Meta Roundup

anotherslashfan: Mini-Meta-Fest prompt #2: "Mental illness in fandom and/or fanfiction- Are We All Crazy, Or Just A Little Cracked?"

bridgetmkennit started an InsaneJournal-related meme: Follow Wednesday, where you recommend journals and/or asylums on IJ to follow.

shadowvalkyrie: Feedback thoughts: "Somehow, when you write a fic for someone, you expect getting a reaction -- any reaction -- from them."

yonmei: Class on TV: "Just out of interest, what's your impression, imaginary Internet people, of the difference between class representation on British TV and American TV?"

kabal42: US laws that fandom, no, heck that everyone! needs to be aware of: "Yesterday it was brought to my attention that security personnel at US airports now can search, copy and keep (a copy of) any data you carry with you into the States. [...] The staff are not necessarily educated in knowing the difference between lawful and unlawful use and transport of copyrighted material, nor in the difference between fiction and reality with regards to certain laws."

elfwreck (in metametameta): Warnings for "chan;" archive content policies: 'So... while I'm pondering, I'll open it up to the f'list: what do you consider "chan" is? Or "underage sex" in fanfic? [...] For a rating system of "chan/not-chan," where do/would you draw the lines, epecially when normal human biology isn't involved?'

the_willow: How Slash Changed My Feminism: "The best thing about reading slash and slashy coming out stories was watching male character after male character do this questioning of self and this questioning of what they'd learned from society. And I realized that I'd never questioned what I'd learned from society about men."

[Supernatural] chal created a wishlist of "Things I Would Love to See ..." in Season 4. (Discusses some events from S1-3.)

Polls:

aristoboule asks how you find new communities/asylums, and what factors influence your participation (or lack thereof).

celandineb on the use of sensory description in fic, particularly smutty fic, and reading preferences.

janecarnall: On writing PoC (when I am not one): "But there seems to be, in some people's minds, a barrier that says "I can't write about that because I'm not the right colour to do it" - and really; kick that crap out."

justhuman: Meta topic - Fictional Responsibility to Real Life Issues: "How much responsibility do authors have to present a controversial issue with all of its nuances? [...] Is the author required to insert a potential anvil of information in the fic to let you know the character is at risk?"

ingrid: "In writing, Viscount ...": "See, the problem with finding (and creating) the perfect rec community is that the responsibility of discovery is on the reader, not the reccer."

slashpine: Short rant on LJ suck-ups, and then a longer bit on OTW: "I. Lap dogs of LJ [...] I have a bone to pick *g* with the people ranting about LJ last summer and now quietly giving them money again. // II. OTW: Like LJ-Biz minus the cat macros [...] OTW stakes out new territory for fandom. Why is it doing it the same old mainstream society way?"

amireal: In which we talk about definitions and paths and all the stuff in between.: "I'm saying that there is a historically female dominated fandom space. [...] It wasn't a purposeful creation but a bunch of women fell together and realized they had a common way of playing."

Polls

letmypidgeonsgo has a short Doctor Who companion poll on Rose, Marta, and Donna.

tommygirl asks if there'd be interest in a MST3K/snark asylum for Supernatural.

Deutsch: lenija möchte einen "Porn Battle" im deutschen Fandom starten.

LiveJournal: The new LJ Explore Area

In short: this feature picks up public content from your journal/community and showcases it in the Explore Area categories. Communities can not opt out of it, only individual users. For more information (incl. how to opt-out), see xie_xie_xie's post in 07refugees. morgandawn and elfwreck both have examples for what kind of entries ended up in the spotlight.

Fannish Meta

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."

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

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

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

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

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

Also, 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. :)

amilliondays: on fandom (and, as is usually the case, fandumb, too): "We all have stories we know are wrongheaded and possibly terrifying in their portrayals of gender, race, sexuality, religion, what-have-you but that we still love, anyway. [...] It's okay to admit it makes you uncomfortable that you like those stories, because those stories make people uncomfortable and that's nothing to be ashamed of. It's not okay to tell other parts of fandom who want to get some acknowledgment that this is the case that they're just seeing things and getting butthurt over nothing because you don't see the problem."

aerynvala: Judging the Content of Their Character: "The heroes of my show, whichever show, don't have to be perfect (actually god fucking forfend). But I don't want them being constantly shown up." (Spoilers for SPN 3x01 and Tru Calling)

rabbitboy: untitled post: "How many of you are still using Livejournal, and get a better response from that community than from here or from other journals/blogs you may have?"

