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The Duchess of Richmond (![[info]](http://www.journalfen.net/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} charlottelennox) wrote,@ 2015-06-15 18:00:00 |
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Chapter Two - Msscribe Enters the Fandom
The Ms.Scribe Story
An Unauthorized Fandom Biography
Msscribe Enters the Fandom
January-March 2003 - Msscribe at Portkey
On November 21, 2002, an unknown newbie named "Msscribe" registered at FictionAlleyPark. She uploaded two short NC-17 H/Hr fics at Portkey.org on Dec. 19, 2002 and Dec. 28, 2002, and registered on the Portkey forums on Dec. 23, 2002. Finally, she introduced herself on the Portkey forums on December 30, 2002:
Immediately, Msscribe attracted her first fangirl:
"Clarabella_21" joined Portkey the next day, Dec. 31, 2002, and promptly posted on Msscribe's intro thread, claiming to be 31 years old, with two kids, and to not know Msscribe but to be a huge fan of her fic (which had been first posted just three days earlier):
In another post the same day, Clarabella introduced herself as an associate editor for a literary magazine. In her time at Portkey.org, Clarabella did basically nothing but fangirl Msscribe (and her friend Babygrrl), make a website about Msscribe (website has recently disappeared, see screencaps here and here), report Msscribe's bravery during her hospitalization and frightening brush with death, and extol Msscribe's generosity (see this one, for instance). Her signature was about Msscribe:
Even her freaking icon was about Msscribe:
You can see all 25 of Clarabella's posts from here.
Keep an eye on this "Clarabella" -- she will later be Msscribe's "nanny" who takes the fall when GT publishes IP evidence that Msscribe is a well-known fandom troll.
Msscribe only spent about three months posting regularly at Portkey.org, but her time there was extremely eventful. You can see all 73 of her posts from here. Besides her brush with death, she was plagiarized three separate times (once at snitchfiction.net, once at fanfiction.net, and once at hpfanfiction.nexcess.net), had a brief flame war with another apparent sockpuppet, davis_517/Julie Davis (who quickly converted to become another Msscribe fangirl), received abusive reviews flaming her for smuttiness and a tiny bit of playful femmeslash, and became close friends with another author named Babygrrl (infinitus on LJ) whom I think was actually a real person. On Jan. 31, 2003, another apparent sockpuppet fangirl appeared who would later be important in the troll scandal, sarahkjames. In her fifteen posts at Portkey.org, SarahKJames did nothing but fangirl Msscribe and help Clarabella build a Msscribe website to surprise Msscribe with. Like Clarabella and Davis_517, SarahKJames devoted both her icon and her signature to pimping the wonderful Msscribe:
Proud Co-Webmistress Of The Ms.Scribe Collected Works Website
SarahKJames's signature and icon
Featured Artist at The Ms.Scribe Collected Works Website
Davis_517's signature and icon
Msscribe, her three fangirls, and her friend Babygrrl had good grammar and spelling and a certain sophistication that stood out at Portkey. As Msscribe put it, she and Babygrrl were "sort of the portkey 'grownups,'" and they quickly became very popular there. But after conquering the provinces, they moved on to the capital:
February 2003 - Msscribe Moves to Live Journal
msscribe started her LJ on February 21, 2003. She linked to it from Portkey, and also from FictionAlley, where she had posted an edited R-rated version of her fic "Requital" on Dec. 31, 2002, the day after she made her intro post at Portkey. She hardly posted at FA except to list her fic in the various recommendation threads, which is why I have concentrated on Portkey so far. Msscribe's faithful fangirls followed her to LJ:clarabella21 on March 5, 2003 and sarahkjames on April 11, 2003. They also followed her to FictionAlley: Clarabella joined on January 15, 2003 and SarahKJames on Feb. 3, 2003.
Go ahead, read all their posts, both on FA and on LJ. It won't take you long, they only made a few and they're all short. And they're virtually all about Msscribe and how wonderful she is. They pimp her, her fics, and the website they made about her. Or rather, websites, because SarakKJames's Geocities site (now gone, see here instead) is devoted to smutty fanart by "Julie Davis" (Davis_517 at Portkey) illustrating (and linking to) Msscribe's fics. They also created, promoted, and ran Msscribe's Yahoo discussion group (which never caught on).
Here's an example of the type of devotion these fangirls showed: On April 25, 2003, Msscribe made a moving post on her LJ about sexual assault (version downloaded June 6, 2003 visible here) -- an unsettling, disturbing story from when she was twelve years old.sarahkjames immediately joined three anti-rape communities and one lesbian community so that she could pimp this brilliance:
Msscribe's loyal fangirls made a big fuss when her birthday was coming up. Weirdly -- and most unfairly -- she never, in any year, mentioned either of their birthdays on her own LJ. But, perhaps that's not surprising, considering how confused they seem to be about when their birthdays are.
