Janovich (Siege of Vraks animator) calls it quits

[Evil Eye]

 

After GW's recent indulgence in misusing their legal department on unmonetized fan-projects (to the surprise of absolutely nobody I'm sure) another content creator has thrown in the towel. He also drops the bombshell that GW has been doing undisclosed deals with loretubers such that they get "early access" to fluff (and, more importantly, permission to continue existing) in exchange for them not criticizing GW or their decisions re: the setting.

 

I won't list my thoughts on the matter, as frankly they mostly consist of four-letter words, but it's definitely worth listening to the entire thing; it's a sobering listen but an informative one. 

[Joe]

Janovich is about as far from a reliable narrator as they come, so I'd be very doubtful about anything he's sharing.

 

Also a very, very close associated with the likes of Arch and Gamza - which really puts the nail in the coffin there. 

 

Actually, to add - Janovich was directly involved in harassing SODAZ out of the community after they announced they'd signed on with Games Workshop. Abusive little twerp.

Edited 11 hours ago by Joe

[Evil Eye]

4 minutes ago, Joe said:

Also a very, very close associated with the likes of Arch and Gamza - which really puts the nail in the coffin there. 

 

My understanding of Arch and Gamza is they were basically blacklisted (and dogged by the GWIDF) for being politically right of Mao Zedong rather than any actual wrongdoing beyond just being annoying blowhards- which, to be fair, I'm sure they are. Not to mention, Janovich isn't the only one reporting on this; Discourse Miniatures (who is faaaaaaaaaaar on the other side of the political divide) released a video on the same subject, if my memory doesn't fail me.

[Joe]

Can't really discussing their leanings, and there's issues with Arch that we can't really bring up on the forum without breaking the rules - Gamza himself is banned in a lot of communities now for actively peddling misinformation, particularly around 3D Printing. The pair of them are very bluntly anti-Games Workshop to the point they'll stir drama up, however.

 

I've sat in the same Discord server as Discourse for a few years, and she's frankly been vile the whole time. Another very anti-GW person that's put out misleading content under a smokescreen of "I know stuff" to stir drama in the past to support her. Also, rather amusingly, a massive hypocrite - as she went on record that she'd never attend a Warhammer event, then turned around and paid for the over £1,000 Golden Throne Ticket for Warhammer Fest in 2023. 

 

Should stress that dramatubers shouldn't be platformed in the hobby regardless, tbh. If there was any truth to this it'd be picked up by (slightly) more reliable news outlets.

[Evil Eye]

I'm sorry but, no. Whilst I'll reserve judgement on the characters of any of these individuals (I'm not a fan of Discourse either FWIW), "reliable news outlet" is basically newspeak for "aligns with the Official Line". It's been demonstrated over and over again that anyone who voices dissent will be tarred as "misinfortmation". We saw it with Gamergate where anyone who said "maybe people aren't angry because they're misogynists but because they have actual reasons to be mad" was accused of being a harrasser/istophobe/MRA/whatever, and we've seen it many times since. And when the story being broken is "a lot of hobbytubers are under NDAs not to say anything bad about GW" of course none of them are going to support the story if they even cover it at all.

 

Furthermore, "GW is bad" is not exactly an uncommon or unjustified position to take. 'cuz, you know, they're pretty awful.

 

Finally, it is not for you, GW or anyone else to determine who should be "platformed" in the hobby. Unless they're breaking the law, they have a right to say their piece and be heard.

[Subtleknife]

Did GW use their legal department to shut down fan projects? As far as I am aware the legal team didn't close down any fan projects.

 

For instance, the astartes creator was offered money to work for GW, not shutdown. The likes of TTS, never received anything from GW, but shutdown as they thought they might.

 

GW only seemed sought of interested if the creator was using their IP and making money off it, not creating fan content.

 

If Ive missed something I would be keen to know more. But whenever someone has said something like this, there generally isn't a solid source to back the assertion up.

 

Edited 11 hours ago by Subtleknife

[Evil Eye]

10 minutes ago, Subtleknife said:

Did GW use their legal department to shut down fan projects? As far as I am aware the legal team didn't close down any fan projects.

 

For instance, the astartes creator was offered money to work for GW, not shutdown. The likes of TTS, never received anything from GW, but shutdown as they thought they might.

