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News:Eurofurence 13 bans Softpaw

2010-05-23T13:29:11Z

90.12.162.13: /* Quotes */

{{date|August|24|2007}}{{publish}}
[[Image:SoftpawMagazine2Cover.jpg|right|thumb|200px|''Softpaw #2'': banned at Eurofurence]]
[[Eurofurence]] chair [[Cheetah (musician)|Cheetah]] has announced a ban on the sale or distribution of the [[erotic]] [[cub]] publication ''[[Softpaw Magazine]]'' at [[Eurofurence 13|this September's convention]]. The announcement came just an hour after Portugese [[comic book]] [[artist]] and ''Softpaw'' contributor [[Dktorzi]] announced his intent to act as a dealer of the magazine.<ref name="EFForums">''[http://forum.eurofurence.org/index.php/topic,579.0.html Softpaw Magasine Dealer.]''[''sic''] - Eurofurence forums (August 23, 2007)</ref><ref name="DltorziJournal">''[http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/189088/ EF banned Softpaw MAgasine from the dealers Room.]''[''sic''] - [[Dktorzi]]'s Journal (August 23, 2007)</ref> German [[furry artist]] [[Inuki]] was given a similar message.<ref name="InukiJournal">''[http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/189144/ No Softpaw magz for Eurofurence :/]'' - [[Inuki]]'s Journal (August 23, 2007)</ref>

Cheetah noted that the decision was based on four factors: the legal "gray area" surrounding cub [[pornography]] in Germany, the "rather diastrous[''sic''] conflicts within the fandom" (a reference to incidents at [[Fur Affinity]] and elsewhere), the board's wish to maintain a good reputation with the hotel and its staff, and a pre-existing ban on cub pornography in the art show. He stated that the board's decision "is final, and we will not discuss it."

Immediate reactions to the ban were mixed.<ref name="SoftpawForums">''[http://softpawmagazine.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=3069 Softpaw MAgasine Banned from EuroFurence.]''[''sic''] - [[Jkal]] et. al., ''Softpaw'' forums</ref> Many said they understood the board's wish to avoid problems, especially with the hotel. However, certain assertions, such as the legal status of the comic, and the claim that the magazine "only appeals to a small fringe group of the fandom", were disputed. The claims of popularity may have merit, as serial comic uploader [[Sibe]] claims that illicit copies of its second issue were "widly[''sic''] requested."<ref>[http://www.greatestjournal.com/users/evilsibe/127995.html#comments Softpaws Magazine 2] - [[Sibe]]'s GreatestJournal</ref>

''Softpaw'' has been sold through dealers at several US [[convention]]s, including [[Further Confusion]], [[FA: United]], [[Califur]] and [[Anthrocon]], despite the latter event's prohibition against such work in the art show.<ref>''[http://www.anthrocon.org/artshow Anthrocon 2007 Artists Packet]'' - [[PeterCat]] (April 7, 2007)</ref> Magazine co-founder and co-editor [[Jery Softpaw]] reported grossing over $4000 at [[Anthrocon 2007]], suggesting that at least 200 copies of ''Softpaw'' were sold.<ref name="JeryReport">''[http://softpawmagazine.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=332 Anthrocon 2007 report by Jery]'' - [[Jery Softpaw]], ''Softpaw Magazine'' forums (July 12, 2007)</ref>

The topic of child pornography has had significant coverage in the German news media, following reports in May of child-sized [[human]] avatars in [[Second Life]] providing both virtual [[ageplay]] and real-life pornography.<ref>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/may/08/secondlife.web20 Germany investigates Second Life child pornography]'' - Kate Connolly, ''[[Wikipedia:The Guardian|The Guardian]]'' (May 8, 2007)</ref> Distribution of pornographic depictions of "violence, ... sexual abuse of children or sexual acts of human beings with animals" is punishable with up to three years of jail in Germany, or up to five if sexual abuse is involved.<ref>[http://www.iuscomp.org/gla/statutes/StGB.htm#184 Criminal Code (Strafgesetzbuch, StGB) - Section 184: Dissemination of Pornographic Writings]</ref> Under German law, a child is defined as "a person under fourteen years of age."<ref>[http://www.iuscomp.org/gla/statutes/StGB.htm#176 Criminal Code (Strafgesetzbuch, StGB) - Section 176: Sexual Abuse of Children]</ref>

