3w4dw and con.txt, also baby daleks

[melannen]

So, 3w4dw is happening, yeah? I'm not changing my crossposting because I already don't post anywhere except DW and sometimes JF, and I seriously doubt anybody is staying away from DW because JF is too active. :P

(well, and a certain anon kink meme I can't stop refreshing, but I can't give that up. This is how much I can't give that anon meme up: as you may know, I have had javascript turned off on LJ for quite some time now, because the crufty javascript they've been pushing in made the site stop working with my browser. With javascript off, I can read my flist and post signed comments, which is usually all I do. Until I got tempted by this anon meme.)

This is what you have to do to leave an anon comment in LJ if you don't let the site use javascript:

(a). Click "anonymous" and write your comment in the comment box.
1. Turn off javascript for the whole browser, because LJ won't let you post anon comments if you're only blocking javascript for LJ, you have to have no javascript for anyone on the whole web or it gets jealous and refuses to let you.
2. Press "post comment".
3. Get an error message that says "You entered a username, but selected to post anonymously or as the currently logged in user. Go back and decide which you really want to do." Notice that the "from" button has mysteriously reset itself to posting signed in, and the "post as" box has filled itself with your username. Re-click the "anonymous" ticky and clear your username from the box. (Yes, you have to do this every single time.)
4. Fill in the captcha. Press "I'm a human". (yes, you have to fill in the captcha every time.)
5. Have the frame the captcha is in come up with a 404 error. Carefully reload just that frame, so you don't have to start over. Go back to step four.
6. Have lj tell you "You're a human". Hear it in your head in David Mitchell's voice, and for some reason feel oddly reassured. Select and copy all the gibberish that has appeared in the captcha frame.
7. Paste into the unlabeled text box that for some reason is justified to the far right side of the screen and below about two inches of whitespace.
8. Press "post comment".
9. Note that at some point in your messing about with the captcha, the ticky reset itself to your logged-in account again. Say some nasty words and/or attempt violence. Delete non-anon comment, and go back to step (a).


...yes, I have fallen for current tiny RPS fandom hard enough that I go through that voluntarily anyway. And no, it is not the least bit exaggerated. (and yes, it's almost as annoying to do with js off in DW - but oh, look, I don't have to turn js off in order for DW to function! Amazing.)

So anyway, right now the thing I love most about DW is I can post anon comments on it without wanting to commit murder. There are a lot of awesome DW anon memes going on for 3w4dw right now, incidentally. Far too many to keep track of, in fact - just reload the 3w4dw tag on latest - when I am still reloading the lj ones for tiny-fandom-of-doom and also forsciencememe, the anon meme for rock-star scientists, literal or otherwise, which I would be *all over* if it didn't take me about ten minutes every time I try to post a comment on it. Especially I would be all over it requesting epic Othniel Charles Marsh/Edward Drinker Cope hatesex, about which more anon (in the other sense of anon), possibly.

ANYWAY ANYWAY. My actual point, when I started all this, is that there's so much going on for 3w4dw that I have decided, with the exception of a few community events and some anoning, to save most of my effort for after the event is over, where things will probably be quieting down and everyhing won't be getting lost in the rush. (That, or I am bone-idle and/or exhausted). So it will be business as usual here - i.e., long rambling posts every ten days or so.

My contribution to cross-site-ness for the time being is probably going to be going through the flists of the small-fandom lj communities I'm busily stalking and dw-watch everyone who crossposts. :D

---

And now for con_txt! If you have been following this saga, you will know that I submitted an utterly ridiculous number of panels (in the non-david-mitchell sense of panels, though do you know how tempted I am to suggest a fannish panel game for Saturday evening entertainment? So tempted) to the concomm, and I have just gotten the first voting-results email.

...ten of my panels are either in, or possibly/probably in, and by con-txt tradition, they are now asking *me* to volunteer for or find mods for them all. I know some of you are going to con-txt, or know people who are: anybody interested in modding or co-modding any of these if they get in?

