- wistfuljane: A Rant In Non-Linear Form - I think for many people who scoffs at fans for being angry at translators and publishers for not keeping cultural conventions such as names and honorifics, they do not understand the personal issue rooted here.//It's an issue of cultural appropriation, yes.//But for me, it's more a matter of losing an identity and being redefined. -
![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
neo_prodigy: [in noscans_daily] Your Recommendations: LGBT Edition - What excellent comic book series/graphic novel featuring LGBTs would you recommend? Which series and/or storytellers are doing it right? -- twistedchick: a question re warnings in AO3 - If a character death is onscreen, the question is obvious. If it's not? If the rape scene is merely alluded to and discussed, not shown in graphic and upsetting detail, does it deserve a warning? -
- happydork: Comment to hit count ratio on stories - I've been thinking recently about hit counts on a story vs the number of the comments the story gets. -
- rheasilvia: Story titles and I: A dysfunctional love story. - I myself am chronically title-impaired. It's exceedingly rare for me to know what a story will be called — almost always, when I finish a story, I am completely clueless as to what it should be called. I currently have two big writing projects, over half a dozen small ones, and no titles whatsoever. How about you? What are your favorite titles — not just of your own stories, but in general? How and where do you find titles? Do they come easily to you, or do you seek them out actively in some way? -
- phoebe_zeitgeist: Some reasons why I didn't link a post to metafandom, by me, Phoebe - As a compiler, and more specifically as a compiler who from time to time uses her discretion to not link something that's been submitted, I thought it might be useful to try to explain a little of what I'm looking for when I evaluate something for metafandom. What follows, I want to emphasize, is in no way an official statement -- I'm not speaking here for [community profile] metafandom as a whole, nor for any of the other individual compilers. It's just my own approach, although of course that approach is informed by the comm's rules and goals. -
- sparkindarkness: It's only fiction! - I repeat again that, no, I don't think straight people should stop writing with GBLT fiction. They should write it - just as I think white people should write about POC. I will never ever say that people should only write about people like them. But there is a huge world of difference between writing the other well (or trying to) and using, appropriating and stereotyping the other. -
- kill_claudio: 1952 called. They want their clichés back. - there's still a bit of a battle in my mind between the authorial instincts that worry about making the characters consistent with their backgrounds and personalities, and the feminist instincts that don't want to let these attitudes go unchallenged. -
- rockeandroll: RPF and keeping boundaries - So there has been some discussion about this compartmentalising thing, and how you keep your distance, and from the writing point of view, what counts as 'canon', and when 'researching canon for your fic' just becomes being nosy and overinquisitive about someone's private life. -
- puella_nerdii: porn/meta is my OTP, or: why there are so many queer people in my head - On the other hand, a lot of these fics place sexuality at the center of the story in a way that makes me a little uncomfortable, because even if the story ultimately decides that it's okay to be gay (or if the characters conclude that they love each other and that gender doesn't matter -- or invoke some version of the "we're not gay, we just love each other" clause), it others queerness within the context of the story in a way that often feels a little like a slap in the face to me. -
- furiosity: the freeway's heading south - I think it's important to remind ourselves every once in a while that our experience of fandom does not in fact equal that of every other fan out there, and just because we feel our corner of fandom is the bestest doesn't mean it's cool to disregard fen from other corners, especially not if we belittle them for not being fannish in the same way as we are. -
metafandom's Journal
Recent Entries
You are viewing the most recent 25 entries.
7th January 2010
- ithiliana: Fandom: The Academic Kiss of Death, OR My Ongoing Meta on OTW - I'm interested in the ongoing surfacing of the anti-academic rants to smear the Organization of Transformative Works. -
- thedeadparrot: Oh, boy, here we go again. - I believe that we should not be ashamed of writing fanfic. Yeah, I write romance. Yeah, I even write porn. Yeah, I did this as a teenage girl. And yeah, I sometimes daydream about characters. None of this should mean that my writing -- our writing -- is automatically worth less than that of some fanboy who daydreams about being Paul Atreides and about things blowing up -
- executrix: Fandom Meta: In this Fight, We Are Dogless - If they said "Print out your story and leave it in a trunk in the Princess Theater in Pocatello, Idaho," I would consider it legitimate to say "I don't want to go to Idaho in this weather" but I wouldn't consider it legitimate to complain about the mods' choice. -
- executrix: Fandom Meta: Opening the Books on This Thing of Ours - When I have my lawyer hat on, I find it incredibly frustrating to try to reach *any* conclusions about the legal status of derivative works, under US law because of the paucity of case law. -
- frolicndetour: "Creative" "Process" - So here's a weird question for you, sort of spinning off of concrit debate 100,011 going on right now but not really having much to do with concrit: do you find that certain views of characters or canon bother you more when they're implicit in creative works (ie fic and vids) than they would if they were directly stated in a meta post? -
- rositamia: canon - I loooove seeing someone be in love. It's not enough to just tell me so-and-so is in love, they have to show me to make me believe it. -
- damned_colonial: Why I slash, by D. Colonial aged 34 3/4. - I like seeing gay movies, they are awesome... but it's the "straight" movies with gay characters (overt or otherwise) that excite me. The moment of "Is s/he... oh yes! s/he is! YAY!" Going through the process of spotting a gay character, figuring out what the tells are, etc. Especially if I can figure it out ahead of the other characters in the movie/whatever.//...So here's why I like slash: slash gives me more of those moments. When I wear the slash goggles, I get a more regular hit of my "is s/he? YAY!" drug. -
- branchandroot: The difference between manga and comicsI agree that fuzzy Orientalism is the most regrettably common way Western fans of similar media from different national/ethnic groups (eg comics and manga) express their differentiation. That particular expression is generally a lot of hot air, yes.
