iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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FLOOR BOI @floorboi.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Today in the woods with @ropesbyasher.bsky.social

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Ropes By Asher @ropesbyasher.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Yeah that’s N8, not on socials I’d connect with the Ministry of Gear folks in Montreal. They’ve already kicked off a good group of gearheads.

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Ropes By Asher @ropesbyasher.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

A really helpless @octoberrex.bsky.social at my birthday party yesterday 🥵

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Ropes By Asher @ropesbyasher.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Thanks @jazwithrope.bsky.social for one final birthday torture right before bed

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Jaz. With Rope. @jazwithrope.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Toying and exploring with @boundboygary.bsky.social is always a delicious time.

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Ropes By Asher @ropesbyasher.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

I'm glad I'm sitting this Darklands out (to be honest, they're probably just as glad that I am sitting it out, too). I'll stick to events that support and build community.

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Ropes By Asher @ropesbyasher.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

"What we try to focus on is still working with community creatives and making sure the overall artistic direction stays in their hands."

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Ropes By Asher @ropesbyasher.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

The response I got from a rep: "This year we worked with about 21 artists contributing to the visuals. Many digital artists today also use AI as part of their workflow, and realistically that's something we can't completely prevent or control."

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Silver 😵‍💫🐶🧠✨ @spacepupsilver.com · 22/05/2026

I see darklands are going full hog with the slop this year with a full Ai advert. Fuck that shit. Given the price of tickets, the cost of freaking water in the place and the sheer foot traffic they have. Choosing to use ai slop says everything about it. Fuck off.

An ai rendered palace in a desert for the darklands advert

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Ropes By Asher @ropesbyasher.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

Honourable indeed. Save a spot on the memorial, I'll bring an analog typewriter.

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Ruff Tankie @rufftanktop.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

Which one of the #Darklands passes has the privacy opt-in to be free from being studied by straight chemsex anthropologists? Or at least the opportunity to choose?

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ItsJonny @itsjonny.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

I think I'm washing my hair that weekend.......

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ItsADerpDrone @itsaderpdrone.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

Too expensive, don’t like they’ve buried their head in the sand when the community had issues/concerns. Nah.

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Prim Improper 🔜 MIR @daelgeared.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

Not considering going to Darklands again just because of the breach of privacy from that chemsex conference, but also...the AI art and assets used throughout the event 🤢

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Ropes By Asher @ropesbyasher.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

And that wouldn’t even be a thought in my head if anyone from Darklands or @itmantwerp.bsky.social stopped to think.

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Ropes By Asher @ropesbyasher.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

The thing that @itmantwerp.bsky.social is using is still intent. Intent didn’t stop their conference attendees of taking photos of me and my rope bunny mid scene without my consent. I don’t know who took that photo, who has that photo now, and what they’re doing with it.

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Ropes By Asher @ropesbyasher.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

To be honest, I’m unfamiliar with research regulation in Belgium and the EU but there is likely recourse with a regulatory body if they admit fault.

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Whisper @themindwhisper.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

Why is it so hard to acknowledge that they made a mistake and seek a path to avoid repeating it? Damn, even as an individual, I have needed to do that in some of my scenes. Not acknowledging errors destroys trust instead of preserving it.

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Ropes By Asher @ropesbyasher.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

If my language is more pointed it’s because I’ve done my part to give them a pathway forward and they have continuously failed to acknowledge their own harm. There is no apology in their response. Just a self congratulatory “we’ve done good by ourselves” message to someone who has held up a mirror.

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Ropes By Asher @ropesbyasher.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

As if we haven’t dumped enough of our own unpaid labour to hold them accountable. Their credibility and lack of reflexivity beyond procedure shows they are ill equipped to doing research with (let alone on) our community.

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Ropes By Asher @ropesbyasher.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

Oh yes, there’s blatant contradictions in @itmantwerp.bsky.social’s response, as if we are not clever enough to see the blatant gaslighting of our community. We have continued to call them in, and their response is to ask for individuals to jump on a call.

