Real names and fandom: Some really unfunny bruhahaha

[misscam]

Er, yeah. Where to start? There is so much backstory to this I don't have the full idea of and probably never will. But I became aware of it when a friend linked me to ithiliana, who says:

The purpose of this post is to call out somebody who actively seeks to harm other fans. She lies. She outs fans by connecting their real life identities with their fannish identities. She is trying to make money from a site which is billed as "history" and which contains lies, damn lies, and misinformation as well as the public outing of fans which, despite her claims, she will not remove if asked, not if the person asking fits her definition of an "influential" fan although many influential fans are *not* outed in the journal.

Fairly strong language - and the target of it someone who was on my flist up until this. I've never had any negative dealings with her, but I have defriended her now because I am extremely uncomfortable with what she did in the now deleted entry on fanthropology. (To put it mildly.) Clearly, there's a whole lot of other stuff going on too - backstory, agendas, grudges, bias, the debate over OTW (which I remain uncomfortable about, but stay on the fence) and I'm getting a headache.

The post I linked to have a lot of links and information if you want to read up. There are also some defenders showing up in the comments. metafandom is also involved - the rule change here is specifically come from this situation and they've linked to several opinions on it here.

If you missed the fanthropology post, this post explains what went on. To summarize from that:

apparently the owner got her hands on [lj name]'s real name. And added said name, and several details of her offline and professional life, to the FanHistory page about her. And if someone tries to remove [lj name]'s real-life details, saying "she doesn't want these things linked, please stop," the owner reverses the edits and restores the revealing page. And when challenged, said owner made a giant post to fanthropology proclaiming your real-life details fair game if you've ever posted on an archive, made an online journal, or joined a message board.

Again, there are some defenders in the comments - I haven't found a post that actively defends what was done, or I would link it in the interest of balance. If there is such a thing in all this.

ETA: Oh, here's one defending FanHistory and the posting of RL name.

I spent far too much time yesterday trying to get a sense of this all, and I pretty much only got a headache and an urge to cheer self up by ordering stuff on Amazon. I think it's time for the wankshelter bar again. Anyone want a drink?

Someone make me write Adama/Roslin fic fast before my brain gets devoured by really unfunny stuff, PLEASE?

Comments

[adoraheatherly.livejournal.com]

My god, this is ridiculous. I would like to say that I'm shocked by this type of behavior, but I'm not. It seems like invasion into people's personal lives over fandom disputes is becoming more and more common these days and it's just sad.

Not even considering the people themselves, folks have families, children, innocent people who should not be subjected to the possible consequences of having personal information leaked online. How can anyone take fandom so seriously that they refuse to even show basic common courtesy for another person's privacy?

About a week ago, a certain snark site within the Idol fandom posted a picture of a good friend of mine and another fan out at one of the concerts, making fun of their weight and age.
Bad enough, but the other person pictured with my friend is a woman who passed away a couple of weeks ago. When this was pointed out to the snark site, they said they were not going to remove a perfectly good post just because the woman "kicked the bucket."

I'd like to say something to make you feel better, but I'm pretty jaded myself at this point. The only advice I have is to distract yourself with pretty pictures, good fan fiction and yes, a splurge on Amazon here and there is definitely good for the soul.

[lotus79.livejournal.com]

*makes you write fic fast* :P

Well, we had an arson attack at school today. What fun! (Someone set a fire in the boys changerooms in the gym, just as the entirety of lower school was seated in said gym having an assembly.)

[misscam.livejournal.com]

Ouch :( Idol fandom really has some nastier stuff, doesn't it? I'm remembering that last thing you told me about.

I'm not a Cult of Nice person. I mean, I hang about f_w and I mock stupid shit now and then and I've certainly had my fandom grudges, but there are some things I am just not okay with, you know? Regardless of all the other things that seems to be going on.

Sigh. Fandom sure gets very involved, doesn't it? But knowing four shiny DVDs are heading my way does indeed help. I must be shallow like that.

[misscam.livejournal.com]

Arson WTF? Was it caught early and is the brat who did it caught? There's a way to have an interesting day at work, sheesh.

Just for you, I'll write something on the weekend. Give me a few prompts and what you want the one or two Kara/Lee scenes I'll stick in there JUST FOR YOU to be. You can include options. (You know most of the fic itself will be A/R, but still.)

[trialia]

Heh. Yeah, she has issues... Me, I'm so profoundly unconcerned about being 'outed' that I actually have plans to change my legal first name to my fandom pseudonym. I wonder what that says about me...

Yay for fic. PWP? :D

[lotus79.livejournal.com]

It was caught when the smoke started pouring in to the gym windows. I think the perpetrators have either been caught or are nearly so--I had to watch Jodie's class for the last ten minutes of the day while she went to sit iin on police interview with a couple of students.

The hard part really was (helping to) ride herd on 600 plus students wanting to rubberneck!

Hmm... *starts pondering prompts* What type you after? one word? song lyric? plot what ifs?

[misscam.livejournal.com]

I'm not concerened about it for me that much, but then again, I live in Norway and it's a different culture to the US, you know? Issues around sex can get a bit hysterical in the US and getting out as a writer of sex there can have consequences. With all the homophobia too, as a writer of slash might even be worse.

