07 July 2007 @ 05:55 pm
Being decidedly unproductive  
I'm having a very lazy day. A *very* lazy day. I was awake about 8am but stayed in bed reading until my sister phoned just before midday. And I'm not planning on doing anything productive at all today. I wanted to, I wanted to make graphics or get this damn SPN Het fic out of my head and onto paper before it eats my brain, but I'm feeling lazy and Harry Potter's on ITV and they look so ickle...

But I did want to say something, I've been in fandom for a long time now. A longer time than is probably healthy for me. (Multiple fandoms that is)

I've seen a lot of people who called themselves (or were called) BNFs (Big Name Fans, for those of you of a non-fandom inclination). And you know what? No matter how many people they have on their friends list, or how many reviews they have on stories, or how many people know their name, in a couple of years people will be saying "Who?".

Trust me on this.

One person's BNF is the next person's 'Who the F*ck?'

BNFs come and go, and tend to fight and struggle when their moment in the spotlight fades, but fandom goes on.

"They'll never know how tough it is, Dawnie, to be the one who isn't chosen. To live so near to the spotlight and never step in it. But I know. I see more than anybody realizes because nobody's watching me. I saw you last night. I see you working here today. You're not special. You're extraordinary."

(and yeah, I'm aware that if I was a different personality type then with the number of sites I run I could be a candidate for BNFery, but I'm not - I'm a fan of fandom and I show that by giving fandom a haven.)
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[identity profile] velvetwhip.livejournal.com on July 7th, 2007 05:23 pm (UTC)
Personally, I am more than happy not to be a BNF...I don;t know how to be that mean.


Gabrielle
[identity profile] whiskyinmind.livejournal.com on July 7th, 2007 05:33 pm (UTC)
That's what really gets me, people who should be major players in a fandom because of the work they do (yourself, Shannon, [livejournal.com profile] pugita and others) to support that fandom are overlooked by those who throw a strop (not sure if that translates well - basically it's a tantrum) every time they aren't congratulated for being able to dress themselves in the morning.

There's been a bit of fuss about a BNF in one of my fandoms lately, and having seen so many kerfuffles like this in the past (hell, I'm active in the BtVS fandom, of course I've seen these kerfuffles! *g*) I just felt like I should maybe say something before other people get hurt by insensitive BNFs.
[identity profile] whiskyinmind.livejournal.com on July 7th, 2007 05:35 pm (UTC)
[livejournal.com profile] puguita - sorry!
[identity profile] monkey-matt.livejournal.com on July 7th, 2007 06:11 pm (UTC)
I dressed myself this morning!

Well. Sort of.
[identity profile] whiskyinmind.livejournal.com on July 7th, 2007 06:14 pm (UTC)
See if I congratulate you and make you an icon (or something), that might make you a BNF. If you had an F to be a BN for...
(no subject) - [identity profile] monkey-matt.livejournal.com on July 7th, 2007 06:19 pm (UTC) Expand
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(no subject) - [identity profile] monkey-matt.livejournal.com on July 7th, 2007 07:02 pm (UTC)
[identity profile] velvetwhip.livejournal.com on July 7th, 2007 06:20 pm (UTC)
Thank you for the compliment.

I HATE KERFUFFLES! I think you should do what you can to stop the meanness.



Gabrielle
[identity profile] whiskyinmind.livejournal.com on July 7th, 2007 06:22 pm (UTC)
You're more than welcome!
[identity profile] monkey-matt.livejournal.com on July 7th, 2007 06:10 pm (UTC)
So... if you're a fandom fan, (being a fan of fandom, or to put it another way a fan-fancier) does that make you a meta-fan?

Sounds like something out of Power Rangers.

(still SQUEEEEEEEE-ing?)
[identity profile] whiskyinmind.livejournal.com on July 7th, 2007 06:17 pm (UTC)
Yus indeed. I'm like the giant Zoidberg who was enlargened (did I make up a word? I think I might have...) to fight the giant Bender. (Since I'm on the road to convincing my nephew that Power Rangers are rubbish.

(and li'lest nephew can now say more words. He's up to six now - Mummy, Daddy, 'Up' (which is shorthand for 'shut up'), Sho!, Doctor and Dalek - I kid you not. He says Dalek and Doctor in context a whole lot. I'm so proud...)

