Artist Aware: On Poor Evidentiary Standards and Failure to Address Resulting Harassment
This is a beware regarding Artist Aware and, specifically, their handling of an alleged alternate-account identification that has resulted in both myself and my followers being contacted and harassed.
I am writing this because this Tumblr drama blog has been listed as an alleged alternate account of a user called Triagonal. I am not Triagonal. This blog has existed for years (You can see how long it has existed by looking at the original blog, @toyhousedramas) I have no connection to this person, and when I discovered that someone was contacting my followers claiming that I was this user, I contacted Artist Aware directly to try to figure out how this identification had been made and to ask whether I could be removed from the listing.
I was genuinely hoping this was simply a misunderstanding that could be resolved by discussing the evidence.
Instead, I was told that I was either Triagonal "trying to create drama" or that I was "stealing from Triagonal," because my blog uses similar rules and moderation practices to Triagonal's alleged blogs. Evidence attached:
That is, to put it mildly, an extremely poor standard of evidence.
Artist Aware's response also cited my use of similar rules as evidence that I am Triagonal, despite the fact that my rules are hardly unique concepts. Things like requiring evidence for serious accusations, refusing to host discussion about minors, and having rules regarding what can and cannot be submitted to a drama blog are not identifying characteristics of a single person.
I also want to clarify a point that seems to have been misunderstood in their response. I sent Artist Aware a screenshot showing that someone was contacting my followers because I wanted to demonstrate that their listing was having an actual impact on an uninvolved person's community. I was not attempting to provide evidence that I was Triagonal. I was explaining why their listing was causing harm and asking them to reconsider it.
Instead, I was told that the listing would remain exactly as it was.
I find this deeply concerning for a site whose purpose is ostensibly to document problematic behavior and warn people about potentially harmful users. If your site is going to publicly identify people as alternate accounts of another user, there needs to be a significantly higher evidentiary standard than "they use similar rules" or "they have publicly discussed the same person."
Mistaken identity is not harmless when the result is strangers being encouraged to associate an uninvolved person with someone else's alleged behavior.
I also want to be very clear that I am not by way of posting this, asking anyone to harass Artist Aware, its administrators, or the people involved in this situation.
I am posting this because I believe people should be able to make an informed decision about how much confidence they place in the site's listings. And so that if anyone posts anything from them on Toyhou.se, that others can let the community know that they are unfortunately not a trustworthy source.
My concern is not that they made a mistake. People make mistakes.
My concern is that when the person being misidentified directly approached them, explained that they were uninvolved, explained that the listing was resulting in harassment of their followers, and asked how the identification had been reached, the response was effectively "you're either the person we're accusing you of being, or you're stealing from them," followed by a refusal to reconsider the listing.
That is not a standard of evidence I am comfortable trusting.
If Artist Aware is willing to provide actual evidence demonstrating that I am Triagonal, I am happy to look at it. Until then, I am asking people not to treat their identification of my blog as established fact.
I am not Triagonal. I am Tower. These are two different people.
In closing and for clarity and transparency, this is the last message I sent them, and the last I will be sending them unless they would like to contact me to apologize and let me know they've corrected themselves.
I do not have a facebook, but have been told they often respond better there by someone who was also harassed via them and who had to truly argue with them to be removed.
If anyone does have a facebook, you are welcome to do so on my behalf, though I retain low hopes. And I request you do so politely.
Edit: apparently given the screenshots I was just sent about someone else’s experience with them, the admins of this site has also refused to remove people’s legal identification upon request, ostensibly doxxing them. Lovely.
Edit 2:
Apparently the person who runs Artist Aware has a toyhouse account.
https://toyhou.se/MamaLantiis
I am adding it so people know why it has been tagged this way.
