i miss random afternoon naps already

Sgastoryfinder social experiment?

On one hand, who doesn't go to sgastoryfinders to read the hilarity of some of the requests? OTOH, astroturfing requests for lulz in a community based on good-faith requests feels weird somehow. I kind of thought the funny was in the sincerity of the search and the way people remember things, in almost random bits of plot or dialogue or scene and why some things that seem insignificant to the author or even other readers make such a lasting impression that they define how the story is remembered. It was funny to see your fic remembered as the one where John wore pink or Rodney got a hangnail after he ate a donut, but also fascinating that something so small could define it, and try to work out why and how. And in any case, it was kind of flattering that anyone remembered it well enough to look for it at all because they wanted to read it again. The results either way are the same, but I feel kind of weird for the people who searched for the fic and those who wrote the ones that were found and didn't know they weren't doing something nice for someone else, but participating in a joke on themselves.

OTOH, it's two days post-con and my sense of humor is on par with a slug in the sun and I seriously am scheduling myself like, a weekend with Comedy Central or something. My recent personal tragedy involved a broken nail and a search for a file that took on epic proportions ending in a bitter exchange when it was found Child had absconded with it for reasons I decided I just didn't want to know, but for the record, I'm getting uncomfortable with him having an empty aquarium that is slowly being filled with layers of sand and decorated with rocks in a way not unlike a place you plan to store, oh, some sort of lizard. And frankly, how a nail file fits into this is information I just do not think I am ready to know.

How is everyone else's week going?

ETA: *winces* Okay, made it to second page of comments and there are actually some people who were upset by this. I apologize if anything I wrote here made them feel more uncomfortable. I can see their point on feeling unhappy they thought they were doing something nice for someone else and find out now they were kind of a punchline instead.

ETA 2: Mea culpa. Objectivity does indeed fly out the window when it's a close friend and cowriter whose fic ends up being involved. Thank God for people bringing me sympathetic post-vacation slump Snickers.

I apologize for my initial response if it came off flippant, because--yeah, no, that's pretty shitty behavior. I don't really participate in fic searches in public all that often, but I'm pretty sure if I did, I'd like to know I was starring in metacomedic performance art for the amusement of someone and their friends.

ETA 3: ineptshieldmaid in comments states the post has been taken down. More in the comment.

ETA 4: Thanks to raine for linking me: here toft apologizes with a longer explanation of her motives.

Comments

[scy]

Have you dared to bring it up? If you don't, this is how my father brought snakes into the house as a child. And, remind me to tell you about the fish and the frogs...

*nods seriously*

My week is fine, some weirdness at work, I will tell you about later.

*whispers* I wrote more story btw!

*RUNS*

[seperis]

TONIGHT TELL ME.

And...yeah, if there's going to be a snake? I don't want to know. I mean, ever.

[blueraccoon]

I think, re the storyfinders behavior, this is a shitty thing to do. I've stopped reading the community as I'm no longer really active in the fandom, but I remember some of these requests when they came through, and I remember taking time out of my internet life to search for some of them.

Why should I bother searching for fics when the person requesting them isn't actually looking for them? I remember toft looking for a couple of my fics, and I was always pleased by that, that someone liked my stories enough to search for them. But now I have to wonder if I was the butt of a joke the whole time. I can only imagine what the authors who were the focus of joke requests must feel like.

It's a waste of time and it's trolling the community. I hope she gets banned.

[seperis]

Yeah, it felt weird reading it, but second page comments made me wince hard. I don't post to request communities so it didn't really hit me how someone would feel who went looking in good faith for the request.

It did hit me how I'd feel if I was the author of a story that one of those prompts brought up. I don't think she was thinking at all in those terms, but yeah, that wouldn't exactly be flattering to know my fic wasn't the point; it's like being able to make fun of it publicly without admitting it. Cake and the ability to eat it, so to speak.

[trobadora]

You sum it up perfectly. This is leaving a very bad taste in my mouth. :(

[ratcreature]

Yes this. I've also taken quite a lot of time searching and finding fic when I was actively reading that comm.

[lovelokest]

My week has been okay so far. My voice is slowly coming back (at least now it sounds like I'm getting over laryngitis and not coming down with it), but I did wake up at work this morning with no sense of balance and still haven't gotten it back. Hugging the walls for balance is just so much fun *crosses fingers I'm not getting sick*

[seperis]

I'm still a little hoarse but otherwise good! *hugS*

No sickness!

[nestra]

Yeah, this is...not good.