But I also think there are real fan-culture differences, touching on though not always rising directly from the mother-culture differences of the sources. This is my attempt to articulate the ones that I've seen.
5th January 2010
- cereta: 307th verse, same as the first - if you're only excuse for not putting your internet identity next to something is that it's "just" an internet identity, you are so full of shit that said shit is coming out of your ears and staining the carpet. Names matter. In fact, they matter more online precisely because all we have to know each other by is a accumulation of words, behavior, and creations. -
- astolat: About the AO3 and the yuletide move - IMO, the only way to persuade people who are still leery of the org is not by lecturing or yelling at them, but with a few more years of the OTW just hanging out in a corner of fandom, building awesome stuff and not doing anything awful. -
- kahtyasofia: Why I Love AO3 - I read about people whining and I have to wonder if they're on the same archive I am -
- r_becca: comment stats - Compared to last year's comment statistics, it's interesting to note that the numbers in the first two weeks are up slightly -- about 2 or 3 comments per entry -- but that comment fatigue this year did not seem to kick in until the fourth week this year. Average comments on all posts are up by 3 comments per entry, but the biggest difference is on the art posts -- an increase of over 12 comments per piece! -
- dark_administrator: [in dark_agenda] Post-reveal discussion - now that authors are revealed, how did your participation in the Dark Agenda Challenge go?
What thoughts do you have about it?
How did it change your yuletide experience? - schemingreader: not bad enough - In general I think the place of critical comment is in beta-reading email. I don't want criticism from random readers. I want to pick people who write well, or whose opinion I trust for other reasons. -
3rd January 2010
- giandujakiss | I hesitated to post this because I fear the wrath that may rain on my head, but.... - ...I gotta say, every time I read a dispute about AO3 or OTW or the Yuletide move, my head explodes from the sheer irrationality of the critics. And what I literally can't get over is the absolutely implacable and unwavering resistance to facts expressed by every single person I've ever seen voice an objection. -
- tzikeh: It's past time to cut through this fucking buillshit. - I have no problem with people who don't like/don't want to participate in the OTW if their philosophies are in direct conflict, but I am so done with people who are against the OTW with absolutely no facts to back up their opposition. -
- sarken: Queer Character Tags on AO3, Current and Future - here is a list of some possible tags compiled largely from the earlier discussion about queer character tags. It's not even close to being exhaustive, and, like I said, I'm not advocating for or against any particular tag, so if you have any suggestions, I'm more than happy to add them. -
- thuviaptarth: Vidding: Background reading (1/2) - "I dislike this piecemeal learning!" I told her. "It is haphazard and uncomprehensive. I want courses! I want background reading! I want a series of set texts that cover the basics from a variety of different perspectives. Why are there no books on vidding to make things easy for me?" "There are books on vidding," Laura said in surprise. "Just read books on film editing." -
- thingswithwings: Having just participated in two gift exc - Having just participated in two gift exchanges[...] and having combed through many many Dear Writer and Dear Vidder letters and seen quite the gamut of approaches to prompt-writing, and having written my own near-epic prompts for both of those exchanges [...], I wonder where other people fall along this continuum. -
- jadelennox: Why talking about these things is awesome - I can't prove it and I'm too lazy to run numbers, but I feel like I saw many more stories featuring characters of color in this year's Yuletide than in previous years. -
- alias_sqbr: [in fan_comics] Places to post multi-page fancomics - I post my single page comics to DeviantArt first but if they actually have a bit of a story I also post them to AO3, working on the assumption that the presumably-fanfic-oriented readers there probably aren't looking for out and out fanart but might enjoy a story-in-pictures. I also posted some fanart that was linked to a fic but generally don't see the point. -
2nd January 2010
- redbrunja: The Yuletide Move - You know, I am really not pleased about the Yuletide mods' policy of silence about the move to the A03. -
