@nonce: my fetish for 19th c. military uniforms is clear, now, right? Especially c. 1820 to 1850, which is right where those MCR outfits fall.

I <3 you, dude. Srsly.

the rich girls are weeping

Never dug disco, but ...fuh-what? I can't believe you are arguing with someone about fanfic, Candy Hotpants! Are you serious!?

Get Euphemistic!

[youtube.com]

Maura Johnston

Maura Johnston

Maura Johnston

Just rereading this again because the "media studies" part of me wants to write a research paper on this (I'm sure it has already been done) but a few things:

1) Sensationalism and judgment are half the fun of the internet. As for the latter, head over to Gawker and search "Robert Olen Butler."

2) The internet is PUBLIC. Anything's up for grabs. See the ROB flap above.

3) The weirdest thing about this is that--as a gay man--I find it really hard to take gay porn seriously. Any gay porn. And maybe I'm a relic, but a pic of Gerard Way fingering the collar of his faux-Hussar outfit is way more hot than a pithy description of him fisting Pete Wentz (or whatever). There is some porn I do like. Because the internet is public, you could probably find this out easily. Or I could send you a list and you could mock me, which would be fun.

4) Vicodin makes you think way too much about this stuff. Just say no, kids.

5) The stakes aren't really high enough for legal action against fan-fictioneers, and any fanfic object with a brain would encourage the enthusiasm as long as one of the .05% of fan-fictioneers who might be a little "off" doesn't put together a rape kit and stalk (insert attractive celebrity here).

6) Finally, on the MCR/Hussar angle, I would actually totally be up for a Cult Classic emo film version of D.H. Lawrence's "The Prussian Officer," which is also a great porn-writing lesson.

7) People will also assume emo fanfic/bandom/etc. is written by teens because the bandmembers themselves are youngish and the music is targeted at teens. There's probably a NAMBLA Fall Out Boy "fanclub" out there but I don't want to know about it.

8) And let's hammer this "internet is public" thing home: my fetish for 19th c. military uniforms is clear, now, right? Especially c. 1820 to 1850, which is right where those MCR outfits fall.

9) Holy shit this post is long. Sorry. Kids, don't combine Vicodin with barbituates and benzos. Crack is wack!

nonce

Then Labtheque mentioned Stephen Colbert and it was like an after-school special up in my limbic system. I get it now. I'm still not interested in reading any, but I get it.

nonce

@phaballa: But if it involved Stephen Cobert, we all know he'd love it. Didn't he read the begining of a fic on the air?

@therichgirlsareweeping: Okay!

Labtheque

Arguing about fan fiction is even lamer than fan fiction itself.

KurticusMaximus

This conversation has officially passed the point of being interesting. You're defensive on every point and I'm not interested in enabling your self-righteous fury any further.

Thanks for playing!

the rich girls are weeping

phaballa

Quit defending your choices, please. And of course I'm judging you -- you write at length about being worried that that the real people you write RPS about will find out about the existence of said writing. If you were really that worried, for crying out loud, you wouldn't write it.

the rich girls are weeping

phaballa

There are even published bandslash comics etc about many bands, like Japan and Duran Duran.

It´s what´s kept popmusic afloat for decades.

N00b.

strangebeastie

Anyway, I imagine any data I now present to you will just lead you to retort, "I have a life, I just spend it online." Which is all well and good, that's your choice -- but believe me, after many years in the trenches of various fandoms, knee-deep in fanfic of any kind, I've found that, as with most subcultures, stereotypes hold true for a reason. (And yes, there's exceptions to the rule, but those people are few and far between). I could enumerate the other categories of ficwriter/RPer that you might fall under, but that would just be unnecessarily cruel, and this thread's devolved far enough from common decency already.

Yay! Maybe this post will end up on FandomWank. All right!

the rich girls are weeping

We're all music geeks here, what's your problem?

MJ

@kaate: Greatest Journal is not the place to find fandom. I have several bandom writers on my LiveJournal friends list, and none of them are high schoolers. I don't pretend to understand why they enjoy Panic! At the Disco, but you know, I'm a JC Chasez fan, so I'm not going to start throwing stones. What annoyed me most about this piece is that it's not only NOT reporting anything new or significant, but it just seems like you wanted to take some cheap shots at some role-players while simultaneously (and rather condescendingly) implying that androgeny and femininity somehow equal emasculating. David Bowie would be very disappointed.

phaballa

People can do whatever, but I'm always worried why they doth protest so much.

Lucas Jensen

Hahaha, I love you for that.