Unfortunately, in making the move from PK to FA to LJ, both Clarabella and SarahKJames seem to have suffered from severe memory loss. At Portkey on Dec. 31st, Clarabella said she was a 31-year-old literary editor with two children, living in New Jersey. Two months later, when she started her LJ (which she linked to from Portkey), she was a 19-year-old childless Rutgers university student (hey, at least the state is the same!). At FA, she describes her birthday as March 5th, but neither Msscribe nor SarahKJames ever wished her a happy birthday. :( SarahKJames listed her birthday as October 3 in her Fiction Alley profile and as July 3 in her Live Journal profile. Sadly, neither Msscribe nor her close friend Clarabella ever mentioned either of her two birthdays on their LJs.
Babygrrl also made an LJ at about this time, too, asinfinitus. She pimped it here on February 9, 2003. I think Babygrrl was a real person, even though she joined Portkey soon after Msscribe on January 13, 2003, mostly because she talked about things other than Msscribe, published four fics of her own, had friends other than Msscribe, etc. She even has an author page on ffn that doesn't mention Msscribe at all! infinitus deleted her LJ in late May 2003 when things got hot for Msscribe and as far as I know was never seen in the fandom again, so maybe it doesn't matter.
Msscribe started her LJ on February 21, 2003. Here is her first post (as downloaded on June 6, 2003):
from a Wayback Machine capture, early 2004
Her second post introduced two themes that would be prominent in the early months of her LJ -- her adorable daughter, and persecution from malevolent people who will constantly send her nasty emails:
On February 26, Msscribe related her real-life encounter with a homophobic Nutty Christian in her delightful "Baby Dykes and Luxury/Budget Motels" post (this post has now been reopened to the public -- but here is a copy downloaded June 6, 2003 in case the post is locked again). This is one of the most delightful stories I've ever read on LJ. Msscribe tells how she got a phone call from her daughter's daycare -- another mother is complaining because she caught her 17-month-old daughter kissing Msscribe's 18-month-old daughter. Msscribe convulsed the daycare lady with her witty responses:
This adorable post got the newbie Msscribe a lot of attention and her friended-by list jumped from about 5 people to 20-something (see her Joule here). On March 3, she posted "My Dumb Ass Letter To Cassandra Claire". I highly recommend you click on this downloaded copy and read the post and its comments. It has all the classic Msscribe elements -- profuse praise of Cassandra Claire, hilarious stories about her chaotic homelife, not-so-subtle references to her upscale lifestyle, a bit of free-spirited raunchiness, and -- most of all -- inexplicable constant attacks from anonymous hostile trolls. Msscribe received far more flames in her first three months in the fandom than most people receive in their entire fandom lives. And she was an innocent and inoffensive newbie writer of pleasantly spicy het stories. It's a strange world. Anyway, she received the following two anonymous comments for daring to praise Cassandra Claire:
This communication got Msscribe a bit more attention and won her a few more LJ friends, but nothing special. She must have originally used an icon in this or another recent post with a picture of herself, because her next post (downloaded here) poetically expressed her hurt and anger at the nasty emails she said she had received insulting her appearance:
Then Msscribe had her terrible hospital experience, as mentioned in the Portkey section.clarabella21 reported that Msscribe was unconscious in the hospital both on her live journal and at Portkey on the afternoon of March 21st. About three hours later, she reported that Msscribe was awake, and the next day that she was better, with some weakness on her right side, and demanding her laptop:
Later that same day, March 22, Clarabella reported that Msscribe had posted from her laptop:
A very frightening episode, unless you believe as I do that "Clarabella" is an imaginary person, a sockpuppet of Msscribe's, and then it becomes not so much a frightening episode as a transparent ploy to gain attention and sympathy.
March 2003 - MsScribe and Fermatojam
On the day she got back from the hospital, March 25, Msscribe posted about some of her favorite fanfics (downloaded copy here), praisingepicyclical, liss1224, and nmalfoy. clarabella21 had also posted a list of her favorite fic-writers a week earlier, which can be seen here:
The next day, March 26, Fermatojam created his LJ (all Fermatojam downloads originally captured and publicly posted byanatsuno, then downloaded by me from Google cache). In his userinfo, he listed his birthdate as September 12, 1971 and this was his bio:
The problem, of course, when you're a nutty fundamentalist Christian who has just made a Live Journal and set out to reform the fandom, is... how to get noticed? Butfermatojam was not at a loss. He commented to the two most important people in the fandom, Cassandra Claire and -- ten minutes later -- Msscribe, knowing that they would bring him the publicity he needed. His comment to Cassandra Claire read:
Meanwhile, anyone who followed Fermatojam back to his LJ from Cassandra Claire's would find this post about her:
The result of all this, of course, was that everybody wanted to be on the Big Name Sinner's list, everybody had a FANTASTIC time baiting the troll (like this), everybody who was lucky enough to be on the Big Name Sinners list friended everybody else on the list (a movement started by Infinitus), and they all proudly sported icons like this one:
snagged frompurebloodgryff, created by queerasjohn/folk
Msscribe went from about 20 friends-of to about 40 in a single day. Here and here are some posts byqueerasjohn, captured by the Wayback Machine, showing how many people were lucky enough to get added to the Big Name Sinners list, and how entertaining the whole thing was. At first, all the smart people on LJ and in the Fandom_Wank discussion were saying "this has GOT to be a sockpuppet" but soon everyone was having so much fun that all thoughts of sockpuppets were forgotten.
