Don't think this qualifies as fandom, so OTF_ it is.

Blair is the blogger/proprietor of STFU, Parents, a user-generated blog that culls parents oversharing on Facebook. It's been around since February '09. (Featured on this comm last August.)

She posted on Facebook this morning about a slapped-together article on msn.com, "15 Things Moms Overshare on Facebook", with obviously fake statuses. (Statii?) STFUP blurs out last names, but the msn.com examples have no space for last names, and I'd like to see a real baby announcement (#5) with zero likes on it.

While Blair is very upset about this, her readers are extremely mixed. 250+ comments so far, fairly evenly divided between "call a copyright lawyer, down with this sort of thing" and "it might be a coincidence, I missed the part where you are the only one who can do this sort of thing". Blair in the comments as well, getting snotty as time goes by, which is always fun.

"I never said anyone has to agree with me. But I would never tell someone whose page and blog I read for free that they're "whining" over a corporation stealing ideas. That's rude and unsupportive." [cite] (I personally would have thrown in a "buy my book!") "I do not have a monopoly on the concept of mocking parent overshare with biting criticism. I invented the concept. If someone steals my exact ideas, that's stupid. I am allowed to be annoyed about it." [cite] "Does calling me a foolish whiner have a purpose? Or are you just trying to hurt my feelings? Just checking." [cite]

And to hit the Bingo, there's definitely a bit of deleting going on in the comments. (Marshall Lilly who?)

Good times.

Previously, on OTF_wank...

Dear Author posts about Red Rose publishing, reproducing a report from Kat Holmes, a former RRP author, and the ridiculous response of the head of the publishing house. Wank ensues in the comments. In fact, more wank than was even included in the original post!

( Add one batshit teal deer and mix well )

Some additional background on RRP also emerged from the comments of the earlier report. It seems, in restrospect, that there were some warning signs about RRP. That absolute write thread has a lot of opinions one way or the other, but bottom line there were some flags up about RRP for a while, including one notable one from Piers Anthony (search for "Red Rose" on the page).

All well and good, but you didn't come here for a history lesson. No, this is for the new, juicy developments. How juicy? Empty legal threats juicy! A couple of choice quotes from the Dear Author post, made last Saturday:

On Friday, I received a phone call from a lawyer in Utica, New York who represents Red Rose Publishing. RRP is claiming that I defamed them in this post here wherein I summarized the reported complaints of RRP authors and posted the president and owner’s email regarding her displeasure with RRP authors. The lawyer wanted my address so he could send me some correspondence that “laypeople may call a cease and desist” letter. At the time of the phone call, I don’t believe the lawyer had read the post in question as he kept referring to “blog postings.” I urged him to read the post and explain to me where I had been defamatory. I reminded him that truth is always a defense to defamation.

I relayed to RRP’s attorney that I would not remove the post unless he could convince me I engaged in a legal wrong. As there is nothing defamatory in the post, I refused to take it down, gave my address, and told him I would await his correspondence.

I think this is what could be called in technical terms an "ice burn." A (former) RRP author makes an interesting comment on that entry about her Red Rose works suddenly vanishing from Amazon. Another, anonymous Red Rose author states that provides some info on the RRP NDA: The RRP NDA say that authors may not discuss RRP in a negative way on blogs, forums etc. It is pretty broad.

Yesterday, shit gets real, as Dear Author recieves an official-looking letter ...with no actual legal content to speak of.

( Text of the letter, and DA's succinct response )

The rest of the post is a point-by-point summary of exactly what was asserted in the DA post, and evidence supporting each statement. I won't bother copypasting the whole thing here, but it's worth reading if you like smart bloggers smacking down legal scare tactics.

Of course, a smackdown post is best accompanied by wanky comments, and we have a few wanky comments. Most of them are just written versions of the MJ popcorn GIF, but then we get this one comment by "Interested in Maintaining standards".

There’s something shifty here that no one seems to be catching. I find it hard to take any information seriously when writers or bloggers refuse to stand behind their real names. In journalism school a reporter’s name is his or her badge of honor.

Just saying…

Followed by at least a dozen smackdown comments. My favorite of the bunch is, quite simply: So what's your name?

So that's where things stand now. I'll be keeping an eye on DA and various other blogs to see where it goes from here (after Yom Kippur of course, l'shanah tovah to you all), but yeah, this could just be the beginning.

Over on Dear Author, Jane posts about an author overreacting to bad Amazon.com reviews

The author's fans are quick to point out that Jane is just jealous, a meanie, has no life, etc. And the author herself responds. The comments have been deleted, but breecita saved them

( Pro making ass of herself under the cut )

Whiny pros! Whinier fans! Passive-aggressive smilies!

All we need is a flounce, a sobbing vow to Never Write Again, and/or a pseudocide.

ETA: Thanks to carlanime, a prequel of sorts.

ETA2: Crap, wrong link, wrong potential post. If anyone wants to write up about possibly fraudelent conniving, lying, soul-bonding-is-my-religion! roommates from hell, drop a line.

It all started with a list - a list of questionable literary agencies and agents. Unfortunately, someone named Barbara Bauer was on this list. This made her very, very, very, very unhappy. (So unhappy, in fact, she demanded A BILLION DOLLARS from several bloggers for her pain and suffering.) Why, oh why won't they fork over the dough? And why are they laughing? What's a poor, maligned literary agent to do? SUE WIKIPEDIA AND THE BLOGOSPHERE!, that's what. Hmmph. That'll show 'em!


Oops...DISMISSED! Wikipedia, you bastard!

(SRS BZNS ETA: I've received some additional info about the court cases that are still pending, which can be found here)