Fandom and entitlement
Aug. 10th, 2005 09:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thebratqueenSo things have been a bit quiet here in the land of TBQ as I'm currently dealing with some not fun health issues (nothing to worry about, they're just not fun). That may keep going in the upcoming week, but you know I couldn't let the Money for fanfic wank pass me by.
First off, let's do full disclosure. My name is TBQ and I will milk the "Anne Rice's bitch lawyer sent me, personally, a C&D letter while one of Anne's pencil-dick minions cyber-stalked me." thing to death. Why? Because it did happen, it sucked, and if idiots in fandom are going to ram their heads up their asses about the dangers of not playing by the rules then they deserve to have my size 10 boot up there with them.
Now I will admit, I do not subscribe to the theory that I need the blessing of the creator in order to write fanfic. Anne's lawyer didn't stop me from writing VC fanfic, her shitty novels did. Joss Whedon has told fanfic authors mazel tov and that's nice, but if he didn't like it I'd still keep doing it.
That being said, there are boundaries that you respect. Even with the worst, bitchiest, nastiest to their fans creator/PtB/author in the world (Hi, Anne!) you still do not cross certain lines.
Fanfic is not for profit. I realize that there are a couple of two-syllable words in there so let me break it down even further: The thing you type with the porn you no make cash with. Lemme know if that one didn't get through to you because I'll bust out the hand puppets if necessary.
The only defense that we fanficcers have against those who'd love to send us all C&Ds is that we have respect. We share the toys, but we do not steal them. The people who created the characters that we love so much need to make a living. Even the millionaires like Anne because those electroshock treatments do not pay for themselves, people.
The reason why people like Joss don't mind letting us into the sandbox is because they know we're not going to pee in it. They get that fanfic doesn't steal profits but rather encourages them. This is how it's been, this is how it shall be. And the fabulous thing is that as time goes on, this is what people see of us and thus are spawned even more fandoms where the creators encourage us to come on in.
But we have to have manners. On the whole fans of all stripes are looked at as anti-social, unwashed, maladaptive losers who you don't want to be in the same building with, let alone trust with something you care about. Plus the shitty things stick. Not many people can list every single time fandom used its awesome community and power to help a noble cause, but you'd better believe the Lee Goldbergs of the world can cite the "Some asshole tried to sue Marion Zimmer Bradley!" story without blinking an eye.
So yes, when somebody eats the stupid flakes for breakfast you're damned right fandom is going to strike down like the hand of God and call them on it. Because you being an idiot makes us look like idiots. You may or may not get a C&D (and you won't, if we can taser you quickly enough) (you're welcome) but you will encourage every creator out there to think twice before giving us a friendly nod. You are the asshole who took all the candy out of the dish, so now the Petersons don't answer the door on Halloween. You're the dipshit who stole all the bank pens, so now they have to be chained to the desk.
Is it evil? No. Racism is evil. Killing children is evil. Let's roll perspective and get a grip. However is it a punk-ass, rude, obnoxious, and on the whole shitty thing to do? Awwwh yeah, baby.
And to all the people waving the "OMG ur so meeeeeeeeeeeen!!111!!!" flags allow me to say this: We aren't mean, we're angry. When somebody dumps a big steaming pile of poo in the middle of fandom's carpet, we're not going to be using our happy words. This is not an inside voices kind of moment. We're going to get mad, we're going to yell, and we're going to tell the jagoff doing it to cut that shit the fuck out.
Oh? Did we hurt someone's feelings? Yeah, that's called guilt. It's the itchy sensation you get when you've done something wrong. Don't worry about the burning that comes with it. We call that shame. That's what you feel when you've done something wrong and got caught doing it. Hang on, let me rephrase: that's what you're supposed to feel when you've done something wrong and got caught doing it, jackass.
If you kick me in the shin and I shout "Ow, what the fuck?" you don't get to put on a pouty face and say I don't know your life story well enough and unless I'm a perfect human being I'm not allowed to be all mean to you. You step back, you put your foot down, and you say you're sorry. Yes, even if you kicked me accidentally. We call this quaint custom having manners, and if you can't cope with it then get the Hell off fandom's subway car.