"Fandom, Copyright, and Copyleft": con-txt PTB tells me there is a lawyer-in-training who has volunteer to co-mod this! yay! So all I have to do is be her co-mod and be vaguely competent at it, and also not explode. Unless somebody else want to take over co-mod for this one?

"Procrastinators' Party": Am shocked it got in, but this one will take no prep to mod - that's the whole point, yeah? Except I have to come up with a prize. I promised prizes.

"Slash and the dream of Actually Gay characters": This one kind of got combined with somebody else's during voting; I think she has also volunteered to mod it, and since the shift in emphasis with the combining will, I suspect, make me less interested, hopefully it is taken care of.

"What We Talk About When We Talk About Slash Fandom": What I would love to do for this one is get together an *actual* panel to direct discussion - preferably having on it at least one person who is a working acafan, one person who doesn't identify as a slasher but comes to con-txt anyway, and one person who is interested almost exclusively in m/m. And having a male slasher on it would be cool, too. But that would take organization and social skills, neither of which I am good at. Anybody have suggestions?

Those were the definites. Here's the maybes:

"Star Trek beyond the shows": People voted for Star Trek paracanon! (And demonstrating the need fro the previous panel, they voted for this - at a slash con! - despite the fact that the only 'ships I mentioned in the proposal were het. Ooops.) Any of my starry_sea-type people want to take lead mod on this one? I'll help out if you want. And I'll bring the collection of random used TOS novels to give away. :D

"We <3 the BBC": What. The. Heck. This one might get in?? I suspect people thought it would be about Dr. Who or something. Fair warning, if I end up modding it, it will consist of me babbling for an hour about panel shows, MPT's old britcom lineup, Top Gear, and my tendency to fall for supposedly-unattractive middle-aged sarcasm and spite. So maybe somebody else wants to step up? Hint hint.

"Sinister Ducks": ah hah hah hah hah. If this one gets in this year -- I suppose it was inevitable though, what with the eleventh Doctor revealing that he was aware of the great duck conspiracy. If it does get in, I will fall on my own petard and mod it, but I will be spending a lot of time begging my circle to find me clips and stills in which BSOs encounter duck-related things. jsyk.

"Asexuality & Slash": If this one gets in I love fandom forever! I will probably ask around on asexual_fandom and places to see if anybody else wants to mod it, though - I could, but I will probably be doing a lot of other things that weekend, and I know there are other people who could, too.

"Building an Active Community": My advice here would probably be, short version, "don't be a horrible lazy person like I am, and actually make stuff, and then post it to your community." I do hope it gets in, though, because too many people start communities without even a whisper of a plan of how to get them active, and then nothing happens, which is a drag all round. And I hope somebody else offers to mod it - someone who actually has successfully built an active community from the ground up.

"Fanmixes and Mashups": This is another one that morphed a bit on the way to the voting; I proposed one just on fanmixes, which I was planning on dragooning ptahrrific into co-modding. But I don't know the first thing about fannish mashups, nor where to go looking for a co-mod who does. :/

And now for a cute and cuddly baby Dalek!



If I made a small flock of these daleklings - say, 4-6, in a rainbow of bright cheerful nursery colors - would it be worth submitting to the con-txt art auction? Would anybody bid? I have been messing with the pattern for so long that I've lost all perspective on it, I have no idea if it even looks like a Dalek anymore, because I've forgotten what Daleks look like when they aren't pink crochet. Oh, I know! Poll!

Poll #2925 Baby daleklings

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 19

View Respondents

Should babby daleklings go in the con-txt art auction?

