Here I Am

So from ladybug218, I discovered a post on the fun that is FanHistory and such and am seriously appalled and freaked out.

I'm the first to admit that I live in a fandom bubble most of the time and rarely, if ever, get involved in wank and drama that's going on, but this one has me rather upset.

I don't know the people involved personally, but I don't think there should EVER be a situation where you out a fannish person unless there is some huge legal ordeal...and even then, you don't out them PUBLICLY.

And then I followed the link to the post on fanthropology, how to maintain fannish privacy, which seems to miss the point entirely, and I was freaked out even more because this person seems to think of it as justification for what she's doing.

Of course, when you post something to the internet a large degree of privacy is lost. Your words/actions can be seen by many more people than you originally intended. Most of us understand that concept and accept that risk, but the idea that the only way to protect yourself is to basically not participate in fandom is utterly ridiculous. That's a bit of a paranoid way to go about things - though given what partly_bouncy did, I get why she'd be paranoid that people were like her.

Personally, I think the best way for the majority of us to protect ourselves is to stand up against the small minority of people out there who don't understand boundaries, who don't fathom the request for personal privacy that most of fandom is okay with. Because while we're full of wankers and drama queens, most of us wouldn't take the fandom dramas into real life. And those that would? Should be dealt with.

I read ithiliana's response on the issue and I agree that more people need to stand up as a whole and say this sort of behavior will not be tolerated. It's one thing for a person to live his/her real life with everyone knowing of their fannish interactions, but a lot of us don't want that sort of meshing, and no one - BNF or regular joe schmoe - should have to be outted by anyone else.

I think, though, what really bothers me about this whole situation is that it could be motivated by the whole OTW debacle. That a person's dislike of the organization could make them think it's okay to attack someone else.

I'm personally ambivalent to OTW at the moment - I've read intriguing posts for/against it - and that's not really the point of this post. The only reason I mention it is to make my ambivalence on the group clear so that it doesn't look like I'm taking sides on that account. I have no vested interest in OTW or the people opposed to it. All I care about at the moment is the idea of someone going too far and making fandom less than fun for people. And it appears that's exactly what has happened.

So that's it. partly_bouncy is wrong and if she doesn't realize it, then maybe more people need to make her aware of that. If someone doesn't want his/her personal information attached to his/her fandom information, an outside force should not get to take it upon themselves to share the information with the world and then hide behind ridiculous reasoning that the internet isn't private. There is a bit of room to play with that most of us, until now, have respected, and I think we, as members of fandom, have to protect each other in these situations, not feed the flames.

ETA: it's been suggested not to link to pb's livejournal or fanhistory as she earns revenue with hits. And really, I'd rather not see her inappropriate behavior rewarded.