- oulangi: The 2009 Fridgelist - ...as long as we subscribe to this trickle-down fannomics model, it behoves us to scrutinize what and from where it's trickling down. (I'm going to agree with Galbraith that it's really a "Horse and Sparrow" theory, As in "If you feed the horse enough oats, eventually some will pass through to the road for the sparrows";) And, well, screw them. The great thing about fandom and fanworks is that these outdated supply-side models cease to work. -
- vehemently: My data hate you now. - I have done very little Yuletide reading. I find the AO3 interface loathesome at times, ugly to look at and awkward to use. -
- yhlee: noodlings on the writing of flashfic - Language is important because, in a piece that short--especially if it's at the very very short end--every word counts. -
- vector: random musings - I've been thinking a lot lately about the difference between being in a large fandom versus a small one, because I am apparently in this bizarre space where I actually write for bigger fandoms during Yuletide than I do normally. -
- sqbr: Drawing the Other - I've pondered this with regards to my own (small amount of) writing, but about a year ago had the sudden realisation that it applied to my art too: When I tried drawing the original SGA team for a prompt I realised that my drawing style really didn't suit dark skin. And when I looked back at my art I realised I'd never drawn anyone very dark, and instead had lots and lots of skinny able-bodied youngish white people, both in my original characters and my fanart [...] So I've been trying to fix it. I made my mental default skin tone for original characters darker, and made an effort to draw more dark skinned characters in fanart. When I'd been doing that for a while I decided to branch out and asked for Fanart prompts: not skinny youngish white people. -
- poisontaster: I Dreamed About Ray Charles Last Night - That is to say, once I have posted this story, what is the point of offering me concrit about it? -
- jae: 2009 yuletide writers, show thyselves! - The more significant milestone, though, is that this was the first non-English source I've ever written....Hmm, if I write it in German... it will make an already limited readership for this tiny fandom even more limited. And I've never written anything creative in German at all--maybe that would be harrrrrd! But if I write it in English, how the hell do I even do that? I mean, all of the tried-and-true methods of finding a character's voice are rather reliant on the story';s dialogue at least being in the same language...aren't they? -
- hradzka: yuletide 2009: hit counts, comments, and predictions for 2010 - So, other than "Adam Lambert is eating the universe" what do these figures mean for Yuletide trends, and what can we predict for next Yuletide? -
- 2_perseph: Coming Clean: 2009 & The End of Dumb Things - Fandom is a space created outside of mainstream culture and existing exclusively for the creation of derivative works of art or fiction. It is, and has to be by nature subcultural and nonexclusive.
And the argument I'm making is that fandom is on life support, undergoing a transition that could fundamentally change, and kill it. Here's why. - franzeska: Not Really a Comics Fan: Superheroes, Manga, vitriol, and the OTW - Manga aren't this special, different, non-comics thing. DC and Marvel aren't the only American comics publishers. Whether we're singling these things out because we think they're good or because we hate them, the division is still moronic, not because everyone who likes one should like the other but because there are so many other comics out there. It's an embarrassing false dichotomy that I wish people would stop believing in. -
28th December 2009
- impertinence: tl;dr my hackles are up - For a very long time now, fandom has tried to balance enjoying problematic (I hate that word, but for the sake of this entry, it means "racist/sexist/homophobic/ableist/classi
st etc") media with talking about that media, or writing about it. If we look at fandom meta, or at fandom in general, as another kind of media...it gets more complicated. - - cschick: Plagiarism, fandom, and Fanfiction.net - The only next step I see is formalizing that complaint in regards to copyright law--aka, filing a DMCA complaint with fanfiction.net. That concept, obviously, opens up a whole 'nother can of worms. -
![[info]](http://www.insanejournal.com/img/syndicated.gif)
astolat: [in yuletide_admin] lots and lots of technical details about the move \o/ - The old AutomatedArchive code was written originally in 1998 in Perl by yours truly when I didn't know what the hell I was doing. -- sarken: Archive of Our Own - A few questions regarding Archive of Our Own:
