about the UHC.
So you're saying there's reasons aside from guilt that someone would avoid taking someone to court? Wild. I wonder if we can fucking extrapolate that to anything. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
I would also like to highlight that the post gio made is very much a callout post against a transfem, that alone is reason to disregard it. Not to mention the constant degendering of Hussie in the original version. I read the whole thing nonetheless, and if gio felt fucked over by Hussie there are far better ways to deal with it than a smear campaign.
- Livvy, she/her
catgirltreats - where is the evidence hussie is transfem? i have not heard this before. I also think someone's identity does not mean they can never be criticized for actions they've taken. I think that's a very dangerous road to take. Everyone can cause harm and acting otherwise is not really a good thing.
@possumpattern and anyone else this may concern, we're getting complaints about the amount of different topics created about the same thing, I'd encourage lookig for a relevant thread to engage with before reigniting a debate in a new topic please.
@squiddo please refrain from asking people if they are stupid, it doesn't really get your point across or help anyone understand anything better.
-KeCh
bitches scared of trannies so bad
-- The Butch
I'm sorry @kechmeifyoucan. I wasn't sure where to put this as it is not really a response to Miles' post and is instead about the premise of the article, and I didn't see a general discussion thread about this topic.
Hussie uses any pronouns and is nonbinary and made her take on gender very clear in Psycholonials. Even gio understands this to the degree that he corrected himself.
As for the "criticism" angle, that is welcome. Accountability is important, but what accountability is NOT is an attempt to frame Hussie as a "arrogant, pig-headed abuser" and to encourage people to stop supporting the work of Hussie and everyone they work with. Is that criticism? Or is it some guy, with a history of stalking and harassing people associated with Homestuck, attempting to destroy the livelihoods of everyone Hussie is currently working with?
Trans people, and transfem people especially, are frequently viewed under much harsher scrutiny than most other people. As such, it is always important to not engage with the destruction of their lives unless it is very much your business.
catgirltreats - I know hussie is nonbinary, I have seen no statement of them being transfem though. Themes in a story is not a declaration of identity. But again, as a nonbinary trans person myself I don't think someone's identity makes them above criticism.
I do absolutely think Gio used strong language in his article, but I don't think tone policing really refutes the claims he is making. I am interested in what Hussie and WP have to say about the actual claims in the article, such as the NDA making gio and bambosh unable to discuss something they jointly own during negotiations, or whether or not Hussie demanded takedown of the articles in exchange for playing ball about the collection or alternately, using legal action to take it down. I think responding to these claims matter regardless of who Gio is or who Hussie is.
AMAB people who are NB are inherently transfem lmfao Gender as a concept for an amab person is a defiance of masculinity.
That's very much not true, Squiddo. Some people are nonbinary and don't identify with masculinity or femininity.
the unfortunate reality of the world is that it does not matter how one identifies with regards to how people are treated. if you are AMAB and you are not a man, you are a threat to the masculinity cis men hold dear and will be treated like a [REDACTED].
the epilogues are the best part of homestuck
Wow. If only there was someone in this thread talking to you that identified as nonbinary without identifying with masculinity or femininity. (You're stupid as fuck)
Bruh people's websites that host TV shows and manga illegally get dmcaed and taken down all the time and there isnt a creative aspect in just hosting the media
again, though, this is not worth engaging with from a productivity standpoint. really need to push that point. you should only be talking here if you're having a good time, because I cannot deny it is kind of funny and i am slightly heehoo about it all.
the epilogues are the best part of homestuck
If anyone is doing DARVO here it's Gio making an article about being a domestic violence victim and a victim of the HOLOCAUST because he fucked up negotiating the collab of a lifetime for a homestuck fan. You talk about "Gio was just... so righteously angry!!! we shouldn't ignore his message!" okay then we can understand Hussie to be FED UP with his wussing around and also "valid" in being pissed and "imperfect" in their messaging, while still being in the correct legal basis.
also possum can you go back to the Shrugged account I liked that icon, it made me feel far superior to you, on top of everything else.
"Transfem" is used to describe people who were coercively assigned male at birth, and are transitioning away from that. It does not mean "trans and feminine." If you object to this terminology, I do not care because I didn't come up with it. Please direct your complaints to some queer studies person who lives in a university or whatever, because you COULD be the person who comes up with a word that is so deliciously inclusive and intuitive, that nobody will ever have to answer tedious questions about ever again. And that would make my life SO much easier.
This line of discussion really has nothing to do with refuting the actual claims being made against AH. Their gender is irrelevant to whether or not they did what Gio is saying they did.