melannen | the king and his men tore the queen from her bed

the king and his men tore the queen from her bed

So today, at work, I was reading the MeFi post (the place I was working has lj and gj and f_w (but, oddly, not the rest of journalfen) net-nannied out of access, so I was trying to keep up from the fringes) and they were *mocking* us for singing "Hoist the Colors" all over LJ.

Which, okay, I can kind of see their point. But you know what?

They tried to take control of the free waters. And we *started singing*.
And we stood up, and made brave speeches, and gathered councils, and cheered loud for freedom, and got ready to fight to the last (even without the law on our side): and the whole unimaginable force gathered by king and company against us just melted away into the fog.

...Okay, so it's entirely possible that all of our circling and councils and rag-tag war parties wasn't really what made them back off, as much as it was seeing the powers they thought would be their allies (like, say, cnet and boingboing and *Perverted Justice*, for goodness sake) turn their own guns against them and join our chorus.

But the thing is: they thought they could bind us. What they didn't realize was that *we*, ourselves, out of our own fear, were the only ones keeping our power bound. And they panicked us enough that we *freed* her. And now she's grown tall as the sky and she *stomps* their puny little boats. And the maelstrom starts spinning ...

And now that we've set her free -- Only Goddess knows what she's going to do. I for one am planning to keep a weather eye on the horizon! (although I kind of hope things go right back the way they were at the beginning. Only with a clearer conscience.)

That said, I for one don't plan to end up standing alone on an island without a boat.

pornish_pixies is back, and that's enough that I'm giving lj a chance: they have eight months to convince me to either renew my paid account, or lock everything up and leave. One or the other: I'm not reverting back to a free account, because that gives them ad revenue.

Have I mentioned that I hate the idea that advertisers are controlling our content? Yes? Good.

Meanwhile, I've managed to justify buying myself a paid account at journalfen.net - I've had a free account there under this name since back in the day when *lj* required codes to join^*, and I've always *meant* to help them out. I was just finally annoyed enough to navigate their payment system to do it. I'm not going to completely up anchor and move over there - *yet* - but I do plan to do more archiving there and be more active in the non-wank areas.

This also means I can get people free accounts (within reason, mind) so if you're in fandom, on my flist, don't have a jf account yet and you think you might use one, consider me a resource. I may hold off a few days until the hysteria dies down a bit and the jf admins have had some time to sleep - I figured the money they can use now, the hassle they might want to wait on - but I am willing to make ya'll accounts. Especially if you're going to do more with them than just camp the username.

IN OTHER WORDS: IF YOU DECIDE YOU WANT A FREE JF ACCOUNT SOMETIME IN THE NEXT SIX MONTHS, ASK HERE.

If you don't know much about jf, it's run by real people - real fangirls - rather than corporate drones. It's small and fairly close-knit, even with the hundreds of people who only care about f_w or roleplays. IT HAS NO ADS (which is *the* reason I'm heading there instead of any of the other options, if I have to head out.) It's not only fandom-friendly, it's fandom-focussed, and it's adults-only to avoid the PROTECT THE CHILDERN fascists. It's much lower-profile and therefore ignored by some places that filter lj. It's running on a five-year-old version of lj code with all the core features, so it should be familiar, but without the blinking lights and shiny stuff that 6A's been adding.

On the downside, it's run by real people, and sometimes they screw up and act petty and get up on their pride - but at least they're *people*, not corporate masters. It's also run by only two real people, so there's a lot that doesn't get done that should because of time. And the hardware is not the best, so in times of crisis the servers can get wonky. (That said, both the administration and the servers at jf have come out a _lot better that lj's lately - they were *more* reliable that lj during the current crisis, which was a first for a fandom asplosion event - and they're constantly getting better at both PR and basic hardware. Unlike lj.)

It's also very close-knit. There's not as much going on there. (But the people who are there *really* care about the place.) They don't have lj's bells and whistles. The FAQ and documentation *suck*. Things like account creation and bill pay aren't automated. The abuse team *is* the two admins. It's tightly fandom-focussed. And new accounts aren't free.

