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Fandom Netiquette for Newbies: a Navigational Guide
I've noticed that there are lots of newcomers participating in PotC fandom on LJ these days, which is wonderful. But I also know that LJ fandom can be daunting to a newbie. There are quite a few unwritten rules and conventions of courtesy that are taken for granted by those of us who have been around for awhile, and people sometimes react strongly when these conventions are broken. So I'd like to take a few minutes to talk about some important issues of LJ etiquette, and hopefully make things a bit less scary and a bit more straightforward.
Icons and Headers
In general, icons, headers, and wallpapers are made expressly to be shared with other fans, so most graphics posts will include guidelines and permission for use. However, keep in mind that it is an expected courtesy to always credit the maker when using their work, and while it's not always mandatory, it's nice to comment to let the maker know that you appreciate their efforts.
To credit icons, simply mention the maker's user name in the comments for the appropriate icon on your userpic page. Comments can be added when the icon is uploaded or after the fact.
To credit headers or wallpaper used on your journal, a note added to your userinfo page should be sufficient.
If you want to alter someone else's icon by adding text or otherwise changing its look, you should always ask permission first. (Many icon makers will state in their graphics posts that "textless icons are not bases"; this is what they are talking about) Likewise, if you are taking an icon or header from somewhere other than the original post by the creator--i.e. an icon someone else is already using--you should ask for the current user's permission. In most cases, the answer will be yes (although some graphics are made specifically for one person and will therefore be off-limits.) The other user should also be able to tell you who to credit for the graphic.
Basically, the best policy is "always credit" and "when in doubt, ask." No one is going to be offended by a request for permission to use their work, and it's a matter of courtesy and respect to give due credit for the work put into fan-created graphics, which often represent hours (or days!) of wrestling with Photoshop. And the bottom line is that Livejournal is a community; it's not as large or as anonymous as you might think. If you do use someone's graphics without notice or credit, it's more likely than not that the creator will see it or find out about it.
The same guidelines apply doubly for original art and photomanipulations, with some added caveats, since these are not always created with shared use in mind.
Fanart and Manips
Unless the creator specifically states that permission is not required, you should always ask and receive a "green light" before using, altering or distributing someone else's art or manip. (Some examples of use that would require advance permission: cropping art or manips as bases for your own icons, coloring black-and-white fanart, saving art to your harddrive for reposting in other communities, etc.) If you are reccing the art, a simple link to the original post is generally ok, although it's always nice to let people know that their work is being promoted. Hotlinking--using the url of the actual image file to display the image on your own LJ or webpage--is NEVER ok, because it is the equivalent of bandwidth theft.
Again, if you do use someone else's art (after permission is given, of course) to make icons, headers, etc., you should credit the artist, either when you post the graphics for sharing/display, or on your userinfo/userpics page as appropriate.
Adding Users as Friends
Different people will have different feelings about the etiquette of "friending." I don't feel that it's necessary to ask permission before you add someone to your friends list, but it is a nice courtesy to let that person know that you'd like to add them. Think of it as an introduction--that way, if you want to comment to a post on their journal in the future, neither one of you will feel as if the comment is out of the blue.
If someone who you have "friended" does not add you back, it's best not to take this personally. Everyone has their own policies about whom they add to their list. I treat my friends list as a reading list, so if you rarely post to your own journal or if you always crosspost your fic to a community I already read, I may not add you. This doesn't mean I don't want to be your friend or that I don't welcome your comments on my journal--I just have a lot of comms and journals on my list already, and it's a lot to keep up with. I may add you later once I get to "know" you. (Also consider that some people post sensitive/personal info in "friends lock" mode, so they may take extra care about who they add to their list.)
Some users--especially those with large friends lists--post a general "friending policy" on their userinfo page, so it's a good idea to check for that.
When and How to Use an LJ-Cut
You may have noticed that I've used a lot of LJ-cuts in this post. These cuts put the majority of the post's text behind clickable links. I've done this because the post in its entirety is rather long, and would take up a lot of space on your friends list if posted without any cuts.
It's common courtesy everywhere on LJ to use an LJ-cut in the following circumstances:
* Any lengthy post--cut the bulk of the text.
* Fic posts. This allows warnings to be placed above the cut--see below.
