Comments | firebunny: Can We Set Some Boundaries for this Fan War?

firebunny

Can We Set Some Boundaries for this Fan War?

Mar 11, 2009 01:37

K-site is unbearable. (In the past few weeks I’ve had two friends stalked either through their LJ or their e-mail by trolls from K-site.) TWoP is in over-moderated lockdown and is no where near the fun, snarky and intelligent place it used to be. Every article on Smallville gets bombarded with foul comments. I’m telling you, this fandom gets ( Read more... )

fandom, smallville

Comments 44

monicaop March 11 2009, 05:52:52 UTC

I'm with you, I haven't gotten into this war but is awful to see people being so mean to each other :(

I just want to enjoy the fandom and the great moments it brings!! Hugs!!

firebunny March 11 2009, 14:25:12 UTC

I know. There are some things about this fandom I love. On an individual level most of us are pretty cool. It's just when we get into the hive mind and have to swarm that things turn ugly. And that's been happening a lot lately. It doesn't stop. It's hard to enjoy the fandom when we're constantly at war.

black_panda_ops March 11 2009, 06:12:57 UTC

Yeah, not sure. I seem dead set on making a menace of myself.

firebunny March 11 2009, 14:27:30 UTC

I like your sort of menace. Sometimes stirring up trouble isn't a bad thing. I just can't stomach it when it's nasty, hateful trouble. Your brand of trouble is clever and fun. I enjoy that.

apeygirl March 11 2009, 06:14:03 UTC

You're right, Firebunny. It's ugly and no fun. I've largely stayed away from attacking ED personally (except for how I can't stand her line delivery, but that's more a critique of performance than the person). I did have some issues with the neener crap, but it often goes too far. I'm going to strive to be better in the future...

Except for on locked posts only read by like-minded individuals. I mean, a girl's gotta let it out sometimes.

firebunny March 11 2009, 14:33:56 UTC

I agree, bashing the creative/technical aspects of the show, be it writing, performance or lighting (etc), isn't the same as attacking based on physical appearance. It can still get to a level where it's inappropriate, but I don't think it gets to that level as quick.

Locked and filtered posts are the perfect place to let the rage out sometimes. Again, I'm not saying we can't rage. I just wish we'd pick the places we rage with better care.

uberwillow March 11 2009, 06:36:25 UTC

Hey there. Sorry to hear about the bedtime thing. We all need sleep (says one who only slept for two hours last night and is now wired to the gills with coffee and Mountain Dew).

I don't think it's a fan war as much as it's trolling. I've seen it happen in other fandoms and other websites. More exposure, more trolls.

Don't feed the trolls. Ignore them. However, if they do start stalking, I believe there are cyberstalking laws nowadays. Being anonymous doesn't mean one can do bad things to people and not expect to be found out.

But then again, I could be wrong.

I observe mostly, so I don't really engage. I have points of view, but I don't shove it down other people's necks.

See the Internet F*ckwad theory for further details. I think even Wil Wheaton wrote about it on his blog.

Hope you and your friends will be okay.

firebunny March 11 2009, 14:40:42 UTC

I'll have to look up the Internet F*ckwad theory when I have more time. (I over slept and I need to leave for work soon.)

I guess this could all fall under trolling, but a lot of this is being done by people who take pride in defending their favorite actor/character by attacking others. Why anyone should take pride in acting like an asshole is beyond me.

(The comment has been removed)

firebunny March 11 2009, 14:46:57 UTC

This is an unlocked, public post and I have a few Cloisers on my flist. I'd appreciate it if we didn't refer to "Noisers" and "Cnoisers" here.

My point isn't that one side is bad and the other side is good. There are plenty of Cloisers who don't feel the need to publicly bash. But we don't notice them the same way we notice the bashers. Just like it's easier to notice the rude Chlarkers (and there are plenty).

I think we can all look at out behavior and see times when we maybe didn't act with the best etiquette. We can't change other people. We can only change ourselves.

And, yeah, this show used to be fun. Not so much anymore.

(The comment has been removed)

firebunny March 11 2009, 19:35:05 UTC

I hope it didn't feel like I was coming down too hard on you.

Recently I went to view a picspam a flist member had posted on one of my favorite characters on the show. It was a harmless and sweet picspam, but the first comment left on it was about how it showed that fans who favored this character over another are wrong and horrible people and are ruining Smallville for the rest of us. (not exact quote, but it felt like that) That wasn't fun to read, but what made it worse was that the my flist member didn't respond with "Dude, this is about the character. If I wanted to discuss the fans of the character I would have posted pictures of them." Instead, she responded with You're right. You're absolutely right. Which made me feel like she thinks (because I'm one of the people who favors the one character over the other) I'm ruining the show for her. I know she didn't mean that, but it was kind of the underlying message and it tainted the picspam for me ( ... )