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Tuesday, August 1st, 2006 08:17 pm
you have got to be kidding me
Hmm.
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fairestcat was asking inclusive fandom events of het and slash and gen writers on and off of lj. This has very little to actually do with that--I got caught up with amireal's comment down in the threads.
Okay, first, a story. Because I always start with a story. It clarifies my point. Okay, it clarifies my point to me.
Part I
I've talked about this before, but what the heck, this is lj, we all forget everything but grudges in like, a week. So. A million years ago when SV was stil crawling out of it's diapers after a whirlwind first year--and God, that was a good year--there was a poster on ClarkLexFic--the fic only list, though someone brought the thing over to ClarkLex to debate it out--wait, too many hyphens. Start over. A person posted that there was a massive amount of present tense fic in ClarkLex and blah blah ickycakes whatever, not the point. Discussion took off, became kind of weird, but the word massive stuck in my head, along with the later commentary. Now, getting beyond my ego being bruised--since I was, you know, *posting* present tense fic all over the place, so to speak--I got curious.
Okay, in my defense, I had too much time on my hands, and at the time, I was in that place where I really, really wanted to be right. It was a rare moment where my desire to be right, right, oh my God I am so right eclipsed my inherent laziness. I enlisted a couple of people, gave them a section of the SSA, and asked them to go through and count the number of past, present, and future tense fic. And they really did, while I heckled from AIM. Seriously. I have no idea to this day how I convinced them to do that.
Okay, and becuase I'm just that dorky, I kept the results.
Smallville Slash Archive, circa August-September 2002
9 dialogue
24 multi
1 other
2 poetry
1 script
649 past
290 present
37 other
total 976
327 other than past
*****
66.5% = past
29.7% = present
3.8% = others
_______________
(current jenn comment: I think these stats cover a specific period of time--I think the week or month before I posted the stats, to make a comparison)
69
3 multi
28 present
38 past
Past = 55.1
present = 40.6
multi = 4.3
Okay, you ask, the point is?
Perception. It was perceived that present tense was beating past tense with a big fat stick of beatingness. Okay, by like, a few people on ClarkLex. They also said we sucked, but beside the point. Except I never would have gotten all inspired if I hadn't gotten all feelings-hurt, so you see, good things come out of trolling.
I lost my point. Anyway. Perception--strangling the poor past tense on their own intestines. Reality, less than a third of the entire archive. However--big however--the poster perceived the difference because in the last three months before I did this little study, the number of present tense fic were on the upswing in a serious way. And if you had come in during that time and hit the archive for latest, you just might get the impression that the fandom is All About the Present Tense. That I can almost prove, if I get really inspired and go back to study by date, but considering that i do remember what was being posted, I'm about eighty percent sure I'm right. May-August 2002 was a good time for the present tense fic in Smallville. According to the above, so was the month before this poll was posted.
I had a lot more in my diaryland account about this, but that is lost, so I'm working from memory of self-righteous satisfaction here.
Part II
The thing about the slash and het and gen separation thing is the idea that:
I still have no idea what the debate is about, exactly. On whether we should all be one large, multipairing, happy fandom where the slash layeth down with the het and watch all their tiny fic spawn play together. Or whether we separate far enough away that we never meet. Or whether the permeable edges are as permeable as we think. Or if That Other Pairing is out to get Our Pairing. Or if it's just preference, or it's actual exclusion, or if it's simply no one who is still bound by physical laws requiring sleep can *ever* read everything out there. I mean, we talk about it a *lot* without actually talking about it much at all, and this is why I rarely do meta right here--I don't understand where most of these conversations go. It seems like the catch-all for whatever is happening at the time that needs a label. Sometimes, it feels like the words 'slash bias' or 'het bias' (I don't think anyone's been accused of being gen biased--isn't that odd now that you think about it?) are used in ways that aren't covered by any actual usable definition to prove a point in a debate. To prove that someone, somewhere, at some point, was being oppressed by those other people.
