Anime Vids: It's So Easy
So. I have, like, three almost-finished fan fiction recs posts, and - yeah. I just am not getting there on any of them, in part because, well.
See, last night BB pointed out to me that my posting has pretty much not happened lately, and I said, woefully, "I don't have braaaaaaain." (I mean it. If I tried to commit, for example, an act of FF ( Read more... )
See, last night BB pointed out to me that my posting has pretty much not happened lately, and I said, woefully, "I don't have braaaaaaain." (I mean it. If I tried to commit, for example, an act of FF ( Read more... )
And, um - you probably already know this, but I have a vids tag that should get you all the posts in which I've rec'd a vid. I mention this because I recommended some of my favorite vids in all of ever in January of this year, and you totally should not miss them. (And I have yet to find a way to rec some of my other favorite vids, sadly. I have many megabytes of vids waiting for me to magically develop the ability to a) assemble them into a set and b) explain why they're so good. I need another mechanism like the one I used in January - something to allow me to rec without rhyme or reason, basically.)
Out of curiosity - one of the reasons anime vid recommending is so much easier for me than live-action vid recommending is permission, because as far as I know you don't need it to rec AMVs. How are you handling that with your live-action recs? Do you have, like, a magic system? (Ideally one that I could, um, copy.) Because my "magic system" entails writing a separate email to each vidder I want to rec, and that means it takes 11/12ths of forever to assemble a live-action vid recs set.
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[how I rec songvids]
I'm still so new to songvids that I haven't exhausted the 'free to air' sites yet. I don't ask for permission to rec them, so it's easy. I'm not sure what I'll do once I move on to the password protected sites, and the ones with disclaimers saying 'please don't link'. I mean, obviously, I won't just link them! I suspect I'll use the following system: if the vid is *extraordinary*, I'll do what you do and ask for permission; and if it's worthwhile but not a special favorite, I won't bother reccing it. It's easier for me anyway, as I don't do 'sets' the way you do.
I have issues with 'asking permission' actually. I recognise that there's a monetary factor involved with vids, because of the size of the files downloaded, and I'm very sympathetic to that. But in general, I'm ideologically invested in the idea that fan product enhances the public domain--it's a prime argument in its favour, imo, as I think there's a worrying trend for corporate authors to raid the PD and then clutch the resulting franchise with a death-grip, as though it's ALL THIERS and owes nothing to the sources that came before. As an artist, that really bothers me. I could rant more about this, but I'll spare you. Anyway, I have issues with asking permission, because I think citing, reccing, discussing, is all valid without it, whether it's fic or vids or graphic art, etc, etc. So, apart from the download/cost issue, I'm ideologically off-side when people lock fannish stuff up; to the point that I'm not sure I'll even bother with anything that has a password or 'don't share' disclaimer on it. I'm not dissing people who do that, as I'm perfectly willing to conceed their argument about wanting to avoid the attention of TPTB (not to mention, it's not cool when people steal stuff and stick shoddy copies up on YouTube without permission, and I grok why it pisses artists off. But plagiarism/stealing are totally different issues to copyright infringement and the raiding of the PD, imo). I'm just coming from a different ideological place.
Um. That was entirely unhelpful to you, wasn't it? Sorry. I don't know how to make the process faster once asking permission becomes a factor. Perhaps you could rec sets of vids without a theme? So that the first four to be okayed become the set? You could make it a feature: get the readers to invent the theme to match the set :)
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So instead I will just say that I've been pondering this comment ever since you posted it, and I'm still not sure what I think. To clarify - when you talk about your ideological objections to permissions, etc., you're talking about the high value you place on the free, easy, and rapid exchange of ideas (including commentary, artwork, etc.) in fandom. Is that right? (I mean, is it generally right. I'm sure it's over-simplified, but - does it work as a sort of one-sentence summary?)
Because if it is, I get that, I do, but - for me, there's theory and practice. In theory, I don't want anything to screw with the exchange of ideas in fandom, but in practice - well. First, the one thing that has the most potential to undermine that ideal is fandom's exposure to TPTB (with concomitant C & D orders and so on), and that's happened to vidders quite often. So I get why they're nervous about this; they're worried about the same things we are, that something will happen that will take away their ability to play in the owned-by-none, open-to-all ocean of fandom.
