ten is for everything
For various reasons lately, I've been thinking about how to get along in general fandom-at-large (as opposed to a fandom for a specific source) on LJ/DW/etc., or at least how to not piss a majority of people off before you even get to things that are actually worth pissing people off over, and though it's not anything that hasn't been said a million times before, I thought I'd share what I came up with:
10. turn off your smart quotes. No, really, curly quotes are not necessary, and while they aren't quite the havoc-wreakers they were back in the days of usenet or mailing lists, they can still bollocks up the works (e.g., cut-tags, links, user names) pretty thoroughly, making your posts difficult to read.
9. don't use the rich text editor. Just don't. It is of the devil. It will screw your post up and make editing it a nightmare. It also adds a metric fuckton* of bad code to your post and crowds out actual content, which is why people who use it end up splitting 6K word stories into two posts (which, for the record, I personally find really irritating). This is especially the case if you are participating in any group activity where a community mod might have to post or edit for you. Also, don't hard code your fonts in (except if you are indicating headers/different variations of text [e.g., text messages in a story] etc.), don't force your formatting on people who might find it unsightly at best and impossible to read at worst. Because mostly, they're just not going to read your posts then, and what good does that do you?
8. I forget what 8 was for.
7. I am not even joking. (FYI, on Dreamwidth, it's just ) (PS: That was not meant to be a working cut tag.)
6. try not to post or comment in anger. Write your amazingly articulate yet passionate screed (or your incoherent CAPSLOCKY post of RAGE), and then let it sit overnight (or for a few hours at least). If you still feel the need to make the post, be very honest with yourself about your ability to deal with the consequences. Sometimes there won't be any. And sometimes you will be in for a world of hurt. If you don't have the intestinal fortitude to deal with it, you have a number of options: delete the post, make it private, send it as an email to a close friend, lock it to a small trusted group of people, or post with the comments turned off (note: the latter two options may still bring you trouble, depending on your definition of "small" and "trusted," but you should be able to see it coming on the horizon). (This is in relation to fannish things rather than serious issues, where there might never be a time you aren't angry about it, whatever it may be.)
5. sometimes it's just better not to engage. It might seem like a good idea at the time, but how often do those times actually end up being good ideas? I mean, seriously. Think about it. Don't click on things you know are going to make you crazy. (this is, like, rule #1 of the internet: Don't read the comments!) Don't comment if you do. This is why we have email and IM and text and the telephone - to vent at mostly like-minded people without engaging the people who are never gonna agree with us and who will drive us crazy when they don't.
4. not everything you think has to be shared with the internet (or, at least the fannish LJ/DW/etc. portion of it. What you do on Facebook or Twitter is none of my concern here. Though if you repost your twitters here, cut-tag them.). Especially if it's prefaced with the words "I don't know if this is allowed in this community" or goes something like this: "I see that you're squeeing about X but I don't see what there is to squee about because X sucks!" If you are wondering, "should I even make this comment?" the answer is probably "no."
3. don't think that only the people you know about are reading. It's the internet. There are always lurkers. Also, if it's public, people might link to it. It's kind of how the whole internet works.
2. don't say anything you wouldn't sign your name to. (You know what, guys? When I write something, I sign my name. Here, I'll show you. [writes] You're fired. S. Seaborn.) [eta] To clarify, I don't mean your legal name. Just the name/pseud you are known by in these circles. [/eta]
1. try not to be an asshole. You'll fail at least some of the time. When you do, put on your big girl panties, own up to it, and apologize.
--
*actual measurement
~*~
10. turn off your smart quotes. No, really, curly quotes are not necessary, and while they aren't quite the havoc-wreakers they were back in the days of usenet or mailing lists, they can still bollocks up the works (e.g., cut-tags, links, user names) pretty thoroughly, making your posts difficult to read.
9. don't use the rich text editor. Just don't. It is of the devil. It will screw your post up and make editing it a nightmare. It also adds a metric fuckton* of bad code to your post and crowds out actual content, which is why people who use it end up splitting 6K word stories into two posts (which, for the record, I personally find really irritating). This is especially the case if you are participating in any group activity where a community mod might have to post or edit for you. Also, don't hard code your fonts in (except if you are indicating headers/different variations of text [e.g., text messages in a story] etc.), don't force your formatting on people who might find it unsightly at best and impossible to read at worst. Because mostly, they're just not going to read your posts then, and what good does that do you?
8. I forget what 8 was for.
7. I am not even joking. (FYI, on Dreamwidth, it's just ) (PS: That was not meant to be a working cut tag.)
6. try not to post or comment in anger. Write your amazingly articulate yet passionate screed (or your incoherent CAPSLOCKY post of RAGE), and then let it sit overnight (or for a few hours at least). If you still feel the need to make the post, be very honest with yourself about your ability to deal with the consequences. Sometimes there won't be any. And sometimes you will be in for a world of hurt. If you don't have the intestinal fortitude to deal with it, you have a number of options: delete the post, make it private, send it as an email to a close friend, lock it to a small trusted group of people, or post with the comments turned off (note: the latter two options may still bring you trouble, depending on your definition of "small" and "trusted," but you should be able to see it coming on the horizon). (This is in relation to fannish things rather than serious issues, where there might never be a time you aren't angry about it, whatever it may be.)
5. sometimes it's just better not to engage. It might seem like a good idea at the time, but how often do those times actually end up being good ideas? I mean, seriously. Think about it. Don't click on things you know are going to make you crazy. (this is, like, rule #1 of the internet: Don't read the comments!) Don't comment if you do. This is why we have email and IM and text and the telephone - to vent at mostly like-minded people without engaging the people who are never gonna agree with us and who will drive us crazy when they don't.
4. not everything you think has to be shared with the internet (or, at least the fannish LJ/DW/etc. portion of it. What you do on Facebook or Twitter is none of my concern here. Though if you repost your twitters here, cut-tag them.). Especially if it's prefaced with the words "I don't know if this is allowed in this community" or goes something like this: "I see that you're squeeing about X but I don't see what there is to squee about because X sucks!" If you are wondering, "should I even make this comment?" the answer is probably "no."
3. don't think that only the people you know about are reading. It's the internet. There are always lurkers. Also, if it's public, people might link to it. It's kind of how the whole internet works.
2. don't say anything you wouldn't sign your name to. (You know what, guys? When I write something, I sign my name. Here, I'll show you. [writes] You're fired. S. Seaborn.) [eta] To clarify, I don't mean your legal name. Just the name/pseud you are known by in these circles. [/eta]
1. try not to be an asshole. You'll fail at least some of the time. When you do, put on your big girl panties, own up to it, and apologize.
--
*actual measurement
~*~