Harry Potter revisited
It’s October or maybe still September, but in any case Mercury is retrograde or did it go direct? Well, it’s Saturday I think, or hell - Sunday maybe, though any day of the week will do really, which is to say that once again the Harry Potter fandom is working itself into a sweaty frenzy about *something* of Critical! Fandom! Importance!


Now bear with me, I know some of this territory was covered before, but for those of us who lack the required degrees in forensic cryptology required to make heads or tails of the overlapping circles of hate that resonnate from various BNF's I offer a primer:

Grasping the archiac apparatus of Potterdom is almost impossible until you understand: this fandom isn’t about the fics. It's not about the the wallpapers or the vids or even the books and movies. No, it’s about being the mostest popularist BNF in the whole wide world (after Cassandra Claire of course, try as you might, you’ll nevar top her, she’s ours forevah!) and well, in the continuing politdrama that defines this fandom, reccing fanfic is the latest front in the campaign of getting to sit near the cool kids during recess.

Because apparently love telling your friends that you liked a story and that they should read it too is a battlefield minefield.

Luckily dracoroxmysox is brave enough to stand up and tell it like it is.

Protecting one’s sphere of influence is a do or die proposition in HP, and those who manage to survive past the “leave the baby on the wind-swept crags” stage take it very very seriously. Fortunately it also means that they will discuss and discuss and discuss and hey, guys? You do realize that saying “I liked this fic – you should read it to” != negotiating peace in the Middle East? …and discuss and discuss…

But this is Harry Potter, where a cigar is never just a substitute for your freakish desire to suck Daddy’s dick. (Warning! Link is NOT work safe!)

sicko

I know you peeked.

The Clift note version: to be a true BNF in Harry Potter you have to be in the OMG invite only community. Because reccing = more Fb = keys to Cassandra Claire’s the executive washroom and everyone will love me OMG.

The rec kerfluffle leads to hurt feelings, a further polarization of n00b vs. Elitist Beyotch – or as some like to call it, a normal day in the life of HP fandom.

EDIT
Please take a moment to enjoy this beautiful tangent of batshit insane whinery brought by one of fandom_wanks beautiful anonomice. This precious example of n00b vs. old skool (which interestingly Aeryn plays both sides of when convenient) You're ripping off authors! I'm leaving and taking my toys! because OMG fiction alley redesigned the author pages. As I was saying, a normal afternoon in Harry Potterverse ~

Carry on

Meanwhile, back at the farm our old pal little_needle, A.K.A. wankstar comes to the conclusion that if you can’t control join the 1337 comm, then start your own! Now normally I wouldn’t gratify such obvious attention h0ring on our hallowed pages, but it’s a critical link to the next part of the story. Because little_needle’s rather pretentious mission statement:

Created on a quest for the best H/D fiction and art our fandom has to offer, Seeker to Seeker was founded in hopes of carefully and lovingly gathering an archive of the cream of fandoms crop in both fiction and art.

Ruffled a few feathers. There was drama. There's Libertine calling Aja a twat (and really what would a HP wank be without someone way way way too obsessed with ancient history that?) There was mention that these “cream of the crop” fan works would be archived. And on opposite sides of that dark and stormy night of the fandom consciousness light bulbs flicker to life.

Except apparently one of those light bulbs went off a month ago.
...and man is slytherincess pissed!

So who done it?
Was it Aja? Is this a masterful bid for wank supremecy to finally claim the crown of splooge? She says no...
Perhaps dorrie6? But can anyone picture her in such nefarious terms? Besides she's a Domlijah fan and we all know those are inherently peaceful and sane.
Or switchknife, she seems to have a lot to say about this and as a mod of the other OMG invite comm this could be a super sneaky bid to devide and conquer them all!
Don't forget circe_tigana, little_needle would apparently do anything for attention, or maybe brad did it? or anniesj and msscribe in the library with the candlestick? Anyone know where ataniell93, malfoypatriarch and meghanjinx were the night in question? Hell lets just throw them all up against the wall and see what sticks.

And we're no closer to figuring out who did steal / plagiarize slytherincess’s idea about a locked secret community and rush to steal her thunder? Is that even plagairism?

Who knows or even cares, because who should appear next but our old pal Cassandra Claire! Conditioned no doubt to salivate at mere mention of plagairism, the infamous Cassandra Claire offers her expert opinion on the subject.

And promptly deletes it.

Watch our favorite wacky BNF circle the issue and make oblique references that refer back to her older than dirt war with Aja!

Watch as posts are deleted! Too bad we saved them:

it's just....rather rude to steal something you KNEW a friend was working on, especially after they told you in confidence.

*gosh* whatever could you be referring to? I know! Lets ask littletort:

Yeah, exactly.

I mean, it's not like anyone has a patent on an anon mod idea, it's nothing NEW, but it's just....rather rude to steal something you KNEW a friend was working on, especially after they told you in confidence. *shrugs* Just not a nice thing to do.

CC's deleted response:

That it is



So wait, I'm confused. Did Cassandra Claire just come out and condemn stealing ideas from other people? What about dialogue? Or whole passages from books? Because surely if she aknowledges this more tenuious abstraction of plagairism then "lifting something word for word is bad" would be a concept she would also understand?