German:

mllesatine (in deutschesfandom: Strikethrough 07 - eine Chronik

As usual, you can leave links to meta entries by commenting here or on the screened comments entry. General questions can be asked on the FAQ post. :)

The InsaneJournal FAQ has been updated, specifically #132: "To what level of decency are journals held?" -- I'd also like to use this opportunity to say that the rumours of IJ using the Miller Test to determine obscene content are NOT true (ceruleagos explained it in this thread).

reijamira: Rambling about the genre "hurt/comfort": "I think if one is confronted with the mortality and vulnerability of the other only then would he show his truest feelings. It's the aspect of recognizing how much the other really means to you, of recognizing how close you came to losing your beloved one which let's us express our deepest and innermost emotions."

das_dingsi: Slash Fic As Much-Needed Escapism: "E.g., if Tim and Dick in the DCU Batverse decide to fuck each other senseless, their conflict in the story usually is NOT based on "oh shit am I gay? will society hate me? how will my life be as a gay superhero?", but on dynamics which stem from their issues as characters -- their previous relationships, their emotions, their needs and obligations. The focus is not on the outside (society, moral values, etc.) but on the inside. From that perspective, slash is a sort of safe haven for me."

Three posts by xie_xie_xie (some might not be worksafe due to images/icons):

Teh Evil!Censorship: "Maybe I love words too much. Maybe the thought that someone might try to control or limit what I can write is so terrifying to me that it makes me feel like throwing up, and I don't understand why anyone would feel any other way. But I don't think it's just about words. I think it's about ideas and creativity and liberty and communication."

Labels: "I write queer fanfic. That's what I write. My pairings are canonical and queer and are not slash. (...) So I want another word!"

Wherein Xie rants: "But really, more than I'm upset at the authors of these crappy fics, I'm upset at the readers who suck them down like teenagers at the mall suck down high fructose corn syrup. (...) For the love of god, would it freaking kill you to learn to use some form of critical thinking?"

yourlibrarian has taken a look at some statistics on fan fiction sites.

brownbetty has gotten the script called "lj instant tag" to work on other LJ clones. (Needs the Greasemonkey script.)

Also: the potter_prophet, an IJ-specific HP newsletter, is looking for editors.

brimac13: Random About Fandom: "I'm going to post a list of various things about fandom that I find either annoying or implausible--or both, actually. As a precursor, this list is meant to be funny, not to offend." (Example: "5. Writtn' in accents is annoyin', doncha thahnk?")

entrenous88: the return of fannish glee!: "Maybe we should challenge each other in exchanges -- if this person updates her fic, that person might make a set of icons; if one fan posts thoughts on a show or book she's been vaguely meaning to post for a while, another fan will do a great picspam that will get more people invigorated and excited about a particular aspect of one or more fandoms."

babydraco: untitled post: "I have met some of the darker parts of myself in my fic writing and reading-stuff I’d never have otherwise told people I thought about and found that not only did tons of other people understand, but lots of people thought up stuff that was even darker or scarier or more perverted. And that taught me about my limits too."

dfasgiles (in fandom_love): Bless you.: "I have also noticed that there is absolutely no room in fandom for those of us who have mental disabilities and/or illnesses. We are considered to be the people to ban, rather than the people to put on moderation (even if we ask to be)."

morgandawn: Ode To Vid Shows And Fan-Run Conventions, part one and part two. Deals with con expectations and promises, as well as gender and what is it like to be a woman and a fan of popular culture. Part 2 ends with some general questions: "So why do you all attend fan conventions? What do you want out of your vid shows?"

musesfool: still trying to change this mold: "There's a lot of discussion going on about sisabet and sockkpuppett's SPN vid "Women's Work" (...) In looking at it, I don't think the vid is saying, "This show we love is anti-women," so much as it is saying, "Look at how endemic sexualized violence towards women is in our society - this is our culture, our entertainment - and it's so prevalent that we often don't even notice unless we're hit in the face with it."

yourlibrarian (in mind_over_meta): Becoming a fan: Supernatural: "In fact SPN was hardly ever mentioned in reviews at all. This is where fandom comes in. (...) What did make a difference was the fact that people’s posts about SPN kept reminding me of it, whereas otherwise it would just be another vague name on a TV schedule."

telesilla: art vs child porn and why fandom needs to stand with our artists: "Right now, LJ is home to a pretty vast fannish population. I don't know how the actual fan artists on my flist feel about this, but if I were one of them and LJ/6A said "we're going after art only" I'd fucking bail. (...) And if the fan artists start leaving, fandom is diminished."

diachrony: the latest and greatest: highlights in the "LJ shenanigans show" (a very informative rundown / link roundup on recent events, including the new v-gifts advertising strategy).


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