#people would make posts mocking the idea and those posts would legit get hundreds or thousands of notes. so.

[simplepotatofarmer]

i'm so sorry, loyal! i didn't mean that spoon-feeding was bad or that all the spoon-feeding and other taking care of post-prison was bad! i need to get better about my phrasing over text formats :(

i meant, from my recollection, that particular post was very 'dream is trying to be Ebil and Bad and Dangerous and the commune is babying and condescending and humouring' and it always just gave me a bad taste in the back of my mouth. you can help someone recover without treating them like a child.

it's okay, i can kinda see where you'd get that.

since you mentioned c!drunz, i'm gonna assume you're more from that side? (which is no shame, i write c!punz a lot even if i don't do the shipping thing)

so what you might be missing here is some context with the dynamic. which is c!techno, especially, and c!phil tease c!dream a lot in canon. like, the entire prison podcast is techno teasing dream while trying to redirect him and help him.

like, i vividly remember that point in fandom and it was a lot of people playing off the idea that one of the ways techno and phil would try to help dream is by treating him like they always would which is constant teasing. heck, i made posts about them kinda eye-rolling dream's plans not because they're condescending him, but because they're not entertaining his big bad persona and trying to show him there's a different way in the best way that they know how. which is to treat dream like normal. which is to tease the shit out of him.

which! it's not everyone's cup of tea! it's just not.

but the whole reaction to that post was really messed up so you can understand the defensiveness. especially when the aac au is basically 200k words of 'the syndicate attempts to gently bully dream into understanding there's another way and it's not too late'.

#loyal answers things #<3 <3 <3 you're fine anon #you just gotta remember that people who wrote anything about the syndicate and dream were like #we were practically open season for an entire year. still kinda are. #people would make posts mocking the idea and those posts would legit get hundreds or thousands of notes. so.

[lastsonlost]

Many of the women promoting the “cancellation” of men in comics, and demanding they post the recent empty promise known as #ComicsPledge, are in fact hypocrites.  In this article, I’m going to present evidence of lies, collusion, rumor spreading, and, in my opinion, defamation and contract interference.

I personally know that they’ve colluded for YEARS to take down men. Specifically those with conservative politics and philosophies. This is an ongoing, coordinated effort. How do I know this?

Because I obtained access to their PRIVATE FACEBOOK GROUP.

This is Part 1 of the #Hypocralypse leaks

There is simply too much to put in one leak, so I will make the following three points for now.

1. The so-called Comic Book Whisper Network, which has been dismissed as conspiracy since 2016, is real, and I have hundreds of screenshots to prove it.

2. The Whisper Network has been targeting men and trying to destroy their careers, and use their connections in the comic book media to do so.

 3. Whisper Network members have acted unprofessionally and unethically at best. At worst, they have engaged in what I believe could be illegal behavior.

MY STORY

I first heard about the Whisper Network back in mid-2016 from folks I knew at Image, DC, Marvel, and later, Valiant.  Depending on who I chatted with, sometimes the group was called ‘The Women’s Network’, other times ‘The Whisper Network’, occasionally ‘The Whisper Campaign’, and eventually there were more conspiratorial names used mockingly (a friend called them a gender-swapped 4Chan, which became ‘FemChan’ to some insiders).

Regardless of the name, it was all the same group.

The same five or six names kept popping up in conversation over and again. As time ticked on, I noticed a trend on Social Media: half a decade of rumors, false allegations, cancellation attempts , and they almost always traced back to these same five or six people.  The goal of this Whisper Network, according to industry folks, was simple: choose a target, smear them until they lose their reputation, their income, and are ultimately blacklisted – opening up job opportunities for the same people who started these smear campaigns in the first place.

 Behind the scenes these “cancellations” are painted as morally or politically motivated, but in the end it’s all financial. As time passed, the group in question seemed more and more like a reality. I saw their influence. I saw things I knew to be verifiably untrue go viral online, appearing in what I thought were legit news sources. I felt angry and helpless seeing innocent people getting attacked, but did not know what to do. 

A few years passed and by 2018 almost everyone I interacted with in the industry seemed to know about the Network, from top level editors right down to the letterers. It was an open secret, but no one was willing to speak up for fear of being targeted themselves. They knew the consequences.