And fundamentally, I think it's people's own choice.

We shall see... Got my fic for the Christmas in July read and betaed, so I will post that after or on Friday some time.

[babylon-whore.livejournal.com]

Pour me a drink bb!!!


wriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiite fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiic

I finally got my arse in gear and wrote this week. YOUR TURN!

[misscam.livejournal.com]

Maybe that'll teach them a lesson, at least. Jeez.

Just words, I think. I am bad at plots, I prefer emotional hooks to write on. Make me write a fic about five objects found in your bedroom? :P

[misscam.livejournal.com]

Why, certainly. Would you like an umbrella in it?

I have finished my ficathon fic and have it ready to post, does that count?

If not, better smack me with a challenge or something. :P I'm a journalist, I tend to respond to that.

[babylon-whore.livejournal.com]

Absofrakkinglutely!

No! Cos I'm mad greedy like that.

I think we're all in need of a spazzy Laura and Bill play footsie during a random meeting fic. Or maybe I've had too much sugar today!

[lotus79.livejournal.com]

Five objects in my bedroom, huh? Let's not look under the bed. ;)

Okay. hotwater bottle. hammer. cat. socks. bathrobe.

As for K/L scenes. I'd like something voyeuristic. A and/or R observing the younguns... not necessarily "in the act" (though you can if you like...) but at least in a private moment or two. If you want them to be inspired by what they see, that's your prerogative. ;)

[misscam.livejournal.com]

Oooh, I like this, I like this a lot. I think I can definitely do stuff with this. I have several ideas already.

*ponders*

Do you have dead toads under your bed?

[misscam.livejournal.com]

If all the writers you like wrote A/R 24/7 just for you, would that be enough? :P

You might have had too much sugar, but I've added 'footsie' to the challenge Saz gave me below. Now to see where it goes...

[babylon-whore.livejournal.com]

probably not! I'm THAT greedy when it comes to these two! Pfft though, like you'd be enough for you either.

SCORE!!

[misscam.livejournal.com]

Now, now. we weren't talking about me and I said nothing about what I'd want. I wouldn't be happy unless EJO and MM were acting it for me too, hah!

Bill loves Laura's legs. Currently, one of them appears to be very happy to make his aquintance too.

I WROTE YOU BIT. NOW BE HAPPY.

[babylon-whore.livejournal.com]

LOL I am typing FAIL today, that was supposed to say "that'd be enough for you" not "you'd be enough for you", good grief, how am I allowed out on my own!?!

I IZ VERY HAPPY NOW

[rakshi.livejournal.com]

Thank you for this! I heard a bit about it yesterday, but am glad to know the whole story.

Amazing that anyone could be that brazen and unethical!!

*hugs*

[lotus79.livejournal.com]

Yay! Write fast, I wanna read it.

Do you have dead toads under your bed?

...no? There's a bunch of boxes of stuff belonging to my mother in law, the aforementioned hammer (that's Luke's, put there in case he ever needs to smack in some home invaders' heads, apparently) and some other... stuff.

Feel free to challenge me in the same way, if you like. I might get inspired, you never know. A/R might be interesting to try out a little.

[scarlettgirl.livejournal.com]

The only rebuttal I've seen is this:

http://lennoxmacbeth.livejournal.com/90728.html

Which is a lot of bile wrapped up in the "if you're too much of a pussy to use your real name you have no business playing in the sandbox".

This whole thing makes me a bit twitchy. When I became involved in fandom I was fairly generous in what I shared however, my situation has changed in the past five years ( as well as realising LJ isn't always the cozy nook we like to think it is). While I will defend my online involvement to anyone in RL, the truth is there are aspects of my life that could be made very uncomfortable or where my credibility could possibly be called into question by my online involvement. It's stupid, but it's reality. I'm not a fanatic about privacy because there *are* some fandom things I do using my real name, but I am cautious. Why is that so hard to respect?

[longtimegone]

Oh man. I don't know the details of this newest wank beyond a few facts, but I will say, that Michaela/Laura Hale/partly_bouncy has been a total fucking nutjob for a really long time.

Or at least that's been my impression. ;)

[misscam.livejournal.com]

You knocked out the nurse who was supposed to watch you?

GOOD. NOW I JUST HAVE TO WRITE THE REST. OOPS.

[misscam.livejournal.com]

There is this thing called work, you know :P

Yeah, the sensible thing against home invasion is a hammer under the bed. Hmm, actually, now you made me imagine Bill keeping a hammer under his pillow for some mysterious reason and Laura finding out.

Well, I am not in my bedroom, but I can challenge you with five objects from my office. A wireless, a plant, a picture of a cat, a carved rabbit with a flower and a letter opener that looks a bit like a phallic symbol.

[falena]

When fandom does this sort of nasty things (how could someone deliberately choose not to respect someone else's legitimate desire to keep their online persona and RL separate) I just remind myself that there are awesome people out there that I would have never met, if it hadn't been for fandom or LJ.

[anamin.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the link!