1. Are you keeping the disclaimers on your stories when you post?
2. Has anyone started a movement to tag (canon) LGBT characters the way people are tagging Jewish characters and characters of color? - cold_poet: [in amplificathon] Musings of a defaulter.... ;) - So here's what I learned from this experience, and how I plan to avoid defaulting in the future: -
- cathexys: [in amplificathon] podfic, podbang, and more (or, tl;dr cathexys-style) - And I don't know whether it's good like it is and we should just be polite and non confrontational, or whether we should create a culture of feedback where we can separate the nonchangeable from the fixable, and the reading from the technical. -
26th December 2009
- ithiliana: A Day in the Life of the Internet - Having looked at two months worth of posting on Metafandom, I can say that the number of links dropped in their comments range from 2-10 (now maybe a whole bunch get dropped in Delicious tag space--I haven't looked there YET), but still, people saying "Metafandom isn't posting the stuff I see"? -
- betnoir: Dress me up and you can take me anywhere - As the person left outside the tent, it's a hollow victory at best. When I get marginalized by somebody who themselves has likely been marginaized based on their appearance, it not just makes me resentful and angry, it makes me despair for ever finding a home in fandom if I'm not dressed up all pretty so that I can fit in, even if it is only a cosmetic cover job. -
- rivkat: Yuletide! - Since a lot of people are doing "the decade in review" things, here's a retrospective of Yuletide challenges (pun intended) -
25th December 2009
- scratchingpost1: Thoughts on writing - Now, I think my methods are changing. I really think a major reason is that at this time last year I had a great idea for a story, but I never had time to sit down and write. So I started just taking notes in my head. -
- mieronna: Archive of our own - It always seemed to me that fanart was somewhat outside the mainstream of the fandom. Certainly liked and welcomed (in most cases) and it never lacked for squee - but still always an afterthought. -
- ithiliana: Fandom Discoures, Cycles, Communities, and More - But no matter what context the "golden age" argument appears in (Golden Age: "It used to be so much better back when...."), I doubt it. My hackles go up. The idea that there was some golden age of fandom meta that was ruined by X (in this case, according to some, X being social justice posts) just blows. -
- ithiliana: By the Numbers, Part I, or, Golden Age, What Golden Age? - I'm an English prof, not a statistician (but I do know that correlation is not causation), and I thought, well, has anybody even looked at the numbers? And even if they are posting less stuff or less stuff people want to read, I noticed that it soon becomes this conspiracy theory (those evil evil mods, or those cliqueish mods, or those fossilized mods), instead of people thinking, well everybody is busy, and why don't I volunteer to help out if I like meta so much. -
- ithiliana: Numbers Part 2: Topics - But if white people are perceiving a flood/outpouring/drowning out of their "self reflective fandom centered whites only" meta--welllllll....it may be linked to the same sort of perception issue. -
- sqbr: The Oppressor as hero - The Kyriarchy says that white straight able-bodied upper/middle class men are natural leaders and better than everyone at everything. So having a story where such a character joins a group of non-white/GLBT/disabled/lower class etc characters and immediately proves himself better than them all at everything and their natural leader, not to mention having their POV the only one worth seeing the story through..is not so anti-oppressive a message in my book. -
24th December 2009
- dhobikikutti: Yuletide Bears: The Now That You've Uploaded Edition - The
TRUFAXCompletely Imaginary List of Reasons Why My Recipient Will Hate My Fic - - girlpearl: Pretty much exactly what I was talking about - And then Mel said that sometimes it's like watching a movie that was made 20 years ago, and how even if it's set in the future or in the past, in period costume and all, it still looks & feels like a movie made 20 years ago, and that with fandom moving so fast, you can get that over just a couple years or even months, sometimes. -
- lynns118: [in kirkspock] Discussion on Feedback - So, my question, what is your thoughts on giving feedback? What are your rules? If you think someone's story is badly written, are you comfortable telling them that? Have you ever responded to feedback in a negative way (whether you were the author or just another person who read the story). Or, as an author, what kind of feedback do you prefer? -
- cruiscin_lan: Hey writers. Let me poll your brains. - For anyone who has ever written before, this one's for you. We'll be playing it fast and loose with definitions, so don't stress it too much. I'm just wondering what you write, why, and how. -
- zvi: Comment repost - I seriously don't understand why the presence of social justice meta, even a lot of it, even only tangentially related to what we usually think of as fannish [and, I think the Russophobia is actually pretty in line with what metafandom did Back In The Day, because the journaling systems have been part of the fannish conversation on metafandom from the beginning] is seen as in a zero sum with Old School navelgazing self-reflective meta. -
- jane_elliot: [in epic_rants] *sob*"I don't think anything on this list is less than 1000 words, so I hope everyone likes long fics."
