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The Rant has burst forth
Mar. 12th, 2009 02:56 amI getting sick of it. Elitism, idiocy, snark. I'm sick of all of it.
I hate it when people try to pick fights. I hate it when people are needlessly, repetitively stupid. I hate it when people are argumentative just for the sake of being one of the enlightened few who can disagree. I hate it when people leave the first two letters off of the word "you." I hate Sues and I hate OOC crack and I hate new forum members and I hate old forum members. I hate cliques. I hate the way *I* act so much more obnoxious on MdN than I do at Abaisse, presumably because few people are MdN are worthy of being treated as well as the fans hardcore enough to find Abaisse? Or maybe it's because there's no introduction topic at MdN and people with only a passing interest for the show/Book can drop in and out all the time. There's no real opportunity to actually remember names and personalities.
So a new person comes into the fandom with their crappy stories. I did it. I still rather like my first fic, but after that it went downhill for a long time. But I kept writing because other people were silly enough to follow me and give me advice on how to get better. I read better fic than mine, I read the Book more, and I eventually felt like my stuff started improving a little. I'm still not one of the people who posts that great, allusion-filled Hugo-esque stuff, but at least I have a basic grasp on most of the characters (and try not to write those about which I know nothing). And then, once you transcend the crap phase, that's when you start hating the people who are still in the crap phase. And yes, I do this too. I'm doing this now.
BUT if the person listens to reviewers and makes an effort to improve without getting defensive, that's when I'll generally back off. But seriously. I feel like I came into the fandom with an attitude that I was going to be awesome (hurr). I can specifically remember every unkindly-worded review I got on those crappy fics and all the concrit I got from people I respected. In fact...
>this story has a good plot so far, but maybe you could write a bit more about what the characters are feeling/thinking, etc. and basically go more in-depth...(sry I haven't r&r-ed for forever) you're POTO fic looks interesting *grins and goes off to read it*
>I'm glad there was some more "stuff" in this instead of saying "so-and-so did this, said that"...
Those were the friendly ones that poked me into actually trying to reform my writing style when I was in, what, ninth grade? "2004-08-07" is the date on the second one... so that was five years ago. Wow.
Anyway, between going through the sweet reviews on my old bad Sue-y fic and Russell Brand doing standup on TV, I've cheered up a lot in the last couple of minutes. I don't know. Oh, and I took the advice of those of you who told me to rethink my position on that Kiera Sue fic. I took your advice and I didn't say anything for as long as I could. But some strange inner sadism inspired me to keep reading it, and I finally couldn't not leave another review. I tried to be more civil and level-headed about it, but I don't know. I guess a Sue is definitely better than a lot of the crappy crack I've been seeing lately. I've only got a few in mind when I say this, and I don't dislike the person/people who wrote them, so I haven't said anything.
There's something else about the fandom. I'm hyper-sensitive to the way I come across in print, seeing how, you know, internet people don't actually know me (though I feel like I can eventually get a good idea of most people's personalities after a long time) so I always take pains to try not to be a jerk. I don't see why other people enjoy picking arguments over the slightest thing.
Okay, seriously, all my angst is fading away and I'm losing my train of thought. Being cheery is nice. And Russell Brand is just hilarious.
I had put together a fandom flowchart to demonstrate the vicious cycle of newbie to snob, but I lost it. Oh well.
(None of this is directed at anybody in particular, by the way. I'm basically frustrated because I don't want to be a jerky elitist or a hyperactive idiot and I don't see much middle ground... I feel snarky towards new members and petulant towards old ones...)
I hate it when people try to pick fights. I hate it when people are needlessly, repetitively stupid. I hate it when people are argumentative just for the sake of being one of the enlightened few who can disagree. I hate it when people leave the first two letters off of the word "you." I hate Sues and I hate OOC crack and I hate new forum members and I hate old forum members. I hate cliques. I hate the way *I* act so much more obnoxious on MdN than I do at Abaisse, presumably because few people are MdN are worthy of being treated as well as the fans hardcore enough to find Abaisse? Or maybe it's because there's no introduction topic at MdN and people with only a passing interest for the show/Book can drop in and out all the time. There's no real opportunity to actually remember names and personalities.
So a new person comes into the fandom with their crappy stories. I did it. I still rather like my first fic, but after that it went downhill for a long time. But I kept writing because other people were silly enough to follow me and give me advice on how to get better. I read better fic than mine, I read the Book more, and I eventually felt like my stuff started improving a little. I'm still not one of the people who posts that great, allusion-filled Hugo-esque stuff, but at least I have a basic grasp on most of the characters (and try not to write those about which I know nothing). And then, once you transcend the crap phase, that's when you start hating the people who are still in the crap phase. And yes, I do this too. I'm doing this now.
BUT if the person listens to reviewers and makes an effort to improve without getting defensive, that's when I'll generally back off. But seriously. I feel like I came into the fandom with an attitude that I was going to be awesome (hurr). I can specifically remember every unkindly-worded review I got on those crappy fics and all the concrit I got from people I respected. In fact...
>this story has a good plot so far, but maybe you could write a bit more about what the characters are feeling/thinking, etc. and basically go more in-depth...(sry I haven't r&r-ed for forever) you're POTO fic looks interesting *grins and goes off to read it*
>I'm glad there was some more "stuff" in this instead of saying "so-and-so did this, said that"...
Those were the friendly ones that poked me into actually trying to reform my writing style when I was in, what, ninth grade? "2004-08-07" is the date on the second one... so that was five years ago. Wow.
Anyway, between going through the sweet reviews on my old bad Sue-y fic and Russell Brand doing standup on TV, I've cheered up a lot in the last couple of minutes. I don't know. Oh, and I took the advice of those of you who told me to rethink my position on that Kiera Sue fic. I took your advice and I didn't say anything for as long as I could. But some strange inner sadism inspired me to keep reading it, and I finally couldn't not leave another review. I tried to be more civil and level-headed about it, but I don't know. I guess a Sue is definitely better than a lot of the crappy crack I've been seeing lately. I've only got a few in mind when I say this, and I don't dislike the person/people who wrote them, so I haven't said anything.
There's something else about the fandom. I'm hyper-sensitive to the way I come across in print, seeing how, you know, internet people don't actually know me (though I feel like I can eventually get a good idea of most people's personalities after a long time) so I always take pains to try not to be a jerk. I don't see why other people enjoy picking arguments over the slightest thing.
Okay, seriously, all my angst is fading away and I'm losing my train of thought. Being cheery is nice. And Russell Brand is just hilarious.
I had put together a fandom flowchart to demonstrate the vicious cycle of newbie to snob, but I lost it. Oh well.
(None of this is directed at anybody in particular, by the way. I'm basically frustrated because I don't want to be a jerky elitist or a hyperactive idiot and I don't see much middle ground... I feel snarky towards new members and petulant towards old ones...)
