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Someone posted a lovely story on a LJ. Quite a few people posted nice comments. There was no reason for the individual who posted the story to create sock puppet IDs (or to use ones already extant) to pump up their comment total. It was a nice story, but it wasn't Shakespeare, and there were plenty of other nice stories posted by many other writers over the last month (none of them me, btw). Those other stories received five, six or seven comments or even a couple more -- this one is up to *30*. Most of the comments are from "people" who've never posted in the topic. Ever. Maybe one other time (just to "set" their identity, I guess). Do people *really* think others are persuaded by sock puppet theatre?
In yet more fandom-related idiocy, there's a fan auction (a non-LJ one) in which one writer is trying to pump up her bids on her stories. It's ludicrous -- it's also brazenly obvious what is being done. I don't have a story in it -- I don't have stakes in it -- I just see what she's doing to other writers and it REALLY pisses me off. Yet another example of fan sociopathy at work.
It's this kind of nonsensical pissing contest that creates contentiousness in fandom. These people don't impress anyone -- they don't make anyone respect them. Anyone with an IQ equal to that of a spider monkey knows what is going on, but nobody challenges it.
Narcissistic Personality Disorder at work yet again ... trying to do anything, including fraud, to prove they are better than everyone else ... as if such a thing as "better" or "best" existed.
Okay, end of rant.
- Mood:
annoyed
Comments
Hell, they even have entire fan awards that are nothing more than exercises in sock puppetry and cronyism. The crap that wins is astonishingly bad generally and from the awards you'd think there were only six authors in the entire fandom---though they toss a bone and sometimes a deserving author or two actually wins to make themselves--or rather the awards themselves look legit.
One self proclaimed BNF even got her friends to nominate a piece of art "she" did which in reality was largely done by a real artist with fannish cred. This wannabe had begged said professional artist for a lesson. She'd so not paid attention during the lesson that the true fan artist felt badly about the excreble results and had reworked the art into something halfway recognizeable and human looking. Of course when the nomination was made, did that real artist get any credit for having done most of the work? Of course not. When the fraud was pointed out to the awards committee by a witness to the "lesson" and its results, the awards people claimed they "didn't vet nominations" but would check it out with the pro artist in question--which they never did. The art didn't win, but the fact that it made final voting at all, was sock puppetry and ass kissing all the same.
Amen about the nonsencial pissing contest stuff too. One fandom has fairly been ruined by this shit--has a reputation for being a fandom to avoid because it is so nasty. YOu'd never know that the object of fannish obsession is about friendship---like any of these sociopaths even know what the hell that really is. All they know is finding weak personalities to worship them and stroke their egos (sometimes literally buying loyalty with loans and monetary gifts) and do their every bidding, including defending (and getting flying monkey friends to help out) their un-earned reputations.
And you're right, no one challenges it. If one more person says to ignore the bad apples and concentrate on the good in fan-ac, I'm not gonna be responsible for my behavior. People who need to be slapped down hard and kicked out of reputaable socieyty, skate off, while people who could stand up and do something to stem the tide refuse to bother.
"All it takes for evil to triumph in the world is for a few good people to do nothing"...
Fan fiction itself has become an insulting thing to be associated with because of the overall horrific quality of it. You're absolutely right about those awards -- I know the ones of which you speak. I went over, looking at them, and as I said to someone affiliated, only two of those stories would have made it anywhere near a good zine in the pre-online days.
And these were supposed to be the best of the fandom!
It's very sad. I think some of these people are so encased in their own ego bubbles, they see any competitor as "bad". I think others are so fixated on an actor on the series (as in the case with one fandom we both have experience in) that she weirdly thinks being a "BNF" will bring her some cache with him, I suppose.
This did happen before the online world, of course. I can remember getting a VERY icy reception from a writer in the same fandom (in that case, Wiseguy) for similar reasons but just as the internet has made everything else more effective and far-reaching, it has done that to fandom pathology, too.
Oh yeah, if only she knew the truth. I have it on good authority from more than one source that not only can't he stand the sight of her, he actively loathes her, but was brought up to be too gracious to show his true feelings! But look at his expression when he has the misfortune to be caught in a photo with her! LOL!
Some of these delusional assholes will even admit that they do what they do in fandom in order to "get closer" to Actor ____. God Bless him, the more people push, the less he pays attention to them! And he sees them for what they are. "Fucking weirdos".
Edited at 2008-03-05 02:40 am (UTC)
They are the 5% of fandom, most are good people like you and the rest of my flist, but it's the 5% that causes the problems.
Thanks for the chance to vent a bit!