I AM THE META-FAN!!!

(baleful badger spine piaf...)

(and does this answer your question? STEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
[identity profile] monkey-matt.livejournal.com on July 7th, 2007 06:20 pm (UTC)
Am I going to have to make you eat a Fisherman's Friend?
(no subject) - [identity profile] whiskyinmind.livejournal.com on July 7th, 2007 06:21 pm (UTC) Expand
(no subject) - [identity profile] monkey-matt.livejournal.com on July 7th, 2007 06:23 pm (UTC) Expand
(no subject) - [identity profile] whiskyinmind.livejournal.com on July 7th, 2007 06:24 pm (UTC) Expand
(no subject) - [identity profile] monkey-matt.livejournal.com on July 7th, 2007 06:29 pm (UTC) Expand
(no subject) - [identity profile] whiskyinmind.livejournal.com on July 7th, 2007 06:30 pm (UTC) Expand
(no subject) - [identity profile] monkey-matt.livejournal.com on July 7th, 2007 06:32 pm (UTC) Expand
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(no subject) - [identity profile] monkey-matt.livejournal.com on July 7th, 2007 06:38 pm (UTC)
[identity profile] jgracio.livejournal.com on July 7th, 2007 06:24 pm (UTC)
Since it isn't Buffy's fandom, I'm pretty sure it isn't The Battle for Buffy's vagina part 3145. :D

Maybe it's the Battle for the Doctor's sexual organ (come on, he's an alien, has anyone seen him naked?)

Or something about how adding women to the Winchester dynamic ruins everything forever, they're so sleeping together OMG! ??
[identity profile] whiskyinmind.livejournal.com on July 7th, 2007 06:27 pm (UTC)
How d'you know it's not Buffy? Or the fight over the Sonic Screwdriver? Or the episode where Sam and Dean finally get it through their heads that they only really have each other so they may as well have some fun. Jo? Jo who...?

:p
ext_14447: dean[identity profile] aaronlisa.livejournal.com on July 7th, 2007 06:27 pm (UTC)
I always found the term BNF was given to those who caused the most drama and/or fandom wars.
[identity profile] whiskyinmind.livejournal.com on July 7th, 2007 06:33 pm (UTC)
Absolutely - these people seem to love being the centre of all the drama and when things quieten down they have to stir it all up again.

(Dean... wall... [livejournal.com profile] unhobbityhobbit posted a wonderful meta on Dean and his relationship with walls in a flocked post on [livejournal.com profile] wenchpixie's journal yesterday, we're trying to convince her to post it publically to get everyone to appreciate it!)
wenchpixie: Dean - hmmh[personal profile] wenchpixie on July 7th, 2007 06:34 pm (UTC)
Sounds like an excellent plan to me, I for one am still inmy jammies (or rather, I'm in clean jammies. I showered and changed into them as opposed to getting dressed).

BNFery confuses me entirely. People either seem to get it and don't want it because it causes them grief, or court it and cause wank in huge proportions. Who on earth has time for that nonsense? There's Wall Meta to persuade people to write, for goodness sake!
[identity profile] whiskyinmind.livejournal.com on July 7th, 2007 06:42 pm (UTC)
If I didn't forget to bring home my coffee from work I would still be in my PJs now. But I had to go out to buy the required caffeine (and hair dye...)

BNFery is just... odd. Who decides? I never quite got that - after all I know so many people (not in SPN) who deserve to be BNFs for all the work they do, but who are barely known outside of their circles. And the people who are known (and I think you know what sparked my comments - not naming names at all, but I don't like seeing my flist upset) *really* do not deserve the recognition because that's all they seem to care about - the attention.

WALL META!

Needs to be posted.

Ruth? I'm looking at you here.

If you don't want to write it up anymore, then all you need to do is repost the flocked comment in a public post and we'll take it from there!
[identity profile] monkey-matt.livejournal.com on July 7th, 2007 06:47 pm (UTC)
DUDE!

