[Archive] Meta Roundup: Fannish Stuff of Interest

May 2010

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Posts Tagged: 'fandom+etiquette'

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Issue #121

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Help & writing resources

In an untitled post, [info]bridgetmkennit explains the tags system and the four different types of warnings at the Archive Of Our Own, and how to use them.

[info]lore: BloMo18: Tis the season of saving stories....: tips on saving fanfic stories "in a format that can be easily transferred to most reading devices without losing the author's intended passages of emphasis".

There have been a few posts on BDSM, community rules and terminology, intended as resources for writers and to clear up some common misunderstandings. In Hi! My name is Minxie…, [info]florida_minxie talks about general rules and some stereotypes. [info]irana wrote On BDSM, Part I to explain the abbreviations SCC and RACK, and to talk about consent. On BDSM, Part II covers negotiation (both Scene and Relationship negotiation).

InsaneJournal

An InsaneJournal Holiday Sale just started. Self-Committed (i.e. paid) accounts and Extra Userpics will be available at reduced prices until November 27th. Friday the 27th will also have a short sale on Permanently Insane accounts.

[info]das_dingsi: Updating habits: "The interesting part is how it made me view the update page more closely than usual and I consciously noticed all the things I don't use [on InsaneJournal]."

Other

[info]bitterfig: where do they make subtext?: "I always wonder where stuff like (i.e. homoerotic and/or incestuous subtext) this comes from, is it intentional or just a quirk of chemistry?"

[info]lilithilien: Why do we do it?, a short commentary on an AfterElton.com article titled "Why are Women Interested in Gay Men? It's Not Because They Want to Sleep With Them!", with discussion in comments.

[info]novembermond: has a question about friending meme[s]: "[W]hat are the dos and don'ts ... ?"

[Supernatural] ep. 5x10 meta-ish reaction posts - SPOILERS galore!
[info]the_shoshanna: Supernatural 5.10, "Abandon All Hope...": "Thanks SO MUCH for making women just the underbrush to be cleared away before the real stuff happens."
[info]musesfool: lacrimae volvuntur inanes: "I would like to be able to talk about the episode on its own merits, because I thought it was a fantastic episode emotionally and a great way to go into hiatus, but I am SO FUCKING SICK of the way this show treats female characters."
[info]yourlibrarian (in [info]mind_over_meta): SPN 5.10 - A sign of hope: "There's nothing there right now for an audience to cling to, any more than a clear plot direction for Sam and Dean."

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Issue #117

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[info]skuf started a Mini Meta Fest, "geared towards those of us who want to post more informal meta, but need a little kick in the butt to get going", with user-generated prompts. The rules are detailed here. It's posted to both DW and IJ, but not all prompts on DW have been taken, and the IJ post had no prompts at all.
Responses on IJ so far:

[info]helkamaria: Youth/minors-appropriate fanfic and Incest Fanfiction.

[info]ishtar79 wrote about Geek social fallacies and Character bashing.

[info]elfwreck: Fannish Entitlement and Chapters vs. long oneshots.

[info]yourlibrarian (in [info]mind_over_meta): Drug use, alcohol, smoking in fanfic, with special focus on BtVS and SPN.

Other

[info]das_dingsi has questions about syndicated feeds.
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Issue #105

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[info]branchandroot: Id-candy safety: "I’m all in favor of having books that are id-candy, brain-fluff, that demand nothing from your intellect and instead go straight on to punch your emoporn joybuttons. [But] id-candy is a different thing from good writing."

[info]rood: Living Two Lives – A Story of Bilingual Fan-dom: "I suppose all of you who are multifannish know at least to some degree what I am talking about, because essentially, I am talking about being in two fandoms at once. But while most people experience two fandoms as two different things they’re interested in, for me, it is the same thing, in two languages." Has comments in english and german.

[info]bethbethbeth: Won't someone think of the reccers?: "No, it's not your job to maintain recs pages for reccers, and yes, some of you writers clearly wish your older stories would disappear from memory, and yes, some of my favorite authors have, themselves, disappeared (at least from fandom). However, for those of you who do have a stake in your stories continuing to be read, see what you can do to make it easy for the readers to find you and reccers to update their links."