I mean, the major serious divide between slash and het in a weird way comes down to which lower body orifice we're shoving a cock into*. Unless you count some adventurous het I've read. And even being aware it's more complex than that, it also weirds me out because it's like prostitution being the oldest profession--this is the oldest debate. Before we twitched for mpreg or muttered about incest and looked for the far-off cities of RPS that would be built, we were asking the question "why do you slash characters?" like it's a question that needs to be answered to make the concept relevant. Like that's even a question that isn't on the order of any zen-inducing question like "What is the sound of one hand clapping?" or "What would Jesus do?" It's a question with multiple answers of varying levels of coherency because it's not a question that can be answered to anyone's satisfaction because it cannot be answered. Not in any way that will ever make sense to anyone fully unless they share your brain.
I mean, if I meditaed? That would be my mantra. Right there. Clears my head *wonderfully*.
On the other hand, I always love reading the answers, so asking and answering? So not a complaint here. It's more that--it's so rarely asked for the right *reasons*. It's a complaint or an indulgence or a--an accusation? The question always seems to actually be, "why don't you write het?"
Every time--every time--this debate is dragged out and aired--the number of x/x or x/y fic compared to another is a big one, but also always fun is the infrequent challenges that exclude this or that pairing/group for one reason or another, or the archive that says no whatever pairing/rating/genre or the random troll that wanders by with homophobic or heterophobic commentary that are somehow--and don't even ask me how this happens--are immediately proclaimed The True Voice of the Other Side. Like there is some secret cabal of slashers (hetters) out there quietly working to eliminate everyone who doesn't write their pairing and take over fandom so the one true vision is revealed.
Does anyone--and I'm serious--actually believe that? I mean, really, truly, you sit down and think to yourself, those *slashers* (hetters) are destroying fandom by tying the hands of hetters (slashers) or trolling them off the net?
So today, I'm reading comments and run across a thread and then think, huh. Wow. Do you know what this debate could use? Some actual *facts*.
So here's the actual question I want asked next time the word 'bias' is thrown around anywhere. Because sometimes, I've kind of thought that fandom sometimes might work on the concept that if someone says something enough, or believes it enough, and says it to enough people in enough places, it has to be true.
Can you prove it?
The next time someone, anyone, makes a bias statement, I want *math*. I want percentages. I want a full count and documentation of the places the count was done, who double checked it. Because I want to know when anyone uses the word bias in regards to a group, a community, a person, they're using it as more than a way to get quick sympathy and score points. If you're pissed enough with fandom to see a bias and pissed enough to use the word, and pissed enough to rouse up your buddies, then you are plenty energetic enough to get yourself to counting. You know, I did it? Okay, with help. But Christ, *nine hundred something stories. So we did it. And I bet just about anyone else can do it too.
* Or in femmeslashes case--I really don't have a good way to put that one. Hmm. Give me a couple of hours. Think *spirit*, not letter.
fairestcat was asking inclusive fandom events of het and slash and gen writers on and off of lj. This has very little to actually do with that--I got caught up with amireal's comment down in the threads. Okay, first, a story. Because I always start with a story. It clarifies my point. Okay, it clarifies my point to me.
Part I
I've talked about this before, but what the heck, this is lj, we all forget everything but grudges in like, a week. So. A million years ago when SV was stil crawling out of it's diapers after a whirlwind first year--and God, that was a good year--there was a poster on ClarkLexFic--the fic only list, though someone brought the thing over to ClarkLex to debate it out--wait, too many hyphens. Start over. A person posted that there was a massive amount of present tense fic in ClarkLex and blah blah ickycakes whatever, not the point. Discussion took off, became kind of weird, but the word massive stuck in my head, along with the later commentary. Now, getting beyond my ego being bruised--since I was, you know, *posting* present tense fic all over the place, so to speak--I got curious.
