Meta Roundup

LiveJournal / 6A

kieeeeye (on 07refugees) linked to an online article from German newspaper "Der Spiegel" about the LJ Strikethrough. Link to a translation included.

bemysty (untitled): "What IS happening, however, is that independent bloggers (...) take note of this affair (...) And while the fanfic community is nearly universally disregarded as freakish, the issues themselves are being discussed from a different angle - it's not about fandom for those people because they don't belong it; they see the business and customer relations side of things."

babydraco: throwing rocks and stuff. skip if you're on my LJ: "YOU'RE normal, YOU'RE not a pervert who draws pictures of naked seventeen year old boys. -- What happens when they change the rules? And they will, because they already have more than once. Here is a list of things Livejournal has done to their customers in the four years that I've been on here."

p_zeitgeist: But, why are y'all assuming that getting rid of fic would be good for an IPO?: "I keep seeing the this line of reasoning around LJ today: Six Apart is known, or suspected, to be getting ready to do an initial public offering. (...) But I have to wonder, because it seems to me that a damned good argument can be made that getting rid of fandom would be ghastly for that projected IPO."

emilie_burns: 6A is sailing the failboat in the sea of stupid.: "However, 6A has determined that while fictional porn is harmful, illegal, and dangerous, and should be removed from their servers, there is nothing wrong with communities which advocate dangerous eating disorders and assist other users in 'tips' for self-starvation and purging."

ketchupblood (untitled): "Frankly, I'm kind of upset at how incredibly immature the fandom is being. I saw a post where they were trying to max out LJ's bandwidth or something by flooding pictures onto LJ servers. That completely reminded me of something I did in fifth grade with my fifth grade class, where we tried to cost the cafeteria some money by boycotting school lunch."



InsaneJournal / Fandom Migration

[scorienne: settling in: "I really probably ought to try to post something in the communities I've joined, because it's possible that everyone's expecting someone else to do it (the same way that I am)."] Journal has apparently been deleted by its user.

entrenous88: fannish squee and glee, part the first: "For all that keeping up with the situation and taking action is very, very important, something I'm not seeing as much right now -- and dude, this is highly important stuff -- is fannish squee and glee. To me, that's part of the fight to keep fandom alive and strong, keeping vital the reason we all started out in various fandoms to begin with -- our love for various canons, our excitement for fannish products, and our interaction with both of those resources as well as with other fans."

anniemoon asks whether we'd be interested in a fandom-oriented friending community.

ceruleagos has a poll about InsaneJournal usage.

das_dingsi: Asylums and Tags / Kategorien in Communities (tutorial on the usage of tags on InsaneJournal and how to change the tag permission level for asylums directly at the admin console)

brown_betty links to a tool that migrates not just journals, but communities.

chrome327 links to source codes / layout help for the Flexible Squares and Smooth Sailing S2 styles. Eta Aug. 15th: These layouts are NOT licensed under the GPL, which means it's illegal to use them on a site other than LiveJournal. (source)

quiltyred (on 07refugees) reminds us of the navigation strip feature.

liz_marcs found a Fake LJ-User Tag Generator to get rid of all those not-working journal links in posts.


General Fandom Meta

jadeblood: Would You Want To Be Shipped That Way?: "I have a question for people that write fan fiction, make art, or just generally ship real life celebrities together: would you want someone to see you and a friend together and begin pairing you up?"

mahoganyhandle: something that leaves me confuzzled...: "I've read a few slave fics recently and I noticed a theme that rather baffles me. In a slave fic, people seem to think that the slave would be bound so much that they'd want to serve. (...) I don't, however, see the point in making the slave so helpless and dependent on his master that he can't even take care of himself, let alone anyone else."

baffledking: Babbling about Authorial Intent: "At some point the phrase 'authorial intent' has become dirty to me. I am firmly, firmly of the opinion that the minute a text (text in this usage meaning source material) becomes available to me in it's finished form then the author's opinions are no more valid than the average internet Joe's."

yourlibrarian: How do you like your stories?: "[T]he profic/fanfic differences to me generally come out in favor of fanfic. And this is mostly because fanfic can do what profic does but the reverse is not true. One thing, for example, that I can't ever imagine seeing in a tie-in novel is a truly dark story."

purplefeen: It's rant time: Sex is not a dirty word - or a dirty act!!: "Hon, if you're going to make Willow (or any other character) ashamed, you're giving in to the small-minded toadies of the world who once told women that they were whores if they made a sound during sex."


As usual, you can leave comments with interesting links or use the screened entry mentioned in the FAQ. Older meta entries are fair game, as long as they're on InsaneJournal and from 2007.

InsaneJournal

stewardess: ALERT: Use Caution When Naming An RSS Feed. (Further information in the comments. Also, see grimmhill's post.)

qem_chibati: RSS Feeders (talking about Firefox livebookmarks, Google Reader, including flocked posts and more -- post is a constant work in progress)

only_gremo describes a problem with uploading user pics when using Firefox, and how to solve it.

yourlibrarian asks about possible (virtual) gifts for InsaneJournal users, and sylumgator wonders if a Holiday Wish List site would be a good idea.