[info]celandineb's Friday poll was about the etiquette of pimping fic/art, and [info]skuf's poll about tiered recs (i.e. "recs lists where the reccer's favourites are singled out/marked in some way").

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Issue #100

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This time all fandom-specific posts contain SPOILERS, some more, some less.


[Fruits Basket] [info]branchandroot: Hell in a Fruits Basket: "No, the part that really gets my goat is twofold. One is the whirlwind of heteronormativity ..., foreclosing any possibility of expressing the homoeroticism that is waved in our faces all the way through, or even just continuing to dangle the possibility. Two is the lack of consequences."

[Dollhouse] [info]tigresslilly: Feminst take on The Dollhouse (takes a look at Cast and Creation, and Show Content)

[Dollhouse, but also fandom in general] [info]the_willow: Got Answers?: "I'm wondering at the difference between telling a good story and setting up a series - in television. Is it possible to have both in genre television, barring spin-offs and sequels were a built in audience is already assumed?"

[Gundam 00] [info]caithyra wrote two posts dealing with the most recent episode, comparing Lyle and Anew to Neil and Tieria, and speculating on further events.

Multifandom: this week, [info]celandineb's Fandom Friday Poll is about cross-posting to communities.

One place for discussion of the deletion of the scans_daily LJ community is here in [info]07refugees (started by [info]stewardess).

On the subject of pseudonymity on the internet and race fail '09:

[info]telesilla: That James Tiptree, Jr was one heck of a fella...oh wait....: "Pseudonyms are part of the rich, proud SF/F tradition. For two people--and before them both TNH and PNH--so involved in SF/F as Shetterly and Cramer- to pretend that pseudonyms are A Very Bad Thing is mind-boggling."

[info]darkrose: "I am she as she is me...: "Everyone understands that Mistress Super Domme and Sir Gary of House Stuart are really Mary Sue and Gary Stu when they're not at a playparty or an SCA event, but if you've interacted with them in those contexts, then you use the name that's most familar, the one that they've chosen to use in said context. / And you know what? / Shetterly and Cramer have been around long enough to know that."

[info]musesfool: just stand there in your wrongness and be wrong: "The conflation of pseudonymity with anonymity, the sheer stupidity and hypocrisy of the arguments used to justify outing someone who has chosen to keep her online life and her professional and/or personal life separate, and the insistence that they be apologized to when they were the people who fucked up and were wrong in the first place is such a huge display of ass-baring entitlement and privilege that I don't even have words."
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Issue #89

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[Harry Potter] [info]cluegirl: A wee little fandom 'argh': "I know that people don't like to feel obligated to warnings on their fics, and I know people's character perceptions are highly subjective, but if I was Empress of the Internet, fan writers would have to warn for Chump!Harry."

[Supernatural] [info]brownbetty started a list of instances of racialized violence in SPN.

[info]rood: Meta (Again?): "Most of my personal archive (about 75%, I'd guess) consists of abandoned WIPs. [...] I also tried to find new fics to read via rec-lists, and more often than not I ended up following a dead link. Websites vanish or aren't updated, and that makes me feel as if fandom is like Venice with its dead-ends and canals and narrow streets. Just without the signs that make Venice less of a maze."

[info]musesfool: i know the words that you long to hear: "No one ever got more X-type fic by demanding people stop writing Y. Telling someone their way of engaging with fandom is wrong and that it's somehow oppressing you when you don't ever have to see it or participate in it is completely anathema to what fandom is."

For people who also have LJs: there's a new FanHistory bot intended to scrape LJ userinfos, apparently it uses member lists of fannish communities to do so. It's opt-out, meaning you have to change your journal settings if you want the bot to leave your journal alone. [info]morgandawn provides "How to" info/links, [info]elfwreck muses on the possible outcome of the endeavour.

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Issue #78

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[RPF / bandom] [info]stele3: Thinky thoughts about the Wall Of Some Kind: "We might not be able to get those real people to stop reading our fanfiction (and the characters we write); but we can and should squarely define those two as separate and distinct."