But of course -- in my opinion -- Fermatojam was a sockpuppet. Msscribe's sockpuppet. Fermatojam was set up to be a butt for humor. He constantly said stupid things, walking right into the punchline of jokes. He railed at Cassandra Claire in the most flattering way possible ("captivating writing style"). He catered to fandom members' desire to be "Big Name Fans" by calling them "Big Name Sinners." He forged Msscribe and her chosen most-admired fic writers into a tightly-knit group defending themselves and their online activities against a loathsome (but hilarious) attacker. The plan was that Cassandra Claire and the others on the list would become aware of Msscribe, would friend her, and would read the fulsome praise she had written about them and their fics only a few days earlier. I believe that the Big Name Sinners list was no more and no less than a list of people Msscribe admired and hoped to become friends with. If so, it worked perfectly.
After she got the fandom's attention, Msscribe let it be known that this Fermatojam person had been stalking and flaming her for two months (or, in other words, nearly as long as she had been in the fandom). She posted this cryptic post the next day:
Presumably this is supposed to be Fermatojam's telephone number -- the number for the University of Dayton, where she will later say he is from, is 937-229-1000. The message seems to be that Msscribe has stayed up all night and successfully traced her stalker's identity. Here is one of the comments:
ari_o, who was in charge of security at Nimbus. Msscribe replied:
Oh, and somewhere in the midst of his railings, Fermatojam also claimed to be an H/G shipper and a member of GT. Why? I believe there was one reason for this and one reason alone: Cassandra Claire had been stalked by a guy from GT, so Msscribe was going to be stalked by a guy from GT too. In April, "Fermatojam" did actually join GT and apparently made two posts there, one asking who was going to Nimbus and one requesting recommendations of NC-17 H/G stories. He also apparently undeleted his journal on April 13, possibly to bring attention to the fact that he had posted at GT. Here is the Fandom_Wank report:
anatsuno, where were you?) but the first commenter at Fandom_Wank quotes part of his post:
queerasjohn's post, linked there, was lost to us when Queerasjohn deleted his journal. If I remember correctly, John pointed out that Fermatojam had written H/G "H/g" -- signifying a dominant/submissive relationship in some fandom circles -- and argued that, since no one corrected it, that must be the prevailing GT view. None of the GT admins who saw these posts recognized who Fermatojam was at this time, though I believe they realized who he was and banned him not too long after that.
About a week later, "Fermatojam" wrote an email to Imogen praising the site for its policy of keeping smut behind passwords and requesting access. Imogen, still oblivious to Fermatojam's fame in the fandom, replied politely to him and told him how to go about applying for the restricted section. All this will be important later. But for now, Fermatojam deleted his LJ and disappeared.
But the Nutty Christians would not leave Msscribe alone for long.
CHAPTER THREE - MSSCRIBE CONQUERS ALL
An Unauthorized Fandom Biography
Msscribe Enters the Fandom
January-March 2003 - Msscribe at Portkey
On November 21, 2002, an unknown newbie named "Msscribe" registered at FictionAlleyPark. She uploaded two short NC-17 H/Hr fics at Portkey.org on Dec. 19, 2002 and Dec. 28, 2002, and registered on the Portkey forums on Dec. 23, 2002. Finally, she introduced herself on the Portkey forums on December 30, 2002:
*Waves her hand in the air like a beauty queen*, Just hello.
I'm 29 (not quite, but getting used to saying it early!) I've got 12 weeks off from work. Wrote my last fic in between playing "chicken dance elmo" with my 17 month old daughter. Relatively new to the intoxicating world of fandom.
I live in Delaware , in the US, and I have an unhealthy attraction for Lucius Malfoy.
Immediately, Msscribe attracted her first fangirl:
"Clarabella_21" joined Portkey the next day, Dec. 31, 2002, and promptly posted on Msscribe's intro thread, claiming to be 31 years old, with two kids, and to not know Msscribe but to be a huge fan of her fic (which had been first posted just three days earlier):
I love your writing. Worship it. I predict you will fly through the ranks of fandom after "Requital". Please update. Please. I'm 31, 2 kids, living in New Jersey ( Are you close to me?? Can I take you for lunch?!!) *sigh*and
Clara.
