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teachustheinsides · 3 months
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Let me examine closer *my eyes turn purple and blaze with spiritual power* oh yeah no that's an egret not a heron, it's got black legs
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teachustheinsides · 3 months
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teachustheinsides · 4 months
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Please participate in my deeply unserious survey
In 2013, the British singer-songwriter Tom Rosenthal posed 25 hard-hitting questions in his song Have Me Met Before. 10 years down the line, it is time we finally get some answers.
For this purpose, my sister and I have set up a survey made up exclusively of the lyrics to Have We Met Before
So far we've only had entries from family and friends but we'd like to expand our reach. The survey takes approximately 5-10 minutes so if you have time for some whimsy, we hope you contribute to our research.
Reblogs are much appreciated! Also feel free to share this with anyone else you think might enjoy it.
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teachustheinsides · 7 months
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With @staff 's recent post saying 1/4 of this site is LGBTQ going around, I'd like to see what the actual demographic is
So!
Please reblog for bigger sample size!
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teachustheinsides · 1 year
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teachustheinsides · 1 year
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My life has two phases only;
1) pre tma 2) post tma
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teachustheinsides · 1 year
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[ID: A digitally painted portrait of Gerard Keay from the Magnus Archives. He is a white person with long dark hair and multiple piercings, shown looking downward with a cigarette held between his lips. End ID]
finally got around to finishing this lil thing!
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teachustheinsides · 1 year
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quick summary
:- fable & folly (company competing w/ RQ) marketing director posts an article about RQ mismanagement & exploitation (https://medium.com/@newtschott/whos-afraid-of-alex-j-newall-ae3a67f3a5e1)
- the first version of the article didn’t note that the poster is a marketing director at f&f; this has now been edited in
- they cite approximately three sources in total, mostly coming back to unverifiable anonymous RQ affiliates (ex employees, people who were offered a position, etc). the other two sources are a tweet from RQ specifically about the official discord, and a line in the beginning stating that “The information presented in this article is not only taken from  interviews with my sources, but publicly available data that I was able  to find and access.”. there is no further clarification of what data, where it came from, etc, and the only time a source is linked or references is the aforementioned tweet from RQ.
ETA: this is false! there are multiple sources on multiple different things.
- (https://rustyquill.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Operations-Update-2020-PUBLIC-RELEASE-1.pdf) this RQ operations update was used to source two quotes on RQ’s payment structure. it’s worth noting that the payments listed in the article are all above both the uk minimum wage and (with the exclusion of the £11 figure) the national living wage (https://www.gov.uk/national-minimum-wage-rates, https://www.livingwage.org.uk/calculation)
- (https://twitter.com/TheRustyQuill/status/1438175815615791111?s=20&t=m1Z2vI0Fmpvq3gVt72gIvQ) this rq tweet was used to source a screenshot from rq’s statement about the discord.
- (https://twitter.com/TheRustyQuill/status/1408001969218859008?s=20&t=ngBXzvyzl4PJY9XpOL7DjA) this rq thread was used to source a screenshot from rq about the transcripts.
- there is a relevant link to the unofficial fan transcripts, although i personally wouldn’t necessarily call this a source.
- (https://medium.com/acast/how-to-go-from-0-to-millions-growth-strategies-for-fiction-podcasters-fde8d6dc0cb5) this callum dougherty interview was used to source a quote from callum dougherty about TMA’s success.
- the interview is misquoted. newt’s article quotes:
“Believe it or not, Magnus was something of a hit right out the gate.  Comparative to I guess what would be considered a popular audio-drama  podcast now. It found an audience quite quickly… To borrow a phrase from  Alex Newall [Rusty Quill CEO and founder], I’d also mention that  nothing at Rusty Quill — despite what it might seem — has ever happened  by accident. And the factor that I would consider — and this may be my  own ego — is the show began to grow really dramatically because this was  the point that I came in.”
- this misses out a relevant paragraph, reading
“Though  what I would certainly say is that it was in 2019 that the show began  to grow, and it went on what I would describe as a 10-month journey from  being considered a very popular podcast, to the most popular fiction  podcast in the world. That was a line of growth that looked pretty much  like a straight line upwards, where we were finding month-on-month  listenership doubling at a point. Every single month you could see it —  there were hundreds of thousands, now there was a million this month,  and it would go in that direction.” (emphasis my own)
- newt’s article goes on to state
“As someone who engaged in the fandom side of audio drama for a long time, including the period of Magnus’ rise to popularity to its finale, I remember things quite differently. TMA  wasn’t nearly the smash hit Dougherty describes until about 2019, when  the season four finale saw the consummation of Jon and Martin’s  slow-burn enemies-to-lovers storyline. Until that point, I had never  heard of TMA.” (emphasis my own).
