General Fandom Meta

telesilla - Mind the Gap - I'm sure you can see my dilemma here. I like interesting characters and good character development and pornographic sex scenes. I'm sure we all know how common it is to find both in the same book in our average book stores. So yes, smutty fanfic is tailor made for people like me; in the hand of a good writer even a so-called PWP can involve characterizations. And if you get a good fic that looks at your favorite characters and then lets them have sex, well really, it's one of the best things ever.

morgandawn - I Love Fandom But..... - There will always be fandoms and lists and people who have a fundamentally different approach to participation and discussion in fandom. And where those differences interfere with my ability to have a discussion, I have to respect that we are incompatible and leave the room.

sherrold - [untitled] - but honestly, how many parts does a story have to have before you really wish the writer would publish a a file version? Hmm. Actually that's a good question for a poll

starrysummer - getting at my slash ennui - I'm not sure what exactly I want to say about the subversiveness of slash in society as a whole. To me, it's not that big a deal. What sticks out to me is that the second I turn on my computer and log into LJ, theres an entirely different mainstream at work. Two boys is great! Three boys is better. Het, meh. Femmeslash, who cares. Gen? Where's the porn.

r_becca - When does a standard scenario become a cliche? - So my question is -- when does a cliche become a cliche? And who gets to say when something is trite and overdone? Is it an overall community standard?

dorrie6 - "We are vulnerable both by water and land, without either fleet or army" - if leaving a comment on a fic says, "Your thoughts were worth my time, and I value having read them," leaving no comment on the fic, and instead commenting on someone else's icon says, "Your thoughts were not at all worth my time, but this person's icon is." It is, in fact, a clearer indication of your disinterest than leaving no comment at all, because it implies that you had the time to read both the fic and the comments, and that you even had the time to post a comment, but when it came right down to it, you found the icon more worthy. Ouch, right? Yeah.

morgan32 - Meta: Warnings on Fanfic Redux - Often, when this issue is debated, I've seen someone insist that no one is entitled to warnings/ratings/info on posted fiction. While I understand where that attitude is coming from, I'm no longer sure I agree. Certainly, the sense of entitlement in fandom is out of hand. Many people seem to confuse "I want" with "I am owed". But I do believe that adults are entitled to be treated as adults. That works both ways, of course.

amonitrate - This is Not a Pipe : on the treachery of canon (pt. 1) - A famous painting by the surrealist Rene Magritte consists of an image of a pipe above a sentance that declares Ceçi n'est pas une pipe, or "This is not a pipe." // [...] The painting in question is titled The Treachery Of Images (La trahison des images). I can't think of a more apt word for my experience of attempting to put a frame around canon. Treachery. // Canon is treacherous territory.

amonitrate - This is not a pipe (pt. 2) - I want to further analyze why canon can be problematic. If every fan approaches a text with a different background, mindset or bias - a set of conscious and unconscious "lenses" - is there any common ground to be found at all?

executrix - And Again With the Colors - And it occurred to me this morning that what makes something crack is not that odd things happen in the story--many people in the discussion mentioned that, for example, in HP turning into an animal isn't crack, it's central to canon. Whereas in Grey's Anatomy, it would be surprising at the very least. // So my point is that a crackfic is something that is the wrong "color" for the show, whereas an AU or AR is the right "color" even though of course Horatio Hornblower wasn't Giles' fourth-form Latin teacher.

sdraevn - Insomniac burbling. - For some reason, I found myself wondering if my favorite characters believe in god.

Fandom-Specific Meta ( cut for possible spoilers in Stargate: Atlantis )