Grump grump grump.
Aug. 20th, 2012 09:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stoney321This is day SEVENTEEN of the sneeze fest. You know how when you sneeze a few times, it's kind of a chills-inducing, good feeling? Your whole body is involved? And then it very quickly stops being that? And you have to look out for things you might kick over because you're sneezing so damn hard that a leg flies up?
I am not infected with a bacteria. I do not have a cold. This is a virus, or something random in the atmosphere, or simply my body signally that I am about to shut down completely in a matter of days, turning into an instant sack of goo. (If I die, please fight over my garden. And everyone can dig up ONE PLANT to have.) Steam doesn't help. Hot chile-infested food doesn't help. AN ENTIRE SCOOP OF WASABI DOESN'T HELP. Nasal spray is something I try to not use because it's habit forming. (And makes things worse in the long run.)
Clearly, my only choice is for me to hire a plumber to jam a snake up there and find out why my sinuses hate me. (If things don't get better by tomorrow, I'm going back to my ENT that did my surgery a few years ago to see if maybe my remaining sinuses have collapsed or something.) I AM FALLING APART IN MY OLD AGE HALP.
So because I'm grumpy (and gross and red nosed and broken, I am going to talk about two Unpopular Opinions - given how non-mainstream these ideas seem to be these days.
1. I think it's really awful to post to Tumblr a complaint about, say, a story, and then tag that story so that the author finds it - because you're using their story title/handle as a tag. I think it's DREADFULLY RUDE to do that.
PRE-EMPTIVE STRIKE: those that say "get a thicker skin" blah blah "if you were a published author" yadda. Let me stop you right there. Because a fat paycheck does a LOT to help an author get thicker skin. Fanfic writers get nada. They do it out of a need to share their love of something, and it is FREE.
Protip: don't use the author's tag to be awful. Or if you do? Don't be surprised if one day they call you to the mat for your shitty manners. :)
2. I really really REALLY hate when people comment to a story with "I want to bash their head in" or "I want to smack so and so" or "I want to hit" etc. It smacks (hurr) of not having enough of a vocabulary to express yourself, for one, and two - as a former victim of domestic violence, I automatically cringe when I hear "smacking heads" etc. Can't you use a better expression? Can't you actually express thoughts in a meaningful, adult way? Two year olds smack because they don't know how to tell you they're unhappy. You better be older than two if you're reading this. Or you better hie thee to MIT and become the World's Smartest Baby by obtaining a Ph.D.
I am quickly becoming a pariah, and I think I'm cool with that. [/curmudgeon that is also a really loyal friend. Like a pit bull. And I've had these things happen to me, and it filled me with sads. D:]
Now if you don't mind, I'm going to kick things over from this sneeze I feel building....
I am not infected with a bacteria. I do not have a cold. This is a virus, or something random in the atmosphere, or simply my body signally that I am about to shut down completely in a matter of days, turning into an instant sack of goo. (If I die, please fight over my garden. And everyone can dig up ONE PLANT to have.) Steam doesn't help. Hot chile-infested food doesn't help. AN ENTIRE SCOOP OF WASABI DOESN'T HELP. Nasal spray is something I try to not use because it's habit forming. (And makes things worse in the long run.)
Clearly, my only choice is for me to hire a plumber to jam a snake up there and find out why my sinuses hate me. (If things don't get better by tomorrow, I'm going back to my ENT that did my surgery a few years ago to see if maybe my remaining sinuses have collapsed or something.) I AM FALLING APART IN MY OLD AGE HALP.
So because I'm grumpy (and gross and red nosed and broken, I am going to talk about two Unpopular Opinions - given how non-mainstream these ideas seem to be these days.
1. I think it's really awful to post to Tumblr a complaint about, say, a story, and then tag that story so that the author finds it - because you're using their story title/handle as a tag. I think it's DREADFULLY RUDE to do that.
PRE-EMPTIVE STRIKE: those that say "get a thicker skin" blah blah "if you were a published author" yadda. Let me stop you right there. Because a fat paycheck does a LOT to help an author get thicker skin. Fanfic writers get nada. They do it out of a need to share their love of something, and it is FREE.