Okay, in my defense, I had too much time on my hands, and at the time, I was in that place where I really, really wanted to be right. It was a rare moment where my desire to be right, right, oh my God I am so right eclipsed my inherent laziness. I enlisted a couple of people, gave them a section of the SSA, and asked them to go through and count the number of past, present, and future tense fic. And they really did, while I heckled from AIM. Seriously. I have no idea to this day how I convinced them to do that.
Okay, and becuase I'm just that dorky, I kept the results.
Smallville Slash Archive, circa August-September 2002
9 dialogue
24 multi
1 other
2 poetry
1 script
649 past
290 present
37 other
total 976
327 other than past
*****
66.5% = past
29.7% = present
3.8% = others
_______________
(current jenn comment: I think these stats cover a specific period of time--I think the week or month before I posted the stats, to make a comparison)
69
3 multi
28 present
38 past
Past = 55.1
present = 40.6
multi = 4.3
Okay, you ask, the point is?
Perception. It was perceived that present tense was beating past tense with a big fat stick of beatingness. Okay, by like, a few people on ClarkLex. They also said we sucked, but beside the point. Except I never would have gotten all inspired if I hadn't gotten all feelings-hurt, so you see, good things come out of trolling.
I lost my point. Anyway. Perception--strangling the poor past tense on their own intestines. Reality, less than a third of the entire archive. However--big however--the poster perceived the difference because in the last three months before I did this little study, the number of present tense fic were on the upswing in a serious way. And if you had come in during that time and hit the archive for latest, you just might get the impression that the fandom is All About the Present Tense. That I can almost prove, if I get really inspired and go back to study by date, but considering that i do remember what was being posted, I'm about eighty percent sure I'm right. May-August 2002 was a good time for the present tense fic in Smallville. According to the above, so was the month before this poll was posted.
I had a lot more in my diaryland account about this, but that is lost, so I'm working from memory of self-righteous satisfaction here.
Part II
The thing about the slash and het and gen separation thing is the idea that:
I still have no idea what the debate is about, exactly. On whether we should all be one large, multipairing, happy fandom where the slash layeth down with the het and watch all their tiny fic spawn play together. Or whether we separate far enough away that we never meet. Or whether the permeable edges are as permeable as we think. Or if That Other Pairing is out to get Our Pairing. Or if it's just preference, or it's actual exclusion, or if it's simply no one who is still bound by physical laws requiring sleep can *ever* read everything out there. I mean, we talk about it a *lot* without actually talking about it much at all, and this is why I rarely do meta right here--I don't understand where most of these conversations go. It seems like the catch-all for whatever is happening at the time that needs a label. Sometimes, it feels like the words 'slash bias' or 'het bias' (I don't think anyone's been accused of being gen biased--isn't that odd now that you think about it?) are used in ways that aren't covered by any actual usable definition to prove a point in a debate. To prove that someone, somewhere, at some point, was being oppressed by those other people.
I mean, the major serious divide between slash and het in a weird way comes down to which lower body orifice we're shoving a cock into*. Unless you count some adventurous het I've read. And even being aware it's more complex than that, it also weirds me out because it's like prostitution being the oldest profession--this is the oldest debate. Before we twitched for mpreg or muttered about incest and looked for the far-off cities of RPS that would be built, we were asking the question "why do you slash characters?" like it's a question that needs to be answered to make the concept relevant. Like that's even a question that isn't on the order of any zen-inducing question like "What is the sound of one hand clapping?" or "What would Jesus do?" It's a question with multiple answers of varying levels of coherency because it's not a question that can be answered to anyone's satisfaction because it cannot be answered. Not in any way that will ever make sense to anyone fully unless they share your brain.
I mean, if I meditaed? That would be my mantra. Right there. Clears my head *wonderfully*.
On the other hand, I always love reading the answers, so asking and answering? So not a complaint here. It's more that--it's so rarely asked for the right *reasons*. It's a complaint or an indulgence or a--an accusation? The question always seems to actually be, "why don't you write het?"
