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ZephyrVayu wrote:

Don't think mods should start deleting comments discussing "the incident" either (unless they have a valid reason). That's some next-level censorship, and I hate to say it, but if it's a RK article then it's, sadly, on topic. I

I think they should be deleted once a mod tells everyone to knock it off a page ago and folks still continue on anyway. It is -not- on topic, and it's getting pretty ridiculous.

ZephyrVayu wrote:

Don't think mods should start deleting comments discussing "the incident" either (unless they have a valid reason). That's some next-level censorship, and I hate to say it, but if it's a RK article then it's, sadly, on topic. It will always be "on topic". We've all seen what happens when people are denied their right to express their outrage in a civilized and dignified way.

They're allowed to do what they want on their own website. Cry "censorship" all you want, it's not their responsibility to let anyone vent their frustrations about anything. If they don't want this trash clogging up their forums, it's completely within their right to stop it.

I'm fine with people avoiding anything Kenshin due to Watsuki's past actions, but I really wish people would just say that and let it be at that instead of getting all preachy about it and creating these huge messes.

Florete wrote:

They're allowed to do what they want on their own website. Cry "censorship" all you want, it's not their responsibility to let anyone vent their frustrations about anything. If they don't want this trash clogging up their forums, it's completely within their right to stop it.

I'm fine with people avoiding anything Kenshin due to Watsuki's past actions, but I really wish people would just say that and let it be at that instead of getting all preachy about it and creating these huge messes.

Yes, they can do what they want on their own website. But if they overstep their bounds then people will go elsewhere. It's not in their own interest to censor perfectly valid points in this comments thread, and all to accommodate overly defensive fans who don't like the fact that, 4 years on, many people are still uncomfortable about the fact that a series created by a pedophile still gets attention and promotion. Cry "preachy" all you want. This is a reality that RK is going to have to face from now on, because I doubt this controversy will ever go away, no matter how much RK fans bury their heads in the sand. Seriously, it's only been 4 years, you guys act like it's ancient history.

I hate censorship as much as the next person and no, I am not an "incel" as I am biologically a female. I would be having a hard time if I had to write any news of RK. It's so hard to forget about this when real children were hurt.

Am I beating a dead horse? Most likely. Do I feel sorry for the admins that have to go through this all the time? Of course. If I could then I would like to talk to the mods about this but this topic only ends BADLY every single time. Don't get me wrong, I adore RK. It's one of my favourite series and best OSTs. It's just so hard to talk about anything related to this and not bring up the author. Yeah, I feel bad for the mods who have to go through this each time.

Perhaps we still need more time for the wounds to heal from this. After all, I've seen many people say it the series was part of their childhood. It would hurt anyone if they grew up with this series. That's why I am a little happy to know there is more content even if what the author did was so wrong. We all like some series that are made by those that did wrong.

Tempest wrote:

Hi all,

As Psycho pointed out, ANN has a "no soapboxing rule." This rule is designed to stop threads from being constantly derailed by people who want to discuss tangential issues. It was originally designed with individual posters in mind.

Specifically, it was designed because we had one poster who would bring up his unhappiness with End of Evangelion in every single article that we wrote about Anno, even if the article was unrelated to Eva.

Currently, the staff & moderators are discussing how this should apply to this situation, which is slightly, but not that different.

In the meantime, while we discuss the issue, I would like to kindly request that in this thread, and near-future talkback threads about Watsuki's works, those threads not be turned into discussions about Watsuki's life & crimes. This is not a defense of Watsuki's actions, or the way they were handled, but rather an attempt to, as always, keep discussions "on topic."

Anyone who has feedback on this particular issue is invited to post it in the "feedback forum," not here.

