A fable aboout Fandom by Fuzzy.

[malvernrob]

Subtitled: Why "Fandom wank" is probably the stupidest thing I've ever encountered.

Now a little disclaimer here first. This is my opinion. I'm not writing this on behalf of anyone, any group or any other people I know in this fandom or through LJ. If anything I say bothers you please direct any comments at myself. Thanks.

Comments

[kerosinkanister]

A counterargument could be made that sites like CM and indeed LJ woudn't exist without the average Joe/Jane providing content in the first place. But then CM specifically isn't a business at all, unlike LJ.

[malvernrob]

Not to split hairs or anything, but wasn't CM started by the owners as a place to post their own stuff? I don't know all the history so perhaps I'm out in left field here.

That being said, maybe checkmated isn't a 'for profit' business, but I still think it is a business. There is still expenses, and revenue and all those things that need to be factored.

The point I was trying to make with this long post was that this sort of entitlement based behaviour would never fly in the real/brick-mortar world. So why is considered normal on the internet?

[kerosinkanister]

That sounds vaguely familiar for the history but I haven't paid much attention to it.

I meant CM isn't a business in that you're paying them for goods or service. All monies are from the owners/witches that fund the site.

[allichan]

I found this entry kind of randomly, but I did want to jump in and clear this point up.

We do actually get support from our users. There's a "Support Us" link on our site that lets people donate money via paypal to help with hosting, etc.

In the beginning ShellyK paid for the difference, and when she left I took over the bills if we didn't have enough contributions.

We don't get a ton of supports giving money, but we do have a few that have given quite a bit.

That's how we support the costs of the site now. :)

[twy]

It's a good analogy. And you just reminded me of a HORRIBLE story I submitted to CM when I frist found the site. It. Was. Brutal. I didn't ever even hear back from them at the time, which I suppose was a bit rude on their part, but at the same time, when I reread my submission, I realised that they probably a) couldn't stop laughing b) their eyes were burning from reading that trash or c) they just didn't know how to politely tell me it sucked.

I'm not losing sleep.... ;)

[malvernrob]

The first story that got rejected from me, was written over the Christmas break a few years ago. It was um....crap. I haven't read anything with so many grammar mistakes ever. And in all fairness, they just said i need to get that fixed and they would take another look at it, but i had smartened up and realised that I could never every handle writing 2 multi chaptered stories at the same time....................hey wait a minute......... ;)

[magglenagall]

I didn't ever even hear back from them at the time
It may have gotten caught in your spam filter. It's a very common problem when dealing with automated e-mails like that.

[twy]

That's quite possible, I didn't even think of that. Of course, if I took everything that made it through that spam filter, I could have quite the interesting fic! ;) But honestly, it was more than for the best! ;D