Protip: don't use the author's tag to be awful. Or if you do? Don't be surprised if one day they call you to the mat for your shitty manners. :)
2. I really really REALLY hate when people comment to a story with "I want to bash their head in" or "I want to smack so and so" or "I want to hit" etc. It smacks (hurr) of not having enough of a vocabulary to express yourself, for one, and two - as a former victim of domestic violence, I automatically cringe when I hear "smacking heads" etc. Can't you use a better expression? Can't you actually express thoughts in a meaningful, adult way? Two year olds smack because they don't know how to tell you they're unhappy. You better be older than two if you're reading this. Or you better hie thee to MIT and become the World's Smartest Baby by obtaining a Ph.D.
I am quickly becoming a pariah, and I think I'm cool with that. [/curmudgeon that is also a really loyal friend. Like a pit bull. And I've had these things happen to me, and it filled me with sads. D:]
Now if you don't mind, I'm going to kick things over from this sneeze I feel building....
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2012-08-20 04:06 pm (UTC)Do not turn into goo!
*generates a containment field around you just in case*
*has been watching too much Doctor Who*
And yiiiikes, people are doing call-outs on tumblr to fanfic authors now? I mean. I personally feel like that's BEGGING for the author/author's friends to turn up and throw down. It is/was one thing on LJ when it's all oblique references and the person turns up and is like, "...shut up?" but another to, you know, wave a freaking flag and be like, "HEY, OVER HERE, I THINK YOU'RE AN ASS, COME SEE WHYYYYYY!"
If you're a pariah from those folks, well. All I can say is you're in the best possible company! <3
no subject
Date: 2012-08-20 04:24 pm (UTC)UGH. I am having seismic collapses in my head! D: We'll see if loads of fluids and nothing but lounging around (ugh) will help.
And can you believe that people do that? I had people talking about a story I wrote several months back in ways like, "UGH I hate all of them." or "why is [character] being so awful/stupid?" and a few "FUCK YOU" posts. Like, nothing but that. And my story tag.
O_O
It is the most baffling thing EVER. And I am a-ok with people who behave that way not liking me. The feeling is mutual, you know?
(OH!! And one time someone had a flocked post about my story - which would have been absolutely fine, as it's their journal. BUT LEFT ME ON THE FLOCKED LIST.)
*hugs you*
no subject
Date: 2012-08-20 05:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-20 05:05 pm (UTC)I would love to be spared asthma, too! If I can't knock out this congestion today, I'm off to the ENT tomorrow to nip this in the bud. Cross my heart! <3
no subject
Date: 2012-08-20 05:24 pm (UTC)Easiest way to test this would be getting antihistamines from the closest pharmacy (prescription-free, dirt cheap, and usually without much in the way of side-effects other than sleepiness), popping one and seeing whether your ability to breathe normally returns within the hour. If it works, you can avoid a trip to your GP (who absolutely will prescribe you antibiotics you don't need) and go to a specialist right away.
But then, you also might have a virus or bacterial infection after all. *shrugs* Either way, I'm crossing my fingers for you that it goes away ASAP! :)
no subject
Date: 2012-08-20 05:42 pm (UTC)And I think there's a virus at play, as well. Bacterial infections are easy to determine - mucus has...well, color. (I'm trying to be delicate about bodily fluids, lol.)
no subject
Date: 2012-08-20 06:18 pm (UTC)*snerk* If I worried about bodily fluids, I wouldn't be here. I mean, you were the one who blogged about that book with the semen recipes, weren't you? (It occurs to me that if you weren't, this conversation suddenly got awkward. Hi! :D)
no subject
Date: 2012-08-20 06:28 pm (UTC)YIKES.
no subject
Date: 2012-08-20 05:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-20 05:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-20 06:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-20 07:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-20 06:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-20 07:30 pm (UTC)UGH, the "fuck you!" as a term of endearment - I do NOT get it. I guess i'm old and lame by believing that words have meaning?
