Good news so far, means great opportunities ahead
It seems as though fandom has mustered enough strength, and strong reasoning, to avert at least some of the bad acts and anti-democracy arising from FanLib and Strikethrough07. I'm a little concerned about the slowdown of my MacBook Pro on Safari and Firefox last night after visiting LJ, various media blogs, and *WFI* which seems to have done Bad Things (malware) to the innocent lj visitors!
So after a few notes here I will be off to do scans, dammit, and if WFI is the problem it seems to be, I will certainly be behind a massive complaint to their domain host. Re malware possibly coming from WFI:
http://community.livejournal.com/innocence_jihad/14245.html
http://liz-marcs.livejournal.com/267668.html
Includes links to removal ware: http://community.livejournal.com/innocence_jihad&itemid=96022
So, the good news: pornish_pixies and sbrb_blackcest are back, others as well, this shows SA's ability to (re)assess their actions and correct. With groveling apologies, etc. Personally, I accept them with a full heart, because (a) it's appropriate, (b) sincerely phrased, and (c) a good bit better than many give.
More good news: many of us recognize the need to not just react to this moment, but be able to *prevent* a recurrence.
My quick recap of
LESSONS LEARNED (first approximation; please add comments)
Positive
1. fandom is power; we have voices; we do get listened to.
2. fandom has pretty awesomely fast, if decentralized, internal communications.
3. fandom can take it with a good sense of humor (although I'm still waiting for the PinkGuy/BlueGuy and *heh* WFI/FanLib slash, and hey, X-overs?!)
4. fandom can turn this into creativity! Apparently, we can turn *anything* into creativity, humor, p0rn, and meta, in no particular order. I would love to see here or somewhere, all the Strikethrough07 icons gathered, just as life_wo_fanlib could collect the fanlib-related art, etc.
5. fandom can come up with ginormous numbers of suggestions for responses (see #4).
6. fandom gets listened to only after SixApart, Aca-fans (Henry Jenkins), merchant adventurers (FanLib), and various and sundry media ... hell, everybody else ... has spoken!
Wait, wasn't that a "Negative"?
No. Knowing the problem is a positive! And seeing a patterned problem -- the same thing, repeated -- is one step still further in solution, because it more tightly defines and illustrates the problem and its process.
The problem I'm interested in is the way fandom learned about and responded to these situations. In both, LJ Fandom was a target, or subject, of outsiders' anger (WFI), greed (FanLib), or neglectful process (SA). Even the journalists and academics (CNet, Aca-fan) are not, IMO, "neutral." They and these others spoke to, around, about, at, and over us. Damn if that isn't a silencing act of patriarchy, hegemony, [insert own favorite tool of analysis].
But: we *know* it is. So we're past ignorance, and denial (working on the anger, ok?) and well into negotiation, acceptance (where needed, and some of that may be too) and constructive response. Constructive, proactive, response: let's be ready next time. Let's not have a next time (yeah, I like schmoop & happy endings, eh?) Let's have a voice.
NEXT STEPS : GOALS
Goals can include: (read and comment, plz)
I believe that fandom, like some plants that spread through roots down in the dark ground that most humans fail to look within, has grown into unique ability and self-nourished strength in this unnoticed place.* It is time to sprout out from the dark, and share the idea with others. This, too, will add back into fandom's strength. Think of the ideas on "new community and democracy" being sought in politics, environmental issues, social movements, and even the constipated corporate structures of academe and business. Fandom can share, lead and contribute.
(* yeah, Deleuze and Guattari here; the rhizomatous nature of both the internet and social communities are acknowledged and debated by many; see http://www.socio.demon.co.uk/rhizome.html for one early contrarian POV.)
/stopping now to go find scanware. Please comment.
So after a few notes here I will be off to do scans, dammit, and if WFI is the problem it seems to be, I will certainly be behind a massive complaint to their domain host. Re malware possibly coming from WFI:
http://community.livejournal.com/innocence_jihad/14245.html
http://liz-marcs.livejournal.com/267668.html
Includes links to removal ware: http://community.livejournal.com/innocence_jihad&itemid=96022
So, the good news: pornish_pixies and sbrb_blackcest are back, others as well, this shows SA's ability to (re)assess their actions and correct. With groveling apologies, etc. Personally, I accept them with a full heart, because (a) it's appropriate, (b) sincerely phrased, and (c) a good bit better than many give.
More good news: many of us recognize the need to not just react to this moment, but be able to *prevent* a recurrence.
My quick recap of
LESSONS LEARNED (first approximation; please add comments)
Positive
1. fandom is power; we have voices; we do get listened to.
2. fandom has pretty awesomely fast, if decentralized, internal communications.
3. fandom can take it with a good sense of humor (although I'm still waiting for the PinkGuy/BlueGuy and *heh* WFI/FanLib slash, and hey, X-overs?!)
4. fandom can turn this into creativity! Apparently, we can turn *anything* into creativity, humor, p0rn, and meta, in no particular order. I would love to see here or somewhere, all the Strikethrough07 icons gathered, just as life_wo_fanlib could collect the fanlib-related art, etc.
5. fandom can come up with ginormous numbers of suggestions for responses (see #4).
6. fandom gets listened to only after SixApart, Aca-fans (Henry Jenkins), merchant adventurers (FanLib), and various and sundry media ... hell, everybody else ... has spoken!
Wait, wasn't that a "Negative"?
No. Knowing the problem is a positive! And seeing a patterned problem -- the same thing, repeated -- is one step still further in solution, because it more tightly defines and illustrates the problem and its process.
The problem I'm interested in is the way fandom learned about and responded to these situations. In both, LJ Fandom was a target, or subject, of outsiders' anger (WFI), greed (FanLib), or neglectful process (SA). Even the journalists and academics (CNet, Aca-fan) are not, IMO, "neutral." They and these others spoke to, around, about, at, and over us. Damn if that isn't a silencing act of patriarchy, hegemony, [insert own favorite tool of analysis].
But: we *know* it is. So we're past ignorance, and denial (working on the anger, ok?) and well into negotiation, acceptance (where needed, and some of that may be too) and constructive response. Constructive, proactive, response: let's be ready next time. Let's not have a next time (yeah, I like schmoop & happy endings, eh?) Let's have a voice.
NEXT STEPS : GOALS
Goals can include: (read and comment, plz)
- analyze the FanLib and Strikethrough07 cases,
- identify issues for fandom, and also
- issues *of* fandom. Yes, lets meta our own shit, too. For instance, let's hive-mind think up new/better ways to speak out for fandom instead of letting idiots speak for, about, and to us. Be able to issue - even more than we already do, and we do damn well at it - fandom-wide alerts; warnings; calls to action; and corrections.
- add to fandom's ability to act strongly and proactively without losing our unique qualities of diversity, community, and utter anarchical freedom!
I believe that fandom, like some plants that spread through roots down in the dark ground that most humans fail to look within, has grown into unique ability and self-nourished strength in this unnoticed place.* It is time to sprout out from the dark, and share the idea with others. This, too, will add back into fandom's strength. Think of the ideas on "new community and democracy" being sought in politics, environmental issues, social movements, and even the constipated corporate structures of academe and business. Fandom can share, lead and contribute.
(* yeah, Deleuze and Guattari here; the rhizomatous nature of both the internet and social communities are acknowledged and debated by many; see http://www.socio.demon.co.uk/rhizome.html for one early contrarian POV.)
/stopping now to go find scanware. Please comment.