I'm gonna meditate on this until your video is released.
But I will say this pre-emptively in the case that you have honestly converted.
If this "social experiment" was little more than a pretext to out yourself as a NaruHina Shipper, then I'm gonna be blunt with you: it was an idiotic, immature and duplicitous way to go about it. Had you in your original post stated that you had an announcement to make and confessed to your fading interest in NS in favor of NaruHina, there would've been shock and even disappointment, but we would've respected your stance for the most part. But what you've done has generated unnecessary drama, tension and violation of trust.
It also puts the sincerity of your apologies into question since, assuming you are NaruHina now, you denounced this community and threw it under the bus to "express" your new loyalty for NaruHina on Twitter, while trying to convince us that NaruSaku still holds a special place in your heart feels disingenuous . And if the former is how you genuinely perceive us and our fanbase, then hell, I'm not sure I can trust what you say at the moment. I've already seen this type of behavior in another fandom, where an individual on Youtube tried to play mediator between factions of fans and anti-fans of a canon couple in his videos by arguing that the antis didn't have to like the pairing but should be respective of the supporters(who were on the defensive) and not hurl personal insults towards them for what they enjoy because they're all a part of the same fandom. They also spoke favorably of the couple in question in their videos, offering insight and evidence over why it made sense in the context of the series. They primarily marketed themselves as a supporter of the pairing...only for it to be revealed that they were an anti from the beginning, where they actively mocked and disparaged the shippers on Facebook and Twitter and claimed to the anti-group channels that they were joined on that they were only parroting talking points so that he could sucker the shippers into watching his Youtube videos for views.
So, I'll tell you, if that is what you're attempting to do now, I will lose a good deal of respect for you because engaging in that kind of manipulation is abhorrent and goes beyond something as trivial as shipping.
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts on this Kagomaru you honestly don't know how much it means to me, and I completely agree with everything you said because it's true.
The way I approached all of this could've been handled so much better than how I went about it, and it's probably my biggest regret when it came the decision I made on that day. I really needed to be up front about my fading interest in NaruSaku and I felt about growing more closer to NaruHina.
I've already mentioned it before, but I am right to bare the blame on that 100% My approach was completely inexcusable because even my gut instinct was telling me I should just be honest about it like I've always been. The people on the forums will understand and respect my decision.
At the same time my fear is what got the better of me, the fear i had when it comes losing all the great connections I've made throughout the years all because my shipping views had been switching from NaruSaku to NaruHina. <- I'm not saying this as an excuse, all I'm admitting is my thought process behind everything.
When it comes to the social experiment, I didn't go in with the intention of manipulating anyone. It was all about me just wanting to interact with the NaruHina community, and because I was feeling this conversion I just wanted to know what it was like conversing with them now as someone found more of an appreciation for the NaruHina pairing.
It's also because the last time I had a conversation with The NH fanbase was around the time the last 3 years of Naruto were ongoing, and since the ending I essentially closed myself off from all forms of communication just because I was so sick and tired of the constant arguments back and forth between NaruSaku vs NaruHina especially now with it being 8 years later..
So really it was just a form of a genuine interaction I wanted to have with them and nothing more than that.
Which brings me to the posts and replies I made when it came to bashing NaruSaku and throwing the community under the bus, and truth be told out of all the conversations I had with the NH community that was the one simple thing I altered because I knew everything I mentioned about NaruSaku and the community wasn't true, and it was solely the point of just seeing what my NH mutuals would say and nothing more.
It was more about me testing my own suspicions about my own views and see if it ended up being true about my own stance.
I never wanted to get anybody from the NS community involved which is why I mainly generalized it and not necessarily pointed out at one single individual. I truly did become lost once I quickly realized that the posts where I bashed NaruSaku and the community was really hurting you guys and I honestly couldn't sleep that night and a couple nights because it was really tough on me. I even felt as if I was on the verge of crying too.
That wasn't how I always looked at things with people. Everything I've said was always through honesty, and I really did notice that I wasn't being me and it really disgusted me the most about myself. What right did I have to say things like that about the community when I knew deep down it wasn't at all.
I know just how this community is and it's filled with wonderful people. I don't have any right to say the things I said on twitter during that time, and really it was something I needed to set things straight. The behavior I had displayed was called out and for all the right reasons too and it was something that really needed to be brought to my attention.
Which was when I really took into account about my approach on all this, and I truly wanted to give my deepest apologies for NaruSaku and the community because I did notice this was hurting everyone in more ways just as much as it was hurting me on the inside.
it was something I needed to come to terms with myself above all and then genuinely expressing how I've felt about these kind of things with you guys as I have always been.
