It was a bad week to give up sniffing glue

[geoviki]

Holy hell! I picked the absolute worst week in my 4 year fandom life to go on vacation. I just spent the past 6 hours trying to catch up with posts made while I was at Prophecy and in SF, and I'm still not done. And reading all of that in one night has just left me depressed and unable to decide what I should do. Basically, I'm not prepared to do anything just yet, the rest of you are not going to one single journal place, and the threaded conversations we had will be scattered over multiple journals, where Mary responds on IJ, Sue on GJ, and John on JF.

The whole thing just leaves me sad. We were worried about how the end of canon would affect fandom - how about the end of everything else at the same time? Every post I read just added more angst 'n' woe, and I felt it right along with all of you, but in a whole depressing clump.

I missed many important birthdays - was there an alignment of stars to have so many of you born nearly the same time? So happy birthday and you all know who you are!

Two of my dear friends had surgery as well, so I'm sending you both healing thoughts and am quite concerned for both of you.

And several of you are going through some extreme hard times, so best wishes to you that things improve - I know for one of you, the nightmare of the past year is finally at an end, so yay for that.

(Am being vague to avoid outing those who don't want their personal lives discussed outside their own blogs, but my sentiments are sincere.)

I'm trying to catch up as well on comments to stories, earlier posts, and comments I've left. Forgive me if I've missed someone. I still owe kriken some yaoi recs! I should talk about my fun time at Prophecy, which of course is all about the people, but I don't see me doing that right now either. *sigh*

Hmm. And as I add the finishing touches to the post, I notice how I still haven't dealt with recreating my mood icons after my own site was deleted last fall. So you can see how swift my response mechanism to crisis really is.

Comments

[florahart]

Believe me, no one who has been here throughout the last week is any happier about the whole ruckus and quasiexodus and stuff.

I think I think more people are going IJ than anywhere else, but that might be just my end. I have a GJ and a JF, but at the moment I'm posting fic to IJ (with a pointer from LJ) and other stuff at a whim to either IJ or LJ. I imagine soon enough I will start to settle into a pattern.

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

Like may dear ol' dad said, I don't know whether to shit or go blind. Inertia is a game plan too, isn't it? ;-)

[mijan.livejournal.com]

I tried for about three days to catch up after Prophecy, and gave up. I just kept up with anything new that came out... and there was plenty of it. Heh... Look Ma! We blew up the fandom!

What I find funny, personally, is that I'd JUST decided to get back into drawing fanart... just before the shit hit the fan. So, being the Gryffindor that I am, I'm doing fanart anyway... and started with some Snarry. *grins* Six Apart can suck my nonexistent... you get the idea.

Really, even if LJ were to boot us all, we'd rebuild. Fandom is too strong to be hosed by the likes of 6A. I've got myself set up on JF, GJ, and IJ. It seems like IJ is going to be the new home, for now. Either way, good to see you back. *huggles*

And yeah, there's definitely some sort of alignment in the stars... so many cool people born around this time of year! *preens* :D

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

Happy happy happy happy (belated) birthday. It was great to see you again, and I have to say, you clean up very nicely. That dress you wore at the ball was a knock-out.

[lagreyeyes.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the whole LJ bit sucks, but fuck it - it'll all right itself one way or another. It's all rather Fear and Loathing-ish ("As your attorney, I advise...").

I suggest we all continue to do whatever it is we do that pisses people off and leave it at that. And if that fails, hell, run for the other journals. There's always some way to continue the subversion. *g*

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

But, sigh, already in all that morass of posts I just waded through, several people have signed off LJ for good. And hogwarts_today has stopped linking to R-rated and above stuff, and fuck if I can figure out their method for sending those links seekritly.

I think paralysis shall serve as my modus operandi. I hate change!!

[lagreyeyes.livejournal.com]

*wryly* My dear, no one likes change, except perhaps the odious people that make their living either composing Mission Statements for striving companies or bringing the ax down on hapless employees for the humane and just cause of increasing shareholder returns. (Hmmm...perhaps I'm in the wrong business.)

Don't panic. Stick with LJ, as most of us are. Just put up a few placeholders on other journals to cover your bases (note to self: "add IJ too") and just...wait. What's the harm? It'll suss itself out soon enough. I think what's most distressing is 1) LJ well and truly fucked up our post-DH party, and 2) the essential trust we had for LJ is now irretrievably tainted. And that naive belief we had in LJ won't be reclaimed by any other journal because we'll never think such a situation can't happen again, anywhere and at any time.

