Itchy Feet

Originally posted by alasdair at Valentin and The Widow

I don't talk about fandom stuff much here anymore, for no reason in particular other than I don't usually have much to say. But I've been reading a lot of Twitter, especially through the @xprojectrpg account, which has a lot of comics industry types friended (as a "here's some interesting links on the things we like" kind of thing) and I get to read a lot about what's going on.

Any way, back in July, there was a kerfuffle about an article for CNN, complaining about the 'fake geek girl' phenomenon at conventions. From what I understand, there are some male fans who have issues with women in cosplay who "don't know anything about geekdom" and who take advantage of poor defenceless male nerds. How they take advantage, I'm not exactly sure, since it's not like they're marrying these guys for their money and there aren't reports of these women hurling themselves bodily on these poor guys and molesting them or taking their wallets.

There was a lot of back and forth, and John Scalzi was awesome and eventually the whole thing simmered down.

(Note: Unlike just about every other article anywhere, I highly recommend reading the comments on Scalzi articles for intelligent and engaging debate that's correctly spelled and grammatical)

Of course, nothing stays dead in fandom long, and this morning brought a wonderfully vomitous (and slightly incoherent) piece where Tony Harris, comics artist, pretty much spouts the same argument, only with more douche. (the original post is on FB, which is tricky to get to from work, so I'm linking a repost. Also, I don't like adding to page views for douches). The truly awesome thing about Harris' post (apart from the fact it's barely legible), is that he spews his hatred not just at the evil conniving vixens who dress up as characters they don't know, spending huge amounts of money on the costume, Con fees, accommodation and travel, JUST TO GET ATTENTION!!!, but also at the sad, awkward and terminally-virginal nerdboys who will never have a shot with these, or any other women and thus are eternally tormented by their permanent boners of frustrated desire.

Wow, way to show your contempt for your audience there, Tony.

There's been a lot of response to this, on Twitter and on Tumblr (which I don't have, I've just been following Tweeted links), but my favourite is this: @geekgirldiva's epic smackdown of Harris on her Tumblr.

Any way, my response is to this, as it was to Joe Peacock's rant last time, is, if you have issues with these faks geekgirls apparently just out for attention and free drinks, then stop paying attention to them and buying them drinks. That goes to anyone who bitches about this. Stop asking them for photo opportunities, stop gawking at them, stop buying them meals and drinks. Just. STOP. If their intention is to get attention and a free ride, then cut that off at the knees and take away their reason for being there. If they're so contemptuous of fandom and they're spending all this money to stand in a corner being treated like everyone else, then they'll pretty much stop, right? If your logic is correct and that's what they're there for.

Otherwise, how about accepting that PEOPLE do things for all sorts of reasons, and unless you develop telepathy or - god forbid - actually have a conversation with them about why they're there and what they're doing, you don't get to assume motivation.

So, the various nerdish Twitter feeds I follow have been afire this week about an article written by Alyssa Bereznak on the online Gizmondo magazine regarding her experience of the OK Cupid dating site and her meeting with Jon Finkel, world Magic:The Gathering champ of ten years ago. Normally I'd link, but as the author of the article gets paid per click, I'd rather not contribute to her pay packet for what was at best a badly written filler piece and at worst, a mean-spirited attack and link bait. For those who are wondering what she said, however, here's a direct cut and paste quote of the article, under the cut.

( My Brief OkCupid Affair With a World Champion Magic: The Gathering Player )

The Australian version of the same article was actually worse, but includes a disclaimer from Gizmodo:

( My OkCupid Affair With A World Champion Magic: The Gathering Player )

Okay, context established. Jon Finkel himself took to Twitter to post his version of the dates, which is collected in one easy to read version:

( Jon's response )

Mountains out of moleholes, basically, with Alyssa apparently being stuck for subject matter and seemingly deciding to go after Gawker/Gizmodo's demographic in an effort to ratchet up her page views. There's a lot of very good articles in rebuttal, take your pick:

“My Brief OkCupid Affair With a World Champion Magic: The Gathering Player” UGH UGH UGH by kiala

How A Girl Named Alyssa Stepped on The Internet’s Last Nerve by Bobby "Fatboy" Roberts