View Answers

yes.
8 (42.1%)

no.
0 (0.0%)

In fact I would bid!
1 (5.3%)

...if I was going to con-txt, which I'm not.
5 (26.3%)

And if I couldn't get it at auction, I'd even commission one direct from you!.
2 (10.5%)

You need to share that pattern with the internets.
2 (10.5%)

I have no idea.
0 (0.0%)

Oh. Is that meant to be a Dalek?
0 (0.0%)

This is all part of the duck conspiracy, isn't it.
1 (5.3%)

If they do go to the art auction, the reserve price (for a set of several) should be, in US dollars:

View Answers
Mean: 28.89 Median: 30 Std. Dev 7.37

10		0 (0.0%)
20		3 (33.3%)
30		4 (44.4%)
40		2 (22.2%)
50		0 (0.0%)
60		0 (0.0%)
70		0 (0.0%)
80		0 (0.0%)
90		0 (0.0%)
100		0 (0.0%)

Comments

[holyschist]

I have no idea how to price crochet, but I WANT ONE. ♥

[melannen]

If I did make them on commission for people (pick-your-own color) I would probably price them at something like $15 plus shipping (the materials are basically free, but at the moment, they take about three-four hours of TV-watching or lecture-attending each to make. Though that might speed up after I've made a few more.) Unless they go for a lot more than that at the con.

[holyschist]

Well, mark me down as interested, please. :)

[synecdochic]

huh, i'd possibly mod the community one.

[melannen]

Ooh, that would be great!

(Though I am not sure how useful "be so awesome you have minions who obey your every will" would be as advice for the average fan. :P )

[dancesontrains]

You fell for that thing my friend loves, didn't you? :D

And cool con stuff + babby Daleks! (I have no idea how much they would go for regularly, so I didn't vote in that section of the poll. Or offer anything useful in the other section.)

[melannen]

I am not trying to be secretive about it (at all, as evidenced by the frequent mentions of panel shows) but we did just get yelled at by the mods about keeping secrets, so. :D

I have no idea how much they would go for either. Hm.

[stellar_dust]

... I might not be able to get home for con-txt after all. I am sad. ):

[melannen]

Oh, sad. ): And I might not be able to get up to Boston in June - it is possible there will still be job-type stuff then.

p.s.: I have a acquired a copy of "Bone Sharps, Cowboys, and Thunder Lizards", the graphic novel about Cope and Marsh, which is pretty good. Would you be interested in owning it? Should I save it for you?

[ciaan]

I read that comic recently and I enjoyed it.

I might be interested in doing "Slash and the dream of Actually Gay characters" if no one else is.

[melannen]

Excellent! I will send you name along.

[stellar_dust]

I KNOW IT IS VERY SAD. It looks like I might have to come back to the apt every weekend to take care of kitties, and on top of that I am probably just going to be so exhausted. Rar. (Also my x-stitch will not be done, even just to mail in absentia, which is extra boooo.)

Does mom still want to visit sometime in May? Think you'll come along?

I would like to read it at least!

[melannen]

very very sad. D:

There was not much left of cross-stitch though! Can't you work on it in class or something?

And May is looking very busy for both me and mom, so visiting is looking unlikely. I might still manage to swing by for a little bit in June though, if I am jobless and decide to do Michigan as an excuse for road trip.

[stellar_dust]

in class? ahahaha, very definitely not! but maybe I will get some magic free time soon. (I have not checked internets in any real sense of the words "checked" or "internets" for all of april.)

Boooooo. If you both came in May you could totally each take a kitty home with you on Southwest!

If you do come in June make it over a weekend - I will be in Newport practically always, but especially during the week. If you come by Newport we might make you screen something, but no guarantees. :D

(I also have more very exciting things happening this summer, but those should probably wait till I have time to make an actual post about them! Now I go to read about the rank-size rule.)

[lightgetsin]

. . . the copyright co mod was me, in the sense that I'm happy to error check things and pull out all my copyright and cyberlaw notes, but putting together a presentation myself at that point so close to the bar exam would probably destroy my soul. We can talk about what you had in mind later, though.

[melannen]

They mentioned you by name but I wasn't sure if you wanted to be listed in public, so I was vague. And bar exam is a very good excuse!

