i think i understand the polite thing pretty well, but it still boggles my mind like. you are being a complete dick but for some reason i cannot be a complete dick back at you how is that fair when you have just crossed the line THE LINE MAN never gunna be cool
in a nutshell we have BNFs and we love them but the love is too perfect THERE MUST BE FLAWS shit storm of wank behold this imperfection we have been cheated??? why we can't have nice things the end
so LOL'd muchly at the cycle because it is true ppl need to chill and get upset over shit that matters
Yeah but if THEY'RE mean to YOU, then they're just being mean. But if YOU get mad at THEM, then you're ~clobbering~ them with your ~big mean giant dick of popularity~ and it's not ~fair.~
And my usual code of "don't start none, won't be none" does not function in the super touchy-feely love and snuggles secretly-bitchy-like-fifth-grade fandom community.
poor victimized assholes it is so sad one day someone will compose a tragic poem worthy of their trials
THE FIFTH GRADE SUCKED
vicious bitches. always irritated me when gossiping girl cliques had to use the bathroom as their base cuz uh what trying to take a piss here go be a bitch else where?
Because they all wanted to say it. Namely: Holy Christ, this shit is ridiculous.
As you know, I was never a BNF. I am. heh. Decidedly not temperamentally suited to it. I occupied a singular position that allowed me to watch the experience unfold, but remain relatively untouched. And throughout my observation of the process, I came to a few conclusions. You've already nailed several of them up there, but there's one that drives me up the wall that I think bears repeating.
BNFs owe their readers and fans absolutely nothing.This is not the Thing To Say. But it's true
( ... )
A Little List Of The Things BNFs Don't Owe To Anyone
-A response: I've kind of covered that up there. It's nice to reply to comments! Which is why most authors do it! To talk about the work and get feedback and have fun, like fandom is for. But sometimes it's just not feasible, or you just don't feel like it. Commenters shouldn't feel shanked if they don't get a paragraph and a half in answer.
-Friendship: Once again, being friends is cool! Fandom is largely about community, after all. But for fuck's sake. Unless a journal is f-locked, this isn't a huge deal. Obviously, if you spend a lot of time at someone's journal, and they dig you and yours, friending is the practical thing to do. But let's face it. You wouldn't be someone's friend in real life just because they enjoyed a series of short stories you'd written for creative writing class. It takes a spark to make a friendship. There is no place in a BNF's contract that stipulates that they must forge relationships with all their commenters. It's nothing personal! There's just not
( ... )
-False modesty: One does not say that one is a BNF. It is taboo. They are not to acknowledge their success, their fans, or their influence. They may apologize for it, certainly, but the real push is for BNFs to affect a certain ignorance of their status. Saying "Yeah, I'm a BNF" is entirely off limits. But that's disingenuous. And really, kind of insulting. That's the fandom equivalent of someone like Megan Fox saying "Oh, people think I'm gorgeous? I ~hadn't known~" If any celebrity affected that kind of ignorance, we'd laugh at them. Why should we expect our BNFs not to be open about their position? Don't get me wrong, BNFs are not entitled to success. No one is entitled to success. BNFs should not lie back ~wait for the accolades to come~ But they should not have to act absolutely stunned every time their name comes up on a rec list. They can be appreciative! I'm sure most of them are! But let's just put it out there, guys. BNFdom is a thing. BNFs know it, and not-BNFs know it. The least we can do is be honest with one another
( ... )
Re: Part 3pyrrhiccomedyJanuary 31 2011, 22:55:34 UTC
I don't mind the idea that part of a BNF's popularity is based on their personality, and if you have a pleasant personality (made manifest by responding to the comments people took the time to leave on your fics), you will be more popular. If you don't respond to comments, or show any appreciation for the comments you get, you will not get as many, because you are essentially telling your fans that you don't appreciate them.
But I do think a distinction needs to be made between a courtesy and an obligation. It is courteous to respond to comments. It is not a requirement. I know we both recently had that unpleasantness with that one reader who took a "Thanks a lot for not even REPLYING to my COMMENT" attitude after a bit of drama. That's just not called for.
Readers who feel slighted because you don't respond sufficiently to their 900-word freshman lit essay about your fic just make me tired. Like, what do you want me to do, grade you?
This is hilarious. And hopefully eye-opening for some people. Doesn't it kind of make you wonder how Real Celebrities feel?
Anyway, if anyone gives you shit for posting this I will ride out like your valkyrie battle maiden of justice and criticize them harshly. On the internet.
FINALLY, someone explains this internet fandom fame to me. I've been such a confused little noob. When I first got into this fandom I was a little enamored with the cool kids club, mostly because I'd never been involved in a fandom before so it was all new and ~shiny~ to me. Reading this makes me realize that I'm totally cool with being all Canada in the corner. Personally, I think the worship of certain members of a fandom is pointless. We're all just people. I think you're cool, so I added you. And dude, I sincerely hope I've never fallen into the realm of annoying fan-ness with anyone. D:
That's lovely to know. :D Livejournal used to freak me out with the friending business and not knowing when and how to respond to comments. There's so many taboos here, I mean really. Now I just don't care.
