seperis: (Default)
seperis ([personal profile] seperis) wrote2010-08-11 09:38 am
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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: [personal profile] ineptshieldmaid in comments states the post has been taken down. More in the comment.

ETA 4: Thanks to [personal profile] raine for linking me: here toft apologizes with a longer explanation of her motives.
mrshamill: (Thanks)

[personal profile] mrshamill 2010-08-11 07:52 pm (UTC)(link)
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: RatCreature's toon avatar (Default)

[personal profile] ratcreature 2010-08-11 08:22 pm (UTC)(link)
Your stories have been searched for on sgastoryfinders though, multiple times (here, here, here, here and here). you clearly don't vanity google enough. ;)
mrshamill: (Default)

[personal profile] mrshamill 2010-08-11 09:37 pm (UTC)(link)
Okay, okay, I'll brush up on my mad search skillz or something. :-S I guess that's why I sometimes get bumps in hits, huh?
mrshamill: (Default)

[personal profile] mrshamill 2010-08-11 09:38 pm (UTC)(link)
Yes. Exactly. And then when the experimentees find out about it, you just can't understand why they'd be upset. It was all in good fun, akshually...