On a more hopeful note: Are you going to Portus in Dallas next year?? Oh, you must!! I am! :)

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

Funny you should mention Mission Statements, because I just came across this gem of an article about a sexist non-revision (http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/004829.html#more) today. So apparently not every man (sic) likes change.

[lagreyeyes.livejournal.com]

*snickers* Thanks for the link. Glacial in speed, perhaps, but AN IMPORTANT CHANGE nonetheless! *snickers some more*

I just set myself up on IJ. *shakes head* I now have four journals and am officially a Journal Slut. (And all the comms I added on IJ are pr0n - Heeee!)

[sorion.livejournal.com]

Don't worry too much about fandom... We'll survive ^_~
And as for one place to go... Just watch fandom_flies. Eventually, it will become obvious, where people are headed. (If their project becomes reality, most will go there. If not, I'd watch out for Scribblit.)
GJ won't hold out much longer, so JF and IJ are the ones, for now.

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

I am sure fandom as a whole will survive, but I worry about individuals, I think. Like me - I already spend way too much time online, so how am I gonna cope with 3 or 4 different threads on the same topic by the same poster? Because I guess it's all about me, and doesn't that sound wrong on so many levels? I did set myself up on IJ because apparently that's where merry_smutmas will be held. I need to get my wits about me and placehold my own name on those other journals before someone turns me into a sock puppet.

[winter-june.livejournal.com]

I don't think fandom'd be really that damaged by this. Fandom existed before LY and will survive even if it colapses. There's a lot of people who love this too much, and has put too much effort to surrender now. Fandom is inmortal per se.
But it'd mean the lost of LY as it is, and that, yes, that'd be an enormous lost. Not for the fiction and art (that could be moved elsewhere), but for the losts in very personal things people has put in it, for the social net that was constructed here. Moving out may be the solution, I don't know, but is a very sad end to this proyect.
If someone is interested in my humble defense of fandom, it's here http://winter-june.livejournal.com/1169.html

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

I read your post and totally agree. I think that's why we're so upset: because we have good friends here and no one wants anyone to leave our happy home. Especially not for the stupid reasons LJ-6A are spouting.

[spark-of-chaos.livejournal.com]

Somehow, I envy you a little for not being here - it wasn't much fun. At least now it seems there is some light at the end of the tunnel. But things go steadily towards IJ from where I stand... Most people on my flist are crossposting like whoa right now, but I guess that'd be hard to keep up for any prolonged period and so we'll eventually group-settle somewhere, be it IJ or Scribblit or the fandom_flies mad thing.

By the way, hi! :) I just friended you.

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

You will laugh - why did I think for all these years that you were one of fandom's few guys? I see by some of your posts that you definitely are not! Very nice dress in that ball photo - red looks good on you. ;-)

[spark-of-chaos.livejournal.com]

:dies:
ha-ha, I thought I have deleted those pic-posts! And please don't tell me you new I existed? If you really did, I am not laughing at all, I am amazed. Cheers to fancy dress dance parties, though, and thanks :)

[tipgardner.livejournal.com]

Hiya! Welcome back, Darling. Yeah, let the dust settle a bit seems the easiest way to middle through for now. My thoughts are with your frends who need them.

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

Can I end the week on a Thursday? Will the universe give me a pass?

It reminds me of this US comic I read every day, and one week I was gone, the main characters had some complicated marital/infidelity thing that I never did resolve, and I was lost about it for ages. Well, sort of like that, only this is way worse. You get the idea, though.

[kaiz.livejournal.com]

I know exactly how you feel...and I've actually *been here* through this whole mess! Hope you had a wonderful vacation :-)

*sending good vibes towards your two ill friends*

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

I keep hoping I'll meet you again at another con, but alas, you never come. Do you think you might join in the fun again some day? Until then, I have to be content with your terrific links.

[kaiz.livejournal.com]

I've been wanting to attend the recent cons, but alas, they never lined up with my RL schedule! *whine* I hear that there will be a few in the next two years; here's hoping that I can make them! I'd love to see you again! *hugs*

And, yay for freaky links! :-)

[isiscolo.livejournal.com]

*smooches*

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

Ah, I bet you are so, so glad you aren't around HP fandom any longer, even though the rest of us miss you liek whoa. Every time I go to a con I think of you and miss you, and you come up in conversations even now. In one of the panels on concrit at Prophecy, you were mentioned as someone who was a valuable beta - tough but fair. I can't remember who mentioned you in the discussion. But your impact in HP fandom has lasted all these years.

[isiscolo.livejournal.com]

Aw! That makes me blushy!