All the social rules is the same as life, only with online it can change from site to site or even within part of the sites, and you aren't getting conditioned as you do with the culture you grow up in.
Though how quick the wank button gets hit doesn't help stuff at all. Just means more waves to ride.
double comment all the way across the postpaperclipchainsJanuary 31 2011, 23:01:58 UTC
If there's one caveat, I think it's that your perspective is that of a clever and level-headed person with a good sense of humour about yourself. Some people out there really do soak in the fame and the attention and the drama (yes, the drama, we're all in LJ fandom and anyone who claims they've never gotten pleasure from some kind of scandalous story is a liar or an idiot).
I think your experience could probably be generalized to everyone who ever got arbitrarily put on a pedestal, though.
Re: double comment all the way across the postpyrrhiccomedyJanuary 31 2011, 23:15:55 UTC
On the one hand, too much drama and wank is obviously bad. And drama and wank are never fun when they're about you. It's like car accidents. You don't want to be in one. But BS to anyone who says they've never done some fandom rubbernecking.
Comments 123
in a nutshell we have BNFs
and we love them
but the love is too perfect THERE MUST BE FLAWS
shit storm of wank behold this imperfection we have been cheated???
why we can't have nice things
the end
so LOL'd muchly at the cycle because it is true
ppl need to chill
and get upset over shit that matters
Reply
And my usual code of "don't start none, won't be none" does not function in the super touchy-feely love and snuggles secretly-bitchy-like-fifth-grade fandom community.
Reply
THE FIFTH GRADE SUCKED
vicious bitches. always irritated me when gossiping girl cliques had to use the bathroom as their base cuz uh what trying to take a piss here go be a bitch else where?
/such strong strong feelings
ps, holy shit that icon
Reply
I CHANGED IT SORRY I decided to use it on a comment above yours and if I use the same icon again so soon it's like it's visually repetitive and
#dork
Reply
Because they all wanted to say it. Namely: Holy Christ, this shit is ridiculous.
As you know, I was never a BNF. I am. heh. Decidedly not temperamentally suited to it. I occupied a singular position that allowed me to watch the experience unfold, but remain relatively untouched. And throughout my observation of the process, I came to a few conclusions. You've already nailed several of them up there, but there's one that drives me up the wall that I think bears repeating.
BNFs owe their readers and fans absolutely nothing.This is not the Thing To Say. But it's true ( ... )
Reply
-A response: I've kind of covered that up there. It's nice to reply to comments! Which is why most authors do it! To talk about the work and get feedback and have fun, like fandom is for. But sometimes it's just not feasible, or you just don't feel like it. Commenters shouldn't feel shanked if they don't get a paragraph and a half in answer.
-Friendship: Once again, being friends is cool! Fandom is largely about community, after all. But for fuck's sake. Unless a journal is f-locked, this isn't a huge deal. Obviously, if you spend a lot of time at someone's journal, and they dig you and yours, friending is the practical thing to do. But let's face it. You wouldn't be someone's friend in real life just because they enjoyed a series of short stories you'd written for creative writing class. It takes a spark to make a friendship. There is no place in a BNF's contract that stipulates that they must forge relationships with all their commenters. It's nothing personal! There's just not ( ... )
Reply
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But I do think a distinction needs to be made between a courtesy and an obligation. It is courteous to respond to comments. It is not a requirement. I know we both recently had that unpleasantness with that one reader who took a "Thanks a lot for not even REPLYING to my COMMENT" attitude after a bit of drama. That's just not called for.
Readers who feel slighted because you don't respond sufficiently to their 900-word freshman lit essay about your fic just make me tired. Like, what do you want me to do, grade you?
Reply
Anyway, if anyone gives you shit for posting this I will ride out like your valkyrie battle maiden of justice and criticize them harshly. On the internet.
Reply
Reply
When I first got into this fandom I was a little enamored with the cool kids club, mostly because I'd never been involved in a fandom before so it was all new and ~shiny~ to me. Reading this makes me realize that I'm totally cool with being all Canada in the corner. Personally, I think the worship of certain members of a fandom is pointless. We're all just people. I think you're cool, so I added you.
And dude, I sincerely hope I've never fallen into the realm of annoying fan-ness with anyone. D:
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Though how quick the wank button gets hit doesn't help stuff at all. Just means more waves to ride.
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I think your experience could probably be generalized to everyone who ever got arbitrarily put on a pedestal, though.
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And I will totally cop to occasionally basking in the sizzling glow of premium drama. I just, you know, did it privately.
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Bitch, please. You're on fandomsecrets, why else would you even come here?
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