This is not the first time I've seen something along these lines and it really pains me that these days a fic of 1,001 words can actually be called "long". - alias_sqbr: Gen, romance and a happy ending - what I'm really after is the characters going through a major positive change in themselves and their lives leading to a satisfying happily-ever-after ending(*). It's much easier to do this with a romantic plot, they're disproportionately involving and there's this strong cultural belief that finding your true love=happy ever after. -
- sheenaghpugh: Forgiving the Bastard - People differ, of course, in what they find unforgivable, and one woman's Forgivable Bastard is another's bete noire with no redeeming features. -
- queenzulu: I have two expectations: safety and respect. - I am sad that she will listen to her friends because that is far easier than taking responsibility for her actions. I am sad that most of the commenters will tell her that racist acts--as long as they are "jokes"--are okay. That silencing people who "dare" to be hurt by racism is okay. -
- ticcyyy: Srsly - If people have to be silent about these real issues in fandom because it upsets those who are having "fun" or because it hurts someone's feelings to have their grossly misguided and priviledged opinions challenged, that is so fucking backwards I can't even. People should NOT be afraid to speak up about issues that MATTER. -
- toft: I also love that it's been over an hour and I'm only halfway through - I really do think Yuletide is an amazing time to see fandom. It's just - you look at all this stuff, all these weird, specific requests for these weird, specific fandoms that people have, and there's so much imagination out there, so much love and creative desire. -
- cupidsbow: Narcissism and vidding - Anyway, I wonder if other vidders got started because they wanted certain stories; so they made them, and then rewatched them over and over (the way I used to watch my favourite SGA vids, now that I think about it). -
- lian: so, metafandom - There's just this sense of entitlement and disappointment in these posts that I don't quite grok, because I don't see mf in these strictly top-down terms. -
23rd December 2009
- deird1: Mental Story Whiplash - You see, if I know what direction the story's heading in, I can sit back and enjoy the ride. Any more spoilery info will just... well... spoil. -
- penknife: Vidders, why so mysterious? - But if you're going to (very nicely) make your vids available for download from your website, could you please include some kind of summary? At least pairing or main character, and maybe some hint at "the point of this vid is"? ("... that John and somebody are very hot together"? "... that death and tragedy is tragic?" "... that Atlantis, like Camelot, is a silly place?") -
- xie_xie_xie: metafandom and its discontents - Nutshell: They aren't linking to much meta lately. Why? -
- facetofcathy: Fanlore log. - Lately, and I mean the last several months, the wiki is being edited by only three or four people on a regular basis, and their focus has been on 'zines. That's not of interest to me, and the project seems to be withering on the vine. -
22nd December 2009
- lotesse: a note on the ongoing metafandom conversation - But I do think that - maybe since the big fails last winter/spring - the elision between fannish meta and oppositional work has become more complete than I'd like. I'd rather have something like [community profile] linkspam to give me thoughts about Russophobia, and keep metafandom for fic theorization. -
- skye: Archive of Our Own Vs. Fanfiction.net - I'm doing a comparison post between both sites and how they function right at this moment. Keep in mind that despite critique, I still like both sites. -
- farad: An interesting article- metafandom meets pro-publishing - The biggest reason I'm subjecting you guys to it is that the first half of it is about why the writers - and reading/paying market for this exploding new literary field - are straight women. You know, in case you want to be over-analyzed by academia about why we like to read hot m/m sex. -
- cluegirl: Thoughts Contingent on Reader Entitlement; the fandom edition - For Cod's sake, could we please put a little effort into remembering that the writer does not OWE us, the readers, anything more than A Story? And that if we get A Story, there is no contractual obligation under which it will have been written to our tastes, to our preferences, or even to our level of skill or comprehension? -
- silentauror: Thoughts on fic exchange feedback - On the same hand, it's the holidays and regardless of how well it came off, someone spent a lot of time and hard work on a story for someone, and is it really my place to come raining all over their parade? One the other hand, it was still posted in public, not emailed directly to the recipient, and obviously getting comments from readers other than the recipient is also a big part of an exchange like this. -
- fakeplasticsnow: [in idolmeta] SURVEY: Inspiration vs. Perspiration - 1. Look back to the fic that garnered you the most reviews. How long did it take you to write that fic? How does that compare with the average amount of time you take writing a fic?2. Does the trend apply to you too, then? Is the amount of time you take writing something inversely proportional to the number of reviews you get?3. If yes, do you agree that inspiration tends to eclipse effort exerted, in terms of what fic readers respond to? -
20th December 2009