That said, the Real People owners, the close and active usership, and most importantly, the NO ADs keep it a place in which I am confident and feel completely safe. And I'd love it if more of my lj people were over there. So if you're interested, c'mon in.

And if you have a jf and I haven't friended you yet, let me know.

^*In fact, I believe I originally was given my jf account as a result of someone liking a PotC quote I dropped in f_w. So full circle, yo ho ho!

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I almost should get an account there. Isn't that where fandom wank is?

Doh! That is f_w! LOL. :)

Yes, it's where fandom wank is.

No, it *isn't* just fandom wank. :P Actually I've probably been more active at fandom_lounge than fandom_wank - it's just a general-discussion fandom community that's small and laid-back but still active in a way that'd never work on lj.

Well what is funny is that I know so many people that have been featured on fandom wank that I should comment! LOL. One of my lj friends had the honour of being snarked on fandom_wank as well as anti_a_a in the course of a few days! It was hilarious as it showed a side of her that I never saw!

You know that it's a bad idea to post there just because you're friends with the people being mocked, right? 'cause they'll gleefully tar you all with the same brush.

No you don't get it, I thought it was *hilarious* because the evidence just got more and more outrageous the longer it went on. By the time they were done with my friend and her boyfriend over in anti_a_a, I was just *dying* of laughter. While I never saw that side of her in her private lj, I DID see the boyfriend who always pulled that shit. It was so nice to see other people thinking he is as retarded as I believe he is. Seriously, I think this guy just has to be a sockpuppet as he just CAN'T be real.

The one thing I hated is that they were saying she wrote a few posts in a_a that I know she didn't write. As in, she is an engaged grad student in florida and another post was about some single senior undergrad in central US. If someone is going to snark someone else, they should at least point someone to the *correct* post. ;)

I know of so many people, most enemies, that were over in fandom_wank that it isn't funny. A few times I commented anonymously.

Well, I'll get you an account if you want! Tell me what usename you'd like & I'll add it to the list.

Thanks!

melsmarsh over there would be great. It'll make my life easier. :) Thank you so much!

You should've got an e-mail with your new account info this morning! I had them send it to your melsmarsh@livejournal forwarding address, so check there (let me know if that e-mail's dead or something, and I can ask them to re-send it)

Thank you!

I did get it and changed my password etc. I just haven't had time to set it up yet. :)

Great! Just wanted to make sure it wasn't languishing somewhere. :D

The "Hoist the Colors" thing was one of the more awesome spontaneous things I've seen. Mock not my pirate song!

I am vaguely thinking about j-f, but frankly I'm unlikely to move from lj unless a Great Fannish Migration takes place. I do like all of the things you say about it, but it's--all my stuff's here already, you know?

I know! It was like they plotted that movie just so it would parallel the Great Strikethrough! Only not.
And the song was so perfect, how could we not? *hmm hmm hmm*'and bound her in her bones; the seas be ours and fight the powers, where we will, we'll roam!'

Wow people stopped worrying about spoilers though, didn't they? :D

I'm not planning to actually fully move from lj unless they do at least one more act of spectacular stupidity on the level of nipplegate or this pile of suck. That said, as much as I've nested here I've been uncomfortable for awhile at how isolated the lj fandom community has become *in* lj, and I've wanted to ... make some sort of home in a place that wasn't here. The pile of suck just catalyzed it.

If you do keep thinking about it, the offer stays open indefinitely, even if you're only planning to watch an flist and post on f_w.

It was just the way people started with it and nobody had to explain at all, we all already knew what it meant.

I, well. I'm accepting LJ's apology and staying; I'll probably reup my account--I'm with you, I'd rather not look at ads.

how isolated the lj fandom community has become *in* lj

How now? I don't understand.