- it’s also worth noting that newt’s article didn’t include the typical ellipses in square brackets to indicate missing text from a quote - it simply has an ellipses, which makes it seem that dougherty trailed off and then continued.
- at the end of the article, there are multiple links to social media accounts of people who may provide a list of laid off employees, intended for those looking to hire ex-RQ employees
- the rest of the claims made are either unsourced or from newt’s anonymous sources.
- tal, one of the editors, not affiliated w/ f&f, says this isn’t a marketing thing, was run past two editors and multiple lawyers
- there’s some truth in the article, mostly a lot of plausible but unverifiable things, and some plain misinformation / bad faith readings [i.e; article states that “there’s a very good chance that the list on Kickstarter of stretch goal guest writers may be the totality of the people in the audio fiction indie world that have still not had an experience with Rusty Quill.” this is provably false; many of the guest writers have RQ podcasts or have interacted with RQ before, although it may be intended to mean bad experiences rather than simply an experience]
- ben meredith retweeted the article w/o comment; not sure what he’s agreeing with. he also liked a tweet reading “Alright, read the thing. I’m terribly sorry for everyone who has been dealt with so badly by Rusty Quill - and I can only imagine the distress that must have incited this action. I hope these concerns are taken seriously, and that these issues are resolved swiftly.“ (https://twitter.com/GejWatts/status/1602420853630697475
- malevolent podcast’s official twitter posted
“I don’t know much but I will say that if you decide to stop listening to my show; a show I work so very hard on, because of an article that presumptively and poorly attempts to speak for me, then I think you’re hurting the thing you intend to be helping.” (https://twitter.com/MalevolentCast/status/1602441871992782849?s=20&t=Z_86aECzgsdU9OgtfoiU6g)
- “harlan guthrie [creator of malevolent], quoted above, spoke on the topic in his discord server, invictus. i’m nor comfortable posting screencaps of his words, which were not intended as a public statement, without permission, but the highlights include: “The timing, authorship, and intent of this article doesn’t sit well with me.” “Overall, this isn’t a watergate, neither is it an expose of a dangerous company, it’s akin to a glassdoor report with half truths. My experience with RQ has been absolutely fine across the board.” “The contract is in no way misleading nor manipulative the way the article would make it seem (no moreso than any other contract)”“ (via orchidbreezefc on tumblr; i am not personally in this discord)
- the creator(? correct if wrong) of The Town Whispers and Tiny Terrors tweeted:
”What do I say here? I work day and night on @/TheTownWhispers & @/tinyterrorspod. I personally create, fund, produce, and direct my shows. What a shame to see someone speak on behalf of what I and others have built for years at our own expense dominate the conversation. No one reached out to me about “the article” ahead of time, no one asked me if I consented to be spoken for, I don’t appreciate people victimizing me & weaponizing it for personal gain, & I don’t appreciate that it’s being passed off as a benevolent act of courage on my behalf.“ (https://twitter.com/ColeWeev/status/1602447361045065728?s=20&t=aAf1T5fen0FzXuAAllevLA)
- woe.begone’s official twitter tweeted: ”The only thing I want to say about The Article is that I am concerned that readers will believe things about my show and my relationship to my network that have not been my experience. I think this is what others mean when they describe feeling “spoken for.”“ (https://twitter.com/woebegonepod/status/1602453798332538881)
- the cellar letters twitter tweeted: ”About the article: I am not going to attempt to invalidate anyone’s thoughts or feelings… but I will say that it absolutely does not speak for me or align with my relationship and experiences with the network or anyone involved at the company.   Love you all. Go create stuff.“ (https://twitter.com/CellarLetters/status/1602457106271330304)
- multiple people have reportedly been blocked by newt on twitter for criticising the article, or asking questions about it. (https://twitter.com/ReassessHistory/status/1602425447098228737?s=20&t=IQ9wZJuHgqX2mgfDvTizqA, https://twitter.com/ReassessHistory/status/1602455204557127681?s=20&t=j22xMz0Hxw0yvW6Oz7B8SQ)
- alexander j newall has given a statement to podnews! it reads;
“Redundancies can be a highly emotional topic but this opinion blog is full of provable factual inaccuracies and its writers include individuals that hold senior positions at competitor companies that stand to monetarily gain from a reputational attack. We were approached for comment under false pretences and were not given a copy of this piece by the author. Numerous cast, crew and contractors have notified us directly in solidary about similarly misleading approaches made to them for this blog.
