Meta Roundup

yourlibrarian: Hey, you've got your canon in my fanfic!: "So in the rare cases where it actually does happen, I find it disconcerting to see canon following fic. And I'm not entirely sure I like it." (spoilers for the Buffy comic issue #12)

caithyra (in fanficrants): I would like a moment of silence for Canon... Also, childish=/=sexy: "But maybe it's only me that doesn't find it sexy when the man in the relationship is the strong, smart, wise, powerful, domineering, alpha, saviour one and the woman is the weak, protected, whiny, childish, in denial, beta and not knowing her own feelings and wishes one." (spoilers for Naruto & Inuyasha, as the post deals with character development)

madlodger_007 (in fandom_how_to) has a poll on IP-logging and whether it influences commenting.

On InsaneJournal's code update:
squeaky is asking for your input here, mainly on whether the update should be pushed out asap (with major bug fixes done, but there will be some errors and bug fixing work on the live site) or first finish it completely (which would also include notifications).

Attention: because the following entries deal with a) character development or b) themes of a series over the course of all Seasons, there'll be SPOILERS.

[Supernatural] musesfool: dear mr. kripke and crew: "I'm not giving up the show - I love Sam and Dean too much, so I bear all of this and cringe, trying to remedy it for myself via fanfiction - but you are definitely on notice. I really wish during one of those many interviews and Q&As you like to do, some smart fan would ask you what the hell you are thinking (or, more pointedly, why are you NOT thinking) when it comes to race and gender ..."

[Stargate: Atlantis] pouncer: Tarnished Idealism: Elizabeth Weir in the Pegasus Galaxy: "In short, I was arguing that her time in the Pegasus Galaxy shifted Elizabeth's view of the way the world worked, which is incredibly significant if you're an international relations geek like me."

General, polls, etc.

telesilla: okay so here's the thing...: "This slash/fic/art/vids we make? It is transgressive. [...] But I hope you can all understand why, if you call it queer, I get hurt and angry."

As a follow-up to this post in the previous issue, reijamira set up a poll to determine interest in a Supernatural newsletter on IJ.

Deutschsprachiges Meta: rood schreibt über eine neue Fic-Archiv-Regel bei Animexx (Harry-Potter-Fanfictions mit "Verwaltigung an Minderjährigen [...] sind absofort verboten") und listet Kritikpunkte auf.

janecarnall: On writing PoC (when I am not one): "But there seems to be, in some people's minds, a barrier that says "I can't write about that because I'm not the right colour to do it" - and really; kick that crap out."

justhuman: Meta topic - Fictional Responsibility to Real Life Issues: "How much responsibility do authors have to present a controversial issue with all of its nuances? [...] Is the author required to insert a potential anvil of information in the fic to let you know the character is at risk?"

ingrid: "In writing, Viscount ...": "See, the problem with finding (and creating) the perfect rec community is that the responsibility of discovery is on the reader, not the reccer."

slashpine: Short rant on LJ suck-ups, and then a longer bit on OTW: "I. Lap dogs of LJ [...] I have a bone to pick *g* with the people ranting about LJ last summer and now quietly giving them money again. // II. OTW: Like LJ-Biz minus the cat macros [...] OTW stakes out new territory for fandom. Why is it doing it the same old mainstream society way?"

amireal: In which we talk about definitions and paths and all the stuff in between.: "I'm saying that there is a historically female dominated fandom space. [...] It wasn't a purposeful creation but a bunch of women fell together and realized they had a common way of playing."

Polls

letmypidgeonsgo has a short Doctor Who companion poll on Rose, Marta, and Donna.

tommygirl asks if there'd be interest in a MST3K/snark asylum for Supernatural.

Deutsch: lenija möchte einen "Porn Battle" im deutschen Fandom starten.

LiveJournal: The new LJ Explore Area

In short: this feature picks up public content from your journal/community and showcases it in the Explore Area categories. Communities can not opt out of it, only individual users. For more information (incl. how to opt-out), see xie_xie_xie's post in 07refugees. morgandawn and elfwreck both have examples for what kind of entries ended up in the spotlight.