I think a good name for a community for older, mannered fen would be "Blue Bird Special." :D The Boca Raton of fandom! :)
no subject
Date: 2012-08-20 07:36 pm (UTC)The community on LiveJournal would be fairly easy to set up. Would you like to be a moderator with me? I know we could invite Miss Muse, and there are other commenters on your fics that would probably want to join. Would we want to include fic and smut, or keep it to episodic topics only? Oh my goodness, perhaps not as easy as I thought. The process itself is simple, the decisions not so much!
no subject
Date: 2012-08-20 08:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-21 02:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-21 03:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-20 07:44 pm (UTC)You need to divorce this fandom and be seduced by a new fandom pool guy. Hire help and sleep with them! What? I don't know.
Why can't kids today make a post making general observations about how they don't like x, y or z in fanfic? I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT TUMBLR IS! WHERE AM I?!
no subject
Date: 2012-08-20 08:02 pm (UTC)I DO, I DO. I just...don't feel fannish about ANYTHING ELSE. Pah. Eh, I have a handful of people I can talk to about the show, so there's that much at least.
TUMBLR IS MADE OF MONKEY SPIT AND FAIRY FLOSS AND IS PICTURES OF BUTTS AND COMPLAINING. I don't know why everyone isn't there all the time!
no subject
Date: 2012-08-20 08:18 pm (UTC)Get fannish about non-fan things! Take your sister and go to a day spa - you chicks like all the faffy shit, right? Get involved in politics! That's bound to be non-stressful and a calming activity to forget the troubles of the world. I have nothing. I'm just hear to hold you through your pain and try not to get shot with nose bullets.
I'm taking tumblr away from you. Mainly so I can look at the butts.
no subject
Date: 2012-08-20 08:00 pm (UTC)I dislike the hitting/bashing/knocking about comments, too, for the reasons you've listed and also because HELLO stories need dramatic tension. The characters need to work through something and the joy, for me, is reading how they get there and overcome differences, misunderstandings, etc. I *want* to watch them flail and come together, no "bashing" required. (I would totally read a Blaine/Kurt hair twirling fic if you wrote it, but, you know, I'd rather have them having a falling out about the best hair products and having to overcome this huge relationship stumbling block. Feel free to write that, btw).
*cuddles your sinuses 'cause we're tight like that*
no subject
Date: 2012-08-20 08:05 pm (UTC)JFC, the hitting/violence b.s. What the hell? I want to walk around with a water bottle sprayer and spritz these idiots in the face every time they do something rotten. "No![spritz] No! [spritz]" It worked on my cat.
People seem to not want conflict or tension! I see comment after comment, "NOOO! Just tell them how you feel and then kiss!" It doesn't WORK that way!
LOL I just might have to write that for you, Sue! If only my fic weren't broke.
Hey, while you're cuddling them (and truth - y'all are TIGHT! Like 10 toes in a sock!) maybe you could prop them up with sticks or empty Aqua Net cans while you're at it?
no subject
Date: 2012-08-20 08:24 pm (UTC)I am definitely older than a lot of fanfic readers & writers. It's a guilty pleasure, if you will. But that being said, I honestly believe that decency and kindness shouldn't have anything to do with age. When it ever became okay to use 'asshole' or 'fuck you' as a term of endearment baffles me. I hope it never becomes the social norm!
Here's hoping you feel better soon. Sinus problems just suck.
no subject
Date: 2012-08-20 08:45 pm (UTC)That sort of talk/behavior is so bratty and ugly and just makes them look stupid. Expressing yourself with a range of words and emotions? There's a way to look intelligence! I cringe at the "get a load of this asshole!" sort of comments when they find someone attractive (See: Darren Criss.)
