(no subject)

[swatkat]

My internet is back, so naturally I spent most of the day reading the Sockpuppetgate. I have nothing to say about it, except that this isn't a funny wank, oh no. It's horrible. And mind-boggling, because it's all so *meaningless*.

Good things that came out of it? People like the GT mods *finally* had their say. And to think we have been laughing at them all this while. *sigh*

It also shows *why* you need a place like fandom_wank. I'm not really trying to defend f_w here - f_w doesn't need defending, thankyouverymuch. I'm also not trying to claim that the f_w members (including myself, little that I post) are trying to do anything but mock the stupid for their own evil entertainment purposes, or that some of them are not mean or stupid or crazy. But it helps, having a place like that. It keeps *you* sane. It keeps you *aware*, that things like this happen, and will continue to happen in the future because that's how people are - all we can do is be careful and hope.

I have to say, this wank has also made me paranoid. I have been considering getting a RL blog - not here, probably at blogspot - for a variety of reasons. If I do end up getting one, I will make sure it is very, very far away from fandom and no Idiot from RL *ever* comes across my fannish identity.

In fact, my paranoia has increased to the point where I can just quote chowderhead from f_w: After reading that, my paranoia levels have shot up to the point where I'm worried that *I* might be just a figment of MsScribe's imagination. *g*

*

On a slightly different note, how beautifully written is the whole report? Crisp, detailed, with very convincing arguments backed up by facts, quite fair in its own way - it's a lovely read. Whoever charlottelennox is, she's one hell of a writer.

Comments

[plazmah.livejournal.com]

Definately mad props for charlottelennox; the level of detail and her methodology is impressive.

There are only certain people in RL I've revealed my fanishness to. One is my sister, the other is a friend from school who I abruptly discovered to be a passionate Draco/Hermione shipper O_O It's strange how these things happen. That being said, I'm ultra paranoid about the validity of online drama, even moreso now. Exaggeration and fame whoring knows no e-boundries.

[swatkat24.livejournal.com]

Heh. My sister knows too, and she's the only one. My mother knows - vaguely - but I've never divulged the details and she's never asked because she knows how I am about such things.

Exaggeration and fame whoring knows no e-boundries.

Word.

[jaybee65.livejournal.com]

I read the chapters and comments (and associated reactions on LJ) as they were being posted from Friday forward, and it felt just like watching "live" breaking news -- I couldn't tear myself away, even though there were other things I needed to be using my computer time for.

A few people have criticized charlottelennox for hiding her fannish identity, but really, what choice did she have? It was the fact that this was coming from a mysterious source that enabled people to set aside their prejudices and look at the evidence she laid out objectively. And that, in turn, was what led other people to start digging for more IP information, eventually resulting in the revelations from Portkey, f_w, and ultimately FA itself. None of that would have happened if Charlotte had posted as her normal fandom self.

[swatkat24.livejournal.com]

and it felt just like watching "live" breaking news

I can imagine. It really is *that* well-written.

And of course she had to hide her identity. People are criticising her for it? A wank of this magnitude would've killed her fannish identity, period.

[jaybee65.livejournal.com]

It wasn't just that it was well-written (which it was), it was also what was going on in the comments: I remember seeing flyingphoenix post about the Portkey IPs and everyone gasping in shock, then eljuno doing the same with the Charitygate anon comments, and then Heidi making her announcement, etc. -- I caught almost all of that nearly as it happened, and wow. It was thrilling and addicting.

[swatkat24.livejournal.com]

Humph. I missed it. But then, I've always been a read-it-all-at-one-go kind of a person - I couldn't have taken the tension, lol!

[jaybee65.livejournal.com]

By the way...the bad_penny drama distracted me a little this weekend, but I will have assorted pictures to send you soon. I assume you want several of each person, so as to play around with which one works better in your layout? How many would you want, and how should I send them to you?

[swatkat24.livejournal.com]

Send me as many as you want, of any character you like. You could zip it together and send it to hotmail, perhaps? I honestly don't know what I will do with them, or how many I'll end up using - I'm *so* horrible at this. Still, it doesn't hurt to try. *sigh*

[jaybee65.livejournal.com]

OK. You'll get stuff probably sometime this weekend. And the pictures will be so pretty! Surely that will inspire you to do something with them. *g*

[swatkat24.livejournal.com]

Do you have one of Irina with a gun? Or in any action pose? Can you get me one of those? *g*

[jaybee65.livejournal.com]

Do you have one of Irina with a gun? Or in any action pose?

Ahahahahaha...you mean you actually have to ask? You'll be getting more Irina gun/action poses than you could possibly want, trust me. Yes, I am a little obsessed at the moment.

[swatkat24.livejournal.com]

You do not want to know how many pictures of Cuddy making various faces I currently have in my disk, so yes, I totally understand the feeling. :p

[sangerin.livejournal.com]

Nope, never going to accept that there is any value whatsoever to f-w. Your mileage (kilometerage?) varies, and that's fine. Just making the point that, no, for me there is nothing defensible about it.

[swatkat24.livejournal.com]

Yes, well, different strokes and all that. *g*

[cereta.livejournal.com]

(Here from metafandom)

It's interesting that you see this as a reason for f_w's value, because others have pointed out that the person in question was able to use F-W rather handily on a couple of occasions. I'm not actually convinced either is true. I suspect that if f_w did not exist, she just would have used another venue, but I also have to say that I personally was plenty aware of stuff like this before f_w was ever conceived of, and in particular in the age of LJ, when I know about kerfuffles in other fandoms whether I want to or not, I don't really see that as some kind of necessary function of the place.

[swatkat24.livejournal.com]

It's difficult to ascribe some sort of positive value to a place whose primary purpose is to point and laugh at other people's stupid. *g* F_W is not the Fandom Police, no matter how much some posters would like to believe. And f_w does have negative values - as you pointed out, she used the place very, very well (there are always grudgewanks, but these were spectacular). She would probably have found another way had f_w not existed, but it was pretty much tailormade for her vendetta. There's also the pack mentality that f_w leads to - if you'd asked me about GT even a week ago, I would have replied 'hahaha wankers', along the lines of the Harmonians, which, as we know now, is very unfair to the GTers. And this is just some of the negative values of f_w.

But that said, I do think it serves a sort of fandom awareness purpose. At least, it did for me, back in the days. In the past one and half years, my fandoms increased from two and a half to uncountable, and these days, in the age of the newsletters and metafandom (and now that I'm no longer a n00b and know more people), it's very easy to keep track of what's happening all over fandom. But earlier, it *was* quite difficult. I came into fandom in mid-2002 (HP, through ff.net), and then found my way to LJ late in 2003 (although I never really used it in earnest until much later), and at that time it was so very different. It isn't that I wasn't aware of kerfuffles - I went through the shipwars in FAP and general batshittery in my other fandom (LFN), but f_w introduced me to things that I wouldn't have known without a multi-fandom platform like it. I'm not sure if it's a necessary function of the place - does it have any other necessary function that general entertainment? But it did expose me to a lot of things, and I wouldn't be surprised if it would be the same for many other people.