It’s come to my attention recently that my long-running DinoTam theme has caused some people to think that I have some sort of beef with Tamarind of Righteous Orbs fame and chose to express it through posts about an obnoxious dinosaur.
Well, I don’t.
And while Tam has explicitly not asked me to cease and desist, I do feel that if something that started as a joke has gotten to the point where there are questions about my intent, then it clearly has crossed too far over the line. I’m just not the sort of person who, in knowing that something I have done has genuinely irritated or bothered someone (particularly someone who I really do respect), am going to keep doing it just because I “don’t mean it like that” or whatever.
Anyhow, my purpose in posting this publicly rather than quietly never posting about DinoTam again is twofold:
Firstly, I do want to apologize, again, for taking the joke too far. And for being rather thoughtless along the way.
Secondly, I would request that anyone else who has participated in the DinoTam phenomenon please consider joining me in letting this post be the last mention.
Thanks!
-Alas
It’s a shame people take it like that. I’ve always found it pretty funny myself. But oh well, onto new pets I guess!
Yep! Might also be time to complete that taming pets project I spoke about a while ago. I got as far as getting a corehound and then… saw something shiny, I guess. Got distracted anyhow.
That is a shame. I had thought that Dinotam had taken on a personality of his own as a devilsaurish pet… sure the initial joke was to name him Tamarind, but the joke has really developed on its own to the point that it has absolutely nothing to do with anyone but that silly devilsaur. However, if it is making people uncomfortable, I guess it has to go.
It still kills me that I don’t know who was behind the twitter account and even in retirement they won’t tell me.
It’s too bad that the person(s) concerned didn’t click on the “DinoTam” tag to see how it started. It’s not like you were randomly posting so that new readers couldn’t find the origination of the joke.
I agree. But! On to other things and they may be even better. ;)
I’m not one of those who complained, but to be honest I didn’t quite see the funny in calling Tamarind arrogant as you did in your last post (before changing the heading to “DinoTam)” Maybe I just lack humor, but I never quite saw the hilarious in naming a pet after a blogger, without really asking about how the target of the “joke” felt about it. I rather felt uneasy every time I saw it, wondering what the real Tam thought about it.
I can understand that it feels a bit sad to leave the concent “DinoTam” since you probably have invested a lot of time and effort into building his character and story. But I think your decision to let go of him is absolutely right.
You’re making quite an erroneous assumption here. I did, in fact, check with the real Tam both before I posted the original post and at several points along the way. He might have said something at any time and I would naturally respect his wishes in the matter.
I’m rather offended anyone would think otherwise.
I was definitely confused the first time I read about DinoTam, but I never thought you were trying to make fun of Tamarind in a hurtful way. I clicked on the DinoTam category and read back a bit, and thought it was quite amusing. I will miss the crazy devilsaur.
I’m glad that most people seem to have understood my intent. I will miss him also, but perhaps my next pet will take on a life of his own as well.
Time for Dinognoble?
Be careful what you ask for…
Whether anyone has been genuinely offended or upset by Dinotam’s antics, I’ve no idea. That’s largely irrelevent.
Taking this attitude when you become aware of the *possibility* of someone reading Dinotam the wrong way shows your class.
/salute
Thanks, Ano. I will miss the little bugger.
The day after I tame my new raptor, “DinoTim”, I hear about this. Gonna go rename him so as to avoid unpleasant memories, now.
This makes me sad. I loved DinoTam, especially on Twitter. I was so proud of you for creating this character and having him become a huge sensation in our little corner of the internet. It was no secret that the real Tam was in on the joke when you first tamed DinoTam, but then he quickly became his own character and I followed DinoTam’s story without ever thinking of the real Tam.
I respect you for putting him to rest even though he’s been a big part of your blog’s identity. It’s just a shame that people don’t take the time to understand the whole story.
I’m also sad to see the beastie go, but if people were getting upset – even if they weren’t the person involved – I suppose it’s for the best. Still, anyone who read the initial “naming pets after bloggers” posts by you and Tam should know that it was all in jest, and it was a joint bit of fun. It would do people a lot of good to maybe look into something they don’t fully understand before getting self-righteously indignant about it.
I will miss DinoTam – he had quite the personality and totally reminded me of Female Dwarf Hunter’s Pookie. You should totally foster a new named pet – they were great entertainment posts! I enjoyed reading them :D
Bah! Personally I thought it was hallarious the day Karius over at ReputationGrind named a bear after me.
Some people are looking so hard for something to be indignant about they have to waste time being offended by proxy for people they think might be getting slighted.
I never for a nano second thought you had any animosity toward Tamarind.
If I got hung up on how people might take second or thirdhand offense I would not be able to make comics and might nor be able to blog.
O.o I only ever knew DinoTam, I didn’t know this Tamarind, I thought it WAS DinoTam’s full name. My ignorance I guess! Sadly though I will miss DinoTam, especially his adventures at the daycare. I look forward to flesh eathing Mothra or a Corehound with multiple personality disorder or whatever creativeness you think of next!
Pingback: Kiss My Alas » Blog Archive » Damn the torpedoes
Okay, so I read this post over at Elsen’s place (http://view-through-branches.com/?p=3225) and it concerns me that people are still constructing conspiracy theories around this when as far as I’m concerned it’s long-gone dust. I wrote to Alas after one of the DinoTam related posts basically to check she didn’t hate me – I know DinoTam is *about* me, it’s just a community joke, and I completely support the right of Alas to write whatever she wants, and for the community to have jokes. I very much enjoyed Alas’s original post, and took it as a warped sign of affection – which is why I wrote a similar post in response about taming a turtle and calling it Alas.
The joke escalated in a way that meant it was difficult for me to participate it in any more – firstly it’s hard to know how to interact with a caricature of yourself, secondly it on was Twitter which I wasn’t at the time. This, also, was okay. I just let it run its course. I don’t in anyway blame or hold Alas responsible for this. Why would I?
I wouldn’t have emailed at all but a few people told they were uncomfortable and I start to wonder if Alas was trying to say something about me specifically about me. And since (I think?) Alas and I have always had a good blogging relationship, I emailed her – again, not to ask her to stop, but because I wanted to check it was still a joke and not anything pointed.
We exchanged a bunch of emails and it all seemed okay? So I stayed away, not wanting to cause any more trouble. And also because I made an independent decision to give up this blogging lark and I thought this was going to go away pretty quickly.
The fact that it hasn’t concerns me. I wish I hadn’t said anything at all; the last thing I would want would be to upset Alas. Nor would I like anybody to be attack her in the name of my honour.
No dramaz here folks. Nothing to see. Move alone.
“Warped sign of affection”!? What are you trying to say about me?
I kid.
I want to add that although the response to this post was, from certain quarters, less than ideal, I don’t hold Tam responsible for the, err, more vociferous comments left to me. I thought our email exchange left things on a good note, although our viewpoints rather differ. And that’s okay. It’s really only important to me that I not cause additional distress to someone I had always considered a good blogging friend. Especially when my intention had only been to display my warped affection.
So yes, please move along and next time anyone gets defensive on someone else’s behalf, please consider that they might be an adult and able to handle it without additional ‘help’ from third parties.