Note: this is a split issue; posts about journaling and journal migration are in issue 37 a.

babydraco: You have risked the exposure of our world: "You can mention fan fic to people who aren’t fen, but you don’t tell them where to find it. You definitely don’t print it out and give it to them to be read in public to people who aren't part of fandom."

akai_senshi (in slash_rants): Of Slash and Gay- Discussion.: "Is slash helping to reduce heteronormativity in real life? Or does it even matter? (...) Why is there such a struggle between non-homophobic het fen (they just prefer het, but back GLBT IRL) and a lot of slash fen?"

xie_xie_xie: Ugly icon thieves: "Wow, I had no idea that someone had started an icon theft asylum here on InsaneJournal. (...) Icon trading, the harvesting of icons out of other people's journals as well as posting them on communities, has its social contracts."

celandineb: Errors in fest fics: "No matter how many times I've gone over a fic, though, there's almost always a few errors that I spot only after the thing's been posted and it's far too late to fix them. (...) What do other folks do in this regard? Do you read your own fics in fests at all?"

spikewriter: Thoughts on "Rose": "Doctor Who was faced with two problems: they were re-introducing a beloved character and show after a long absence, and at the same time trying to draw in new viewers. There were some moments I found decidedly clunky, but on the whole, "Rose" is a superior example of the species Pilotus Serius."

musesfool: i could do most anything to you (Supernatural, S3): "... I've been thinking about Bela, and why I like her so much, and the arguments other people make about how she doesn't fit in the Winchesters' world is exactly one of the things I like about her ..."

qem_chibati: Where is my hot female scientist zombie? That is the question.: "Many female gamers have irate comments about how the industry as a whole, seems to think the way to appeal and reach out to female gamers is release pink products. Never mind that colloquial experience says that they're purchased more often by guys as a theft deterrent."

And on friend_me, skuf did a friending meme with Fandom Meta as the topic.

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As usual, you can leave links to meta entries by commenting here or on the screened comments entry. General questions can be asked on the FAQ post. :)

logovo has some thoughts on MXCON: "I've been thinking off and on about what to cover in the con, what the fan culture is in Mexico and what it isn't."

lore created a poll on smut/PWPs in Harry Potter fandom.

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musesfool: it's much too late to save myself from falling: "Possibly my expectations for SPN have always been kind of low, so I am far easier to please, but I've never thought the show was particularly well-written, and a lot of the stuff people bring up as problems has always been present and I've always needed to handwave it. So. There's that." (Spoilers, esp. for ep. 3x06)

elfwreck: Why Harry Potter fic?: "A couple of comments were berating Potter fans for writing, well, slash and other erotica based on "children's stories." And I commented at one of them, and wanted to continue [...] Harry Potter is not a "child-centric, non-sexual" work. It's a coming of age story--a story about shifting from carefree childhood to the responsibilities of adulthood."

darkshimmer: Decision Time....: "There was a story posted there this week, a Severus/Harry story to be exact, in which Severus molests a six year-old Harry. [...] I'm not sure what sickens me more - the fact that people write that stuff because they think it's hot, or the fact that people read this stuff and think it's hot." [Eta Nov. 15th: link removed, author deleted entry]

the_willow: Spitting Angry: "The point of the linked post regards Chad from High School Musical and his curly, fluffy, 'fro. It's about a boy with my hair when it's not in dreads. And the people on this community and commenting to the post who think it's excessive and hypersensitive and too PC to have a mod post asking people to think before they include a hair joke."

slashpine: Squeeful, gleeful - but rarely female: fan slang in NYT Film review: "Fandom language is more often mocked than adopted. [...] Given that, it's nice to see film reviewers using fandom terms non-condescendingly. But while it's accurate enough to call a young male reader of 1800's dime novels a proto-fanboy ... where are the fangirls?"

As usual, you can leave links to meta entries by commenting here or on the screened comments entry. General questions can be asked on the FAQ post. :)

amalthia: Very Puzzled about something in SPN fandom: "Is this finally the non-con that is acceptable to fandom? Do they like the idea that the good guys in the show would have sex with not only a demon but a woman who can't consent to sex because she's not in control over her body? What would they say to her afterwards if they ever got her un-possessed, well assuming she survives that is?" (Spoilers for mainly S3, esp. in the comments)

rebeccama: Women in stories: "I do not identify or have an interest in a character simply because they are female. Give me Justin Taylor over a female character whose sole purpose in life is to "find a man". It is rare for me to find a female character in film or television with whom I connect at all."

tigresslilly: Meh: " The bf and I were watching Batman Forever when I blurted out "I think it would be healthier for a girl to have Cat Woman as a role model instead of Wonder woman". He turned to me with the usual "I'm waiting" look and I realized I should probably explain that a little."

