Something I need to address. · 1:59pm Aug 14th, 2014
Alright, seeing as how for the past couple of days since I've posted "Loss of Laughter", I saw that there was some negative comments on my story. I expected this, seeing as how I am aware that not everyone is a fan of Robin Williams or that everyone is instantly going to like it because it's a tribute fic to a dead person. But, for the love of all that is precious, I did not expect everyone to turn against each other so heinously.
I've seen comments about how Robin deserved his death and even some making horrific jokes about it. I've seen comments where people reply to those comments and make awful threats and horrible insults(which doesn't help the situation). I've seen people talking about the quality of work, some positive, some negative. I could go on and on about what I saw.
I realize that me posting a story about Robin Williams was probably not the best move. Actually, I'm even considering taking the story down because I realize just how stupid it was to do so. It was too soon, poorly done, and poorly executed at that. I don't care that it got featured, because that's hardly an accomplishment when most people are liking it because it's about Robin Williams. And I'm honestly a bit unnerved at how offended people got, even though most of everyone had plenty of reason to be upset.
Some say I only wrote the story to get FimFic famous. Yes, I can see how people would think that, because writing about a celebrity death is surely going to get some looks going my way. But, even though you have no reason to believe me, I just wrote the fic as a tribute. I know it wasn't done as well as it could be, but I just wanted to offer something the only way I could and to get it out there quickly. Me posting a photo in remembrance of him on a social media site isn't going to make me feel better. I have nothing else to offer artistic-wise other than my own writing, which, I will say again is not my best work whatsoever. If you have an issue with me writing this fic, feel free to unfollow me if it makes you feel better. I don't want you to stick with me if you have no respect for me.
Some say I was romanticizing his suicide. No, that was not my intention. Suicide isn't beautiful in any sense of the word, seeing as how I've had many friends and family who have attempted their life and some have succeeded. This doesn't excuse my behavior whatsoever and I don't want to hear anything about anyone feeling bad for me. I've grieved and moved on the best I could. Getting back to the issue at hand, I can completely understand how my writing could be misconstrued for something as awful as romanticizing suicide and any other thing that is hardly attractive whatsoever(self-harm, mental instability, etc.). It's not cool that I straight up said, "Genie, you're free..." as a response to this. Because even though suicide is not a selfish act or beautiful, I actually went and said that it's a good thing it's all over when I honestly didn't mean it in that way. I'm sorry for not realizing my own words and their meaning.
Some say that I just shoved him into a pony fic for the sake of having a pony fic. Not gonna lie, I did do that, and it wasn't cool of me to do. Again, I apologize for my behavior and how it offended you.
And then there's the fact that I just stood by as everyone turned against each other. I hoped that it would die down and I hoped that everyone would just quit for a moment because I did intend for the story to be a tribute(even though I did an awful job at handling it). Of course, since this is the internet, no one truly backs down and everyone just continued to mutilate each other with their words. I'm sorry for being the cause of such a huge flame war in the comments. I'm sorry for dividing readers and followers alike. I'm sorry for being reckless in this matter, and I'm especially sorry that I allowed for it to go as far as it did.
So, if it would make everyone feel better, I will take the fic of the site so that no one has to see it again. And if you genuinely enjoyed the fic, that's great and all, but it does little to make me feel better in regards to what I did and how everyone reacted.
Don't you dare! I loved it! Sure it needed work, but you have to remember there are trolls on this site and they pounce on anyone. I wanted to do one too, but lack time to do it.
Please don't take it down! It was really good!
I respect your decision...
You're the writer, after all.
You said it yourself, this was the only way you could offer a tribute; and while you and others feel that it was shoved into a pony fic, well, how else were you to get it out there? Only those that follow you would see the blog post, and you couldn't very well put any tribute story on fanfiction.net and receive a lot of views (to my knowledge). I understood what you mean by "Genie, you're free," and I know you weren't romanticizing suicide.
There are over 600 people who like that story enough to hit that upvote button, and 516 of those people really liked it enough to favorite it. The story may have felt rushed to you, but it felt fine to others and me. So please, please do not delete the story just because of some comment war and thirty-one people downvoted.
Leave it up. It's a tribute fic, it deserves to stay, and to be honest, you don't NEED to write anything to become FiMfic famous. You already are. I saw your motivations, and I know they're good ones. It was a TRIBUTE. You were trying to do something NICE. Sheesh.
I do have to say that I thought a lot of stuff looked like my headcanon and I sort of wish you'd mentioned that, but that's up to you.