* Spoiler posts. Again, see below. This is especially important in PotC fandom in the build-up to the third movie.
* Posts containing large, wide, or numerous pictures. There are a couple very good reasons for this rule--one, some users still use dial-up and large pictures can considerably slow (or completely freeze) page loads; two, wide pictures screw up the formatting on many people's friends page, which can be annoying.
* Posts containing "NSFW" material--the acronym means "not safe for work." A good rule of thumb: anything you wouldn't want your boss (or your mom) seeing over your shoulder should be hidden behind a cut, with a warning outside the cut so people know what they're about to see.
New LJ users are often intimidated by the coding necessary to insert an LJ-cut, but it's actually fairly simple. LJ's FAQ provides a pretty straightforward tutorial.
The format for the cut is followed by the text to be placed behind the cut. The default cut text for the link will say "read more"; to change what the link says, use the format To "close" a cut, use the tag . Any text that follows this tag will appear on the main page.
If you use the Rich Text interface to update your livejournal (which is slightly less glitchy than it used to be) there is an icon in the middle of the toolbar that will do an lj-cut for you. Hit the button (it has three straight lines with a zig-zag line under it) and it will prompt you to put in the text you want the cut to say. It will then tell you where to type your cut contents. I despise this interface but that's because I've been around here way too long.
A "fake LJ-cut" is a link which has been formatted to look like an LJ-cut. There's some interesting discussion in the comments about the etiquette of this, but it seems like there's no consensus on what that might be.
Spoilers
A "spoiler" is any picture, information, speculation or question that references canon material that has not yet been officially released or that is relatively new. Anything related to the plot of Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds' End is currently a spoiler--including any information or rumors about the trailer, since it has not yet been shown.
Many of us (myself included) are spoiler hounds, but just as many would like to be surprised when they see AWE for the first time. Therefore, as a courtesy to our fellow fans, all spoiler information should be placed behind an LJ-cut until the comm you are posting in has announced that it is no longer requiring spoiler cuts.
Fic Posts and Headers
As discussed above, fanfic should be introduced with appropriate warnings and placed behind an LJ-cut; or, alternately, a hyperlink should follow the heading leading the reader to the story at another journal or community. A typical header uses some combination of the following:
Title: Self-explanatory, yes?
Author: Not necessary on your own journal, but helpful when posting to communities.
Disclaimer: It's a good idea to state for the record that the source material does not belong to you and that no copyright infringement is intended.
Rating: Especially important if the fic is explicit or includes disturbing themes. Most people use the MPAA rating scale.
Warnings: You may want to warn for elements such as character death, potential squicks (incest, nonconsensual sex, etc.) Not required, but appreciated by most.
Pairings: Also not required, but since many people scan for favored pairings, it's a good piece of information to include.
Summary: Give the potential reader an idea of what kind of story awaits them behind the cut.
Author's Notes: Optional; covers anything else you'd like to share. This is also a good place to credit your beta reader. (In this case, I like to add a little disclaimer that any errors are my own.)
Everyone seems to use a slightly different header, but the gist is the same. Think of it as your advertising spot for your fic. In that vein, be sure to spellcheck your header, since errors in your summary may cause people to expect similar errors in the story and scroll on past your post.
To make a link in HTML mode, use this code: Link text. The full website address goes within the quotation marks. In the rich text editor, click the button that pictures a cutesy little blue earth with a chain link across it and follow the prompts.
I like to post my fic in my journal and link to it from the community, because it's nice to have my fic and my comments all in one place. Some people like to post directly to the community. As long as you put the text of the story itself, wherever it is, behind the famous LJ-cut, no one should complain.
Cross-posting
Most communities have memberships that overlap--for instance, in PotC fandom, I'm a member of the fic communities pirategasm, sparrabeth, blackpearlsails and others. When fics are cross-posted to these comms, I see the post on my friends list several times. I don't find this annoying as long as it's not overdone (although funnily enough, I do hate seeing my own fics over and over on my friends list, so I often stagger my cross-posts over a period of a few days to avoid scrolling past my own username like crazy.)
In my opinion, it's ok to cross-post in up to three communities at a time as well as your own journal; anything more than that is pushing it, and while it only provokes mild annoyance on my part, it feels like spamming and may cause me to scroll past the fic entirely without reading it. Others have commented that they'd rather see everything cross-posted together, so again, this is an area on which there is no clear consensus.
