Suggestion: Ban the Discussion of Harry Potter

[tenyangz]

no support. i agree with most other people in the thread, it would be censorship and could lead to a lot of other things having to be banned in order to keep the rules. i don't like jkr or harry potter, but this just wouldn't be a good idea for many reasons. like other people have said, you could make the same argument for basically anything, and as long as a topic is site / age appropriate there's no reason for discussion of it to be banned. jkr sucks and is an awful person but banning discussion of everything that has problematic origins would be basically impossible and a huge load for cs mods, plus the point of something being "too problematic" is very subjective and the whole thing would cause so many issues.

[pthumerian]

i don't support censorship.

[Serial designation N]

Sorry,but no support here.

I am trans and do not like the series due to JKR’s views,but censoring discussion of Harry Potter will do nothing but give HP fans on the site a weapon to attack minorities with. As a trans person,I am often faced with people who are angry at me for being trans since they assume I care about the recent dramas with HP which gives me lots of unwarranted hate over a series I simply ignore. Many HP fans are on this website from what I’ve seen in forums and usernames so I think censoring the discussion wouldn’t just be censorship,but would bring consequences for minorities on the site. Also,I don’t think policing of interests is something for the site to consider implementing. On a website with many users ,you have to assume people will be interested in things you aren’t even if what they are interested in has issues with it’s creator or the content itself,it’s not fair to outright censor discussion on the said content. It just adds salt to the wound which in turn could lead to harassment of minorities on this site. Personally if someone’s interest really bothered me,I would just block the account. It’s easy and fair compared to censoring topics from being discussed.

Edit-as a side note I am at work and have been editing this since I don’t have much time at the moment so I apologize for any confusion if anyone read this before I finished writing.

[laika.]

Removing old post

Nope, cannot support here.

I am a nonbinary/trans-masc person, who grew up with Harry Potter as my childhood. I have all the first print edition books, and very very fond memories of the series as a whole, as well as a large hyper fixation on Harry Potter in general due to my autism. Now I'm not some chronically online dude, nor do I live under a rock. It took until Hogwarts Legacy was released for me to find out about Rowling's views, ones I clearly don't support or agree with. Yes, I try to not support her in any way I can. However, I will actively choose to support small businesses that have Harry Potter themed merchandise by purchasing the merchandise.

I see no issue in remebering something fondly as a child. I read warrior cats, I don't regret reading warrior cats. I didn't know anything about social media when I was that age, nor did I know much else other than 'cool, a cat adventure book with four clans like Harry Potter!'. I also partook in purchasing Minecraft when Notch still owned it. All I thought was 'ooh block game, I like' so there's not really much to say about supporting/not supporting nostalgic memories. While I may or may not purchase Hogwarts Legacy, I will still play on the amazingly created Hogwarts Story Maps on minecraft. There's just so many ways to like a single topic, without giving money to the original creator. And even if I do decide to purchase the game, it's not because I support her views in any way.

Besides, censoring someone/something due to the actions of a singular person/something sounds a lot like what Rowling is trying to do, does it not? That's not bringing into the ethicality and morality of the conversation, especially when it revolves around civil rights. The policy of blocking a well-loved children's subject on a children's website due to ideas and terminology that a children may or may not know or understand is completely against my standards as a person. To my knowledge, a big part of the Harry Potter community (I'm mostly speaking on fanfiction websites, I don't own an active tumblr so I cannot comment on that side of things) have the exact opposite views of Rowling, including having a massive following for two different gay pairings over all the cishet pairings in the book series.

I don't feel like I'm a valid person to come to for both the religious and racial side of the books, as I am nonreligious nor a person of color. It wouldn't be my place to say anything other than how wrong and disgusting it is for her to bring in antisemitic views to a children's book series, and how she really could have been better at naming characters. Also Kingsley Shacklebolt does also become the Minister of Magic, in The Dealthly Hallows series. I can absolutely agree that she could have given the characters better names.

[Squecca]

.

[zerocalories]

banning discussion of harry potter (including constructive criticism of its subtext, themes and creator, since you didn't seem to imply that distinction in your original posts) means that, by trying to enforce this rule, cs staff themselves will be breaking their own site rules/code of conduct against "anti-X or Y" statements and rules against harassing people for their interests.

yes i'm aware that there are some media that are banned any kind of discussion on cs, but it's because they feature mature themes that just aren't appropriate in a child-friendly space in any way. u can argue that cs staff is very inconsistent with this rule (very annoying and confusing), but none of the banned media are banned just because people have claimed it perpetuates harmful stereotypes and/or have a problematic creator. harry potter, being a children's book, marketed to children, does not feature mature themes.

there are better and more effective ways to advocate against JKR's harmful views and to educate people on the harmful causes she is actively dedicating her money to—money that she is earning from royalties in sales of anything with the harry potter brand slapped onto it. performatively banning harry potter from cs is not one of these ways. no support

also, my little pony and minecraft aren't exactly the height of problematic media

[Pear]

No support.

The idea of censorship of specific interests (and I do mean interests - there are still those who enjoy the series but hate the author) is a bit ridiculous. Where would it stop? People can find problematic things in MANY different and popular entertainments. Should we just stop discussing everything? Censorship only leads to unintentional ignorance.

[guroboss]

as a nonbinary person with a transmasc brother, I disagree because I think banning the topic would 1) draw too much attention to the series, potentially garnering support just on the merit that it's been banned and 2) would prevent people from educating others on what JKR has said/done. I think with the young audience of the site who may be unaware of the questionable stuff, banning it may have the opposite effect of what you're trying to achieve.

[Keith-Kogane]

As another nonbinary trans-masc person, no support.

I can talk about the characters and fanmerch and fanart and everything without giving JKR a thing. I don't buy anything official, and I am very vocal about my beliefs on other platforms. Kids talking about a series online isn't going to suddenly make sales of HP stuff skyrocket, and honestly I haven't seen much HP stuff on this website ever.

Banning one media will lead people to ban other media, and that is NOT something I will EVER support in any way.

[fuyunofabuki]

I understand where you are coming from but a lot of people myself included grew up with Harry Potter from a very young age. It got me through a lot of stuff that I do not wish to discuss. If you were to ban discussion on Harry Potter technically speaking, that would include a lot of other fandoms, content creators, ect. I myself have been taking baby steps to distance myself from the franchise but will still discuss it with those who like the fandom.

I hadn’t bought anything in years until my friend wanted a hufflepuff jacket in the same style as my Gryffindor one that I’ve had since gradbash that another friend of mine halved the cost with me for because I was cold and at the time that was the only jacket available (granted also at that time I didn’t know if jkr’s hostility) but my friend who is a hufflepuff is the only one I’d occasionally bite the bullet for and get her something for her.

As was stated above i haven’t seen anything unless it’s in someone’s interest on here that’s about it. It’s no one’s place to police people’s interests

Another thing is we’d have to ban all forms of magic talk in franchises as well because Taran Mataru his book series the summoners was inspired of of Pokémon and Harry Potter

It would be a hard thing to ban because franchises with ties or similar issues with in their own movies or shows