[Archive] Meta Roundup: Fannish Stuff of Interest

May 2010

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Posts Tagged: 'site+schemes'

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Issue #75

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Note: Spoilers for the TV fandom posts (definitely for Doctor Who, quite possibly for Avatar and Scrubs).

[info]stele3: Freedom of Speech? Not Online: "There is no such thing as free speech online, not in places like LJ, IJ, MySpace, or Facebook. There is only what they allow us to say."

[info]brownbetty asks: "If you were designing a 6 credit, second year course on "Our Fannish Heritage", that is to say, in imaginary Fandom U where you inculcate fresh young fans, what would the syllabus look like?"

[info]lore: Coming out of the Yaoi closet....: "So, you want to read some Yaoi manga, do you? Well, here's what I know, based on my usual roam-and-learn web-surfing."

[Doctor Who] [info]yonmei posted about the S4 finale in regards to Donna and the Doctor's character / characterization.

[Avatar: The Last Airbender] [info]beccastareyes discussed parenting and parent/child issues in the series, with focus on Toph.

[Scrubs] [info]shadowvalkyrie wrote about the perceived change in tone and focus in the later Seasons.


InsaneJournal:
News about siteschemes: there's now an option to remove (or add) Tweak and Tweak says via the browser settings. Additionally, CSS style sheets to do the same in user styles are listed here.

LiveJournal [links go to LJ]:
SUP are going to bring Basic Accounts back, but with ads (see original LJ news post). This goes for ALL Basic accounts, old or new. There's a discussion in [info]07refugees.
Also, spam on LJ seems to be increasing - not just anonymous spam comments, but from registered journals, who also use off-site links "disguised" as tags in their posts. Liz_marcs has more info, and a list of the mentioned journals to copy-and-paste into the admin console is here. For a list of other measures to take, read voiceboxx' comment. Most of these apply to InsaneJournal, too.
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Issue #74

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[Harry Potter] [info]helkamaria: Voldemort and the Ministry: "Anonymous commented on DTCL that villains are scarier when we don't see them, personally, but rather their sinister influence, which got me to think about the two main villains in Harry Potter: Voldemort and the Ministry."

[Stargate] [info]justhuman has a theory and poll on gender bias in genre writing, mainly SF&F, and how (if) that relates to SG1/SG:A.

[info]branchandroot wrote a follow-up post on the previous entry about ratings, and the comments received: Let’s get the requirements issue out in the open, then.

[info]skuf has a poll on the spelling and definition of fic-kink/fic!kink.

IJ news: In [info]announcements, there's a poll on the available siteschemes and which one should be the official default look of the site. Additionally, a new alternate sitescheme has been uploaded: "a black and white theme (sans-tweak and tweak-says for those that don't like him)", called Monodramatic.
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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 #53

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[info]elfwreck: Meta, Race, and Censorship: "I am not important to these issues. And without a compelling reason, I haven't got the energy to submit to getting my hand slapped, over and over, as I try to figure out the dual issues of "what areas in myself could use improvement" and "what public expressions will get me bitched at."

[info]yonmei: "I can't talk about race because I'm white": "So, I'm white, and I figure that while I might say the wrong thing or miss stuff or just get it wrong because I've got 41 years of white privilege behind me, it is still probably better to speak up rather than shut up. Because racism is everyone's problem."

[info]amilliondays: I like:: "It's an acknowledgement, a concession that in a million fucking years I never would have expected, and yeah, I'm fucking grateful. I imagine every one of us is, and we have a right to be, because so few instances of fan outcry are listened to in comics that fans complaining TPTB don't listen to them is the easiest fucking punchline in the world." (Spoilers for Batman #673.)

[info]ciaan: How to write hot and individual sex scenes: "I believe that the three key elements of a hot sex scene are physicality, emotionality, and intensity."

[info]morgandawn: Meta: Vidders - Understanding Both Halves of Your Audience.: "And it would be a vastly over-simplified panel dividing the vidding audience into two "vastly oversimplified and somewhat random but let's just play along" groups: Kinetic Viewers and Narrative Viewers."

Polls / Journaling / Other

[info]letmypidgeonsgo has a poll on your favourite New Who episodes.

[info]brimac13 asks what content is or isn't acceptable in Harry Potter fic.

