Subject: It's a shame the Library's stance on badmouthing authors isn't compatible with the PPC's.
Author:
Posted on: 2022-10-07 16:09:09 UTC
Are you planning to change that at all in your iteration? 'Cause people here might want to consider that when deciding whether they want to get on board.
~Neshomeh
(Edit: typo.)
A few weeks ago, it was unfortunately announced by SC, one of the Librarians over at Library of the Damned, that- due to a combination of circumstances- the Library has indefinitely closed down.
Library of the Damned was a community for fanfiction MSTs which I was lucky to be a part of for five short years. It had a fantastic cast of riffers, many of whom were PPC veterans (such as Admiral Sakai, SC, and Herr Wozzeck), and was one of the best MST websites to grace the net.
It closed far too soon. I have many, many unreleased guest riffs sitting on my Google drive, and a thirst to produce more. I don't want it to be over. The fat lady has yet to sing.
So, I hereby introduce, The Asylum, my former blog --> https://crazyminhzone.wordpress.com/. I hope that I can turn it into a worthy successor to the Library. But I can't do this alone.
Currently, my plan is to have a cast of up to twelve Wardens, all of whom will be given publishing and moderation access. MSTs will be posted on a bi-weekly basis, Monday through Saturday, with each Warden assigned a day of the week to post on. Hopefully, this two-week posting schedule will prevent- or at least limit the effects of- burnout, which was one of the things that did the Library in. The two remaining Sundays will be reserved for guest riffs, or, if there are no pending submissions, a blog post or editorial written by one of the Wardens.
If you're interested in auditioning to become a Warden of the Asylum, I'll put my email up here (given enough interest from the PPC). I'd like to add that this isn't an official PPC project- seeing as I don't have Permission- so be aware that riffs posted to the Asylum will have to be divorced from the PPC canon and setting to avoid invoking the wrath of the Sunflowers. If you're looking for a style guide, look no further than the Library --> https://literarytravesty.wordpress.com/
I hope to see you in the Madhouse:
Crazy Minh
but this sounds great ☺️
Only need one more name, and that should give us a good starting roster. Any takers?
(Sorry about the delay; yesterday was kinda hectic)
So, I personally am kinda conflicted on this, since I feel that reposting content from other places kinda defeats the purpose of reviving the Library’s concept; but I’m open to the decision being made by everyone who’s expressed interest in the project.
Seeing that I haven’t received any more yays or maybe!yays; I think it’s time to start internally discussing the issue. Linstar’s email idea is probably the best one, since I don’t want to force him to have to get a Discord if he wants to communicate with the group. My plan is to use Google hangouts to communicate, so if you don’t have a Gmail account, it would probably be a good idea to invest in one. To avoid having people’s contact information plastered on this site, send me your email address via the Asylum contact form (at https://crazyminhzone.wordpress.com), and I’ll send an invite to the google hangout.
But not gotten an invite. Help?
Have a feel-better cookie.
—Ls
While I can't promise consistent activity if I check it out (real life is pretty busy at the moment), this seems interesting. I guess I'd be up for trying it if you need an extra head?
...and it's perfectly OK if you feel you don't have the time, or don't feel motivated! This project is far from finished. I still need to make changes to my blog to get it ready for archiving, and I only have three interested parties right now, including yourself. So, this is looking like it's not going to be posting riffs until maybe next year. But, I'm dedicated to getting this ready to go. It's a project I'm passionate about, and if anything, my passion is legendary.
I may need to make an actual Wordpress account, but I’ll gladly help you make fun of weird fanfic and categorize the results!
I'm going to wait for another few yays from either here or other places I've put out a recruitment call, but once I have five or six people who can definitely spare the time to join the cast, I'll put together a chat group of some variety so we can discuss auditioning and basic ground rules for the project. I know Linstar doesn't have a Discord (or, at the very least, is not on the PPC discord), so I'm not sure whether that would be the best place. That's a discussion once there's a solid block of potential Wardens though.
I don’t have Discord, or Reddit, or Facebook...
Yeah, I don't know what would be the best option.
—Ls
There's also the issue about sharing the emails with each other. I don't feel particularly comfortable with having my personal email shared with up to twelve other people, and I know myself well enough that a burner email would end up being forgotten about almost as soon as it was created. I dunno, is there a specific objection you have to creating a Discord account, Linstar? It's fine if there is, but I think it would be easiest if we used a Discord server for communications, rather than dealing with a tangled web of emails. Alternatively, if everyone has Gmail (and, if not, is comfortable with Google reading through communications posted from a burner address), we could use the Google group system? Although, that just goes back to the issues of sharing emails.
Honestly, not that big of a deal if I have to share my personal email address or commit to using a new one; just think it would be easier and faster to communicate with Discord.
I just don’t want join, because I’m on mobile and would prefer not to download an app.
