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syncope at 10:39am on 08/07/2009
syncope at 10:39am on 08/07/2009So the day has come when I do believe I am going to stop reading metafandom entirely. THANK GOD, you all moan. In my defense, I believe the community did used to be about metafannish inquiry and musing more than a redux/preview of fandom_wank (a naval-gazing enterprise of wank clusterfuck, if you will). I think the community is a good example of what happens when neutrality and a hands-off approach to debate goes wrong. There is no quality standard as to what is meta and what is grudge bitchery. Sometimes I honestly do like to hear people banging on and on about, say, what IS NC-17? or why do people have white text on black background lj formats? or where did the woke up a girl trope come from? That can be entertaining to someone like me (and if you judge me, I'll judge you about your obsession with wingfic right back)!
But I just can't handle it anymore. The bandom implosion has actually bucked me off of metafandom finally. Mostly my issue is this: one cannot control one's reputation in a viral environment like fandom. I think most of us who've been around a while know that. We can semi-manage our personal reputations in a variety of ways: staying off certain coms, not acting like a dickhead on other people's journals, answering comments on your own journal in a rational manner, not sounding off on wank (see how I am failing?), and so on. This only goes so far, though. There will be situations where you come off like an asshole even when you're trying to be nice. You will lose your temper when you don't intend to and this will be written in stone in your comments for eternity for people to read and misconstrue. You will get sucked into grudge wank by a friend. This happens, all you can do is realize it's happened to everyone and keep in mind when people are badmouthing someone else that maybe, just maybe, they're just a human like yourself who pissed off the wrong people.
This happens on a larger scale with the reputation of fandoms as a whole as well. It will probably happen to a fandom you're in. Some fandoms you're in might really be that bad. Just because you're in a fandom with a bad rep doesn't mean this taint necessarily transfers to you as an individual. Sure, some weirdos might assume you're a crazy mofo because you're in HP fandom. And? Look at their 72 bufu icons, and remember judge not lest ye be judged, asshole. Sometimes you might be part of the problem and not realize it. I will mea culpa that for myself in Smallville fandom. OH BOY. (Backbenchers stop knocking the table with your shoes.) We all have our moments/fandom of infamy/or maybe that's just me. However, a person can pass through a certain fandom and have nothing whatsoever to do with the drama--and we all know that, or the sane ones amongst us do. You can be in HP fandom and happily graze on the Himalayas' worth of fan production and never had even tangential interactions with the big wanks. Probably the majority of the fandom have had this experience. Likewise you can be in a fandom for ten minutes and cause a nuclear meltdown if you're a special enough snowflake, and that does not reflect on the fandom as a whole. We know people who cause massive wank over and over, ok, we read metafandom.
What is my point, you say? Some fandoms, like some fans, get a rep. This is how things work. Bandom has a rep that transcends the fandom, just like HP does and Supernatural appears to. There is no way to manage this or alter what people think of the fandom. My question is, why do you give a shit what people you don't know think about you, your fandom, or a community in your fandom? To be quite honest, I don't care what people I *know* think about me, my fandom, or communities in my fandom.
And on that note, adios to metafandom, and I welcome a blissful new era of Star Trek porn on my fl and invite you to unburden yourself likewise.
Also, if you need something to do to help curb your metafandom addiction, check this out. (215): i got kicked out of Barns and Nobles cuz i put all the bibles in the fiction section from the irreplaceable stoney.
But I just can't handle it anymore. The bandom implosion has actually bucked me off of metafandom finally. Mostly my issue is this: one cannot control one's reputation in a viral environment like fandom. I think most of us who've been around a while know that. We can semi-manage our personal reputations in a variety of ways: staying off certain coms, not acting like a dickhead on other people's journals, answering comments on your own journal in a rational manner, not sounding off on wank (see how I am failing?), and so on. This only goes so far, though. There will be situations where you come off like an asshole even when you're trying to be nice. You will lose your temper when you don't intend to and this will be written in stone in your comments for eternity for people to read and misconstrue. You will get sucked into grudge wank by a friend. This happens, all you can do is realize it's happened to everyone and keep in mind when people are badmouthing someone else that maybe, just maybe, they're just a human like yourself who pissed off the wrong people.
This happens on a larger scale with the reputation of fandoms as a whole as well. It will probably happen to a fandom you're in. Some fandoms you're in might really be that bad. Just because you're in a fandom with a bad rep doesn't mean this taint necessarily transfers to you as an individual. Sure, some weirdos might assume you're a crazy mofo because you're in HP fandom. And? Look at their 72 bufu icons, and remember judge not lest ye be judged, asshole. Sometimes you might be part of the problem and not realize it. I will mea culpa that for myself in Smallville fandom. OH BOY. (Backbenchers stop knocking the table with your shoes.) We all have our moments/fandom of infamy/or maybe that's just me. However, a person can pass through a certain fandom and have nothing whatsoever to do with the drama--and we all know that, or the sane ones amongst us do. You can be in HP fandom and happily graze on the Himalayas' worth of fan production and never had even tangential interactions with the big wanks. Probably the majority of the fandom have had this experience. Likewise you can be in a fandom for ten minutes and cause a nuclear meltdown if you're a special enough snowflake, and that does not reflect on the fandom as a whole. We know people who cause massive wank over and over, ok, we read metafandom.
What is my point, you say? Some fandoms, like some fans, get a rep. This is how things work. Bandom has a rep that transcends the fandom, just like HP does and Supernatural appears to. There is no way to manage this or alter what people think of the fandom. My question is, why do you give a shit what people you don't know think about you, your fandom, or a community in your fandom? To be quite honest, I don't care what people I *know* think about me, my fandom, or communities in my fandom.
And on that note, adios to metafandom, and I welcome a blissful new era of Star Trek porn on my fl and invite you to unburden yourself likewise.
Also, if you need something to do to help curb your metafandom addiction, check this out. (215): i got kicked out of Barns and Nobles cuz i put all the bibles in the fiction section from the irreplaceable stoney.
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