I hope I didn't freak you out or anything. I loved the last chapter. I'm going to review it now. The thing that ate Goyle scared the crap out of me! This going to be spooky. Gotta put the tykes to bed so better run.
In another post the same day, Clarabella introduced herself as an associate editor for a literary magazine. In her time at Portkey.org, Clarabella did basically nothing but fangirl Msscribe (and her friend Babygrrl), make a website about Msscribe (website has recently disappeared, see screencaps here and here), report Msscribe's bravery during her hospitalization and frightening brush with death, and extol Msscribe's generosity (see this one, for instance). Her signature was about Msscribe:
"It is always an easy task to go from Earth to Hell, but not so easy to return." (Requital , by Msscribe)
Proud Co-Webmistress Of The Ms.Scribe Collected Works Website
Fangirl in Ms.Scribe / Babygrrl Harem
Even her freaking icon was about Msscribe:
You can see all 25 of Clarabella's posts from here.
Keep an eye on this "Clarabella" -- she will later be Msscribe's "nanny" who takes the fall when GT publishes IP evidence that Msscribe is a well-known fandom troll.
Msscribe only spent about three months posting regularly at Portkey.org, but her time there was extremely eventful. You can see all 73 of her posts from here. Besides her brush with death, she was plagiarized three separate times (once at snitchfiction.net, once at fanfiction.net, and once at hpfanfiction.nexcess.net), had a brief flame war with another apparent sockpuppet, davis_517/Julie Davis (who quickly converted to become another Msscribe fangirl), received abusive reviews flaming her for smuttiness and a tiny bit of playful femmeslash, and became close friends with another author named Babygrrl (
infinitus on LJ) whom I think was actually a real person. On Jan. 31, 2003, another apparent sockpuppet fangirl appeared who would later be important in the troll scandal, sarahkjames. In her fifteen posts at Portkey.org, SarahKJames did nothing but fangirl Msscribe and help Clarabella build a Msscribe website to surprise Msscribe with. Like Clarabella and Davis_517, SarahKJames devoted both her icon and her signature to pimping the wonderful Msscribe:SarahKJames's signature and icon
Featured Artist at The Ms.Scribe Collected Works Website
Davis_517's signature and icon
Msscribe, her three fangirls, and her friend Babygrrl had good grammar and spelling and a certain sophistication that stood out at Portkey. As Msscribe put it, she and Babygrrl were "sort of the portkey 'grownups,'" and they quickly became very popular there. But after conquering the provinces, they moved on to the capital:
February 2003 - Msscribe Moves to Live Journal
msscribe started her LJ on February 21, 2003. She linked to it from Portkey, and also from FictionAlley, where she had posted an edited R-rated version of her fic "Requital" on Dec. 31, 2002, the day after she made her intro post at Portkey. She hardly posted at FA except to list her fic in the various recommendation threads, which is why I have concentrated on Portkey so far. Msscribe's faithful fangirls followed her to LJ:
clarabella21 on March 5, 2003 and 
sarahkjames on April 11, 2003. They also followed her to FictionAlley: Clarabella joined on January 15, 2003 and SarahKJames on Feb. 3, 2003.Go ahead, read all their posts, both on FA and on LJ. It won't take you long, they only made a few and they're all short. And they're virtually all about Msscribe and how wonderful she is. They pimp her, her fics, and the website they made about her. Or rather, websites, because SarakKJames's Geocities site (now gone, see here instead) is devoted to smutty fanart by "Julie Davis" (Davis_517 at Portkey) illustrating (and linking to) Msscribe's fics. They also created, promoted, and ran Msscribe's Yahoo discussion group (which never caught on).
Here's an example of the type of devotion these fangirls showed: On April 25, 2003, Msscribe made a moving post on her LJ about sexual assault (version downloaded June 6, 2003 visible here) -- an unsettling, disturbing story from when she was twelve years old.
sarahkjames immediately joined three anti-rape communities and one lesbian community so that she could pimp this brilliance:Hello Everyoneand
Keeping in mind that it's Sexual Assault Awareness Month, I'd recommend people reading a very moving account by msscribe HERE. This post gave me the courage to join some support communities. It is important that survivors maintain visibility and get support from each other.
Sarah, new member and survivor.
I read this first thing this morning. It might have actually changed my life.and
Sarah, new member and survivor.
HelloAs far as I can find, Sarah never had an occasion to post or comment in any of these communities again. I'll bet all of you wish you had such hardworking, devoted fans -- and Msscribe got hers in her very first month in the fandom!
I'm joining support groups today, realizing that I have my own issues to deal with. One day I hope to be eloquent enough to tell my story. I read this first thing this morning. It might have actually changed my life.
Sarah, new member and survivor.
Msscribe's loyal fangirls made a big fuss when her birthday was coming up. Weirdly -- and most unfairly -- she never, in any year, mentioned either of their birthdays on her own LJ. But, perhaps that's not surprising, considering how confused they seem to be about when their birthdays are.