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madam_minnie: [NaBloPoMo] Fanfic and Fandom: "It is a world where we can live out fantasies, explore new ideas and expand our vocabulary and writing prowess. A world where friendships are forged and lifelong ties are made." (mostly focusing on Harry Potter, though)

morgandawn: Vid Shows: The *Real* Story: "Have you ever wondered what actually goes through the hive mind of an audience that is watching a vid show? It is something like this ..."

artisticentropy: On Artist participation in fandom and fests: "As a fanartist living with a pretty prevalent writer and who has been online for over a decade, I've had occasion to observe some stuff that I'd like to share and discuss, while hopefully pointing out some things you might not have thought about concerning fanartists and why there aren't a lot of us out there and participating."

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lore: BloMo5: Ship maintenance and Snupin in 10 years....: "I think the key to making a ship "live" and keeping it alive is sheer effort and interest. I think the Snupin ship grew to the size it is because there were several of us who saw the Snape/Lupin potential from canon, and who started lobbying for more Snupin in our own ways at the same time."

elfwreck: The other side: Oh Noes! Teh Gay has infested Hogwarts! (A link roundup, summarizing the negative reactions to JKR's outing of Dumbledore, ranging from open homophobia to denial.)

sapphoq: Dumbledore Love (an essay with lots and lots of links on GLBT issues, contrasting fiction with reality.)

seraphcelene posted a Meta-thon Masterlist (part fic commentary, part meta on writing or fandom).

mythdefied: Writing musings: "The problem is, I see it so clearly in my mind that I end up forgetting to mention things, and sometimes I just don't catch it until later because when I do a readthrough, I still see it in my head and my mind supplies the missing things."

seraphcelene; Fighting with Fandom: Characters who won't behave: "Then you sit down to write and suddenly the characters refuse to cooperate. They are difficult and unwieldy, and I'm not just talking about characters you don't like. I'm talking about even your most favoritest character ever in the history of the universe and fandom."

lilithilien: Season so far? 2-3: "I've been watching a lot of Farscape lately and I can't help but compare how the women are written/developed in that show vs. in SGA. [...] If you were called in as a consultant for SGA and you could make three improvements/suggestions, what would you say to them?" (minor episode spoilers for October)

skuf has a poll on Andy, Supernatural ep. 2x05.

yourlibrarian (in mind_over_meta): Between the dotted lines: "I will be interested to see if 2007 will bring more stories about a post-Shansu Spike. Given that AtS: After the Fall will start next month, the trend that seemed to build in 2005 may die out. [...] And I wonder if this is because, well, we really have no idea what he’d be like. We’ve seen all those other incarnations in canon, but from the sound of it we will never see a Shansu!Spike, so that one is left completely to our imagination."


Somewhat related:

- telesilla is compiling a list of Heroines Who Kick Ass.
- chal started a Supernatural Slash & Wincest Halloween Friending Meme of Doom.
- In obscurefandom, chichirinoda revealed the 2007 Challenge (requesting and fulfilling fic wishes in rare or small fandoms).
- holiday_wishes is now officially open for posting your fannish (or even non-fannish) wishlists.

General

aerynvala: Why I like conventions: "But in person, at cons, you can meet people that you've only barely encountered online and they're just so...awesome and neat and cool and *real* and you can fall for them in entirely new ways."

das_dingsi: New Fandom Blues: "Walking into a new Fandom is weird. I mean, on the one hand? It's awesome. [...] On the other hand? [...] It might just be me, but whenever I try to immerse myself in a pre-existing fandom, I feel extremely shy and self-conscious."

Fandom-specific

thenyxie: SPN Thoughts RE: Arc and Theme: "Now, align that theme with Sammy, and you have a very compelling arc for this season, because it spells out in neon letters what we can expect later. Namely, the shades of gray in the younger Winchester." (Spoilers)

empink: untitled post: "WHY IS THERE WIZARD RADIO IN HP??? I am guessing it is there for plot reasons— so Molly could listen to it in CS. Because it sure as hell doesn’t fit into the HP world in a way that makes initial sense."