Every time--every time--this debate is dragged out and aired--the number of x/x or x/y fic compared to another is a big one, but also always fun is the infrequent challenges that exclude this or that pairing/group for one reason or another, or the archive that says no whatever pairing/rating/genre or the random troll that wanders by with homophobic or heterophobic commentary that are somehow--and don't even ask me how this happens--are immediately proclaimed The True Voice of the Other Side. Like there is some secret cabal of slashers (hetters) out there quietly working to eliminate everyone who doesn't write their pairing and take over fandom so the one true vision is revealed.
Does anyone--and I'm serious--actually believe that? I mean, really, truly, you sit down and think to yourself, those *slashers* (hetters) are destroying fandom by tying the hands of hetters (slashers) or trolling them off the net?
So today, I'm reading comments and run across a thread and then think, huh. Wow. Do you know what this debate could use? Some actual *facts*.
So here's the actual question I want asked next time the word 'bias' is thrown around anywhere. Because sometimes, I've kind of thought that fandom sometimes might work on the concept that if someone says something enough, or believes it enough, and says it to enough people in enough places, it has to be true.
Can you prove it?
The next time someone, anyone, makes a bias statement, I want *math*. I want percentages. I want a full count and documentation of the places the count was done, who double checked it. Because I want to know when anyone uses the word bias in regards to a group, a community, a person, they're using it as more than a way to get quick sympathy and score points. If you're pissed enough with fandom to see a bias and pissed enough to use the word, and pissed enough to rouse up your buddies, then you are plenty energetic enough to get yourself to counting. You know, I did it? Okay, with help. But Christ, *nine hundred something stories. So we did it. And I bet just about anyone else can do it too.
* Or in femmeslashes case--I really don't have a good way to put that one. Hmm. Give me a couple of hours. Think *spirit*, not letter.
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From:And it's not that I'm protesting how people feel, mostly because I do want the right to blow up every once in a while over something fannishly stupid in my lj for fun. And it's not even expressing oneself in strong terms. It's the expression plus the actual *belief*, plus the lack of actual backing, plus the level of accusation. I get the feeling of being marginalized. *grins* Perceptionally speaking, I feel half the time like I'm actually in the Rodney Fandom of Awesome and my tiny John real estate is being invaded.
But if a bias statement is made, as an accusation, if someone is going to say it, they need to back it up with something besides their own perception. That's--actually all of my thing there. well, not all of it, but all my fingers are up for, really.
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From:(* I actually do have a slight issue with the newsletter, in that I've had at least two non-J/R-but-romantic stories miscategorized into "gen" or "uncategorized," which has led me to joke that the mods can no longer imagine what non-J/R love looks like. I know they do a lot of hard work so I don't want to be too rough on them, but I do think it does show to some degree that as individual fans, it's J/R they're invested in.)
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From:This bit isn't just directed at you, but I'm really tired of seeing people complain about the newsletter. I am subscribed to a number of newsletters across many fandoms, and the
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From:I don't know what other people are saying. That's what *I've* said, and I've offered my evidence--my own miscategorized stories. I appreciate the hard work of the sga_newsletter mods very much, as I *also* said (here and elsewhere), but I'm not going to pretend they don't make mistakes. If other people are suggesting they're engaged in some kind of massive conspiracy, you would be better off taking it up with them, because I would never say that.
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From:None of us ever said that, nor do we believe this is what happens and it is by all intents and purposes a statement you made based on two entries of the 14.960 entries we have made in the last year.
I really understand that your experiences with us were not good but you are aware that statistics based on your stories alone are not really all that conclusive for all of the writers and stories out there.
And we actually have someone on our board who has you friended and who does sometimes add your stories into our memories before you post them on the noticeboard.