Unfortunately, in making the move from PK to FA to LJ, both Clarabella and SarahKJames seem to have suffered from severe memory loss. At Portkey on Dec. 31st, Clarabella said she was a 31-year-old literary editor with two children, living in New Jersey. Two months later, when she started her LJ (which she linked to from Portkey), she was a 19-year-old childless Rutgers university student (hey, at least the state is the same!). At FA, she describes her birthday as March 5th, but neither Msscribe nor SarahKJames ever wished her a happy birthday. :( SarahKJames listed her birthday as October 3 in her Fiction Alley profile and as July 3 in her Live Journal profile. Sadly, neither Msscribe nor her close friend Clarabella ever mentioned either of her two birthdays on their LJs.
Babygrrl also made an LJ at about this time, too, as
infinitus. She pimped it here on February 9, 2003. I think Babygrrl was a real person, even though she joined Portkey soon after Msscribe on January 13, 2003, mostly because she talked about things other than Msscribe, published four fics of her own, had friends other than Msscribe, etc. She even has an author page on ffn that doesn't mention Msscribe at all! infinitus deleted her LJ in late May 2003 when things got hot for Msscribe and as far as I know was never seen in the fandom again, so maybe it doesn't matter. Msscribe started her LJ on February 21, 2003. Here is her first post (as downloaded on June 6, 2003):
My First EntryShe soon fixed up her graphics to look like this, and the red lips and the high-heeled foot remained fandom trademarks of hers for years:
At the suggestion of a few very pushy people. LOL. I have started a journal. Well, today I was floored to discover that someone who enjoyed reading my fics has created a website for me. I'm so flattered I can hardly breathe! You Can Find It Here
Well, after an hour of cleaning the house, I discovered my next door neighbor standing outside of his home in his underwear, locked out. So, being the helpful lady that I am, I loaned him some of my husbands pants until his wife came home to rescue him. It really does happen people. I wouldn't have believed it before, but it really does happen...
Well, I think I'll keep it short and sweet my first time. (Those of who who know me well are laughing at that last line.)
from a Wayback Machine capture, early 2004
Her second post introduced two themes that would be prominent in the early months of her LJ -- her adorable daughter, and persecution from malevolent people who will constantly send her nasty emails:
Sunday...all freakin' day long
Why so miserable on Sunday you ask? Well, my toddler decides to wake me up at 5:00am (that's right, there was no type-o) and STAY AWAKE. So here I am now, at 7:30 am, watching the Damn Teletubbies.
And with no coffee in the house.
...
Also, on another note I got a nasty email from that chick who plagiarized me. JILL HARTMON. Not withholding names here... who tells me that she didn't appreciate my "Caramel Bunny" reference in my fics. My response was simply..."This concerns me because???" Wench.
But I'm over it...really.
On February 26, Msscribe related her real-life encounter with a homophobic Nutty Christian in her delightful "Baby Dykes and Luxury/Budget Motels" post (this post has now been reopened to the public -- but here is a copy downloaded June 6, 2003 in case the post is locked again). This is one of the most delightful stories I've ever read on LJ. Msscribe tells how she got a phone call from her daughter's daycare -- another mother is complaining because she caught her 17-month-old daughter kissing Msscribe's 18-month-old daughter. Msscribe convulsed the daycare lady with her witty responses:
...But anyhow, this lady starts tearing up, looking towards me for empathy, and tells me her daughter has been kissing a lot of girls on the mouth and that she's worried she might be gay.After a couple more exchanges of this type, the other mother stomps away in outrage:
So I say (sympathetic person that I am) "Well, your daughter might be Gay, but I think Elise is just experimenting..."
Daycare lady chokes back laughter.
Then; "Does she go for the blue crayon instead of the pink one?"
Daycare lady almost in tears
...Then she gets up, goes out the door and drives away in her classic cadillac with the bumper sticker on the back that says "Seek Salvation". Tacky. I hate bumper stickers on luxury cars.Isn't that cute? My only problem with it is that I highly doubt it really happened. In my experience, silly bigoted Christians don't set me up with straight lines like that, and -- even if they did -- I'm not quick-witted enough to take advantage of them and send people into gales of laughter. But, anyway, it makes a terrific story.
This adorable post got the newbie Msscribe a lot of attention and her friended-by list jumped from about 5 people to 20-something (see her Joule here). On March 3, she posted "My Dumb Ass Letter To Cassandra Claire". I highly recommend you click on this downloaded copy and read the post and its comments. It has all the classic Msscribe elements -- profuse praise of Cassandra Claire, hilarious stories about her chaotic homelife, not-so-subtle references to her upscale lifestyle, a bit of free-spirited raunchiness, and -- most of all -- inexplicable constant attacks from anonymous hostile trolls. Msscribe received far more flames in her first three months in the fandom than most people receive in their entire fandom lives. And she was an innocent and inoffensive newbie writer of pleasantly spicy het stories. It's a strange world. Anyway, she received the following two anonymous comments for daring to praise Cassandra Claire:
Yeah, you would fucking like it. You all think it's fun to talk about how great you all are and all of you can suck my dick with your homo shit. Msscribe was my favorite writer until I found out she wrote some sick ron/ginny shit and liked that bitch cassie's story. fuck off.and
Hated itFermatojam, I presume? In her next post (download here), Msscribe said she had received ten more nasty emails:
I'm taking you off my fav authors list. I thought you were H/Hr and your not and your just like Cassie and her homo loving friends.
