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I Still Miss Sporking
One of the amusing, and at times, necessary, parts of fandom is pointing out bad fiction(badfic). The pointing finger draws the reader to a story that is full of errors, bad writing, bad research, etc. It’s called sporking, which comes from the intense desire of a reader to poke their eyes out with a spork. The number of sporks depends on how bad the story is written. Because SG-1 was/is my main fandom, I'm more familiar with the embarrassing plethora of spork!fics within it, but any fandom qualifies for sporkage.
There was/is a spork community just for SG-1 and Atlantis: Mock the SG Fic. The last entry was 2009. The next to last entry is from 2007. Because SG-1 was cancelled, the mocking/sporking dwindled to nothing. It's a common thing in all fandoms. Once the fandom is no longer "current", interaction/enthusiasm dies off. As of this entry, general fandom sporkage goes to Fanficrants, and its spin-off, Spawn of Fanficrants.
Back when SG-1 was active, and not long after it ended, I wrote many "badfic reviews", put them on my fandom website, Shades of Slash, and posted a few of them in the sporking community. I entertained a few people and offended a few others. One sporkage of mine got me kicked off Area 52 because of the method I chose to spork a badfic. I'd posted the entire story, littered with a lot of "beta" marks and comments. To be fair, I really shouldn't have posted the entire story. Because I had, the author had a huge hissy fit, and ran to the archivist at A52, demanding I be booted off the archive for daring to spork this guy’s (It was a guy) badfic. He actually ran to mommy about someone spitting on his toy.
I was actually told to take the story review down from *my* own website or I’d get booted. Naturally, I said "Hell no." So, I was removed from the Area 52 archive. Afterwards, I decided that my method of review was indeed in error, so I rewrote it, describing the story with excerpts instead. I had no desire to go back to the archive moderator and ask to be accepted back. These days, I go there to read up on challenges and requests. They can be hilarious sometimes.
What happened to me is a massive fanfic community pet peeve: that anyone has the right to silence a critic.
This bullshit is carried out by comm group owners and moderators, be they fandom group or fic archive, who insist in their group or archive rules that no one reproduce someone else's story, whole or in excerpts, on another site without the writer's permission. At first, I think this was an honest, if ill-conceived, attempt to discourage plagiarism. But for those of us who like to pimp or spork stories they've read, this rule caused bad feelings.
Most, including myself, never claimed excerpts or whole works as their own, nor did (afaik) anyone sporking a story ever plagiarize. I mean, really. No need to plagiarize a story you can’t stand. The biggest offense, IMNSHO, is one or more individuals browbeating others into silencing (or white-washing) opinions. I can remember several people who were kicked out of comm groups because they dared to post their negative opinion. I can remember a lot more individuals who kept quiet because they didn’t want to get kicked off. This bullying crap pisses me the fuck off. Even more, the bullies telling people what they can and can’t do on their private websites. WTF!? That’s like the government/police/group telling people what kind of sex they are allowed to have in their own bedrooms.
Because I, more than most, loved to go after bad fiction writing, I sort of set the example (within my own sphere of influence) and made a name for myself as a bitch and an asshole. Some admired my honesty, most (or most vocal) condemned me.
Over the years, I haven’t changed my opinions. I have simply changed how I word them. I have never inferred, implied, assumed, plead, or claimed that I was this great writer who didn't deserve my own sporking. I frankly did, given some of the shit I'd written. However, I do love to learn from my mistakes, and continue to do so (where writing is concerned anyway), and I'm still learning, crafting.
What kills me is the assumption by those who've been sporked that I was launching personal attacks. IMO, that's a matter of interpretation, or thin skin. As the saying goes, if you can’t stand the heat, get the hell out of the kitchen. There are writers who insist that any criticism is unfair and they should only be given praise for “trying”. Well, sorry, but blowing sunshine up your ass accomplishes nothing. No one learns from their mistakes if they’re never pointed out.
Granted that sporkage isn’t primarily intended to be constructive criticism, but it is intended to be useful. There’s a woman who wrote reviews of a few stories she couldn’t stand, and in reading them, back in 2004 I think, I actually learned *not* to do certain things in my own writing. Fortunately, I never had one of my stories picked on, but I can honestly say I wouldn’t have a problem with it. Everyone is entitled to their opinion.
Which is the whole point here. Opinions are like assholes—everyone’s got one. And we’re all entitled. And so … I miss active sporkage. I miss criticizing. I only learn through errors, be they mine or someone else’s.
There was/is a spork community just for SG-1 and Atlantis: Mock the SG Fic. The last entry was 2009. The next to last entry is from 2007. Because SG-1 was cancelled, the mocking/sporking dwindled to nothing. It's a common thing in all fandoms. Once the fandom is no longer "current", interaction/enthusiasm dies off. As of this entry, general fandom sporkage goes to Fanficrants, and its spin-off, Spawn of Fanficrants.
Back when SG-1 was active, and not long after it ended, I wrote many "badfic reviews", put them on my fandom website, Shades of Slash, and posted a few of them in the sporking community. I entertained a few people and offended a few others. One sporkage of mine got me kicked off Area 52 because of the method I chose to spork a badfic. I'd posted the entire story, littered with a lot of "beta" marks and comments. To be fair, I really shouldn't have posted the entire story. Because I had, the author had a huge hissy fit, and ran to the archivist at A52, demanding I be booted off the archive for daring to spork this guy’s (It was a guy) badfic. He actually ran to mommy about someone spitting on his toy.
I was actually told to take the story review down from *my* own website or I’d get booted. Naturally, I said "Hell no." So, I was removed from the Area 52 archive. Afterwards, I decided that my method of review was indeed in error, so I rewrote it, describing the story with excerpts instead. I had no desire to go back to the archive moderator and ask to be accepted back. These days, I go there to read up on challenges and requests. They can be hilarious sometimes.
