[Archive] Meta Roundup: Fannish Stuff of Interest

May 2010

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Posts Tagged: 'sexuality'

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Issue #129

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[info]rubyfruit_pixie: Too Much for (Hurt/)Comfort: The most Topic-Hopping Post EVER!: "Most people who read Hurt/Comfort fics want to see their favorite characters hurt and subsequently comforted, and it's really not my fault that my favorite characters Just So Happen to be female." (Warning copied from author's note: "The topic of this here piece of ranty meta (and possibly the comments as well) will deal with potentially triggering subjects.")

[info]elfwreck: So-called self-identified bi women: "Plz to ignore the huge swarms of bi women writing & reading slash--because hey, they're maybe fake!"

LiveJournal:

[info]stewardess: Your Journal - Your Money? My Ass. (explains how LiveJournal's new Google AdSense program called Your Journal - Your Money actually works, has links to related articles/blog posts e.g. LJ's ads serving malware)
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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 #120

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[info]spacelogic: [SPOILERS] Babylon 5 and Women

[Harry Potter] [info]cluegirl: Fanfic evolutions... a thinky-post.: "So... for awhile now, there's been something happening in the Snarry ship that distresses me, and it's only been just recently that I've been able to put words to it; Harry has become a moron."

[Supernatural] [info]yourlibrarian (in [info]mind_over_meta): Victimhood in SPN: "The end result of the four seasons of SPN so far, has been to equate the supernatural and those who fight it to a lower class status, and those who are victimized by it to higher classes."

[Twilight, Urban Fantasy genre] [info]the_willow: Twilight & Other Creepy Thoughts: "I think I've figured out the appeal of Edward Cullen."

General:

[info]rood: Why the AO3 needs to be translated (looking at it from a German, EFL speaker, perspective)

[info]stele3: Meta: Movie recasts in fic: "So that got me wondering: what do people get out of those sorts of stories? Is it sorta like re-watching a favorite movie, but on your computer screen? Do you prefer your movie recast AUs to be changed fundamentally, or straight-up?"

InsaneJournal: in case you missed the news in [info]announcements, there's a weekend-long sale of Permanent accounts, at the price of $40.

[info]squeaky is also doing daily backups of the databases on the site, which causes "about 15 minutes of downtime each day". They're currently scheduled at 2:30PM (Eastern/US time).

LiveJournal: [info]the_shoshanna: LJ search can turn up locked posts.
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Issue #97

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General Fannish Meta

[info]branchandroot: Stop trying to be on my side: "Let’s be clear about this: “you’re reading it wrong” is not an academic argument."

[info]arionhunter: Slash: It's like a plague. A Gay Plague.: "Whenever someone engages with a text in some shape or form (unless they're using it as, say, wallpaper, which doesn't actually count), they are partaking in analysis. They are questioning something about a text, and then making an argument in support of their reading, even if it's just that adamantium can totally outlast Superman's heat vision."

[info]spacelogic: "why we write ____fic": "Here I attempt to work out why I read, and write in my head, shipperfic."

[info]branchandroot: Femslash: cross it up: "I think part of the reason for this trend in my own writing is that the f/f pairings tend to have hidden stories. You have to dig for them, for the possibilities, for the way these two women might interact. Rukia/Orihime, for example, has marvelous possibilities, but none of them are obvious because the two of them don’t interact enough in canon to create a strong template. Most of my m/m, on the other hand, comes out of dynamics that are pretty much shoved up the viewer/reader’s nose."

[info]xie_xie_xie: Meanwhile out in Greater Fandom...: "I think that finding same-sex attraction and sex arousing in and of themselves is a kink -- to try a less judgmental word than "fetish." I don't think it has anything at all to do with wanting to insert yourself into the action or be one of the participants or anything. It's just a little thing in your brain that finds it hot. - I also don't think that liking a particular kind of pairing says anything about your own sexual orientation, and I furthermore don't think that liking a pairing that is made up of the gender opposite to your own means you have any kind of kink at all."

[info]celandineb has a Fandom Friday Poll on Fandom involvement.


Fandom-specific

[QaF] [info]not_yet_defined wrote a list of essential Queer as Folk asylums on IJ, including asylums that might not be focusing on QaF but have lots of QaF fans participating or hanging out.

[Supernatural, Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel the Series] [info]yourlibrarian (in [info]mind_over_meta): Sibling Rivalry: Spike&Angel and Dean&Sam (comparing their relationships from the canonical, as well as the behind-the-scenes angle)

[Criminal Minds] spoilers for 4x13, "Bloodline" [info]brownbetty: later, ask me what I think about keen little gadgets in the shape of dismembered women. (Guess.): "To expand: Criminal Minds has had white serial killers and black serial killers and Hispanic serial killers. It has also had bystanders, cops-of-the-week, victims and white and heroes from all those groups. The Roma turn up, in this one episode, as bad guys."


Race & aspects of discussing race in Fandom

[info]telesilla: Dear bare-assed white people: "When a POC tells me, a white person, that something I've done or said has racist overtones or reflects the racism that is sadly still a part of our society, it behooves me to listen because even being married to a Black woman doesn't give me the experience with racism that POCs have. I don't live with it day to day and even the fact that I am a member of a minority doesn't give me a true understanding of the ingrained racism because it's a very different dynamic. - We're all ignorant in one way or another, but to ignore someone who is, probably while heaving a sigh at having to do this yet again, attempting to educate me, moves me from ignorance into actual stupidity."

[info]amilliondays: notes from the underworld: "I find it really fascinating, and by "fascinating" I mean incredibly disheartening, that in the recent discussion on race and racism in fiction of all kinds, when well-intentioned, smart, thoughtful white folks get up and say "no, you know, I thought I got it right but in listening, I clearly got it wrong" and these are, again, smart, thoughtful people, that barely two comments in other white people jump on them and say "YOU HAVE NOTHING TO APOLOGIZE FOR THESE MINORITIES JUST WANNA WHUP SOMEONE FOR BEING WHITE"." (There's a follow-up post of sorts, in the war on flame.)