Rusty Quill has already internally released its 2023 Operations Update which included factual information on these topics along with information on out 93% RQ Network creator retention rate and our independent Employee Satisfaction Survey which scored an exceptional minimum of 4.3 out of 5 in all areas. This Operations update is due for public release in the new year.”
(https://podnews.net/update/audio-drama-company-drama)
- in the “Rusty Quill Plebs” discord, the creator of the storage papers said “The RQN stuff - I’ll just say it’s not entirely accurate or, at least, it’s not the full picture which means it’s painted in an unnecessarily bad light. I can’t comment on the RQO stuff because I’m as much in the dark about that as anyone. But, as others on RQN have said, there’s at least some of that that hasn’t been my experience (and, for the record, I myself am not legally obligated to not say negative things about RQ).”
- annie (an RQ editor) retweeted this (https://twitter.com/serhawke/status/1602375132579827713?s=20&t=Q3iAjLLwsdIqYShTKinvHw)
- this thread also has a useful tweet further up on how to assess the utility of a source:
“PURPOSE - what was it meant to achieve? ACCURACY - can the facts be proven or disproven? CONTENT - what does it actually tell you? LIMITATIONS - what is it NOT telling you? Why? AUTHOR - biased? DATE - was its publication date “convenient” for any reason? Firsthand or hearsay?“
[this method is from their partial study of history in uni]
edits: corrected misinfo about sources in the article, newt’s position in f&f, and f&f’s name. added quotes from rq creators & note about newt blocking people. added RQ’s statement.
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teachustheinsides · 1 year
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Who's Afraid of Bad Attempts at Journalism?
Some of you may have seen a callout post on Medium about Rusty Quill. The author claims to have spoken with a number of people who worked with RQ. The allegations are worth considering, but they should be taken with a heavy grain of salt.
I have trouble taking the callout post seriously for a number of reasons.
The author is head of marketing for Fable & Folly. They initially failed to mention this, but later added this incredibly defensive note: "Editor’s Note: [name] is currently the Marketing Director for Fable & Folly Network, but has worked as an independent creator and journalist for longer." That's a huge conflict of interest.
2. I'm not seeing any evidence that this person is a "journalist." They don't list it on the resume on their website. If they are a journalist, they're not doing it on Medium with (as of this writing) 47 followers.
3. The article title is pure clickbait. It suggests Alex J. Newall is someone to be afraid of and makes vague allegations of RQ showing "aggression," but he's barely mentioned in the article at all. It's an unnecessarily inflammatory title, but that's what they seem to want: to stir drama.
4. The article uses TMA character names as pseudonyms. This was extremely distracting and gave the whole post a weird, cartoonish vibe. As was the decision to use the phrase, "Make your statement, face your fear" to link the post.
5. The article depends entirely on anonymous sources. While anonymous sources are necessary sometimes, the problem is that no one can independently verify what they said. They claim the sources asked to be anonymous because they were afraid RQ would retaliate and ruin their careers, or the fandom would attack them. That may be true. Or it may be because they signed NDAs, which would make it illegal to publicly discuss what happened. An NDA would be a good reason not to come forward, but unfortunately, we can't ask them about it, because they're anonymous.
6. They claim RQ has threatened to sue multiple people--okay, what were the circumstances? It literally never comes back up. Were these NDA violations? Breach of contract? No clue, they don't bother to elaborate.
7. They talk about salaries in different currencies without converting, in the same paragraph. Then they bring up the rates for freelance audio engineers, as if freelancers don't generally get higher rates than in-house staff.
8. The author is finding posts on Twitter and blocking anyone who disagrees with them. I've never interacted with the author, but they found my post and blocked me and others on the thread for daring to criticize the article. That alone speaks volumes about their professionalism. (And also explains why I didn't find any critical comments when I first looked: they're probably all banned).
There are doubtlessly far more issues with the post, but those are just the ones that were immediately apparent.
None of this is to say I think RQ is a well-run company. The dismissive treatment of their server mods alone tells me they have serious problems. But we should all think carefully when we read the allegations in the post, and consider the credibility and motivations of the author.
