Meta Roundup

General Fannish Meta

spacelogic: '"obviously Chinese" is not the same!': "So I've been thinking about Babylon 5, and how humans generally can be divided into three groups in that universe: Anglophones (mostly American,) Russians, and... Japanese."

Journaling / IJ

greenwitch: DAMMIT: "Okay, frustration point here -- I've noticed several times now that when people create a community for a fandom, they're forgetting one major thing -- ENTERING SAID FANDOM'S NAME INTO THE COMMUNITY INTEREST LIST."

the_willow: When I compare Scribblit to iJay...: "Part of me thinks it may be because Scribblit isn't open yet to making your own communities on the spur of the moment, that I'm left feeling a little loose."

Tutorial: das_dingsi: How to Restore Lost Icons / Verlorene Icons wiederherstellen

LiveJournal

dragovianknight: To all the people saying "LJ, did you learn nothing from Strikethrough?": "Of course they learned. They learned that 99.9% of their users will pitch a fit, and then stay."

stewardess explains in Flagging Tool Fall-out why setting your LiveJournal to "Adult Concepts / Explicit Adult Content" is a bad idea.

diachrony: livejournal adult-content flagging highlights: "Users will NOT be notified if an individual entry of theirs is marked "explicit" by LJ Abuse. (...) The new "Adult" warning pages might get the entire LJ site blocked in some workplaces (and libraries) for being NSFW, as they use keywords that cause sites to be restricted."

Also, the_willow reports that feeds from LJ are not accessible anymore. (Explained further in this comment in 07refugees.)

On LiveJournal's new Voluntary Adult Setting / Flagging Tools

elfwreck wrote a post with links and quotes -- Answers about the new policy (including info on how to change the settings).

According to msilverstar (in 07refugees), RSS feeds are unaffected. Eta one day later: no, apparently not. See this comment.

justhuman: LJ stuff: "My initial impression is that despite some inconveniences, it's a good thing (...) [B]oth of these work a lot like the security settings on LJ with the exception of no custom filters."

stewardess: This Post Contains Explicit Adult Ranting: "While the cynical Voluntary Adult Setting will do nothing to protect the delicate constitutions of America's youth, it will benefit Six Apart in the form of new accounts. (...) It also finally forces members to fill out the birthdate field—might not be valid, but it's still pretty to advertisers." (Note: post contains a link to WfI, users reported their site uses spyware.)

firefly124: Pondering the latest nonsense: "Now, as to stuff others might think ought to be flagged? This would be where I get pissy. I imagine the "gay marriage" tag would bring up a few such posts, for just one example, and now that can be flagged by anyone who wants to, and I wouldn't even know about it."

And last but not least, celandineb has a poll on the issue.

Other LJ-related News:

dragovianknight reports that the maximum number of tags are reduced to 1000.

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."

Because of the massive amount of news on the Harry Potter front re: Albus Dumbledore is gay, I decided to split today's issue.

iulia_linnea (in girl_harry): TOPIC: What draws you to girl!Harry and girl!Harry fiction?: "What draws me to girl!Harry is, primarily, a desire to read strong female characters combined with my love of the HP universe. I write this without holding the idea, as some do, that J.K. Rowling's world is devoid of strong female characters; in my opinion, there are several of them in the Potterverse. Harry, however, is the main character, the series' focus, and I enjoy focusing my thoughts about the construction of sexual and gender identity into my characterization of girl!Harry."

(LiveJournal) elfwreck (in 07refugees): The legal definition: Ummm, our bad; we fix later.: "I asked Livejournal about the "legal definition of pornography" as described in their abuse policy [...] Minors Befriending Adult-Themed Journals [...] I finally got an answer."