Regards,

Christopher Macdonald

Personally, I think ANN could stop posting articles about Watsuki or Rurouni Kenshin altogether, since they would bring trouble for the site and the mods, not to mention:

1- The manga is not available in the U.S. anymore, and, since most western countries depends from the American translations to work with, the same is applied to any western release, so it's pointless to post stuff about a manga that wouldn't be available in English or any western language.
2- The novel is only available in Japan, so this is not our (American/Western) concern anyway.
3- What's the point about posting stuff about a controversial author, knowing beforehand it will bring more trouble that it would worth for the site and mods?

luisedgarf wrote:

Personally, I think ANN could stop posting articles about Watsuki or Rurouni Kenshin altogether, since they would bring trouble for the site and the mods, not to mention:

1- The manga is not available in the U.S. anymore, and, since most western countries depends from the American translations to work with, the same is applied to any western release, so it's pointless to post stuff about a manga that wouldn't be available in English or any western language.
2- The novel is only available in Japan, so this is not our (American/Western) concern anyway.
3- What's the point about posting stuff about a controversial author, knowing beforehand it will bring more trouble that it would worth for the site and mods?

While, yes, there is much controversy around Watsuki and RK, I disagree that they should just stop posting such news about it, and especially for the additional reasons you brought up. Reasons 1 & 2, I feel like it can develop a slippery slope. ANN reports on many series that have no sort of Western release, and reading this makes me think "Are you saying that ANN shouldn't report on anything that hasn't received an English/Western release? Should they just not report it until a company announces they're licensing it?". While your points may be about this specific series, I don't think that any anime or manga related news - controversial or not - should not be reported on just because it's a Japan only thing. As for reason 3, I disagree with not reporting on something just because of potential or obvious controversy. Yes, it can be a huge pain for the mods to have to reign in people when comments go too far, but the users have as much blame for things getting out of hand because they can control their comments and make the choice to break the rules even after they've been warned to stop. I feel like it'd also damage ANN's integrity as a news reporting site to choose not to report something just to try and avoid arguments in the forum. They have a duty to report the news faithfully and accurately as possible, not hide and not report it because of controversy. Whether it's Watsuki or Vic Mignogna or any other handful of controversial figures that have caused huge blowups in the past, ANN should always choose to report it over avoiding it.

Previously, I commented something about Watsuki, not really because I wanted to talk about the guy, but I was upset about a user's comment, making a nonsense comparison that looked like a defense or lessening the seriousness of the crime. Anyway, I think it would be a good idea that editors post a comment in every RK article as soon as they post it from here on, warning to keep the comments on topic and that comments about the author's crime will be removed to avoid fruitless discussions.

ZetMoon80 wrote:

Previously, I commented something about Watsuki, not really because I wanted to talk about the guy, but I was upset about a user's comment, making a nonsense comparison that looked like a defense or lessening the seriousness of the crime. Anyway, I think it would be a good idea that editors post a comment in every RK article as soon as they post it from here on, warning to keep the comments on topic and that comments about the author's crime will be removed to avoid fruitless discussions.

That sounds like the best way to go about this. I personally suggest that a mod do the same for every possibly sensitive topic going into the future in order to avoid future flareups among the community.

ZephyrVayu wrote:

Don't think mods should start deleting comments discussing "the incident" either (unless they have a valid reason). That's some next-level censorship, and I hate to say it, but if it's a RK article then it's, sadly, on topic. I

Let me explain why this isn't "censorship." We aren't stopping people from having that discussion, we just don't want every thread about Kenshin news to end up being a thread about "the incident." People are welcome to discuss "the incident" in a thread that is appropriate, even to start a new thread in the manga forum.

luisedgarf wrote:

Personally, I think ANN could stop posting articles about Watsuki or Rurouni Kenshin altogether...

That absolutely won't happen for many reasons, including, but not limited to:
1 - ANN is a global website, we don't write exclusive for the North American audience;
2 - Removing a topic from our coverage because we disapprove of the actions of a key person involved in that topic is journalistically unethical. It's our responsibility to report on anime/manga news, regardless of our feelings towards the subject. The only case where we might consider doing this is one where our journalism might end up amplifying highly toxic points of view.

"The Incident" is important, and we understand that people want to talk about it, but we don't need a million different threads about it. However discussing it in every Kenshin thread isn't conducive to either conversation. It derails the conversation about the new novel, and it also creates a disjointed conversation about "the incident" as people will invariably end up repeating what has already been said, and not see the previous discussion on the topic.

If you want to discuss Watsuki's possession of child porn, his conviction, and his very light sentence, please do so. It's an important topic. But please don't soapbox by bringing it up in every thread about Kenshin.

Moving forward, the we will attempt to place a link to the established conversation about "the incident" at the start of talkback thread related to Watsuki.