fannish sanity

I feel like a fandom slacker.

I mean, not in a complaining, omg, I am such a slacker! way. But in a very positive, whee, I have somehow managed to escape any sort of responsibility to any other fan way. Except the writing fic thing, which doesn't count.

I made ten resolutions about two years ago that, so far, I have managed to (mostly) keep, all in the name of fandom sanity.



1.) Never shall I ever moderate a fannish mailing list.

That is the path to antacid addiction.

2.) Never shall I ever moderate a livejournal community.

So doesn't count if I'm comodding with someone else. The someone else being svmadelyn, who only asks me to nod at appropriate intervals, like this, :::nod:::: , when she wants to do something. I have gone entire conversations doing nothing but that, with no idea what I'm agreeing to.

3.) Never shall I ever run an archive.

I have nightmares about handcoding the XMMFC years ago. NIGHTMARES.

4.) Never shall I ever run any kind of official challenge.

See one, antacids.

5.) Never shall I join a challenge that is by someone I don't know personally or that I cannot do in under one hour, the easier for them to nag me into compliance on the due date.

Actually, I have kept that, mostly. Mostly. Usually.

6.) Never shall I write a story just to piss someone off.

I have broken that three, maybe four times in almost six years of fandom. But only two in the last two years. It's the ultimate victimless crime. And not once in the last--six months. This really isn't a resolution. It's a guideline. Maybe I'll take this one off. Eventually.

7.) Never shall I troll, flame, or sockpuppet. Even if they really, really, really deserve it a lot. See number six for appropriate action.

Mostly. And not in any fandom Smallville or since.

8.) Never shall I join in love or hate fests.

But I reserve the right to mock them privately in AIM. A lot.

9.) Never shall I friend/defriend in anger. Cause wow, it looks mightily schizophrenic if you are friending/unfriending the same person twice a week.

I give it a week. If it still bothers me that much, then I do it. Which has happened all of once. Maybe twice. But a long time ago. And I reserve the right to refriend when it stops bothering me.

10.) Never shall I post something fannish under lock that I'm not relatively willing to have spread over the entire internet.

Though I'm tempted to try it with something vaguely controversial/squicky, just to see what happens and if it ever gets out. But guinea pigging my friendslist seems like a really, really bad idea, all things considered.

Mmm. Twitching eye, coffee, and HP porn. Life is perfect.

Comments

[roguewords.livejournal.com]

stop thinking about your eye. It's the only thing that makes it stop. Ignore it and it will go away.

*Says the victim of many twichting eyes. Usually the right.

[joesther.livejournal.com]

You're a smart lady. If I'd've known then what I know now, maybe I would have a top ten list of my own. Or top hundred. *sigh*

[norah.livejournal.com]

Also, never will I feel obligated to answer all my LJ comments or email.

Never will I offer to beta anything (this is just for me, as am crappy unreliable beta)

V. healthy rules, btw. Kudos to you!

[j-bluestocking.livejournal.com]

Sweetie, you did once volunteer to help organize a fandom-wide party of story discussion and praise. The tar and feathers which followed was the final straw in convincing me to stay far, far away from any contributory participation in fandom. I'm in this place as an individual; I'll write the occasional story and talk to other individuals about theirs. That's as close to the riptide as I'm getting, because... sanity. It's a good thing.

[jfc013.livejournal.com]

*feels good that she never even thought of doing any of those things...*

[reboot-wlm.livejournal.com]

Good rules to live by. Hope your under eye twitch is improving. Those kinds of irritations can drive you insane.

[goosegirl9.livejournal.com]

Ah, good rules, which I'm glad you formulated *after XMMFC*. 'Cause I love it. Matter of fact, I'll be there after work tonight, getting a good dose of Logan/Rogue romance.

[twhitesakura.livejournal.com]

*Eyes #9* Will you friend back in niceness? I've been lurking around SV fandom and really like your fics. Love "The Yard." *Friends seperis*

twitching eye

[califmole.livejournal.com]

Tossing in my two cents, I admire your sanity.

And for the eye twitch, I have the same thing happen periodically. My doctor recommended extra b-vitamins (like Stresstabs). Theory is that in stressful times our bodies need more b-vitamins, which personal experience bears out, since the eye twitch for me always comes during a period of prolonged stress. Worth a try if it's still bothering you.

[baked-ziti.livejournal.com]

Amen, sister. Particularly that running-an-archive bit. That used to be an ambition of mine, but all the diagrams I drew to help myself make sense of the organization of the thing (I put most neurotics to shame -- must be organized by rating! pairing! genre! anything-i-can-think-of!) just gave me my own very special eye-twitch. Dealing with a very simple site that I share with one friend is, tragically, more than enough for me.

A couple of times I've tried helping with challenges and mailing lists, but I find myself eventually sort of drifting into the ether and leaving the other mods and participants in the cold, as it were, which makes me feel like an absolute shit and I'm sure doesn't exactly tickle them, either. Staying out of it all together is the wisest thing.

[fyrdrakken]

6.) Never shall I write a story just to piss someone off.

I have broken that three, maybe four times in almost six years of fandom.

And how many times have you done this vicariously by egging a friend on to write the story for you? Aside from with me, anyway.

9.) Never shall I friend/defriend in anger. Cause wow, it looks mightily schizophrenic if you are friending/unfriending the same person twice a week.

I refriended someone I'd just defriended exactly once, and within about five minutes. Basically before she'd notice. There are a few people I defriended because I was pissed and in retrospect I almost wish I hadn't -- or at least that I hadn't made a big public thing of it -- but then again the whole point of the bridge-burning was to keep me from going back to where I shouldn't go because I'd continue to get more and more aggravated, so. So if I defriend in anger (as opposed to during a simple friends list weeding), I don't look go back. (I may sneak a peek, if she supposedly posted something I'd like to check out, but I try to avoid doing so unless I'm pointed to a specific post and I won't comment on it.)

[fyrdrakken]

And in retrospect, I should have stuck a smiley in after the "Aside from with me, anyway," -- especially given the posting icon I wound up going with.