Regarding The Article and The Letter
By now all of you probably know what is going on in TSN fandom at the moment, so here is where I stand in the matter.
I am not going to lock or delete any of my fic (for now; I reserve the right to do so should the situation change). I'm not particularly well-known in fandom and have always kept private information that links to my RL behind locks, so I don't think I have reason to worry.
I am upset though, and have no idea what that woman was thinking.
What did she mean to accomplish? She doesn’t seem to actually be in this fandom (aside from following some JE blogs?), know much about it, or know any fandom etiquette at all. It honestly sounds like either someone desperately wanting attention or a troll out to portray us as a bunch of delusional freaks who think JE and AG are in secret gay love in hopes that the resulting continued poking from the outside would send fandom scrambling for the hills. Because why else would she have thought it was great for fandom to get covered on Gawker and even more exposure would be even better? People’s immediate reactions to the original article were worry and thoughts about locking or deleting fic to preserve their privacy and not suffer consequences in RL. One look around fandom would have shown that to anyone who cared or was part of fandom.
Maybe she really did have the best of intentions, but in that case it seems she is one of those people who are too stupid to be allowed on the internet.
I now also feel a strong urge to bash my head against a wall until the pain stops.
For those not in the know: Gawker recently published an ‘article’ on TSN fandom, apparently labouring under the impression it is centred around the real CEO of Facebook and the people in his life and not about fictional characters from a movie that in turn was based on a book which too could be considered fanfic. Not to mention the attitude and tone it is written in - gleefully, overly amused to faux-disgusted voyeurism and pride in itself for this effort in forced exhibitionism. The whole thing strongly reminds me of a group of children or teenagers laughing at someone who is not their definition of normal and mocking them that they can see their underwear after having pulled their pants down themselves.
They also include links.
Either way this has led people to talk about locking and even deleting their fic. I didn’t think the article was going to garner much interest and would have those readers who actually saw it giggle and shake their head in incomprehension while patting themselves on the back for having more socially accepted hobbies (like watching porn with two hot girls making out, maybe), but I did doubt anyone would care enough to follow up. Well, except maybe the people whose names we use for our main characters, but those most likely already knew what was happening, being young internet-savvy geeks capable of googling their own names and all.
Then a self-proclaimed member of fandom decided to email the article’s author, telling him “It’s cool you’re covering TSN fandom inaccurately because ANY coverage of this fandom is awesome” and then explaining how it’s really all about believing JE and AG are in a relationship. No, really. “There is also a large segment of TSN fandom that believes Jesse Eisenberg, and Andrew Garfield are in an actual relationship.” She is also entirely unapologetic and does not see how fandom existing online to be shared and enjoyed with like-minded people in an open but safe space is okay for us but being publicly outed and dissected by a gossip site only wanting to mock and belittle us is not and that people are upset about this.
Ergo people locking or deleting their fic because they are afraid of being publicly exposed and humiliated, maybe with consequences in RL.