I've updated the Master List for index/directory asylums.

[info]xie_xie_xie: Why I hate my friends: "I've read a lot of bloggish commentary over the years about the whole "friend" concept on social networking sites. (...) That word carries so much charge that it's pretty much impossible for any of us to use the feed reader without feeling like we're granting or witholding affection or approval."

[info]ree created a blue userstyle for the IJ portal (needs Stylish or to be added to userContent.css for it to work).

There've been reports about a site called Spokeo.com that is designed to find people's content on social networking sites (using their email adresses to do so) and collects them into one handy feed-like format. 36 sites are trawled for content, including journaling sites like LJ and IJ. According to this post by [info]ships_harry, the situation for journal owners isn't that bad unless you search for their URLs directly. But if you still want to reduce your output for feeds, or know more about the issue, see [info]kabal42's or [info]cluegirl's posts here and here, and I've added the instructions on how to opt out for asylums/communities here. This also makes you less "attractive" for content scrapers.

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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 #44

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Misc. Fannish Meta

[info]yayforjae: gender and fandom: "[T]he male vs female space and the gender of fandom are two really interesting topics ... I don't have any really coherent thoughts about gender in fandom at the moment, but I wanted to start writing about my experiences. So here's a bit about my first two fandoms ..."

[info]elfwreck: Anti-Fanfic Bingo, Line three: "I look at this line on the card, and I just get hung up on one topic: Chelsea Quinn Yarbro. I want to weep."

And an entry that's from December, but I just it found today... [info]gonewithoutjam: I'll Sail this Ship Alone: "So you're new to a fandom, or you're a lurker, and it seems everyone ships Y/Z. But hang on a minute. Are you sure about that?"

[info]bethbethbeth wonders if there'd be interest in a Harry Potter Fic Fest that would let characters who are usually seen as too old or too ugly or in some other way undesirable get a little action for a change.

[info]skuf: Bouncing off idea: fandom-related polls comm/archive

InsaneJournal / Siteschemes and Layouts

[info]skuf: Poll: which IJ sitescheme are you using?

Also, the new sitescheme will soon be available as a template and go into beta-testing stage. There's a call for volunteers at [info]ij_siteschemes (writing FAQs, Stylish, finding styles for different browsers).

[info]sherlock suggested an S2 style contest in [info]ideas. See also this post by [info]pen.

Other

[info]data_warrior has a detailed poll on icon creation, use and crediting.

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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 #41

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[info]thecaelum: Tie-in versus fandom, again?: "So, Lee Goldberg's at it again. Seems our brave and intrepid anti-fanfic writer has stumbled upon The Organization for Transformative Works, and is very displeased."

[info]yonmei: Organisation for Transformative Works (aka "An Archive Of Their Own"): "But one of the things that definitely puts me off getting involved in any way with OTW is the fact that while the OTW crew mirror [info]otw_news to IJ and GJ, they disable comments there, so that no community of fans interested in OTW can form anywhere other than on livejournal. It is a very pro-centralisation tactic, and very much in opposition to what I see as the major strength of fandom..."

[info]elfwreck: HAPPY SOLSTICE! Have some meta to wake up from the longest night!: "There is something legitimate and valid about the cry of, "Hey! You can't DO THAT to my character!" And if we want to win not only a potential legal case, but public opinion, we need to acknowledge that concern, and with more than "Ooh, I'd be so thrilled if someone liked my writing enough to write fic about it; I'd let them do anything to my characters!"

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[info]fleshdress asks in a poll whether there'd be any interest in a "epilogue and beyond specific art/fic exchange" for Harry Potter fandom.

InsaneJournal: new site schemes are in the works. [info]squeaky mentioned it in this entry, and [info]ij_siteschemes has been created, with [info]branchandroot already testing a site scheme called Dramatic. (Asylum membership is moderated atm.)

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Roundup Issue #4

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General Fandom Meta

[info]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."'

[info]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."

[info]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?"

[info]shannon730 (on [info]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."

[info]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."

[info]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."

[info]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?"

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

[info]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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


LiveJournal

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

[info]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."

[info]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."

[info]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

[info]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 [info]mllesatine sich mit der Rechtslage zu Verweisen und Hyperlinks im deutschen Raum beschäftigt.