I have a large and growing collection of handouts, notes, and resource lists from copyright panels at other sci-fi, writing, and art cons; if I end up being head mod, I was planning to cull the good bits from them, and OTW and fanmeta resources, and put together a handout / webpage / presentation that has a short summary of copyright and IP basics, a short summary of copyright in the US as it applies or doesn't to fanworks, and then a short summary of current issues and activism opportunities, and then question time. If I did that, and then e-mailed it to you so you could tell me where I was wrong (with probably only a week or so lead time, because I'm bad with deadlines), would that work?

Assuming they don't find someone better qualified than me to co-mod, that is!

[lightgetsin]

Yes, absolutely. Also happy to email back and forth about various related topics ahead of time to get a mutual sense of law/fannish opinion. I imagine the way I will be most useful is straight error checking, and also just passing a judging eye over various unclear applications of e.g. the fair use analysis just to give a personal, off-the-cuff guess of how it might come out when tested.

[cesy]

I'm actually British, so might have some helpful things to say for the BBC one, though I've never been to Con.Txt before. I also come under "one person who doesn't identify as a slasher but comes to con-txt anyway". But yeah, I have never been before, so could do vague assistant-y things, but not actually co-mod anything without an awful lot of guidance.

[stellar_dust]

I successfully co-modded a couple of panels at the last con.txt without having gone before! You'll be fine.

[melannen]

Oooh, an actual British person!

Modding panels really isn't difficult, if you're at all comfortable with speaking in front of a group or running a meeting. Based on previous con.txt's, a panel consists of three to sixty people in a room with chairs and possibly tables and/or whiteboards, and beyond that, it's entirely up to you. The audiences are really friendly and forgiving, and all the mod really has to do is keep discussion going and keep any one person from dominating discussion. And maybe attempt to take notes or designate someone else to. You can get more elaborate if you uwant, but for a basic panel, all I do is write down a list of a dozen or so possible places to steer the conversation that I can bring up if the conversation seems to need steering. (you can get as fancy as you want with handouts and multimedia presentations and props and boards of experts, but all you really need is a list of discussion questions and a teacher voice.)

[cesy]

I am now co-modding a panel :)
Did you find someone for yours, or do you still need help?

[eruthros]

Re: anon comments on lj without javascript, oh my god yes it irritates me so much. It's really difficult to sign in with openID without javascript, too. Grrrargh.

[melannen]

Oh hooray! I am not the only one!

..I get that it's not designed to be used without javascript but it is *far* more annoying than necessary. And I think DW just copied the exact same code over, with all of its annoying bugginess. I'm debating whether it's worth submitting a DW bug, but then I don't plan to ever have to turn off javascript here.

[cesy]

I think it is worth submitting a DW bug - it's good to make as much of the site as possible work without Javascript.

[starlady]

I can be shoehorned into "Star Trek beyond..." if it gets in, and I'm willing to be a poor substitute for a working acafan, or the person who doesn't really identify as a slasher but is attending Con.txt anyway, for "What We Talk About..."

(Though I think I'm only going to be there on Saturday. But all day Saturday.)

[melannen]

Excellent! I will pencil you in for Star Trek panel, if it gets in, and is on Saturday.

I'm going to wait and see about the what-is-slash one - if it actually gets in - but I will keep you on a list.

[starlady]

I am excited, one way or another!

ETA: If the Star Trek panel makes it in I will bring down a bag of books to give away as well.

[erinptah]

My vague impression of "mashups" is "the word the mainstream media uses to cover a category which includes vidding." Having just finished a bunch of work for an animation class, I would love to blather about Stuff That Can Be Done With Video in general.

And I would definitely be up for talking about mixes =)

[melannen]

Yaye! I will pencil you in. I know what mashups are in a kind of a larger sense? But not sure how/if the term's being used in the fan community itself (and remix has kind of a specialized meaning here, so.) I guess we'll find out!