2369423 Basically, yeah. There was some major nastiness going on, but in between that, there were LOTS of people saying how much they appreciated it. And Harmony Charmer responded absolutely correctly by not mixing in with it all. The mods should have been notified, I guess, because it was getting out of hand, but mass deletion of comments only encourages them.
For what it's worth, I believe you.
Though personally, I'd rather leave the story up and just delete all comments, as painstakingly boring and offensive it might be to the ones who want to feel offended with 'censorship', I'd take more control in cleaning up the comments so as to keep things focused on the story.
But I guess that doesn't matter. Not if the story itself is making you upset. Personally I'm just happy you didn't become one of those spewing hate comments, sorry for adding fuel to the fire. I just think if people want to write a story with him they should be allowed one. I don't think it's fair to you or others that you'd take down the story.
If you do, hope to see it again someday with a rewrite. I don't know, I guess it is pretty gross seeing so many people just insulting each other and you over what was seen by most as just an innocent tribute story.
Do what makes YOU happy.
I advise you to also advise people to download the story if you are going to take it down. Top of the feature box is really good, and you got a lot of people to like it, so allow them to download it to keep the story in general.
SPREAD THE WORD!
LOOK AT THIS!
G5!
Those people who're hating your fic are bang out of order. Parasprites. They're onto anything they deem as wrong. I should know, I'm worried they're onto me, Disliking my fics because of nothing at all.
If you really believe in your decision, I say go for it.
Harmony, you should keep your story up! It's an excellent piece of work, and a great tribute to a wonderful actor. Although I was barely familiar with the actor myself, seeing others in pain for losing someone hurts me. This story was amazing, regardless of hiccups you claim to have in your work that I don't see at all. You did something amazing to honor a great man, and you tried to put a positive spin on it, and I find that great. Yes, there will be those who hate your work. Just handle it like Fluffle Puff or Pinkie Pie would: Keep smiling, keep being fun, no matter if they want to bring you down.
You posted it. You made it public.
Do not remove it.
Doing such is a cowardly act and worthy of contempt (at least from me).
Fuck the haters and leave it as is. You did nothing wrong in expressing your feelings about his death.
~Skeeter The Lurker
If this story was truly meant as a tribute to RW then do not take it down.
The fact that you used Pinkie and Discord for the discussion is a wonderful play on my vision of Robins work. When he was on a roll he was unstoppable the genie being a prime example. We have lost the closest approximation to Pinkie that we could have in this world, and the prattling of small minded people with their own agendas cannot change the fact that he will be missed.
Leave it up, there was nothing wrong with wrighting a tribute to a great man. Needed a little work here and there, but otherwise a great story.
Take a stand! A dream is just a dream until you turn it into reality, the sky is not the limit, reach for the stars.
Believe in what you do and others will. You are the next big thing. Stay true to yourself and you will do just fine.
That story was great. I totally believe you wrote it as a tribute and you should leave it up.
2369451 I agree with this. Do whatever makes you happy. Personally, I think deleting the comments is a good idea, and going to the website moderators to back you up would work. People in the comments aren't policing themselves, and deleting the comments yourself might cause a bigger flame war. Having the moderators and administrators back you up would result in the best of both world. You could have story that is a living tribute to an actor you liked without causing controversy. Just because everyone has a voice doesn't men they always have to be heard.
I hardly think using "Genie, you're free" was insensitive and sending that message. People have been using it all over, and they haven't been berated for it.
Please don't...
It made me cry....
With all the controversy circling the story, I believe that you should still keep it up. The haters, though they believe that you wrote this for different reasons, removing the story would show that they won.
For what it was, it's a story that paid tribute to one of the greatest comedians of all time.
You should keep the story up it's an awesome story.
Please don't take it down please
I thought it was beautiful. Please keep it up. The idiots complaining will eventually cool off. Since this site is popular it was a nice way to express how you felt about this great loss and let others know how much the world misses him. I sure do.
Harmony, my friend, you have concocted a wondrous tribute fiction, and it actually kinda helped soften the blow of Mr. Williams' passing. I don't think that people really deserve to antagonize you when they don't have the balls to write such a phenomenal piece of work like you have.
Honestly, whatever your reasons, I feel like you simply wanted to honor Mr. Williams. Who wouldn't? To call him fantastic would be a severe understatement to his reputation. Don't let a mob of toxic, obnoxious, hateful people tell you that you did wrong with this tribute. You did a wonderful job.
