Four thoughts on LJ-ettiquette

[jlh]

1. Being a Fan, only not, part 1. So, you know, we come online to find other people who like whatever we like, and that's fun, because then we don't have to bore our other friends with endless talk about our latest theory about the Lost numbers or all the possible hookups in Furuba or our current WoW campaign or the past weekend's Serenity numbers. But just like our beloved non-fandom friends, our fandom friends will have random other interests that don't overlap with ours, and hopefully they will cut them most of the time and we can just scroll on by.

But what I continue to not really understand is, why do some get so annoyed when folks on their flist post about something they don't care about? I think there are few post topics I am less sympathetic to than the "OMG I am so sick of people posting about yadda yadda" rant. Newsflash: don't read it! I'm not a Joss Whedon fan; I never watched Firefly; I'm not planning on seeing Serenity. I think that my flist has been abuzz about it for at least six months, since the preview screenings were announced. And sure, the quote meme got a little old, mostly because like most great Joss quotes they don't make a lot of sense out of context, and therefore weren't a great ad for the movie (see below for more on this). But you know, it wasn't annoying such that I felt a need to get all enraged about it. I'm not sure what it is about having to scroll that gets people so grouchy.


2. Being a Fan, only not, part 2. So we see how people bond over mutual likes, and even sometimes over mutual dislikes. And I can understand in the face of hegemony the relief that comes when you realize you aren't the only one not on the train. But why do people have to be so gleeful and really sort of mean about stuff they don't like? Is it really all that pollyanna of me to wish they could put their efforts into talking about what they do like when that's what fannish behavior is all about?

And while I'm on this topic, can we also not be so lockstep about how people choose to be fans of things? I mean, I can be a fan of CSI and not really care about Sara; I can be a fan of HP and not care about Snape. It's like we all need to genuflect in someone's general direction and it's sort of ridiculous.


3. Being a Fan, only not, part 3. Which brings me around to the recent Serenity wank, also known as the weird fight between some self-loathing fanboy on CHUD and the Joss-ster Himself. Now, I'll grant the CHUD fanboy one thing, that the Serenity folks scheduled those preview screenings too far in advance of the film, such that when it finally opened I thought it had opened months ago, and possibly they made the tickets a little too scarce given the general hysteria on my flist about getting tickets.

That said, I cannot imagine for one single second that fan behavior led to people not going to this film. I mean, people dressing up for Star Wars movies is a national joke, and "mainstream sci-fi fans" (fanboy's term, not mine) still went on opening weekend (just maybe not opening night). I reckon any "mainstream sci-fi fans" who have random Browncoats on their LJ flist (or even know what that term means) are pretty inured to rampant fandom craziness.

There is, however, which is somewhat related to the whole "being the right kind of fan" issue I raised above, something to be said for feeling that one should not go see a certain fannish thing if one is not sufficiently involved in that canon. For example, I didn't see LOTR because I hadn't read the books and had a vague (though completely ridiculous I admit) sense that I shouldn't see the films if I hadn't read the books. Despite my usual reluctance about Joss Whedon, I also didn't see Serenity partially because I hadn't seen Firefly, though I'm not planning on seeing Firefly anyway so that may not quite scan. But you know, the Serenity fans were more proselytizing than anything else, so I don't think they would have cared.


4. Cross Posting. Before I started reading CSI fic, I had been in a bit of a lull in fic reading. If it wasn't written by a friend, or on deamus or sometimes erotic_elves, I probably wasn't reading it. But now I have a bunch of CSI comms on my flist, so I'm finally getting the phenomenon of cross posting—by which I mean, posting the story in one place and then putting up a whole bunch of fake-cut links in other places. Since I'm on a Nick comm, a Gil comm, and a Gil/Nick comm, sometimes I see the same story posted three times. And I have to say, I personally would rather that writers post simultaneously than spreading it around. I think it's smart of them to want to post in as many places as possible to get as many readers as possible (who doesn't?) and for me, I'd rather the thing show up three times in a row on my flist than dribble in over a week, making me think, haven't I already read this? So here, take the superquick!poll:
[Poll #589778]

And in the time I wrote this entry, I formulated my research question. Go me.

