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NEWS: HIDIVE Apologizes After Posting Twitter Meme About Texas Winter Storm


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Яeverse



Joined: 16 Jun 2014
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Location: Indianapolis
PostPosted: Mon Feb 22, 2021 4:18 pm Reply with quote
someday the "intern runs the twitter account" meme will die
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ANN_Lynzee
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Joined: 02 May 2011
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 22, 2021 4:30 pm Reply with quote
DavetheUsher wrote:
Cardcaptor Takato wrote:
I can't imagine people would be as willing to defend Funimation who are also in Texas if they made a joke like this like people are going out of their way to defend HiDive for some reason.


If we're really goin' down that rabbit hole, would this even have made the news if it wasn't HiDive who made the joke? Going off the quote tweets of HiDive's original tweet the biggest complainer of the tweet was Lynzee's response with 50 likes. The original tweet wasn't even "ratio'd" as the kids say. Most people seemed fine with it and laughed along with it. Lynzee had a bone to pick with Sentai/HiDive ever since they licensed Redo of Healer and has complained about them a number of times on Twitter like when they refused to delete comments that criticize ANN on their page. It's entirely possible this wouldn't have even been reported on if Funimation made the joke


You probably thought I wouldn't read this (or didn't care), but don't misrepresent me. "Bone to pick", I have made TWO posts about HiDive in the last three months. One was what you are misrepresenting here, when they failed to moderate their Facebook post related to Redo of Healer and it lead to disgusting transphobic comments about one of our former employees. Note that that former employee has nothing to do with Redo of Healer at ALL and no longer works here. The tweet read simply that they should invest in some moderators if they're going to host shows that attract that element.

The second tweet that you're referring to simply stated "Jesus read the room." I have spent an accumulative of five minutes of tweeting about HiDive because they have room to improve and I think it's pretty ridiculous that you think my sole post is the cause of their apology when their original Twitter post itself is FULL of comments saying the same thing; that the post was tone-deaf.

I'd ask where your goalposts are but I don't think we're even on the same field.
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Tempest
I Run this place.
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Joined: 29 Dec 2001
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 22, 2021 4:49 pm Reply with quote
Tenbyakugon wrote:
That wasn’t even insensitive. These same people are those forgetting how Texas has been having cold temperatures every winter like it’s brand new. Rolling Eyes


This year's situation is something brand new. They've never been in this situation.

HiDive obviously didn't mean to offend anyone. Intent matters, and HiDive was just making a joke. But compassion also matters, people died during this storm, and others have suffered terribly. Some of those people don't find the situation, "funny," and may have been hurt or offended by HiDive making light of the situation. People pointed it out to them.

HiDive recognized this, and made an apology. It's the right thing to do.

DabetheUsher wrote:
f we're really goin' down that rabbit hole, would this even have made the news if it wasn't HiDive who made the joke?
Yeah, it would have. Media companies issuing apologies for when they inadvertently offend people is part of the regular news cycle these days. HiDive is a company we write about. As long as the company in question is part of our coverage, we would have written about this. We wouldn't have mentioned it if Arby's did it.

-t


Last edited by Tempest on Mon Feb 22, 2021 5:00 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Tempest
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 22, 2021 4:53 pm Reply with quote
Brainchild129 wrote:
It has nothing to do with that stupid show and certainly not with whatever conspiracy you or others have cooked up about ANN being part of some shadowy anime cabal out to stop all fanservice anime forever.


Oh, we're definitely part of a secret anime cabal. But HiDive is also part of the Cabal, we've been planning this since I first met John Ledford in 2004.

Now if you'll excuse me, there's a planning meeting coming up to pick which crappy spring 2021 anime we're going to sacrifice by artificially adding misogynist bait to. We make one every season so that we can lure out, identify, then cancel the chauvinists among us.

-t


Last edited by Tempest on Mon Feb 22, 2021 5:11 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Madster





PostPosted: Mon Feb 22, 2021 5:03 pm Reply with quote
You'd think a platform that is the Turbografx-16 of anime streaming services would do a better job at having a good public opinion and not screwing up on social media.

And please people, don't believe those spoon-fed conspiracy theories some randos who have no knowledge on anime told you about.
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AkumaChef



Joined: 10 Jan 2019
Posts: 821
PostPosted: Mon Feb 22, 2021 5:18 pm Reply with quote
Brainchild129 wrote:
Also, this isn't just a matter of dealing with a winter storm. It's that it was combined with a massive infrastructure failure that happened entirely because those in charge cared only for making money instead of weatherproofing their systems.


