An apology to the Felaryan community...

It has been brought to my attention by one of my Felaryan friends that there's like, 25 people in the community who know of me in a less positive light than most others. They don't want to get back at me or anything like that, they just want to avoid being associated with me, 'cause apparently I've made myself out to be a huge douchebag. I'm here to make amends.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6k030VMB88M Let's start where it all began, with my video review of "Lost in Felarya". There are parts of it where I express my distaste for vore and that led to some thinking I looked down upon anyone who DOES like vore, as if I think I'm better than them or something. Whatever I did or said to make them think that, sorry, but it's not true, especially now that I've interacted with plenty of Felaryans and see how nice these folks really are despite enjoying... certain things that I am not comfortable with. In fact, I PRAISED this story because while it addressed the negative consequences of vore, it didn't appear to me that it was intended to make anyone feel bad for liking it, and I wanted my take on it to reflect that... But I guess I failed. So yeah, sorry for inadvertently insulting anyone somehow with whatever I said in this vid.

http://nickinamerica.deviantart.com/journal/39989142/ Another thing that pissed some people off... This journal in which I responded to someone asking me if my own Felaryan escapades would feature any vore (the answer was a big fat NO), with unabashed amusement. Some think I mean to imply that the whole community, or a least a big chunk of it, is composed of horny animals who are incapable of enjoying anything in which their turn on is absent, and judging them as many others would... I was not. Try to understand, for one thing, that was the first comment my main gallery itself had ever received in my three and a half years on DA, and of ALLLL the things someone could say, they asked me if my comics would show anyone getting eaten. It was just so bizarre and random I couldn't help loling. It just seemed so rich. But I never meant to imply that this is how I saw the community in general, or that I was satisfied with having some new justification for looking down on them. I never expected droves and droves of people to come to me begging for their fix. I just figured, since there's always a few people in EVERY community or demographic, any kind of group imaginable, who stand out for better or worse, even if the rest of the community in general is different, sooner or later SOMEONE just HAD to ask me something like that. And waddya' know, someone did. And I made a fuss out of it, and people took that the wrong way. Sorry for that.

Aaaaaaaaand then there's the fanart.... a few people here and there have made their own special take on Remus or other things from my story, and I have responded with encouragement to every thing I've been able to find... Yet some think I'm neglecting many people in favor of another (who we'll get to in a moment), so if there's something I have yet to see, please do bring it to my attention.

http://karbo.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d3jzcuw These people especially feel put down when they saw how much I gushed excessively over this piece by the man himself, Karbo. http://comments.deviantart.com/1/214960856/2061713234 They think I value his opinions or whatever over everyone else' because he's a better artist and I take him more seriously, and I wanted to weasel my way up in this community I don't really belong in by sucking up to the guy. Again, that's not it. I may jokingly call him "boss" every now and then, but that's it. See, when I saw this, it was a reminder to me of everyone who had enjoyed this comic and welcomed me into this world (which was more well received than I ever could have dreamed), all the experiences I had and the little bonds I made in the time I was working on Silver Scales. To me, it wasn't just ONE guy, it felt like a representation, an embodiment of all the praise and kindness of everyone I encountered throughout my adventure in this fantasy land rolled into one thing and it all hit me at once... REALLY hard. So, you can imagine I was thoroughly, deeply touched 'cause that's just how I saw it. So, yeah.... Sorry if you guys don't interpret it that way.

Here's how I view myself in this community... Not really as a part of it, or someone who "deserves" to be there. I'm that guy who came to a party uninvited, and just HAPPENS to be there. I don't really BELONG, but I hope people will put up with my presence as long as I hang around.

There's a few other things I'm apologizing for, though I won't address them in detail since this is already pretty long. You guys get the gist of it, sorry for everything that I did to wrong you in any way, and I hope I've more or less made things better with this. I hope you can see me in a different light, now.

Anyway.... I guess that's that.

tl-dr?

Nickonaquamagna wrote:

tl-dr?

You're doing it wrong. Someone else is supposed to use that reply!

Also, methinks you may be over-analyzing things a bit. People associate with or are involved in the community for numerous reasons. For all the ones you consider as viewing you in a negative light, there are likely as many who view you in a positive light. And likely as many who don't care one way or another. I wouldn't focus my attention on the negative ones if I were you.

