Good article overall. I want to make sure an important point is made however; Saphy seems to have been continuously mixed up with Sangy, who owns or owned Inkedfurs and was tied up in the zoosadist drama, in the comments. These are not the same people.
I witnessed the ban on Saphy unfold from the Saphy side of it, and I remember personally being flabbergasted about the entire thing. At that time, and maybe it's still this way I don't know, ANW had a shadow board. They did not disclose who was on it or what you were getting in to if you submitted an appeal. The feel of the entire thing, intentionally so IMO, was to stonewall Saphy and pass responsibility to where it could get lost in a process. My first thought on seeing ANW's statement was towards Saphy's ban. In my experience Gabriel is an incredibly pleasant person, but at the end of the day he's as hypocritical as I'd expect him to be.
To address some of the sad anon comments, because Saphy's stalkers always take that route
Any of the Rainfurrest allegations are the same old rumors his detractors have been spouting for years. There's never evidence, and there never will be because it's not true. What Saphy is guilty of, is not being more careful or concerned with the jokes he makes and irreverence he shows towards things that happen. He never used the RF hot tub and there are people who know who did the towel thing, the anon claiming first hand knowledge is a liar, surprise. Saphy didn't do whippits in 2015, that wasn't a substance he'd done at that point and he's neurotic about people cleaning up after themselves (and disposing of them properly off site) if they are done around him. He didn't "throw diapers" anywhere, the people who did once again are known by some, and that problem was not at all as big as some think. The water damage issue was also caused not by the hot tub, but vandalism in the lobby restroom that leaked to a basement office level. What he did do is drink excessively and get in a yelling altercation with the chair that resulted in his badge being pulled, and me being called to keep an eye on him.
Source: Me. I travelled to RF with, roomed with, and spent most of the con with Saphy. I was also RF security staff, the first elected chair Furlandia had, and was or had recently been on the RAIn board.
To address any ANW allegations; the ball pit comment was a joke, as pointed out. The ball pit was owned by a friend of his and mine at the time. I literally hauled in, set up, and hauled out the ball pit with the owner in the first ANW, nothing happened. Besides the reasons Gabriel gave there is no public knowledge of why the ban took place. My speculation is that he was mad that Saphy ran an NSFW chat related to ANW. To the comment about that; no con has an official NSFW chat, that's a liability.
Newsflash; a large amount of the fandom don't go to cons for family friendly fun. They go to socialize with like-minded people, usually as adults, enjoy adult beverages and what have you, go to parties, and some even like to fuck! Any combination of those things. Seattle and ANW are no different. So I hope Gabriel can get over that.
Finally, the last thing, and really the dumbest of all. Regarding a "troll chat" and Snakething. The referenced chat isn't a troll chat; maybe a shitpost chat? Who doesn't have a friend group chat? I can verify that Snakething did make it in to the chat briefly, under the name Nelizar. He was kicked out before the zoosadist leaks were ever a thing. He's an Oregon local, he was in multiple local chats, does that make those guilty of something? I was personally involved in investigating and fact gathering against him when the leaks happened and was the first one to publicly link his multiple online identities, despite also being in the alleged troll chat too. That's how silly this "link" is.
Good article overall. I want to make sure an important point is made however; Saphy seems to have been continuously mixed up with Sangy, who owns or owned Inkedfurs and was tied up in the zoosadist drama, in the comments. These are not the same people.
I witnessed the ban on Saphy unfold from the Saphy side of it, and I remember personally being flabbergasted about the entire thing. At that time, and maybe it's still this way I don't know, ANW had a shadow board. They did not disclose who was on it or what you were getting in to if you submitted an appeal. The feel of the entire thing, intentionally so IMO, was to stonewall Saphy and pass responsibility to where it could get lost in a process. My first thought on seeing ANW's statement was towards Saphy's ban. In my experience Gabriel is an incredibly pleasant person, but at the end of the day he's as hypocritical as I'd expect him to be.
To address some of the sad anon comments, because Saphy's stalkers always take that route
Any of the Rainfurrest allegations are the same old rumors his detractors have been spouting for years. There's never evidence, and there never will be because it's not true. What Saphy is guilty of, is not being more careful or concerned with the jokes he makes and irreverence he shows towards things that happen. He never used the RF hot tub and there are people who know who did the towel thing, the anon claiming first hand knowledge is a liar, surprise. Saphy didn't do whippits in 2015, that wasn't a substance he'd done at that point and he's neurotic about people cleaning up after themselves (and disposing of them properly off site) if they are done around him. He didn't "throw diapers" anywhere, the people who did once again are known by some, and that problem was not at all as big as some think. The water damage issue was also caused not by the hot tub, but vandalism in the lobby restroom that leaked to a basement office level. What he did do is drink excessively and get in a yelling altercation with the chair that resulted in his badge being pulled, and me being called to keep an eye on him.
Source: Me. I travelled to RF with, roomed with, and spent most of the con with Saphy. I was also RF security staff, the first elected chair Furlandia had, and was or had recently been on the RAIn board.
To address any ANW allegations; the ball pit comment was a joke, as pointed out. The ball pit was owned by a friend of his and mine at the time. I literally hauled in, set up, and hauled out the ball pit with the owner in the first ANW, nothing happened. Besides the reasons Gabriel gave there is no public knowledge of why the ban took place. My speculation is that he was mad that Saphy ran an NSFW chat related to ANW. To the comment about that; no con has an official NSFW chat, that's a liability.
Newsflash; a large amount of the fandom don't go to cons for family friendly fun. They go to socialize with like-minded people, usually as adults, enjoy adult beverages and what have you, go to parties, and some even like to fuck! Any combination of those things. Seattle and ANW are no different. So I hope Gabriel can get over that.
Finally, the last thing, and really the dumbest of all. Regarding a "troll chat" and Snakething. The referenced chat isn't a troll chat; maybe a shitpost chat? Who doesn't have a friend group chat? I can verify that Snakething did make it in to the chat briefly, under the name Nelizar. He was kicked out before the zoosadist leaks were ever a thing. He's an Oregon local, he was in multiple local chats, does that make those guilty of something? I was personally involved in investigating and fact gathering against him when the leaks happened and was the first one to publicly link his multiple online identities, despite also being in the alleged troll chat too. That's how silly this "link" is.
That should cover all of it I think.
Triss Winters