Also, celandineb has a Friday random poll where not all, but some questions are fannish (Harry Potter / the Dumbledore issue).

LiveJournal

das_dingsi: A Reminder About Snap.com // Info: "Many users here still have a LiveJournal, and there were several people on my flist who reported those weird pop-up thingies appearing when they hover over a link. Well, that's because Six Apart partnered with Snap.com a while ago."

scratchingpost1: Pairings and character choices in fanfiction stories (has a list of 5 questions, depending on whether you prefer pairing or gen stories)

reijamira: Ramblings about the German SPN Dub (on Monday, Supernatural aired on German free-tv)

As usual, you can leave links to meta entries by commenting here or on the screened comments post. :)

amilliondays: on fandom (and, as is usually the case, fandumb, too): "We all have stories we know are wrongheaded and possibly terrifying in their portrayals of gender, race, sexuality, religion, what-have-you but that we still love, anyway. [...] It's okay to admit it makes you uncomfortable that you like those stories, because those stories make people uncomfortable and that's nothing to be ashamed of. It's not okay to tell other parts of fandom who want to get some acknowledgment that this is the case that they're just seeing things and getting butthurt over nothing because you don't see the problem."

aerynvala: Judging the Content of Their Character: "The heroes of my show, whichever show, don't have to be perfect (actually god fucking forfend). But I don't want them being constantly shown up." (Spoilers for SPN 3x01 and Tru Calling)

rabbitboy: untitled post: "How many of you are still using Livejournal, and get a better response from that community than from here or from other journals/blogs you may have?"

German:

mllesatine (in deutschesfandom: Strikethrough 07 - eine Chronik

As usual, you can leave links to meta entries by commenting here or on the screened comments entry. General questions can be asked on the FAQ post. :)

General Fannish Meta

lenija: ExcorcismMetaPuzzle (1) - recipient positions: "There are at least two levels on which you can like or dislike a character. [...] I suspect that people who have one OTP and one favourite character in a fandom tend to read that fandom mainly on Level One, especially when they fight over who is to be seen as the "best character" and which ship is most "true"."

yourlibrarian: Ship stats reviewed: "I was curious about where the SPN fandom, which seems active and growing, stood in comparison. And it kicked up something interesting. In most of the Buffyverse pairings there was clearly a preferred order for the characters to be listed in. Yet for SPN, whose biggest pairing are its main characters, there is a virtually equal number of Sam/Dean (493) Dean/Sam (492) and Wincest (491) listings on LJ."

rebeccama: QAF: The more things change the more they stay the same: "I have changed my mind about a number of things both since I started watching QAF, since I joined the fandom, and since the show ended. [...] However some of my opinions, views, and interests have remained the same from either 101 or at least early in the show. [...] Does anyone else have a list of things that have stayed consistent?"

babydraco: untitled post: "As someone who writes erotica with older teens frequently, but has only ever once written a story that involved what I thought chan was- I don't like people just lumping all of that together. It makes you as bad as the anti Potter porn people, because you're taking away the "Sorry, but I don't write chan" defense - don't call it chan when it isn't."

Other

elfwreck: Strikethrough links: it's not about law: "Links to prove that LJ's new interpretations of their polices aren't based on avoiding liability; they're based on management's content preferences."

Perhaps relevant to fandom: The Karen Fletcher Case. Miss Fletcher published original fiction online which was pretty graphic and dealt with the sexual abuse of minors, torture, and murder. She is believed to be "the first person in Western Pennsylvania charged with exclusively text based obscenity" (emphasis mine).

yourlibrarian (in mind_over_meta): Identification and the elephant in the room: A Spike/Xander manifesto: "I was having a discussion with someone about why some ships were heavily written and read and others such as Sparmony were practically non-existent which begged an exploration about why Spander became the fourth most popular ship in the Buffyverse."