[seperis]

Yeah. I'm kind of feeling irritated with myself for not thinking it through as more than "kinda not playing fair" because yeah, unwitting comedy is hilarious for everyone but the person with their underwear going up the flagpole.

[lian]

Oy. As most ~social experiments~/for-the-lulz-projects go, I think this is a) huh, interesting and b) a seriously dickish thing to do. Unintentionally toxic, yeah? :/

[seperis]

Until mecurtin said that, it didn't really hit me completely how toxic it could be. I mean, suspicion is bad enough, but Clever Social Experiment CopyCat Syndrome is pretty much inevitable and hello spiral of suspicion and discomfort. Not to mention any author who gets their fic called over there and has to decide if that means that a.) someone really wanted ot find it or b.) someone really thought some aspect of it was OMGHILARITYDUMB or whatever.

In my defense, I'm still without coffee and soda is totally not cutting it before noon. *sighs*

[green_grrl]

You had exactly as much fun—and everybody enjoyed it—when you did your game of writing a bunch of "finders" style "searches" and had everybody guess the stories. That was an awesome game! Slipping searches by the onesies into a real comm, where no one else knows it's a game? Not cool at all.

[seperis]

*facepalm* I forgot about the fanfic summary games!

Yeah, that kind of game is funny because of full disclosure (I hope). Being the unwitting butt isn't quite as exciting.

[winter_elf]

well, I'm now glad to know the other side of the debate. Thanks for the link/info. I feel sorry for those who do the searches - because I can never remember where to find fic, and I'm glad that they do. I hope it doesn't stop the com from being active, and wow - I had liked that person as an author - did her common sense fly out a window?

[seperis]

I think that's what a lot of people are asking themselves.

[lydiabell]

I can understand the temptation of the fake requests. It really does seem like everything has been or could be written in SGA fandom, and I've joked on several occasions about wanting to post a request on sgastoryfinders for just to see if the act of requesting it would make it magically materialize.

On the other hand, those were *jokes*.

[seperis]

It really does seem like everything has been or could be written in SGA fandom, and I've joked on several occasions about wanting to post a request on sgastoryfinders for just to see if the act of requesting it would make it magically materialize.

SGA's personal rule 34; it appears on request.

And you know, if someone's going to do it, does it really need an entire post to advertise the genius meta of it that was kind of boils down to, haha, aren't I sneaky and edgy and totally fooled those silly people who thought I was like, genuine?

[raine]

I co-mod the TS Fic Finders comm on LJ, and all I can say is that is a major *ow* -- both for the mods and the people who genuinely want to find fic for others. *shakes head*

[seperis]

...okay, so was I the only mod of a ficfinding comm that moseyed over to their comm to check the membership and recent posts a little worriedly? (sv_inquiry, btw)

[domarzione]

I've long wondered why underhanded fic authors don't sock puppet requests for their own stories to drum up interest/gain readers -- I've been storyfound and I know what sort of a bump in traffic a link there brings. And my conclusion was always that on a community like that, so reliant on goodwill, the risk was deemed to outweigh the reward. More fool me.

Performance artists tend to be... not amoral, but their intent is to bring attention to themselves for their own reward without regard for consequences. It's the quaint uncle of the cult of celebrity. I suppose this little experiment falls under that rubric.

[seperis]

And my conclusion was always that on a community like that, so reliant on goodwill, the risk was deemed to outweigh the reward. More fool me.

No, I think you're right, but the person in question has to have an investment in the fandom at least and maybe something in the community that would dissuade questionable behavior.

Performance artists tend to be... not amoral, but their intent is to bring attention to themselves for their own reward without regard for consequences. It's the quaint uncle of the cult of celebrity. I suppose this little experiment falls under that rubric.

Huh, good call. I hadn't thought of it that way.

[mrshamill]

I guess this is one of the few times when it's good to be persona non grata in fandom. At least when virtually no one knows your fics, you don't have to worry about them being searched for by trolls.

While I agree on one level -- that it's kinda amusing -- mostly it's just shitty and appalling. Like most 'social experiments' are.

[ratcreature]

Your stories have been searched for on sgastoryfinders though, multiple times (here, here, here, here and here). you clearly don't vanity google enough. ;)

[ionaonie]

Yes, sgastoryfinders is hilarious. Not so much when it appears that requests aren't actually real.

I'm not surprised that people are hurt by this and I honestly don't believe she didn't do it on purpose. If you've been in fandom for more than about a day you know that while some people will find it hilarious, others will find it a shitty thing to have done.