[info]caithyra (in [info]fanficrants): Sex without consent is rape...: "I can't get over the non-consensual wave that's being written (not the one when the writer knows and is aiming for writing non-con, but rather, those who thinks it's a perfectly normal and healthy relationship), because it scares me. Are there really so many fans out there who believes that it is healthy?"

[info]rubyfruit_pixie: Informal writing survey! :D: "What do you like to write when it comes to fanfiction?"

[Harry Potter] [info]ravenna_c_tan asks whether there's any interest in a Snape/Draco/Harry Smut Fest, and for thoughts on format & participation.

IJ Note: The stats (http://www.insanejournal.com/stats/) hadn't updated in a while, but are now live again. Raw txt data: http://www.insanejournal.com/stats/stat s.txt.
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Issue #77

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[info]the_willow: More On Nice vs Mean (Fannish): "Do only one set of feelings matter? Or only one set of feelings from one group of people?"

[Harry Potter] [info]iamisaac (in [info]metametameta): Severus/Remus in canon: "3000 words or so of meta about moments in canon where a relationship between Severus and Remus looks like a real possibility."

[Queer-as-Folk-centric, but also general discussion] [info]xie_xie_xie: Wherein I am intolerant in the extreme: "If you ever wanted proof that I do not in fact rule the universe nor even this tiny little molecule of it that is the Queer as Folk fandom, the existence of QAF mpreg is it. [...] I think there's something really, truly scary and strange about serious "real world" mpreg fic."

[Dr. Horrible] [info]andreth_47: Dr. Horrible Meta: The Goggles of Disguise: "I was thinking about that in regard to Dr. Horrible, 'cause supervillains wear costumes too of course, and I suddenly realized that disguises/costumes/illusions are a pervasive theme in Joss's latest work of genius."

Refresher course: [info]branchandroot explains how to use OpenID when you don't have an IJ account.

[allgemeine Diskussion, plus Eindrücke über Generation Kill] [info]mllesatine: Heut mach ich mir kein Abendbrot, heut mach ich mir Gedanken!: "Jedenfalls geht mir in letzter Zeit so einiges zum Thema Slash, Feminismus und meinen Fandoms im Kopf rum. Warum sind zum Beispiel die Fandoms, die ich am meisten liebe, nur von Männern bevölkert?"
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Issue #76 b - General Meta

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I decided to split the issue, not just because the list of meta links is unusually long (sorry), but also so that the people who are either thoroughly up-to-date on the whole FanHistory.com/partly_bouncy debate, or just fed up with it, can just skip part a (which appears below this one).

[Queer as Folk] Two posts by [info]xie_xie_xie:
The Dreaded B/J FF Syndrome: "I don't believe it's possible to understand any of the characters, pairings, or storylines in isolation. I think that nearly all of the arcs are interwoven, and issues in one pairing -- say, Drew and Emmett -- are reflected in and reflect issues in another -- say, Brian and Justin."
and A Writerly Reflection on Post-Series Fic: "I watch 513 now and every bit of what happens after in my own fic feels foreshadowed and certain to me. It permeates my viewing of the series finale. [...] Do other writers feel this way, if you write post-series fic?"

[The X-Files] [info]musesfool: mulder, it's me: "And while in some ways the entire show was about how we all lack agency, that larger forces are always working against us, one of the things I always loved about Scully was that she was her own woman - she evaluated the evidence and came to her own conclusions."

[info]versaphile: Fandom FTW: "No matter how good you are, there is always someone who does it better, or can write snappier dialogue or more amazing plots or vivid descriptions. And whatever they're amazing at, there's something they're not amazing at that someone else is better at. It can't be a competition."

[info]the_willow: My Fandom: "... when at the end my constructive thoughts and analysis result in utter frustration because nothing changes in the source and I feel personally hurt by the exclusion of people of colour, or the inclusion of stereotypes and just plain foolishness - I walk away."

[info]elfwreck (in [info]metametameta): OTW discussions: "... I don't think any kind of agreement will be reached if only the pro-OTW posts are allowing unlimited discussions. And that's disappointing--because I don't want those who want privacy, or who fear legal reprisals, to be entirely sidelined."

[info]telesilla: Sit down, suck it up and STFU: "Since it's apparently perfectly all right to tell other people how they should and should not participate in fandom, I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon."

