Fandom wank? Just don't get it.

[logansrogue]

Okay. Maybe some of you can explain this to me, because I don't really understand.

Recently my favourite little snarky hideout, the_it_ship, has been fandom_wanked. Well duh - it happens all the time. But I know some people really hate being fandom_wanked, and when I was I only found it incredibly hilarious that people would waste their energy on the likes of me.

So seriously. What's the big deal? Who honestly cares? I mean, why would you want the approval from people who take precious time out of their lives to waste on shit like that?

Then again, one would wonder why I waste time to devote an entire post about it? Well, that's easy. When I was wanked, I got a lot of sympathetic and supportive comments from my friends as if something really *awful* had happened to me. And I loved my friends dearly for their support and affection, but I thought that it really wasn't an occassion that warranted it.

Quite simply - I want all you lovely people to stop caring, too. So stop caring. Be a wanker! Wanking feels good.

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/lothar_/]

"But they're Internet-savvy too, and they singled me, me out for caustic criticism! They do this stuff practically for a living, so they must have leet skills to determine who's pathetic and who isn't. I go cry now..."

At least that's the logic I think they're using.

[logansrogue.livejournal.com]

Well... that's fucked up. They're just saddies with nothing better to do. :T (Though Xebbie does peruse their ranks from time to time, but she's cool and doesn't count).

[zebeckras.livejournal.com]

You're very kind. ;) I actually go almost daily *g* Basically, I decided after "Xena" that I was going to avoid the fandoms like hell, and F_W showcases exactly why. And I am amused. I will say I have not a shred of contempt for fandoms or fans, though, it's not about that; there are a ton of beneficial elements to fandoms, too. To introverted, me, however, it's just more about the drama that automatically comes with any larger grouping of people.

[logansrogue.livejournal.com]

Well, it can be pretty damned amusing and you don't have to wait for installments like you do with TV.

[nousia.livejournal.com]

Haha Nancy that's so true.

Thanks for getting that through us *grins*

[logansrogue.livejournal.com]

Hehe. I'm really starting to like that icon. :) Ron/Luna is so cute. :)

[nousia.livejournal.com]

Thank ya :D

They are. *grins* *nudges you to make a R/L art sometime*

[theriverdark.livejournal.com]

What the heck is fandom_wanking? I found a LiveJournal member call fandom_wank, but it looks like their account has been suspended, so I'm a little in the dark.

[logansrogue.livejournal.com]

The fandom_wank journal is on journalfen.com.

[shantari.livejournal.com]

Agree completely! So far I have never been wanked. (I'm not famous enough, me thinks.) I don't think I'd have much of a problem with it, it'd just give me something to laugh about and possibly celebrate. (Yay! I'm a celebritie!) I think I'll make sure to remember in the case I ever do get wanked, to make people realize that the reason I'm telling them that I am in my journal is to celebrate, so that people won't have to feel the need of comforting me.

(Is it just me, or was that one long sentence of confuzzling?)

[logansrogue.livejournal.com]

It was a little run-on... But I got what you meant. :)

[phoenixwriter.livejournal.com]

They crack me up. Just for the fact they are so wanky themselves. Half of the time I think either I have a really weird kind of humour or they don't know what's wanky.

Be a wanker! Wanking feels good.

And it makes fun to see a whole community go crazy about you *lol*

[logansrogue.livejournal.com]

I know. The power!! *evil laugh* I really do think they sometimes don't know what actually is wanky. They just look for expressions of intense emotion to make fun of.

[gracie-in-greek.livejournal.com]

Oh, trust me.

When my lovely "Dear Emerson..." icon request/the icon itself that someone made for me both citing me little "Harry/Hermione Militia" thing ended up on BOTH fandom_wank -and- Emerson's lovely Wall Of Shame, I was horribly crushed--
Because I, the poster/requester/H/Hr-Milition-inventor was not the only one snarked at. They snarked at our fandom at -large- for something I did, and I hatehatehated that. If it had been just at me, even if they'd used my username and everything, I could have handled it fine. Pffft, I would have said. It's sort of funny.

People don't like the feeling of having caused embarrassment for others, and sometimes themselves. Sometimes, when people are fandom_wanked, they feel like they've caused their ship or fandom to look bad. Some people don't take it like that and are really amused, like I would be if it was just me, but others can tend to feel pretty guilty about it.

That's just my explanation--it'd be nice if everyone felt like you, though. 'Cause then fandom_wank would totally lose their power.

[gracie-in-greek.livejournal.com]

...Okay, the very slight fame I got out of it for about, oh...two minutes was kinda nice. But beyond that, t'was pretty sucky.

[logansrogue.livejournal.com]

*snort* Dude - don't worry what those jerks say. No publicity is bad publicity.

[logansrogue.livejournal.com]

But... they're the stupid ones, dude. Emerson totally hates being made look bad. (Though Emerson is an immature little douche-bag, but that's for another argument). They totally missed the joke of the 'militia' thing. I mean, JKR called us militant, so you call us militia - that's funny!

[gracie-in-greek.livejournal.com]

*Giggles* I loff you so much.

