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.
ionaonie: (Default)

[personal profile] ionaonie 2010-08-11 09:56 pm (UTC)(link)
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.

[identity profile] cimmerdeux.livejournal.com 2010-08-11 10:30 pm (UTC)(link)
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'.

[identity profile] cimmerdeux.livejournal.com 2010-08-12 07:26 pm (UTC)(link)
"She's an adult and has been in fandom for a while. She is not naive.

She seemed really surprised that some people took it the 'wrong way'.

I'm not sure of the point of that statement?"

Well you know her and I don't (I assumed she was an adult but the world is full of adults who never grew up), but I just meant that sometimes people are naive enough to think that everyone would get their sense of humor (like Candid Camera or something, once you realize there was no harm meant by the 'joke' everyone has a jolly good laugh) and it never occurs to them that people would take things in what they consider the 'wrong way'. Because the intent was not to harm, no harm could have been done right? Of course it doesn't work that way. I like the legal way of looking at intent - it follows the bullet. In this case it appears she only considered her intent (if she's telling the truth) and not the effect.

I don't think anyone took it the wrong way, I think they responded exactly how most people would if faced with having a prank perpetrated on them without their consent or knowledge and I posted that opinion on her journal.

Like I posted above, some things people do and say on the internet, they would never do if the physical person(s) were sitting across from them - they'd think twice. If she had to physically go someplace and put in a request on the community and see the mods and other members every week would she have done the same thing? Maybe, and that's why I said she might be naive - or maybe not. I've read her apology and I still can't tell. I just would like to think that if she's really sorry and was just being really stupid and finally gets that, that maybe she can be forgiven and get a second chance. I kinda live by the words of Will Rogers: "Good judgment comes from experience; and a lot of that comes from bad judgment."

Sorry if I came across as being insensitive at all. I didn't mean to.