D&D General Jaquaying the dungeon - a term to avoid

[Shardstone]

Its so disappointing that Alex did all this. Illusion broken.

 

[Clint_L]

Jennell Jaquays was not timid about things that annoyed her. If she didn’t want her name associated with it at all I think she would have made it very clear publicly.

Why are we trying to read her mind? If she wanted it used, I think she would have said so, clearly, since as you point out she wasn't timid. IMO, consent shouldn't need to be interpreted, even when we want to honour someone. "She didn't say no" is not the same as consent.

I don't get why folks are so determined to use this extremely obscure way of honouring her, especially given the lack of clear consent, but also because this entire conversation was generated by a person with whom she seems to have had a problematic relationship.

 

[Rystefn]

There is no issue of consent here.
1) If she had a problem with it, she had every opportunity to say so, and never did. Instead, she only ever said to use "Jaquaysing" instead.
2) We use people's names without their consent all the time. You simply do not need anyone's consent to use their name. That's not a thing. I'll bet that not a single person reading this ever questioned the use of "Wagnerian" to describe a certain kind of music or "Shakespearean" a certain kind of writing. If you claim that you have ever wondered if either of them gave consent for this kind of usage, I'll call you a liar right to your face.

Also, I find the claim that naming a style of dungeon after her confusing to be laughable. Sure, you need to know something about the person and about dungeon design generally to understand the reference... but you also need to know about music and about Wagner to understand the word "Wagnerian" means, but you go right ahead and use that anyway, don't you?

 

[darjr]

I’m not trying to read her mind. Just noting past behavior and extrapolating.

 

[Gradine]

While I think that the linked blog post is perhaps extremely uncharitable towards Alexander, it is true that his 2016 post "On Deadnaming" and his refusal for an additional two years until Jennell reached out personally to ask him to stop deadnaming her was, if probably not in nearly as bad faith and it's presented here, still incredibly wrong-headed and ignorant, and that was just as much true when he posted it in 2016 as here in 2024, where he's on Twitter standing by it.

I don't think anybody can (rightfully) accuse Alexander of out and out transphobia or bigotry of any kind, as acerbic as he can be he's nearly always been on the side of social justice, but this was a bad look then and his current attempts to defend it are a bad look now.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

While I think that the linked blog post is perhaps extremely uncharitable towards Alexander, it is true that his 2016 post "On Deadnaming" and his refusal for an additional two years until Jennell reached out personally to ask him to stop deadnaming her was, if probably not in nearly as bad faith and it's presented here, still incredibly wrong-headed and ignorant, and that was just as much true when he posted it in 2016 as here in 2024, where he's on Twitter standing by it.

I don't think anybody can (rightfully) accuse Alexander of out and out transphobia or bigotry of any kind, as acerbic as he can be he's nearly always been on the side of social justice, but this was a bad look then and his current attempts to defend it are a bad look now.

Learning about this certainly made me view Alexandrian more negatively. Not bothering to update an old blog post is one thing, writing a new blog post excusing of not updating an old blog post even though doing that obviously takes way more effort than updating would, is quite another.

 

[SteveC]

I have the feeling this may turn especially angry pretty fast. I feel sad for everyone involved.

 

[cbwjm]

I think I will stick to calling Jaquaysing the dungeon.

I was never gonna stop, I did think it was weird how it missed the s. It's not even really something that comes up much in my day-to-day dnd life, only shows up in places like ENworld. I'm kind of curious if I brought it up with my game groups if they'd have any idea what I was talking about.

Thinking about it, I think the original blog post was the first time I'd even heard of Jenna Jaquays.

 

[overgeeked]

Looking at other times people have turned someone’s name into an adjective, especially one ending with an “s,” you get the suffix -ian. So this style of looping-map layout would properly be called a Jaquaysian dungeon or a Jaquaysian map or a Jaquaysian loop. Etc.

Thinking about it, I think the original blog post was the first time I'd even heard of Jenna Jaquays.

Her name was Jennell.

 

[grankless]

His response on Twitter to this + the incredibly upsetting to read "On Deadnaming" has certainly made me quite happy to continue ignoring his work. What embarrassing behavior for a grown man to have in 2012 or in 2024.