The Trouble with Hiveworks: an Open Letter

It's been a long ten years and I finally get to talk publicly about what happened behind closed doors.

Please take the time to read this letter linked above and please avoid working with these people. You are more valuable than an opportunity for people like them to use you as cash cow for your work.

Three years ago, I was approached by many artists at Hiveworks asking if their mistreatment was normal. That their feelings of horrible self worth within the company was really just a 'them' problem. Turns out, it was unfortunately normal in that we ALL felt that way. Stolen funds, reworked projects without permission, favouritism, opportunity sabotage- These were the common occruances over at Hive. Artists felt used, ignored, and walked all over to pay Hives bills and ego. People didn't know what to do. I helped co-found the guild in response to so many artists feeling this way, and we slowly gathered together to make a better Hive. Yeah, that's right- we thought we could help change and save the company if we all colaborated, hurt set aside and transparency deeply needed. Unfortunately, that wasn't in the cards. We spent 3 years going back and forth with staff to understand the debt, the mistreatment, the empty promises only to realise that the staff who was left to deal with the mess (because the CEO and COO went hands off or left) couldn't fix what was destroyed.

Hiveworks was supposed to be a beacon for webcomickers. It was supposed to be an indie opportunity to flourish in the small ways we can. But it became yet another example of a greedy publisher who saw an opportunity to take and take and take. It was also a vanity project for Isa and Xel too. They wanted the prestige of working in 'publishing' but didn't care a lick about the artists who brought readers in. If you were someone she thought was an artistic threat, Isa would go out of her way to humble you and put you in your place. That happened Many MANY times to me and my fellow creators. Not only was Hive using our work, it also would remind us how worthless we were in the same breath. Everything felt like some sort of competition, and Isa and Xel made sure artists didn't talk to ecahother about it too. So many instances of the two of them going around gossiping in public about 'the real story' when it came to their mismanagment and inability to handle their job. They would use someone else as a scape goat and pretend they did all they could. It was highschool stuff.

As for my particular case, I was the bane of their existance apparently. I was rumoured to be out for Isas job because artists would go to me for support and she hated that. I was apparently trying to ruin things because I saw those cracks. Squeaky wheel and all that. I took the risks I did, i didn't care about being 'everyone's friend' or missed out on 'the connections' because I didn't want to play that game. Artists were feeling used, stolen from, and neglected. I spoke up, and many others started to feel safe to do so too. The more we shared stories (and man, there are HORROR stories) the more we realised that the inner workings of Hive were more tangled than we thought. Our years of organising lead us to approach the cartoonist co-op for extra help. We tried our best to do what we could for Hive to survive.

After we were hit with the 'actually we're in a quarter of a million in debt' and they wanted us to help financially (while owing artists and staff money) it was the curtain call for Hive as a company. Isa left the sinking ship previously to avoid responsibility, and Xel ghosted the rest of us. All of this is to say that these kinds of people who promise the world with your work and take advantage are such a common and frustrating thing in not only comics, but all creative avenues. And speaking up and against them is the only way to make these cycles stop.

Please support the artists who were affected by this. Please spread the word and speak up against people who use artists like this. Hiveworks is an example in a sea of greedy people who want our work to inflate their ego. Don't let them forget we can bite back, and without us, THEY are nothing.

For anyone who is curious why I bailed out of Hiveworks, please read this.

My particular experience is pretty mild comparatively, but it mattered very much to me, and I hold grudges. I'll put this under a cut because it's long.

TO ANYONE WHO USES DISCORD- FOUR AI SCRAPING BOTS HAVE BEEN SECRETLY ADDED TO YOUR SERVERS WITHOUT YOUR CONSENT

Saw this going around and tested it myself, and I can confirm that this is unfortunately legit. Four hidden bots have been placed in any existing or newly created Discord server that are harvesting data, images, and most concerningly, one seems to be a face swap bot. It should be noted that it is stated that they cannot grab content not sent through bot commands, but knowing how things have gone on sites like A03 and twitter, it is impossible to say if it will stay that way.