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From:http://community.livejournal.com/sga_noticeboard/776706.html
Which would still have ended up in the uncategorised section. Sadly, there are different authors with different ideas of labeling which means that just stating which character the story is about is not any real help in knowing is it gen, het or slash. There've been more than enough stories in which past or present relationships get explored in a character centric fic and if we don't have the time to read the story we will put it in a category where its clear to our readers that we don't know if there are any pairings in there.
The only other story of yours I could find in uncategorised was Side Effects may vary (http://community.livejournal.com/sga_noticeboard/722257.html) in which the labeling wasn't really clear for us. We could have put it under slash various and make an additional statement about various other het or slash pairings or no other pairings at all, but we were honestly not too sure which way to go with it.
And after all, we have decided to put up this category on the one hand because it makes our job easier but also very much because we respect an authors wish to *not* give away pairings or genre beforehand. And of course, if you wish to move any story into another category we are always happy to do that should you notice anything wrong.
And, while I just checked these two stories (because I really wanted to know why we had moved them there) and still know and understand why we made our original choice in both cases, it would also not suprise me if we accidentally move stories in the wrong categories.
Which also, happens to McKay/Sheppard stories just as much as it does to any others. It has nothing to di with our own possible interest in the story because most days when we edit the newsletter none of us actually have the time to read even one story.
I think the main reason for why we really try very hard to get it across that we are not biased is because we *know* we are not. There's been more than one really wonderful story we've al read and cared about and yet still managed to forget to link or moved in the wrong category.
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From:I actually didn't have a problem with "The New Frontier" classification. I think the story is gen, or else John/Teyla, but if you want to insist on the writer actually saying "gen" in the headers, I can understand your rationale. I certainly wouldn't expect you to guess what the pairing is without reading the story! It just seems that on the (relatively few) occasions when I've seen errors, they have been for non-J/R stories. And, honestly, I would expect you to make more errors for types of stories you don't care about. I do an index for Marvel fanfic and it's a lot harder to be accurate when I'm not familiar with the fandom or don't give a damn about it. That's human nature.
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From:Or maybe we were drunk when we did the newsletter, who knows... *g*
And I'm really flattered when you say you've seen only a few errors because sadly we make more mistakes (the bigger the newsletter gets) depending on our daily form I guess.
And the margin of error might be very slightly tilted to stories and categories we don't much care about (which would in my case include everything Fanart, a lot of the stuff non McShep, WIPs altogether and even quite some of the McShep stuff - I'm a very picky reader I have to admit..) but I can't help but feel that maybe it is a bit of bias from the people who are already sensitised by the overwhelming nature of McKay/Sheppard so you see the one mistake we make in a different category but maybe not the one we do in this category.
I think our problem at the moment is, that we are getting this rep because people keep repeating the same thing over and over. Most of them are very clear about it probably not being intentional or about how much they appreciate the work they are doing but I still very much doubt that this rep is justified.
And the thing is whatever I care about in fandom when I'm on my own reading time has nothing to do with what I care about as an editor when I do the newsletter. When we do the newsletter it is mostly a mechanical job that consists mainly of copy and paste, copy and paste, copy and paste....and we do that 50-60 times (which explains why sometimes it feels like its too much work of we actually have to *think* about what category to put a story in because it throws you so much out of your rythm) so you can believe me or not but in 95% of the times I've not read any of the stories doesn't matter what pairing.
And to throw a probably offensive idea out there (which is just an idea and not nearly based on any factual proof at the moment) maybe McKay/Sheppard stories are just clearer labeled? Did anyone ever take the time to double check anything like that before pointing their fingers at us and screaming bias?
As you might have seen, a lot of us are feeling the strain at the moment about having to justify what we do and us questioning our methods and trying to figure our ourselves if we really are biased just because enough people seem to feel that way, so we are all a lot more defensive than we used to be or want to be....
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From:I believe the other story Sarah's referring to is actually "The Intergalactic Adventures of Lieutenant John Sheppard in the Twenty-First Century," which ends with John and Teyla kissing, but was labeled "gen" on the newsletter.
