[mod post] A community by any other name...

[whyareyoulikethis]

Who would have thought the least controversial part of us launching this community would turn out to be the biggest sticking point? We agonized about the site layout; we tortured ourselves over our editorial mission, our style guide, the type of content we wanted, our identity as a project. The title? An offhand decision. What were we? Fans who spaz and are fantastic. A hideous portmanteau was born and we moved onto larger issues, such as rock-paper-scissors on who had to make our Twitter account.

Anyway, since Dreamwidth support requests are apparently totally public (ha, who knew?), as you maybe have already heard, SPOILER ALERT: we're changing the name of this community/project.

One thing I'm going to admit upfront is that this was not a wholly unanimous decision. We tried to find a solution that would both address this issue respectfully and not compromise some of the reasons why we started this community in the first place. As you can see from stopitsomemore's thoughts below, I don't know if we quite made it (or if that was even possible). We did talk a lot about this; we talked about whether we should even include stopitsomemore's dissenting opinion in this post along with mine, considering the possible wank it might well engender. However, in deference to both transparency and the strong feelings of our Editor-in-Chief, I've decided to post it. I don't expect everyone to agree with this post and how we handled this, but I do think in the end it serves us all better to put our cards on the fandom table.

So, without futher ado, a side-by-side reasoning of our thoughts on the issue are below, like some sort of fandom episode of Crossfire, only where stopitsomemore and I have actually been fairly amicable about all this and neither one of us wears a bow-tie:

In looking at the feedback to Fanspastic- and by "looking" I mean "obsessively stalking the internet to the degree normally reserved for bitter people whose exes just got engaged one month after they dumped you"- the criticism that came up a few times- and in one direct email to us- was the name of the comm, because "spastic" and "spaz" are ableist terms. I was actually the person who came up with the name Fanspastic. It was at least partially a case of American cultural bias at work-- it never occurred to me that "spastic" was an ableist word, and furthermore a much more loaded and offensive term in the UK and elsewhere. Our use of it was, to badly paraphrase Shakespeare, a case of negligence and not intent. That said, ignorance is no excuse, and the last thing we want to do is hurt folks. We don't want to make this a place where some fans feel inherently uncomfortable. We don't want to be the kind of people who can't admit they're wrong. We also don't want to be remembered as the community that would have been really cool if only it hadn't been run by a bunch of privileged ableist toolbags who followed Amanda Palmer directly to Fandom Wank (do not pass Go, do not collect $200). We thought it best to address this as soon as possible, so we'd like to apologize to anyone who was offended, hurt or otherwise pissed by the name Fanspastic. Furthermore, we are indeed changing the name of the community. (We are not, however, going back and obliterating all mention of the old name from previous posts; that seems like a disingenuous sweeping of things under the rug.) We also have to thank the folks at Dreamwidth for letting us rename the comm and fix this mistake with a minimum of hassle when they didn't have to. To that end, you can now refer to this place to Fangasmic. (Please correct me if I'm wrong, but only thing I can think of that's offensive about orgasms is like if someone comes in your eye. I've been told by stopitsomemore that shit burns.) — whyareyoulikethis

I've never considered myself to be a particularly politically incorrect or a socially tone deaf person, but the dispute over the titling of our site hit me out of left field. Long before the project went public we soft-opened, recruited amongst friends, sampled it out to people whose opinions we trusted and solicited their thoughts and suggestions. At no point during the month-long process of building infrastructure did anyone who was read in on the project pause and say, "Hey, that site name might be offensive." In fact, I'd bet that for a lot of the people reading this post right now, the fact that "fanspastic" might be offensive will be as surprising to them as it was to us. (See whyareyoulikethis's note on further discussion for that.) The question of whether or not intent in fact colors the reality of a term can be argued until the end of time, and I'm hardly qualified to talk intelligently on the subject. I do know that the desire to sidestep every potential landmine can cross the line into the absurd. Ignorance of the law is not an excuse, but the impossible task of trying to offend no one is neither a law nor is it feasible. At heart, the issue can be summed by saying I'm less concerned with offending people, and if I'm going to do a good job managing the content on the site, I have to be. At the same time, my job isn't to decide what the title of the site is, nor to look out for what will make it most accessible, most serviceable, most popular and well-regarded among readers. That's whyareyoulikethis, and that's why we're renaming the project. To say I hated this decision would be putting it lightly. I resisted this move because it feels like we are betraying one of the fundamental reasons we wanted to launch this project to begin with; fandom is so preoccupied with never offending anybody that attempts to have a discussion oftentimes are smothered from lack of oxygen or blow up; I wanted us to be different. If we were going to give in on something as basic as our site name, what was next? But I also understand why we're making this move. You can ask me about this in a year, I may still be pissed we did this, but I will also be grateful if in a year, our site is around, and flourishing, and you are reading it because it wasn't lost in a dust-up right out the gate. — stopitsomemore

Please note, we're still in the process of changing the name and the other assets of the community, hopefully we should be fully transitioned by the end of the week.

