I'm not sure if this is the right section for this post. It it's not, my apologies.
I wanted to ask, since you started attending anime conventions and interacting with different fans, how often have you had bad experiences with other otaku?
And for those who attend Sakura Con and/or interact with other attendees there, have you had issues with people who post at the Unofficial Sakura Con Group?
I joined when it started in '13 after the Sakura Con forums closed. It was made because a lot of people had complaints about the regular SC group on Facebook being too restrictive. Because of that, I think an independent group there was a good idea.
But the problem is, whoever created it has no common sense. I'm a member of a good number of anime groups on Facebook and all of the others are well-moderated with plenty of fair rules and guidelines, so either no one will post inappropriate messages or if they do, they'll get warned and blocked if they do it again.
Because there's nothing like that at Facebook's Unofficial Sakura Con Group, people are allowed to say whatever the heck they want and get away with it.
At any forum or Facebook group, it's common sense to not say mean or discouraging things to others if they have a perspective on something that's different from yours, yet some of the people there completely ignore that.
I'm not saying that the majority of members at that group are like this (there are over a thousand of them and different people will respond to different things), but of the ones who are are extremely vocal of their own views and to them, God forbid if someone doesn't agree.
A year ago when Vic Mignogna got announced as a guest, several people acted as if everyone in the anime fandom despises him and that the group was made specifically for people to express how much they hate his guts, when in reality it was made for Sakura Con attendees in general.
The Vic-bashers in particular clearly overlook that, and that when a Facebook group is made for anime fans or convention attendees in general, it's important to be aware that something that you don't like might be something that others do and if you're going to express your own view on a topic you dislike, don't do so in ways that'll bother those who respect it, especially if it's on a subject that's well-liked.
When I first joined the group in '13, I got along well with people there and overall, they were fairly well-behaved. But at the beginning of last year, Vic got announced as a guest for Sakura Con and several of them expressed disgust and outrage, going as far as calling him a pedophile and referencing him as a female sex organ.
If a convention gets a guest that you don't like, it's okay to express it if it's done in a way that won't upset other fans who do, but when a forum or group doesn't have rules and restrictions, it's eventually going to result in people joining who won't use common sense.
I know that Vic has gotten his share of hate, but that's a common thing when a voice actor becomes popular. There are other VAs who are no stranger to that, too.
I just calmly explained it there, saying in a completely fair and constructive way that it's not good to buy into the hate that easily and they treated me like I was a nazi, despite the reasons I shared to not believe the hate heavily outweigh the ones for the hate.
I will admit that when a significant number of people make claims or accusations of someone doing terrible things, it's easy to get suspicious, but if someone knows that those people are wrong and gives good reasons for it, there's no excuse to get overly defensive and heavily insist that you're right.
If anyone else here has had nightmarish moments with other people at that group and/or with other otaku, how common is it?
I know I'll get some of this frustration off my back if I know other people have issues at the Unofficial Sakura Con Group.