MJ

You guys do seem to go about it with a great sense of humor, but I would be truly shocked if everything on there was one great big ironic joke. That would be so thorough! If that's the case, then my bad...lulz on me. Also I sense some defensiveness? You guys must take at least some pride/genuine enjoyment from it. And I honestly don't care about that! I've done things on the internet that others would probably snicker at. I'm not judging. We just found your site and I thought it was really compelling, and yeah, kind of freaky, but at the very least something that would generate interest at Idolator, which does seem to be the case, judging from page views and comments.

Mainly I was compelled by the connection between the emo (or whatever you term it) genre of music and its fanfic (or role playing) potential. Obviously it's not my thing, but it is interesting, and that was part of this post.

In conclusion, I have no hate or bad feelings towards the group. I think you guys, girls, cats, whoever posts on it of whatever age, write strange, often sexual stories about mediocre musicians. I'm drawn to that kind of novelty. Also, if you cannot prove to me that you are a group of twenty-something Brooklyn residents doing this as some sort of sarcastic way to amuse yourselves, I will continue to assume (perhaps incorrectly!) that you are imaginative teens. If you're not teens...Panic! At the Disco? Really?

Kate Richardson

Although yes, most fandomers are women. Except in WoW or Everquest. I think a guild war would solve everything!

phaballa

What surprised me was that you couldn't even get the facts straight about the group. It's pretty obvious that we don't have 40 members, for a start. And you really thought the role playing was serious? Come on. It's pretty clear that our entire community is for the "lulz" (ask Fox News for a definition if you don't know what it means): everything is open (or was), anyone can join in and none of it is taken seriously. Many of us don't RP but are more interested in general discussion.

You don't have to like us by any means but if you can't even make the effort to be accurate, then I'm really not sure why you wrote the article. It honestly looks like a case of you taking cheap shots just to, well, I'm really not sure what your goal was. Maybe you just do stuff like this for the lulz, too.

Laura

P.S. I would have preferred to email you directly but there was no contact email, so I'm leaving a comment instead. I'm not interested in signing up for this site.

Laura5

Jess Harvell

MJ

the rich girls are weeping

MJ

On one hand Kate doesn't seem to look down upon fanficcers (even going so far as to draw the parallel between men's female twin-on-twin fantasies and incest slash, instead of using a sexist double-standard and running for the hills in horror), on the other hand... it's not fanfic, but role playing, and why this "healthy, non-threatening" artistic hobby has to be considered "creepy" three lines down?

MJ

Not that we're into making sweeping generalizations or anything, but most fic writers (and yes, that includes RPers) of any stripe are nearly always 20-30 something women in unhappy relationships working out their sexual, intimacy, and lack-of-friends related issues out through canonized characters, Mary Sues, and sometimes real people. (Not like we know from experience or anything.)

Now, stop sniping at each other, okay? Sheesh.

the rich girls are weeping

RockStar15

All I'm saying is, if fandom is going to be exposed by bloggers, etc, then they should at least acknowledge that a large segment of the fandom community doesn't consist of "horny teens" and it's not all porn, either. I mean, there's a lot of porn and we like our porn, thanks, but that's not all it is.

phaballa

And I really hate the attitude of fanfic writers who actually think they are improving the "canon" (hello, Harry Potter fanfic!) and talk about how boring the "canon" is, as if their work would even exist without it.

Lucas Jensen

"Designed to appeal to introverted, overwrought, sexually frustrated adolescents, the pale waifs parading around the emo universe--with their snug pants, same-sex makeout sessions, and penchant for eye makeup--practically beg to be objectified by horny teens. And one GreatestJournal group, discovered after putting together our own male-objectification list, exemplifies the farcical tone and tenor of emo fan-fiction fandom."

And this, from what I've seen of bandom, isn't accurate at all. I know you were just trying to be clever and write an amusing description, but the clever phrasing pales in significance when it's not actually true. I think that before people go ahead and mark all fanfic as "creepy" and written by "sexually frustrated adolescents," you should maybe do a little research on the subject and read actual fic (as opposed to RP-ing) before you make that judgement call.

phaballa

Kate Richardson

If you want to read something really creepy (thanks for assuming that all fandomers are 14-year-old secret cutters who can't get laid, by the way), read the fic where Justin Timberlake is a cult leader. It makes a surprising about of sense.

phaballa

noamjamski

jetblackturd

ascot-revival

brainchild

I think I might be gay now.

Charlie Kerfelds Jetsons Tee