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. :)

elfwreck: Collecting info on copyright misuse: "I know there are several teachers on my f'list; I'm hoping some of them (or their associates) will have stories or even documented incidents related to this. [...] For example, a teacher who chose not to use a television, movie, or music clip in the classroom out of fear that his or her actions violated copyright law."

gueneiriol: Ideas for The Con (tm): "So, if you were going to attend a virtual con, what would you like to see happen at it?"

mizbean: Harry/Draco Clichés: "So what is your favorite Harry/Draco cliché, and which is your least favorite?"

musesfool: you think i'm gorgeous, you wanna date me: "I write and read slash, and I have some slash OTPs, and I am a fan of slash, but I am not a slasher, and I often have to preface my contributions to fannish discussions that way, and sometimes it feels weird."

deborak: Why I'm Not a Grammar Nazi: "When it comes to fan fiction, there are those who want to be strict about spelling, punctuation and grammar. As a historian, I cannot get worked up about textual correctness. The rules and spellings that are cherished today will mean nothing a few centuries from now."

loud99: I'm annoyed.: "It's one thing to create a community for the sake of creating it, but to do it out of some sense that the fandom is dying because some things have moved out of LJ is completely and utterly ridiculous. LJ is NOT fandom. Fans make fandom."

dmitchell1985: And we're hypocritically together ever after!: "For a stretch there, everyone seemed to be all over this racism business, but would cry bloody murder if someone ever nudged them to say that something they may have said or written was offensive. Where is the ability to step back and write reflective meta then; when a situation that truly calls for sincere thought has arrived? Where is the moment where the person doesn't simply jump to the defensive and have all of their fangirls swoop in and attack?"

On Warner Brothers' president of production Jeff Robinov's new decree that "We are no longer doing movies with women in the lead":

spacelogic (in feminism): women in entertainment: "When my family picked up the first DVD of Star Trek: Enterprise [...] we played a guessing game. I held the DVD box where nobody could see it, and asked a series of questions: How many women are there on the DVD box? How many people of Asian ancestry? Are those people male or female? How many of African ancestry?"

yourlibrarian: The future of the female hero?: "Other issues are being brought up in the gender in fan studies discussion, namely that men have less reason to transform material that is being created for them whereas women modify it or focus on certain parts to satisfy their own interests. It’s not like that’s an exclusively gendered practice, since any minority group is likely to do so with entertainment targeted at a different/larger audience."

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)."

This issue is quite LJ-centric...

LiveJournal and Autopayments

Apparently LJ has set several people's accounts to "Autopay" without their permission. elfwreck has a link roundup. ldybastet also comments on the claim that it's just user stupidity / a confusing payment page.

LiveJournal partnering with Snap.com

... which resulted in the new "Snap Shots" feature. nosselinfea has a nice summary of the issue. (I better mention it right here, because the info is buried somewhere in the linked threads: disabling Snap Shots the way it's explained in the FAQ means that Snap.com will set a tracking cookie to collect information about your browsing preferences. Apparently there's no other way to block it, unless you use, say, Firefox's Adblock Plus to get rid of it.)

ldybastet draws a connection to 6A's new link policy.

Informationen dazu auf deutsch: das_dingsi: LiveJournal und Snap.com: wieder ein unerwünschtes "Feature" mehr

Fandom Meta

alchemia: Love love love....?: Harry-Potter-centric questions about the forms and definitions of love. Taken from the ETA: "While fb on love in fanfic, inc ABP is welcomed for examples about your concepts of love, the questions originally came from pondering canon, and how our feelings about love either agree or disagree or something in between with what JKR shows us!"

skuf has a follow-up poll on the Canon / Fandom question.

greenwitch: Thoughts regarding Holiday Wishes project...: "I'm contemplating the ways running holiday_wishes on IJ might be different from LJ. [...] Basically, I'm wondering if the two communities should have the same structure, or a different structure. IE, should one be for fannish items, and the other be for any items?"

xanister (in qaf_cofeeclub): Define "crack!fic" without a drug reference...: "On my own IJ I was pondering what defines "crack!fic" since it's a term that I'm relatively unfamiliar with. I know that horribly outlandish fics are crack!fics but aside from that I'm kinda lost."

fickle: Convo snippet with Savior.: "The weird thing is, I think that I really like that dynamic. [...] it's not the sort of thing I'd RP, because it's a going-nowhere-downwards-spiral-locked-together relationship that's far from cheerful, but I love reading about it. It's not even about the sex, in those relationships, and maybe that's why it works for me as an asexual. It's about the emotion, and the confusion of it."

luzzu: Because I'm not run off my feet...: "I was browsing through fandom secrets over on LJ on one of my rare meanderings over there. [...] So this is my not really secret version of fandom/not fandom secrets, minus the pictures."

ldybastet: Discussion post 1- unresolved issues in HP: "After all, that is why we have theorised, discussed and ranted, and written fic and meta for so long, no? [...] Is there anything from the previous books that you feel was left unresolved, or cleared up in an unsatisfactory manner?"
(For the discussion rules, please read this post.)