And, er, post DH I am reading a bit of fic again. I might even write some, eventually.

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad to see you posting online! Yay! Your posts of the past days have really impressed on me what a classy lady you really are. And you dance well, too! Plus you make terrific icons that I steal properly credit.

I love your bee analogy! My waggle is very dispirited at the moment, I have to admit.

[legionseagle.livejournal.com]

I'm not mad about what I hear about IJ's use of mental illness as a 'cool' code, so I doubt I can go there - GJ apparently don't like fanfic and have said so - and JF - are JF.

You might as well live.

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

Hahaha! Yes, Dorothy Parker is really the poet we need to document our angst, I think.

I will probably do what I usually do: angst and sit on my hands. And play a lot of music.

[sulky-rhino.livejournal.com]

It's a bit confusing, yes, because I still don't know who is where right now... A lot of people are cross-posting right now, but they might stop in the future. And they sometimes comment on my posts on LJ, then on IJ, or GJ... It's confusing! :/

*hug* Did you have a good time on your vacation? :)

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

We had a fun and busy time, even though there were moments I wanted to shove my 16-year-old son under the cable car wheels for being a petulant whiner. But I like northern California and we did a lot - and walked a lot.

[sulky-rhino.livejournal.com]

Ahahaha! :D 16-year-olds can be so whiny! :D I know I was. :P

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

Am I misunderstanding? Sam can post on 4 journals in one fell swoop, but those of us reading can reply only at one place at a time, right? So let's say you reply to him at IJ and I do the same at GJ - we can chat with him but can't see each other's comments easily. At least I think that's how it goes.

[thrihyrne.livejournal.com]

I continue to be melancholy about much of fandom, but I'm not going anywhere. I am trying to step back a bit and re-engage into my own life during these next few months of forced staying put. :( Still, things could be much worse, and I know that you've held me in your thoughts, for which I am so very grateful. ♥

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

I have been worried over you and am glad to know you're here for the long haul. You always seem so upbeat in the face of things, which is such a beautiful part of your personality.

Yeah, we should all take a deep breath and write post-DH ficcies instead!

[jedirita.livejournal.com]

I'm not going anywhere. And I've noticed that the angst level has gone way down on my flist since LJ backtracked a bit on their asshattery.

Personally, I'm hoping most people will forget about the cross-posting thing and will settle back down on LJ by default. That is, until/unless LJ does something stupid again.

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

I really hope you're right. Sadly, with the current regime at LJ/6A, the periodicity of the stupid is sadly short.

And congrats! You and the padawan looked terrific in that picture, and I think he's the luckiest guy in the world to have such a great mom. I love your posts asking for advice. I'll answer some, too, but from here it looks like you're doing a bang-up job trusting your instincts. (Distracting him with a plastic book or cool toy on the changing table might keep him from squirming so much. Plus, you'll get pretty fast at it.)

[jedirita.livejournal.com]

I need to call upon all my amazing powers with the Force, that's for sure. Hopefully, what with all the variety of suggestions I got, if I rotate among them, it will keep him in an adequate state of submission.

(Yeah, right. As if.)

[kriken.livejournal.com]

Okay, first? I hope your friends are doing well. Surgery, however necessary, is never fun.

Second - I've been so busy with work and bogged down by all the nastiness on LJ that I completely forgot about the recs! Oh, yay! I'll give just about anything a try, so throw a few titles at me :D

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

My favorite mangaka is Miyamoto Kano, and my favorite story of hers can be found here:

http://www.hochuuami.com/downloads.php

Scroll on down the 'Oneshot Packs' to 'Long Way Home' and upload the zipped scans. Hopefully you are way more savvy than I was and will use Windows Picture and Scan viewer or similar, instead of the stupid way I used to view these images and which took me forever.

If you like that, this site also has her 'Te wo Tsunaide, Sora wo' down in the Series list.

The rest of her scanlated stuff is on http://hackthemainstream.com/projects.cfm

Let me know when you get there and I'll email you some .doc files that list the order in which you should read these various series.

[jonem.livejournal.com]

I hope your family holiday was suitably relaxing, and didn't end with you wanting to kill said family (P's in France: I fear for her!).

As for the fandom kerfuffle, I'm watching from a safe distance. Que sera, and all that. If people decide to go (and I can certainly understand why, to say LJ haven't covered themselves in glory on this one is a slight understatement) I'll stick with them regardless.

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

There was the dangerous moment when my son and I were walking on the Golden Gate Bridge and I did momentarily ponder the ease of throwing him off. Sadly, he's a lot bigger than I am now.