Commenting and Other People's Posts
For people who are used to flat message boards, LJ has a threaded comment interface, which works slightly differently. It's very useful because it allows individual commenters to have exchanges with each other in reaction to someone else's post and allows others to follow along with the exchange with ease. This means that when you want to reply to the original poster, you should click the "post a new comment" link. But when you are commenting in reply to someone else's comment, you should use the "reply to this" link on the specific comment rather than hitting "post a new comment" on the main entry. This way the commenter you want to communicate with will get her emailed comment notification, rather than just the original poster, so she will know you're there and come back to engage in conversation.
I generally try to keep all my comments to someone else's original post in one thread, commenting to myself if I want to add something (the original poster usually receives notifications for all comments made to their post, including replies to other comments) and only move to another thread if I want to join in a preexisting discussion there.
Politeness is the general guideline here. Remember, if you are commenting on someone else's journal, you are in their online "space." If you are commenting in a community, you are in a shared "space." This doesn't mean you are in their face--almost everyone loves getting comments, or they wouldn't be posting in the first place--but it does mean that you should try not to get in their face. I always think about it as if the original poster in a personal or writing journal has invited me into their living room. I don't act the same way in someone else's living room as I would in my own living room, and I don't act the same way in my best friend's living room as I do in a stranger's. A community, on the other hand, is like the coffee shop we all hang out in together; your post there is like your table. If you annoy the other customers or the manager (i.e. mod), you may have to find another spot to make trouble. But if you make the coffee shop a friendly, comfortable place to hang out and inviting to new people, you'll gain new friends every day.
Short version: If it's your post in your journal, it's your space, and you can do whatever you want there. If it's your post in a community, it's not exactly your own space, merely borrowed, and your actions reflect on and affect the rest of the community. If it's your post but you've invited people from elsewhere (like linking to your journal from a community) remember that not everyone knows you or each other, and act accordingly. Common sense.
Livejournal has recently added the long-awaited "Edit comment" feature. It usually shows up as a little pencil icon on the top of your comment. A couple things to remember about this: it only works if no one has yet replied to you, and the original poster and the commenter you've replied to (if different) both receive an email notification every time you edit your comment.
Please feel free to add your comments, questions, topics of relevance, etc.
Edited 12/17/07.
Icons and Headers
In general, icons, headers, and wallpapers are made expressly to be shared with other fans, so most graphics posts will include guidelines and permission for use. However, keep in mind that it is an expected courtesy to always credit the maker when using their work, and while it's not always mandatory, it's nice to comment to let the maker know that you appreciate their efforts.
To credit icons, simply mention the maker's user name in the comments for the appropriate icon on your userpic page. Comments can be added when the icon is uploaded or after the fact.
To credit headers or wallpaper used on your journal, a note added to your userinfo page should be sufficient.
If you want to alter someone else's icon by adding text or otherwise changing its look, you should always ask permission first. (Many icon makers will state in their graphics posts that "textless icons are not bases"; this is what they are talking about) Likewise, if you are taking an icon or header from somewhere other than the original post by the creator--i.e. an icon someone else is already using--you should ask for the current user's permission. In most cases, the answer will be yes (although some graphics are made specifically for one person and will therefore be off-limits.) The other user should also be able to tell you who to credit for the graphic.
Basically, the best policy is "always credit" and "when in doubt, ask." No one is going to be offended by a request for permission to use their work, and it's a matter of courtesy and respect to give due credit for the work put into fan-created graphics, which often represent hours (or days!) of wrestling with Photoshop. And the bottom line is that Livejournal is a community; it's not as large or as anonymous as you might think. If you do use someone's graphics without notice or credit, it's more likely than not that the creator will see it or find out about it.
The same guidelines apply doubly for original art and photomanipulations, with some added caveats, since these are not always created with shared use in mind.
Fanart and Manips
Unless the creator specifically states that permission is not required, you should always ask and receive a "green light" before using, altering or distributing someone else's art or manip. (Some examples of use that would require advance permission: cropping art or manips as bases for your own icons, coloring black-and-white fanart, saving art to your harddrive for reposting in other communities, etc.) If you are reccing the art, a simple link to the original post is generally ok, although it's always nice to let people know that their work is being promoted. Hotlinking--using the url of the actual image file to display the image on your own LJ or webpage--is NEVER ok, because it is the equivalent of bandwidth theft.