When it comes to the other posts I've made about me liking moments between Naruto and Hinata, my appreciation for Hinata as a character , and the parallels in the story are all my true genuine thoughts about NaruHina on Twitter.
The video I have planned is certainly gonna take a little bit of time because outside of this, I've also been doing my best of being extra supportive of my older cousin because his father has lung cancer, and he's been suffering through with this condition for over a year+ now alongside the passing of my late grandma's passing, and me going through my recovery process from surgery back in November.
But I promise, I do have something coming for everyone when it comes to that front, along with another video.
As for what you've told me about this certain individual who was playing his fanbase just to attract the shippers because of views sighs.... I honestly don't care what kind of person you are, but that is honestly the most disgusting thing I've ever heard about. As a content creator myself, it makes me sick that some content creators have to put on a facade just because it attracts more views.
That has never been my style at al when it comes to my channel. Everything I make is genuinely because I love to talk about these series and truly share my honest thoughts on the matter. Nothing I've ever mentioned in any of my videos has ever been fake at all. If my mind changes on a certain topic that I covered in the past then you know I'll always give an update on how my views on this are a lot more different than before, and they would be true and honest thoughts. Nothing like "Oh hey lets see what can gain more attraction."
Like I've said that has never been me, and it will never be me . I will share my true and honest thoughts about the things I love on my channel and that is a fact.
I actually wonder what you meant by experiment. Were you trying to post NH 20 times a day to get a reaction from NH fans, or from us?
I think its dumb either way, but I wont be personally offended if you just tried to get NH fans attention.
I agree v much w/ Kagomaru.
Hey Sushi,
No, I wasn't trying to post NH 20 times a day to get a reaction from any of you guys. The experiment was more so for me to just engage in a conversation with the NH community and see if my views line up with theirs.
- with the exception of bashing the NaruSaku community because I already mentioned that part was a complete lie.
My stance is very much in line with Kagomaru too :)
After I posted, I had wondered the same thing Kagomaru had: If there really was an experiment or if it was the way you intended to explain way or hide the conversion to NH. I think he’s right in that you would have been better served to be straight with everyone from the beginning. I can understand you worrying about people here being upset over the conversion, but if it was that was the case, this shield was going to eventually fall apart one way or another and people were going to find out.
If it is an experiment, i stand by what I said. It rubs me wrong but, ultimately, It won’t offend me. However, you should think about the NH fans you interacting with on Twitter and what they would think if they were to find a video about them that sounded like what you wrote about NS on the 19th. I just don’t see this ending well, especially if you value the relationships with the people you are talking too. Maybe I’m misunderstanding what you’re intending when you say experiment, but I’d hate for two fandoms to pissed at you over it this.
As for the posts, I thought the first (19th) and second (25th) came across as insincere. The first because of what you were say on twitter the same day and the second because it was just a copy and paste job from twitter. The third (28th) one sounded sincere and I believe you meant what you said in that post. As I said in my last post, we haven’t interacted much, so I don’t know if it’ll mean much coming from me, but I’m neither mad nor offended and I’m about where phantom is. I bear you no ill will. At this point, all you can do is back up your words with actions that are consistent with what you said.
I also meant what I said before, it does not matter to me if you are a NH fan now. If you like it and it makes you happy, you should enjoy it. You won’t be banned or booted from the forum just for being a NH fan. It’s not a prequisite to being a member. If it were I’d have to ban myself as I fall into the no-shipper category sushi mentioned and even when I still shipped, NS was only 3rd (I still have a big tendency to gravitate to crack ships).
As always Nate, I love hearing your input even though we've interacted less. I really do feel that I can understand everything you're saying much like what the others have said.
As for the experiment I already went what the whole thing was about, and I hope I was able to explain it well enough. If things do feel a bit off than do let me know and I can be more clear about it.
I do agree with you much like with what I mentioned to Kagomaru in that I should've been more upfront about this whole thing from the beginning, and that was certainly my biggest mistake without a doubt.
As for me being a NaruHina fan now it really warms my heart knowing that shifting to the other side isn't gonna get me banned, and what matters to me the most is being happy which NaruHina has given me recently,
You are also absolutely correct on what it is I have to do which is to back up my words with actions that are consistent with everything I've said , and that is precisely what I am going to do from here on out by being just myself, and showcasing my words though actions. Which I've already got in mind how am going to approach this with my true genuine and honest thoughts.
It's gonna take sometime given how things are with my uncle and giving all the support I can to my older cousin in being there for him as much as I possibly can, but once i finally get it set you'll know.
Once again, it means so much me to reading yours and everyone's replies on here.