Goodbye Ravelry
Going on a rant here. You've been warned.
Ravelry has gone off the deep end. They are currently on a crusade to kick anyone off their site who supports Trump or anything that goes against (what they think does, anyway) LGBT+, minorities, etc. They posted their stance on Instagram [yesterday], so I asked the simple, non-snarky question, "Why does it even have to be about politics at all?" My question was promptly deleted, without response or explanation, purely because I asked a question that went against their new policy. Supposedly.
For those of you who don't know, Ravelry is (or used to be) an incredibly useful website for all things yarn and yarn crafts. I, myself, have been a member since 2010 and it's my go-to source for patterns, yarn resources, and keeping track of my projects. I have never once questioned who I was crafting along side of or cared what their ethnicity or sexual preferences were. In fact, I'd wager that I'm not the only one who doesn't give a rip. But now, I'm forced to care.
For the record, I didn't vote for Trump, nor do I support him. I really don't think it matters, but I know I some will attempt to accuse me of such. Since I disagree with certain things, I'm automatically lumped in with him and censored. How is this still considered inclusively? Why do we even have to bring politics into it? It's their right, as a company, to support whatever they'd like -- that's capitalism -- but actively censoring and banning people who refuse to believe as they do? Can't we just push those things aside and create instead? I craft to ESCAPE this garbage. I scroll through Facebook and the ugliness gets so overwhelming sometimes, all I want to do is create something beautiful that promotes nothing but unity and creativity. That's it. No hidden agendas. No pushing my beliefs. Nothing. I just want to make something pretty and hang out with other people who make pretty things, too.
Despite what anyone says, what Ravelry is pushing divides. Art unites. There is too much division in this world right now. Way too much ugliness. We need any sort of unity we can get, at this point.
That being said, I'm forced to have to download years of work and delete my account. I know they won't miss me, but I can't support anyone who pushes hate and division like that. I just can't.
And they never did respond to my private message (pictured here), either.
Today, I'm currently in the painstaking process of backing up all my Ravelry projects onto my Busy Hands Blog. I have close to 400 projects (finished or WIPs) saved there, dating back to 2010. I'm going to be here awhile, but I don't want to lose anything. Many of those projects hold sweet memories. I hate that I have to do this.
Still no reply from them, either from Instagram or the site itself. I doubt I'll ever get one. Yesterday, they were deleting every single comment on their Instagram post that wasn't feeding their ego. Today, they have disabled commenting all together, claiming they aren't available to moderate.
The thing that gets me the most is the sudden hard left they've taken, alienating a good portion of their members, refusing to answer any questions (especially since they said they would) and accept any other point of view but their own. I knew that they were a more liberal business, judging by the rainbow flag that gets added to their logo every June (which I'm willing to just ignore and go on with my life) but this is something completely different. And it's a website about YARN.
And the hypocrisy of all is this? You're not allowed to discuss Trump or post pro-Trump projects (or have any opinions or beliefs other than theirs, evidently), but a pattern for a knit scarf that has "F*CK TRUMP" on it is perfectly acceptable to them. Double standards, much? I hate what our society has become.
Comments
Post a Comment