See, it's not that there's a PURPOSEFUL bias, but it doesn't seem like anybody read to the end of the story; if they had, it wouldn't have been put under "gen." Like everybody else in fandom, you guys are not obligated to *read* anything you're not interested in, but like, for example: if you are a group of Elizabeth fans who don't like Teyla, you're not going to read to the end of a lot of Teyla stories and so you might miscategorize one, just because you didn't choose to read it; and over time, more Teyla stories would end up miscategorized than Elizabeth stories, just because that is your group personal preference.
I've said before in other conversations that this is clearly not anything you're doing on *purpose*-- if you were only interested in promoting or linking slash, you'd have created a slash-only newsletter and not bothered with anything else. But it is clearly a preference and it does seem to be a pattern. (Sarah's stories are not the only ones I've noticed being oddly-categorized when the het content is very subtle, or comes closer to the end of the story.)
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From:And those with subtle het or het at the end, do you know how many stories we get where they write "its sorta gen but kinda but can be seen as het as has X/Y at the end," really what are we supposed to do with that? Authors need to know what their fics are trying to say. We're left stuck not knowing what catgory to put things in. It is actually quite frustrating when someone does not write a pairing on there because we simply don't have the time to read through it all.
All we need are titles and pairings, genres and authors clearly written. We don't care if its het gen or slash as long as you write what it is on the top so we know where to put it, and that includes on your own journal if that's where the links go to. And then if mistakes are made which they will be, us being flesh and blood and all. Then tell us and we'll move it. There's no point getting all frustrated and annoyed when all it takes is a few minutes to move it. Life's too short to stress over something like that.
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From:But when a story goes out in the newsletter miscategorized, it can cost people readers. Often the author doesn't see the mistake for a while, and since most people read the newsletter the day of publication and don't go back to it, fixing it doesn't even help that much. And when the story is already in a category that has to struggle for readership, it's all the more irritating for the author. Even the relatively small John/Teyla community didn't read that story Livia mentions because they didn't know it was there for them! That's certainly the only reason *I* care--otherwise you could label my stories whatever the heck you wanted and at worst I'd roll my eyes: it's your newsletter and you can do whatever you want. So that's why people can get a little peeved at times.
(And, okay, this illustrates Livia's point. You talk about the problem of *het* being subtle or at the end--but there are plenty of *John/Rodney* stories that are subtle or have the actual smooches at the end. It's not a problem limited to het stories at all. But since you all care more about John/Rodney, and are more attuned to it and its signals, you're more likely to catch it. That's not because you're evil or campaigning to suppress non-John/Rodney or whatever. It's because it's what you tend to see.)
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From:But as I've said earlier. We really don't have time to read anything regardless of whether its MCSHep or not. I'm not lying here.
I really don't read anything when I put out a newsletter. It's why I need stories labelled clearly. We do try though, if a story is on a particular community like Sheppard/weir or McKay/Sheppard sometimes we'll take the risk and go oh ok it's most likely this or this. But most of the time if something is written and I have no idea what pairing it is in or if its gen, and I don't have the time to read it, how can I possibly be expected to get it under the right heading?
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From:I can only say that I *have* had two stories which *were* labelled put into the wrong category, that I have seen some other stories that appeared mislabelled to me, and that there is a legitimate reason beyond authorial fussiness that this bothers people, especially people writing for pairings with smaller audiences. This is data for you, and if you are troubled by claims that the newsletter appears biased, it may be useful for you to consider it. I am seriously not trying to launch a campaign against you guys, and I hope it hasn't sounded like it.
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From:Look, either you're bothered by an impression you may be inadvertantly creating, or you're not. I understand if you don't much care, actually--there's only so much energy anyone can invest in any one fannish project. You're a volunteer and you may feel that you're doing all you can, or that you shouldn't have to worry about impressions that you don't think are fair, and I truly do not challenge that.
