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I wish I was boning vampires. (![[info]](http://www.journalfen.net/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} tehrin) wrote in ![[info]](http://www.journalfen.net/img/community.gif){kind=small} fandom_wank,@ 2007-10-26 14:22:00 |
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| Entry tags: | cult of nice, fandom: stargate |
How to be Nice in Fandom or One Fan Looks Back at SGA Barrista Wank
Over on lj, well-meaning thisissirius tells us how to behave in fandom and tells us this in a heap of passive-agressive niceness and tl;dr.
The fandoms at fault: SGA (Stargate: Atlantis), Supernatural and Heroes; with SGA being, in the author's opinion, "one of the touchiest fandoms alive [that I know of]." However, well-intended as her rant is, she later rewords, adding to the top of her entry "I did not mean to pinpoint SGA as the worst fandom for wank EVER, just so for me personally, so sorry about that!" *
Sissi goes on to say:
"Ilove the show, I love fandom, I love the artists/authors/whatever, but at the same time, sometimes, I'm ashamed to be a part of the community. The fandom has so much wank, we should have our own Fandom Wank community. Seriously. It bothers me that so much of this wank is from people taking exception to creations in the community, be they fics, art, meta or whatever.
I understand that most poeple are opinionated, and that most people are going to voice their decisions/opinions no matter how I feel or what this post says, but it comes down to one thing:
Common Courtesy. Think before you comment/write/draw.
Most people don't, and it's what leads to the huge wank. The problem with such a huge fandom is that people are going to take exception to what you create, no matter who you are or what you do. Whether you're a newbie, a pro or a BNF, you're going to be critiscised and harshly because SGA is just that sort of fandom. However, it doesn't have to degrade into wank so much and so fast. Not if people actually think before they do what they do.
There's no point commenting to someone's fic about a seemingly innocent subject and starting wank about how it isn't PC or they were disrespectful to something/one, or how OMG THAT WOULD NEVER HAPPEN, because chances are the author didn't mean anything the like of which said commenter is suggesting, it's just how you as the commenter saw it and that bothers me.
[...]
No fandom is trouble free. No fandom is ship-war free. No fandom is opinion free, but SGA is a horrible fandom to try and start out in. IMO. All of this is MO. I don't know if you believe me, I don't know if you agree, I'm just concerned that people are being put off the fandom.
Consider for a moment.
There is such a variety of fics. You have flower porn. You have universes set in Iowa, Nantucket and Ottawa respectively. You have Team Sheppard as a band. There's so much variety and I love it. This is the only fandom I know that can take these characters and put them in such an AU situations a to be bizarre and to still have them all remain in character. I am amazed by the creativity, but at the same time I am amazed by how much anger and derision is on the sidelines.
Consider the Barista fic that sparked the racism war."
[Wank report to be found here: http://www.journalfen.net/community/fan
"If you have constructive criticism, then sure, comment ahead. Don't comment, though, and expect the author to be glad when you call them on something they probably didn't even see before posting.
Again, it all comes down to one thing:
Treat others how you would like to be treated in your own journal.
If you have a problem with one of their fics/creations send them a private e-mail, or screened comment or whatever. Don't expect them to be happy when you call them on it in a public comment, and have the whole situation degrade into SGA Word War 4573827483. Also, don't post an entry in your own journal calling them on it, because that's unfair and bitchy and just leads to a situation that spirals out of your control."
She later ETAs to add:
"One, I did not mean to belittle what happened during the racism war as 'wank'. I did not mean for it to come out that way, and I'm sorry if I offended anyone. I understand that it had been hurting people for a while and that it was bound to come out sometime, but IMO it could have been handled better at the start. People are now going to associate that fic with the start of the racism war. It might not have been the only culprit, but to an outside that's the way it looks. It was huge and I get that there were some concerns that were vaild, and I see it myself sometimes, but there was no need for it to have gone down so publicly.
[...]
Everything will offend someone.
It's true. If you write slash, you'll offend someone who is strictly canon. Certain pairings are off-limits and so on and so forth."
[...]
I don't know if this is just my way of thinking, but I was brought up to be polite and courteous. Making a post and calmly discussing all the points validly and wilth reason and is fine, but more often than not this isn't what's happening. People are dragging their flists into the fight and it just descends into something it didn't have to if poeple had only handled it better."
Comments naturally flow in, many commenting on their expierence in various fandoms and voicing their own opinion on which fandom is indeed wankiest. The comments include a thread started by xanthelj, writer of the infamous Barrista fic.
[ETA: OPPS. I'm obviously not in SGA fandom or I wouldn't have gotten the fic xanthelj wrote wrong. Here are the correct links, brought to you by a mouse and white_serpent:
http://community.livejournal.com/thecut
http://www.journalfen.net/community/fan
xanthelj:
"At the time I was shocked and hurt by the comments that I read about myself - not just my writing, which is one thing, but about me - my agenda, my views, my personality and preferences - all gleaned from my stories because I didn't engage in the furore that happened at the time, and had never had conversations with any of these people.
I was reduced to "she" and "her" and became the "other" - someone upon whom people could project the most ridiculous and hateful thoughts and intolerances of their own. I was so horrified by it I never wrote another SGA story from that moment on, and the fandom died a death for me.
After the event I have come to recognise the deep dysfunction of the people whose lives are THAT entwined with a fictional TV show that they find themselves offended by the smallest thing that doesn't fit their own view of said show."
lottelita: "You can be polite and courteous and still call people out on their (using your example) skanky race issues. In fact, if you notice someone's skanky race issues and you say nothing, you're doing a great disservice to them, to the people of color around them, and to the community at large.
I do treat other people as I would like to be treated. If I write something offensive, I would like to be told as much. I assume that decent people feel the same."
*All emphasis in this entry is the author's, not mine.