Again, if you do use someone else's art (after permission is given, of course) to make icons, headers, etc., you should credit the artist, either when you post the graphics for sharing/display, or on your userinfo/userpics page as appropriate.
Adding Users as Friends
Different people will have different feelings about the etiquette of "friending." I don't feel that it's necessary to ask permission before you add someone to your friends list, but it is a nice courtesy to let that person know that you'd like to add them. Think of it as an introduction--that way, if you want to comment to a post on their journal in the future, neither one of you will feel as if the comment is out of the blue.
If someone who you have "friended" does not add you back, it's best not to take this personally. Everyone has their own policies about whom they add to their list. I treat my friends list as a reading list, so if you rarely post to your own journal or if you always crosspost your fic to a community I already read, I may not add you. This doesn't mean I don't want to be your friend or that I don't welcome your comments on my journal--I just have a lot of comms and journals on my list already, and it's a lot to keep up with. I may add you later once I get to "know" you. (Also consider that some people post sensitive/personal info in "friends lock" mode, so they may take extra care about who they add to their list.)
Some users--especially those with large friends lists--post a general "friending policy" on their userinfo page, so it's a good idea to check for that.
When and How to Use an LJ-Cut
You may have noticed that I've used a lot of LJ-cuts in this post. These cuts put the majority of the post's text behind clickable links. I've done this because the post in its entirety is rather long, and would take up a lot of space on your friends list if posted without any cuts.
It's common courtesy everywhere on LJ to use an LJ-cut in the following circumstances:
* Any lengthy post--cut the bulk of the text.
* Fic posts. This allows warnings to be placed above the cut--see below.
* Spoiler posts. Again, see below. This is especially important in PotC fandom in the build-up to the third movie.
* Posts containing large, wide, or numerous pictures. There are a couple very good reasons for this rule--one, some users still use dial-up and large pictures can considerably slow (or completely freeze) page loads; two, wide pictures screw up the formatting on many people's friends page, which can be annoying.
* Posts containing "NSFW" material--the acronym means "not safe for work." A good rule of thumb: anything you wouldn't want your boss (or your mom) seeing over your shoulder should be hidden behind a cut, with a warning outside the cut so people know what they're about to see.
New LJ users are often intimidated by the coding necessary to insert an LJ-cut, but it's actually fairly simple. LJ's FAQ provides a pretty straightforward tutorial.
The format for the cut is followed by the text to be placed behind the cut. The default cut text for the link will say "read more"; to change what the link says, use the format To "close" a cut, use the tag . Any text that follows this tag will appear on the main page.
If you use the Rich Text interface to update your livejournal (which is slightly less glitchy than it used to be) there is an icon in the middle of the toolbar that will do an lj-cut for you. Hit the button (it has three straight lines with a zig-zag line under it) and it will prompt you to put in the text you want the cut to say. It will then tell you where to type your cut contents. I despise this interface but that's because I've been around here way too long.
A "fake LJ-cut" is a link which has been formatted to look like an LJ-cut. There's some interesting discussion in the comments about the etiquette of this, but it seems like there's no consensus on what that might be.
Spoilers
A "spoiler" is any picture, information, speculation or question that references canon material that has not yet been officially released or that is relatively new. Anything related to the plot of Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds' End is currently a spoiler--including any information or rumors about the trailer, since it has not yet been shown.
Many of us (myself included) are spoiler hounds, but just as many would like to be surprised when they see AWE for the first time. Therefore, as a courtesy to our fellow fans, all spoiler information should be placed behind an LJ-cut until the comm you are posting in has announced that it is no longer requiring spoiler cuts.
Fic Posts and Headers
As discussed above, fanfic should be introduced with appropriate warnings and placed behind an LJ-cut; or, alternately, a hyperlink should follow the heading leading the reader to the story at another journal or community. A typical header uses some combination of the following:
Title: Self-explanatory, yes?
Author: Not necessary on your own journal, but helpful when posting to communities.
Disclaimer: It's a good idea to state for the record that the source material does not belong to you and that no copyright infringement is intended.