- ratcreature: random poll - if you've been in fandom a long(-ish) time, do you ever feel nostalgia for fandom how it used to be? ("Fandom" in this case intentionally vague as I just mean whatever form of fandom you were involved in the era you are nostalgic for.) And if so, for which time period? -
- katta: Some clues on how not to write deaf characters - The disability fanfic site has uploaded a bunch of stuff, so I've been reading quite a lot, and there are a couple of things that bother me. -
- box_in_the_box: WHY SUPERHERO COMIC BOOK CREATORS SHOULD NOT INTERACT WITH FANDOM: - It occurs to me that what we have here is a microcosm of the exact same sort of tension between entertainment media producers and consumers as exists in just about any other genre or medium now, in which the whole movement toward "the author is dead" has inspired a backlash from the authors themselves, who aren't content with telling stories so much as they want the power to dictate how their audiences should react to their works. -
- sailorptah: Sigh. - But other times? Other times the discussion, while it may have started in a fannish place, has left that context behind long ago. Which means that, unless you were involved with it from the beginning, it boils down to this: "People you have no connection to (except that you both use the same blogging service, and/or enjoy watching TV and writing about it) said something which sounds like it was ill-advised (although you can't say for certain, because until five minutes ago you were not even aware this conversation had taken place) and now you get to hear a deconstruction of why they were wrong." -
- cupidsbow: meta twitter? - Maybe all the huge discussions of the last two years have actually changed the face of meta, because we feel more comfortable in just using that language and making short comments, rather than having to scale up our meta thoughts into full-blown essays. -
- crabapplered: Metafandom needs to re-evaluate. - The point is, if someone wants to talk about the mechanics of chakra in Naruto, they don't really want people to pop up and go "pft! Chakra! Now there's some fine cultural appropriation in that series" -
- rubyfruit_pixie: Also I Am A Horrible, Horrible Person (And That's Okay). - And I can think and squee at the same time. The two are not mutually exclusive, and I really wish people would stop thinking that they are. -
- renay: PSA to Emerging FFXIII Fans: Don't Do Racist Shit! - If these are the actions and behavior I have to look forward to from fans of Final Fantasy XIII, so help me, I am going to explode in rage on a near-daily basis. I mean, this is Racism 101 stuff. -
- renay: An Interesting and Heartbreaking Addition to the Debate At Hand: SEXISM! - My bottom line, to him and everyone else: the problem stopped being just the icons when people started defending their usage with extremely problematic words. Stop using the icons, yes, and then come back, because you defended them and you have to fix that mess you made, as well. -
- justira: Time to discuss racism and humour! aka how about them mildly infamous icons? - The relationship between humour and kyriarchy is... pretty complicated. It's quite easy to fall into a trap here: attempt, with the best intentions, to deride things worthy of derision, and yet in making the joke end up perpetuating those same ills. -
- vi: Bingo in FF fandom - It isn't this specific instance (Sazh and fried chicken jokes) itself, but that it is part of a larger trend of representing non-white characters in stereotyped ways, and the reaction of white-privileged fans being told that it's Not Cool. -
- heebeeAnyone else finding the "ironic" fried c - Anyone else finding the "ironic" fried chicken and/or watermelon-themed Sazh Katzroy icons in poor taste? -
19th December 2009
- djin7: On Reviews, Concrit, feedback or flames, what not to do on the internet - However, if you do not want uninvited critical reviews mixed in with glowing, positive reviews? You must hand pick and select your audience to only people who will do your bidding, and instruct them to do so, whether it's to your best interest or worst. -
- solarcat: A Question about Default Icons (Or, It's Amateur Sociology Time! \0/ ) - What impact does a default icon have? Do we draw conclusions about users based on their default icon? -
- londonkds: The honeymoon between fandom and Dreamwidth faces its first test - It has been reported that Dreamwidth has received legal letters from Marvel related to the ever-controversial scans_daily community. -
- elf: [in scans_daily] Some Copyright Basics - The basic principles, from a non-lawyer perspective (i.e. do not quote me in court unless you are attempting a defense of "not guilty by reason of mental defect or insanity"): Copyright law is *psychotic.* -
- das_dingsi: Heads-up: You don't get to respect only the "good" trans people and still call yourself an ally. - When a person asks you to use a certain pronoun for them, you use it. When they say they are trans, you act accordingly and don't question their identity. The self-identity of the trans person overrides everything else. If you don't respect that, you propagate transphobia. -
18th December 2009
- noracharles: International fandom, again. - When you are in a discussion about tensions between cultures and prejudices against certain nationalities, and how Westerners (hint: especially Canadians and U.S. Americans) are generally ignorant, dismissive and fearful of people from certain countries, don't reframe the discussion to be about your own nation and culture, erasing and dismissing the actual people from actual different countries than your own whom you are currently talking to. -