I saw all the haters and they went after me too. But in the end we just learn to ignore them I loved your story and it's up to you to do what you want with it.
please don't take it down you wanted to do a tribute story and you have the right to do one and just because some people don't know a good read if it bit them on the nose, it doesn't compare to how many people loved it and applauded you for it. everyone has their own opinion (you showed yours in the fic) and every story on this site has Down votes and Neigh sayers, Not everyone will agree with what you did but don't punish a everyone else who liked it by taking it down. Don't be sorry either you did a tribute fimfic and it was a darn good one at that.
Please don't take it down. It's a lovely tribute.
If you want, you can re-edit it to your liking if you don't think people like it. I re-edit only because I rush too quickly, then realize that I need to add more, edit things out, or fix some continuity errors.
I liked it, and frankly I think that you shouldn't do that just because people may not fully respect one of the funniest men in history. He goes up in the "Comical Hall of Fame" next to Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, Jackie Chan, and many others.
Thank you for the tribute.
-The Character
Well Harmony, it seems the overwhelming majority believes you should keep it up. Still, it is YOUR story, and you get the final word on it. But for each of our two cents being around half a dollar, I think it might be fine to keep it around a bit longer.
I wish Fimfiction let you post stuff and disable comments, like with deviantart. Sure as hell would make your life easier. Fuck the haters.
I think you should keep it on the site.maybe edit the passages that were controversial I guess, but still keep it. Its your story and you can do whatever the hell you want with it, of course, but deleting it would be like telling the trolls that they won. And if you keep it up, add something to the story desc. that jackassery and pointless arguing will not be allowed.
I wish the best of luck to you!! ♥
Don't let the flamers get you down. While I might not have agreed with all of Robin's views his last days, I respected and grew up with his work so you're not alone in taking his death(specially the manner) hard
. I also love the past work you did and appreciate this work for its intent behind it. Some advice
though?
1. Writing is a form of expression. Write to your heart's content about any event you feel strongly about but take some time to look at it with a clear head before publishing cause horrible as it is...rivals, the Press, and trollers always look for excuses to tear into someone's image right after their death for a time so it's best to let that time pass before giving them a chance to pick at your work.
2. A writer's work is their baby meant to reach out to a specific audience and so as long as that work is presented up front normally I'd say anyone else in the public who doesn't like it, 'buck em.' That said you have to remember that, by it's nature, a tribute is meant to be seen and appraised by the entire public. Not to mention the importance it being a testimony to a man's life and his affect on others. It's one of the few times a work should achieve near perfection atleast. If you're not sure you can do that with a clear head it may be best to save your grieving for the blog and/or in private as doing otherwise could leave the wrong impression on your fans.
Hope this didn't sound preachy but this is one subject I always felt strongly about and as someone paranoid about his own work I couldn't ignore some jerks ripping into you without learning your side of the story or atleast trying to keep it to constructive criticism. Bottom line: Don't let the flamers get to you and don't forget that there are fans here who appreciate all your work and the intent behind it. even if a few of us may disagree and be a bit mouthy from time to time
And no more writing while you're at it. I may be nasty trorr, but I'm a nasty trorr who's very, very offended by your story.
It's awesome that you can admit you wrote something poorly without going ballistic against your critics. No, really. It's a rare skill. Have a follow.
I didn't like the story much myself, even though a lot of people seem to. But you probably shouldn't delete it. Edit out the "Genie, you're free" part, perhaps, but don't delete it unless you're really uncomfortable with what you've written.
Your integrity is incredible, and I'll give you that. My only complaints revolved around how it was handled. Preferably, you could have made references to quotes or some manner of "movie-adaptation" and we would have maybe liked the reception a bit more.
The fic has the glaring issue of being the inserted-because-insert thing, but aside from that, you're a great writer. I've perused the list, and you've got gems. Just, next time, I'd say put a little planning into it at first, and think about the general reaction to poorly-thought out fics, and then see if you'd glance over the fic if it wasn't yours.
You're entitled to keep it, and I wholeheartedly suggest keeping it here. Even if it's an unsightly blemish, it's something to take from and remember, so that you could improve future works.
I may not be following you, but if I were, I certainly wouldn't leave over this. It was just bad execution, and that's all that can be said. *Shrug* Most of the other issues are rather forgettable because they come about from the problem of the execution itself. If your future stories show improvement, then you can say it was worth keeping.
Better luck next fic?
I'll say to you what I said to the last guy I saw complain.
It's just someone saying goodbye in the best way they know how.
2369459
Oi, what are you saying about me
Also don't take it down, it wasn't terrible.
And I want to see IC's comment reach 300 downvotes.