BAFFLING. I find it baffling and quite truthfully upsetting. I'm just going to do everything in my power to avoid that stuff. It's not like those people want me hanging around with my tsk tsk behavior, I'm sure.
no subject
Date: 2012-08-20 08:49 pm (UTC)But you know I agree with you. Then again, today and yesterday seems to be the time for people to come to my LJ to tell me that they don't like my fic/characters, so why go to tumblr when I can just stay at home? :D
If we like something, why can't we just say we like that, and if we don't... why don't we think about to whom we might be telling it to what end?
no subject
Date: 2012-08-20 09:09 pm (UTC)I am still BLOWN AWAY by how rude people have been!! First, you know that I feel Near Misses is utterly outstanding. The childishness demands for the story to go the way they want is just...ffs, the entitlement is ASTOUNDING. Who are these people's parents and why did they fail so fundamentally in teaching them how to communicate with people!?
And I believe that people can have their own opinions. I certainly understand that people aren't going to always share mine. I just don't need them always invading my space to TELL ME HOW THEY DON'T SHARE IT. (Or linking me to it, etc.) And the same for people I care about - why be so rude?
no subject
Date: 2012-08-20 10:50 pm (UTC)You are inspired!
The more fools, they.
no subject
Date: 2012-08-20 09:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-20 09:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-20 09:54 pm (UTC)Bad behavior should be called out and if that makes you a pariah, count me on Team Pariah!
no subject
Date: 2012-08-21 12:44 pm (UTC)I just don't get the need to tell a FANFIC author "I don't like it." Hit the fucking X and move on. Do you know how many stories I get partway through and then back out of because they're not well-written? MOST OF THEM. But I do not harsh people's squee, because this is not the Harvard Press/Simon & Schuester.
no subject
Date: 2012-08-21 12:57 pm (UTC)I've backed out of so man poorly written fanfic I should have a backup beeper on my mouse. It's really not that hard, people!
no subject
Date: 2012-08-20 10:21 pm (UTC)I started reading fanfiction back in the day of Yahoo! Groups. That was the ONLY way I could read fanfic at the time...fanfiction.net was in its mere infancy. Yahoo!Groups were a brilliant way of reading, and we would sometimes wait WEEKS between updates for stories (this was back in the Harry Potter fandom, when I read multi-chaptered, future!verse fics).
Then I graduated past ff.net to Livejournal, where fic writing was more often, but longer, and of better quality. Reviews were structured, thought out (well, for me, I'd leave one full of "kxdjgfjg!", then I'd leave a 2 page structured review!) and CONCRIT was the word (if it was asked for, of course).
I've talked to you before, Stoney, about concrit, and the nature of reviews, and I massively believe in the practise of...if I like it, I review and rec. If I don't, I just click the little 'x' in the corner of my screen. After all, Disney taught me "if you can't say something nice, don't say nothing at all".
Tumblr is a clusterfuck of teenagers not knowing the general nettiquette that us older folk have grown accustomed to (I'm nearly 27, so not as old as some people floating around, but I'm from that era nonetheless).
I am guilty of using "fuck" as a term of endearment, only in the place where I feel it's necessary. When I review stories, I praise and I structure, leaving polite, gushing reviews, and the ONLY concrit bits I point out would be things like...uhm, if I felt something didn't fit in a certain place (but then I'd always try and reason it out with the author, just in case I'd missed a meaning).
And this is what I'm taking with me through me writing my epic story right now...I'm writing for ME. I'm not writing to please the readership. I'm not writing what they want to see. I'm taking the characters on a journey that I WANT to take them on, and if people don't like it, I'd hope they were decent enough not to slag me off all over the internet.
Sigh.
no subject
Date: 2012-08-21 12:52 pm (UTC)Concrit is one thing - if you're building a story and posting as you go, concrit is especially helpful. But not all concrit is equal, and writers should reserve the right to pick and choose who they feel is providing the best feedback in that sense.
Fastforward to now, where I spend months writing a story and working line by line with an accomplished academic (and fabulous writer in her own right). My words are vetted - far more so than most writers in fandom (let alone some published authors, and I'm looking at you, Charlaine Harris.) Now, that's not to say that I write perfectly - I'd be the last one to ever say that. I just don't need some 19 year old in her first Creative Writing course at college telling me how to write.
