General Meta

bop_radar - Nobody wants to be a BNF - I hadn't thought a lot about this before, because I had (naively, it seems) assumed that most BNFs set out to be BNFs, or at least at some stage stopped to reflect on their growing status and decided to continue in and embrace that role. While Hope describes the 'plight' of BNFs in extreme terms ('anybody who agrees with you is a minion', 'you must friend everybody who friends you, or you're an inaccessible elitist'), there's more than a grain of truth in these ideas--people DO have high expectations of those that they've ascribed BNF status to.

zgir1714 - Fuck the 'little people.' - When you express an opinion be prepared to defend it. You have to do it in real life and fandom is no different. If you really don't want to have to deal with the horde of some 'BNF' then just don't answer their comments. Just put a notice at the bottom of your post that you won't reply comments because you've said your peace. They will tired themselves out. People do have lives outside fandom that don't involve terrorizing the 'little people.'

liz_marcs - The Problem with Anonymous Memes - I admit that I'm interested by the psychology behind anonymous memes. There always seems to be an evolution to these things and the pattern repeats over and over, regardless of the subject or targets.

wemblee - moving on up - When do you want the fanfic you read to be "better than the source," however you define "better"?

ranalore - a little ditty about fandom - Fandom is a meritocracy. // The merit scale isn't always yours. In fact, usually it's not.

jadelennox - on fandom and anonymity - Anyone who thinks the "little people" in fandom are free to state our opinions and take our lumps just like the BNFs are is absolutely delusional.

fireball_says - Appropriate Choice of Music for this Post I Think - This is exactly what is most fun for me about both improv and role-playing: looking at the bigger picture. Aiming for something, not necessarily something concrete, not necessarily something static, but still something, a goal, however dynamic or fluid or elusive that goal is. And if there's no goal, then what's the point?

ratcreature - queer tv characters - but that ep made me wonder whether it is somehow easier to have lesbian/bisexual women appear as regular tv characters than gay/bisexual men (in not "specialized" programs, I don't mean things like QAF or L-Word and such, nor minor characters that are just there for one or two episodes for some coming out story or whatever).

fabu - Anonymity, ad nauseam - So please, I beg of you, someone explain to me what horrible thing would happen if Suzie SmallFan posted in her journal that she disagreed with Bev BigFan's take on canon or thought her stories were overrated. What awful thing would Bev do to Suzie? Why does Suzie have no other option except to post "I hate Bev and her ass-face!" on the latest fandom hate thread? If Suzie doesn't like Bev's take on canon and doesn't like her stories, why does she care if she pisses Bev off? Why doesn't Suzie post her ideas publicly and allow those who agree with her to friend her? (Then they can all create a community for fic that's the diametric opposite of Bev's and live happily ever after.)

phantomas - Thoughts on the HERO figure/archetype in TV series - The HERO shows bore me to death. It's all about ONE character. However many other characters he/she has around, the focus and burden of the story is on him/her. It's part and parcel of that structure, and there will NEVER be a HERO character allowed to fuck up and be reproached for it and suffer the consequences in a non-HERO way.

expositionary - META | Words vs. Stories - Words are wonderful and brilliant and really quite handy, but sometimes they get in my way when I'm trying to write

smittywing - Make Fic, Not War: Self-Contained Fandom or How LJ is a Winnebagao - Mailing lists were sort of like concert halls. // [...] LJ, though, is like Woodstock.

Miscellany/Polls

furiosity - Don't Like? Don't Read! A Tragedy in Five Acts. - DR GENTLE READER wanders onstage, clutching a thermal mug filled with a beverage that strongly suggests caffeine. She is carrying a shoulder tote filled with books, one of which happens to be HARVEY BLOTTER AND THE HALF-BAKED PIE. She notices the DESK in the far corner of the stage. On the DESK is a DELL INSPIRON NOTEBOOK with a WIRELESS CONNECTION, which is evidenced by an OMINOUS ORANGE LIGHT on the side of the NOTEBOOK.

ladysorka - Poll - We were talking in chat the other night about meta, and responses to meta - how if you work hard on a piece of meta, which a lot of us do, and then get very few responses to it, it can be slightly depressing, like you're talking to the world and nobody's listening. Not as bad as not getting many responses to your new baby of a fic, but still there. Which got us to thinking, and leads into a poll of curiosity.