Posted on 06/24/2019 8:05:47 AM PDT by Ennis85
The popular knitting website Ravelry is banning users from expressing support for the US President Donald Trump and his administration on its platform.
On Sunday night, a tweet, which has now been shared almost 10,000 times and attracted 13,000 comments, said: "We cannot provide a space that is inclusive of all and also allow support for open white supremacy. Support of the Trump administration is undeniably support for white supremacy."
https://twitter.com/ravelry/status/1142766608680660992
n a statement on its website, Ravelry said supporters of the president could still use the site but could not express their support in its forum or knitting patterns.
"We are not endorsing Democrats nor banning Republicans," it said.
"We are definitely not banning conservative politics.
"Hate groups and intolerance are different from political position."
Ravelry said its policy was largely based on one adopted in October 2018 by the role-playing game website RPG.Net
At the time, RPG said the Trump administration was so incompatible with its values "that formal political neutrality is not tenable".
Since Ravelry's ban, it has been the subject of more than 30,000 tweets.
Joyce Alene tweeted she was "proud" to be a Ravelry member and it was the "same folks who knit hats for the women's march taking the lead on calling out hate", alluding to the Pussyhat project, where thousands of women donned pink woolly hats to protest against the president.
But fellow Ravelry user Shelly Caldwell tweeted: "I will be cancelling my account #Maga [make America great again]."
https://twitter.com/gbfan2323/status/1142794804809498629
Though not a Ravelry user, Keith Barrett tweeted: "You cannot claim to be inclusive while banning or censoring half the country for supporting its president."
But lawyer Tiffany Li said as a private company, Ravelry was under no obligation to allow all viewpoints on its platform.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
Never used Ravelry. But I see they are proudly waving the “pride” flag on their sign-in screen.
Time to ban your black and white yarn! Black is racis’ and white is “privilege”.
You can find pussy hat patterns on Ravelry. Lots and lots of them.
I despise these businesses that claim to not be political.....
make sure you let them (and their advertisers know)
I have not ever said to boycott advertisers on liberal sites, until they say they don’t want my business.
So advertisers note: Feel free to advertise on MSNBC - I won’t see it anyway.
But when a company SAYS they only want to advertise on liberal sites, then I assume hey don’t want my business.
I’m going to have a word with some LYS owners. There are no atheists in foxholes.
Lots of F**K Trump patterns as well.
FWIW, if the niche they want to market to is to be found on lib sites, I have no problem with a biz advertising there. No skin off my nose.
But Ravelry clearly is clueless about its customer base and related customer bases.
I just plumb hate stupidity. And I have no desire to patronize it.
Bake the damn cake, Ravelry.
Most Knitters are older...like my mom...older people are more conservative than younger people...think Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez would knit? She might dye the sheep before starting knitting the wool...on the sheep...
Gave it up today after I downloaded all my freebies that I had in my Library.
I have contacted the independent designers that I have bought patterns from telling them that I will no longer purchase their designs through Ravelry.
A lot of folks are gonna get dragged into this who just want to make a living and let knitters and crocheters worry about their own bloody politics.
WTG, Ravelry.
Not true, knitting is very popular these days among young people. I have a friend, far younger than I am, about 33 who just took up knitting. For years she has loved to crochet. Anyway, it is actually really fun and relaxing and I am going to try it again so Im very glad to know to stay far away from getting any products or info from Ravelry.
“registration is closed temporarily” on the website. I guess a lot of deplorables crashed the registration.
That’s it... I’m done with knitting! /s
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