LJ and "fandom"
Aug. 12th, 2007 06:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
unbibiumThe Terrible Secret of Livejournal is not about my journal. My journal has no "fandom" in it, and my friends list has no fanfic or fanart in it. But I've read enough complaints that maybe this applies to some of you.
It seems a huge chunk of Internet subculture is more underground than we care to admit. It's not just the Harry Potter fanfic, and it's not just the Calvin and Hobbes fanart. There's also downloading TV shows, music, and movies. Diggnation is the most popular podcast out there, and I always thought of it as mainstream, but it's flagrantly pro-piracy. There's other fringe examples, like fan editions and mods and translations of old video games. There's other stuff that's only illegal because of the DMCA, like hacking iPhones and modding consoles, but people are doing it anyway. Record companies have been suing fan-transcribed guitar tab sites since I got my first guitar in 1996. Make no mistake, the Internet is all about stretching free speech to its limit, and shrugging off the intellectual property of others. We are stealing more freedom than any modern generation ever has.
Keep in mind that we're stealing this freedom, and act accordingly. For example, when you're talking about a TV show by the water cooler, don't say you downloaded it. Just say you watched it. And don't be the blowhard who boasts of never paying for games. If you're writing fanfic, or drawing fanart, then perhaps a social networking site isn't the best place for it. The Internet's a big place, so go find a site that's more likely to stick up for you, because LJ won't, and probably can't.
Also remember that Livejournal supports RSS feeds, so you can create your fan site somewhere else, and still be able to read it from LJ. LJ can only delete the RSS feed, not the source. But if you're involved in the kind of fandom "The Secret of Livejournal" is talking about, you might want to go a little further underground than that, unless you're sure you have an attorney that can keep you off the sex offender registry.
If, like me, you use LJ not as your portfolio, but as a journal, then LJ continues to be the damn near perfect site for that. I've made friends here, been invited to events here, participated in all kinds of fascinating discussions, and even hooked up. I dare say it has replaced Usenet for me, which in turn replaced BBSes. And I'd hate for it all to go away because Senator Tankerbell wants to make an example of some shut-in with a Pokemon fetish couldn't figure out how to start a DeviantArt page.
It seems a huge chunk of Internet subculture is more underground than we care to admit. It's not just the Harry Potter fanfic, and it's not just the Calvin and Hobbes fanart. There's also downloading TV shows, music, and movies. Diggnation is the most popular podcast out there, and I always thought of it as mainstream, but it's flagrantly pro-piracy. There's other fringe examples, like fan editions and mods and translations of old video games. There's other stuff that's only illegal because of the DMCA, like hacking iPhones and modding consoles, but people are doing it anyway. Record companies have been suing fan-transcribed guitar tab sites since I got my first guitar in 1996. Make no mistake, the Internet is all about stretching free speech to its limit, and shrugging off the intellectual property of others. We are stealing more freedom than any modern generation ever has.
Keep in mind that we're stealing this freedom, and act accordingly. For example, when you're talking about a TV show by the water cooler, don't say you downloaded it. Just say you watched it. And don't be the blowhard who boasts of never paying for games. If you're writing fanfic, or drawing fanart, then perhaps a social networking site isn't the best place for it. The Internet's a big place, so go find a site that's more likely to stick up for you, because LJ won't, and probably can't.
Also remember that Livejournal supports RSS feeds, so you can create your fan site somewhere else, and still be able to read it from LJ. LJ can only delete the RSS feed, not the source. But if you're involved in the kind of fandom "The Secret of Livejournal" is talking about, you might want to go a little further underground than that, unless you're sure you have an attorney that can keep you off the sex offender registry.
If, like me, you use LJ not as your portfolio, but as a journal, then LJ continues to be the damn near perfect site for that. I've made friends here, been invited to events here, participated in all kinds of fascinating discussions, and even hooked up. I dare say it has replaced Usenet for me, which in turn replaced BBSes. And I'd hate for it all to go away because Senator Tankerbell wants to make an example of some shut-in with a Pokemon fetish couldn't figure out how to start a DeviantArt page.