- branchandroot: untitled - Were 6A ever called capitalist pigs? Multiple times in every heated post? Were they referred to at every turn as Americans or San Franciscans as though that somehow explained why they were bad? -
- bell: one discussion leads to another - However, the main reason I wanted to make this exchange public was to ask anyone reading my journals, on DW or on LJ, to not stereotype Russians in a similar way in comments to my posts. I feel it is phobic language in its own right, and just as I am trying to do away with ableist, racist, homophobic, and cis-privileged language, I would like to do with terminology and references that does not respect the complexity of a given culture and nation. -
- cupidsbow: diigo vs delicious, and how to set up diigo - There are several reasons I have accounts on two social bookmarking sites. Mostly, I began by wanting a back-up site for my recs on delicious; but having now compared the functionality of diigo and delicious, diigo is the clear winner in nearly all respects. -
- facetofcathy: Historical AUs and race--my thoughts and questions and no real answers. - We seem to have some kind of unspoken fandom consensus on this with respect to women in historical AUs, where they get to achieve a level of awesome about equivalent to a Jane Austen heroine, but are never quite too unbelievably modern, but I can't really find the conversation about race in historical AUs. -
- amber: come and play in my sandbox. - This isn't a Beginner's Guide to Dreamwidth, nor is it a comprehensive list of all the cool stuff the site has to offer. It's intended to be useful for people who want to RP here, and assumes prior experience in using a similar website to do so. -
- noracharles: Call for contributor guidelines to metafandom, and for more dw meta - How would you as a reader like to be made aware of interesting meta posted to dreamwidth, including the sort not accepted by metafandom? -
- 51stcenturyfox: Let's talk about sex, baby - Sex means something, even PWP sex. -
- marina: untitled - Now, we all know (well, maybe you don't) that ever since LJ was bought up by a Russian company the wank in English speaking fandom over THE KREMLIN TAKING OVER has been utterly insane. I remember when it first happened, I remember the initial panic (yes, panic) and how many people talked about feeling like LJ was on the verge of being purged of all that was "non conforming", everything that was "problematic" content. -
17th December 2009
If you are interested in becoming a link compiler, please send an e-mail to metafandom at gmail dot com.
- ladyoneill: sometimes it's like I'm thirty two all over again - So, please write what you want the way you want it! Don't change your stories because someone doesn't like it. Use constructive criticism if you must, but don't let it outweigh your own desires. -
- kaigou | contemplating the leap: fanfiction and original fiction - The reviewer goes on to suggest that fanfiction works on a basis of potential plausibility, that is, giving the reader a situation or behavior not seen in canon that, when argued/presented by a skillful fanfic writer, become plausible (believable) extrapolations of the original character. But this also means paying more attention to the character's actions, mindsets, mannerisms, whatever, both to reinforce the character's shared story-origins -- eg speaking patterns, or facial expressions -- and then to overlay the subtle changes introduced by the fanfic's author. -
- synecdochic: wow. just .... wow. - Gender will be a mandatory field at account creation...LiveJournal is removing the Unspecified option for the gender field. That's right: you get to be male or female. Period. That's it. -
- skuf: Where's all the meta? - What do you think has influenced the seeming decline in general fandom meta as indicated by the fewer links in metafandom issues as compared to a couple of years ago -
- flourish: Fans, cultists, and enthusiasts - But it does help me see that we need greater granularity in our discussions of fandom. And yet, as was made crystal clear in my last post, it's always most appropriate to call people what they want to be called - and that's probably why I have such a knee-jerk negative reaction to the idea of being called an 'enthusiast.' I'm not a Harry Potter enthusiast, dammit! I'm a fan! -
- thete1: "I know it's racist, Te, but the special effects look awesome!" - The simple fact of the matter is that every dollar you spend on these films (and TV shows, and books, and everything else) is a dollar telling Them -- yes, Them -- that it's just fine to piss all over me and other people of color for the sake of 'entertainment.' You're part of the problem. -
- sheafrotherdon: The Stories We Tell - Yesterday I read...an AU set in the American Midwest after the War of 1812, and follows the fortunes of Sheppard, McKay, Weir, and Lorne as they travel west to lands granted to them, or bought, in northern Illinois. There they meet Teyla and the Athosian people who are, in this story, Native American.
The story modifies the real historical record in several key ways, the most troubling of which was, to me, the erasure of the region's actual Native communities from the narrative....
The author has, however, given me permission to post my thoughts here, and to reference our email conversation, in the hopes of promoting a larger discussion about historical AUs and the challenges and responsibilities inherent in writing about diverse cultures.
