Amen. Well put. fandom_wank used to be my guilty pleasure but I haven't been as amused as of late and I couldn't put my finger on why until I slogged through the 210 comments re Te. I felt bad for her, even though I don't know her and disagree with her initial comments in the first place. But disagreeing with a statement made is very different than attacking the poster and the posts made re disagreeing with an opinion were few and far in number - the personal attacks were much more in number and that had a way of making me feel a bit uncomfortable, as if I was voluntarily participating in the skewering of another ficcer, even though I did other than read all 210 comments.

It reminds me of how synaesthete7 recently said that phrases like "I was just joking" or "You know I'm just kidding" is a way of trivializing hurtful remarks. "It's just wankery" fits into that same category, mho.

I don't think I'd stop reading fandom_wank, but I do read it a hell of a lot less now than I did in the beginning. The pointing and laughing is all fun and good, but after a while it does get a little tedious and repetitious when you note that opposing viewpoints aren't well-taken. Though, I suppose that's where the original LJ comes into play. I don't know. I'm still debating and may need another cup of coffee to really figure out what's what and how I really do feel.

I do think, if it was a friend of mine being skewered there, it would be so much easier to write off fandom_wank as a community. The problem comes when I find myself nodding alongside some of the comments and/or laughing along with the poster.