Due to them being invisible, banning them from your servers isn't possible without their ID's, which I've typed out for easy access.

1153984868804468756 1288638725869535283 1090660574196674713 1104973139257081909

Banning is done with the /ban command with each string pasted in one at a time. Four ban commands in total.

Image proof below and further information. This was in my PERSONAL server that has existed for +5 years. Discord is harvesting your shit without your consent, fight back. The "partnered with" part appears to be false (?) in relation to one image talking about it, so some information is currently unclear.

I understand why people are very concerned about this, but it’s based on a lot of misunderstandings.

Here’s a writeup that was shared elsenet and which I am drawing my information from.

This post is going around again, it's still incorrect and OP wants people to stop spreading it but can't turn off reblogs so the original is deleted. There are no evil AI scraping bots, that is not how bots or AI scraping work, don't repeat this claim and spread unnecessary panic!

Well let me ask you this: if we were two little green aliens would we touch antennas yes or no

I feel like it's a really common trope to have a non-biological entity disgusted by squishy bio things like secretions and flesh and stuff but. Wouldn't they utterly lack revulsion to those things? The reason we are repulsed by things like blood and shit and corpses is because they are intimately connected to our bodies, are uncomfortable reminders of our animal mortality, can be vectors of harm, or are a signal of danger. A being made of energy, metal, or plastic does not have the same sympathetic connections to these things that we do, except as a kind of intellectual sympathy for what people they care about fear. Disgust is repulsive, and you can only repel something if it's close to you. I think the things that viscerally repel a non-biological mind are not going to be biological.

This phrase has already entered my vocabulary re: media criticism where like. The viewer has a concrete view of what they expect a story to be based on the tropes and cliches they're used to seeing together, and when that doesn't happen, they judge it as a failed depiction of what they assumed it was going to be instead of judging it as what it actually is.

"This show is problematic because the hero didn't kill the villain at the end": When does he steal the bread?

"These two characters who were close friends throughout the series don't kiss at the end! What the fuck?": When does he steal the bread?

"This feels like it's missing a conclusion! Like, the protagonist does bad stuff and because of a critical decision he makes as a result of his major character flaws, meets tragedy in the end! Where's the part where he learns better and brings is love back from the dead and becomes a good guy and gets a happy ending?": When does he steal the fucking bread??

I heard this out as "When criticizing something, you must judge it for what it is, not what it isn't"

Years ago I read this criticism from an actual professional critic of Jane Austen. He said her work was not as good as everyone said because she didn’t talk about things like the napoleonic wars and the sugar trade. You know, dude stuff. Instead of seeing Austen as a brilliant writer who brought to light the stories of women and the things that concerned them, he thought she was rubbish for not bringing up stuff all the male writers of her time were already covering. He was seeing her work for what it wasn’t, instead of what it was, which was revolutionary. I’m so “glad” to see people still fucking this up.

also facades and false identities are so fun . many such variations.

someone accidentally slipping further into a facade than they intended . someone purposefully retreating further into a facade . someone accidentally dropping their normally impeccable facade for a moment . someone purposefully letting their facade down as a taunt or mockery or in a genuine way because they're finally in a situation where they don't need the facade anymore . someone whose facade really is just a tool that they have complete control over and it never falters or fails . someone whose facade is the opposite and they're having a really bad time trying to maintain their facade or trying to maintain their true self under the facade . many such good options. all fun.

i love you facades and false identities and presentations of the self and separation of aspects of the self and

the social norm of “its your ethical responsibility to be constantly aware of, and angry about, every bad thing happening in the world at all times, even if you can’t possibly do anything about it” is possibly the best way I can imagine to create burnout and cynicism and depression in a population, so good job guys

hi guys! discord is doing a survey on how people would like ai to be integrated into discord. take it and say fuck no to every question. when you get to "in general, how do you feel about discord inegrating ai features?", respond that you would actively get everyone you know off of discord and wouldn't pay for nitro or other shop items if they added ai features.

