Every so often...

[velvet_mace]

I get opinionated. Yeah, yeah, I know people are saying, "every so often, you mean like every day?" To which I say, sheepishly, yeah, but... okay, I'll shut up now... except I won't.

Because the subject is getting rid of badfic.

Comments

[lunarennui]

well, i'm going to toss my *checks pocket* okay, fine, my penny in, and i know nothing i'm saying will come across as coherent and most everyone that reads it will disagree, but pleh.

badfic is. there's no getting rid of it. it's a bitch and a half to navigate around, but much like roadkill on a long stretch of highway, it's just Going To Be There.

we can hate it, we can wince when we pass by it, and, well, that's pretty much all we can do. aside from bitch about it.

badfic is a fact of ficlife. i've been in and out of fandoms for nearly ten years now and i was reading bad writing LONG before that, and THAT crap was actually published. i've WRITTEN badfic. it happens!

i just try to remind myself that sometimes, SOMETIMES, people who write badfic move on to learning how to write well. all we can do is hope.

oh, and the ban on badfic? jebus GOD, bad idea. nobody will ever want to write at all. it won't stop the badfic, it won't stop the quarrelling, and it won't let anyone who might write something good but who's fearful get the courage up to post. that concept equals 'way to kill the fandom entirely, assholes'.

so yeah, i'm really with you. what gets me is this--that anyone could actually think that this was a good idea in the first place--and worse, could think that they were qualified to make that sort of decision. i'm of the opinion that someone who thinks that they personally can be 'proactive' about badfic is...well, someone i don't want to know.

[velvet_mace]

i just try to remind myself that sometimes, SOMETIMES, people who write badfic move on to learning how to write well. all we can do is hope.

It's just like everything: You will get a few people who excell, and the vast majority who dabble for a while before getting bored and moving on to some other hobby more suited to their talents. But really, it would be silly to say someone can't roller-skate in public until they can do it without falling and looking awkward. You just gotta be indulgent with people who just want to give the whole thing a spin.

The only way to be proactive against badfic is to offer your services as a beta, and then you need to be respectful of the writers feelings and choices. I'm hoping this chick just means she's creating a meta-community for discussing the art of writing, rather than some kind of vigilante community to clean out fandom. It's hard to tell -- she doesn't state her objectives in her community info very well.