One reason I want to stay is that I have non-fandom friends that I'd still like to be in networks with as far as reading flocked posts and stuff, and I'm just so easily distracted that I feel like I wouldn't be able to maintain two journals simultaneously, especially when they'd be so similar.

I think I was unclear there, on second though - not that they were isolated from other parts of lj, but that they were isolated from non-lj parts of *fandom*. There are a lot of fandom lj-ers who never leave lj anymore and forget that there's lots of fandom happening in other places - and are *happy* to forget that. Which is a large part of the reason there was so much panic, I think. (And I include myself in this, with a few very minor exceptions of boards and blogs I still check up on once in a while.)

But I have been doing more non-lj fandom stuff lately, slowly but surely (even if some of that is friending other sites' RSS feeds) and I'm hoping jf give me a way to do more of that.

1. headphones broke.
2. got your comment.
3. outlined meta re. "The Pros and Cons of an LJ-centric Fandom." *facepalm*

Would you be willing to give thoughts once I get it typed out?

Yay! Of course!

I'm writing it now. Great googly-moogly, this is getting long.

Posted! Should be locked to just you.

That said, as much as I've nested here I've been uncomfortable for awhile at how isolated the lj fandom community has become *in* lj

I agree, and I think it's a concern that needs to get more fannish airplay. Even if-- and I think it's a big if-- LJ doesn't ban any other fannish journals for any more outrageous reasons, we're vulnerable here because we've put all our eggs so firmly into one basket. Granted, that's true more of some fandoms than others (SW has always been and will always be spread all over the place), but still... more options would be a healthy thing for fandom, I think.

Yes, absolutely, and I'm as guilty as anyone, even when I'm taking part in fandoms that are largely off-lj (like xf and sw.) I have seen some posting about it in the aftermath, but unfortunately most of it has been in the vein of "stop being hysterical, you asshats, there's life outside lj even if you're too pathetic to have any" which, dude, a great way to get dialogue going.

I just got a JF paid account, although it may take howeverlong for them to put it through. Do you have the same ID over there?

(If you get friended by "eleutheria", that's me. :)

Yep! I was trying to remember yours, but I never would have guess. (you're friended.)

My paid account came through amazingly quick, but I think I might have got in just ahead of the big rush.

It's not the account I use for the wank comms-- couldn't figure out how to change username (since I'm not in that fandom anymore), so I just got a new one. Probably a good thing to have an off-LJ account that people don't know about, though. ;)

Now... how the heck do you customize over there?

Oh, goodness knows! I think you just pretend it's like lj before S2 (which, coincidentally, was about how long ago I last changed my lj layout <_< )

I deleted my account there months ago as a physical symbol that I needed to stop reading f_w (it worked) but I've reinstated it. Hopefully I'll (a) not need it and (b) still stay off f_w.

Same username, I recall! If you're serious about keeping it and staying out of the wanking pool, I recommend defriending those communities. ;) And maybe friending some places like fandom_lounge and fandom_discuss instead, to keep you distracted if you do accidentally wander in.

You know, last night, I was sorely tempted to go to one of the massive comment threads, and post "yo ho, haul together.." and see if anyone would pick up on it and form a chorus. But I didn't. And then it MAGICALLY HAPPENED ON ITS OWN. I love it so much! I love fandom!

(I wish the song on the CD had *all* the verses, though. *pouts* ... and I wonder if anyone's told TnT that a little ditty they pulled out of their butts six months ago has become a fandom rallying cry? XD )

I would kind of like a jf, but I honestly don't know how much I'd use it - if jf turns into the uberfandom, fandom-run LJ-clone that's been discussed, I would definitely use one, but as it is now ... I can barely keep up with the metafandomish content already on my LJ flist, only one of my friends has expressed any desire to maybe leave (aside from you), and she and any others that do go will almost certainly move to GJ. So, I don't know. Give me one if you want to!