And after all, this was a secret network. Without proof, there was no point in going public because members would just deny its existence, and use their media connections to smear anyone who challenged them.

 THEN THINGS GOT INTERESTING

December 16, 2018, Whisper Network member Gail Simone, who joined the Network 6 years ago (4 years before the following tweet was posted), mocks “doofuses” who speculate that a “whisper campaign” exists.

At this point in late 2018, I was still skeptical of the Whisper Network’s existence. I’d heard many stories of individuals spreading rumors and lies, and plenty of malicious behavior was going on behind closed doors. Though I wasn’t ready to believe it was a coordinated effort, or collusion was involved.  Then, certain people began openly mentioning the Whisper Network and my attitude changed.

 March 26, 2019, Heather Antos, a member herself, did not outright mention the Whisper Network or her involvement, but she made what some took as a veiled threat to those who got on her bad side.

 Heather “milkshake girl” Antos’ colorful backstory at Marvel, and later at Valiant, is notorious in the comic industry. A conversation about office rumor-spreading and bullying is never complete without someone bringing up a juicy Antos anecdote. Everyone has one.

Up until then, I still hadn’t seen ACTUAL PROOF of a larger scheme. But then, something changed in 2020.

January 8, 2020, Alex de Campi, who I would discover is one of the most active Whisper Network members, openly admits there is a Network. I have no idea if this was a slip or a brazen attempt to show off her power and influence, but this appeared.

Eventually, everything I had heard and read was confirmed beyond any shadow of a doubt after I gained access to their private Facebook group.

I WAS INSIDE THE WHISPER NETWORK!

This is the place where the Whispher Network has been colluding for years. And although their activity is not confined to just this site, from what I can tell, this was where they first met, and started their coordinated campaigns.

Members of the Secret Group called “Comic Book Women”

At present time, there are 440+ members of the secret Facebook group, called COMIC BOOK WOMEN. From what I can tell, a few are regular users, though many of them have never posted.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/comicbookwomen/ 

*unless you are a member, this will not show up in a search

Secret Facebook groups offer the same level of privacy as closed groups, but operate under a cloak of invisibility. No one can search for secret groups or even request to join them. The only way to get in one is to know someone who can invite you. Everything shared in a secret group is visible only to its members.

This secret group includes a list of members whose actions and connections speak for themselves. Members such as:

Zoe Quinn

Gail Simone

Alex de Campi

Heather Antos (aka Heather Marie)

Mags Visaggio (aka Magdalene Francis)

Mairghread Scott

And several key members of the group are women who work in the comics media and can be used to run damage control, including women like Heidi MacDonald of Comics Beat.  They have contacts outside of the secret network as well, with some male allies in both comics and the media.

Just the fact that all of these folks were secretly linked in a private network came as a shock to me, considering their reputations and the accusations that they’ve made. Immediately I began to connect the dots…

They’ve denied for YEARS that they coordinate their actions in private. And yet they always coincidentally appear on Twitter, retweeting and amplifying each other’s accusations, signal boosting one another, and helping them gain traction. And their allies in media – Bleeding Cool and CBR specifically – will turn those same tweets into stories almost instantly & with no fact-checking or verification, sometimes within the hour.

I’m going to start explaining who the key actors are, and, from my perspective, how they coordinate these attacks.

KEY ACTORS

There are too many people to focus on at once, so I will have to break this into several posts, but I will start with one of the clear group leaders IMO.

Alex de Campi is well connected, despite never being part of the Big Two (since, from what I’ve been told management is well aware of her bullying, harassment, rumor-spreading and unethical behavior that goes back years, and depending on who you talk to she’s almost as notorious as Antos or Tess Fowler).  She just wrapped up a graphic novel campaign on Kickstarter with David Bowie’s son, the Hollywood film director Duncan Jones. It grossed over $366K

All the while she makes baseless accusations while demanding transparency from everyone else.

Now, I’ll take you into their private network.

Two years ago, on May 13, 2018, De Campi launched a private campaign to target an independent creator, claiming she was using her connections to have Simon & Schuster cancel their book.

