Comment on Fandom nonfiction: seeking feedback

  1. kowaiyoukai Thu 14 Mar 2013 08:33AM UTC

    I didn't want attention. It's not about me. The point of the meta was to stop fans from feeling shame at being in fandom. I used myself as an example because I know my own story. Others shared their stories in the comments. I hoped by posting it that fans could feel more comfortable with themselves. That's it. Fan shame is such an enormous problem that I constantly run into. I was hoping being open about my experiences would help others.

    Honestly, I don't like attention on me personally. I'd hate to be a BNF. If I had known it was an issue, I would have not tagged it as such. Or edited the tags much earlier.

    I'm sorry for any stress or pain I caused you or anyone else. I didn't realize tagging a fanwork was such a big problem. I'll definitely think twice before posting stuff on AO3 again.

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    1. New person (Guest) Thu 14 Mar 2013 09:38AM UTC

      I'll definitely think twice before posting stuff on AO3 again.

      THANK YOU.

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    2. cupidsbow Thu 14 Mar 2013 01:51PM UTC

      Thinking twice is always a good idea anyway for a space that's meant to house works which are permanent and long-term, but after thinking twice keep posting.

      Your voice is valuable and deserves its place in the archive. The anon comments are borderline bullying and definitely showing their privilege (an expectation that the archive should only hold what they find valuable).

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      1. kowaiyoukai Thu 14 Mar 2013 02:29PM UTC

        Thanks for your support! I'm of the opinion that meta counts as permanent fanwork, so I never considered not posting it. I dislike the idea of people saying what is or is not allowed, though.

        Anon comments usually are bullying and privileged.

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      2. anon (Guest) Thu 14 Mar 2013 02:35PM UTC

        Wow, throwing around 'privilege' like that. Are you trying to drag the discussion into SJW?

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      3. new anon (Guest) Thu 14 Mar 2013 02:39PM UTC

        "definitely showing their privilege"

        Well, that's certainly more than a little disingenuous. If I suggest to a librarian at my local library that perhaps 'Harry Potter' does not, in fact, belong amongst the 'True Crime' novels where they have shelved it even though, yes, Voldemort was a very bad man who totally killed people, sure, what sort of privilege/power-relation do you imagine to be taking place there?

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    4. anon (Guest) Thu 14 Mar 2013 04:33PM UTC

      I didn't want attention.

      Then why'd you post it?

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      1. kowaiyoukai Thu 14 Mar 2013 08:08PM UTC

        I posted it because I've encountered so much fandom shame that I couldn't ignore it anymore. I understand that everyone lives a different lifestyle, no one can be judged by anyone else's standards, but I was running into several posts a day (on LJ, DW, tumblr, twitter, etc) where fans expressed various negative opinions on how they viewed themselves and their fandoms. "I know I'm a freak, but..." "LOL nobody understands me!" "I wish I had fandom RL friends." "Fandom's like fight club. You don't talk about it." It just astounded me that so many fans had these ideas that seemed to only negatively affect them.

        After considering it for a couple of months, I realized I was about to finish my 20th year in fandom and that maybe sharing my experiences would help some people feel less ashamed, less like fandom is a dirty little secret--which it clearly isn't given the popularity of things like ComicCon and shipping polls.

        Posting my essay was never about bringing attention to me. It was always about bringing attention to the fact that there are literally MILLIONS of fans and so, no, we shouldn't be ashamed, we shouldn't stay quiet, & we're definitely not alone. Yes, it's my opinion, but more importantly, it's something some fans needed to hear.

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        1. anon (Guest) Fri 15 Mar 2013 04:41AM UTC

          Fair enough, but I don't see why it couldn't have gone someplace like LJ or Tumblr.

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          1. kowaiyoukai Fri 15 Mar 2013 05:15AM UTC

            I didn't realize there was an issue with posting meta on AO3. I'd seen meta posted before here and thought it was fine. Personally, I hate tumblr because it's impossible to navigate and posts seem to disappear. As for LJ, fandom as a whole seemed to be moving away from LJ and I hadn't used it in about a year. Trust me, if I had realized this was an issue, I wouldn't have done it.

            I'm going to stop replying to this thread. The point of this post is not to discuss how I tagged one essay. This space could be used for the more helpful activity of discussing how meta should be handled on AO3. I already apologized and there's really nothing I can do about it now. I took down what seemed to be the tags the 3 anons had issues with. That's literally all I can do.

            It's good to know that how meta is handled is being considered here. I hope a solution is reached soon. Any future essays/meta I may or may not post will be tagged minimally so as not to unintentionally frustrate users (if I decide to post here at all).

            Also, I'm not sure if this is relevant, but some users such as myself rely on AO3 for most everything fandom related. I only get internet on my cell, and while tumblr & LJ take forever to load and eat my data, I find AO3 to be a much preferred site--it loads and data usage isn't too bad. So, yes, maybe it's easy for the vast majority of fans to switch between websites, but that's simply not true for everyone. I'm not suggesting we include reaction gifsets and the like, but the sooner clear rules are outlined for what's allowed and what's not, the better for everyone.

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            1. nigeltde Fri 15 Mar 2013 07:15AM UTC

              I have to say I was never affected by your original post but I think you've handled yourself well in the face of some rude nonnies. Thanks for continuing with the discussion tothe best of your ability because their complaints (which as facetofcathy says below says more about the design of the archive than you) and your responses have tangled with the issues at the heart of this nonfiction decision and it's been good to read.

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            2. anon (Guest) Fri 15 Mar 2013 05:25PM UTC

              I meant in the context of this being an appropriate venue for what amounts to a rambling personal journal entry, not whether you could access those sites on your phone, but okay.

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            3. anon (Guest) Sat 16 Mar 2013 11:53AM UTC

              If this is what you consider meta, I hope meta gets banned from AO3.

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    6. Pslasher Fri 15 Mar 2013 01:09PM UTC

      I really enjoyed your essay, and in fact I found it through your extensive tagging. It was one of the first meta things I read on the AO3, and it made me think the meta hosting was a great idea. I have no problem with this type of meta being housed by the AO3, or with the way you initially tagged. Like everyone else, I want proper and functioning media categories, but that has nothing to do with you in particular. Don't let the Anons, who are probably just one person, dictate what you do - there were far more comments on your essay that appreciated your post and tagging than those who didn't.

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