If you *do* care, though, what I am telling you is where that impression may be coming from (that and the tendency of anyone who's in a minority position--or thinks she *might* be in a minority position--to fancy herself persecuted). I'm actually not interested in debating with you how you might better run your own project. I'm sure you all know how to handle your own business better than I do. Take what I've said into consideration or not, as you prefer. If you're troubled by the idea that you might give the wrong impression, though, you might want to think how you guys might want to combat that in your own way. I just *happened* to post about this subject tangentially (the last time this happened to me was well over a month ago). I doubt everyone who's ever had a story miscategorized or who's seen a story miscategorized is reading this thread. Is it worth it to you, in terms of whatever the extra work would be, to try to avoid giving them the wrong idea? That's really up to you.
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From:Honestly what else is a suggestion going to do, if you can think of one tell us because like I said we're human we need help and pointing in the right direction from time to time. so if you think of something tell us because believe me we're not doing anything deliberately to cause these mistakes. .
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From:Hi, this is Azicrow,
Firstly I really do want to apologise for my conduct on the board, being that rude is inexcusable and I am actually quite ashamed of it.
There was no excuse for it I should have controlled my temper better and this temper was in no way intended to be directed at you. I just found out someone was voting for a particularly right wing party (Imagine a politicised arm of the KKK) And their main target are people like me. As you can imagine it took me off guard and so when I was writing to you I was still quite shaken up about it. But regardless I still should not have been so vicious with it all. I do care about the newsletter and the hard work people put into their work. Without their work there'd be no newsletter.
Now I didn't write this on the board simply because I did not want to make it seem as if I were seeking the crowd's favour as it were.( This seems a bit redundant now seeing as my emil didn't get through so you can ignore that bit)) BUt If you'd like me to make a public apology I'd gladly do it because I am truly truly sorry. And any suggestions you may make will be brought back to the rest of the team and considered.
I do hope you can forgive me in this matter.
Thank you for your time.
Azi
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(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:no subject
From:We have catalogued thousands of stories and we make mistakes that is truly all it is, we have a reader journal with 170 communities so we are not relying on our friendslist and we are grabbing stories for every genre and pairing possible. we have no time to read things on days we do newsletters I know this is particularly true in my case. Whether it is a small or a big pairing if it gets misplaced the pairing has nothing to do with it.
For those two nights it does not matter if you wanted to write Hermiod/Sora or McKay/Sheppard, I don't have the time to read that story that night I'm sorry, I have to go back AFTER I have posted the newsletter and see any stories that I might want to read, THEN I get my personal time, before that its all professional and if its atlantis it goes in simple as that. We've not read the fic we've no time. It goes where its labelled as much as it can considering you have to deal with human error.
Now to make this more unbiased what would you suggest that we're not doing that will also be feasible timewise considering the length of time each newsletter takes?
I hope thats better
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From:And you might believe me or not but when it comes to editing the newsletter it is all a matter of copy and paste. None of us scroll, skim or god forbid read any of the stories we include. Why do you think we have such problems with our spoiler policy? It's because we don't read anything we link. I'd love it if it could be different, but at the moment this is that way it has to be done if we want to be able to actually post a newsletter a day.
We are well aware that there are several things we could do better, we would have to double check many of the categories for possible mistakes and spoiler warnings we should have given or Icons that are now for the third time in the Newsletter or stories being mislabeled. We also are very unhappy about any of the mistakes we make because we know that many people read us and depend on us to find their stories so we want to do it right by everyone.
But we are limited in our capability to do so (and it gets worse when it seems like everyday that number of posts is growing and in some cases growing over our heads as we speak) so we do the best we can.
We are equal opportunitists when it comes to making mistakes. I think that is my main point. I would love it if everyone who has doubts about how we do what we do could look us over the shoulder one night when we do the newsletter because it would become absolutely clear that the way we compile the newsletter leaves no room for intentional or unintentional bias.
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