So this afternoon I started getting odd messages on an older fic of mine, The Boy Who Spoke With Ghosts, which is an Inception/The Sixth Sense crossover. (The one where Arthur is Cole Seer
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It's apparently one of their DeCal classes, which are student-taught (the teachers are a college junior and a senior.) So... it's not terribly surprising to me that their syllabus was not terribly well thought through. *facepalm*
They're also required to post fic and, over the course of the semester, get 50 either kudos or reviews or whatever. That seems kind of difficult for a new writer (and easily open to cheating!) if you ask me...
I get the strong feeling the class will be amended slightly so that student critiques are not posted in the comments. Or maybe I'm just the super optimistic type, but with the amount of heat this is getting from fandom, it's the easiest fix.
I think (hope) you're right. And that they'll have a good long discussion about fandom conventions and WHY that breaks so many of them.
This is reminding me a lot of that time several years ago when some academic researchers were attempting to run a study or some such on fandom, and the blowback they got on that. Fandom really does not like being studied. I suppose the people in charge of the course may be too young to remember that, though...
What I want to know more than anything else, (besides, I guess, how this got approved as an actual class, even a student taught one) is how did they pick the fics? Who decided what fandoms/pairings/kinks/etc. to focus on? By what process was this list arrived at?
Lesson one in any sociological study (which this is) is to research and understand the ethics of the community you are studying. I guess they missed that.
50 Kudos? I don't think any of my stuff has than many - and I've been writing and publishing fanfic for 40 years!
Oh, I really hope some of my work gets on one of these lists, preferably something terrible, preferably a random entry from Mai's Ramblings where the students don't realize that the run-on sentences are part of the point. They think they can intellectually critique me? They think they can condescend to me? They think they can bully the little writer of fanfic who has no life?
Come at me, bro. I can faux-intellectualize better then any liberal arts undergrad, I'm the most condescending person on the planet, and you can't bully a troll.
I will destroy their sanity and make them earn their passing grade. I will make them regret ever hearing the term 'fanfic.'
Sorry you had to go through this, though. It sounds like the student teacher has a hate-on for fanfic, but then why create a class devoted to it? Did they not get enough reviews on their Voltron/Megatron smutfic that they were sure would be the next 50 Shades of Gray?
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It's apparently one of their DeCal classes, which are student-taught (the teachers are a college junior and a senior.) So... it's not terribly surprising to me that their syllabus was not terribly well thought through. *facepalm*
They're also required to post fic and, over the course of the semester, get 50 either kudos or reviews or whatever. That seems kind of difficult for a new writer (and easily open to cheating!) if you ask me...
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Squirrelly Semantics just gave me this link, which does shed some light on the class. http://www.dailycal.org/2015/02/13/students-explore-erotica-fan-fiction-decal-uc-berkeley/
I get the strong feeling the class will be amended slightly so that student critiques are not posted in the comments. Or maybe I'm just the super optimistic type, but with the amount of heat this is getting from fandom, it's the easiest fix.
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This is reminding me a lot of that time several years ago when some academic researchers were attempting to run a study or some such on fandom, and the blowback they got on that. Fandom really does not like being studied. I suppose the people in charge of the course may be too young to remember that, though...
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50 Kudos? I don't think any of my stuff has than many - and I've been writing and publishing fanfic for 40 years!
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I'm not sure how I'd feel either, other than that the professor sure as hell should have touched base with the fic owners first though. Sheesh!
Edit: After reading the tumblr post, I'm boggling even more. The professor is requiring students to read rapefic? Wow...
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Come at me, bro. I can faux-intellectualize better then any liberal arts undergrad, I'm the most condescending person on the planet, and you can't bully a troll.
I will destroy their sanity and make them earn their passing grade. I will make them regret ever hearing the term 'fanfic.'
Sorry you had to go through this, though. It sounds like the student teacher has a hate-on for fanfic, but then why create a class devoted to it? Did they not get enough reviews on their Voltron/Megatron smutfic that they were sure would be the next 50 Shades of Gray?
Reply
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