General Fandom Meta

emmagrant01 - In defense of smut - So here's my manifesto: I like writing sex. It's an important part of human relationships, you know? And to be perfectly honest, it's the part I find most interesting. Sex is interesting for many reasons, but not least of which is that it's common. We've all had sex. We all have had good sex. We all have had bad sex, and we've all had sex in between. We all know what role sex has played in our own relationships, and we can relate to people through those relationships. Some folks just don't find it that interesting, and that's fine -- unless they look down on those of us who do. Then I have an issue.

carodee - My Ramblings on Concrit and Free Speech - So... there was a kerfuffle on a gift fic exchange comm I belong to and I missed it as it was happening. [...] Someone posted concrit as FB on a gift fic and a shitstorm came down on them and apparently the community mod. //I've been thinking about this topic a while now. There are people who feel they should have the right to say anything they want and there are people who think other people's feelings must be taken into account. A lot of times those positions are polarized to the point they have no common ground.

791point43 - [untitled] - The rest of the world LJ may have been talking about fandom and feminism and feminism in fandom, but I've spent the past week reading about soap opera fans. // Interesting how we don't really seem to allow or acknowledge soap opera fandom within what is either already is, or is well on the way to becoming, "Fandom Studies".

lotesseflower - Fandom, Feminism, and Socialization - I've been trying to understand why feminist critique, both in fandom and outside of it, has such potential to cause me pain. Because I know that it's necessary, god above I do, and I wouldn't banish it for the world. But I do get that sinking, painful, want-to-look-away-now feeling, and I'm not sure that I like it.

justacat - [untitled]> - It's simple: I'm in favor of nice. I was going to say I'm proudly, unashamedly in favor of nice, but that's not entirely true, though I want it to be. People talk all the time about the "cult of nice" as if it's a bad thing, and I have felt kind of embarrassed by believing in it, apologizing for my pollyanna-ish-ness and for the seeming triteness of saying "why can't we all just get along?", reluctant to admit that that is how I feel. But I think I've gotten tired of apologizing. What is there to be ashamed of, after all, in wanting people in this community I love so much to be polite, to be nice, in wanting us to get along, to focus on what draws us together and remember that we are all fans?

worldserpent - Mess o'meta - Perhaps this does make me a mean and heartless "blame-the-victim" person, but I kind of think of people who post to "do you hate me?" anon memes as taping a "kick me if you wanna" sign to their posteriors. Since it's voluntary, and they knew this could happen, why pity them all that much? I read this post on why people are mean, and came away confused. It's really about why people are mean to those who don't seem to deserve it on these anon memes. People are mean on these memes because it's socially permissible.

trinityofone - Essay: Why We Slash - Sixty-one thousand, two hundred and fifty-two. Since entering the Stargate: Atlantis fandom in August of this year, that is the number of words I have written in order to make the show’s two male protagonists, Lieutenant Colonel John Sheppard and Doctor Rodney McKay, come together. I was going to say—it would be simpler to say—“have sex,” but over the course of those 17 stories and 61,252 words1, sex does not always occur, and is not, I would like to think, the primary objective. But if slash is not just about sex—not just about the “huge rutting jizz-drenched scrum[s]” that Poppy Z. Brite decries2—then we must consider other explanations for its popularity and proliferation. Why am I writing and reading slash, and why are so many other women doing the same?

damned_colonial - Self-insertion - I can't speak for everyone, obviously, but I hereby declare that the next person to say in my presence that women like slash because "hey, two hot guys are better than one, fnarf fnarf" as if I'm that creepy hat guy in the bad porno? They will be sneered at.

aubrem - Expectation and Responsibility in Fandom. Part One: Infrastructure - The closure of Detention has got me to thinking. Wank aside, there are real principles at issue which are balanced enough that reasonable people can disagree. As I've posted before, I think of fandom as a complex human society, a City-State of sorts. A major part of this society is the infrastructure - archives, communities, fests and the like. I believe that those who build and maintain fandom infrastructure have some obligation to the rest of fandom.

thelastgoodname - On Manners, or, How Fandom is a Rude Place - So there was this post here (where two types of people in fandom are identified: those who are mean to other people to their face, and those who hide it better [...], and then, as so often happens, it got wanked // The wank proves the point: common standards of civil discourse do not, in fact, pervade online fandom to any great extent. We do not takes pains to engage each other politely, with dignity, or with a modicum of civility. In fact, we very often do the opposite.

snegurochka_lee - Thought on exchange fic reception - I was scrolling through [info]themostepotente's Get It Off Your Chest Fest, and saw this comment that knifed my icy heart: My smutmas fic went over like a ton of wet bricks. *sigh* [...] Do a lot of people participating in holiday exchanges this year feel this way?

kerryblaze - Nice Girls vs. Mean Girls - a comment the original poster made sparked a lot of debate. Nice girls… They confine snarkiness to private spaces, like IM. // The statement was pretty vague and it was construed by meaning they talk behind people's backs. I don't think that is necessarily always the case. // I'll give an example of things that I have done. // Friend: Did you read xxx? // Me: Yes // Friend: Worth it? // Me: I didn't like it. I thought xxx character was OC. It was too long and the ending didn't pay off enough.

nos4a2no9 in fanthropology - "How many rounds of Uranian Megasex would it take before she surrendered the alloy?" - There's something strange afoot at thecolbertnation.com. It's designed as a fan site for The Colbert Report on Comedy Central, complete with a bio, Stephen Sightings, a letter of endorsement from Stephen [...] and fan fiction. It's the fan fiction that seems the most interesting, since it's clearly written by Comedy Central staff writers or those connected to the Report. It's hilarious, of course, but it also hews very closely to the real-person fic I've seen. //[,,,] This seems to represent a new stage in the evolution of fandom. Sure, it's put up as parody, but I can't escape the uncomfortable conclusion that it's not. Someone help me out: how would you articulate this sort of cross-pollination between a media product and its own fanbase?

Fandom-Specific Meta

kethylia - Well, he says it better than I ever did, doesn't he! XD - According to Jack Zipes, general editor of the new Norton's Anthology of Children's Literature, the Harry Potter books are "are very conventional and mediocre." In addition, he points shrewdly out that they are ""the ideological champions of patriarchal society. They celebrate the magical powers of a boy, with a girl - Hermione - cheerleading him. You can predict the outcome." // No. Shit. [...] What makes Harry Potter especially repulsive is that it was created by a woman, which means, in writing these books, that she is complicit in her own oppression.

On Writing/Editing

celisnebula - The Bitching Beta - There are days when I literally feel like I’m beating my head against the wall when I do a voluntary edit for someone. This is probably why I only beta for two people in the Harry Potter fandom and only one in the X-file fandom. Yet, glutton for punishment that I am, I occasionally will take on a newer erotic author from the forums over at Literotica. [...] // When someone asks me to be a voluntary editor (beta), I take that job very seriously.

beccastareyes in fanficrants - Inside Jokes, Audience, and Science Fiction - Inside jokes are generally seen as the bane of fanfiction (okay, one of the banes). But, it is possible to do them well -- if you remember two basic principles:
1) The setup of the joke works, even if the audience is ignorant of the joke itself
2) There should be a sizable percentage of people who should get the joke.
1 is nigh-absolute. 2 is debatable, but a good idea.

Miscellany

stoney321 - Pandora's Box opened and more Helpful Tips on Communicating Thru the Holidays - The Do's and Don't's of Talking with 'People' // A person approaches you and "speaks," using "vocalized words" to discern current activities in your life - it's almost as if they haven't been keeping up with your blog. What do you do?