(inspired by this classic tumblr post)

League of Dragons, chapter 14

Murderbot Books as Textposts

possibly one of my favorite things ever is when a character really loves someone, or they're sad for some reason, or they have a dream that they're working towards, or they're a lot kinder than they think they are… and everyone around them knows it, but THEY don't know that everyone knows about it. it is especially good when their friends feel immense affection for them because of the thing. get PERCEIVED and CARED ABOUT, idiot

As an aromantic individual it actually drives me insane when people measure the quality of queer rep based on whether or not that queer character has a relationship. Like we are actually whole people outside of our dating lives. Don't get me wrong I want to see the lesbians make out as much as the next one but I also don't measure that as the be all end all of gay characters.

if i ever become a showrunner i will actually do the fake series finalle followed by the true ending where the popular gay ship is confirmed just so i can forever poison fandom with the idea that it can happen for real and then they will truly never let that hope go for all other subsequent shows they watch henceforth. just for the sake of making the world a worse place

A very large chunk of intersex women and girls aren’t allowed to be pro athletes in track or running anymore and I wish more people were talking about it or hell, even just knew about it. I wish there was more of an outcry. I wish people cared more about defending intersex people in sport because why does it seemingly only fall on intersex athletes themselves to fight this shit at great cost to their privacy and safety.

I hope World Athletics rots in hell.

Hey. Stop fucking talking about our oppression like this. It erases us and contributes to our marginalization. Intersex people are not collateral damage or side targets. The oppression we face is not misdirected and meant for someone else. We are targets. There’s a reason gender affirming care bans carve out specific exceptions for intersex people. There’s a reason they are sex testing the way they are, because these regulations are largely specifically directed at intersex women. Intersex people are not unfortunate misdirected targets in their crusade against trans rights, we are targeted too. They hate us too.

It’s one thing to talk about the commonalities of the oppression faced by both trans and intersex women. It’s one thing to find solidarity and talk about the ways intersexism and transphobia and transmisogyny work together and overlap. That is good and contributes to a more complete understanding of all of these forms of oppression. To be clear, I do not and will never have an issue with solidarity and genuine discussion between two marginalized groups with similar goals and significant overlap. Trans people and intersex people should always stand together.

This is not that. This is erasing intersex people from the oppression we face for being intersex. Please understand that we are not hated out of perceived proximity to trans women. We are hated because society is violently intersexist and hates intersex people in our own right.

I need you to understand that this is happening not just because of the current horrific levels of anti-trans rhetoric and policy, but also because intersex women (and a women that may not even be intersex but is simply speculated to be by mobs online because she dared to be good at boxing and beat a white woman while not being white and not being ‘feminine’ enough for societal standards), especially Black and brown intersex women, dared to succeed and be good at sports and that was unacceptable to a deeply intersexist society. The horrific levels of hatred and discrimination that Caster Semenya, for instance, has been subjected to were not just a byproduct of transphobia, it is rooted in racism and misogyny and intersexism.

Is it intertwined with transphobia and do transphobia and intersexism intertwine and support each other? Yes! But I also need people to call it for what it is (intersexism/anti-intersex bigotry) and center intersex people in the oppression we face.

Let me repeat that again: when we talk about the discrimination faced by intersex people, perisex people, and even people in general, including intersex people, need to center intersex people. Because we’re not going to fight intersexism if we refuse to recognize it for what it is.

Like idk it feels like some of you can’t conceptualize that intersex people are a marginalized and oppressed group on our own and that our oppression isn’t just piggybacking off of the oppression of other marginalized groups sometimes. And that sucks.

oh my god I just realized this is the year people will stop being born and stop aging and stop dying