Texan here. And an engineer for that matter. It's never that simple. People love to point fingers at "those in charge only caring about making money" but it's honestly a hard decision that leaves someone stuck between two hard choices. When any engineering project is specified there are targets set:
Building a bridge? Someone needs to choose what kind of weight it withstand. The higher the weight rating the stronger the bridge....but also the more expensive the bridge is to build for the taxpayer. Of course the bridge is designed with a factor of safety--it's built stronger than the weight of traffic it's expected to carry--but by how much? Double? Four times? Six times stronger? Sure it would be easy to overbuild the bridge by a factor of 10 but do you think the taxpayer would accept that bill? Building a wind turbine? The colder the weather the turbine can withstand the more it costs. Do we design the turbine to withstand a once-in-a-decade cold snap? Once-every-50-years? Once-every-250-years? Those costs get passed on to the customer. The people designing the power grid and all the components of it (wind turbines, power plants, transmission lines, substations, etc) have to constantly balance the cost to the customer with the ultimate durability of the infrastructure. It's no surprise that sometimes (rarely) they get this wrong. It's the same thing with you and I. We probably have some money in the bank for emergency expenses on a rainy day. How much do you save before you spend money on non-essentials? One month's expenses? Two? Six? A year? Multiple years?

The power plant which supplies the city where I live is a cooperative, as are 75 other powerplants and networks in Texas. They aren't even allowed to make "profit", yet they still have to wrestle with the same problems every time they have to expand capacity as the population grows, and were still affected by this disaster. This problem is a lot more complicated than simply pinning the blame on money-hungry executives.
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Lord Vaultman



Joined: 03 Mar 2017
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 22, 2021 7:05 pm Reply with quote
AkumaChef wrote:
Brainchild129 wrote:
Also, this isn't just a matter of dealing with a winter storm. It's that it was combined with a massive infrastructure failure that happened entirely because those in charge cared only for making money instead of weatherproofing their systems.


Texan here. And an engineer for that matter. It's never that simple. People love to point fingers at "those in charge only caring about making money" but it's honestly a hard decision that leaves someone stuck between two hard choices. When any engineering project is specified there are targets set:
Building a bridge? Someone needs to choose what kind of weight it withstand. The higher the weight rating the stronger the bridge....but also the more expensive the bridge is to build for the taxpayer. Of course the bridge is designed with a factor of safety--it's built stronger than the weight of traffic it's expected to carry--but by how much? Double? Four times? Six times stronger? Sure it would be easy to overbuild the bridge by a factor of 10 but do you think the taxpayer would accept that bill? Building a wind turbine? The colder the weather the turbine can withstand the more it costs. Do we design the turbine to withstand a once-in-a-decade cold snap? Once-every-50-years? Once-every-250-years? Those costs get passed on to the customer. The people designing the power grid and all the components of it (wind turbines, power plants, transmission lines, substations, etc) have to constantly balance the cost to the customer with the ultimate durability of the infrastructure. It's no surprise that sometimes (rarely) they get this wrong. It's the same thing with you and I. We probably have some money in the bank for emergency expenses on a rainy day. How much do you save before you spend money on non-essentials? One month's expenses? Two? Six? A year? Multiple years?

The power plant which supplies the city where I live is a cooperative, as are 75 other powerplants and networks in Texas. They aren't even allowed to make "profit", yet they still have to wrestle with the same problems every time they have to expand capacity as the population grows, and were still affected by this disaster. This problem is a lot more complicated than simply pinning the blame on money-hungry executives.


Well said. And on a slightly side note I think alot of people would be surprised by certain cost outcomes if they took an engineering economy class. (I took it last summer and my eyes were opened)
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ATastySub
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 22, 2021 7:19 pm Reply with quote
AkumaChef wrote:
Those costs get passed on to the customer. The people designing the power grid and all the components of it (wind turbines, power plants, transmission lines, substations, etc) have to constantly balance the cost to the customer with the ultimate durability of the infrastructure. It's no surprise that sometimes (rarely) they get this wrong. It's the same thing with you and I. We probably have some money in the bank for emergency expenses on a rainy day. How much do you save before you spend money on non-essentials? One month's expenses? Two? Six? A year? Multiple years?