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Whisper @themindwhisper.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

It is explicitly said to be a behind the scenes tour at Darklands, not just crossing Darklands to view Kink Responsibly.

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Whisper @themindwhisper.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

Interestingly, their own brochure doesn't mention anything g about the Kink Responsibly exhibit, it mentions Darklands as a whole: bsky.app/profile/rope...

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ItsADerpDrone @itsaderpdrone.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

Had an email too, let me know the best way to share with you. Only the quickest of looks and it’s a load of shit but offering to meet online at least.

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AICDoesRubber 🏡 SF Bay Area @aicdoesk.ink · 17/04/2026

so they are hiding behind the "study visit" definition then? how do they (and Darklands for that matter) explain the presence of 120 researchers when the events for the day were already begun? Shouldn't that have paused them and go "maybe we should come back another day?"

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Ropes By Asher @ropesbyasher.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

My response to @itmantwerp.bsky.social's internal review process, calling out a continuation of the same pattern: concerns raised by community members are absorbed into the institutional process and returned as findings of no formal fault.

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Ropes By Asher @ropesbyasher.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

Here is the follow up from @itmantwerp.bsky.social around their ethical breaches at Darklands. I’ll analyze over the next coming days how their response is insufficient, but please take a moment to read 🧵

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Ropes By Asher @ropesbyasher.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

This article is specific to studying our communities in an online context, but parallels could be made to how to ethically engage in research endeavours WITH us instead of ON us.

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Ropes By Asher @ropesbyasher.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

I think researchers studying our communities, especially in the health-related fields, need to know how to ethically engage with us. This would avoid the harm that @itmantwerp.bsky.social and @darklandsfest.bsky.social caused/is causing to our community.

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Ropes By Asher @ropesbyasher.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

Sharing a slide from my intervention on Wang, S., Wang, N.-C., & Lee, W.-C. (2026). Methodological and ethical considerations in LGBTQ-focused online ethnographic research: A systematic review and a human-centered framework in the International Journal of Qualitative Methods.

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Ropes By Asher @ropesbyasher.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

Reaching out to you because our community is still waiting on hearing about how @itmantwerp.bsky.social plans to be transparent in its internal review. So far we’ve received no word except from your privacy officer (who needs training in research ethics…) bsky.app/profile/rope...

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Ropes By Asher @ropesbyasher.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

It is genuinely painful to watch how blind this organization is to our calls. These are our communities. These are real people who your organization harmed. The harm is documented. The response has been either procedural or chilling silence. The self-congratulation is harmful to us.

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Ropes By Asher @ropesbyasher.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

See my previous threads of the way that we’ve been treated as a community by this organization. That is not an ethics culture. That is an institution that has learned to speak the language of ethics without applying it.

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Ropes By Asher @ropesbyasher.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

The complaint was received March 16. The response defended the images, cited “high prevalence of chemsex among MSM” as justification for overriding individual consent, and said no formal mistakes had been identified. Then on March 25, this post went up.

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Ropes By Asher @ropesbyasher.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

The article is titled “Ethics is not a checklist.” I agree. A checklist would have included “do not use identifiable photos of people in kink spaces without their consent in a publicly downloadable academic presentation.”

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Ropes By Asher @ropesbyasher.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

It’s time that @itmantwerp.bsky.social responds to us about transparency. After sending a letter telling our community that photographing people in states of undress without consent was fine, actually, their staff are on here promoting an article about what a great ethics culture they have. 🧵

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Ropes By Asher @ropesbyasher.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

Currently barricaded and on lockdown at UOttawa. Stay safe everyone!

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Ropes By Asher @ropesbyasher.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

Can happily say I received my final mark for this class (which hinged on this presentation): A+. 😊 I’m truly a nerd for ethical research!

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Ropes By Asher @ropesbyasher.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

DeepSeek applied the Belmont Report and treated the IRB as straightforwardly good. Claude asked, "accountable to whom?" Deepseek asked, "How do we protect people within the existing system?"

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