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litoteaseExcept for the abject moral rage and deep community sorrow I was feeling, the Great LiveJournal Strikeout 2007 itself didn't affect me at all; I've never followed HP fandom at all, so I'd never heard of ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
pornish_pixies (and see how pretty that name looks today, without all of those ugly dashes through it!), and I've never read any of the other journals involved.
However, for the past year, I've mostly been reading in & about Supernatural -- you know, that show that's sparked the terms wincest, and wee!cest. Incest. Underage. Two of the keywords that were getting people banned, banned, banned from their community. As far as I know, no one in the Supernatural fandom had their account suspended (which, given how random the suspensions seemed, must be sheer, blind luck). Still, many, many of the fans in this fandom responded with reasonable, rational, absolutely justifiable paranoia.
So it wasn't the Strikeout itself that got me where I live. It was the Great LiveJournal Lockdown that followed it. Because there is a group of women out there who, on a daily basis, make me think, smile, laugh out loud. Some days, they make my heart ache; others, they make my panties damp. (Occasionally -- damn you all, you good writers, you -- they do both at the same time.) On the really bad days, sometimes checking in with them gives me pretty much all I have to look forward to. And for a brief period of time, I was flocked out.
Because not a one of them knows who I am.
For I am a lurker. I have one of those creepy lurker journals. I don't produce (fiction, commentary, artwork, recs, personal nattering); I have nothing to post. I don't use LiveJournal's "friends list" function. Most of the time, I don't even log into LJ, because I've got everything and everybody I'm interested in bookmarked.
Yesterday, my fannish silence? Bit. Me. On. The. Ass.
Hard.
Because my silence means that I have no fan cred. None, nada, zero, zip. Zilch.
In the middle of a witch hunt, when no one is certain where the enemy is getting their information, how far they've infiltrated, and how far they're willing to go -- this is not the right time to approach a stranger: "Oh, Hi! You have absolutely no idea who I am, and I have absolutely nothing to show you, but I like your work about this subject that's getting people kicked off of LiveJournal left and right, so would you blindly put me on the list of people you trust not to report you to the wrong authorities, please?" Yeah. I wouldn't, either.
This time, so far, the problem seems to have mostly gone away (most people are unlocking their fiction and meta, others are planning to unlock once they've reorganized and split-off anything personally identifiable). This time, only one of my fandoms (the one nearest and dearest to my heart, granted) was threatened.
I'm still leery. With this attack coming so close on the heels of the FanLib debacle, public attention has been drawn to fanfic. I think it's possible (not probable, but possible) that fans will have to find a new safe place. If that's so, well. Wither thou goest.
I just don't want to be left behind.
So, hi, y'all! *waves shyly, uncertain of reception* You rock my world.
Any other lurkers out there feeling the pinch?
pornish_pixies (and see how pretty that name looks today, without all of those ugly dashes through it!), and I've never read any of the other journals involved. However, for the past year, I've mostly been reading in & about Supernatural -- you know, that show that's sparked the terms wincest, and wee!cest. Incest. Underage. Two of the keywords that were getting people banned, banned, banned from their community. As far as I know, no one in the Supernatural fandom had their account suspended (which, given how random the suspensions seemed, must be sheer, blind luck). Still, many, many of the fans in this fandom responded with reasonable, rational, absolutely justifiable paranoia.
So it wasn't the Strikeout itself that got me where I live. It was the Great LiveJournal Lockdown that followed it. Because there is a group of women out there who, on a daily basis, make me think, smile, laugh out loud. Some days, they make my heart ache; others, they make my panties damp. (Occasionally -- damn you all, you good writers, you -- they do both at the same time.) On the really bad days, sometimes checking in with them gives me pretty much all I have to look forward to. And for a brief period of time, I was flocked out.
Because not a one of them knows who I am.
For I am a lurker. I have one of those creepy lurker journals. I don't produce (fiction, commentary, artwork, recs, personal nattering); I have nothing to post. I don't use LiveJournal's "friends list" function. Most of the time, I don't even log into LJ, because I've got everything and everybody I'm interested in bookmarked.
Yesterday, my fannish silence? Bit. Me. On. The. Ass.
Hard.
Because my silence means that I have no fan cred. None, nada, zero, zip. Zilch.