Also by yourlibrarian: The Weight of the World in WIaWSNB: "What Is and What Should Never Be is likely to be one of the most meta'ed episodes in Supernatural if for no other reason than it'll likely be one of the few where we're so in a character's head. [...] In his commentary to the episode Kripke says that it is SPN's version of Normal Again. Yet in rewatching the Buffy S5 episode, Weight of the World, it strikes me that this is a much closer parallel. I hadn't yet heard someone mention an entirely different motivation for Dean's little head trip – guilt."

telesilla: Some "Adrift" meta: Who Makes the Call and What's In a Name?: "For me--and I suspect for a lot of you out there--the squee is about possibilities rather than proof. Rodney calling John by his first name isn't an invitation issued by TPTB, it's an excuse we can use to gate crash. And I don't know about anyone else, but I've been gate crashing for over 12 years now and I still love these parties."

babydraco: untiltled post: "The only way that fans can successfully form groups powerful enough to take on corporations like Livejournal and Fanlib is to quit trying to please everyone and giving everyone a say." (Note: I can only guess this is about the OTW and comment threads like this one.)

morgandawn is testing Stage6, another vid streaming site.

viridescence: More news about LJ suspending and restoring my account: "I have talked more with LJ Account Payments regarding them suspending my account. This information is relevant to anyone else who disputed their permanent account charge through their bank/credit card."

As usual, you can leave links to meta entries by commenting here or on the screened comments post. :)

General Fandom Meta

shusu: we are all naked, our voices all clear.: "I see other people in fandom, men and women, who hesitate, who do the same thing that everyone else does but with that hint of shame, who apologize for who they are, and I think why? Why? Life is so short and the internet is so anonymous. Golden Rule aside."

the_willow: Excited About Anime: Claymore: "Before the cut, however, I will say that there are amazing similarities between Claymores (the female warriors in the series - which is also a manga - and Slayers, as in Btvs. Like there are serious similarities, but in a very interesting, if occasionally frustrating and potentially gender wtf way."

brown_betty: Bring out your dead!: "Anyway, what are the little details that have broken your suspension of disbelief?"

tigresslilly: The Question of Race from the Writer's Perspective: "Part of my problem with adding race into a story is that I'm not 100% how to do it. [...] How do I and other authors avoid being racist when adding race or is this more of a trial and error sort of thing?"

justhuman: Fall TV season so far: "So I get a response from a different person that starts off with I hate slash - and repeats it *3x* in the comment. Then he goes on to say how much he loves how they show a close friendship between straight guys and that the fangirl squee goes too far sometimes.[...] And this right after I've been in a couple of meta discussions when I was chatting to newcomers about the crap I put up with as a slasher 4-5 years ago."

animehime (in fanficrants): How to turn a reader off on one easy step.: "I don't care how good your fics might sound (not that they sounded all that interesting in the first place), consistently insulting your potential readers and their intelligence is the quickest way to get me to close the tab that contains your profile."

reijamira started a friending meme for Supernatural fandom.

LiveJournal

elke_tanzer: Thank you Erica from LJ Account Payments.: "[...] my elke_tanzer LJ is now an unpaid Basic account, and the very-recent charges to my credit card for the next year and extra userpics have been reversed. The email situation and the very-recent-ness of the charges were apparently sufficient grounds for an exception to the standing LJ policy of no refunds for charges. Below, in case anyone's curious, is my half of the correspondence I had via the support request."

das_dingsi: More News on Snap.com and LJ's New Snap Shots Feature: "So, not only do we have the theory that LJ's new link policy has only been implemented so LJ can keep the Snap Shots previews nice and clean... now there's also the fact that, again, it's all about ads and making money instead of the needs and concerns of the actual user base (who never asked for Snap Shots in the first place)."

InsaneJournal

In 07refugees, keieeeye says there'll be a major code update soon, which should fix several site issues. Apparently, the days of miraculously disappearing comments will soon be over. (And as a personal comment: I love it that squeaky works on the site issues, instead of giving us "extras" and "features" we didn't ask for.)

djin7 compares the IJ user stats before and after the LiveJournal Strikeout/Boldthrough. It's insane (pun was not intended, I swear).

bethbethbeth mentions issues with IJ's friending feature.