Please don't take it down, it was beautiful and needed.
2371165 ?
I don't know, what if it does happen?
2369494
Listen to this guy, he has read so many fanfics, and I am sure he has dealt with many many trolls. Listen to Aku!... I mean Skeeter... >.>
~Hearn
2371169
Well, if someone really wants the author or artist of a work to know how they feel about it, they could just PM them! Nothing's stopping anyone from doing that!
2370910 Didn't mean to offend you Parasprite
Harmony you are such a good writer! Deleting something ,especially if it's something you worked on , means your deleting something that can be looked backed on and be improved. Take the negative comments and throw them away. It's your work and no one said they had to give their opinion. The only opinion that matters is yours and yours alone. Your doing it in honor of someone you liked because you want to, not because they want you to. I haven't read the story yet but I'm looking forward to reading it because AWSOME TRIBUTES ROCK!!!
Personally, I really liked it. Making something quick doesn't mean it's bad, it's a great way to get out the raw feelings, and I think it did that very well. I liked it for itself- I am fond of many of RW's characters, yes, but as a person he did not personally have a big impact on my life. Mostly I liked genie and LOVED Doubtfire, and wouldn't have even known he was both of them, I looked him up and found out he was in more things I like as well.
Looking at it as someone fairly neutral to him, I still think it was a strong work. It went into feelings of grief, and studied what I've thought since I heard about his death: That many of the best people can serve well to be celebrated, not mourned.
Something becoming a bit controversial in no way makes it bad. We're bronies for crying out loud, we LIVE in the land of controversial, and we thrive there. At one point, everything from The Lorax to Black/White equality has been controversial. Half the time, it's controversial because it's important or powerful, and that's something that's important to remember. Your raw, simple story came close to making me tear up, and clearly caused a lot of people some very real emotions, for good or ill. And at the end of the day, isn't that what writing is all about?
Question? How will removing the fic change the situation for the better? You can't put spilled water back into the bottle.
And everyone would have argued about something regardless of you posting a story.
I see nothing wrong with what you did. You expressed your fillings in the best way you knew how.
There's always be people who have different opinion of you and will hate your work. Theres always will be arguments.
Braking down and crying over the fact that your piece of art is controversial will not only not help a problem but will have many people loose respect for you.
Art always brings controversy.
That being written, I'm about to be a cold hearted bastard but I believe this needs to be written. What do you think Robin's reaction to the entire debacle would be? Would he be proud that someone somewhere cared enough for him to express their grief in their artistic medium?
And in the end. If you do remove that story because of pressure from some people and unneeded quilt over something that you need not feel guilty or can do nothing about. Then perhaps as much as it pains me to write it, You should quit writing all together.
What will happen when you put a story down the line that is controversial once again. Will you remove it too? This is a second story you considered removing. This is how it's starts. So do us all a favor. Ether stop writing now, so we could at least preserve the fond memories of your stories and the respect we have for you before you become a writing whore with no self respect or writing freedom expression or put this aside from you, keep the story, and continue expressing your self through this medium unrestricted by haters and those who don't understand you.
I was going to post something about how you shouldn't feel ashamed of writing a tribute, but many others have said it better than I.
So, just to clarify, because of some people who have no idea of the impact Robin Williams had and are painfully undermining a very tragic death, you want to take the story down, in spite of the many MANY people who do like the story and praise you for it as opposed to the maybe five people who want to be lower than trolls.
Yeah, sounds reasonable.
Sarcasm aside, you did good work, and you should be proud of that. Even if the subject matter made some people uncomfortable, that shouldn't distract from the overall picture. You wrote a great tribute to a fantastic actor, a hilarious comedian, and a good man, one who died before his time.
The world will miss him, but things like this will make the hurt a little easier to bear.
Personally, I don't want you to delete this story. I loved it, and it made me happy. Sure, none of us really knew the guy, but it was still a huge, and unexpected blow. I've been struggling with how to deal with it, and I think your story helped me out a bit.
That being said—at the end of the day, it's your story to do with as you please. If you feel that you need to delete it, go ahead. Keep this is mind though: Far more people liked this story than those that disliked it. There will always be trolls no matter what you do because you can't please everybody. One thing that you can do is to stop reading the comments on that story. As someone who is friends with a couple of popular YouTubers, I've learned that it's best to ignore those rude people, and focus on those who like what you've done.
Thank you for your wonderful story. It really did make me feel a bit better. Keep a positive outlook. The issue will blow over soon enough.
This fic made me remember my childhood. I'm sad, but in a good way