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petroniaOddly, I'm not nearly as bothered by the anonymous hate thread/comm thingies as I am by previous iterations of the Protestant self-criticism meme in fandom (I came across this line in some socio-political text or other I read recently. Anglo Protestants built the self-criticism inherent in their religion into other aspects of their lives, including the modern democratic model. Thus the urge to self-police remains even after the religion is lost. Or something like that). In fact I find it extremely funny, a sign that I'm not taking it seriously. ^^; I've thought about it and decided this is precisely because the comments are anonymous. The adoption of anonymity demonstrates that the posters know they'd incur social consequence, or consequence period, by making these comments under their own names. Put it another way: they know they're just being assholes and blowing off steam. It's much better than being unpleasantly ranty under one's own (livejournal) name, which would tend to indicate high levels of self-righteousness, and the underlying belief that one is doing the world a favour by exposing and mocking "bad practices". (Or, as a secondary hypothesis, it would tend to indicate that the person is a vituperative ass and doesn't care who knows it.) I don't have an inherent problem with liminal behaviour as long as it's well contained within a liminal space, and ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
fanfic_hate certainly serves that purpose. It's like cosplaying: great at a con, but you'll look a right fool dressing up as Tenjou Utena to go to the supermarket. So by all means go and leave your anonymous burning hate all over the hate comm, if you really can't keep it in, and come back a calmer and kinder person for it.
(As for the hit the ficcers presumably take from being called out: I dunno. Maybe - certainly, in fact - I'd be more bothered if someone I knew were put on the spot and made to feel miserable. Personally I don't feel threatened by the idea. Smug in my self-esteem and my native independence, I guess. XD Just as I'm not so insecure that badfic getting more gushing feedback than my own (presumably) goodfic makes me gnash my teeth, so I can't imagine getting bashed on an anonymous forum would really destroy my week. I'd be burningly curious as to whether I knew the person, and I'd probably try to discuss it with them like the dork I am - "Really? What don't you like about the characterisation?" - but bottom line, if I think it's good it's good, and everyone else can go hang.
...That being said, from experience, if a third party says there's something wrong with the fic, and they can say it in good standard English with no errors, then nine times out of ten they're right. It might take me upwards of a year to come around to their POV, but they usually are. Whether or not they're an ass about it is a separate consideration from whether or not they're right, and should be dealt with accordingly. Even so I'd vastly prefer to know if someone were bothered by my fic, or even me personally - I mean what's an Internet person supposed to say about me? "She writes pretentious crap and thinks she's so smart, but guess what, nobody cares"? how can I be insulted by that? It's 100% true XD - because I'm socially dense by nature, and in RL I've been known to put my foot in it. So actually, if anyone has an issue with me, enryo shinaide, get it out in the open. Or mail me if you don't want to make a public issue of it, and we'll set up a nice little early morning duel in a private field somewhere. XDXD)
I suppose a good deal of my view on the matter stems from the fact that I don't perceive "fandom" itself as a liminal space - it's just what I use to communicate with my more geographically disparate social circle based on interest, more or less. Other people might. But personally, I apply the same standards of politeness, restraint and transparency online as I do offline. It's not so much that I have a point to prove, merely that I see no reason to do otherwise. (And once again, so not a hater. XD I was amused enough by the hate comm that I considered posting about some fic I hated, only to reach the conclusion that I don't hate any fic enough to produce a scathingly witty comment. The feelings that badfic produce in me - bemusement, amused dismay - bear no resemblance even to minor irritation, let alone full-blown indignation.)
fanfic_hate certainly serves that purpose. It's like cosplaying: great at a con, but you'll look a right fool dressing up as Tenjou Utena to go to the supermarket. So by all means go and leave your anonymous burning hate all over the hate comm, if you really can't keep it in, and come back a calmer and kinder person for it.(As for the hit the ficcers presumably take from being called out: I dunno. Maybe - certainly, in fact - I'd be more bothered if someone I knew were put on the spot and made to feel miserable. Personally I don't feel threatened by the idea. Smug in my self-esteem and my native independence, I guess. XD Just as I'm not so insecure that badfic getting more gushing feedback than my own (presumably) goodfic makes me gnash my teeth, so I can't imagine getting bashed on an anonymous forum would really destroy my week. I'd be burningly curious as to whether I knew the person, and I'd probably try to discuss it with them like the dork I am - "Really? What don't you like about the characterisation?" - but bottom line, if I think it's good it's good, and everyone else can go hang.
...That being said, from experience, if a third party says there's something wrong with the fic, and they can say it in good standard English with no errors, then nine times out of ten they're right. It might take me upwards of a year to come around to their POV, but they usually are. Whether or not they're an ass about it is a separate consideration from whether or not they're right, and should be dealt with accordingly. Even so I'd vastly prefer to know if someone were bothered by my fic, or even me personally - I mean what's an Internet person supposed to say about me? "She writes pretentious crap and thinks she's so smart, but guess what, nobody cares"? how can I be insulted by that? It's 100% true XD - because I'm socially dense by nature, and in RL I've been known to put my foot in it. So actually, if anyone has an issue with me, enryo shinaide, get it out in the open. Or mail me if you don't want to make a public issue of it, and we'll set up a nice little early morning duel in a private field somewhere. XDXD)
I suppose a good deal of my view on the matter stems from the fact that I don't perceive "fandom" itself as a liminal space - it's just what I use to communicate with my more geographically disparate social circle based on interest, more or less. Other people might. But personally, I apply the same standards of politeness, restraint and transparency online as I do offline. It's not so much that I have a point to prove, merely that I see no reason to do otherwise. (And once again, so not a hater. XD I was amused enough by the hate comm that I considered posting about some fic I hated, only to reach the conclusion that I don't hate any fic enough to produce a scathingly witty comment. The feelings that badfic produce in me - bemusement, amused dismay - bear no resemblance even to minor irritation, let alone full-blown indignation.)
