Snowflake Challenge 3

[cmk418]

Challenge #3

In your own space, Scream Into the Void. Get it all out. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

AARRRRGH!

So, the crux of this little exercise is to get out all those little things that aggravate you about fandom.

This first one may seem a bit strange to people, but complete your works! I get mad at myself when I read a synopsis and see that it's like an easy thousand word read and jump in only to find that it's... to be continued. Yes, I normally hit that little button in the Ao3 sidebar that says "Complete Works Only" and sometimes I forget and it's frustrating. Do I have things like that out there? Sure. And it makes me feel guilty that it's still not done every time I think about it. I just don't like to be left hanging or not knowing if I'm reading a 3-part work that's updated weekly or a 120-part work that gets updated on a whim.

Why are there so many fics with a/b/o dynamics in the men's hockey RPF fandom? Is there something going on in the locker rooms that I haven't heard about?

Terrible spelling/grammar in explicit fics - For the love of all that is holy, I am reading this for a purpose and that purpose gets derailed when the spelling and grammar is terrible. Your bad grammar doesn't turn me on, make it go away

The lack of community - There are some fandoms still clicking along out there, but for the most part, newer things don't seem to have a dedicated space. Yes, there are postings all over Ao3 and you can find what you're looking for, but to have a community to gush about a particular character or scene or moment when it happens would be very nice. Maybe I don't take enough advantage of the interest search bar to find these spaces or maybe fandom itself has become so diluted with the sheer volume of choices that are available to us at this point in time.

Very specific to the HBO OZ fandom - Somebody (including me) needs to post fic to hardtime100 pretty soon. The mod is starting to get a little meta with the prompts. ;)

Deep breath. Okay. I'm done.

Comments

[tellshannon815]

I feel you on the no community for new fandoms thing, it's very frustrating!

[cmk418]

I find myself sometimes writing speculative fic after a particular episode if I feel very strongly about how things went as a way of putting it out there how I would like to see things continue. It's a possible way to get a discussion going with fellow fans who may feel the same way, but most of the comments don't seem to generate the type of community we once had.

[asphaltcowgrrl]

I try really hard not to post things until I know they're either done or close enough that I'm not going to abandon them because it is frustrating seeing something that's years old and unfinished.

Spelling and grammar are so easy to check, too. And I say this as someone who doesn't us a beta any longer and constantly makes mistakes. LOL But really guys.

[cmk418]

I do that too. I have a couple stories that have been sitting in my computer for a while and just need to be finished.

Sometimes you read a summary or tags and think "this is a great concept" and then launch into the story and within two paragraphs think "Nope."

[asphaltcowgrrl]

YUP. Too many honestly. LOL

YES. And not even just fanfic. I can't tell you how many books have done me dirty that way. 🤣

[cmk418]

Yes, books! So many. Physical copies will generally find their way into a donation box if I can't get through the first chapter. Digital copies will clog up my Kindle until the end of time (or Amazon starts putting a limit on how much space we have).

[asphaltcowgrrl]

I try and donate my physical books to the library, but have been known to sell a few, too.

Hahaha. Yeah, I got my first Kindle in 2006 and... well... I have a lot of ebooks.

[shipperslist]

Why are there so many fics with a/b/o dynamics in the men's hockey RPF fandom? Is there something going on in the locker rooms that I haven't heard about?

Homophobia and closeted gays, I presume? Ah, that's mean. But honestly, hockey locker rooms are some of the last bastions of overinflated straight masculinity that I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case.

Terrible spelling/grammar in explicit fics - For the love of all that is holy, I am reading this for a purpose and that purpose gets derailed when the spelling and grammar is terrible. Your bad grammar doesn't turn me on, make it go away

Sometimes I wonder if there's a polite way to tip a writer about the existence of proofreading softwares...

[cmk418]

Homophobia and closeted gays, I presume? But they're always in slash fics so that doesn't make a lot of sense. I get the alpha/beta part in general, it's just the bizarre wolf-y rest of it that throws me off.

That said, I'm sure there's more than a handful of gay players (aside from Luke Prokop) in today's NHL.

Sometimes I wonder if there's a polite way to tip a writer about the existence of proofreading softwares... LOL. Probably. But I'm usually too far gone at that point and only remember the writer's name so I can avoid them in the future.

[trillingstar]

wrt reading complete-only fics, are you browsing *on* AO3 when you're looking for a new read? The four little boxes can give you that information at an outside glance, so you don't have to click and read to find out it's not been finished. Or you mean it's marked completed but isn't? Because that would seriously grind my gears! I tend to subscribe to a good-sounding WIP and then just wait it out. I'll put the latest notif in a separate email folder, which gives me a decent-enough idea of wait time for the next part... and when I remember, I go in and clear out what's obviously never going to be updated. Sometimes I'll give that thing a read anyway because I'm already in the mindset that it's unfinished. But yeah. Still super frustrating!

And... yeah. I miss that dedicated space too. A LOT LOT. It's part of why coming to DW and seeing the handful of friends still around is so special to me, and I'm going to be taking better advantage of it this year. I like your idea of the weekly check-in.