Fandom / Fanworks

jaybee65: Meta: Looking on the bright side of recent fannish upheavals: "It's possible that this is one of those watershed moments for fandom, although I think it's impossible to tell right now what direction things will move in. (...) [The] assumption is that it's better if fandom congregates at a single, agreed-upon-by-consensus space. But is it, really? I'm not so sure."

millstone1005 (on fanficrants): ratings: "It really annoys me when people rate all of their stories R (Mature) for "safety", regardless of the actual content of the fic."

ketchupblood thinks about three types of painful fic.

ingrid [on the so-called 'miscegenation debate']: (untitled): "It's okay to say you've never heard it. It's pseudo-clinical and rather old. But when someone (or a few dozen someones) informs you that this word represents a Very Not Nice School of Thought and in all honesty, has nothing to do with what you are trying to put across for a stupid fic contest, that, in fact, you used the wrong word entirely you really ought to listen to them."

spacelogic: fannish stuff: "I'm starting to wonder if there is or has been any good sci-fi TV show that actually had a gender-balanced or female-majority cast. Anyone know?"

babydraco: Meta post #1: HP/Other: Occlumency/Identifying with Characters: "I think lots of fen identify with Snape. Come on...he was a socially awkward child who masks this with sarcasm as an adult. He's an academic, as many fen are, but even the ones who aren't still like reading, and researching and arguing over obscure stuff. He's not conventionally attractive (okay, he's sort of ugly) and many fen identify with that, but even those who don't, have to contend constantly with the *stereotype* that they are ugly or out of shape. Before anyone's even seen them."

Sometimes the same people write several meta entries. It happens.

yourlibrarian:

Insiders and outsiders: who's who?: "There's been a lot of talk in the Gender Aca-Fan discussion going on at fandebate about the lines between producers and fans but less on those in between, which at one point a participant suggests may be academics. (...) I'm applying these points primarily to the Buffyverse since that's what I currently know about, but I suspect that there's truth there for a number of fandoms."

From great characters come great fandoms: "I have on occasion been able to continue watching a show for the sake of a character alone, or a pair of characters. And I have watched many shows in which I enjoyed the show but had no real desire to go further than just viewing. But if it’s a good show and it’s got a great character, that to me is the equation for fannish interest."

Reviewing the Past: "To me [American Gothic]’s not that old, but it aired a year or so before BtVS came on the air. (...) At the time it was felt that references to pop culture would take viewers out of the show because it reminded them of real life. Instead he argued, this actually makes the characters seem more real because they live in the same world we do. He noted that BtVS was a major show that served to make this change on TV."


zulu:

You know what I like? Being productive.: "I think I want to learn, but I also want to sit back and say, 'You know what? It's crack, and it makes me happy. I HAVE MADE IT FOR THE LULZ.'"

Writing, you know, that stuff.: "It's really hard to write a medical plot interspersed with the usual shippy stuff I write (...) the problem is making it real-ish and still interesting for the shippers."


LiveJournal

das_dingsi: LJers are freaked out. Brad is unimpressed.: "You probably read that ValleyWag story by now (...) that LJ founder Brad Fitzpatrick is going to leave LiveJournal. And he probably is. (...) Of course, he's been asked on his opinion about the on-going kerfluffles."

liz_marcs: Here Are My Thots...Let Me Show You Them: "While the latest LJ kerfluffle is going in full-swing, let me make clear my stance here, especially since there seems to me to be a certain amount of misinterpreting what I'm saying. Personally, I think the artists in question who got perma-banned from LJ were, to put it kindly, stupid. (...) My perception that the artists in question acted stupidly, however, is nothing compared to what I currently think about LJ/6A."

ranalore: okay, seriously, y'all are not helping: "Posts with explanations for the possible logic of 6A/LJ's actions are good and useful. Posts about how to back up your memories, flists, posts, comments, and how to cross-post to multiple journal services are good and useful. You know what I don't think are good and useful? Posts berating other fans for choosing to leave LJ or choosing to stay."

emilie_burns makes a good point about community management: "If the only maintainer is suspended, that's bad news for a comm's survival, so I'm just taking care of that."


Other

blasphemy_blue started a Multifandom Friending Meme.

bubble_blunder: A Question For Those Who Read My journal: "I mean thoughts, opinions, viewpoints and the like about things like censorship, sex offenders, vigilante groups (...), fandom, parenting (...) So, my question to those reading is this: If I were to make a series of Editorial style posts about these types of issues would you read and discuss them, or would you be more likely to say, 'TL;DR' and move on by?"



As usual, you can leave comments with meta links here or on the screened post. Older posts qualify -- basically, all meta from 2007 posted on InsaneJournal is fair game.

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.