...On March 16, 2003, she posted "Explaining My Literary Libido" (downloaded version here), her philosophy on how Smut Is Empowering For Women, and was fortunate enough to receive an anonymous comment from an abused Muslim woman in Pakistan, who had found Msscribe's fiction and her Live Journal, and been inspired by it:
Now let there be peace on earth, and it will begin with me. Because the person who has been sending me hate mail for writing a positive review of Cass's DD can kiss my irreverent ARSE. I got 10 nasty emails about DD not being H/Hr and I have to say I could give a shit. How's that? Good enough for ya? And that's all I will speak on it tonight, because my Toddler is in need of a playmate.
please excuse englishand
I live in pakistan and my husband is very dominant but I come to this place to escape. I read you and cassie and lissane and babygrrl and cadey to escape the reality i deal with. I get beat regularly but here I am powered. When I read your story taking him, i cry because i understand what happening. I understand what feel like to be hurt in that way and this fantasy help me deal with it. It wasn't porn at all it was powerful and my husband do bite me to hurt me and he do hit me but i can escape here. He let me read harry potter and this stuff because he don't know about the sexy stories but i find myself through all of you strong women. He can never have all of me and i stay with him because of duty to family and duty to children but he can never take all of me. my mind is strong even if my body is not and i want to thank you for writing story like you do and understanding women like me and why it make us feel strong to know women can use strong words.
You already help me becaus you my voice. More women speak their mind than more feel free to. Ive lived a long time and will be fine but I just wanted to be heard and because of things like this i can. Please keep writing and I read and enjoy and know that thing not the same everywhere and women are sexy and strong and everything else. I hope i make sense and sorry for bad writing.Very touching and inspiring, and if it's authentic, I'll... be very surprised.
This communication got Msscribe a bit more attention and won her a few more LJ friends, but nothing special. She must have originally used an icon in this or another recent post with a picture of herself, because her next post (downloaded here) poetically expressed her hurt and anger at the nasty emails she said she had received insulting her appearance:
To everyone else who used to be ugly.As you can probably imagine, Msscribe received quite a few comments complimenting her poem and her appearance, and expressing indignation at the person or people who had emailed to insult her.
I thought about taking my picture down ,
when I realized it became just another thing to be judged by.
Got an email from a man saying I wasn't what he expected.
What was it he expected?
I made no claims of being a supermodel ,
wouldn't even want to be one.
I'm too damn proud of these hips that require a certain amount of wiggle room,
Too damn proud of this thick hair that takes an hour to tame ,
And these blue green eyes that reflect ancestors brave enough to cross color lines,
even way back before colored people could vote,
-or watch Oprah for advice.
...
I thought about taking the picture down,
After the anonymous emailer told me my mouth was a little too wide,
My lips painted too bright; said I should tone it down.
But then I thought about the many men who have kissed me over the years, and told me I tasted like sugar, vanilla, and rain.
-told me that kissing me was like being saved; being baptized on a joyful Sunday afternoon.
Then Msscribe had her terrible hospital experience, as mentioned in the Portkey section.
clarabella21 reported that Msscribe was unconscious in the hospital both on her live journal and at Portkey on the afternoon of March 21st. About three hours later, she reported that Msscribe was awake, and the next day that she was better, with some weakness on her right side, and demanding her laptop:msscribe had acute vasogenic edema , a small amount of fluid build up which thankfully has only so far left her with some weakness on her right side. They moved her out of ICU, but are still keeping her for monitoring. I mainly stayed out in the lobby with her little girl, who is the cutest baby in the entire world, but when I finally got to see her, she was complaining about the fact that her husband refused to go home and get her laptop. LOL.
Later that same day, March 22, Clarabella reported that Msscribe had posted from her laptop:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/msscriIndeed, there are posts on Msscribe's calendar on both March 22 and March 23, but both had already been hidden by June 6, and I don't know what they said. Msscribe also posted at Portkey on March 25 to say that she was home and "on the long road to recovery."be/
Her husband took pity on her and brought her the laptop. She just posted. I am very relieved but I hope she LISTENS to her doctor and gets plenty of rest.
A very frightening episode, unless you believe as I do that "Clarabella" is an imaginary person, a sockpuppet of Msscribe's, and then it becomes not so much a frightening episode as a transparent ploy to gain attention and sympathy.