Actions speak louder than words. Apologies are not easy and you've issued more than one that I'm aware of, but they only truly have meaning when you follow up with actions. On the positive side, at least you did issue an apology you thought was necessary (though I'm not sure it was). Some people can't even find it in themselves to go that far. Hats off to you for that.

You can't expect every thread to be answered in less than an hour.

About the matter itself... Why should people bash you because you've decided not to include vore? Man, Felarya might have started as a fetish world, but it has evolved until what it currently is: despite not ignoring its beginning, it is more than gigantic half-women eating people. Oh wait, we've had this discussion like a hundred of times, but some still don't understand this. Hence the word 'some'. This means that not all the Felaryan community is up against you for not liking vore... and they're more like a minority.

You see... I'm not a voraphile, yet I understand Felarya has this fetish side. I have included man-eating scenes, but mainly in Felarya-related contests where that was mandatory - or highly recommended - or just as part of a predator life, but my focus is on character and what they go through. I haven't had any complaints about not being focused on vore, so why should you be bashed for not including vore at all?

Thing is you shouldn't give them that much importance. You do what you like. I've read the first pages of Silver Scales and despite not commenting - yet -, you were doing a good job back then and I'm sure you still keep going with that, and even better. You don't need to use vore for a Felaryan stories. You should take more in account the impact you've caused. If it wasn't because I have few spare time and I'm already busy with my own webcomic, I'd like to give my Felaryan characters the comic-strip-page-whatever treatment, in part inspired by SS.

Also, if you think you don't belong to this community because of not sharing the fetish, I shouldn't feel like I belong to it either. But be sure, you're part of it, you've been working hard to show your point of view. And that's awesome.

(as they say, wait for people to see the thread dammit xD)

Well well, I don't really want to look agressive or something, as I don't hold any grudge right now, but some people are missing the point of this message.

It' wasn't really the fact of including or not vore in his story, it was the fact that it looked like he wanted us to feel bad because there wasn't vore and stuff like that, and somewhat mocked us when it was pointed out (reference to the second link).

I admit , I was quite uneasy and mad when I saw both the video and the journal for the first time, and indeed had a bad impression at the begining; however, as time passed, I saw that you managed to see by yourself that felarya was more than that, and that we (or at least most of us ;p) are people as anyone else.

Now I think you have done more than enough to consider yourself a good member of the community, it's not like there are actually entries or invitations xD

And I know this might sound a bit sudden or unexpected coming from me since I never really gave my opinion about this, but for my part, it was forgiven a long time ago, don't feel bad about it ^^;

Maybe it's true I've been missing the point or something, but I was also giving my point of view as some of the non-voraphiles members with a bit of a reputation. And mine is, as you all know, of someone who respects the fetish despite not sharing it, and even accepting to include some of the predator hunting habits in my work, but still focusing more on characters...

... And many times we can get the words wrong when expressing our feelings and make people think the opposite of what we want to actually say. And of course, we'll then recognize our mistakes, apologize and fix the whole thing.

Maybe that was the actual point of the whole thread.

just dont care about vore when you draw or write something. if it has to happen, make it happen. if not, just dont make it happen.

you are dramatizing a bit a situation where no one really cares. I mean, its not because there is no vore that felarya community will not like it. And its not because there is vore that we will like it. And its not everyone here who has that HUGE FETISH about vore. Personally, vore is appealing to me on paper. thats pretty much it. i also have other fetishes.

Guys.... Sorry to say, most of you are COMPLETELY missing the point. Bottom line, last night I was informed that I upset some people, and I wrote this down to try making things better.

Well, you apologized and I'm sure people have accepted them apologies. And sorry for missing the point, but if I think someone needs sympathy from other non-voraphiles... well... I got pretty much lost because of that.

Nick, the thing last night was entirely different from anything before. I'm sure they understand now that you had nothing to do with it, but you also understand why it offended them.

Well, Felarya isn't a popularity contest. You gotta take some time and wait for people to get used to you here. Trust me, I've gone days, weeks, and sometimes months without people responding to my forum threads.

Just gotta be patient and vigilant and all that stuff on TV.

What Pendragon said. Unfortunately.