Paranoia is bad, m'kay!
I have a rant. I don't do this often, but I find this morning I'm not able to ignore my thoughts on this any longer.
I am one of four administrators of a new fan fiction, general interest board. We're quirky, have lots of crazy posts, and a smattering of good stories to read. We have a place for those who like to create fan graphics to show off their work, and a place for fanvidders to post links to their videos. I love our cozy board, and plan to remain there until I'm the last member left standing. I hope that is a long time from now.
The bigger fish in the JA fandom, a huge board of 5,000 members and multiple pages of fiction is where many of us came from, for personal reasons of our own. I won't go into those reasons here. I'm hearing that we are looked upon as the competition. What a joke! I mean seriously, we have 300 members! We have some things this bigger fish does not, and will not allow. Are you kidding me? The level of paranoia is absurd. If we wanted to seriously compete, which we don't, our little pub would look much different and cater to JAFF only, not the multiple fandoms we have posted, and the multiple creative outlets we have forums for. I realize I shouldn't be surprised at this, and I'm not, but come on! There are 4 JAFF boards running right now, one for those of all ages, that has been around since the dawn of time it seems, and others that require their members to be 18+. One is a spin off from the original creators of the biggest fish, another has both under 18 and over 18 fic, and then you have the biggest fish. From experience behind the scenes of the biggest fish, they see every board as competition, which is just plain silly. Many stories are posted on ALL BOARDS! Hello? Is thing on?
The bigger fish has lost some authors lately, due to a restriction placed on authors to sign an agreement indicating they have read and will follow their posting guidelines. Some people simply did not wish to sign such a thing, and left. It's the board's prerogative to require this, and it's the author's choice whether or not they wish to agree to sign. Some will do as I did; sign the agreement, but then pull off the stories that will in time not adhere to the rules of the site. It's no offense to the site, just that my creative process is going in a different direction.
After this latest bout of paranoia, I decided to pull my other work in progress from the biggest fish. I've been considering it for some time now, thinking about the readers I'll lose. It can't be helped because I have no wish to post any of my creative efforts on that board any longer. The people who run the bigger fish are the not the people I once believed them to be. Or rather, perhaps they were always like this, and I just didn't know them well enough. Regardless, I have the choice where to post my stuff, and I have chosen. I don't write for the readers (although I do think of them as I longingly look at my computer, wanting to write, but am unable because of other commitments) but I do respect them and their choices. If they decide to stop reading my story because it's on a different board, then that is their decision and I respect that.
I regards to the bigger fish in the fandom, a piece of advice. Calm down. No one is trying to take away your status. We are different boards with different members and different directions. Sure, there are some similarities, but they are few. Get over yourself, you're doing nothing to further the fandom by being so annoyingly paranoid.
End rant. Next up....planting time!
I am one of four administrators of a new fan fiction, general interest board. We're quirky, have lots of crazy posts, and a smattering of good stories to read. We have a place for those who like to create fan graphics to show off their work, and a place for fanvidders to post links to their videos. I love our cozy board, and plan to remain there until I'm the last member left standing. I hope that is a long time from now.
The bigger fish in the JA fandom, a huge board of 5,000 members and multiple pages of fiction is where many of us came from, for personal reasons of our own. I won't go into those reasons here. I'm hearing that we are looked upon as the competition. What a joke! I mean seriously, we have 300 members! We have some things this bigger fish does not, and will not allow. Are you kidding me? The level of paranoia is absurd. If we wanted to seriously compete, which we don't, our little pub would look much different and cater to JAFF only, not the multiple fandoms we have posted, and the multiple creative outlets we have forums for. I realize I shouldn't be surprised at this, and I'm not, but come on! There are 4 JAFF boards running right now, one for those of all ages, that has been around since the dawn of time it seems, and others that require their members to be 18+. One is a spin off from the original creators of the biggest fish, another has both under 18 and over 18 fic, and then you have the biggest fish. From experience behind the scenes of the biggest fish, they see every board as competition, which is just plain silly. Many stories are posted on ALL BOARDS! Hello? Is thing on?
The bigger fish has lost some authors lately, due to a restriction placed on authors to sign an agreement indicating they have read and will follow their posting guidelines. Some people simply did not wish to sign such a thing, and left. It's the board's prerogative to require this, and it's the author's choice whether or not they wish to agree to sign. Some will do as I did; sign the agreement, but then pull off the stories that will in time not adhere to the rules of the site. It's no offense to the site, just that my creative process is going in a different direction.
After this latest bout of paranoia, I decided to pull my other work in progress from the biggest fish. I've been considering it for some time now, thinking about the readers I'll lose. It can't be helped because I have no wish to post any of my creative efforts on that board any longer. The people who run the bigger fish are the not the people I once believed them to be. Or rather, perhaps they were always like this, and I just didn't know them well enough. Regardless, I have the choice where to post my stuff, and I have chosen. I don't write for the readers (although I do think of them as I longingly look at my computer, wanting to write, but am unable because of other commitments) but I do respect them and their choices. If they decide to stop reading my story because it's on a different board, then that is their decision and I respect that.
I regards to the bigger fish in the fandom, a piece of advice. Calm down. No one is trying to take away your status. We are different boards with different members and different directions. Sure, there are some similarities, but they are few. Get over yourself, you're doing nothing to further the fandom by being so annoyingly paranoid.
End rant. Next up....planting time!
LOL! Maybe that is the reason! Who knows? I'm sure there are many, many reasons.
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks!
Sorry, but I loled at this. So glad I washed my hands of that drama. It would do the bigger fish well to remember its roots and get over itself.
ReplyDeleteLOL! You are so right! :)
ReplyDelete