Does this make me famous or fandomwank?

[neadods]

Last week's RPS rant was prompted by a post from metafandom. This week, my original rant, Shay's response, and my "anthropologically interesting" followup are all linked in Metafandom, along with several posts on the general subject that don't reference me, Shay, or Sprat.

There's also a link to a very nice philosophical piece by bethbethbeth about the uselessness of saying "if you don't like it, don't read it."


I'm debating if I have the energy to read tanacawyr's post on fic feedback and comment or not. For some odd reason, when I think about posting a response in her LJ and possibly elaborating on that response in mine, I start to twitch...

Comments

[shayheyred.livejournal.com]

Wow - I've been quoted in metafandom! How cool is that?

(Snerk)

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

Y'know, I just had a thought about this whole issue. I know that "feedback" is incredibly important to a lot of fanfic writers, and that some of them will actually whine about lack of feedback. Well, what if RPS fics suddenly started getting tons of feedback saying, "I will not read this / stopped reading this because I think the publication of RPS is unethical"? Just the one sentence, no flaming, no censorship, merely a simple statement that YOU ARE NOT READING THIS STORY and why. Make it more than a dead silence, which can be interpreted in many ways.

I don't participate in the fanfic community, so I don't have enough data to evaluate whether this tactic would stand any chance of working or not, so I'm tossing it out to you. If you don't think it's feasible, well, it was only a thought.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I think that using the word "ethics" in there will only create another firestorm - as witness the people upset at me for using it, even though I was directly answering the question "some people have ethical problems and I don't know why."

I also think, realistically, that it is impossible to shut down any form of fanfic with adherents. The swarmers and the person who wrote Menikoff that letter certainly aren't the sort who would get a spate of comments like that and think about them, they'd simply lash out yet again.

That said, I have had no problems in the past with commenting "I am not comfortable with this type of fiction and therefore won't read the story." in public.

However, in this case, she's not talking about RPS/RPF; she's talking about people who draw a line between "good" comments (read: praise) and "bad" comments (read: critique). Which is also something I have strong opinions on - I would MUCH prefer to get feedback from someone who says "loved this, hated that, loved this, thought x about y happening." It means they've put actual thought into the story and have actually read it, aside from a knee-jerk, sugar-sweet "more, more, yay!" Like all sugar, it's nice but unsatisfying.

[hildy.livejournal.com]

From what little I've seen, your response will be quickly drowned out by the "OMG, that's so hawt, write more please!" types. But then I tend to go right past RPF/RPS stories on my list.