[info]xie_xie_xie: On opinions: "What it really is, is this: I'm an editor and all day long, I get articles sent to me by amateur writers -- experts in their fields, but not professional writers. And I can usually tell which were written by women, and which by men, because only the women qualify every fucking thing they say with "I feel," "it seems," "I believe," and "in my view."

[info]brownbetty: Cheater's guide to Conlang in fiction: "Okay, so, you want your work of fiction to have a language in it that isn't an Earth language. Unfortunately, all the languages you speak are Earth-languages! (Except if you speak Klingon or Quenya, I'll grant.) How to get around this?"

[info]elfwreck (in [info]metametameta: Back to Basics: Slash Thoughts (a list of slash-related questions to spark conversation)

[info]andreth_47: A Tongue-in-Cheek Plea to Slash Writers: "I'm here to beg, oh writers of smut, you people who bring me porn and whom I adore, that you stop and think really, really hard before writing any of the following things into your hot manlovin' sex scenes. Because they make Ianto cry."
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Issue #61

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General Fannish Meta

[bandom: Panic! at the Disco] [info]stele3 wrote a Spencer/Ryan ship manifesto.

On plagiarism:

[info]msilverstar: Plagiarism in fandom: "My problem with this the situation is that the author accepted the praise, awards, and publication as though she deserved credit. If she'd said something about how great a writer Charlotte Brontë was, and explained that a huge part of the story was lifted from the original, that would have been appropriate attribution."

[info]mirabile_dictu: lusus naturae: "It seems to follow a pattern; there's almost always an excuse given. I didn't know it was plagiarism. It's just a coincidence. I had to do it. The excuse is invariably followed by support from friends. What's odd about this case is the studied silence of the plagiarist."

IJ, LJ, Journaling in general

Note: After the InsaneJournal code update, you are now able to track posts/threads and receive notifications when someone friends you. Edit your subscriptions here. (I'm also working on updating the beginner's guide to IJ; it should be finished this evening.)

Many posts deal not only with LJ/SUP's latest move, but also IJ and comparisons between the two platforms.

[info]yourlibrarian: The IJ Only Post: "Given the latest boneheaded move by LJ, there's been a resurgence of talk about why people aren't coming over to IJ. [...] From what I'm seeing the problem isn't a lack of journal moves, it's a lack of community moves."

[info]xie_xie_xie: El Jay: "Because the expansion potential of its userbase is teens and very young 20s, LJ is moving towards increasing the social network component and decreasing the blogging/community component, in the hope they can build a site that is competitive in a Facebook/MySpace universe. [...] IJ doesn't need the kind of userbase that LJ does to succeed, because it's more niche-focused."

[info]telesilla: You don't just pay for LJ, you work for them.: "We're giving them the fruit of our labor, we're giving them our fiction and our meta and, more importantly as I see it, our thoughts about dealing with depression and our posts what it's like to live with chronic pain or what the daily life of a bisexual person is like and they are making money off of that labor. All while pretending that we don't exist."

On the Interests Censorship issue, we have [info]stewardess' entry Circle the one that doesn't belong: (Porn) (Hardcore) (Bondage) (Faeries), and [info]viridescence wrote more on LJ interest censoring. So far it looks like SUP has a strong bias against alternative sexuality (including homosexuality) and, well, fandom.
Last but not least, [info]yourlibrarian compared popular interests on LJ vs. IJ.

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Issue #58

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[info]aerynvala: Interaction Protocol Query: "How the fuck do I interact with bandpeoples? I don't know these kids, just their work and occasionally their blog posts. ... [I]s there a way to glee all over the bandpeoples without being a total stalkery tool?"

InsaneJournal

IJ has some issues with tagging entries (tags won't show up, the tags management page is missing some options et cetera), but there's a way to work around that by [temporarily] using the Lynx sitescheme. Here's a tutorial (in English and German).

LiveJournal

LJ finally posted new policy guidelines. There's a discussion on [info]07refugees with some links.

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Issue #50

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[info]mirabile_dictu: PEDTM: day twenty-four: love and the internet: "Shirky closes his talk with, "We have always loved one another. We're human; it's something we're good at." I think that's true. It doesn't mean we're not at times horrible to each other, and it certainly doesn't mean we don't disagree vehemently with each other. But I think it helps explain the existence of fandom."