Personally, I will probably keep my paid account and icons, unless they screw up again between now and November, but I won't renew

stellar_spectra's (which means I'll really need to fix up my web page, since the main reason I got it paid was to embed it), and I definitely won't go permanent. (BTW, as regards going free - *basic* free accounts are still ad-free, aren't they?)

I doubt that jf will turn into uberfandom - if nothing else, because it will always have limited non-fandom userbase, and there are too many fen who come to lj partly/mostly for nonfandom reasons and then fall into the fandom parts after. But (partly as I get more of an offline life) I've been cutting back on my fandom use of lj anyway, outside what people on my flist link to, and I'm considering moving most of my non-passive fannish activity over there if I can - I've more or less stopped caring about getting fandom-popular (I'm happy where I am now) and so think I'd be just as happy in a place with less exposure. Epsecially if I figure out how to set up a metafandom feed on jf.

Speaking of web pages : I need a non-specific webspace of my own now I'm not a student - would you still be willing to set me up with a bit of space on your domain? That would be awesome.

I was actually vaguely considering something like that - taking meta, fic, vids, etc to a different service, and sticking up a link in my LJ or whatever related LJ comms when I do. I don't know if I can keep it up, though - that was part of my original intention for

stellar_spectra, and it clearly didn't happen! Though maybe on a different server it would be easier to *actually* do so. And it'd be kind of annoying to people on LJ who don't have an account with the other service - having to comment anonymously, not able to add to memories, and would newsletters be willing to crosslink between services?, etc. So, I don't know. I'm not sure if the benefits outweigh those concerns - if there are even any benefits at *all* if I'm still linking there from my LJ (but if I don't link from LJ, my friends and fellow comm members *here* won't know about it!). It is a conundrum. Can you convince me? And can you convince me I should do so on JF as opposed to GJ, where I already have an account?

Is metafandom a paid journal? I seem to recall that only paid journals get rss feeds, but I could be misremembering.

I can do that! Later this summer I'm hoping to do a MASSIVE re-org of my website. We'll see if that happens. But keep bugging me about it.

All journals have free rss feeds of their own content available.

Only paid accounts can take other people's rss feeds and syndicate them on lj, though. I *think* the same applies to journalfen, but their FAQ sucks at the moment (supposedly it's being improved as we speak.)

Hmm, maybe I was thinking of domain forwarding. It's been a long time since I looked at that stuff. d-:

Oh, and : basic acconuts don't have ads *on* them, but the users still *see* ads on other peoples' ljs and on the front page, etc, just like logged-out users do. So they're still getting page-views from you, if you're using lj while logged on a basic account. But as long as the account you stay logged in on is paid, having subsidiary basic accounts doesn't increase ad-views (although it might help their stats look better to advertisers, but hey, they have over 5,000,000 basic accounts that nobody's ever posted in, so I doubt it matters much.)

I'll get you a jf account if you want it, even just to leave comments. jf accounts do make rss feeds into lj, if there's anything over there that you want to follow on your lj friendslist and then comment on.

That's annoying. I thought there was more of a difference between Basic and Plus in terms of ad status. Ick.

I guess I'll take a jf account, then, if you're willing. stellar_dust will do. Something else to waste time on, wheeeee.

They're all over your daily show comment down on f_l. I think you need a jf account, yeah. :D

*hunts this down*

Pff! I didn't even win an Internet. d-:

I would be interested in a JF account, but I cannot promise to do anything other than camp the username unless LJ fucks up in a big bad unapologetically irredeemable way.

If all you're planning on doing is camp the username, I suggest wait. It's unlikely you're at risk anyway, with free account creation turned off. ... if you're still interested in a couple months though, get back to me.

I know a user who would love a JF account because she feels that continuing to nest here is ethically irresponsible. Can I point her to your post?

Sure, as long as you vouch, send her over. (But I will be waiting at least 'till Monday to put in any requests - account creation over there is swamped right now, and that's just with people putting in paid accounts.)

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the king and his men tore the queen from her bed

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