I do not volunteer for suffering
Sep. 24th, 2010 11:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
justalurkrHas anyone else been in fandom long enough to wig out a bit at the prospect of entering a new one?
Of course I don't have the usual "what is fandom all about???" jitters. I've been knocking around various media fandoms since 199(coff). It's the possibility of the endless frakkin' wank that deters me now.
I'd been backing slowly away from online fandom (beyond reading copious amounts of fanfic, of course) even before the Great Retinal Odyssey began 9/17/2008 (for pity's sake, that's been two years already, and I'm still doing retinal specialist followups?) The extreme variability and questionable durability of my vision vastly curtailed my fanfic habit and pretty much eliminated my LJ and Facebook update habits (which were never any of the best.) I'd been backing slowly away because I was no longer amused by the endless rounds of wank that arise in all sorts of fandoms: warnings. spoilers, OMG IS FANFIC EVEN LEGAL?, what floats my boat is cool but what floats your boat IS TEH EBIL!!!1!, the endless moral rectum-tude over slash v. het...I'm sure everyone has their own list, and it might even overlap mine.
The question arose because I just finished listening to S.M. Stirling's "The Sword of the Lady," and am pretty sure I missed something, because woah. That ending was Early Acid Trip Cliffhanger, and I'd like to pick the brains of other fans to see if I simply ADD'd something & am being excessively judgmental or if it for serious and for real was that trippy.
Then I remembered reading somewhere that a character involved in the final scenes actually originated in fanfic on the Emberverse (see OMG IS FANFIC EVEN LEGAL??? above) and that "Early Acid Trip Cliffhanger" might be a hot button judgment in addition to the fact there is a potential sense of humor failure inherent in some fans over the term "Add'd," both from the perspective of discriminating against the mentally challenged and that of People Who Make Up Words ARE EVIL and Need to BE DESTROYED.
(For the record, I have a clinical diagnosis of Adult Attention Deficit Disorder and am pretty sure there is a disability in play, but I'm not the one who has it.)
Wackiness ensued as I recalled any number of wanks to which I was reluctant witness and occasionally reluctant participant.
(Aside for nialla: CASTING COUCH. Yeah. I went there. Also, "me, too.")
Yeah, so. How many of you all reading this jumped into LJ as a result of following your fandom here from mailing lists (associated fandom wank: "LJ is Killing My Fandom!") but find yourself just here for the fic, or maybe not even here for the fandom at all?
____________________
Note: on the subject of retinal followups, I had one today, and it went so well, I don't need to have any more for the next six months. Go 360 degree prophylactic lasering!
edited while still under the influence of rum and coke to fix Things Wrong Wot I Noticed Even While Tipsy (no telling if this will even be here in the morning when I'm sober. Did it actually make any sense?)
Of course I don't have the usual "what is fandom all about???" jitters. I've been knocking around various media fandoms since 199(coff). It's the possibility of the endless frakkin' wank that deters me now.
I'd been backing slowly away from online fandom (beyond reading copious amounts of fanfic, of course) even before the Great Retinal Odyssey began 9/17/2008 (for pity's sake, that's been two years already, and I'm still doing retinal specialist followups?) The extreme variability and questionable durability of my vision vastly curtailed my fanfic habit and pretty much eliminated my LJ and Facebook update habits (which were never any of the best.) I'd been backing slowly away because I was no longer amused by the endless rounds of wank that arise in all sorts of fandoms: warnings. spoilers, OMG IS FANFIC EVEN LEGAL?, what floats my boat is cool but what floats your boat IS TEH EBIL!!!1!, the endless moral rectum-tude over slash v. het...I'm sure everyone has their own list, and it might even overlap mine.
The question arose because I just finished listening to S.M. Stirling's "The Sword of the Lady," and am pretty sure I missed something, because woah. That ending was Early Acid Trip Cliffhanger, and I'd like to pick the brains of other fans to see if I simply ADD'd something & am being excessively judgmental or if it for serious and for real was that trippy.
Then I remembered reading somewhere that a character involved in the final scenes actually originated in fanfic on the Emberverse (see OMG IS FANFIC EVEN LEGAL??? above) and that "Early Acid Trip Cliffhanger" might be a hot button judgment in addition to the fact there is a potential sense of humor failure inherent in some fans over the term "Add'd," both from the perspective of discriminating against the mentally challenged and that of People Who Make Up Words ARE EVIL and Need to BE DESTROYED.
(For the record, I have a clinical diagnosis of Adult Attention Deficit Disorder and am pretty sure there is a disability in play, but I'm not the one who has it.)
Wackiness ensued as I recalled any number of wanks to which I was reluctant witness and occasionally reluctant participant.
(Aside for nialla: CASTING COUCH. Yeah. I went there. Also, "me, too.")
Yeah, so. How many of you all reading this jumped into LJ as a result of following your fandom here from mailing lists (associated fandom wank: "LJ is Killing My Fandom!") but find yourself just here for the fic, or maybe not even here for the fandom at all?
____________________
Note: on the subject of retinal followups, I had one today, and it went so well, I don't need to have any more for the next six months. Go 360 degree prophylactic lasering!
edited while still under the influence of rum and coke to fix Things Wrong Wot I Noticed Even While Tipsy (no telling if this will even be here in the morning when I'm sober. Did it actually make any sense?)
