Color me curious

[gabrielleabelle]

I've been having an interesting time going through fail_fandomanon. I don't usually look at anon memes, but there's some thought-provoking discussion on that one. Also, some cringe-inducing and icky discussion. However, I'm largely intrigued by it in that nerdy, sociological way of mine.

I came across one thread recently about reviewing fanfic in one's own

Comments

[blackfrancine]

I'd say it's pretty much OK to discuss a fic--but I'd add the caveat that if ALL you're going to do is burn it to the ground--or just criticize it rather harshly--you should take some precautions. Friends lock. Or something. So, basically, I think discussion, middle-of-the-road criticism, and review is fine--but mockery or really brutal criticism should be kept for limited circles of friends.

[gabrielleabelle]

Yeah. I should have clarified that by "review", I'm not including flat-out flames or sporking or such. Thoughtful reviews of thoughts on fics is fine. Tearing something apart? Eh, it can be done publicly, but I think it's a bit more difficult.

[me_llamo_nic]

At the risk of looking stupid, I'm gonna jump in here with a question.

Sporking??

I've never heard that one (in fandom).

Where I come from, sporking means you stick a bunch of sporks in someone's front lawn and then either ring the doorbell and run or just leave them to be found in the morning.

What does it mean in fandom?

[gabrielleabelle]

lol!

Ah, are you familiar with MST3k? Back around the days of Usenet, people used to apply the MST3k treatment to fanfics (MSTings). This eventually warped into "sporkings", which is when people take a fic and add their own snarky notes to it. It's rude. I don't like it. I liked MSTings, though (there was an etiquette to MSTings).

[me_llamo_nic]

I don't know what MST3K means, but I think I've read some of what you're describing in the Harry Potter and Final Fantasy fandoms. I remember finding a lot of what I read to be quite funny. Though I'm not sure if I read sporkings or MSTings (because I'm still not 100% clear on the meaning of the latter).

[gabrielleabelle]

MST3K = Mystery Science Theater 3000

A TV show that used to riff on bad movies. MSTings were the equivalent of fanfic for the show (that entailed riffing on bad fanfic).

[me_llamo_nic]

Okay, then what's the difference between sporking and MSTing?

I'm just completely failing to grasp this, aren't I?

[gabrielleabelle]

lol!

MSTing uses the MST3K characters. It usually includes what are called "host segments" that revolve around the MST3K characters and their crazy antics.

Sporkings don't have characters. They're just taking a person's fanfic and adding their own snarky comments to it. Sporkings are MSTings without the MST3K, basically.

I have examples!

Here's a MSTing of a very bad Star Trek fanfic by Stephen Ratliff. It's a classic.

Here's a random sporking of some fic I pulled up on Google. I don't read sporkings usually...

[me_llamo_nic]

Okay, the things I've read are somewhere in the middle. I don't recall anything with those characters specifically. I have seen stuff with characters from the fandom (for example, imagine if Dawn, Willow, and Xander were snarking on a Spuffy fic). And also stuff that seems like it's 3 or more friends that have just gotten together for the purpose of sporking as they read a fic (and those may have actually just been characters that I'm not recalling properly).

I've never read anything portrayed quite like the second example, with a single person just pointing out their personal take on things (which seems to be considerably less entertaining).

I believe I understand the distinction now. =D

[angearia]

Oh lol! I've done that once, but not to fanfic. It was to like my old internet nemesis back on a forum. I called it the Red Text version. But yeah, he was evil and deserved it. Also, really bad writing.

I recognize it was evil, but he also wrote me in as a character in his murder mystery story and had me die horrifically (like, chainsaw death). So yeah.

[blackfrancine]

He did what?! That is insane. Anyone who does that... their work is fair game.

But, hey. That's bizarrely flattering that you were given a chainsaw death. Because I can only imagine that if someone writes an actual person into a fic and then kills them, then you don't really want to be fighting on the same side as that person anyway--since they're clearly insane.

[blackfrancine]

I fail at html. Boo.

[ladyofthelog]

I recognize it was evil, but he also wrote me in as a character in his murder mystery story and had me die horrifically (like, chainsaw death).

(a) that is horrible
(b) also so absurd I burst out laughing