One last look

[bodgei.livejournal.com]

I know, by now, everyone must be sick to death of the goings on amongst the Supernatural fan community.  And the questions of character bashing, writer bashing and other fan bashing:  Of wincest vs. non wincest.  Of how and why and what is the right way to withdraw from a community that is no longer meeting your needs.  Of whether each of us have the right to feel and express the way we feel, and whether that feeling should be expressed in an open forum or if it is more appropriate to express those feelings in our personal journals.   Parts of this post are from a response to a comment on my personal journal, but I honestly felt that the feelings that I am having would be most appropriately expressed in a public forum. 

I’m sure not everyone is aware of what happened so I will make an attempt to not mention the names involved, but still get my feelings across and give everyone a basic background of the situation as I see it.  This is all personal opinion.  A friend of mine withdrew from a community that was not meeting her needs any more and posted that in her personal journal.  Shortly after that a post was made in the community that she had left, calling ‘a person who had left the community because of wincest’ a hypocrite.  How posting in ones personal journal makes on a hypocrite I don’t know, but that’s not really the point.  Madness ensued.  Names were called.  Things got pretty inappropriate pretty fast.  It felt like, to me, hundreds of people trying to shout down anyone who said they were bothered by incestuous relations, with the cry of “I should be allowed to write, read and view what I want”.  I never saw anyone say “You shouldn’t write/ read/ view wincest” but honestly I did not read every response, in fact I read very few.  What really really got to me is that this person has always defended everyone’s rights to say whatever they want, even if she doesn’t like/ doesn’t agree/ won’t read or view it. People were reacting without taking that into consideration. Everybody knows she's not into Wincest so her leaving that community shouldn't have surprised anyone.

I've never been the moderator of a l/j community but I would hope that I would have been able to handle a conflict in my community better than this one was handled.  The post was up and open for a few days, even after people began a concerted attack against another member of the community who was trying to defend the person who had left the community.  A moderator has responsibilities to all members of a community, not just the ones they agree with.  I had to referee any number of fights when I ran a Harry Potter forum site, and I never let them drag on so long - I know people can get hot about fandom, I get it. We are passionate as a species and in this time in history, where, honestly, we are more isolated then any time before, we look for community in fandom (or sports or whatever).  The Supernatural fandom is like a small town (vs. say Harry Potter or Star Trek, both large cities in the fandom world) and I think everything that happens is felt very deeply. Simple disagreements become huge arguments that leave everyone, the whole fandom shaken and hurt.

The past few weeks have left me feeling almost like I am living in Salem Town or Salem Village in colonel times, the witch trials are going on and I'm thinking "Alright, how did 'we should pay our Minster the back pay we owe him' and 'I would like my wife to get my property after I die' turn into this?"

What happened in the community and in peoples personal journals was a bit like Giles Cory being pressed to death for saying the whole witch trial thing was crap.

Comments

[lavenderk5.livejournal.com]

Just 2 cents from a lurker who cares...

It's a shame that these things happen, but they do and it's reminding me of something that happened to a close relative of mine recently. The incident occured in a different section of the blogsphere, but the lessons learned translate I think. (I'll summarize)

Anyway, Relative got into a debate with someone who as it turned out had no sense of boundaries. When this person relized he was not winning said debate, he goggled Relative and ended up finding out personal and professional info, such as place/phone number of employment, real last name, home addy and pics of the kids, and posted them online. Authorities were called in and all that sort of thing and a lot has calmed down but it was a bit of a nightmare for a bit because as it turns out you really DON'T know who you're talking to online and some of those people are nuts.

What we all took from this, and my point, is that about 95% of what happens online REALLY dosen't matter in the grand scheme of one's life. When that 5% starts to bug you, it's time to turn off the computer and go do something else for a while.

So I'm glad that your friend is ok and that s/he had the good sense to get out of a comm that was not working for her. I'm reading in comments here that the person who started the dust-up is a mod, in which case that seems like a comm that needs to be left, because no one needs that sort of grief. Especially in a fanbased comm, which as far as I'm concerned are supposed to be fun. If your fic isn't appreciated, take it elsewhere and if you don't care for a specific type of fic, then don't read it.

Anyway, I just thought I'd share :)

[trystan830.livejournal.com]

oh wow about your relative... that's aweful posting real stuff online like that!

and yes, most of what happens on line and in fandoms is fun and really doesn't matter. the world isn't going to stop if i don't read my comm one day or leave it the next.

and while i "started it" with an entry in my personal LJ, the person who posted the response was the mod to the community i left. it wasn't that my stuff wasn't appreciated, it's that a very prevelant (and unfavourable to me) part of the fandom seems to be a prominent feature at the comm.

(hope that makes sense...)

[lavenderk5.livejournal.com]

It does make sense :) Sounds like you're well shot of them.

[trystan830.livejournal.com]

i'm glad someone was able to make sense of my rambling, thanks. :D

[bodgei.livejournal.com]

all I can say about waht you posted is wow... I can't even imagine...

[lavenderk5.livejournal.com]

Yeah.. it was pretty intense for a bit. But it passed and everyone is fine :)

[bodgei.livejournal.com]

that's still really scary. I'm glad everyone is OK.