Eurofurence is the world's longest-running furry convention, after the now-defunct [[ConFurence]]. It was founded in Germany in May 1995, and has been held annually in Europe since then. [[Eurofurence 12|Last year's event]], held at [[Wikipedia:Nuremberg Castle|Nuremberg Castle]], hosted 405 furry fans. This year, at least 600 have pre-registered.<ref>''[http://cheetah-spotty.livejournal.com/48287.html HAH!]'' - Cheetah's LiveJournal (August 14, 2007)</ref>

==Quotes==
{{q|Willingly letting you sell this magazine could send us to jail, and even if the possibility is small it's a risk we do not want to take. ... Sometimes you just can't afford to risk the fun of 600 people being ruined by the kink of a handfull ... or not by the kink itself, but by how it is perceived by our hosts and our attendees. -- Cheetah<ref name="DltorziJournal" />}}
{{q|We had a lengthy discussion with German customs (border and import control) about our mag. They know what's in it, they looked right through it, and then sent us on our way with it. No problems.<ref name="DltorziJournal" /> ... Cub art has been drawn, displayed and sold at all major cons since they all started. It's not new and ''Softpaw'' is just the most public and organised display of it so far.<ref name="SoftpawForums" /> -- [[Jery Softpaw]]}}
{{q|Getting discriminated in my own country sucks like hell ... EF is great anyway and I will be there but its just a side of the con I wish I had never discover[''sic''] -.-; -- Inuki<ref name="InukiJournal" />}}
{{q| FUCK YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH There a justice after all-- Jerry and Kifin Softpaw little victim />}}

==Related news==
* {{newslink|Mature cub fanzine readies second issue}} (May 28, 2007)

==Sources==
<references />

==Financial disclosure==
The [[User:GreenReaper|main author of this story]] has made an interest-free loan to a member of Softpaw Publishing. This loan is being repaid on schedule, and is not contingent on sales of ''Softpaw Magazine''.
__NOTOC__{{convention news}}

News talk:Eurofurence 13 bans Softpaw

2010-05-23T13:26:03Z

90.12.162.13:

Not sure what to do here with the large number of spelling mistakes people have made. I don't like pointing the finger at people with [sic] all over the place. At the same time, I'm not sure whether or not we should correct them, as otherwise they are not accurate quotes. Thoughts? --[[User:GreenReaper|GreenReaper]]([[User talk:GreenReaper|talk]]) 13:45, 24 August 2007 (UTC)
:I hadn't noticed there were so many when I added the first one, but noticing now it does add up to quite a few. I'd think at least some sort of note is useful so well-meaning people don't "correct" them and render them inaccurate. Perhaps either a note near the beginning stating something like "quotes on this page have been copied verbatim from their source" or commented-out [sic]s that people about to edit will see but won't clutter up the main page? --[[User:Riismo|Riismo]] 13:53, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

congrats greenreaper, you just fail to understand completly that whining and writing up shitty articles like this make it all the more difficult to ever get cub art into ef. moron. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by [[User:89.48.236.42|89.48.236.42]] ([[User talk:89.48.236.42|talk]] • [[Special:Contributions/89.48.236.42|contribs]]) {{{2|}}}.

:The purpose of WikiFur News is not advocacy - it is to inform the furry fandom as a whole of the notable events and issues of the day, and explore the potential reasons behind the various positions held by actors in such events. I've tried to explain the position of both sides here - and in particular, the legal concerns involved - for the benefit of our readers. If you have specific suggestions about how to improve our coverage, I'd like to hear them. Calling people names won't achieve that.