 

GW only seemed sought of interested if the creator was using their IP and making money off it, not creating fan content.

 

If Ive missed something I would be keen to know more. But whenever someone has said something like this, there generally isn't a solid source to back the assertion up.

 

He has released a few other videos citing sources on the more recent goings-on (this one he explicitly said was an exception to his "cite everything" rule due to being unable to cite a source without putting their livelihood in jeopardy).

[Matcap86]

40 minutes ago, Evil Eye said:

I'm sorry but, no. Whilst I'll reserve judgement on the characters of any of these individuals (I'm not a fan of Discourse either FWIW), "reliable news outlet" is basically newspeak for "aligns with the Official Line". It's been demonstrated over and over again that anyone who voices dissent will be tarred as "misinfortmation". We saw it with Gamergate where anyone who said "maybe people aren't angry because they're misogynists but because they have actual reasons to be mad" was accused of being a harrasser/istophobe/MRA/whatever, and we've seen it many times since. And when the story being broken is "a lot of hobbytubers are under NDAs not to say anything bad about GW" of course none of them are going to support the story if they even cover it at all.

 

Furthermore, "GW is bad" is not exactly an uncommon or unjustified position to take. 'cuz, you know, they're pretty awful.

 

Finally, it is not for you, GW or anyone else to determine who should be "platformed" in the hobby. Unless they're breaking the law, they have a right to say their piece and be heard.

 

Gamersgate is an event a decade and several hobby spaces removed from our current hobby situation. Implying something similar is going on is pretty silly imho. 

 

People have a right to not be silenced, that's something different from a right to an audience. If you're spouting bull:cuss: to stir the pot/for your own monetary gain. I have no issue excluding you from my hobby spaces. (Not directed at you personally)

 

This situation has similar vibes to those knock-off product shops that got up in arms about "GW shutting down fan stuff!" On Reddit recently. And then it came out that they were just plastering copyrighted icons, logos and terms all over their shop... 

 

There's also plenty of hobby youtubers with a deal with GW who are plenty critical, but ragebaiting and GW bad does generate more content and clicks, as usual.

[crimsondave]

22 minutes ago, Subtleknife said:

Did GW use their legal department to shut down fan projects? As far as I am aware the legal team didn't close down any fan projects.

 

For instance, the astartes creator was offered money to work for GW, not shutdown. The likes of TTS, never received anything from GW, but shutdown as they thought they might.

 

GW only seemed sought of interested if the creator was using their IP and making money off it, not creating fan content.

 

If Ive missed something I would be keen to know more. But whenever someone has said something like this, there generally isn't a solid source to back the assertion up.

 

That’s a good question.  I think just the threat has, in practice, been enough to scare people (TTS) out of doing it.  Hard to blame them for not wanting people to monetize their IP though.  It’s unfortunate we’ve lost some good ones.  I loved TTS.

[crimsondave]

6 minutes ago, Matcap86 said:

 

Gamersgate is an event a decade and several hobby spaces removed from our current hobby situation. Implying something similar is going on is pretty silly imho. 

 

People have a right to not be silenced, that's something different from a right to an audience. If you're spouting bull:cuss: to stir the pot/for your own monetary gain. I have no issue excluding you from my hobby spaces. (Not directed at you personally)

 

This situation has similar vibes to those knock-off product shops that got up in arms about "GW shutting down fan stuff!" On Reddit recently. And then it came out that they were just plastering copyrighted icons, logos and terms all over their shop... 

 

There's also plenty of hobby youtubers with a deal with GW who are plenty critical, but ragebaiting and GW bad does generate more content and clicks, as usual.

This I agree with.  Arch has as much right to his channel as anyone else but I’d rather jam a pencil in my ear than listen to him.  

[Jings]

Doesn't sound particularly out of the realm of possibility. I've noticed a trend of right-of-center hobby communities getting shut down, as well as those with those views being removed from the larger communities. I myself got removed from the large HH Discord server without explanation, I presume for clicking on a reaction to one of their announcements. 

 

Not sure whether these dicta are coming from GW proper or are fan communities being overly protective but there's certainly a trend. 

[Irate Khornate]

I feel for you, but I'm not surprised. I still miss TTS but I understand their change in direction much as Janovich. It's a fairly gray area and most platforms will take the corporations side unless it targets an individual with a large fanbase and hurts their bottom line. 