And then there's the truly practical; vids are costly to host and suck bandwidth, and a link can (as you obviously already know) cost somebody money or kill her site for the month. So asking permission covers that, and also helps ensure that the vid will actually be available to download for a while; vidders will reup links, keep vids posted, and/or monitor bandwidth and site-related emails more carefully if they know they're going to be recommended.
And the downside of asking permission is relatively minor (although I get that on an ideological level it could still be too much - slippery slope, all that): it takes more work for me, which has a negative effect on no one but me, and so I rec fewer live-action vids, which does impinge on the free exchange a bit, but probably not as much as vidders losing their fannish trust entirely, so it's a least-harm thing there.
But, obviously, this comment has made me think a lot about vids and permissions and so on. And I guess my first reaction is to see what other people - vidders and not - think about it. So I will probably be posting a poll on this in the near future; if I can manage to get enough vidders to take it, it should be interesting to see what their opinions on this really are. And I'm curious to see how many people actually do ask permission before linking to or recommending a vid.
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Take off the 'in fandom' and yes, it works as a summary.
I've come down with a 24 flu, so I'm not thinking very clearly, but I just know if I don't answer this right away, my brain is going to worry at it for hours. So this may not be brilliantly succinct. Or make sense.
The download cost issue: the few times I have asked permission to rec songvids, it's been when I've recced them in high traffic places like crack_van, where the likihood is high that the rec will significantly increase bandwidth. At present rec_room has a relatively small readership; in addition, every one of the vids I've recced there a) I found through some one else's rec, and b) is listed on an 'open' site.
Two of the vidders I've recced have spontaneously replied saying, "Thank you."
None of this is evidence that my way is "right". My point is that I don't think I'm doing any harm at present, but I may well re-think this issue in terms of rec_room at some point (it's growing so fast, despite the fact I've not widely pimped it).
One of the reasons I haven't widely pimped it is because the comm began as a resource for me; I've had a long history of being given computers temporarily (through work, university, second hand and about to die, etc), and I wanted to archive links to my 'library' so I could find them again each time I moved to a new computer. I could have made it a private comm or journal, but I had a couple of reasons for deciding on the public option. First up: the artistic conversation. I have sporadic access to the internet. I can't afford it at home, so I rely on quiet times at work (I work part-time), or internet cafes (pricey), or occasionally, like now, I housesit somewhere that has it. Given that, there is no way, no way I can feedback even the people whose work I love. By reccing publicly, I have some small chance of fulfilling my need to respond while also creating my library. Public reccing also means I contribute some small thing to the literature/art conversation that is central to the way in which I conceive art.
Being resource poor myself, I *am* concerned about added download pressure due to my recs. At present, I think my readership is small enough that I'm okay with my current system. But I have changed my system of reccing on rec_room before. There are some rec posts I now lock. I'll email you privately if you'd like to know more. I suspect vid reccing may be another area in which my practice changes over time.
(part 2 to follow)
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"And the downside of asking permission is relatively minor"
I'm rich in many things, but money is not one of them. Asking permission is expensive to me. That alone is not reason enough *not* to do it, of course, but it is a factor.
The thing about cultural privilege is that it's insidious, and it's one of the reasons I have so many issues with the corporate raiding of, well, everything, but it's especially significant to me as an artist when they raid the Public Domain. I think the ideology that ideas can be owned is one of the craziest bits of crazy-talk ever to infect human culture. I am so passionately against it, I can't begin to express it here. That doesn't mean I think authors have no rights or claims to their works; I do respect them. So much. But I don't want to live in a world where no one can ever express an idea without calling in the lawyers. Crayzeeee talk! And I see that future looming every time Disney successfully extends their copyright, or a science institute claims 'ownership' of genes.
So, in brief, yes, I conceed all of your arguments, and I'm certainly not so obsessed with my ideology I refuse to consider changing my practice in response to them. But at present, I'm okay with my practice, especially as I have passionate reasons for resisting the raiding of the public domain in the ways available to me. Being involved in the fannish conversation is one of them.
All that said, I'm looking forward to reading your poll. I may well change my practice in response to it, depending on the results you get.
(I hope this has made sense. I'm going back to bed now.)
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