Don't drink the hair dye!
(no subject) - [identity profile] whiskyinmind.livejournal.com on July 7th, 2007 06:49 pm (UTC) Expand
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(no subject) - [identity profile] whiskyinmind.livejournal.com on July 8th, 2007 08:31 am (UTC)
wenchpixie: Jensen has no magic cock[personal profile] wenchpixie on July 7th, 2007 09:04 pm (UTC)
I had kinda worked it out, yush :). There are some people that are more in the actual BNF strata than others, but I just don't get why anyone would want to be... The wank incitement actually appears to be the only way to really guarantee fame for any length of time (after all CassieClare and SVmaria are pretty famous even outwith their fandoms) but why on earth would that be something people aim to attain? It's all very odd indeed.

Never mind, my posting yesterday led to wall meta and a mini friending thing, which makes me all kinds of happy and the negative crap? I'm better off away from.
(no subject) - [identity profile] whiskyinmind.livejournal.com on July 7th, 2007 09:17 pm (UTC)
[identity profile] monkey-matt.livejournal.com on July 7th, 2007 06:46 pm (UTC)
Yeah... that's, like, so much more than what I accomplished today. Barely had the energy to re-heat last night's takeaway...

I am such a slob, sometimes.


[identity profile] whiskyinmind.livejournal.com on July 7th, 2007 06:48 pm (UTC)
What d'you mean 'sometimes'?

:p
(no subject) - [identity profile] monkey-matt.livejournal.com on July 7th, 2007 06:50 pm (UTC) Expand
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(no subject) - [identity profile] whiskyinmind.livejournal.com on July 7th, 2007 07:23 pm (UTC)
wenchpixie: good times[personal profile] wenchpixie on July 7th, 2007 09:06 pm (UTC)
It's the only reasonable way to spend the weekend, I find.

I plan on achieving things tomorrow.

Possibly.
(no subject) - [identity profile] whiskyinmind.livejournal.com on July 7th, 2007 09:15 pm (UTC) Expand
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(no subject) - [identity profile] whiskyinmind.livejournal.com on July 7th, 2007 09:25 pm (UTC)
[identity profile] angelnetgirl.livejournal.com on July 7th, 2007 11:06 pm (UTC)
You just described most of my weekends, except I wouldnt be awake before 12:00 usually and would stay in PJs unless it was unavoidable.

I watched parts of HP (even though I have seen it thousands of times) and they are tiny and the acting (apart from Rupert) isn't the best, gladly they have improved LOTS!

I have to admit even though I have been in fandom for more years than I care to admit (been a slasher for a least 13 so thats an idea) I tend to stick to the outskirts and didn't really know about the term BNF but since SPN I could identify a few, many in connection to fandom wank.

I tend to remember the names of people who do something worth while like write fic, make amazing graphics or are awesome in general. Everyone else comes and goes as you say.
[identity profile] whiskyinmind.livejournal.com on July 8th, 2007 08:19 am (UTC)
Those people with talent - the fic writers, the graphics makers etc - are often lauded and applauded for their work, but it tends to be others who maybe lack a little of their talent who are promoted into BNFdom.

But the BNFs tend to find themselves in the centre of a storm mor often than not and one time when they announce they're leaving fandom the rest of fandom will have had enough and tell them not to let the door smack them in the ass when they leave.

:)
[identity profile] purplephoenix03.livejournal.com on July 8th, 2007 12:19 am (UTC)
Remind me, who are you again?

And who's the idiot who feels like a fool for stirring this nonsense? Oi veh.

Except. We now have Wall Meta. Which deserves its capitalization, oh yes. For it encompasses Dean and Walls and a beautiful yet logic way and requires public posting... RUTH I'M LOOKING AT YOU HERE!
[identity profile] whiskyinmind.livejournal.com on July 8th, 2007 08:23 am (UTC)
*grins*

You are not an idiot at all - and I'm worried that I was apparently making sense when I posted that yesterday!

I've seen so many BNFs in other fandoms (*cough*Buffyverse*cough*) kick up a far bigger shitstorm than the one that some nameless person (but you know *exactly* who I mean, I'm sure) seems determined to start in SPN fandom. And six months down the line people will forget about it, and a year or so down the line, the instigator will be just another face in the crowd.

If someone calls themself a BNF, then chances are you should take everything they say with a pinch of salt and don't ever let them make you feel bad. (Yeah... easy to say I know, not so easy to practice when they haul you into a steaming pile...)

Wall Meta is just the best, most plausible meta I've ever read. It needs to be public.

(Ruth? You hear me yet?