And to all the people going "Well the people asking her about her WIPs deserve to be told to put out or shut up!" get the fuck out of fandom. Seriously. What in the flaming hell is wrong with you that you can't take a request for more of your work as a compliment? And if you are such a fragile and delicate snowflake that you can't reply with "Sorry, there isn't any more." maybe the cruel seas of teh internets is not the destiny you're supposed to be manifesting.
It just boggles my God-damn mind that people would not only have such a sense of entitlement that they would see no problem whatsoever with screwing the pooch at both ends. Sure! Let's give a big fuck-you to the creators of the fandom by making money off of their livelihood, and then we'll give fandom itself the hows-your-father by demanding they not talk unless they pony up the Benjamins! What. The. FUCK.
And especially - especially - for something as dumb-ass as "Gosh, I'd like a writing career." Are you shitting me? I mean offering to sell your fanfic in exchange for the cash you need to pay for your iron lung would still get you people saying take fanfic out of it but at least they'd get why you were doing what you were doing (and would probably help out anyway.) Ditto with things like fandom_charity, which admittedly I took part in but I did so knowing that it might be crossing a line and hoping like hope that the good cause would outweigh any potential badness. (And if it didn't then I was fully prepared to sack up and take my punishment.)
You know, for all that Snacky's law gets invoked about as often as Godwin's, fandom really is a wonderful place. We make friends here, we have fun here, and yes, we will even do a whip-round if we're aware of someone needing it. But if you fuck up you fuck up, and we're not going to give you cash, hugs, or puppies as a reward for that. Trying to take advantage of fandom's kindness so that you can, as![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kita0610 so aptly put it, get paid for existing, is a fuck up. It's doubly so if you try to use fanfic to do it.
Yes,cousinjean gets some small credit for taking the request and the post down. But her attitude of how the problem isn't her actions but fandom's universal wish that she not be able to live her dream shows that somehow, someway, common sense did not manage to drill into her skull and set up base camp. You don't get a gold star for that.
Now give me one hundred dollars, or so help me I'm offing Hieronymus.
First off, let's do full disclosure. My name is TBQ and I will milk the "Anne Rice's bitch lawyer sent me, personally, a C&D letter while one of Anne's pencil-dick minions cyber-stalked me." thing to death. Why? Because it did happen, it sucked, and if idiots in fandom are going to ram their heads up their asses about the dangers of not playing by the rules then they deserve to have my size 10 boot up there with them.
Now I will admit, I do not subscribe to the theory that I need the blessing of the creator in order to write fanfic. Anne's lawyer didn't stop me from writing VC fanfic, her shitty novels did. Joss Whedon has told fanfic authors mazel tov and that's nice, but if he didn't like it I'd still keep doing it.
That being said, there are boundaries that you respect. Even with the worst, bitchiest, nastiest to their fans creator/PtB/author in the world (Hi, Anne!) you still do not cross certain lines.
Fanfic is not for profit. I realize that there are a couple of two-syllable words in there so let me break it down even further: The thing you type with the porn you no make cash with. Lemme know if that one didn't get through to you because I'll bust out the hand puppets if necessary.
The only defense that we fanficcers have against those who'd love to send us all C&Ds is that we have respect. We share the toys, but we do not steal them. The people who created the characters that we love so much need to make a living. Even the millionaires like Anne because those electroshock treatments do not pay for themselves, people.
The reason why people like Joss don't mind letting us into the sandbox is because they know we're not going to pee in it. They get that fanfic doesn't steal profits but rather encourages them. This is how it's been, this is how it shall be. And the fabulous thing is that as time goes on, this is what people see of us and thus are spawned even more fandoms where the creators encourage us to come on in.
But we have to have manners. On the whole fans of all stripes are looked at as anti-social, unwashed, maladaptive losers who you don't want to be in the same building with, let alone trust with something you care about. Plus the shitty things stick. Not many people can list every single time fandom used its awesome community and power to help a noble cause, but you'd better believe the Lee Goldbergs of the world can cite the "Some asshole tried to sue Marion Zimmer Bradley!" story without blinking an eye.
