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Date Posted: Wed, Apr 14 2004, 22:51:19
Author: MKIceman
Subject: Re: Previous Post
In reply to: Catseye 's message, "Re: fandom_wank wankery" on Wed, Apr 14 2004, 22:18:42

>Yes. I'm terrified, truly terrified, that f_w will
>wank us to death with 212 posts of "BillyDomLijah
>ICONLOVE!!!!".

Not talking about you. I've heard from other GAFFers themselves, and have seen posts on the last board, about such fear. It's unbelievable, almost as unbelievable as the hypocrisy in not being terrified of flames (and dishing them out when possible) yet fearing flames from each other.

>It apparently popped into existence for long enough
>that you changed your 'vote' on whether or not a GAFF
>board should even exist and cited a f_w thread as
>evidence. Not to mention borrowing the 'Heywood Show'
>line from them, too. I'm not f_w's biggest fan,
>either, but give them credit where credit's due.

No, it popped in long enough for them to provide me with quotes to use, being the link-lover that I am. ;) And you're right: despite my disrespect for their principles or methodology, I will definitely give them credit for "The Heywood Show" (even if it's being used by oldie GAFFers, possibly even invented by them, for they seem to be the foundation of fandom_wank).

But let's not stop with them: there are other sites that ripped off GAFF, like www.englishchick.com. And they probably stole some membership, too. As I said before, none of these exist (as the names they use) in my eyes: it's all GAFF.

>>If only they -- and you -- had the InvisionFree boards
>>to see my arguments made before they presented the
>>same information.
>
>If only, yes. If only.

If it's still available for download, please do. I think it is, though it requires archive compilation before you can unzip it. I didn't bother, because my boredom doesn't extend THAT far into my love of the hobby.

>>I also notice how they -- or GAFF fans/members who go
>>there -- like to comment on GAFF from a distance, but
>>they don't have the courage to say so here.
>
>I'm certainly glad we never see any of that behaviour
>over here.

Is that another way of saying "hypocrisy"?

I may not be perfect, but I practice what I preach.

>Well, hey, here's an idea. Let's say - just
>hypothetically - that we think the GAFF board works
>best when it's a forum for snarking about badfic. And
>let's say, equally hypothetically, that we don't think
>there are enough posts like that on the board these
>days.
>
>Now, we _could_ deal with this by conducting our own
>'counter-intelligence/security missions', targeting
>the 'subversives', and posting our conclusions with
>"GAFF is teh_suXX0r, and it's all YOUR fault and YOUR
>fault and YOUR fault! Let's take the board down,
>because It's All Ruined, and nothing good can ever
>come of it!", and hoping that our wise words will make
>everyone hang their heads in shame and post more snark
>about badfic.
>
>Or, we could post snark about badfic ourselves.
>
>It's a crazy idea, but it might just work!

There were pages and pages of badfic commentary on the old boards. The last archived count of "New Releases" was 1,398 topics and 16,806 replies. The next-largest counts of a non-Gabbery forum were 258 topics and 7,164 replies, both for the "Why, God, why?" forum. Gabbery had only 304 topics but 11,753 replies.

Clearly, fans are not lacking content. They're lacking direction. They found direction in the ambitious "The Heywood Show" (tm of fandom_wank, all rights reserved), but that direction is distinctly not the direction GAFF took when it first started nor when it had its early major moves.

And it took my unofficial "CI/S investigation" to expose it, or, at the very least, deflate the hype and arrogance surrounding "The Heywood Show" (tm of fandom_wank) and the Heywood Fanclub (tm of I don't care who because it suits all our purposes) by exposing the hypocrisy. Again, I don't claim to be perfect or to be anyone's savior, but I do see this as a necessary step that someone needed to take. No one stepped up to do it, so I did.

How can we prevent this from happening? Simple solution is to remove the forum for discussion completely. But that would effectively kill the fanbase. You suggest keeping the board concept intact, while I suggest a radical change is needed to highlight the lessons hopefully learned here. The major issue is the distinction between GAFF and GAFF fans, so I see a compromise to our situation: GAFF eliminates its board, but this does not stop fans from making their own boards and gathering places. The difference is that such fora will not be affiliated with GAFF.

--Matt

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