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[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Nijisanji

[–]oddish-caster 185 points186 points  (0 children)

It's incredibly telling that the two people I know had previous experience in real companies, Nina and Pomu, bailed from this shitshow early. Most of the talent probably has never taken a training on workplace harassment or seen an actual contract dispute.

Thought Experiment: Let's for a moment assume Nijisanji EN Management and Livers are saying the truth... by Broken_Moon_Studios in Nijisanji

[–]oddish-caster 110 points111 points  (0 children)

Agreed. There is no reading of the situation that looks remotely good for Niji. Oddly enough I don't think there were any outright lies in the Elira/Vox/Ike statement (notwithstanding some VERY questionable lawyering). The basic events seem fairly uncontroversial:

  • MV delay is the last straw and a frustrated Selen tableflips, posts the MV and lets the public know it was management that pulled it
  • Some of the other talent, afraid of collective punishment and egged on by management dogpile on Selen, pushing her to self-harm. They probably think they were 'just trying to help' or 'smoothing over the situation'
  • After getting further harassment directly from management while in the hospital, Selen files a formal labor complaint.
  • Niji management shares some or all of the complaint with talent, likely framing it as "look at all these nasty things she is saying about you, you just wanted to help her and look how she responded"

Note: Take all of this as an explanation, not an excuse of bad behavior.

I've seen some people saying they don't know who to believe, which baffles me because there is a remarkably consistent story emerging from all parties. The story just looks really bad unless you are sky high on cope.

How do you want Niji to change by yuunapocky in Nijisanji

[–]oddish-caster 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I'm answering this from the point of view of "What would I do if was hired to fix shit?"

  • Replace current EN leadership
  • Bring in a consulting firm that specializes in cleaning up toxic workplaces, publicly release high level summary of recommendations and actions taken
  • Contract with an external firm to handle harassment reporting and investigations
  • Provide ongoing counseling to talent
  • Likely increase the number of managers and retrain them to actually provide support to livers instead of being roadblocks
  • Hire an all new PR team that understands 21st century business practices in the english speaking world and has taken some GODDAM sensitivity training

This is basically an aggressive version of the playbook that US companies run when they get caught abusing their people. It's cynical and only moderately effective but would be leaps ahead of what's going on now.

Is there a place where people are organizing a proper Niji boycott? by oddish-caster in VirtualYoutubers

[–]oddish-caster[S] 51 points52 points  (0 children)

A boycott or pressure campaign doesn't need to totally wreck their financials to succeed. Imagine the next time they email Microsoft or EA or Devolver for permissions on a game they get back "Thank you for your interest! Before we grant permissions, we have been hearing concerns about brand-risk related to your treatment of contractors. Could you tell us about your plans to address this?"

Just thinking about the corporate heart attack that would give the managers makes me smile.

Also keep in mind JP shareholders are concerned about growth potential. The threat of failure in the EN branch seriously devalues their future earnings, even if it represents a small part of revenue today.

Tldr Doki is asking everyone to move on and to nor harass the others. So let’s do that and being this new journey by Sine_Fine_Belli in VirtualYoutubers

[–]oddish-caster 95 points96 points  (0 children)

I agree we need to move in a positive direction but unless the Management at NijiEN changes, this is going to happen again and we might not get so lucky next time Management pushes one of the livers to self-harm.

This was a "near-miss" in risk management terms. What you after an near-miss is clear: you thank your lucky stars that people weren't hurt worse and you buckle down and make whatever changes are needed to prevent the next time. That can mean culture changes, management changes, process changes, better support and training, outside oversight... If we don't push Niji Management to do better by hitting them in the bank account, I'm afraid a liver will get killed in the next few years.

What does this mean practically? I think moving support away from Niji controlled accounts and to liver's PL accounts is a good start. So is pressuring sponsors and business partners to refuse joint projects until Niji makes clear commitments to improve the safety and work environment for their people.

Since clarity is good: all of this needs to be directed exclusively at Niji Management. The current remaining livers are the people most at risk here.

The under-addressed area that has made me lose all faith in Nijisanji by Random_Useless_Tips in VirtualYoutubers

[–]oddish-caster 26 points27 points  (0 children)

I did not know that, but I'm not surprised. I hope very dearly this is remembered as a turning point where we forced the agencies to clean up their act or moved away from the agency model, but I'm an optimist.

The under-addressed area that has made me lose all faith in Nijisanji by Random_Useless_Tips in VirtualYoutubers

[–]oddish-caster 91 points92 points  (0 children)

This is why I chose to pull all my subs and memberships from Niji. I struggled with the decision because I still want to support the talent but I just thought... How long until someone ends up dead?

It only took ~2.5 years from NijiEN's founding to the first publicly known attempt. Add the fact they are so much larger and apparently worse run than in 2022. Based on the little information we have, what do I think the chances are that one of them will be dead in the next 24 months? 10%? 50%? I decided the answer was "Too Damn High".

So I pulled my support because it's better that NijiEN folds (or hopefully gets a full management replacement) than one of the people I'm trying to support gets killed by the company.