Fandom Stuff

yourlibrarian: Ads and You: "And vidders will probably be affected by ads soon as well, since YouTube is now planning to run ads embedded in the video content they host. Given that the advertising push on LJ seems to have led to a greater concern about content, it seems to me that monetizing sites through ads is likely to be the biggest problem to fandom in finding spaces to host their content."

das_dingsi: Dark!fic vs. Dark Themes and My Fictional Landscape: "'Darkfic' (as according to the above definitions) doesn't do it for me, but 'dark themes' certainly do. And I like it here. It's an interesting, sometimes a bit clichéd (I guess), but very satisfying place. I wouldn't want it any other way. Probably I couldn't want it any other way, because (as with most of our preferences) it's not even a concscious act."

Two posts by musesfool:
we got each other and that's a lot: "All fanfic is in some way in conversation with the source text, but AUs tend to force the intertexuality of the conversation, because without some knowledge of the source (and often, the deeper the knowledge the better), the reader can't be aware of the changes and, more importantly, what those changes mean. (Though with the rather large change of making an always male character always female, there are larger issues at play)." - Mostly Supernatural-centric, dealing with X-as-a-girl AUs.

you've got to roll with the punches to get to what's real: "I think making a big public display of it riles people up, and yeah, it's rude, but seriously, people who think fans aren't saving their favorite stories to their hard drives for rereading are naive at best (...) Reposting or redistributing it publicly is a fannish faux pas, but I think it's really hilarious and hypocritical for fanfic writers to be screaming about copyright violations and lack of permissions."

bethbethbeth explains why friending a community's watcher journal is a bad idea.

cluegirl started a Fandom Happiness Is... meme.

Deutschsprachiges Meta

mllesatine: Das UHT Mysterium: "Ich lese jede Menge SPN Fanfic und was mich immer wieder überrascht, ist die Bemerkung, dass die Winchester-Brüder eine sehr körperliche Beziehung haben (im Gegensatz zu dem, was man on-screen sieht). (...) Der körperliche Kontakt zwischen ihnen ist praktisch nicht vorhanden. Und ich werde damit einfach nicht fertig. (...) Es ist nur so *beunruhigend* eine Familie zu sehen, deren Mitglieder sich gegenseitig wie Fremde behandeln."

lenija: Migrationsströme zielsicher. Résistance putzt Brille.: "Wo sind eigentlich all die interessanten Diskussionen und Pläne geblieben bezüglich der Frage, wohin das Fandom nun umziehen will?"

If you've got a fannish entry you'd like to see included, be it yours or posts of other fandomers, just leave a comment with the link. You can also use the suggestion post with screened comments if you're more comfortable with that.

brimac13: Random About Fandom: "I'm going to post a list of various things about fandom that I find either annoying or implausible--or both, actually. As a precursor, this list is meant to be funny, not to offend." (Example: "5. Writtn' in accents is annoyin', doncha thahnk?")

entrenous88: the return of fannish glee!: "Maybe we should challenge each other in exchanges -- if this person updates her fic, that person might make a set of icons; if one fan posts thoughts on a show or book she's been vaguely meaning to post for a while, another fan will do a great picspam that will get more people invigorated and excited about a particular aspect of one or more fandoms."

babydraco: untitled post: "I have met some of the darker parts of myself in my fic writing and reading-stuff I’d never have otherwise told people I thought about and found that not only did tons of other people understand, but lots of people thought up stuff that was even darker or scarier or more perverted. And that taught me about my limits too."

dfasgiles (in fandom_love): Bless you.: "I have also noticed that there is absolutely no room in fandom for those of us who have mental disabilities and/or illnesses. We are considered to be the people to ban, rather than the people to put on moderation (even if we ask to be)."

morgandawn: Ode To Vid Shows And Fan-Run Conventions, part one and part two. Deals with con expectations and promises, as well as gender and what is it like to be a woman and a fan of popular culture. Part 2 ends with some general questions: "So why do you all attend fan conventions? What do you want out of your vid shows?"

musesfool: still trying to change this mold: "There's a lot of discussion going on about sisabet and sockkpuppett's SPN vid "Women's Work" (...) In looking at it, I don't think the vid is saying, "This show we love is anti-women," so much as it is saying, "Look at how endemic sexualized violence towards women is in our society - this is our culture, our entertainment - and it's so prevalent that we often don't even notice unless we're hit in the face with it."

yourlibrarian (in mind_over_meta): Becoming a fan: Supernatural: "In fact SPN was hardly ever mentioned in reviews at all. This is where fandom comes in. (...) What did make a difference was the fact that people’s posts about SPN kept reminding me of it, whereas otherwise it would just be another vague name on a TV schedule."

telesilla: art vs child porn and why fandom needs to stand with our artists: "Right now, LJ is home to a pretty vast fannish population. I don't know how the actual fan artists on my flist feel about this, but if I were one of them and LJ/6A said "we're going after art only" I'd fucking bail. (...) And if the fan artists start leaving, fandom is diminished."

diachrony: the latest and greatest: highlights in the "LJ shenanigans show" (a very informative rundown / link roundup on recent events, including the new v-gifts advertising strategy).