[info]happier_bunny: Weighing In: "Not everyone is going to like everything and a critical discussion of someone's work DOES NOT translate into a request that it not be written. It also doesn't translate into: I don't like you."

[info]branchandroot: What is ‘in character’?: "But let me simplify it a little and specify more: should one stick with information presented in the anime/manga, which is frequently contradictory; or information presented in guide/info books, which often provides more background detail but may, again, be contradictory; or information pertaining to real life?"

[info]telesilla: so if your characters wrote fanfic... "...what would they write?"

[info]aristoboule created a poll about writing/RPing original characters and/or fandom characters.

[info]sherlock explains how to tweak the new Worksafe site scheme (sidebar) with Firefox and Stylish.

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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. :)
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Issue 37 b (General Meta)

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

[info]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."

[info]akai_senshi (in [info]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?"

[info]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."

[info]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?"

[info]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."

[info]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 ..."

[info]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 [info]friend_me, [info]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. :)
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Issue #25

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General meta (including HP)

[info]telesilla: Stories I can't write: "Do you ever read something that is not only really quite excellent but is also something you know you can't write because it isn't how you tell a story or it isn't one of your core stories? It happens to me and sometimes I'm filled with something that can only be--pretentiously--described as yearning."

[info]celandineb: Commentary on commenting on fanfic: "There's a certain amount of dispute as to the etiquette of commenting on fic. To what extent is it expected, what kind of commentary, and whether the author should reply in turn, are the most common points of interest. So I figured it was worthwhile to add to the mass of posts out there about the subject, given that we're starting to get close to the Great Holiday Exchange season."

[info]dmitchell1985: SGA Renewed for Season Five? Aww, man!: "Okay, so I already mentioned how I'm not exactly fond of the new SGA. Well, it seems that New SGA has been renewed for a fifth season. I am well aware of the fact that this makes me a "bad Stargate fan," but I was kind of hoping that they wouldn't be." (Spoilers!)

[info]ldybastet: Dumbles: "I felt as if I really should just keep quiet after reading quite a few acerbic posts and comments about how those who don't squee about it are only wanking. So, if we don't 100% like it and express it, we're apparently fuelling the wank. *cough* And that is the kind of statement that is making people hesitate to express their honest opinions and want to discuss the subject."

[info]lysa1: Metaish: Heroes and Morale in HP: "Through the lack of a (reader-contract-acceptable) morale for the story, and especially the way the search for redemption is rewarded, JK leaves the myths and the ancient history she uses, hence leaving the reader (me, you are welcome to an entirely different opinion) unsatisfied and wanting more/less/a different hero." Eta Dec 8th 2007 - entry is now locked, I removed the link..

InsaneJournal

In [info]ideas, [info]squeaky discusses the option of purchasing more user pics. "Possibly a new item called "Insane UserPics" which offers 5,000 userpics. How much would you guys be willing to pay for that many?" (No, that wasn't a typo. 5,000.)

[info]skuf: Interaction on alternate blogging site(s) vs. LJ following Strikethrough/Boldthrough: "So I wonder how typical/a-typical my experience is - do I just have an awesome IJ f-list, who is interested in interaction, or are more of you, who have moved at least half of your focus to IJ, getting more comments/interaction on IJ than on LJ, too?"
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Issue #16

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General Fandom Meta


[info]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."

[info]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."

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

[info]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?"

[info]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."

[info]animehime (in [info]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."

[info]reijamira started a friending meme for Supernatural fandom.

LiveJournal

[info]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."

[info]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)."

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Roundup Issue #8

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[info]meta_roundup


InsaneJournal

In [info]07refugees, [info]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 [info]squeaky works on the site issues, instead of giving us "extras" and "features" we didn't ask for.)

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

[info]bethbethbeth mentions issues with IJ's friending feature.

Fandom Stuff

[info]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."

[info]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 [info]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."

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

[info]cluegirl started a Fandom Happiness Is... meme.

Deutschsprachiges Meta

[info]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."

[info]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.