Rating: Especially important if the fic is explicit or includes disturbing themes. Most people use the MPAA rating scale.
Warnings: You may want to warn for elements such as character death, potential squicks (incest, nonconsensual sex, etc.) Not required, but appreciated by most.
Pairings: Also not required, but since many people scan for favored pairings, it's a good piece of information to include.
Summary: Give the potential reader an idea of what kind of story awaits them behind the cut.
Author's Notes: Optional; covers anything else you'd like to share. This is also a good place to credit your beta reader. (In this case, I like to add a little disclaimer that any errors are my own.)
Everyone seems to use a slightly different header, but the gist is the same. Think of it as your advertising spot for your fic. In that vein, be sure to spellcheck your header, since errors in your summary may cause people to expect similar errors in the story and scroll on past your post.
To make a link in HTML mode, use this code: Link text. The full website address goes within the quotation marks. In the rich text editor, click the button that pictures a cutesy little blue earth with a chain link across it and follow the prompts.
I like to post my fic in my journal and link to it from the community, because it's nice to have my fic and my comments all in one place. Some people like to post directly to the community. As long as you put the text of the story itself, wherever it is, behind the famous LJ-cut, no one should complain.
Cross-posting
Most communities have memberships that overlap--for instance, in PotC fandom, I'm a member of the fic communities pirategasm, sparrabeth, blackpearlsails and others. When fics are cross-posted to these comms, I see the post on my friends list several times. I don't find this annoying as long as it's not overdone (although funnily enough, I do hate seeing my own fics over and over on my friends list, so I often stagger my cross-posts over a period of a few days to avoid scrolling past my own username like crazy.)
In my opinion, it's ok to cross-post in up to three communities at a time as well as your own journal; anything more than that is pushing it, and while it only provokes mild annoyance on my part, it feels like spamming and may cause me to scroll past the fic entirely without reading it. Others have commented that they'd rather see everything cross-posted together, so again, this is an area on which there is no clear consensus.
Commenting and Other People's Posts
For people who are used to flat message boards, LJ has a threaded comment interface, which works slightly differently. It's very useful because it allows individual commenters to have exchanges with each other in reaction to someone else's post and allows others to follow along with the exchange with ease. This means that when you want to reply to the original poster, you should click the "post a new comment" link. But when you are commenting in reply to someone else's comment, you should use the "reply to this" link on the specific comment rather than hitting "post a new comment" on the main entry. This way the commenter you want to communicate with will get her emailed comment notification, rather than just the original poster, so she will know you're there and come back to engage in conversation.
I generally try to keep all my comments to someone else's original post in one thread, commenting to myself if I want to add something (the original poster usually receives notifications for all comments made to their post, including replies to other comments) and only move to another thread if I want to join in a preexisting discussion there.
Politeness is the general guideline here. Remember, if you are commenting on someone else's journal, you are in their online "space." If you are commenting in a community, you are in a shared "space." This doesn't mean you are in their face--almost everyone loves getting comments, or they wouldn't be posting in the first place--but it does mean that you should try not to get in their face. I always think about it as if the original poster in a personal or writing journal has invited me into their living room. I don't act the same way in someone else's living room as I would in my own living room, and I don't act the same way in my best friend's living room as I do in a stranger's. A community, on the other hand, is like the coffee shop we all hang out in together; your post there is like your table. If you annoy the other customers or the manager (i.e. mod), you may have to find another spot to make trouble. But if you make the coffee shop a friendly, comfortable place to hang out and inviting to new people, you'll gain new friends every day.
Short version: If it's your post in your journal, it's your space, and you can do whatever you want there. If it's your post in a community, it's not exactly your own space, merely borrowed, and your actions reflect on and affect the rest of the community. If it's your post but you've invited people from elsewhere (like linking to your journal from a community) remember that not everyone knows you or each other, and act accordingly. Common sense.
Livejournal has recently added the long-awaited "Edit comment" feature. It usually shows up as a little pencil icon on the top of your comment. A couple things to remember about this: it only works if no one has yet replied to you, and the original poster and the commenter you've replied to (if different) both receive an email notification every time you edit your comment.
Please feel free to add your comments, questions, topics of relevance, etc.
Edited 12/17/07.