So yes, when somebody eats the stupid flakes for breakfast you're damned right fandom is going to strike down like the hand of God and call them on it. Because you being an idiot makes us look like idiots. You may or may not get a C&D (and you won't, if we can taser you quickly enough) (you're welcome) but you will encourage every creator out there to think twice before giving us a friendly nod. You are the asshole who took all the candy out of the dish, so now the Petersons don't answer the door on Halloween. You're the dipshit who stole all the bank pens, so now they have to be chained to the desk.
Is it evil? No. Racism is evil. Killing children is evil. Let's roll perspective and get a grip. However is it a punk-ass, rude, obnoxious, and on the whole shitty thing to do? Awwwh yeah, baby.
And to all the people waving the "OMG ur so meeeeeeeeeeeen!!111!!!" flags allow me to say this: We aren't mean, we're angry. When somebody dumps a big steaming pile of poo in the middle of fandom's carpet, we're not going to be using our happy words. This is not an inside voices kind of moment. We're going to get mad, we're going to yell, and we're going to tell the jagoff doing it to cut that shit the fuck out.
Oh? Did we hurt someone's feelings? Yeah, that's called guilt. It's the itchy sensation you get when you've done something wrong. Don't worry about the burning that comes with it. We call that shame. That's what you feel when you've done something wrong and got caught doing it. Hang on, let me rephrase: that's what you're supposed to feel when you've done something wrong and got caught doing it, jackass.
If you kick me in the shin and I shout "Ow, what the fuck?" you don't get to put on a pouty face and say I don't know your life story well enough and unless I'm a perfect human being I'm not allowed to be all mean to you. You step back, you put your foot down, and you say you're sorry. Yes, even if you kicked me accidentally. We call this quaint custom having manners, and if you can't cope with it then get the Hell off fandom's subway car.
And to all the people going "Well the people asking her about her WIPs deserve to be told to put out or shut up!" get the fuck out of fandom. Seriously. What in the flaming hell is wrong with you that you can't take a request for more of your work as a compliment? And if you are such a fragile and delicate snowflake that you can't reply with "Sorry, there isn't any more." maybe the cruel seas of teh internets is not the destiny you're supposed to be manifesting.
It just boggles my God-damn mind that people would not only have such a sense of entitlement that they would see no problem whatsoever with screwing the pooch at both ends. Sure! Let's give a big fuck-you to the creators of the fandom by making money off of their livelihood, and then we'll give fandom itself the hows-your-father by demanding they not talk unless they pony up the Benjamins! What. The. FUCK.
And especially - especially - for something as dumb-ass as "Gosh, I'd like a writing career." Are you shitting me? I mean offering to sell your fanfic in exchange for the cash you need to pay for your iron lung would still get you people saying take fanfic out of it but at least they'd get why you were doing what you were doing (and would probably help out anyway.) Ditto with things like fandom_charity, which admittedly I took part in but I did so knowing that it might be crossing a line and hoping like hope that the good cause would outweigh any potential badness. (And if it didn't then I was fully prepared to sack up and take my punishment.)
You know, for all that Snacky's law gets invoked about as often as Godwin's, fandom really is a wonderful place. We make friends here, we have fun here, and yes, we will even do a whip-round if we're aware of someone needing it. But if you fuck up you fuck up, and we're not going to give you cash, hugs, or puppies as a reward for that. Trying to take advantage of fandom's kindness so that you can, as
kita0610 so aptly put it, get paid for existing, is a fuck up. It's doubly so if you try to use fanfic to do it.Yes,
cousinjean gets some small credit for taking the request and the post down. But her attitude of how the problem isn't her actions but fandom's universal wish that she not be able to live her dream shows that somehow, someway, common sense did not manage to drill into her skull and set up base camp. You don't get a gold star for that.Now give me one hundred dollars, or so help me I'm offing Hieronymus.