LiveJournal-specific

skuf: LJ news - apparently now with screening/deletion of dissentient comments. Several links, also mentions the new Customize Journal area (which apparently does not support overrides) and the DVD/movie advertising in the news community.

Other

gueneiriol is looking for fan-friendly, affordable web hosts.

Also, IJlogin has now been incorporated into LJlogin, so you can use the same program for both journaling types. The bug that made IJ logged you out when you opened a new window has been fixed.

stewardess: Behind the Buzzwords: Why Track Only 5% of LJ Users?: "The change, effective around September 27, 2007: Six Apart will track usage within personal journals and communities. Navigation patterns will be examined, as well as browser type, operating system, browser window size, and other things useful to advertisers. [...] Makes me wonder if 6A picked 5% because that's nearly everyone still using Livejournal."

its_art: Fox is Enfocing Copyright: "Fox is going on a rampage and yanking Buffy and Angel fanvids off of YouTube."

stellar_dust: *runs with the big kids now*: "YouTube took down my Boston Legal fantrailer "as a result of a third-party notification by Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation claiming that this material is infringing." [...] And this is nothing new at all, but it blows me away that media corporations go out of their way to alienate their fans, and don't see the contradiction there."

xie_xie_xie (in qaf_coffeeclub): I want you safe....: "When I write Brian and Justin having unprotected sex, it's always [...] in the context of them having made the decision to do this, become monogamous, gotten tested, waited, etc. [...] But when you just read these stories by themselves, that's not always absolutely clear. [...] I wonder about the effect of this body of fiction on people just casually reading in our fandom, or on new writers, or on younger fans in general, who might not remember the dawn of AIDS and just why this is so important."

spacelogic: severe geekery ahoy: "It's the sort of thing I've done all my life, take characters and universes that already exist and play around with them. My sister and twelve-year-old brother, on the other hand, have always made up their own characters and universes. [...] Why do some people have fanficcer minds, while others tend towards the original?"

vain: Do people really outgrow fandom?: "I am and always have been a self-described fic snob, but these days it seems more and more like I discard far more fics two or three paragraphs in than I find good stories that I like, regardless of the fandom. [...] But there's also another possibility I've thought about a lot in recent months: Am I getting too old for fandom? I've thought about this a lot and discussed it with a couple people, but I've never been sure of the answer. Do you think it's even possible?"

skuf created a poll, asking if canon is a part of fandom or not.

elfwreck: LJ moves toward censorship: "The source code is being updated to allow journals to be tagged with "Explicit Adult Content" (which places restrictions on under-18s) or "Adult Concepts" (restrictions on under-14s).[...] My suggestion: Don't set ANY journal to either of these, unless LJ 1. Defines them very specifically, and 2. Requires that journals that fit the defs be marked accordingly."

gueneiriol wants to host a virtual convention. Help would be greatly appreciated.

celandineb has a Friday Fandom Poll with a few diverse, not fandom-specific, questions.

the_willow:

On Anglinization & Westernization Of Texts: "There are things that are lost by such mis- translations. And yes they are small things. But they are small things that add to the richness of the world building."

Random Harry Potter Thoughts. "The House System, to me (in my real life and as I perceive reflected in the HP books), seems a good focus for school spirit and for a boarding school second family/house spirit and togetherness. But it's not, and I can't believe I'm meant to think it's a sets up of a kind of blind mass prejudice; an organized otherness."

xie_xie_xie:

Please explain: RPGs: "And one of the things that makes no sense to me, holds no appeal, seems like an incomprehensible idea, is role playing games for TV shows. (...) So tell me, what is it that you like about playing them or reading them?"

Fannish thoughts before a marathon: "I simply feel that looking at the show itself is what is important and useful in analyzing the story, especially for me as someone writing in the world of the show. I also don't think it matters very much -- or at all -- what exactly was intended by the multiple creators of the show (writers, actors, etc.) as far as interpretation goes ..."