 

As for association, I really couldn't care less. Folks are entitled to their opinions and voices regardless of which party they are in.

[SvenIronhand]

Leaving Arch’s abhorrent politics aside, dude thinks that Dwarfs are resistant to magic because they think they are. He’s not a reliable or good source for WH Lore.

[Evil Eye]

7 minutes ago, SvenIronhand said:

Leaving Arch’s abhorrent politics aside

Funny, I've heard many people accuse his politics of being abhorrent but never heard any actual explanation as to what he's said that is supposedly so evil other than he doesn't appreciate sanitizing settings to attract a wider audience (which is something I 100% agree with). Really makes you think.

[crimsondave]

12 minutes ago, SvenIronhand said:

Leaving Arch’s abhorrent politics aside, dude thinks that Dwarfs are resistant to magic because they think they are. He’s not a reliable or good source for WH Lore.

I don’t care what his politics are.  His voice is like a nail being drug across a chalk board.  I’m normally against AI narrated videos but he should consider it.

[Astartes Consul]

8 minutes ago, Evil Eye said:

Funny, I've heard many people accuse his politics of being abhorrent but never heard any actual explanation as to what he's said that is supposedly so evil other than he doesn't appreciate sanitizing settings to attract a wider audience (which is something I 100% agree with). Really makes you think.

 

As @Joe has already pointed out, discussion of that would be several Segmentum outside the bounds of forum rules. 

[Joe]

9 minutes ago, crimsondave said:

I don’t care what his politics are.  His voice is like a nail being drug across a chalk board.  I’m normally against AI narrated videos but he should consider it.

 

"I wish you were an off-the-shelf AI" might be my new favourite insult. 

[Fire Golem]

Yes I’m not gonna post it here but I’m literally looking at a compilation of his messages from his discord now where he uses multiple racist slurs, which he also did in now deleted videos. Anyone who says things like ‘the only thing arch did was that he doesn’t appreciate sanitising the setting’ is either misinformed, or lying. 

[Matcap86]

Frankly the idea that GW would be policing non affiliated social media channels and forums is laughable just because of the fact they can't even figure out how to make a fully functional webstore for a couple of million.

 

Even if they wanted to, which I can't imagine they do, they wouldn't have the capacity to do so.

 

It does make a nice amorphous "big bad" for people with a persecution complex, or who struggle to understand why some of their views are less palatable to the larger community.

[Marshal Reinhard]

Now if there ever was a thread not long for the world...

[crimsondave]

1 minute ago, Matcap86 said:

Frankly the idea that GW would be policing non affiliated social media channels and forums is laughable just because of the fact they can't even figure out how to make a fully functional webstore for a couple of million.

 

Even if they wanted to, which I can't imagine they do, they wouldn't have the capacity to do so.

 

It does make a nice amorphous "big bad" for people with a persecution complex, or who struggle to understand why some of their views are less palatable to the larger community.

Please get over yourself.

[Matcap86]

3 minutes ago, crimsondave said:

Please get over yourself.

 

In what way? Thinking GW is just a business with mediocre to bad internet skills and not some controlling organisation shutting down subsets of political views?

Edited 9 hours ago by Matcap86

[Evil Eye]

12 minutes ago, Fire Golem said:

Yes I’m not gonna post it here but I’m literally looking at a compilation of his messages from his discord now where he uses multiple racist slurs, which he also did in now deleted videos. Anyone who says things like ‘the only thing arch did was that he doesn’t appreciate sanitising the setting’ is either misinformed, or lying. 

Yes, and I'm sure if someone dug up all your private communications nobody would ever find anything objectionable or controversial at all.

[One Paul Murray]

7 minutes ago, Evil Eye said:

Yes, and I'm sure if someone dug up all your private communications nobody would ever find anything objectionable or controversial at all.

I'd certainly hope to not find a host of racist comments, to be fair. This is a very strange hill to die on.

[Fire Golem]

10 minutes ago, Evil Eye said:

Yes, and I'm sure if someone dug up all your private communications nobody would ever find anything objectionable or controversial at all.

I don’t tend to freely use racist slurs, no, and I tend to view free usage of racist slurs as a sign of some probably pretty abhorrent politics myself. And that’s before even getting to the fact that he did videos with people like failed UKIP councillor Sargon of Akkad and white-nationalist The Golden One.