:Personally I doubt news articles on a single website have much bearing either way, let alone the comments of an overseas fan. This is something that European fans are ultimately going to have to work out themselves. The sources are given, so people are free to read them and make their own minds up about the matter. --[[User:GreenReaper|GreenReaper]]([[User talk:GreenReaper|talk]]) 21:12, 26 August 2007 (UTC)

::Well, the problem is that this single web site will probably not only read by Furs ... p.e., it is already #3 if you google for "Eurofurence News". Which means that now every real journalist who might hear about EF and googles about news about it will now come to the impression that a reasonable percentage of EF attendants would have bought Cub Pr0n. You might not have gotten that from all the previous posts, but here in Old Europe we have a witch hunt going on towards everything that vaguely looks like pedophilia. If ever, ever, some of the more sensationalist media will make this, based on your text, into a story, however wrong that story may be, there probably won't be a convention in Europe for quite a long time ... So please don't be surprised if the non-Cub-furs will have to distance themselves much more than previously to be on the safe side. (Yse)

:::Heh. It's #1 here . . . and yes I get your point. I was aware of the situation in Europe, even before I wrote the news story. I am from the UK and keep up with the news there. But like Wikipedia, WikiFur's objective is not particularly to make furry fandom look good to outsiders (or, for that matter, bad) - it is to be true, and informative. The same holds for our news coverage. We have plenty of things on this website that could be used to write a truly terrible news story, if an unscrupulous reporter really wanted to do that. Consider [[News:Museum of Sex exhibits modified plush toys|this news story]], and the topics it links to, or [[News:Australian fur creates yiff chart|this one]]. Conversely, we also record many [[Charity#Timeline of charity donations|positive things]] and [[News:Rapid T. Rabbit and Friends celebrates 24th anniversary|good]] [[News:Pouchhopper's friends raise $1600 for memorial outback trip|news]].

:::As it happens, the public media news reports that I have seen based on wiki articles (mostly at Wikipedia, but in one case linking to WikiFur) has been fair and balanced, but it is always possible that someone else will write a bad one. Still, [[Timeline of media coverage#2001|as we've seen]], they are more than capable of doing so without WikiFur.

:::''Softpaw'' has appeared to sell well at other furry conventions. I am not sure what you consider to be a significant percentage, but I think 5% of attendees buying any particular item is not insignificant, and that matches with the figures available. We do not know whether or not it would have sold that well at Eurofurence - and really, it is not that important - but what we ''do'' know is that Eurofurence cared enough about local laws to ban it. Considering other conventions appear to have accepted it, that seemed sufficient to write about it. Something like "Eurofurence bans public bondage gear" would be less notable because most furry cons do that. It is not news.

:::It is possible that reporting this news will cause problems for Eurofurence, and for that I am sorry . . . but it would have been wrong to not write it just because of that. I think it unlikely idea that a public story based on it will be the end of the convention, much less of every convention in Europe. Besides, nobody is stopping you from writing another story about Eurofurence which concentrates on less controversial matters, like [[News:Anthrocon selects Animal Friends as 2007 charity|charity selection]] or [[News:Furry Weekend Atlanta 2007 reports 37% growth|attendance]] (given the 50% increase predicted for EF13, you might want to think about this). ''This'' particular story was brought to my attention, and I though it was newsworthy and happened to know some extra background, so I decided to write about it. --[[User:GreenReaper|GreenReaper]]([[User talk:GreenReaper|talk]]) 02:37, 27 August 2007 (UTC)

== Wait, what? ==

What's with the financial info at the bottom? What does that have to do with the rest of the page? --[[User:IanKeith|IanKeith]] 09:12, 27 August 2007 (UTC)

:In journalism relating to financial matters, it is [http://www.bbc.co.uk/guidelines/editorialguidelines/advice/financejournal/specificguidanc.shtml considered best practices] to disclose any significant monetary interest a writer may have in the things he or she writes about, so that readers may take that into consideration when reading the article. This is most commonly seen on sites such as [http://morningstar.com Morningstar] and [http://fool.com The Motley Fool], which typically add a declaration even if there is no such interest. While WikiFur is not primarily a financial publication, since ''Softpaw'' is a commercial organization it seemed suitable to declare my interest, though in this case it is not one that I gain from (if I did - for example, if I was an owner of the company - I might have refrained from writing the story at all). I would not necessarily expect this for an editor writing about a non-profit in which they were involved - say, a member of staff writing about a convention.

:Of course, a mere disclosure of interest does not excuse violating NPOV guidelines - stories must remain factual (and be referenced where possible). --[[User:GreenReaper|GreenReaper]]([[User talk:GreenReaper|talk]]) 14:49, 27 August 2007 (UTC)

FUCK YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
IN YOUR ASS JERY AND KIFFIN
FUCK SOFTPAW
FUCK DREAMFIELD COMICS
TOMMY FROM BROOKLYN