Board Thread:False Info and Speculative Discussion/@comment-4723271-20140716053249/@comment-19765459-20140716174209

I am far from alone in that particular opinion. It is actually pretty widespread among gay viewers who have become increasingly frustrated with what is perceived as "gay baiting" on Jeff's part. Indeed, until last season we argued amongst ourselves quite a bit over whether how he has been handling things on TW constituted "baiting" or not, and the usage of the term. However, since this season started the arguments have largely died down and the general consensus is that yes, he is baiting.

This is a VERY important topic for gay viewers, and since you accuse me of not knowing other's minds, I in turn must do the same now to you. LGBT audiences have VERY few characters of our own type to see when we watch movies or TV. So few in fact that the The Backlot, a web site intended to be devoted to LGBT representation in media, often posts recaps of shows that contain NO LGBT characters simply because of the sad fact that they would not be able to keep the site filled with content if that were a prerequisite. Often, they recap shows that LGBT people are prone to watch, because that is all we have.

Try to imagine how frustrating that is! Imagine what it is like being beaten over the head constantly with the fact that just having people like you on TV is "controversial", to the extent that even on a show with a gay producer, gay characters are relegated to at best supporting roles, if not being outright extras!

The original topic of this thread, which you seem to have lost in the process of chastising me for being critical of Jeff, is the character of Danny. Who has been on the show since S1, has been generally well-liked by fans, but has not been developed anywhere near as much as heterosexual characters introduced in later seasons!

See the problem yet? Jeff lured a lot of gay viewers to the show back in the beginning with the promise of gay representation. We didn't get much. Danny was an extra to a supporting character (Jackson) and thus only appeared infrequently at best. However, the show overall was pretty fun. A lot of us enjoyed the balance between humor and horror and S1 & S2 were pretty tightly written, with the seasonal story arcs being coherent and interesting.

There was considerable excitement over the introduction of Ethan in S3a, although it quickly turned to concern as it became apparent that, like Danny, he would not receive equal representation with the straight characters. But 3a was still fairly enjoyable. However, concerns about the writing began to emerge, as S3a contained a lot of plot holes, especially as compared to S1 & S2. Some of that was due to abrupt casting changes (the departure of Colton and Gage). But there were also other in-show plot holes that caused a lot of discussion.

S3b proved to be similarly a topic of heated debate, with some liking it and others hating it. The problem with plot holes and dangling plot threads grew. As I said, the writing was much more tight in the early seasons, so this naturally drew notice because we already had a baseline that indicated that TW's writing could be much cleaner, because it had been in the past. The implication that there was a problem was drawn from simple comparison of the show with itself.

For some of us, this creates a quandry. We want to like the show as much as we used to. But it is getting harder to do so. Things that we forgave in the past are becoming harder to forgive now. When problems are ongoing and not addressed, eventually you begin to worry that they never will be. At which point you are forced into the decision as to whether or not to remain a viewer. Fans do walk away from shows.

If you feel that the purpose of this board is to defend Jeff's honor then by all means. But that is not showing respect for the audience. It is showing singular loyalty to the producer. Which changes this from a Wiki to a promotional site, and TW already has one hosted on the Viacom web. It is appropriate to police the content of the articles, since they are meant to reflect what is onscreen. But the forums are for airing opinions.

Unless you are Jeff under an alias, on what basis do you take up responsibility for defending his honor using threats of banning people who challenge it?