(no subject)

[petronia]

I've decided that anyone who gets involved in a fandom flamewar - in any guise or fashion - is a jackass.

No, really, think about it. It doesn't matter who was in the wrong. Someone has to be the first jackass, but everyone else has to descend to that level before it can go on. The adult thing to do is to laugh. And by laugh, I don't mean publically mock. That's still being a jackass.

...It's just as well I'm good at forgiving ears and tails on people, as long as they have other redeeming qualities.

Comments

[worldserpent.livejournal.com]

Whoa, what happened?

Obviously I don't share your sensibilities on flamewars, but I must say you're a better person than I for being able to forgive fandom in general. If I were bothered by the unsuprising degree of personal conflict in fandom, I would have left long ago.

[petronia.livejournal.com]

Satori happened. *g* No, really, nothing much prompted this, unless you count my wondering idly why fandom_wank bothers me on an instinctive level. (Which it does. My sympathies tend to automatically gravitate toward the mocked, which is something else considering that their purported ridiculous behaviour so often is.)

[serendip.livejournal.com]

I think it also depends on what one calls a redeeming quality. There aren't v. many in my mind, and it's often hard to acknowledge/recognise those on the internet. (For moi, at least.)

I'm far more judgmental but tend to keep mouth shut (which is shocking, I know XD) and I go to the internet for laughs anyways. ^_^

[petronia.livejournal.com]

Sadly(?), I forgive anything as long as the person writes/draws well. ...Well, maybe not if they beat me up and take my wallet, so it's just as well internet people can't do that. XD

Judgmental but keeping mouth shut is fine. Judgmental but physically incapable of keeping mouth shut is a bit of a asinine trait on and off the web, you have to admit.

[serendip.livejournal.com]

Ah, but I do have a big mouth. It just needs to be accompanied with my cheeky charm in order for it to fly, see? And that simply does not compute. (Or translate into mere text so well.)

Draco: -What- cheeky charm?
Jae: No one asked you, buddy. XD

Or perhaps it's more clear that I am insane face to face, thus giving people more license to ignore me. XDXD

[fyredancer.livejournal.com]

That's a hasty generalisation.

No, really, think about it.

[petronia.livejournal.com]

Well, the way I put it up there is a bit tongue-in-cheek. But we can talk about it in more depth if you like? ^_^ ...Starting with, there are some people I know - good writers, maintainers of sites and blogs, fairly well-known in their respective fandoms - whom I follow closely and haven't seen in any kind of severe fandom disagreement in years, if at all. Then there are other people I talk to, of roughly equivalent fandom standing, whose fannish existence seems to be a neverending succession of vicious flamewars. And the spectrum in between. Now, everyone loses their temper once in a while, especially when someone else is being an obvious asshole in one's or one's friends' general direction - but what I'm saying is that flames/controversy/etc. are NOT a fandom inevitability, even if one has BNF visibility. So a person who consistently attracts controversy, be it flames of the misspelt 1337 type even, should probably examine themselves to see where they fit into the problem. ...Though when I say "should", what I really mean is "I would like them to", because this kind of stuff exhausts me just to look at, and prevents me from reading people's blogs as often as I would like for the stuff I do enjoy, such as fic, random fangirling and real-life posts.

(Appropriately, Winamp has just pulled Thom Yorke droning, "I'm a reasonable man / get off my case / get off my case / get off my case...")

[petronia.livejournal.com]

The bit about fandom inevitability is probably the major point, here. I get a lot of people who say things like, "Well, I'm not really in the fandom. It would be nice, but I just don't have the energy for it." And I'm thinking, honey, you write fic, draw art, post to blogs, post to MLs, keep a website, RP, participate in other people's challenges - in what way are you not in fandom? And what it comes down to is, they never argue with people. So it feels to them like they're off in their own corner doing their own little thing with nobody paying attention, so to speak. ^^;

[fyredancer.livejournal.com]

That would be me. Usually. For the most part, I don't consider myself to be in fandom, but when you put it that way, I suppose I am?

[petronia.livejournal.com]

Geezus, Tay, if you're not in fandom nobody is. XD

[worldserpent.livejournal.com]

Whoa, wait a second, define "vicious flamewar." It isn't the same thing as "controversy" IMHO. I suppose the real reason there are controversies is that people don't see it as a "problem"--they like weighing in on the controversy of the day, as if it were a meme. Maybe you should ask them to LJ-cut so you can avoid reading them? Thinking back on the flamewars that I've gotten into...heck, I only consider myself to be flamed for real once. My personality is just enough avoidant vs confrontational that I've rarely gotten myself into a controversy that I really didn't want to be in.

[petronia.livejournal.com]

"Vicious flamewar" = when people start to cast aspersion on each other IMO, not just a particular position in a disagreement. So-and-so is a bitch, is thoughtless and immature, has never been anything but condescending in every discussion we've had, etc. etc. I believe we touched on this one in your comments a little while ago, and my position was that yes, I think you *can* form a valid judgment on someone's personality based on your online experience of them, but that doesn't mean you have to broadcast it to the world. I can't ask people to lj-cut entries just because I don't want to look at those particular ones, though - it's their space, and I'm not Her Royal Highness Queen Of Blogdom. (Yet.)

I wouldn't say I've ever seen you participate in a flamewar. You weigh in on controversies, impartially and most sensibly. ^_^

[lesstraveled.livejournal.com]

Word.

Several fandoms I occasionally riffle through seem to be in such an uproar these days (or perhaps it's just a case of a few people standing on tall soapboxes?) that I'm thinking that it should maybe be a requirement to sign up for yoga classes or meditation-breathing-exercises before setting foot in a fandom. ^_^

[z107m.livejournal.com]

ditto. though dunno about that yoga...

fallen out of fandom completely for that reason. (then again, seeing the warring academics is even uglier sometimes -_-) i think as a very wide generalization, it works. its no different than the ugly mudd war incidents. the antagonists stay on, they change names, they fester, etc. divisions are created from one list to the next, but then that list falls apart because of another war, and on it goes.

sorta pathetic as a case study of social norms.