regan_v - Meta: the most transient fan art of all? But my meta, and that of some others I see on my flist, is inextricably interwoven with the fandom of the moment. I rely on my reader's knowledge of at least some sorts of fanfiction, common tropes, in-jokes, fanon cliches, and the debates of the moment.

lord_dingsi - Found this in my "Meta / Current" folder... See, it's like this: I strongly dislike wank, 'ship wars, stupid slash-vs.-het flamewars and the like. But that's the social component; the behaviour among fans. For my mental health, I'd like it to be as friendly and calm as possible.*
But on the 'media discourse' level? Give me criticism, take canon apart, question authorial intent, I CAN TAKE IT. I'll probably even love it.

thelana - Metafandom made me think again If canonicity in a fanfic is not important then *why not write original fic*? And if you don't care about canonicity at all that implies to me that you *are* writing original fiction and just pasting on the names of somebody else's character. Again bringing us back to the idea of mooching off somebody else's popularity and somebody else's scenario.

brown_betty - Easily squicked Being bothered by stories about rape and torture doesn't mean someone is a wuss, it means they're a well adjusted human being. (Not being squicked by stories about rape and torture doesn't necessarily mean I'm not a well adjusted human being, (although I'm not, precisely) but that's a completely different topic.) Frankly, unless you're bothered by discussion of feet, or watching humans consume food, you're not "easily" squicked, you're just squicked.

lunacy - ahhh, gotta love stating the obvious This whole eternal politeness 'debate' is such a great example of this phenomenon, because as witchqueen said so well in the comments, basically we can't agree on what 'politeness' (or ANY given ethical/literary/etc construct) means from person to person, situation to situation.

marginaliana - It's a mystery even if the creators DO have a plan, they don't want to say "okay, the series is going to end after 3 seasons and I have exactly 3 seasons worth of plan and I'm sticking to it" because if it's really successful, they want to drag it out longer. Hell, the fans want it dragged out longer, too, because they've found something they enjoy. But then you end up with a product that's simply not as concise and held together as it could have been, and eventually the fans get disappointed.

cesperanza - Rec--and Insane Musings about Gender As a slasher, I sort of allow myself to get very physically into fanfiction when I read (in a way I don't in the typical novel or television show; I don't trust the authors the way I trust you guys, and so my response is more intellectual and self-protective), and for me, a woman who feels fairly well embattled in a structurally sexist world, to come to SGA, my happy fannish place, and read a story where I am, again, a character embattled in a structurally sexist world, set off a kind of claustrophobic attack that brought me almost to the point of insanity: I felt like I had escaped my prison only to tunnel into the cell next door, if you understand me; whatever Freudian transference or mapping allows me to engage gender and sexuality issues within slash was startlingly absent, and so the monster was, for me, undisguised, so it was a case of, "Monster! Monster! OMG, MONSTER!" and hitting the back button in a panic and like, ending up shaking and terrified and having nightmares for days after.

rikkisimons - RE: Essential Reading for Weekend Internet Critics Being a critic makes you a target and you are only more welcome than the IRS because of the hope of a good review — but even a good review isn't as fun as a tax return. I respect the right of critics to write reviews, but I cannot respect the plea against recrimination when the author thinks they've been short-changed.

worldserpent - More Black Lagoon, on reviewing Is it just me, or does this article on responding to reviews totally miss the point? The point of the original post was not that critics are good or that you shouldn't criticize them, but that it's in the interest of the artist not to respond. It's not that the critic has some kind of right to receive a professional reaction. The thing is, since you are personally invested in your work, 9/10 people are not going to take your defenses of it seriously.