You're trying really hard to frame this as a hard logical choice when in reality you're just repeating some soulless propaganda. I went to engineering school too! Did you happen to take any ethics classes? Learn about Bhopal? Exxon-Valdez? Deepwater Horizon? How about the Texas City Refinery in the very state? Etc etc? Turns out this isn't a dumb trolley problem of "do we have enough money saved up or should we let people freeze to death? Oh well the coffers can't handle it!" The people and companies that set up this stupid trolley did it for profit. They then refused upkeep on their systems for more profit. When there was suddenly a repercussion for their actions in the form of costs they instead chose to let people freeze to death. And now they're furthering hurting those affected by charging them exorbitant prices rather than pay themselves for the situation they caused. I don't run a company built on gouging a resource people rely on. My finances are completely irrelevant, as are yours.
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El Hermano



Joined: 24 Feb 2019
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Location: Texas
PostPosted: Mon Feb 22, 2021 8:39 pm Reply with quote
Cardcaptor Takato wrote:
Are you trying to imply that every anime fan in Texas was totally ok with HiDive's joke and that every person who complained about it was from outside the state? That's a real stretch to justify a joke that wasn't even that funny or even made any sense. I can't imagine people would be as willing to defend Funimation who are also in Texas if they made a joke like this like people are going out of their way to defend HiDive for some reason.


Of course not. There's always going to be at least one person who take offense to anything. I'm just saying as someone who experienced it first hand, I chuckled when I saw it and it felt relatable
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Redbeard 101
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 22, 2021 9:22 pm Reply with quote
Some cleanup has been done. I suggest everyone show a bit more tact and class or you can find your way out the door.

Last edited by Redbeard 101 on Mon Feb 22, 2021 9:23 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Rentwo



Joined: 05 Oct 2019
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 22, 2021 9:22 pm Reply with quote
Tempest wrote:
Oh, we're definitely part of a secret anime cabal. But HiDive is also part of the Cabal, we've been planning this since I first met John Ledford in 2004.

Now if you'll excuse me, there's a planning meeting coming up to pick which crappy spring 2021 anime we're going to sacrifice by artificially adding misogynist bait to. We make one every season so that we can lure out, identify, then cancel the chauvinists among us.


No offense, but hyperbolizing criticisms as being some tin-foil hat nonsense seems a but juvenile and reductive . Selective reporting is a thing and it happens all the time from news outlets. From what I remember, you yourself once said you will not give a platform or exposure to people you dislike. I believe it was about John McAfee's anime focused campaign despite ANN showcasing many other political candidates citing or referencing anime. Or maybe it was Palmer Lucky, it was awhile ago, but either way, it can just be as simple as running a hit peace on a company a writer dislikes. Or a puff piece on something they like and want to promote. Or simply not running any coverage of a topic that other outlets are covering. That's not conspiracy, that's business.
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Tempest
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 23, 2021 1:21 am Reply with quote
Rentwo wrote:
Selective reporting is a thing and it happens all the time from news outlets. From what I remember, you yourself once said you will not give a platform or exposure to people you dislike. I believe it was about John McAfee's anime focused campaign despite ANN showcasing many other political candidates citing or referencing anime.


You're absolutely correct about the above, and I agree 100% except that you got the example backwards.

There are specific guidelines that our newsteam follows when determining what stories to follow.

In the case of this story, as I said already, HiDive is a company that we write about (because they're part of the anime industry). They did something noteworthy, we covered it. We have a policy of covering newsworthy things done by anime companies.
In short: Anime news? Yes.

In the case of John McAfee, he's not someone we write about (because he has nothing to do with anime). His marketing team decided to use a mascot that looked like an anime character in order to generate publicity. We have a policy of not covering news that has nothing to do with anime but is artificially tied to anime just for marketing purposes. This is an actual policy, and we deal with it all the time; PR companies are constantly trying to convince ANN that their clients projects are somehow anime related. Had McAfee actually licensed Goku as his mascot, we would have covered it.
In short: Anime News? No. Disingenuous marketing BS: Yes.

Obviously ANN's editors opinions will subconsciously impact their judgement, but they try their best to follow protocol and previously set precedents. I genuinely believe that our newsteam has never made a coverage decision based on primarily on their like or dislike of the subject.

As for HiDive, we like HiDive. I have a good relationship with their staff and their executives, and they're important sponsors of this site. If bias played a significant part in our decisions, we never would have covered this story.

