BTVS Xander-wank
This is a bit of an older wank, but non the less HUGE (if you get a chance to check out the entire discussion) and wanktastic. So:

Sadly enough, in the Buffy fandom, the already-small faction of Xander-fans (and the more insane Xanderistas [thank you, Mary ^_^]) are pretty much horribly split when it comes to fiction. There are the het-ficers (who are notoriously Marty-Stuish when it comes to the poor fellow), the slashers (who have pretty much made the boy THE slut of Sunnydale), and the (few, the proud, the) bifictional, who'll read whatever they can find through the swamp of painful Spuffy and Willow-crossed-with-everything fics. So when the Linoleum Awards came up [the first fanfiction awards set up for Xander-fic], there was an interesting mix of stuff up for awards. But when the winners were announced, some of the people on one of my mailinglists (the het-fic one titled "XanderZone") had a hissy fit because a slash story beat out the het story for "Best Characterization". Since it's a ML, I'll post some of the great stuff:


But, the award was for best characterzation overall, not slash, and as I said in my previous post.. Aint no way. There is no justification in cannon for Xander being gay. Its simply another character disguised as Xander. Then to find that it won out over a story that is simply one of the best out there??? That smacks of rigging. Weather its because of the groups that were notified of the contest, or because the site operator's personal preferance doesnt really matter all that much.
To which someone pointed out that:
Actually I believe it was pointed out earlier that Nick himself said he was playing Xander for the first three seasons as 'Bi'. That's because uptil that point Joss hadn't decided whether or not to make Willow or Xander gay. After he changed Willow into a token lesbian, Xander's sexuality doesn't come into question again until Andrew shows up (and Andrew has to figure out which side HE's on since Dawn apparently likes him).

Which started a canon discussion, as well as a minor fight between the het-ficers on the list, the bifictional people calling for peace, and the closet-slashers claiming that this was really all very rude.





Well Those awards are about worthless. When Tenhawks Journeys loses best Xander characterization losses to a Xander/Spike slash the freaking thing is rigged..

Now Im glad nothing of mine was even nominated....

Lets add one more category.. Worst Award comptitation...

And let me just restrain myself from commenting on the grammar and spelling...




> > I also hope that you at least did the author of the story that >
> >won the award the service of reading it,
>
> Now why would I do that?

Maybe so you wouldn't come off as someone who made up their mind
without knowing all the facts?

> First off, reading is supposed to be
> enjoyable and I don't care for slash fic in general and I
> hate Spike fic in particuler. So why would I subject myself
> to something that I personally dislike?

Right with you there. I'm not big on Slash or Spike or especially
Xander/Spike. But I also wouldn't question the quality of a
particular Xander/Spike story unless I'd read it.

Yay! Moral highground! (though I actually like this individual, so not MUCH mocking of him : ). He's a nice fellow...and continues with the logic:

> But, the award was for best characterzation overall, not slash, and
> as I said in my previous post.. Aint no way. There is no
> justification in cannon for Xander being gay.

"Can I sleep with Riley now?" is the first thing to come to mind.
There were all sorts of comments through the first several seasons
that made me wonder if the boy wasn't completely straight.

> Its simply another character disguised as Xander.

Sez you. Without reading the story, even.

> Then to find that it won out over a story that is simply one of the
> best out there??? That smacks of rigging. Weather its because of
the
> groups that were notified of the contest, or because the site
> operator's personal preferance doesnt really matter all that much.
>
> Bottom line is that all decisions were hers and final, just as it
> states in her site disclaimer.

Maybe I'm confused - are you actually accusing her of rigging the
votes? Isn't the simpler explanation that, I don't know, the voters
chose a story you just don't happen to like?

Believe it or not, when a story you like doesn't get all the votes,
that doesn't mean someone cheated.






Only this time...in an assholish way ^_^
It doesn't really matter, man.
I 'won' two awards in first place and one or two in second... And It's not
like I'll ever post them on the archive or on the Jverse group. I
mean, seriously... let's look at this from my perspective (hey, I'm
ego centric. get used to it. lol), the awards site has a pic of Nick
Brendan, basically shirtless, walking down a beach. Does this sound
like anything I'd write??
LOL.
I've got 1000+ readers who subscribe to the Jverse group for my fics,
and a lot more then that who just browse the archive... Do you think I
want them opening the Jverse page to that picture??
hehehehehe
Seriously though, it's just a internet award setup by one person
basically. Now if there was a cash value....
Besides, in the end I write for two reasons.
1) I *like* it.
2) I have personal contact with the readers. Every single piece of FB
I get is worth more then all the nominations and 'awards' I managed to
win and/or place for.
Let them run their awards how they want, anyway they want. It's not
gonna affect the next part of any of my fics, and it's not even going
to show up on the Jverse website because it's irrelevant.

Follow this with lots of bitching and moaning about the awards being dumb/rigged/pointless/badly-run/etc. with some occasionaly sense in there (and random discussion about Anya as a girlfriend that confused me ^_^). Then, the nonsense ends when


What I want to point out is that to my knowledge, no one else on this
list has volunteered to take the time to support Xander writers
through an awards process. If I am wrong please tell me.
If anyone who has complained, accused, or otherwise insinuated any
negative comments, wish to run an awards program then great. Please
let me know and I will spend three hours plus trying to find the best
person in each category to nominate as I did with these awards
because I believe that Xander writers need to be supported. Until
then, it seems harsh to me to point fingers and gripe about how
things were run. The rules were spelled out from the start, if you
didn't like it you should have written to Kaz and made suggestions
for this round or for future awards.
I also want you to think about the people who did win (and there are
people on this list who did win). It has been made clear that not
everyone is thrilled to have won, but it may mean something to some
of the people who did. Through your belittlement of the process, some
may feel you are belittling them and their work. I can imagine I
would feel that way if I had been fortunate enough to win. I was
grateful when a friend on this list nominated me for Best Comedy. I
cannot imagine that I am the only non-slash writer that was pleased
to be considered.
There are a lot of wonderful Xander writers and now that series is
over, we should do everything possible to make sure they don't stop
writing. Instead, some Xander writers are cutting each other down.
I hope everyone is proud of his or her actions.
I would like to extend my congratulations to those who won and who
can appreciate that people took the time to vote and support their
writing. I appreciate all those who take the time to make things
better for those of us who love to read Xander stories, our wonderful
list archivist and others.
I ask that you consider how your words can hurt as well as praise
before you continue the debate.


Which basically ended the discussion. Not that I've seen any decrease in the jerk-ratio, especially considering homosexuality as a whole. Everyone's just fine with GIRL on GIRL, but GOD FORBID if a man is gay. V. annoying, if I may say. I personally try to be bifictional, but with such a double standard, it gets annoying every once in a while and explodes as such. So there : )