In the middle of a witch hunt, when no one is certain where the enemy is getting their information, how far they've infiltrated, and how far they're willing to go -- this is not the right time to approach a stranger: "Oh, Hi! You have absolutely no idea who I am, and I have absolutely nothing to show you, but I like your work about this subject that's getting people kicked off of LiveJournal left and right, so would you blindly put me on the list of people you trust not to report you to the wrong authorities, please?" Yeah. I wouldn't, either.
This time, so far, the problem seems to have mostly gone away (most people are unlocking their fiction and meta, others are planning to unlock once they've reorganized and split-off anything personally identifiable). This time, only one of my fandoms (the one nearest and dearest to my heart, granted) was threatened.
I'm still leery. With this attack coming so close on the heels of the FanLib debacle, public attention has been drawn to fanfic. I think it's possible (not probable, but possible) that fans will have to find a new safe place. If that's so, well. Wither thou goest.
I just don't want to be left behind.
So, hi, y'all! *waves shyly, uncertain of reception* You rock my world.
Any other lurkers out there feeling the pinch?
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no subject
Date: 2007-06-02 12:16 am (UTC)I tend to lurk in a number of fandoms and when people started locking down I was incredibly grateful that I had on odd occasion left reviews.
And having just ordered Supernatural to see what all the fuss is about - I'm guessing there should be some interesting fic out there to read?!
*adds to friends as you can never have enough on ta intaweb*
no subject
Date: 2007-06-02 04:05 pm (UTC)So...gen? Het? Slash?
RE: watching Supernatural for the first time. I personally think it took them a few episodes to find their stride. I liked the Pilot and thought it showed a lot of promise, but didn't fall OMG so-totally-in-love until Eps. 5 & 6. As always, YMMV.
*Friends you back!*
no subject
Date: 2007-06-02 11:55 pm (UTC)Very true - the trick is to find the decent stuff and learn to avoid the bad...
So...gen? Het? Slash?
Erm... Actually - partial to all. I'm equal opportunities when it comes to pairings - I'll give anything a try and see if the author(s) can convince me! Which is how I am in most fandoms... Except QAF which is the only thing I have an OTP for.
RE: watching Supernatural for the first time. I personally think it took them a few episodes to find their stride. I liked the Pilot and thought it showed a lot of promise, but didn't fall OMG so-totally-in-love until Eps. 5 & 6. As always, YMMV.
I confess - the dvds were on offer and I was bored. They should be delivered to my door asap! Once they are I think I'll spend the weekend watching the first series...
no subject
Date: 2007-06-03 12:53 pm (UTC)The end result of this is that there's an exceptional amount of really good gen in this fandom, too.
Have you found
Once you get done watching, I'd be curious to know what you think of the show. Have fun watching!
no subject
Date: 2007-06-03 05:53 pm (UTC)This is really an odd fandom for the slashers. These two beautiful boys who have this incredible on-screen chemistry, are portraying brothers. So to slash them with each other, you have to make them commit incest. Which squicks a lot of people. To get around the incest factor, lots of writers write stories about the actors instead. You know, RPS. Which...squicks a lot of people. (The RPS actually squicked me more than the incest, but if any show will realign one's boundaries of the acceptable, it's this one!)
I was already aware of the issues in this fandom facing the slashers. I can read fanfiction where the pairing is based on incest as - well - it isn't *real*, so I can cope with that.
As for RPS stuff - sometimes I can read it, other times I wonder why on earth I am even bothering. *shrugs* It depends on who has written it and how I feel at the time of reading.
To be honest it is more up to the author - if they can convince me a pairing works - then I'm usually more than happy to give their fic a go!
The end result of this is that there's an exceptional amount of really good gen in this fandom, too.
Well, if I can't cope with the slash etc - its always nice to have other options.
Have you found spnnewsletter yet? It's where I start my day, every day.
No, but I'm sure I'll be adding it to my friendslist as soon as I've finished this reply!
Once you get done watching, I'd be curious to know what you think of the show. Have fun watching!
According to the place I ordered it from - its already in the post - so it should be turning up around Wednesday...
And now the coding should be right! *crosses fingers*
no subject
Date: 2007-06-04 11:09 pm (UTC)I never minded the incest, myself, because I actually like themes that deal with dark, difficult, twisted emotions. But sometimes I just want light and fluffy. 'Round these parts, that tends to happens in the RPS. And the SPN RPS is just so easy, 'cuz those two boys always talk about how much they have in common, and they bonded over Texas, and there are all of these pictures out there where they're hugging, and touching, and goofing, and smiling at each other.... Really, they set themselves up for it. :)