As for burner emails, wouldn’t something like “crazyminh@gmail.com” be pretty easy to remember?
Anyways, I’m open to whatever the group decides.
—Ls
Do I need one?
I'm planning to give all of the project members posting, moderation, and limited editing access to my site, so everyone will need a Wordpress account for those purposes. If you're cagey about Wordpress's admittedly...colourful...cybersecurity history, then creating a email address specifically for signing up (so you don't have your email address pwned in the next example of Wordpress being lax with their cybersec) might be a good idea.
Are you planning to change that at all in your iteration? 'Cause people here might want to consider that when deciding whether they want to get on board.
~Neshomeh
(Edit: typo.)
To start off with, yeah, I'd be the first to say that the Library was fairly harsh on certain authors, and in some cases was unnecessarily aggressive. I'm guilty of this to a certain degree (I certainly didn't avoid the "Eclipse Pheonix bad" sentiment in my riff of his rewrite of Trapped, and in one case, played it for laughs), so I'm probably being fairly hypocritical by agreeing that the badmouthing was not called for necessarily.
At the same time, I feel that the Library didn't really 'badmouth' authors out of spite, or in any sort of accusatory or defamatory way. Generally, the authors who got the brunt of the badmouthing were ones who had proven that they were incapable of responding well to criticism.
Saying that, I do think it is prudent that this iteration of the Library's concept try to avoid making the same mistakes as the Library did.
So, yeah, while I personally would debate the badmouthing as being necessarily such (while also agreeing it was rather uncalled for in general), I think it's a good idea to try not to sink to the level of the people who The Asylum will potentially be riffing.
However, I do have to say that, as an Australian, and possessing a fairly foul mouth, that swearing- minus certain words that not even the foul-mouthed will permit themselves to say- will be permitted at the riffer's discretion, which is something the PPC tries to avoid to my knowledge.
And swearing is only discouraged on the Board (and probably Discord but IDK), it is consider okay if you warn readers on missions. (For example, David Null and the Aviator are both pretty foul-mouthed.)
I do recall SC mentioning angry authors as a reason why the Library was inactive; that’s why I’d suggest the Asylum also adopt the PPC’s “don’t tell the author you’ve sporked their fic” policy. I can tell you that I’ll abide by that.
—Ls doesn’t swear himself
I feel that, having to ask a author for permission to criticize their work, is antithetical to the concept of criticism to begin with. Especially given that the work being riffed is, by default, a publicly available work, and is therefore free game as far as criticism is concerned.
It's perfectly OK to avoid swearing in your riffs, which is why I said "at the riffer's discretion" not "swearing is mandatory". I think the only rules I care to implement for riffing (in no particular order of import) are:
No badmouthing the authors. At the end of the day, the only thing laid out for riffing is their poor-quality work. Providing details about their history online is permitted, but only if it is to provide context for something about the work (e.g. "Squirrelking is well-known for writing some bizarre badfics, and this story is an example thereof." rather than "Dear God, Squirrelking is so horrible for writing this, how can anyone with x braincells condone writing this!").
No bigotry, humorless political discussion (again, unless used for context), or degrading or defamatory language.
Untagged spoilers are allowed due to Wordpress's poor implementation of spoiler formatting, but try to avoid spoiling things that aren't old enough or well known enough to justify it. We're not out to ruin someone's fun about a particular work, even if it's in the name of fannish enthusiasm.
No doxxing or revealing of sensitive information. If you don't have permission to share it, then don't bloody share it.
Remember, it's all for fun and the task of constructive criticism. So have fun, but remember that the goal is to criticise, not to solely lambast.
But, question: Can we riff original works?
—Ls
...I’d like to join! There are a few fics I’d like to riff that have already been PPC’d, or are unPPC-able. Besides, this just sounds fun.
—Ls
I'm looking to get at least six yays before I start the auditioning process. I have to think about going to sleep now (it's 11PM, and I have two coding assignments to get done for uni before Sunday), but I'll check back in in the morning. Hopefully we'll have a few other interested parties before the 'morn.
Which happens to still be alive and well. The comm sporks anything from fanfiction to original works; I myself have a finished sporking of an anime. The comm is here: https://das-sporking2.dreamwidth.org/
Including your stuff. I really liked the legolas by laura one.
—Ls
is of a deeply questionable anime. The spork cannot be linked here due to NSFW content, but you can find it under "spork type: anime/manga" tag.
And I think it would’ve been better phrased as “my proudest spork”.
—Ls admires your writing
The Library had a unique approach to riffing bad fanfiction, and I'd like to try and bring that style back to the internet. Das Sporking would probably take me in, but it would never be the same. This isn't the same thing either, but I feel the Library needs a worthy successor.
I'd also like to try and build a community that might grow and thrive in its own way, distinct from other communities on the net. There are precious few riffing sites out there, it won't hurt for another to come into existence to fill the gap left by another.