rispacooper (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rispacooper) wrote2008-10-30 03:23 pm
rispacooper) wrote2008-10-30 03:23 pm
bitch under fire
I think I am getting too old for fandom.
Maybe I'm just tired of the way the story always plays out the same way (a fandom starts out small-ish and innovative and interesting and then becomes popular and gets taken over by teenagers or people with the mentality of teenagers). Maybe I just need a break. But honestly, I feel I've seen enough of newbies posting in lists without checking the rules first or doing any basic research for the stories they want but just waltzing in and asking for recs (lazy asses, look it up). I have definitely had enough of those same newbies constantly posting a) fic updates on their crappy stories, but really trolling for more comments b) asking readers how they think their story should end and really trolling for comments c) forming high school-esque groups of mutual adoration for some seriously crap fic, and this is intolerant of me but I don't really care d) torturing characters for the sake of torture and not for any sort of character development or literary merit. (I had enough of that shit in my A-team fic reading days, thank you very much, and it got old there too).
Maybe it's because the older fans are used to fandom wars and wank and tend to react to this by sighing and moving on to something new. Not that I want any wank either, but ceding the field to intellectually vacant morons is just irritating.
Of course, maybe this just means that the show or movies I previously enjoyed have gotten trite and hackneyed enough that said IVMs find it or them awesome and it's time I was moving on anyway. I don't know. I do know that I have been starting to distance myself from the...immediacy...of Live Journal, and its role in fandom. Maybe we need some sort of medium in which time and effort are required to voice your/my dumbass opinion and the kids can stick to FF.net and all their Naruto gets raped by Inuyasha but then Inuyasha falls back in love with Kagome because their love is forever omg fanfiction.
Don't get me wrong, everyone was fourteen once, and I wrote some probably hideous stuff back then and others had to suffer through it. And most grow out of it or learn to write and interact with others better. It's just that I don't think most of these people are actually fourteen. I think most of these people are actually much, much older. Old enough to know better.
With their bad manners come the tacky or just outright rude requests and comments. Negative reviewing of publicly-posted stories is well within your rights, but don't be surprised when no one likes you and when they choose to direct a critical eye on your work in return. And no, I am in no way obligated to write anything for you no matter how much you say you like my writing. I am also in no way obligated to say thank you for a comment you leave (it's polite, but I don't have to). That's my choice and my right. You are a fan, that's great. Doesn't mean we're friends. Doesn't mean that I'm supposed to go read and immediately fawn all over your stories. I want no part of comment-trolling and fannish clicks. This isn't high school even if it feels like one, and it's not a workplace where I have to put up with this shit.
Those of us with lives, with real drama going on and daily survival issues, we avoid fandom conflict because this is supposed to be our escape from that. But I'm seriously considering abandoning it altogether and finding some new escape.
But perhaps I am just a grumpy old woman.
Maybe I'm just tired of the way the story always plays out the same way (a fandom starts out small-ish and innovative and interesting and then becomes popular and gets taken over by teenagers or people with the mentality of teenagers). Maybe I just need a break. But honestly, I feel I've seen enough of newbies posting in lists without checking the rules first or doing any basic research for the stories they want but just waltzing in and asking for recs (lazy asses, look it up). I have definitely had enough of those same newbies constantly posting a) fic updates on their crappy stories, but really trolling for more comments b) asking readers how they think their story should end and really trolling for comments c) forming high school-esque groups of mutual adoration for some seriously crap fic, and this is intolerant of me but I don't really care d) torturing characters for the sake of torture and not for any sort of character development or literary merit. (I had enough of that shit in my A-team fic reading days, thank you very much, and it got old there too).
Maybe it's because the older fans are used to fandom wars and wank and tend to react to this by sighing and moving on to something new. Not that I want any wank either, but ceding the field to intellectually vacant morons is just irritating.
Of course, maybe this just means that the show or movies I previously enjoyed have gotten trite and hackneyed enough that said IVMs find it or them awesome and it's time I was moving on anyway. I don't know. I do know that I have been starting to distance myself from the...immediacy...of Live Journal, and its role in fandom. Maybe we need some sort of medium in which time and effort are required to voice your/my dumbass opinion and the kids can stick to FF.net and all their Naruto gets raped by Inuyasha but then Inuyasha falls back in love with Kagome because their love is forever omg fanfiction.
Don't get me wrong, everyone was fourteen once, and I wrote some probably hideous stuff back then and others had to suffer through it. And most grow out of it or learn to write and interact with others better. It's just that I don't think most of these people are actually fourteen. I think most of these people are actually much, much older. Old enough to know better.
With their bad manners come the tacky or just outright rude requests and comments. Negative reviewing of publicly-posted stories is well within your rights, but don't be surprised when no one likes you and when they choose to direct a critical eye on your work in return. And no, I am in no way obligated to write anything for you no matter how much you say you like my writing. I am also in no way obligated to say thank you for a comment you leave (it's polite, but I don't have to). That's my choice and my right. You are a fan, that's great. Doesn't mean we're friends. Doesn't mean that I'm supposed to go read and immediately fawn all over your stories. I want no part of comment-trolling and fannish clicks. This isn't high school even if it feels like one, and it's not a workplace where I have to put up with this shit.
Those of us with lives, with real drama going on and daily survival issues, we avoid fandom conflict because this is supposed to be our escape from that. But I'm seriously considering abandoning it altogether and finding some new escape.
But perhaps I am just a grumpy old woman.