LiveJournal/6A

On 07refugees: Barak resigns as CEO of Six Apart. elfwreck offers a translation of parts of 6A's press release. ms_katonic informs us about the fandom_lounge thread on JournalFen dealing with the subject.

nosselinfea has some additional info on LJ's forthcoming Flag As Adult Content option.

Other:

morgandawn: Blogging: I "See" You!": About various search engine tools to find someone's entries, including journal posts.

I'd like to add that some of those search engines store public posts in their entirety, including images. Usually they use the built-in feed url for one's journal, so it can be helpful to change your feed settings to "title" or "summary". Simply go to http://www.insanejournal.com/admin/console , type in set synlevel title or set synlevel summary and hit "execute".

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.

InsaneJournal / other journaling services

Layout issues: uniquewonders posted about some journal layouts, namely Smooth Sailing, Nebula, and Flexible Squares, that using them on any other site than livejournal.com is illegal. lilbreck asks for clarification. The discussion thread on nameless_layout can be found here.

fizzyblogic: livejournal / insanejournal / scribblit / fic: Four parts: Why I Left Livejournal (And Why I'm Not Going Back) / Why I Am Using Insanejournal And Intend To Continue Doing So / Why I Am Excited About Scribblit (And Will Be Over There Like A Shot When It Goes Live) / Scribblit, Those Canadian Laws, How It Applies To Me, And Why My Fic Will Be On Scribblit

luzzu: Is it just me?: "I like this site, a lot. I came here to get away from LJ and it's like some of fandom are trying to bring all the wank with them rather than leave it where it should be - on LJ."

buggery: Hold that 'yay' -- everything is NOT suddenly okay.: "Yays, LiveJournal/SixApart are being reasonable again! -- or are they? -- Let's have a look."

ishtar79: Lie to me some more, I LIKE it!: "Granted, the ingenuous code they use might be hard to crack, but fear not-- I speak fluent Bullshit. So in the interests of clarity: ..."

lilbreck posted a tutorial (with screenshots): How To: Getting Semagic to Post Tags to InsaneJournal.


General Fannish Meta

rubytuesday5681: *CLAPS HANDS LOUDLY**: "i know that the situation sucks right now and we are all angry and bitter. but going on and on and on about it is not going to fix anything. let's show the world that we can't be held down! it's time for everyone to do their best to brighten the mood a bit!"

elfwreck: Stop Calling Yourselves Criminals!: "Copyright infringement is illegal. Is fanfiction 'copyright infringement?' Plenty of authors think so. Plenty of fanficcers think so. But that doesn't make it true."

nosselinfea: fandomcrazy: "So now, in comes the California State Attorney General, and suddenly fandom is pulled out of hiding, kicking and screaming into the glare of public scrutiny. (...) It'll be DMCA takedown notices flying like confetti (...) Ironically, RPS isn't covered by copyright law, so it is probably the only area of fandom that's actually relatively safe."

elgraves would like to know if there's some sort of fannish newspaper covering news that may effect fandom community (e.g. DMCA notices).

badonkatonks: Why I approve of sexually graphic young adult literature, novels, and fanfiction: "There are many more young adult novels published than we realize that deal with teen sexuality and how it affects self-image, especially for young girls. I happen to believe there is an area of fanfiction that should be included in a 'safety net' that would protect the writer and the fanfiction from being banned and deleted only because of the fact that the character(s) are teenaged minors."

rubyfruit_pixie: Fannish Thoughts from Jordi: "I wonder why there's such an outcry among fans of female characters when one chooses a different character, be they male, female, or humanoid creature of indeterminate gender, to pair her up with than there is for male characters."

ranalore: today's psa brought to you by the reactions to my latest posted story: "More angsty =/= more realistic."

florida_minxie set up an Art/Fic Collaboration Poll and needs some input.

So does greenwitch, regarding possible issues (and solutions) of the holiday_wishes project. "Any thoughts or comments, even if you weren't involved in the project in the past, would be appreciated."