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teachustheinsides · 1 year
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This is probably dumb bc I have no experience in journalism so sorry in advance! But I do want to be a better reader and had a couple q's about things in the rusty quill article that pinged my radar
1. Under section 5 I believe, the author listed their and their colleagues' contact details as a way for former RQ employees to reach out for potential employment, surely they should have straight up not done that, especially with the real/perceived conflict of interest?
2. Was using TMA character names as pseudonyms a legitimate flag or just a lil weird? To me it seemed petty to use names from their biggest work, but again I'm not well versed in journalism and for all I know using names related to the subject is a normal thing
3. Is it normal to have so many leading questions hinting at but not quite stating the conclusion they wanted readers to reach? The sheer amount really jumped out at me but again im not sure if that's normal!
Massive thank you if you choose to answer, I have no idea what I might need to google to get answers haha
Thanks so much for the ask! No such thing as stupid questions, and you point out a lot of good things here.
Yes, absolutely, that's a conflict of interest. Should have been a tweet after the fact, if anything.
For me, the issue with the names is that many TMA characters were named after RQ employees. In my experience, anonymous sources usually don't have names unless there are enough of them that it would be confusing to refer to them by their role, which is certainly true here. I don't have experience of knowledge of the standard industry practice. But personally, it does seem like a red flag — explicitly naming central characters after people you know your readership has a personal positive connection to is not going to make for an unbiased story.
Nope. Absolutely not. Good unbiased investigative journalism lets the readers reach their own conclusion, with facts and quotes so hard-hitting and indisputable that you already know what the conclusion is going to be anyway.
Thanks so much for the questions! You're absolutely spot on with flagging these issues.
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teachustheinsides · 1 year
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I find all the "remember people post articles on the internet from certain perspectives for their own gain :)))" posts kinda condescending. Yeah, the rusty quill article needs to be read critically, but frankly? Unless you haven't been paying attention, many events outright happened and aren't too far fetched from what Rusty Quill has done. The transcript stuff? Public information. The layoffs followed by TMAGP kickstarter releasing? Also happened. This is not to say the article doesn't need to be read critically. For example, the part where it says "hey, the only people writing for tma2 are people who haven't worked with RQ" when the company has been very open about the fact they have been working with RQ network people.
I find the piece not one of trying to gain financially but a flawed, but angry piece of work. The writer and editor have been part of the podcast community for years. Have worked with many big and small creators. I know Tal in specific has advocated over and over again for the accessibility of podcasts and for the podcast award shows. These people aren't money grabbing rivals trying to tear down Rusty Quill and I KNOW they wouldn't have posted this article with ease especially under their actual aliases considering they're well aware of the volatile nature of the RQ fan base.
So TLDR: yes, look at the rq article critically, but that doesn't mean it should be disregarded entirely. Critically in this case is seeing what information is 100% verifiable, what information is speculative but backed up by RQ's previous behavior, and what is outright wrong. Especially since not everyone has the same experience with the company.
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teachustheinsides · 1 year
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Do not stop listening to rq network shows! I feel the need to reiterate that boycotting or god forbid publicly dragging rq network shows is only going to hurt the creators!
I can't vouge for every show, but i know that loads of rqn creators are putting everything they can into their work - eskew and silt verses, malevolent, old gods of Appalachia, just to make a few, are making huge contributions to the podcast world and it would be devastating to lose them to misguided anger.
It seems pretty clear that good, neutral, or bad, they aren't able to talk much about things, but i have seen the creators of woe be gone and malevolent both already voice concerns that this will lead to false assumptions being made about how they run things, the ethics of them as people and creators, and their relations with the network.
Bottom line: listen to and support the artists!!!
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teachustheinsides · 1 year
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Fuck personality tests. Who comes to your mind when I say "Michael"
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teachustheinsides · 1 year
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I am clean but at what cost
Gonna take a shitty shower in my shitty shitty bathroom and being very brave about it please hype me up
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teachustheinsides · 1 year
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Gonna take a shitty shower in my shitty shitty bathroom and being very brave about it please hype me up
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teachustheinsides · 1 year
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"I don't exactly have the academic credentials you guys demand so I apparently need someone to vouch for me. And you're the closest thing I have to a friend here."
"We have spoken once and we ended up screaming at each other."
"Yes. And- that's more than I have with anyone else here..."
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teachustheinsides · 1 year
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"I don't exactly have the academic credentials you guys demand so I apparently need someone to vouch for me. And you're the closest thing I have to a friend here."
"We have spoken once and we ended up screaming at each other."
"Yes. And- that's more than I have with anyone else here..."
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