The problem is that without it, FL is somewhat justified in their incomprehension regarding how to address the concerns of hundreds of individual fen, all demanding individual replies.
I'd say that initiating a dialogue directly with the fen who've tried to dialogue with them ([Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com] being the prime example) would be a good start. And not spamming rude diatribes across fannish journals while going to Henry Jenkins' blog and agreeing to be interviewed would be a good second step. (Honestly, that entire interview reply reads to me like something FL's general counsel came up with. I've worked in various aspects of law for seven or eight years now; I know lawyer-speak.) There's no one right way to do it, but I think they've found all the wrong ways.
Yeah; I suppose I'm probably weird in minority as far as the social network being a byproduct of the fanfiction and not the other way around.
What fandom are you in? Now, for me, the social network came first, but I was in old school newsgroup/mailing list fandom - and I don't mean yahoogroups, I mean 'when we had one or two big listservs because you couldn't get e-mail lists easily - so the social network was of prime importance. I fic, yes, but that came later for me. (Now, I realize the letter zine people will totally pwn me in terms of old schoolishness.) I hadn't realized that some people thought fanfic = fandom. Because to me, it's so much more than that.
In my experience, though, valued social contacts do spring from interaction within the fandom, though the ones that endure tend to be those which can survive the transition to a broader set of interests.
No arguments there. I've made some of my best friends from fandom, and though we've both gafiated off into fandoms, we still have the social network we developed to keep us in contact.
no subject
The problem is that without it, FL is somewhat justified in their incomprehension regarding how to address the concerns of hundreds of individual fen, all demanding individual replies.
I'd say that initiating a dialogue directly with the fen who've tried to dialogue with them ([Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com] being the prime example) would be a good start. And not spamming rude diatribes across fannish journals while going to Henry Jenkins' blog and agreeing to be interviewed would be a good second step. (Honestly, that entire interview reply reads to me like something FL's general counsel came up with. I've worked in various aspects of law for seven or eight years now; I know lawyer-speak.) There's no one right way to do it, but I think they've found all the wrong ways.
Yeah; I suppose I'm probably weird in minority as far as the social network being a byproduct of the fanfiction and not the other way around.
What fandom are you in? Now, for me, the social network came first, but I was in old school newsgroup/mailing list fandom - and I don't mean yahoogroups, I mean 'when we had one or two big listservs because you couldn't get e-mail lists easily - so the social network was of prime importance. I fic, yes, but that came later for me. (Now, I realize the letter zine people will totally pwn me in terms of old schoolishness.) I hadn't realized that some people thought fanfic = fandom. Because to me, it's so much more than that.
In my experience, though, valued social contacts do spring from interaction within the fandom, though the ones that endure tend to be those which can survive the transition to a broader set of interests.
No arguments there. I've made some of my best friends from fandom, and though we've both gafiated off into fandoms, we still have the social network we developed to keep us in contact.