It's Coming

I got the idea from cowcatchers old locomotives used to have.

Anyways, yesterday I uploaded the model to Thingiverse, and just hours after uploading it, the Community Relationship Manager of the whole website left a comment suggesting I enter the model into a competition that's currently being held on the site.

So I did... and now it's in third place not even a day later. First place is $500, but the competition still has a month to go.

Then the Community Manager contacted me again, telling me they want to feature my model in an upcoming design promotion.

Just, what is happening? I mostly made this thing for myself in, like, an hour, and now it's suddenly super popular? This is all a little bit overwhelming 😵‍💫

Other models I worked on for weeks didn't get nearly as popular. I swear, it's impossible to predict what people will like.

Anyways, if you want to print the wheel guards yourself, you can get the model here or here.

I also made a quiet version you can stick furniture felt pads on.

One thing I always admired about Magic over, say, Yugioh is their adherence to their own rules.

We often see in Mark Rosewater's asks someone asking about why they don't print a card that does this or that, and he'll say it's because the rules don't allow it. And I respect that, it means the rules actually have meaning. Whereas in Yugioh, they'll print some nonsense and release an errata saying "it works the way we say it does."

But that's not what I'm talking about. What this card does literally doesn't matter. What matters is it shows they're willing to write exceptions to their own rules, and that's what bugs me. Because I've seen where this can lead.

Even then, to me there's a difference between adding something to the game that wasn't there before (ie. Companion), and changing what's already established (ie. hybrid mana doesn't count any more) (which thankfully didn't happen).

I guess color identity is just something that is integral to Commander at the most basic level to me, and to see them weaken that makes me worry.

About two hours later I was permanently banned from r/MadeMeSmile for “self-promotion.”

I accepted that different communities have different rules.But then something even stranger happened.Soon afterward, a moderator from r/pics started going through my account. Not just the new post—many of my older painting posts disappeared as well. One after another. Then I was permanently banned there too.

Maybe it was the same moderator. Maybe it wasn’t. I honestly don’t know.

What surprised me wasn’t even the ban itself. It was realizing how much power individual moderators have over what millions of people are allowed to see. One decision can erase years of posts from a community and instantly cut off your ability to participate, even if those posts had been happily sitting there for months or years.I’m not saying moderators shouldn’t have rules. Communities need moderation.But it does make you wonder where the line is between protecting a community and allowing a single interpretation of the rules to completely reshape what people can share.

The funny part?

I wasn’t advertising anything in those posts. I wasn’t posting prices or asking anyone to buy anything. I was simply sharing my original paintings because I enjoy discussing art with strangers from around the world.

Anyway…

Here’s the painting that apparently caused all the trouble. 🎨

people have to write "bad" fan fiction in order to write "good" fan fiction. and people have a right to post their "bad" fan fiction on ao3 because it is an archive, not a bookstore. and people writing "bad" fan fiction are just as entitled to comments and encouragement as any other author