Comments

[owlman.livejournal.com]

I think there are few post topics I am less sympathetic to than the "OMG I am so sick of people posting about yadda yadda" rant. Newsflash: don't read it!

::nods::
Rarely is it difficult to work out what topic someone is posting about, and if it is not of interest it is so easy to scroll straight past.

[heinous_bitca.livejournal.com]

That's Browncoats, btw. ;)

And I think you should post it in one community or journal, and then post links to other communities telling them where it is.

[phoenixsong]

I have no problem with cross-posting all at once, until you're spamming, say, 10+ communities at the same time. (I've mostly seen this on various spirituality-related comms, but I'm sure it happens elsewhere, too.) If you feel the need to cross-post that many times, 1) at least have the decency to cut, and 2) if it's a poll/survey, I'd almost prefer you spread it out over a couple of days -- it'll probably be easier to deal with the data that way, anyway. IMHO, it shows you're actually interested in the results, not just spamming to see how many responses you can get.

[ali-wildgoose.livejournal.com]

Hmmm....what CHUD wank do you speak of? I totally missed this.

Also, it's actually "Browncoats," and if you care I'd be happy to explain the term in less than a paragraph ;}

[aome.livejournal.com]

*nods in agreement with most of what you've said about being for something, against something, and having your own mind about something*

As for cross-posting - I agree that it's better to do it all at once, but I also will say that I don't always have time to cross-post all at once, or I forget somewhere I want to post it at that time. I don't cross-post very much (mostly to my own LJ and maybe one community, then other non-LJ places like FA, my website, etc) but I also think that sometimes a particular comm needs a different sort of intro or description, depending on the focus, as well as that comm's particular posting rules and such, so maybe some minor tweaks need to be made and it's not a simple matter of C&Ping the whole caboodle into four different posts in a row. Don't always have time to do that all in one go. So - while doing it all at once is nice, I can see how it might sometimes get spread out over a day or two, with apologies, or posted quite a bit later with "Oops, I forgot to post this here when I first wrote it". I wouldn't deliberately spread it out, though.

Are you enjoying school?

[chinawolf.livejournal.com]

The thing about cross posting is when some idiot posts to every comm under the sun. Say, a fic of the usual everybody's gay! variety. Say, to about twelve comms. And yes, I am thinking of someone specific. *headdesks*

I am annoyed by crossposting, but I know I would do it too, and there's no better way. So there. :)

[zorb]

I am actually someone who has been turned off from seeing Serenity due to the extreme fans. I had no problem at all with people squeeing about it on my flist - like you said, I could just scroll on by, and everyone's entitled to squee - but the campaigns to drive up ticket sales, the insinuation that I was somehow less of a person for not being interested in it, the spam attacks...those were over the top and annoying. The spam I saw wasn't even posted in the interest of having a real discussion, it was link spam, and probably a scam to get the poster some reward. It's hard to ignore promotion when it's all around you and the only way to get away from it would be to go off LJ entirely. The f_w entries turned into a non-fan support group, in a way (in the parts that got off topic from the actual wank).

Anyway, long story short: I had thought I would go see the movie anyway, because I like sci-fi in general, but after all of this, I won't be.

[ceilidh]

I get annoyed with crossposting usually, if it's more than 3 or so places - but not so annoyed that I feel the urge to scream about it. I think one's lj (if one wants to go there), a general fic comm, and a character or pairing-specific comm is a plenty. Like, if I wrote some Harry/Ron pr0n, I'd post it to my fic lj, pornish_pixies, and harry_and_ron. If I wrote Sirius/Lily smut, it'd be my fic lj, erotic_elves, and siriusxlily. If it's not smut, I send it to FA instead of PP/EE. That's just my preference though.