And I don't want a bunch of immature readers that don't understand that stories NEED CONFLICT to be a STORY to bitch and moan that the two main characters didn't just immediately look at one another and fall in love, then end, 100K words of them skipping through meadows. That's not a good story. That's Twilight.
I just find a huge portion of the Glee fandom to be rude, immature, unable to distinguish the wheat from the chaff, and seem to constantly have their hand out, begging for more without even savoring the bite they had.
This isn't to say that EVERYONE is like that, not at all. But these types seem to be the most vocal. I find it rude, unpleasant, and when I see authors I admire get comments indicating that they hate something, that they want to perform violence on characters, etc., it just makes me not want to be a part of it AT ALL.
Which I know isn't a hardship for these people in the first place. I'm no Big Name Fan that has a finger in every fandom pie. I'm just expressing my dissatisfaction in my own space (and usually get called a bitch for it, too.) =|
no subject
Date: 2012-08-22 12:25 am (UTC)I probably wouldn't concrit on a story that was being shown as COMPLETED and posting as a series (like yours do, for example). That's when I'd maybe ask the writer certain things about why something was written a certain way. Just for my own clarification, in case I missed a point. And often, the writer's have been more than happy to recap things! Even if a story was posting as a WIP, as a reader, I'd feel kinda bad leaving beta-type concrit, because I'm just a reader, not the beta, therefore it's not really my place? Anyway, I see constructive comments as being useful enough. Detailed, pointing out the parts I liked and encouraging the writer to continue with their work. With a series, it's easier, because you can still leave a detail comment, and post that you're looking forward to seeing how the writer is continuing with the story.
I write fic. I've always written fic in some shape or form for years. And the people whose work I aspire to be like...well, they're professional writers, or aspiring professional writers. The Glee stories I rec out the most are by people who *do* this stuff for a living and are bloody good at what they do. They don't need me, an occasional writer and flailer, to criticise their work or tell them what I think they should or shouldn't be doing. That's just not cool.
I've made this point before, but, the Glee fandom is so overly-saturated with sub-par fic, that it's often the good and great ones that go unnoticed because the sub-par are the quick fixes. They're instant smut. They're instant fluff. They're instant porn. The great ones? They're the long haul. They've got conflict and drama and THE CHARACTERS SOMETIMES ARGUE AND BREAK UP. Sometimes, they don't even get together. But the fandom can't deal with it. They can't deal with things not being instantly rosy and full of smut.
My ultimate favourite author is *still* being subjected to anonymous hatred, and it makes me SO angry, because she's the sweetest thing ever. Writers producing fan works is NOT a right of being a fangirl. No one is ENTITLED to a story. These are GIFTS that writers are choosing to give to the fandom. And when I see people getting hatred because they've not had time to post a story, or to post at the exact minute they said they would...it makes me ashamed to be a fanfiction reader sometimes.
You talk the absolute sense, Stoney, as always :)
no subject
Date: 2012-08-22 01:08 am (UTC)So I want to marry your comment and bring it flowers on occasion and buy it fine chocolates and make it feel special and loved. Is that cool? I have a steady job and a kind heart.
Heh.
no subject
Date: 2012-08-22 01:10 am (UTC)YAY!
no subject
Date: 2012-08-21 09:57 am (UTC):D
Also, can we please set up the Blue Bird Special Home for Curmudgeonly Pariahs? I'd like an ocean-view room...
no subject
Date: 2012-08-21 12:53 pm (UTC)Well, the Lanai Room will be open at Hey, Don't Judge Me the day after the show airs? :D
no subject
Date: 2012-08-21 01:50 pm (UTC):D
I was just thinking yesterday that I am actually looking forward to turning 70, because then I will feel absolutely justified in wearing muu-muus all the time. Maybe I'll even start at 65...
no subject
Date: 2012-08-21 02:56 pm (UTC)Let's bring back muu muus and turbans!
no subject
Date: 2012-08-22 07:22 am (UTC)And I'm still not quite sure how to take that...
when I think of turbans, all I can hear is Sally Field saying "....I don't feel quite right in a turban. What I feel like is GLORIA FUCKING SWANSON!" and I can't stop laughing.