Ok, I’m fed up and feeling snarky so it’s time for a thread of Swear Trek gifs summarizing the #Ravelry fiasco #RavelryAccessibility
Go do a search or something if you don’t know WTF I’m talking about.

Ok, so, over a month ago Ravelry announced they had a big surprise for us.

And we were all

And then the day came and

Everything was, uh, very different

But Ravelry was all like, hey, give us your honest feedback, let us know about bugs, etc

Several people were...not fans of the new look

But a bunch of us weren’t bothered by the look so much as what happened when we were on the site for a while

A bunch of us felt like this

And this

And this

And this

And this

This

That

So naturally we shared our concerns about, you know, having seizures and migraines and vertigo and eye strain and cool fun stuff like that because

Wait, no. Because

Only we, you know, most tried not to call the site “shit” because prior experience led many of us to suspect that our concerns would be taken seriously and solutions would be arrived at and all that normal stuff
Unfortunately

So instead we were treated to

And

And when we tried to discuss it on the discussion boards

So, quite a few people were understandably miffed about this, especially when they asked for the old version of the site to be restored until the new one didn’t, you know, hurt people

So an option was created to restore the classic version of the site. Only it...didn’t. And the response from Ravelry was

Meanwhile, we learned that some of these issues were brought up during beta testing and just...ignored?

And it became fairly clear that no one really knew enough about accessibility and web design to even grasp the problem or how to fix it

Meanwhile, a lot of people (me included) were urging patience because small team, new stuff, consideration for people’s feelings about their design, and surely Rav had a plan to fix stuff.
Only...

And eventually we got to a point where Ravelry denied any problems existed at all

Including a founder and primary executive saying shit like

And everyone on staff mass eventually deleting their social media accounts and basically doing this

But not before pulling a lot of this kind of thing

And describing the warning the Epilepsy Foundation sent out regarding the potential, though as yet unidentifiable risk as a natural precaution as

And we also learned a bit about previous shitty behavior toward users with visual impairments

And that screen readers weren’t working on the site anymore

And meanwhile, there was basically radio silence for long stretches of time

Interspersed with some truly ridiculous user experience surveys

Like, ridiculously ridiculous in terms of actual usefulness to the point people were like

And people who do actually know about designing websites and accessibility were like

And when some of them offered their assistance in figuring out WTF was going on and fixing it (in some cases for free) the response was basically

And as more people spoke up the more TPTB at Ravelry were like

And for those reporting significant issues (often after deliberately coping with migraines or vertigo being intensified or triggered in the hopes of helping to figure out what the issues are) the response was basically

And

And after the “surveys”

We were told that new users and sales were up compared to last year, thus implying disabled people were lying or if they weren’t lying they weren’t a large enough market share to worry about

And seriously, the surveys...

Plus, Ravelry describes itself as a diverse, inclusive, welcoming community for all people, particularly people marginalized due to race, gender, sexuality, etc so

And they’ve also gone on record numerous times that they are not running the site with the purpose of making as much money as possible, yet still continue to cite sales as their justification of denying problems exist

(Couldn’t find an appropriate Swear Trek gif, so you’re getting Rick and Morty and by god you’ll be grateful for it)

Meanwhile, as word spread and more people became aware of the problems discussions continued to be shut down on the main forums

More people, including those who were not actually part of the community before were watching things devolve

Some wanker sociologist decided the real problem was mass hysteria without actually talking directly to people or examining them. I’m sure it’s purely coincidence that women are often subject to medical gaslighting and knitters are frequently stereotyped as older women

People are still trying in good faith to engage with Ravelry leaders because there is (or was) a genuine sense of community, affection, and loyalty toward them

But they keep being rebuffed so a number of them are like

And

(Meanwhile the actual troublemaking troll brigade of racist, homophobic, transphobic assholes are gleefully watching and trying to stir the pot necessary of course they are)

And users, many who have been around since the beginning and made huge contributions to populating the database along with designers, dyers, etc are seeing Ravelry’s conduct as inappropriate

Meanwhile, Ravelry and Cassidy in particular has begun saying that those documenting and reporting problems are liars

That an unnamed doctor says it’s impossible that the site is causing migraines or seizures

And implying that those people who are experiencing migraines or seizures are either lying or wrong

And responding to user emails regarding these issues with basically the ongoing themes of

And a whole lot of people are like

And wondering

Wishing Ravelry would take this very simple advice re: ableism

Losing a lot of trust in the site in general and Cassidy in particular

Looking at this whole very weird situation like

Not appreciating the ableist gaslighting

Feeling like Scotty here trying to figure out how the hell it got to this point

STILL trying to get across the basic message that literally

And supporting designers and dyers leaving Ravelry and making their patterns and other merchandise and communities available elsewhere

As are a number of other people who literally cannot use the site anymore or who don’t care to after this very hurtful, unnecessary, and baffling fiasco

And I have no idea what will happen from here

Seriously

Holy shit that was a lot of gifs

And I just finished a book, so bedtime since I have a telemedicine appointment in the morning with my pain specialist. Gotta remember to tell her that some rando sociologist and an anonymous MD say my pain is a lie.

Addendum: Jess from Ravelry has posted a statement https://twitter.com/ravelry/status/1288895056078921730?s=21

Still getting a bit of this vibe, though mostly that’s coming from people who can’t be bothered to see what issues people are actually having so they keep insisting people don’t like change or are just being mean because they don’t like the aesthetics

Any way, the implication now seems to be that people helped by the new design outnumber those who aren’t so still some of this vibe

Apparently no one realized exactly how Cassidy was responding to people

They’re looking for an expert in accessibility

And after how people have been treated recently, a lot of us are not exactly overflowing with good will and enthusiasm

Because people are understandably pissed about basically being told

So I guess we’ll wait and see how things go in the future and hope it doesn’t continue to be like this

And genuinely hope that Cassidy and her family get the help and support they need and feel better

Because again this has been true for a lot of people

And I would like to again remind the transphobes

And

Seriously, all the bigots:

And on that note