If you have a meta post you'd like to see included, leave a comment to this entry, or if you are more comfortable with screened comments, go here.

For Starters: Helpful IJ Links

squeaky's original welcome post on announcements: "We understand why a lot of you are coming over here, and we do not believe in censorship beyond the letter of the law. We will not remove any content from the site unless we receive an official DMCA take down notice or are contacted by an offical legal agency notifying us of illegal activity."

mllesatine: How to use InsaneJournal - useful links

qem_chibati: Qem's IJ resource list for friends.

On ijlogin, toejam released the newest version.

fdir_editor started a list of fandom-related feeds on InsaneJournal.


LiveJournal / InsaneJournal

emilie_burns: Eljay to have "report to abuse" links on pages

liz_marcs: This is Why LJ Won't Be Getting My Hard-Earned Cash...: "Since it appears that you are completely clueless as to why I and many others are not willing to give you $150 [for a permanent LJ account], I've decided to spell it out for you."

gehayi (on 07refugees): In case anyone wants to know why you're looking for a community away from LJ...: "I can't believe that any so-called professional businessman would act like this toward his customers. Even after he was called on it, he still continued to make fun of people."

qem_chibati: Obligatory Strikethrough Post: "One of the reasons that motivated me to get an InsaneJournal is the fact that sometimes the attitudes on fandom on LiveJournal annoys me. (...) Sometimes it feels like the attitude for a lot of them is, unless I've experienced it, it's not really fandom."

Reactions to InsaneJournal getting mentioned on Fandom_Wank:

ingrid: WTF ...: "You hate and fear change, we get it. Please stop rationalizing your fears, it makes you look retarded."

keieeeye: *unreasonably amused*: "[A]s a mentally ill feminist lesbian I think I can say I'm not feeling very oppressed."


General Fandom Meta

icedark_elf has thoughts on the term 'BNF': "If you don't like someone, you accuse them of being a wannabe BNF, which is strange, because most people I know don't want to be BNFs. Mostly due to the reputation they have."

jadeblood: Supernatural and Its Wank: "Regardless of what the fans may think, Supernatural is not their baby. It's [Kripke's] to write as he sees fit. We're just along for the ride..."

das_dingsi: Fannish Crushes, pt. 1: "Fannish attention means you don't just 'like' a character. (...) In a way, it's similar to being in love or having a crush on someone -- he or she has your full attention, and your thoughts keep coming back to said person."

thatfangirl, in [books] Jonathan Strange, has some quick thoughts on the book's footnotes "making it in-universe RPF".

liz_marcs: We really need to start yanking this "abstinence only" bullshit out of our schools...: "andrewfarago unearthed a 1970s Spiderman comic book that was co-produced by Marvel and Planned Parenthood. (...) My point is that [it] would never, ever see the light of day today. The U.S.'s current repressive atmosphere of all things considered somehow outside the norm -- or at least the norm as defined by a very narrow slice of the population -- would make it a prohibitive commercial risk."

brownbetty: A conceptual framework for automated archival of fanworks under web 2.0: "For an archival method to gain currency, it should be no more difficult than posting to LJ."

alixtii: Meta: Fanfic as Je me souviens: "In some ways, there's nothing more depressing than when a show you once loved seems to have forgotten its past completely (...) But even then fanfiction provides us with a way of remembering that past and proving that we at least, have not forgotten it."

~

You'll notice that some of these posts are dating back to June or earlier. I included them because at this stage, I'm still trying to establish the ground level, so to speak. If you have interesting links (be it yours or entries from other IJers), actually anything from 2007 is fair game. Simply leave a comment with the link(s), or if you are uncomfortable with "advertising yourself" in public, use the screened comments post.