General Fandom Meta

ignazwisdom: Great Ways to Get People to Not Read Your Story, #7: 'Put something like this in as your author's note: "Again... Not very good. I'll try to do better next time."'

thete1: On Fanart, Graphic and Otherwise.: "When we say to ourselves, "well, it's not like they're going after the *writers*," what we're really saying is that fanart isn't important. We're saying the fanartists are, at best, second-class fans, undeserving of the rights and appreciation due to the rest of us."

rubyfruit_pixie: Your thoughts?: "If there's no profanity, and there's no sexual content beyond hand-holding and kissing, is it possible to give a G-rating to those fics and art with a gay couple, or does it get bumped up a rating because of the fact that there's an M/M or F/F couple?"

shannon730 (on fandom_love): Intro and Artisitc/Literary Merit?: "Artistic and Literary merit to me are about the story the work tells. That's why art is being hit harder. It's not about the art being good or bad, it's because there isn't a story behind it."

hphaeton: The Warnings Discussion: "First of all I have to say that I want - no, need - to read warnings before I start reading a fic. (...) When I read an original novel/book I haven't invested any emotion yet. (...) But fanfiction is something completely different for me. (...) Often enough warnings are either too specific or not specific enough for my taste."

bitterfig: delusions?: "Basically, the recent controversy about Livejournals suspension of users for posting sexually explicit fan art is making me take a look at the role fandom has come to play in my life and what my shadow career as a fan fiction writer means to me."

thete1: Fannish Activities As Therapy: Making It Better: "One of the things that keeps me in fandom is the opportunity to therapize myself, and one of my favorite ways to do that is to make some of favorite characters happier. Just plain 'happy' is, for a lot of these guys, asking far too much, but *happier* is possible. (...) Do you find yourselves doing this sort of thing? If so, how do you set out to make characters happy? What's your perfect story of both personal and virtual fulfillment?"

zulu: Writing Bad Habits: "Any bad habits you know you have to go looking for on an edit, or avoid during writing?"

luzzu: Fuck's sake fandom: "Fandom hypocrisy for the lose. When you find yourself the victim of a witchhunt, the answer is, to start another!"


InsaneJournal

emilie_burns collected links to various statements by squeaky, regarding InsaneJournal's policies and stance towards fandom.

Also, squeaky just upped the friends limit, as well as the links limit for the sidebar.

snakeling: IJ Siteschemes and how to modify them. Tutorials for Firefox, Epiphany, and Opera.

tinnidawg found two Firefox add-ons that help you download all your memories and userpics/scrapbook pictures.

guiltyred (on 07refugees) points us towards the email notification center, which also has the option for new friend notices. Unfortunately, it does not work (yet).

telesilla shares her thoughts on the various journaling options (InsaneJournal, GreatestJournal, JournalFen, Blurty and Scribblit).

mythicdove: Poll: "For those of you who have/had a LJ and wrote fic, curious as to what you are doing currently."


LiveJournal

diachrony started a discussion (on 07refugees) about Matthew Skala's online article, "The Terrible Secret of LiveJournal".

p_zeitgeist: You know that thing about killing all the lawyers? (crossposted from LJ): "But horribly, thanks to a potential flamewar I turned away from at the last possible moment, I have a new hypothesis about what's been going on with 6A. And I almost resent the fact that if it's correct, it will mean that I was right in the first instance, they really do mean well, and every single thing we've objected to is by way of being a hideous accident."

justhuman: I should be sleeping, but I’m going to post potentially fannishly unpopular stuff first: "Back in June sometime between Strikethrough and Boldthrough, I said in a comment somewhere that it was good fandom was pushing back, but eventually we’d need to back down on some of the issues because freedom of speech has never been absolute in the US and there are laws against distributing certain types of images and content. (...) Getting the California Attorney General involved in Fandom vs. LJ ... this cannot end well."

diachrony: now about making text or hyperlinks, and what LJ thinks of that ...: "It seems (...) that there is now a strong possibility that LiveJournal will summarily ban and delete users for merely providing a text link to another site that hosts content LiveJournal deems 'objectionable.'"


Other

the_willow: IBARW: Grab Your CoC meme - C. Fillmore: "A cop's show with a black title character, who despite the laughs, is an intelligent hero. How could he not be one of my absolute favourite Characters of Colour."

[german] Da bei LiveJournal nun auch Links zu illegalen/obszönen Inhalten zur Suspendierung führen können, hat mllesatine sich mit der Rechtslage zu Verweisen und Hyperlinks im deutschen Raum beschäftigt.

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.