That's how I meant the Militant thing, as a funny bit of irony. It got totally out of controle. I still adore the fraise, but I also still hate Emerson for taking his issue with it out on all of us when the heat should have been totally on just me.

*Smile* It is sort of funny, though.

[logansrogue.livejournal.com]

*shrugs* Who cares? The only people that would take anything he says seriously are people that hate us anyway without any real reason. So don't worry about it. :)

[connaka.livejournal.com]

ohhh, so that's what happened! is that why you took down your squid? last time I checked, it wasn't there anymore.

[logansrogue.livejournal.com]

...No. I never took my Squid down. Who took my Squid down? WHERE'S MY SQUID?!

Hahaha. That sounds funny.

[zebeckras.livejournal.com]

My philosophy on F_W is that you (USUALLY - not always) end up there if you're taking fandom too damn seriously. Now, when it comes to the_it_ship I have no idea what particular wank it is, b/c F_W has been a little obsessed with Harmonian stuff lately, and there are hundreds of things that have popped up there - I'm getting bored and pretty much thinking they're being a little "over-vigilant". I have seen a LOT of content on there that has been genuinely crackpot, I have to say, but now it's just devolved into "Anyone H/Hr? BONZO!" which I tend to skip. So, whatever. OTOH, it means like - nothing at all. Like you said, it's usually more funny. Like I said, people normally just end up there if they're taking things too seriously, so if it *really* bothers someone maybe they should consider if they're too "close" to the fandom right now. And, like I also said, it might just be that everyone's "watching" Harmony forums right now waiting to get "popular" by pointing out the latest; that'll blow over, and again, just who cares? Do what ya like. F_W can be incredibly amusing to me, and it can also be really hypocritical and annoying (many of its members are pretty wank-headed), so who gives a fuck what they think? The most annoying thing is when trolls show up and try to stir shit up, but F_W itself has a policy in its rules against doing that; jerks are jerks no matter what community they come to. ;)

Personally, I *desperately* wish there had been such a place back when we had GJRS/"Xena" wank. That shit should have been preserved for the ages, man. Sometimes I still consider going back and digging up newsgroup links for the "i_wank" section, but since it's all at least 6 years old now... no one would care. *le sigh*

[logansrogue.livejournal.com]

See, that's the thing. H/Hr fans are getting reported for simply saying they don't like the book. And then R/Hr people are like, "NOO! HERESY! CANON IS THE WORD OF GOD!" and "YOU MUST CONVERT!" (Not all R/Hrs, just a few scary ones) and *we're* called the militant ones! *baffled*

I'm with you on the taking fandom too seriously can be funny... but then actually bothering to report it when someone does just comes full circle and it builds on the other till you have a full mountain of wankery.

I can see how that can be amusing, though.

I don't mind fandom_wank so much, as the people that strive to be popular there, and the effect it has on other people so that they're censoring themselves as a result. I like the free and easy madness, it's fun.

Dude... if there was fandomwank in GJRS/Xena times? We'd be the butt of all the jokes. We're at a disadvantage straight away - GJRS is a het coupling, and gay is le cool. Particularly lesbians.

[zebeckras.livejournal.com]

yeah - I like the stuff where people truly were insane. And there are a couple of people - I am *not* naming any names, partly 'cause I can't remember them *lol* - that I've seen that have really been OUT THERE. OTOH I've seen a number of recent R/Hr sporkings too; just people really are LOOKING for the H/Hr stuff and, eh. I've seen it. It's really only funny when it's novel, not when it's "They're still MAKING ICONS!!" Er, yeah, okay.

I can count on maybe one hand the people at F_W I'd actually want to be friends with. (Er, barring the people I already know, and AM friends with.) I can count on more than one hand the people who are genuine assholes (and they're some of the few whose names I've bothered to memorize) and I'd run out of hands. And yeah, it seems like especially recently people have become a lot more aware of F_W and... that's seriously too bad. There are threads of people *trying* to get on F_W, people randomly starting F_W bashing threads, and so forth... That's a lot less fun for everone, IMO. I think no matter who you are or what fandom you're in you're going to have someone laughing at you. I'm not saying it's fun for anyone, really, but I think things stay a lot more fun when you're not worrying about whether they ARE laughing or not.

As for GJRS, I actually have little doubt we would be the butt of the jokes. Or - well - let me put it this way. *G* If we put up stuff with certain folks on the list, only, and kept it GJRS-fandom... That could've been HUGE, and IMO very amusing. And I'm certain that I, for example, would have been skewered (I remember one time I was away, and two people got in a fight, and I missed most of it before I came back and got SO pissed that I was like "WTF are you doing to me!? Are you INFANTS!? Goddammit I need some alcohol!" and went away before coming back to actually moderate. *lol*) If we posted the subtext crap, I think we'd be the butt of a ton of jokes, but I actually think there are a number of subbers who would be too. They're usually pretty good at making fun of both sides, unless one side is purely "GAY IS EVIL" and the other is witty and urbane. ;) That's what I like about some of the wanks; there will be a lot of comments, sometimes, of "you know, I agree with their basic point, but STOP MAKING MY SIDE LOOK STUPID!"

But the majority of it, I think at least *I* would deserve to be there, 'cause I *was* taking it too seriously, and now I can laugh about it. ;D