But why is all the rum gone?
Date: 2010-09-27 01:42 am (UTC)Yeah, so. How many of you all reading this jumped into LJ as a result of following your fandom here from mailing lists (associated fandom wank: "LJ is Killing My Fandom!") but find yourself just here for the fic, or maybe not even here for the fandom at all?
LJ is about the only connection I have with any fandom, beyond fanfic reading. And most of that is originally linked on LJ.
I followed Stargate fandom here and found a lot of others (I have people on my flist I knew in Highlander fandom nearly 20 years ago). Much easier to keep up with than multiple email lists, and definitely a lot easier to discuss things in a personal journal that would be off topic on a list. There are a lot of fandoms I only discuss in personal LJs. The comms and big gathering places are just so full of wank and I don't want to wade through all of it.
I don't think of it as "entering a new fandom" anymore. It's more like "flirting with a new fandom when I feel like it." I can search for fic in LJ or AO3 with very little exposure to wankitude.
I have been pondering something about Geezer Fandoms. It may be my imagination, but there are some fandoms that were around for ages before the Internet, and they're still running along nicely. With more recent fandoms, it seems like people are more likely to come and go as the fannish wind blows. They can more easily find fic, but they're less likely to stick with it.
It also feels like older fandoms that were around in the zine days are more likely to have less, er, bad fic, or at least unintentionally bad fic. Maybe that's one of the factors in why people are more likely to stay (I cringe in some newer fandoms I want to read fic, but they make my right eye twitch when I try), as well as just having a more established foundation.
Re: But why is all the rum gone?
Date: 2010-09-27 01:59 am (UTC)Lord, I am such a lightweight. One jigger in a can of coke and splat.
Anyway, I expect that In the Beginning, there was the Word, and people who went to the trouble of publishing zines respected that and didn't have to be told the value of good spelling, logical syntax and why a story needs to have a beginning, middle and end. They taught those things in school back in the day and no one graduated until they'd larnt'm good.
Also, there was that nine mile hike to school in the snow, uphill. BOTH WAYS.
Aside from the fact that people invested considerably more time in their fandom productions, there weren't that many fandoms to be had. If you wanted to see print, you had to meet someone's standards, editor and then reader. Anyone with an internet connection and a basic understanding of how to post to ff.net, lj.com or what have you can see print and will find someone to cheer them on, no matter how many fandoms they have to traverse.
Kids these days. No learning, no loyalty! [whacks geezer cane] AND LOOK WHAT THEY DID TO MY LAWN!
PS. I've stopped worrying about the Early Acid Trip to Cliffhangerville that was the Sword of the Lady ending and started listening to High King of Montivale. It's a much more productive use of my time than hunting down a new pack of wackjobs.
Re: But why is all the rum gone?
Date: 2010-09-27 03:36 am (UTC)Going online has been a blessing and a curse for fandom.
With fic you have it being so much easier to publish and archive, not to mention being free to read instead of having to place an order or buy at a con if you were lucky enough to find someone selling slash zines under the table.
In both cases, it doesn't mean it's going to be good, but since Sturgeon's Law applies, that means there's more crap to wade through to find the 10% worth reading these days. I tend to do what I do with my pro fic authors -- follow authors I know I like, and listen to recommendations from those I trust.
The (de)evolution of fannish discussion has changed in some ways, but it's really all the same in a sense. I downloaded something a couple of weeks ago because the reception on my DVR went to crap, and I marveled at how Back In The Day people who had early forms of satellite dishes could watch syndicated shows when the sat feed went out to the local stations.
They would type up a summary of events and discussion would begin, even though it could be about a week before it aired on an individual's local station.
Even though this was being described by someone who actually saw it, those spoilers could sometimes be as deceiving as those put out by TPTB today. Though back then I don't think there was the intent to deceive, just misunderstood events, missed subtext (that not everyone was looking for), and different POVs on events. TPTB have different POVs from some fans too, but they often poke into fannish things to stir up interest. That can often backfire and turn off fans on both sides of the divide.
The scary bit is we came into things right as it was changing from print only to online. There were at least two or more "fan generations" before that which were print only. I recall all the dithering about how zine fic could be published online for a set length of time, and how many viewed it as for "quick reads" and not serious fic.
Listening to Lois McMaster Bujold describe women first engaging in fannish things and in a different way that men did was a revelation. Also reminded me of when I used to record the audio from Battlestar Galactica so I could listen to it later, which she had done with the original Star Trek and felt it helped early fan writers with the character nuances.
My family got a VCR for Christmas one year (I was asked "A V-C-what?" multiple times), and within a few years most people could record shows, but I really think listening to audio only can force someone to listen to the nuances in dialogue that can make a difference in characterization. Though in porny fic, characterization usually isn't as relevant.
I've recently started reading some of the m/m romance porn porny romance that's been coming out recently. I need something to get me through dry spells of fanfic. Jan got me started on J.L. Langley, and it's total crack. One series is a futuristic Regency, with a touch of Bujold's uterine replicators allowing males to have children without female DNA. The tech isn't as important as it is in Bujold's Vorkosigan stories (and especially Ethan of Athos), but I think the author may have been influenced.