In addition to contacting the publisher, others in the Whisper Network coordinated their efforts to contact media outlets to have the narrative changed, according to the posts in this thread.  Again, in my opinion, this could end up as a defamation or tortious interference case, and has many implications regarding media bias as well.

 

The following month, on June 23, 2018, de Campi posted private text messages between herself and writer Max Bemis in what appeared to be an attempt to damage his career. Despite Bemis being mentally ill (diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2014), de Campi still posted the private messages with malicious intent IMO. According to US and UK law this is an actionable offense: posting private texts without both parties consenting.

[omniuniversal]

Oh my God I was joking about the blood the thing! I was trying to do a Benwolf-vampire joke. I was not expecting a damn lecture. You remember what a joke is right? And before you pull the whole race and culture isn't funny card I'd like to remind you that some ethnic comedians tend to sometimes poke fun at their own ethnicity. I get it. The world is screwed up and there are some things you should take seriously. But that shouldn't apply for everything! That's all I have to say for now.

“It’s good that ‘that’s all you have to say for now,’ because now might be a really good time for you to sit down and listen.”

“Some ‘ethnic’ comedians do like to crack wise about their traditions and history and mock stereotypes and go ‘brown people be like,’ yeah. And that’s their right, and that’s their choice, and very often they’ll use it to call attention to the issues, like black lives mattering, that sort of thing. Good for them.”

“I have no idea what color you are, you’ve just got kind of this grey thing going on, and if you’re actually of indigenous descent and indigenous culture then more power to you, but if you’re a white person or from a non-native background you legit do not get to initiate those jokes and get mad when they don’t land. Because that’s not your right, it’s not your choice, you don’t have the context or the understanding or the authenticity on a legacy level. I didn’t make the joke, you did, and that was just. Not. Cool.”

“On a personal level: in my own life, with the people I choose to have close to me, sometimes I will make those sorts of jokes. Ben says some unintentionally ignorant small-town white-boy thing about my fighting style, I’ll set him straight with sarcasm and a knowing smirk. But I know Ben, I care about Ben, and Ben, dumbass that he can be half the time, actually learns from his screw-ups and changes his prejudices, like how he never calls Lenopans ‘Sludge Puppies’ anymore. Meanwhile, I don’t know you. I absolutely have no idea who you are because the whole function of the anonymous motif intentionally eschews my knowing who you are. So you don’t have the luxury of that personal history with me and knowing my boundaries or my consent or responding to teachable moments.”

“And– as you grow up, if you grow up, in this world and on The Internet, you’re going to have to learn to understand one thing. What’s said is said, like a certain Goblin King once quipped. You say something, you post something, you put it out into the universe, you relinquish control of it. You don’t get to dictate other people’s responses to what you’ve done or said, because if you get them where it hurts, they are going to be hurt, and they are going to lash back. Sometimes your ‘jokes’ aren’t gonna be funny, and the consequences of that are going to be up close and personal. Right now, this is one of those times.”

“As for those things that I should take seriously? I take very seriously a history of prejudice, oppression, systematic murder and displacement, marginalization, and mistreatment that has lasted five hundred years and is still happening now. You may be able to say it’s just a joke because it doesn’t affect you. But every day I feel the effects of what colonizers have done to my people and the other tribes and Nations of The ‘Americas.’ My people are impoverished. My people get to be themselves only if we stay in our corner of your map. My people are caricatured and pigeonholed by your sports team mascots and logos, we’re mocked in your movies as dumb hicks that just smoke and drink all the time. My people are abused and beaten up and hosed down on the very same land you forced us onto so we would be out of your way because some money-hungry corporate/government hybrid wants to pipe oil where we keep our drinking water.” 

“So excuse me if I’m a little more serious about this than you expected.”

“Excuse me if you asked a question and couldn’t handle the answer.”

“Excuse me if you had the opportunity to learn something and instead doubled-down on ignorance, dug in your heels and got defensive.”

“You’ve got a second chance now. Learn from this encounter or just… just stay out of this inbox, okay?”

#(( full disclosure: I am a white person )) #(( I am *not* going to make those kind of jokes in character because #I don't have that cultural perspective #but these are things you should be mad about #that are happening to living people right now #not just dusty history book pages you can forget out of convenience )) #anon #anonymous #asked and answered #stand back and let the kai go through