I'm not really a Harry Potter fan, I never read the books, I did watch most (in not all) the movies (and found them entertaining), and I own the LEGO Harry Potter games on Steam (came in a LEGO game bundle). The amount of money Rowling earned from my media consumption over the last 20+ years was tiny, probably less then a cup of coffee.
But I do think that the discussion of separation of the product and the people making said product is a good one to have. Because I wonder, how far are you willing to go? Will you no longer buy D&D products because a Hasbro investor/employee is a 'bad person' due to opinion x or action y, are still alive and are profiting of your consumption of product z? How exactly do you do groceries or even taxes?
Personally I completely see a disconnect between product and the people's personal actions/views making said product. I like a certain piece of music, I've liked it for decades, does me finding out that the person who made it was an absolute scumbag change me liking the music? No, not really! Does it change my view on the maker of said music? Absolutely!
Do I do a thorough background check on al the people involved in making a particular RPG book? Are you nuts!?!? Of course not! Do I do a daily check if any Hasbro investors show any bad behavior? No, that sounds ridicules! So why do you care about Rowling if you like Harry Potter? I would be a different matter is you are a fan of Rowling's beliefs, but that's not what's being asked/discussed.
I saw the discussion in a Tech forum review about the new Harry Potter game, just the inclusion of Rowling's statements was enough to explode the comments section by a factor of x10. You know the funny thing, a couple of trans people pitched in and those were probably the most reasonable views in the whole discussion: People are way to polarized on both 'sides' doing damage to both sides.
As for the comments by mods that this is someone else's house and we need to honor their 'party' rules and not offend their guests. I understand from what perspective that is done, but I disagree with ENworld is the house of Morrus. Especially in view of who started the site and especially in the early years the request of financial support for the site. This is more of a community gathering place that is being run by Morrus, there of course need to be rules that we need to follow (or at least break as little as possible).
As for offending other people. Me breathing will probably offend someone somewhere, but who's views are being enforced? We've been joking for decades about the D&D devil worship comics, but there are still people that see D&D/RPGs or certain parts thereof in such a way and as a D&D player my presences offends them. Should I suddenly leave a party because of that? Should the people that like or are playing the new Harry Potter game suddenly leave the party because some find that offensive? I find that tragically ironic because trans people are considered offensive by way too many people still.
So my question is: What is the ENworld community? Who is it for? And is it going to enforce the will of a vocal minority of either 'side'?