The Science of Gawker's Nerd Baiting by Paul Tassi

Don't Be A Jerk by The Nerdy Bird/Jill Pantozzi

An Open Letter To Gizmodo Regarding Alyssa Bereznak And Her "OKCupid" Article. by Geek Girl Diva

Alyssa Bereznak Just Reminded Us That Women Can Be Predators Online Too by Elly Hart (Gizmodo Australia)

Re: My Brief OkCupid Affair With a World Champion Magic: The Gathering Player by Pop Culture Monster

Mamas, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up To Date Alyssa Bereznak by Geek Mom/Ruth Suehle

and finally, the Dork Tower response by John Kovalic

So, back to the original title of this post. In this article, Monica Valentinelli suggests a "let your nerd hang out" celebration as a more constructive response instead of the rather ugly trolling that's going on in the comments of the original article (and remember, trollers, each click earns Alyssa money, so well done there, d'uh). In Monica's words:

SPEAK OUT WITH YOUR GEEK OUT

Sometime during the week of Monday, September 12th to Friday, September 16th post about what geeky hobby you love. Then, tell us why we should try it, too. Leave your fears (and edition wars) at the door. Forget about your latest rant. Tap into that well of positive energy and share in the excitement of all things geek.

Let us invite those who would stereotype us to sit at our table and share our interests.

Sounds like a great idea to me. Who's in?

(There's also a Facebook page, for those who book the face.)

From [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com], a call to get freaky with it. ;)

Back in 2005, I posited that there should be a day of the year on which everyone posts not about the usual things that they do, the usual life that they have, but instead about a day in a completely different sort of life. A day in which everyone falls down the rabbit hole like Alice, a day spent where the rules are completely different.

I thought a fine day for such an event would be the 27th of January - the birthday of Lewis Carroll, author of Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. Why, golly, that's five days away, Thursday next week! The Seventh Annual Rabbit Hole Day is almost upon us!

In 2005, of course, it was largely limited to LiveJournal but in years since it has spread to the various other blogging platforms and even onto Flickr. Maybe this is the year it gets all over this Facebook thing that I heard someone talking about somewhere maybe one time.

------
For consideration: try it! you'll like it! who doesn't like to get away from the Usual for a bit?

So, one of the current "issues" doing the rounds of [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com] (and other places) at the moment is the submission by a Harry Potter fanfic archive for a grant from the Pepsi Refresh Grant people. This post provides a series of emails between one outraged fan and the Fiction Alley moderators, who seem to think they're providing an educational service.

I love writing. I love fanfiction. But this is just ridiculous. Fandom is so big on talking about privilege at the moment, well, here's a giant dollop of it - a group of people, with a sufficient education to be literate, sufficient funds to have regular access to books and movies (for the source material) and the internet (for the fanfic), deciding that they ought to be paid to maintain their presence on the Web. Talk about your first world problems!

Edit: As of today, Fiction Alley has withdrawn from the competition. However, the need for showing your support to worthy causes still applies!

However, there is a silver lining to this. Attention has been brought to the Pepsi Refresh Grant and in response to the idiocy of the Fiction Alley folks, people are going out and voting for causes they feel are more important than a Harry Potter fanfic archive staying online. So, in the vein of "don't get mad, get even", go forth and vote. Go through the site and find causes you want to support. You get 10 votes and voting closes November 30. If you're embarrassed and disgusted by the Fiction Alley thing, go and be constructive about it (and leave a comment on their page, adding your voice to the many who have already pointed out how dumb this is).

A cute pet story from [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com].

It's one of those days where I get interrupted every ten minutes, which tends to be highly frustrating for me as it disrupts my ability to concentrate on things. It also means logging is virtually impossible - my train of thought is not only derailed, it plunges off the bridge and into the river below, strewing debris and bodies everywhere...

...um, yeah, let's just kill that metaphor there, shall we?

Any way, I'm going to be a bit patchy today. I'm focussing on the important stuff that is to do with people, but my pretendy fun time games might have to wait a bit. Possibly until tomorrow, since today is therapy day and I didn't bring my laptop with me.

Apparently, this is how [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com] and [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com] would go about raising small children.

As a bonus: And I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for those pesky kids.

It's worse than that, it's dead, Jim!