It just gets worse and worse...

[drakyndra]

And now we are up to Chapter 9 of the MsScribe epic.

And it has to be one of the most horrific accounts of fandom I have ever come across. Some pooor woman with cancer getting stomped on by a whole bunch of BNFs just because she asked one of them to link her fundraising website. After they had been going on about how fandom supports it's own and all that, too.

I don't think I have ever been so appalled by fandom as a whole. The things that were said...

Comments

[melata-fic.livejournal.com]

I know. It's rather horrible. But fandom was mostly manipulated into it.

[livii.livejournal.com]

I really can't get the words out, but it was *the* most disgraceful thing I have ever personally witnessed.

Not only the fandom supports its own, part - but when some people had the 'nerve' to question whether the robbery that lost Cassie and Co. their laptops had actually happened - which I personally have always thought was a very good question - well, those people were ruthlessly attacked. People start going into the cancer woman's journal and calling her a liar - and people like Heidi, who they were going there on behalf of, basically shrugged and said "I can't control them, I didn't ask them to do that". And if anyone challenged the people who said the woman was a liar, they freaked out on you.

The whole thing was so depressing that I'm actually depressed over it again. I lost a lot of faith. I lost a whole ton of love for the fandom, and I wasn't in those circles (though I had heidi on my flist, which she promptly was removed from).

Argh, must stop rambling about it. :(

[ishie]

Entire books could be written on the psychological motivations and effects of this kind of thing. Encyclopedias!

The most depressing part is how some of the people who were involved still can't see how their individual and as-part-of-the-mob actions were wrong.

[tavella.livejournal.com]

Actually, the Christina thing I remember, and it was Not Quite Like That. There was much attacking of said BNF for not linking to her because OMIGOD she's dying of cancer. Except when you read Christina's site, you found out that she was in remission, had been for some years, and what she wanted money for was to get her stomached stapled. In particular, even though her medical insurance would cover it, she wanted it done at the Mayo Clinic, and wanted people to pay for the hotel rooms and so on for her staying there. Even though there were many local options for the surgery.

When these facts were pointed out, many people went ballistic, screaming ever louder but she's DYING of CANCER!

I don't doubt there was rudeness on both sides, but the pro-Christina side? Completely insane.

[dune-drd.livejournal.com]

I've never been active in that fandom, but it makes a hell of a good read... god, even if Iwanted to, I had neither the time nor the ENERGY to do something so complicated.

[aervir.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I got to read this part last night, and it left a very bad taste in my mouth. There were personal reasons for me why some of the appalling behaviour exhibited towards a cancer patient wanted me to yell at my laptop because I didn't have some of the insane commenters to yell at.

Even though I have no idea what exactly the circumstances surrounding the cancer patient really were, trolling such a woman is one of the most horrible things I could imagine.

I mean if someone has got very good reasons to suspect that a plea for charity is just a sob story to con other users (it has happened before, hasn't it?), you can remain skeptical, warn your own friends via e-mail and start collecting evidence to back up your suspicion.

Trolling said woman, however, is not only a breach of netiquette, but it goes against the basic rules of decency.

The laptop story, on the other hand, is just ridiculous. I've never understood why Cassie Claire was mocked so often in HP fandom circles, but now I do. If someone broke into my room and stole my laptop, I'd be very, very upset, too. And I'd be touched if someone on my f-list sent me a postcard or something to cheer me up. But I'd raise the 1,500 euros which a new laptop might cost me on my own, thank you very much. That's what saving accounts are fore. Sheesh.

Um, sorry for rambling on and on in your journal. But the MSScribe is no longer that amusing...

[lizbee.livejournal.com]

*nodnodnod*

I was heavily into HP fandom at that stage, and I remember losing a lot of my love for it (and my respect for the people involved) around this time. The SQ meltdown over OotP didn't help, either. Sockpuppets aside, the behaviour in Charitygate was just vile. I didn't even realise how vile until the Unauthorised Biography came out.

What angers me now is that people are still denying that they or Ms Scribe did anything wrong. Loyalty to your friends is lovely, but surely there comes a point where loyalty involves telling them they're being a dipshit? (On the other hand ... I read Joe Cinque's Consolation yesterday, and the parallels between that murder and Charitygate were weirdly powerful.)

[mittendorfer.livejournal.com]

I think I'll just stick to sitting at the back in my fandoms, and being jolly.

The whole story is a reminder of how fervently rabid and appalling fandom can be.

[misscam.livejournal.com]

I'm all for a little healthy skeptisism in what you give your money to at times, but... Good fucking grief. In light of the money-raising for the laptop, it just looks extra foul.

[nostalgia-lj.livejournal.com]

What amazed me is how much HP wank I recognise came from one woman and her sockpuppets. Isn't this stuff like... 40% of your wank?

[--kali--.livejournal.com]

God, it gets worse and worse

*loses faith in humanity*

*cries*