March 2003 - MsScribe and Fermatojam
On the day she got back from the hospital, March 25, Msscribe posted about some of her favorite fanfics (downloaded copy here), praising
epicyclical, liss1224, and nmalfoy. clarabella21 had also posted a list of her favorite fic-writers a week earlier, which can be seen here:My favorite authors include (but are not limited to) msscribe,
The next day, March 26, Fermatojam created his LJ (all Fermatojam downloads originally captured and publicly posted by
anatsuno, then downloaded by me from Google cache). In his userinfo, he listed his birthdate as September 12, 1971 and this was his bio:I will speak my mind and resistence is futile. I am FED UP with this snotty ass Harry Potter Fandom. I have much to say.This was his first post:
Manifesto
I'm here because someone was foolish enough to give me a livejournal code. You should never give codes to people you barely know. I'm a Christian. I love Jesus, God and all things in his name. I also love Harry Potter. I will post later why I feel the two can go hand in hand.
I'm here because Harry Potter Fandom isn't for the meek. It's a sick disgusting place and I think it's my job to help clean out the crap that has made it what it is.
I used to enjoy reading Harry Potter Fanfiction. That was until THEY took over. I mean the perverts, the disgusting slashers and purveyors of pornography and smut lovers. They took my favorite characters, Harry, Hermione and Ron and made them do horrible things that poor JK Rowling must cringe at. They are anti- American. They are hurting all of fandom. They MUST be exposed.
If you are young, please don't read my journal. But I am introducing a different voice in this fandom. It has been dominated by THEM long enough.
The problem, of course, when you're a nutty fundamentalist Christian who has just made a Live Journal and set out to reform the fandom, is... how to get noticed? But
fermatojam was not at a loss. He commented to the two most important people in the fandom, Cassandra Claire and -- ten minutes later -- Msscribe, knowing that they would bring him the publicity he needed. His comment to Cassandra Claire read:2 Samuel 12: 9: Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil in his sight?Msscribe's comment was on the same post where she talked about her favorite fanfics, and was more than vaguely threatening:
Heed my warning:
Rev.2: 14: But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.
15: So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate.
16: Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.
Rev.2: 20: Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.
21: And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not.
22: Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds.
23: And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works.
For you Will Surely DieMsscribe's response to Fermatojam was startling:
So heed God's word now. I read last week that God sent you a message, he gave you a new chance at life. Heed this warning and stop the peddaling of smut. Decadent, depraved, degenerate and debauched Woman, having bought the lie that It's OK to be sinful, has thereby changed the truth of God into a lie, and now worships and serves the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen! Rom. 1:25. But the Word of God abides. Better to be a eunuch if the will of God be so, and make sure of Heaven. Mat. 19:12. Better to be blind or lame, than to be cast into Hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched. Mk. 9:43-48.
Abstain from this behavior. Save yourself before you meet your end.
I can't tell you how much this hurt me. I know who you are. I know that it was you who hacked my computer this afternoon. I also remember your name. I don't know what you think you are doing but:The plot thickens!
#1. Please don't ever contact me in any shape or form again
#2. I've called the police and my husband is seriously considering persuing slander charges against you for calling me a pedophile. I never got yo see your LJ, and I only hope you are getting this but I suggest you leave well enough alone before further action is taken.
Meanwhile, anyone who followed Fermatojam back to his LJ from Cassandra Claire's would find this post about her:
Cassandra Claire - You are First!Later that same day, Fermatojam released what was to become one of the biggest hits of the fandom -- his Big Name Sinners list -- naming writers of disgusting smut. This list had the same people Msscribe (and Clarabella and the anonymous Pakistani woman) had mentioned as their favorites, plus Msscribe and her friend Infinitus:
She has infected us with her captivating writing style and sucked innocents into her sick world.
Cassie Claire is anti- Potter. It is because of vile people like her that people like me are afraid to raise their voices in this fandom. But she is only the beginning. She is simply at the top of my list. I will pray for you and may God forgive you for the things you've written and the evil that you have spread.
Don't you realize that impressionable teenagers read your livejournal? Some even WANT to write like you.
I've been lurking for a while, gathering evidence against you. The convention is coming and I will be there to greet all of you. I will hopefully manage to save your souls.
Praying for you.
This is only a start.Fermatojam seemed to quickly sense that his audience was more incensed by attacks on "HOMOSEXUALITY for goodness sake" than anything else, and he quickly focused on that angle, cutting and pasting bits of rhetoric from anti-homosexuality websites on the internet (as could easily be determined by Googling excerpts from them). He also added some -- but not nearly all -- of the people who boasted of their sinfulness and begged to be added to the Big Name Sinner's list.
Are promoters of Homosexuality (including with minors), pedophilia, and smut. We need good decent readers of the Harry Potter books to stand up for themselves. We will take this fandom back. I urge you NOT to join my friends list unless you are willing to be attacked by "fans" of these filfthy people. But if you do, I will stand by your side.