And apparently she is penning an apology. Right.

This all makes me glad that I'm really not in the SGA fandom any more and sad that I feel like that.

[cimmerdeux.livejournal.com]

Maybe she's just a little naive? I don't know. Sometimes, I think people feel like they 'know' each other on the internet and we really don't. We don't have all those visual cues and feelings that come from physically being near one another. I'm not saying true friendships can't be formed through the strength of the written word alone just that, there's certain ideas, like this prank that a person probably wouldn't perpetrate if they had to deal with 'victims' face to face the next day. She seemed really surprised that some people took it the 'wrong way'.

For reference

[ineptshieldmaid]

Toft's post is temporarily private locked - you may wish to note that on your link above.
She's been in transit for the last day or so and hasn't been able to respond, as the placeholder post notes, but she's working on an apology/response.

[raine]

Post is up still, but now with apology:
http://toft.dreamwidth.org/548954.html

[mecurtin.livejournal.com]

Not to mention the whole "abuse of community trust" thing. Trolling is bad enough; trolling by a BNF is much, much worse. Being treated like a sociology experiment by fools from outside is a pain but ultimately laugh-off-able, and can even bring a community together. Realizing that a BNF treated you like a sociology experiment is destructive, it makes the community doubt and mistrust each other. Especially when -- because she's a BNF, because people (including me!) like and admire and trust her -- people chime in to say, "Oh you so cute and silly! Do it again!"

I seriously think toft -- or some close friend of hers who is still active in SGA -- should write stories for her fake prompts, or have a challenge to write them. Otherwise I fear there's going to be persistent bad blood and bad feeling about this.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

*nods* I really don't think she thought any farther than 'funny requests are good, more funny requests are better!' and fandom makes its own fun. Using unwitting people to carry it out for you and a friend's private lulz while they think they're helping out a fellow fen or someone they respect and like though is kind of douchey.

I mean, I can see the argument it's just some prompts on a community and no one like, had to slay orgres or anything to find the sekrit location of the fic, so it's not a big deal, but--IDK, yeah. I'm going to guess that this will set off a.) a wave of people wanting to be super cool and show off their mad request writing skillz or b.) people suspicious of unusual requests.

I kind of wish she'd just kept it a secret? Revealing the clever plan to show off how clever you are isn't really all that funny either.

[kudra2324.livejournal.com]

yeah, i really agree with [Bad username or site: mecurtin / @ livejournal.com] and a number of the people who have commented to toft's post (which i've now done as well). she just doesn't seem to have thought through what the damage to people whose stories would get caught up in the "experiment" would be.

[seperis.livejournal.com]

Yeah, and revealing it like this isn't exactly a healing moment of trust, either.

[nymphaea1.livejournal.com]

I don't know toft at all outside of an awareness she wrote some SGA fic that was popular. It does seem, however, like she wasn't doing this out of mean spirited mockery and I can see how from the beginning it would seem totally hilarious.

But. I do agree it sets up a general feeling of mistrust and I think I'd feel a bit used if I were an active follower of the comm. I think it's unfortunate--beyond people's real feelings of betrayal--in that it plays to the tired idea that BNFs are just out to manipulate fandom for their own shallow thrills. Again, I don't think that's what she was consciously doing, but I think it harms the level of trust across fandom and not just in specific to this comm.

My week is actually going fairly well since my summer classes ended. I'd thought after so many years of college I'd seen the worst higher education could offer. But that was before entering the School of Education itself. I learned stunning gems like all teachers are on power trips and kids only misbehave for substitute teachers because they are afraid of them.

But now that is over and I have some unprecedented time entirely to myself. Which is so rare I literally have no idea to do with myself. I actually did some non-school writing, something I feared was never going to happen again.

[butterfly.livejournal.com]

Ugh. I dislike when people troll comms that are built on people being nice by helping each other out. It kinda ruins it a little for other people, who were acting in good faith.

[cimmerdeux.livejournal.com]

Even in fandom, the Golden Rule should apply - "Do unto others ....". Shocking as it may be,(LOL) not everyone spends all their time in front of the computer and if they take the time out to help someone, that kindness shouldn't be abused. That's like kicking a puppy or an adult making fun of a child, it's unpleasant and it taints what it touches, whether it was meant or not. At least that's how I feel about it although perhaps I'm reaching an age where I'm becoming out of step with 'modern mores'. Next I'll be 'tsking' about the 'good old days' but getting old and cranky should be good for something. ;)