Experimental until stated otherwise. - Kind of fascinating, like watching lemmings jumping to their deaths

Kind of fascinating, like watching lemmings jumping to their deaths

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Kind of fascinating, like watching lemmings jumping to their deaths

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Aug. 24th, 2005 at 8:39 PM

Fandom has gone mad.

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naanima.livejournal.com wrote:

Aug. 25th, 2005 02:45 am (UTC)

Ok. Lj is being evil. It keep on cutting off the second half of my comments. If this doens't work. I'm emailing you.

Oh trust me, that's pretty much how it ended (with the gnashing of teeths of course.)

That's perfectly fine, but to ban someone from your lj because they pointed out a small error? I mean, that's just pushing it. Mind you, I have always operated under the 'don't agree, don't comment.' (Unless I know them well enough that they won't get irritated if I point out certain errors)

I'd ABSOLUTELY love a dnc, makes me feel less guilty when I don't comment on their fics.

And here we get to the crux of the issue: Compromise is needed, but the problem is no one knows where that line is. Like you said different authors want different things, I, personally, woud like someone to crtic my writings (if I ever write anything), to point out my mistakes so I don't feel like a complete fool if I ever published on a bigger play ground than my lj. Not saying I don't like praise, but I'm looking more to perfecting/bettering myself than getting praise for what I already know I'm good at. Either way, it is a frustrating issue, because I keep on hearing what the writer is entitled too, but what about the reader?

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worldserpent.livejournal.com wrote:

Aug. 25th, 2005 07:49 am (UTC)

People just need to be cured of the delusion that fandom is generally about anything useful or productive. XD

I agree, but this is exactly why I don't bother to comment either. Never mind the banning, what about the wasted effort? It's kind of amorphous in the fic what exactly these errors are; don't know much about the fandom, but the "whomever who blahb lbah" sentence looked wrong to me, and I can't put my finger on it exactly, but it did look like there were a lot of things that had the feel of sloppiness rather than artistic license.

Yeah, there is no line. Usually it's only the writers who care to post rants, so this leads to a buildup of frustration and a revanchist effort, followed by... well, you know the story. The problem with every compromise is that it will suit the majority of people, but the vocal minorities on both ends will nearly always be upset, and continue to be so. And of course it isn't fully a democratic thing, because the squeaky wheels get the grease, and yet at the same time people vote with their feet.

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naanima.livejournal.com wrote:

Aug. 29th, 2005 02:46 am (UTC)

It is true though XD.

Exactly, I have taken in the warning signs, and will only reply to people that want me too. It is a case of taking things way too personally, and well, if you can't the critique as constructive criticism than maybe you should only write to people who will only praise you. *sighs* People are strange.

Democracy is one of those philosophies that sounds wonderful in theory, but seriously, there is not such thing as freedom for all, blah, blah. Either way fandom is like a political system on itself.

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worldserpent.livejournal.com wrote:

Aug. 30th, 2005 05:53 pm (UTC)

Or even as unconstructive criticism. I suppose people are upset because readers not getting the piece does sometimes indicate a kind of failure, but geez, as we can see from fandom, even the pros get misread and it's often more about the reader. (What I don't get about this debate is that fandom is a radical (sometimes *too radical* for my tastes) privileging of the reader... surely one must certainly *expect* exactly this of such readers!)

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naanima.livejournal.com wrote:

Aug. 31st, 2005 03:57 am (UTC)

Mixed signals makes me experience much headache. I can see why the writer would be irritated by the reader not understanding the Deep and Meaningful of a piece, but geez, just be glad the 'stupid' reader are willing to comment on your fic no matter how stupid (flames are different). Exactly, it is nothing new, everyone (or they should) who gets invoved in fandom should know the pitfuls of writing for a highly consumer-directed audience ('more! MORE! MORE! NOW! NOW!). I'm not sure about the 'radical' nature of the reader, I'm not doubting they exsit, it is just I'm beginning to question if authors (fanfic) are too 'radical' as well.

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worldserpent.livejournal.com wrote:

Aug. 31st, 2005 05:11 am (UTC)

I mean, if the fic is *truly* deep n' meaningful, shouldn't it be a given that the majority are not going to get it anyway, considering what the baseline is? If you take the people who are writing and considering those who are reading probably have even less skill, what can one expect?

I guess the wheel keeps turning round and round... but we never get anywhere. XD Kristi probably has the best handle on the situation. (In other words, 'why are we having this discussion again?' is as good a response as any)

I guess I think when you yourself are a 'radical' reader, you shouldn't be surprised when you get them?

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naanima.livejournal.com wrote:

Aug. 31st, 2005 11:47 pm (UTC)

Exactly. It is not a secret that the vocal-majority of the fandom are young, or just not interested in the deep and meaningful (it is all about the pron my friend).

I think that's a great way of looking at it. Will stop talking about this after this comment (maybe). And will spend my time reading fics and NOT commenting.

I prefer the term 'open-minded' ;p

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worldserpent.livejournal.com wrote:

Sep. 1st, 2005 05:38 pm (UTC)

People never get tired of it because they have substantial benefit from changing or keeping the status quo, socially. Even people who write rants about how no one is entitled to anything feel obliged to tell people to comment, which makes me laugh.

True. Ph33r the open-minded reader. XD

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October 2009