People Don't Like Their Dirty Laundry To Be Aired in Public
I sent the following e-mail to the authors of this year's Interactive Fiction Competition as a courtesy service to them:

"Greetings IFComp 2020 Author!

Now that the competition is underway, we felt it is time to inform you about expected behavior during (and after) the competition.

The IFCompetition Committee has placed Jacqueline Ashwell in charge of this aspect of the competition. It is within Jacqueline's sole discretion to remove an author from this year's competition, or to ban an author from future competitions and she has chosen to do this arbitrarily.

In her sole discretion, if Jacqueline does not approve of anything you've posted online (a review, a reply to a review, a YouTube comment, a Facebook post, anything at all) then she can remove or ban you from the competition in perpetuity. Please keep in mind, if a reviewer who reviews your work is abusive, insulting, offensive, or hateful in anyway (like Patrick Brian Mooney for example), nothing at all will happen to them. However, if you reply to such a review in any sort of untoward manner, then expect to be expelled from the current competition and banned from any moving forward.

And again, this goes for the entire time period from here on forward, even beyond the competition's timeframe, in perpetuity. Technically speaking, Jacq can read a post of yours on Facebook, even if it has nothing to do with IF and even if the competition isn't actually underway, and if she decides she does not like/agree with it, she can ban you from participating in any upcomping IFComp. She has chosen to do this without any chance of appeal because that just makes the whole thing easier for her as she won't actually have to hear both sides of an issue.

Welcome to the soulless, sterile, stifling safe-space we call The Interactive Fiction Competition!

-Your IFComp 2020 Team!"

Which prompted this boilerplate post on the forum:

(From Jason McIntosh)

Hi folks,

Unfortunately, we’re seeing some trolling this year from a disgruntled past IFComp participant who is mailing current participants under a false identity, sending disinformation about this year’s competition.

If you get email from “IFComp2020@protonmail.org”, please know that it’s not actually from any IFComp official, and you should disregard the content. (The content is false information about how participants should behave outside of comp contexts, and ends with some fairly transparent insults aimed at competition organizers.)

I advise blocking this email address, if you can.

If you wish to hide your own email address as an IFComp author from public view, you can do that by clicking the “Welcome, [Your Name]” message at the top of the ifcomp.org website, and then un-checking the “Display your email address” checkbox.

And, just to be clear: this isn’t a fun ARG or meta-game, this really is just someone trying to be a spoilsport and a troll. I apologize for this unpleasantness."



He states my information is false, of course. If it was false, then how the fuck did I get banned?

That doesn't even make any sense. But, that's typical of people who think they are clever but really actually aren't.

So yeah, authors, don't piss off Jacqueline "Asshat" Ashwell or find another competition.

Fuck them.






Update:
Too funny. Once this meme went up, the following alteration occurred on Jmac's post. It went from "The information is false." to "This content is misleading."
So yeah. That's exactly how it went down for me. I hope this high school bullshit from supposedly professional people doesn't happen to another author. And if it's happening to you. Don't put up with it. Conceited gasbags like these need to be put in their place.




Also notice he advises that the authors can hide their e-mails from the public but how does that help if I already have them all? Again, they're fucking retards. Way to close the barn door after ol Bessie disappeared.

McIntosh also states I'm using a false identity. What the fuck is that? I didn't sign any of the emails and the name of the email I used was "ifcomp2020". So yeah, I have no idea what false name I'm using. Oh wait, he's just a douchebag with no real argument so he has to invent shit.

People think I'm just ranting but the things I am calling them out on are demonstrably provable. It comes down to the fact that I called them out on their shit, they know it, they have no arguments against the shit I'm saying because what I'm saying is accurate, so, in their utmost professionalism, they make up a bunch of retarded lies about the shit that went down and the shit they know they do.

They feel stupid and they're scrambling to save face. The community should be embarrassed for the leadership of the IF Competition.

Update:
Jacq finally dragged her face out of the slop bowl to give her two greasy cents. She suggests that proton mail be contacted to report abuse/trolling. Gosh, if that were to happen, I might have to rely on my twenty other proton mail accounts. Way to think, shit-ass.
I have no intention of emailing the authors again. But complain away all you want. I'm sure it will totally get you some traction.
So, again, the barn door is closed, so of course, Jacq the asshole from IF Comp leadership suggests a totally senseless, ineffective fix for the problem worthy of middle-management everywhere.



See this asinine comment above? This is exactly why I called the competition sterile and soulless. She thinks one email that contains stuff she doesn't like is trolling and therefor should be suspended or whatever.

You see how she thinks? Yet the stuff I've said about her is incredulous or unbelievable?

She wastes no time exposing herself as the failure of a comp organizer that she is. In true interactive fiction community fashion, she needs to control everyone's conversation. They literally believe the internet is an annex of their college campus' safe-space.

I called her out on her shit, she didn't like it, so she has the disgusting need to silence her critics. Uh, Jacqueline Ashwell, welcome to the fucking internet, you douche-bag.

I'm sure right now she's furrowing her fat brow in a vain attempt at understanding why I didn't just go away when she banned me unfairly. I guess she doesn't know that so long as the interactive fiction community members shovel shit the way she and Jason McIntosh do, then I will call them out on it. It will not end til the shit-shoveling ceases.

Update:



(Notice how he doesn't use my name. It's because he's lying. It's how liars lie.)

I've never had a blog removed for any reason beyond my own choosing to delete them. Notice how he mentions none of these supposed blog names, addresses, anything. Was it Twitter? Was it Facebook? What exactly did I have suspended? How and why would he be privy to any reason why I would be suspended? Again, if you think about this bullshit logic of theirs for one additional second, you see how it's just more bullshit because they have nothing else.

I'm gay and my best friend is trans. Why would I be hateful to any race, gender, or sexuality? I'm hateful to specific assholes in the IF community. If you think Google will delete my blog for that, more power to you.

Remember, most of the IF Community members are academicians. So they are used to bloviating and bullshitting their way into cushy teacher jobs or, more often, teachers' aides jobs so they can continue to be pretty much eternal students on campus, oblivious that the "woke" ways of university life don't actually exist in the real world.

There are countless famous authors, alive and dead, who wouldn't be able to join Jacq's kindergarten shit-show because they are (gasp!) acerbic and vitriolic. Jacqueline Ashwell only wants everyone to say nice things and be nice because anything else is just not what big kindergarten boys and girls do. Not once has this ignoramus ever been in or seen the real world.

And Patrick Mooney is just a repugnant liar. But what do you expect from an alcoholic thief? He falsely accuses me of gender/race/sexuality hate speech without citing a single example, but fails to mention he once plead guilty to stealing booze. And look, unlike Mooney, I actually can supply proof of that. (CCOO 98CR2050DEF00001 State Of Oregon Vs. Patrick B Mooney)

The more Patrick lies about me, the more I tell the truth about him.

One day at a time, Patrick! Tell your sponsor and parole officer I said hi!

- October 01, 2020 No comments:
Labels: ashwell, asshole, competition, critic, fiction, funny, game, gaming, if, if comp, ifcomp, interactive, interactive fiction, retro, retrogaming, text, text adventure