I am going to Nimbus 2003, and they will have to look me in the eye.
The result of all this, of course, was that everybody wanted to be on the Big Name Sinner's list, everybody had a FANTASTIC time baiting the troll (like this), everybody who was lucky enough to be on the Big Name Sinners list friended everybody else on the list (a movement started by Infinitus), and they all proudly sported icons like this one:
snagged from
purebloodgryff, created by queerasjohn/folkMsscribe went from about 20 friends-of to about 40 in a single day. Here and here are some posts by
queerasjohn, captured by the Wayback Machine, showing how many people were lucky enough to get added to the Big Name Sinners list, and how entertaining the whole thing was. At first, all the smart people on LJ and in the Fandom_Wank discussion were saying "this has GOT to be a sockpuppet" but soon everyone was having so much fun that all thoughts of sockpuppets were forgotten. But of course -- in my opinion -- Fermatojam was a sockpuppet. Msscribe's sockpuppet. Fermatojam was set up to be a butt for humor. He constantly said stupid things, walking right into the punchline of jokes. He railed at Cassandra Claire in the most flattering way possible ("captivating writing style"). He catered to fandom members' desire to be "Big Name Fans" by calling them "Big Name Sinners." He forged Msscribe and her chosen most-admired fic writers into a tightly-knit group defending themselves and their online activities against a loathsome (but hilarious) attacker. The plan was that Cassandra Claire and the others on the list would become aware of Msscribe, would friend her, and would read the fulsome praise she had written about them and their fics only a few days earlier. I believe that the Big Name Sinners list was no more and no less than a list of people Msscribe admired and hoped to become friends with. If so, it worked perfectly.
After she got the fandom's attention, Msscribe let it be known that this Fermatojam person had been stalking and flaming her for two months (or, in other words, nearly as long as she had been in the fandom). She posted this cryptic post the next day:
To You Know Who.
Lack of Sleep. It was worth it. 937-229-134? EDITED: Because Hubby recommended I not be confrontational. But Will leave the top line up, as a reminder.
Presumably this is supposed to be Fermatojam's telephone number -- the number for the University of Dayton, where she will later say he is from, is 937-229-1000. The message seems to be that Msscribe has stayed up all night and successfully traced her stalker's identity. Here is one of the comments:
libbie,I believe this was
if you have the ip address would you please email it to me. as nimbus security girl - I'd like to know.
I did some research. Anaything anyone knows would be very helpful.
Thanks.
katie
ari_o, who was in charge of security at Nimbus. Msscribe replied:131.238.219.113 U of Dayton was the originating IP. Linked on to a dozen people who use proxy servers? (I think that's right) I'll email you the name we have.This IP does trace to the University of Dayton.
Oh, and somewhere in the midst of his railings, Fermatojam also claimed to be an H/G shipper and a member of GT. Why? I believe there was one reason for this and one reason alone: Cassandra Claire had been stalked by a guy from GT, so Msscribe was going to be stalked by a guy from GT too. In April, "Fermatojam" did actually join GT and apparently made two posts there, one asking who was going to Nimbus and one requesting recommendations of NC-17 H/G stories. He also apparently undeleted his journal on April 13, possibly to bring attention to the fact that he had posted at GT. Here is the Fandom_Wank report:
He's baaack!I can't find any screencaps of this incarnation of Fermatojam's LJ (
Remember fermatojam? He's back. No wank yet, just a few snivelly, psuedo-apologies, but it's only a matter of time, I'm sure.
anatsuno, where were you?) but the first commenter at Fandom_Wank quotes part of his post:"I know now that you don't hate me because you stopped your husband from pressing charges ..."According to the other comments, Killiganhashope (whom we will meet in the next chapter) commented on this post. Apparently something sent fandom member and particular Fermatojam-baiting enthusiast Queerasjohn over to GT, where he found the two posts Fermatojam had made and posted about them, because this Fandom_Wank report appeared on April 15:
Bride of the WankUnfortunately,
Just when you thought he/she/it was gone, our favorite fundie
queerasjohn's post, linked there, was lost to us when Queerasjohn deleted his journal. If I remember correctly, John pointed out that Fermatojam had written H/G "H/g" -- signifying a dominant/submissive relationship in some fandom circles -- and argued that, since no one corrected it, that must be the prevailing GT view. None of the GT admins who saw these posts recognized who Fermatojam was at this time, though I believe they realized who he was and banned him not too long after that.About a week later, "Fermatojam" wrote an email to Imogen praising the site for its policy of keeping smut behind passwords and requesting access. Imogen, still oblivious to Fermatojam's fame in the fandom, replied politely to him and told him how to go about applying for the restricted section. All this will be important later. But for now, Fermatojam deleted his LJ and disappeared.
But the Nutty Christians would not leave Msscribe alone for long.
