Stop Arkh: So, who exactly is Riley?
I deleted the “stoparkh” tumblr after I discovered Riley had some mental problems in the past and it made me wonder if it was something she still struggled with today. Something bothered me about exposing all their past mistakes, mishaps, and possible scams of a person who had serious issues. So…
I’m going to dismiss the argument about Riley being the Avatar of Arkh as being invalid on its face. It’s been discussed at length here.
My problem is with the actual argument being put forward, which does carry within it the notion of Riley = Arkh but also carries a separate fallacy: That disclosure or exposure of someone’s name is relevant.
It isn’t.
There are people who never know the real name of the people making art they like. Some people don’t know Lady Gaga’s real name. Some people can’t name every member of Pink Floyd even though they know every word of The Wall. I didn’t even realize for about a year after reading Tales of MU that the author was a trans woman; I believed her to actually be female, and of course her name is a pen name. In fact, look at this— it’s an entire list of authors who wrote under pseudonyms.
Are you seriously saying that every person who ever asks for money under an assumed name is wrong to do so?
Now, there is a less shaky argument to be made about the idea of giving money to a project when it’s in its conception stage (which is largely a matter of preference, and has also been more than addressed here), instead of at its completion, as would be the case with a book or album. That, however, has nothing to do with the name of the person.
