Rosewatertears

To be entirely clear: the victim was not aware of there even being a problem. Rana made no attempt to voice their grievances either directly or through any one of several mutual friends, myself included, who would have been happy to help reconcile. The victim did not at any point interact directly with Rana or any of their fics, or make any remarks to Rana about their fics, personal life, beliefs or otherwise, or hold or express any sentiment at all, negative or positive toward Rana personally or about any of their works. Rana had already blocked their target across platforms, and left the Zukka Nation Discord server to avoid even incidental interaction long before they finished and posted the fic, but that still wasn’t enough for them. Rana decided that the only reasonable solution was public shame, pushed on with writing the fic with the offensive character included. They went so far as to recruit other Zukka fan creators to join them in group mockery in a different Discord server, including the aforementioned instances of sending their friend to raid the Zukka Nation server for screenshots of anything they could use as ammo. The plotting and premeditation went on for so long that by the time the fic containing the offensive character was published, the victim had largely moved on to a different fandom. Absolutely none of Rana’s actions were provoked, and none of it was reasonable, rational or necessary after they blocked the victim.

The public attacks were completely uncalled for, but especially at this magnitude. The grudge was entirely one-sided, with the inciting incident being that the victim was also a fanfic author with a prolific output (largely due to disability keeping them home bound, and limiting their available hobbies) and a stable fan base that provided coveted attention, and that one of the victim’s many, many fics accidentally and superficially overlapped with a negative stereotype. 

That's it. Everything else was bad faith interpretation, and post-hoc justification for Rana’s attacks.

When the bullying incident was brought to the attention of the Zukka Nation mod team, we reached out to the victim, and following their input on how they would like to have the situation resolved, it was decided that there would be no ill will or further complaints if Rana agreed to remove the offending material from the fic, + post an explanation of the edits with a brief apology in order to own accountability, prevent any further incidents of future bullying toward the current victim or anyone else, and allow Rana the opportunity to control the narrative surrounding the incident by being the one to publicly disclose it, providing them an avenue to do any preemptive damage control. The victim also wanted to do right, and ask Rana if there was something they could do to address any hurt done on their end, intentional or not. A neutral third party volunteered to act as a moderator for the conversation so that all parties could have their grievances heard, and the victim + third party reached out to talk to Rana directly in private.

During the conversation, Rana made their side exceedingly clear: they blamed other people for the actions they took. When asked if there was a specific grievance they wanted the victim to address on their end, they began shifting the explanation for their actions around like a shell game, keeping it vague and always moving. They don't think they've done anything wrong, and feel strongly that the problem lies with the people who brought the issue to the attention of the mod team, rather than the fact that they engaged in horrible behavior at the expense of the victim and their audience at all. They admitted to doing this before to other people, and stated that “no one was hurt,” because the other victims didn't find out about the bullying (to Rana’s knowledge) and it wouldn't have mattered this time either if they hadn't been snitched on. They made no acknowledgement of, or demonstrated any understanding that the action itself was outside the bounds of civil or acceptable behavior, in fandom, online, or anywhere else. 

Initially, they did appear to be extending some tokens of cooperation by privating The Iconoclast, but then they put it back up without having made any of the requested changes (they claimed that putting it back was an accident and that “[their] finger slipped,” but made no effort to re-private the fic or to make any edits when it was pointed out). When the victim requested Rana’s patience with their responses in the conversation taking longer due to failing physical and mental health, Rana grew bored of waiting and ultimately left the group conversation without any notice or agreement for resolution being reached. 

Their actions and attitude have demonstrated zero responsibility, remorse or willingness to cooperate, or give any empathy to anyone other than themselves. So. Now this post exists.

What this post is not: a call for anyone to harass Rana, or to do your own white-knighting.I can not make it anymore clear: Do Not Do That. I and the affected parties implore anyone reading this not to poke at them on this site, on ao3, or anywhere else. It is not a demand for any kind of action from the AtLA or Zukka/Zukki fandoms at all. Continue reading what you want to read, and liking what you want to like. That is not the purpose of this post.

What this post is: 1) a public record to document the inciting incident, the good-faith efforts taken by the affected parties plus third party moderators to try and resolve the incident peacefully, allowing for measured and appropriate conflict resolution, 2) documenting the refusal by Rana to engage the complaint with any seriousness or empathy, and 3) the simple statement of what Rana must do at this point in time to resolve the complaint. 

Take down or private the fic The Iconoclast, and leave it down until they have edited it to remove the caricature, especially any references to the victim’s family members.

Make a public statement acknowledging what they did, and why the changes were made to the fic.

The first request to address harm was initially made in private, as we are sensitive to both Rana's mental state, and the nature of the internet being what it is. The issue is now being made public as they have refused the honestly made attempt at resolution. This post will remain up until both the above conditions have been met. Simply put: we will not tolerate bullying in our corner if we can address it. We are not going to let this slide under the rug, and we are assuredly not going to allow this to happen to anyone else without a challenge. As in their own words Rana has admitted to engaging in this sort of public attack on others before, we are not willing to let it simply drop off the radar because they refuse to address the issue after having been caught. The world is already going to hell in a hand-basket fast enough as it is without added unprovoked hostility over something as petty as fandom wank.