13th December 2009
- vito_excalibur: from the point of view of a lay user who knows very little about anything - The problem with trying to improve social media is that the important part of that noun phrase is the social.... So DW improves the medium part of the LJ clone social medium, and it doesn't matter that much, because the social part is much worse. -
- traveller: so you want to write fanfictions on the internets - A loosely organized and certainly incomplete manifesto for you, Dear Writer, containing advice, suggestions, tips, positive affirmations, and a great many four letter words. -
7th December 2009
- niqaeli: how (not) to write smut that doesn't leave me dashing for IM to torment my friends with - Describing just the physical actions is... well. Yeah. It's mechanical. Mechanical isn't generally sexy. And when you focus solely on describing the action, it is really, really easy to end up at terrible and unfortunate places. If you make a point of focusing on the people and their motivations and headspace(s), even if you stumble, it is probably going to be a lot, lot better. -
- verasteine: Thoughts: With a Side Order of Straight, Please (1.4, 2.1 & 3.5) - Here's another thing, though, and what the two above have talked about: it doesn't, at all, allow room for the myriad of female authors who copy the heteronormative power dynamic onto the template of (read) homosexual desire. -
6th December 2009
- ratcreature: sort of a kink poll… - - I've been reading a slash story in which a heated argument between the couple [...] results in punch being thrown, and then the one punched actually finds the aggression a turn on and it goes on to sex. Somehow this combination of sex and violence doesn't work for me at all, not even in fiction, where I'm not averse to combinations of sex and violence. -
28th November 2009
- recessional: Plagues in your Postapocalypse: - Disease is a huge part of any landscape except maybe our own. Disease in a landscape that used to look like our own should be even more shocking. -
- thelana: The Genius Wranglers: A Rant - Personally, I think the appeal of those relationships has very little to do with people yearning for an old fashioned woman supporting superior (genius!) man dynamic or people getting stuck on some Oedipal trope. I think it comes more from the side effects of the trope. The typical Wrangler personality, especially of this chiding mother sorts means that they are being cast with motivations other than just looking for hotness. -
24th November 2009
- irana: On BDSM, Part II - Today we're going to look at some other terms - negotiation, limits, contracts - break those down, and hopefully provide those reading with a better understanding of what those terms mean. -
- irana: On BDSM, Part I - Consent is a vital element in all psychological play, and consent can be granted in many ways. -
- the_minx_17: Hi! My name is Minxie...¦ - [...] if a piece of fiction disregards the basic principles of safe, sane, and consensual they really are more trouble than they're worth. -
20th November 2009
- albumsontheside: I wasn't trying to get you to like me. I was trying to get you to love me. - what makes certain fics popular? - why are some fics so unbelievably popular in certain fandoms, and why do the fans often react so personally to any criticism levied against said fics? -
- thefrogg: Muses and Fic Nicknames - Am I the only writer who happens to actually...give a personality/name/body/whatever to their muse? -
19th November 2009
- trobadora: All-Human AUs? - Someone explain this trope to me. You have characters who aren't human: aliens, vampires, demons, angels, gods. What they are is an important part of their character, and writing them as ordinary humans takes away something essential to that character, and I just don't get it. Why is this so popular? -
![[info - personal]](http://s.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
alixtii: AoOO Thoughs - I'm very uncomfortable with the implication, given by the existence of the primary warning tag "noncon/rape" that dubcon isn't rape. -- smallbeer: my random morning thought processes - So, tell me how you would define "manpain" in a fannish context? -
- just_katarin: But Katarin, you just posted! - I distinctly remember, when Heroes fandom started talking about the problematic aspects of the show, the racism, the sexism, how uneven storylines and deaths were, all of it, we all maintained it was unintentional....We thought they meant well but now I see that that was a lie. That was... they never intended good things for the People of Color on Heroes or the Women on Heroes. -
- hradzka: Donny Osmond RPF. By pros. - Mike Sterling has an interesting post that touches on on for-pay RPF from the 1970s. He points out that teen magazines included fictional stories about celebrities, mysteries and adventures and romances and -- yes, *exactly,* it was totally RPF. -
- melannen: Statistics! - But when I was going through all the Dear Writer posts being linked in the yuletide community over at lj, I kept noticing that there were actually quite a *lot* of people who were linking their letters from their DW accounts instead of their LJs, and I was wondering if there really were a lot, or if it was an illusion based around what I wanted, and was expecting, to see. And then it occurred to me that this might actually be a pretty good metric of how fandom actually *is* moving: yuletide participation is probably as close as we can get to a real cross-section of people who are active in the sort of fandom that is on journal sites, and it seems like the site people link in their letters would be the site they consider their primary home, regardless of whether they crosspost and how. -
17th November 2009
- facetofcathy: AO3 Tags and Warnings - Under the cut is a screen shot of the tag fields at the AO3, and my thoughts on using them. -
14th November 2009
- rheasilvia: Posting a Fanfic Novel: The "How To"-Poll - In your opinion, what is the best way of posting a very long piece of fanfiction (think novel, 150.000 words or more)? [POLL] -
- zvi: Podfic grumblings - Okay, I think we have established that I actually hate it when people put music as an intro or outro of their podfic. -
8th November 2009
- serrico: What can I say? I like it when my existence is acknowledged. - I've been thinking about this whole "interactive storytelling" thing TV's trying these days, and the difference, for some shows, between what it says on the label and what's actually in the can. -