-t
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Agent355



Joined: 12 Dec 2008
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 23, 2021 1:33 am Reply with quote
ATastySub wrote:
AkumaChef wrote:
Those costs get passed on to the customer. The people designing the power grid and all the components of it (wind turbines, power plants, transmission lines, substations, etc) have to constantly balance the cost to the customer with the ultimate durability of the infrastructure. It's no surprise that sometimes (rarely) they get this wrong. It's the same thing with you and I. We probably have some money in the bank for emergency expenses on a rainy day. How much do you save before you spend money on non-essentials? One month's expenses? Two? Six? A year? Multiple years?

You're trying really hard to frame this as a hard logical choice when in reality you're just repeating some soulless propaganda. I went to engineering school too! Did you happen to take any ethics classes? Learn about Bhopal? Exxon-Valdez? Deepwater Horizon? How about the Texas City Refinery in the very state? Etc etc? Turns out this isn't a dumb trolley problem of "do we have enough money saved up or should we let people freeze to death? Oh well the coffers can't handle it!" The people and companies that set up this stupid trolley did it for profit. They then refused upkeep on their systems for more profit. When there was suddenly a repercussion for their actions in the form of costs they instead chose to let people freeze to death. And now they're furthering hurting those affected by charging them exorbitant prices rather than pay themselves for the situation they caused. I don't run a company built on gouging a resource people rely on. My finances are completely irrelevant, as are yours.

This. It’s about protecting human lives. And it can be done through basic regulations. The good thing about these weather events being relatively infrequent is that the costs of insulating the power grid can be spread over years before it’s needed.
But Texas energy distributors didn’t even adhere to basic practices that would’ve minimized damages, because they’ve been fighting regulations for years.

Quote:
But both agencies [ERCOT and the Public Utility Commission] are nearly unaccountable and toothless compared to regulators in other regions, where many utilities have stronger consumer protections and submit an annual planning report to ensure adequate electricity supply. Texas energy companies are given wide latitude in their planning for catastrophic events.

One example of how Texas has gone it alone is its refusal to enforce a “reserve margin” of extra power available above expected demand, unlike all other power systems around North America. With no mandate, there is little incentive to invest in precautions for events, such as a Southern snowstorm, that are rare. Any company that took such precautions would put itself at a competitive disadvantage.
A surplus supply of natural gas, the dominant power fuel in Texas, near power plants might have helped avoid the cascade of failures in which power went off, forcing natural gas production and transmission offline, which in turn led to further power shortages...

...During heat waves, when demand has soared during several recent summers, the system in Texas has also strained to keep up, raising questions about lack of reserve capacity on the unregulated grid.
And aside from the weather, there have been periodic signs that the system can run into trouble delivering sufficient energy, in some cases because of equipment failures, in others because of what critics called an attempt to drive up prices, according to Hirs of the University of Houston, as well as several energy consultants.

Another potential safeguard might have been far stronger connections to the two interstate power-sharing networks, East and West, that allow states to link their electrical grids and obtain power from thousands of miles away when needed to hold down costs and offset their own shortfalls.
But Texas, reluctant to submit to the federal regulation that is part of the regional power grids, made decisions as far back as the early 20th century to become the only state in the continental United States to operate its own grid — a plan that leaves it able to borrow only from a few close neighbors.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/20/us/texas-electricity-ercot-blackouts.html
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TexZero



Joined: 25 Oct 2017
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 23, 2021 2:21 am Reply with quote
I gotta thank HiDive.

I needed that chuckle after being one of the many effected by said outages for 3 days.

No harm, no foul unlike the people actually responsible for the outages, lack of proper regulations and any semblence of acting for the people they're supposed to serve.

It's not like they were CPS Energy and left their abandonded (due to covid) HQ lit up like a christmas tree the entire outage.
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Horsefellow



Joined: 01 Jan 2020
Posts: 262
PostPosted: Tue Feb 23, 2021 3:36 am Reply with quote
Whitestrider wrote:
You don't have to do memes about anything, though...


You don't, but that's marketing these days. Quirky Twitter accounts memeing and trying to attract a younger audience who's into that stuff. I don't know if it works. I don't see the need to follow a fast food chain's Twitter account. I don't really see the issue myself. I guarantee every person complaining has made at least one pandemic joke in the past year despite a bunch of people being dead from that. Although it seems a bit like throwing a dart at a dartboard as to what ruffles peoples feathers these day. I don't envy anyone who's job is to be a social media manager.
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