[info]stewardess: How to use white privilege to make racism disappear.: "Surprisingly, making the discussion about you is the only strategy you will ever need to make racism disappear; you can rely on it for years without repeating yourself. Here are some variations, but remember this is not a complete inventory. Use it as a springboard!"

[surrounding the Teresa Nielsen Hayden debate] [info]elfwreck: How insulting can it be, if the audience doesn't understand you?: "Point of information: 'nithing' is not a cute LOLCAT crossover of 'nitwit' and 'nothing.' It's an old Norse/Germanic word. Our modern word 'nothing' is possibly somewhat derived from it... but it doesn't mean 'you don't exist to me.' It's a lot closer to 'you are so vile and horrific, the universe should re-arrange itself so you don't exist.' [...] And she expects--counts on--much of her audience not understanding some of her words, and is hoping this one will fly under the radar as 'mild insult,' so that only her nearest & dearest will recognize what she's really saying."


InsaneJournal:

The site performance issue should be fixed now (i.e. no blank screens during peak hours or similar), so [info]squeaky expects having more time for looking into other issues. At the moment he's trying to find out more about the causes of comment rot (comments disappearing for seemingly no reason), if you experienced it you can leave a reply here.

Also, IJ now offers 1 month of paid account time for $5, which might be useful for people who want to make quick layout changes - when your paid time runs out, the layout you were using last stays as it is (until you make further changes).

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Issue #88

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[info]branchandroot: We’re here, we’re academic, get over it: "I will make this simple in hopes that it gets through this time: For academics, writing articles about things is how we fan."

[info]twistedchick: untitled post: "I have yet to hear of anyone who reads or writes science fiction being told they're not smart enough to understand the discussion of their own work -- but it has happened to me, and to several other people I know, more than once, with the stories we wrote in media fandom."

Eta: whoops, after posting and refreshing the friendslist I saw this:

[info]elfwreck (in [info]metametameta): Acafen vs Squeefen, round 235: "The last few rounds of [info]metafandom have focused on the aca-fen vs anti-aca perspectives on enjoying fic. And it's moving along in predictable patterns. (Not because they're inane or boring patterns--I find them fascinating every time--but because they've been done before, and there's only so many directions this can go.)"

[info]lilithilien: New US shows; or How To Drop A Few Stone Crossing the Pond: "... this is about the fact that Americans are not allowed to see fat. Don't believe me? Take Annie Cartwright from Life On Mars."

[info]rood: Why Heroes is disappointing.: "One of the reasons I liked Heroes so much more than any other superhero story was that it was about normal people with normal lives who happen to have superpowers."
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Issue #43

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I hope you made it all safe and sound into 2008. Happy New Year!

InsaneJournal

[info]squeaky posted 2007 Year In Review in [info]announcements. The stats alone are made of awesomecakes.

[info]aristoboule (in [info]asylum_promo) posted a list with Helpful Hints on Promoting Your Asylum.

Miscellaneous Meta

[info]rubytuesday5681 did a poll: How do you keep track of your favorite fanfic, fanart, and porn?

[info]dragovianknight asks how you "keep track of what you wrote during the year, much less exactly WHEN you wrote it?"

[info]arionhunter: It was just a social experiment. Really!: "As part of my prep work, I read (and took) the official Sex Addiction Screening Test. (...) How would fandom score? So I task you, IJ, with letting me know."

[info]helkamaria: The Weasleys' finances, or why their poverty is self-inflicted: "They aren't the only poor family in the series (cf. the Creeveys), but they are treated as some kind of an example of a good family that is cruelly deprived of the money they'd justly deserve. For myself, I think that their poverty is their own fault, a result of poor money management. And here's why."

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Issue #42

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Fannish Meta

[info]stele3: Why I Believe Writing Slash Is A Healthy Pasttime: "Reimagining straight characters as gay gives us power. It takes the socially-accepted 'norm' and turns it on its ear, puts it in under our control. It affirms us, makes us less alone."

[info]elfwreck: Anti-Fanfic Bingo, Round 2, part 1 (referring to this post and three of the arguments presented therein)

[info]firefly124: Canon compliance musings: "The post I linked above questions whether people stretch the matter of canon compliance because AU is seen as inferior. Honestly, I think it's more a matter of AU not really telling anybody a whole lot." (Harry-Potter-centric)


InsaneJournal

[info]ardath_rekha took a closer look at IJ's age demographics.

In [info]ideas, there's a discussion about the possibility of automatic age verification for adult-oriented asylums.

[info]asylum_promo is now moderated, so it should be safe to re-friend.

Also, [info]squeaky bought two new servers to deal with the new influx of users.

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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 #13

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[info]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."

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

[info]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."

[info]xie_xie_xie (in [info]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."

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Roundup Issue #5

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InsaneJournal / other journaling services

Layout issues: [info]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. [info]lilbreck asks for clarification. The discussion thread on [info]nameless_layout can be found here.

[info]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

[info]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."

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

[info]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: ..."

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


General Fannish Meta

[info]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!"

[info]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."

[info]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."

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

[info]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."

[info]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."

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

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

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

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Roundup Issue #3

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LiveJournal / 6A

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

[info]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."

[info]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."

[info]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."

[info]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."

[info]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

[[info]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.

[info]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."

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

[info]ceruleagos has a poll about InsaneJournal usage.

[info]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)

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

[info]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)

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

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


General Fandom Meta

[info]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?"

[info]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."

[info]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."

[info]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."

[info]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.