What happened to me is a massive fanfic community pet peeve: that anyone has the right to silence a critic.
This bullshit is carried out by comm group owners and moderators, be they fandom group or fic archive, who insist in their group or archive rules that no one reproduce someone else's story, whole or in excerpts, on another site without the writer's permission. At first, I think this was an honest, if ill-conceived, attempt to discourage plagiarism. But for those of us who like to pimp or spork stories they've read, this rule caused bad feelings.
Most, including myself, never claimed excerpts or whole works as their own, nor did (afaik) anyone sporking a story ever plagiarize. I mean, really. No need to plagiarize a story you can’t stand. The biggest offense, IMNSHO, is one or more individuals browbeating others into silencing (or white-washing) opinions. I can remember several people who were kicked out of comm groups because they dared to post their negative opinion. I can remember a lot more individuals who kept quiet because they didn’t want to get kicked off. This bullying crap pisses me the fuck off. Even more, the bullies telling people what they can and can’t do on their private websites. WTF!? That’s like the government/police/group telling people what kind of sex they are allowed to have in their own bedrooms.
Because I, more than most, loved to go after bad fiction writing, I sort of set the example (within my own sphere of influence) and made a name for myself as a bitch and an asshole. Some admired my honesty, most (or most vocal) condemned me.
Over the years, I haven’t changed my opinions. I have simply changed how I word them. I have never inferred, implied, assumed, plead, or claimed that I was this great writer who didn't deserve my own sporking. I frankly did, given some of the shit I'd written. However, I do love to learn from my mistakes, and continue to do so (where writing is concerned anyway), and I'm still learning, crafting.
What kills me is the assumption by those who've been sporked that I was launching personal attacks. IMO, that's a matter of interpretation, or thin skin. As the saying goes, if you can’t stand the heat, get the hell out of the kitchen. There are writers who insist that any criticism is unfair and they should only be given praise for “trying”. Well, sorry, but blowing sunshine up your ass accomplishes nothing. No one learns from their mistakes if they’re never pointed out.
Granted that sporkage isn’t primarily intended to be constructive criticism, but it is intended to be useful. There’s a woman who wrote reviews of a few stories she couldn’t stand, and in reading them, back in 2004 I think, I actually learned *not* to do certain things in my own writing. Fortunately, I never had one of my stories picked on, but I can honestly say I wouldn’t have a problem with it. Everyone is entitled to their opinion.
Which is the whole point here. Opinions are like assholes—everyone’s got one. And we’re all entitled. And so … I miss active sporkage. I miss criticizing. I only learn through errors, be they mine or someone else’s.
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These days most of the Gen/Het SG1 fic writing is on ff.net, a site not renowned for it's quality, but making up for in bad quantity imho....the slash is so small now, mainly on LJ and DW, and the writers so experienced and caring with their characters that constructive criticism, when needed is accepted with good grace and understanding...
I've read, nay glanced at, some truly dreadful shit that screams out for sporking....a Daniel Jackson that I don't recognise ONE trait of his character from canon and OC/Mary Sues that scream out the author's own tawdry fantasies with said character (or maybe even actor) that would benefit from a complete rewrite...however when you have a bunch of equally desperate fangirls wanting to be in the same situation, saying how marvellous this work is and how the work should be published or heaven forbid read by the actors themselves, you think long and hard about leaving any comments, constructive or otherwise....the hissy fits come with alarming regularity across social media when it does are just too unrestrained and public these days..
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Frankly, I get such a bug up my ass about thin-skinned fangirls that I'm highly tempted to leave concrit (if constructive is possible) *just* to watch them fall into a hissy tantrum, along with all their misguided-yet-asskissing friends/readers. Orry's like that, bless her heart, along with the "writers" who emulate her. Good god, if there's someone NOT to emulate (aside from that batshit crazy Stephenie Meyer) it's her. ;)
Most of the time, the desire for sporking a story is based entirely on the subject matter and how it's portrayed. You know that I fervently ridicule and slam any rapefic that has no usefulness to it and exists solely to titillate, to exploit. It's offensive, imo. And thus, screams for sporking.
There are far too many authors out there who ask for feedback, including critical. But when you take them at their word and write up a concrit, they scream and cry havoc. Good grief. Those are the people who most *deserve* critical feedback. They need toughening up and there's no better place than fandom to develop that.
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Telling me that Daniel wouldn't have put a pasta dish in the oven to warm it up, and would have used a microwave instead, is NOT constructive. Perhaps my Daniel didn't have a microwave, perhaps it had broken, how the hell would she know?
Criticize my writing and I WILL learn from it, but not petty things like microwave ovens.
So, if you want to spork my stories, please go ahead! You have my permission.
Chris xx
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When someone tells you that Daniel would do something as trivial as using a microwave instead of the oven isn't feedback or crit. It's that person's opinion on what they think would happen and they stupidly confuse their own preferences with fic critique. Who the hell cares if they disagree on what Daniel would do. It's not something that's up for discussion b/c it's meaningless drivel. You just say, "Okay, thanks for your opinion" and move on. They don't deserve a discussion over something so stupid.
Oh HUSH you. Don't take my entry here as some backdoor attempt to tell you your stories need sporking. They don't. (loves) :-)
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All I'm saying is, if someone (anyone) wants to spork any of my stories, they are welcome. I'll take it on board and use it to make things better!
Loves you back!
Chris xx
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Sometimes people spork just for the hell of it, which is not what I did or there would have been a LOT more of them. ;)
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*G*
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Must say I have major issues with that Viking Sky tripe. Never could understand why it was so popular. Hey ho.
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(((((((((((( hugs ))))))))))))))
You typically diplomatic Brit you. :)