Why Is It Like, Every Time Michael Shanks Opens His Mouth He Pisses Me Off?

[stopitsomemore]

If you answered, "Because the only Daniel Jackson you will ever accept into your heart is played by James Spader," then, all right, fair enough, that's probably true to some (read: major) extent.

Beyond that, though, does anybody else ever get this weird vibe that Michael Shanks just thinks he's too good for us?:

"I literally just yesterday finished a guest spot on Supernatural. I had a relatively minor role in it, working with Jared (Padalecki) and Jensen (Ackles), and a few other actors, fighting some demons and throwing down with the boys. I think that will be out in a couple months. The episode is called, I think, '99 Problems'. I'm not featured quite prominently in it, but it was a lot of fun to play in that universe. It fit into my schedule quite handily. That's why I did it." — Michael Shanks, from this interview in February

It fit into his schedule? That's why he did it? I know a lot of people who'd punch a lot of babies in the face to throw down with J2 on set. I mean, if I got to hit people on set with Supernatural, first, I would have to fashion some sort of adult diaper situation that would fit attractively underneath whatever they would dress me in, since I'm pretty sure there'd be a lot of shitting myself in glee happening, and secondly, I would CANCEL MY EVERYTHING to do it.

Still, I get it. Shanks is a professional actor, and lots of actors pick up gigs because they slot neatly in between other commitments. From someone else, or depending on tone, probably this wouldn't rub us the wrong way at all. But. It's Shanks.

Longtime dabblers in the Stargate television universes probably remember when Michael "Fuck This Noise" Shanks decided to peace out of the series in the fifth season -- not because he wanted to pursue a film career or anything specific, but "more a case of having embarked on a course of action so that I can explore the possibilities that are out there." That's Actor for "leaving to spend more time with my family," which is Normal Person for, "I'm either being fired, or I'm abandoning ship."

It's always been baffling to watch Shanks, who was lucky enough to portray probably one of the most well-loved and iconic science fiction protagonists of the last two decades, subtly deride the experience. Stargate SG-1, which ultimately took its toys and went home after an incredible 214 episodes spread out across two networks, had its flaws, sure, but it also had some of the most passionate and dedicated fans a series could hope to have. Given the number of people trying just to get started in the business, the number of shows that get scrapped or never even get greenlit, the number of small potatoes careers or thankless acting jobs out there, one would think Shanks could see beyond the trees of film fame aspiration and appreciate that genre shows -- that's shows you and I like, guys, stuff like Supernatural and Smallville or hell, Eureka, all shows he's been or going to be on, incidentally -- have given him an incredible ride.

Maybe it's just residual bitterness about Jackson's ascension talking, but come the fuck on, Michael Shanks. Why can't you be more like Amanda Tapping?

[apple] The Probability of Me Buying This is 99.99%, Captain

[thatneedslube]

I'm a Star Trek fan. I grew up watching The Next Generation and you better believe I basically peed myself over the new movie. But TNG will always be my main Star Trek love. I can't help it. Captain Picard was smooth, suave, and intelligent. Commander Riker was, well, commanding (Oh, hello, post-pubescent self), and hell, I even liked Wesley Crusher. (I know, the masses hated him, but check out Wil Wheaton now, bitches.)

But let's keep it real. The main draw on that show was Commander Data, who was the smartest person on the show and also had a cat. He was my hero. I wanted to be that daughter he created, except not because, you know, she died. And Data had all the best toys (okay, everyone on the show did). Tricorders and the LCARS system and shuttles and, of course, PADDs.

Have I mentioned that the iPad is basically a Star Trek PADD made real and that while family and friends make fun of me I want one desperately with the passion of a thousand burning stars? No?

Irrelevant. Q and Data have used it and probably want it.



Your argument is invalid.

If it comes down to it, I will fight you on the streets for this. With my fists. And my robot-like lack of compassion.

[antm] Sex, Lies, and Trash TV

[thatneedslube]

The whole reason I watched America's Next Top Model this week (okay, aside from the part where I watch ANTM every week-- it's serious) was this week's insane promo for the episode that showed one of the models sexually harassing judge and photographer Nigel Barker.

Ladies, Nigel Barker is an attractive male model, but that doesn't excuse trying to take his clothes off in a tram. More importantly, Nigel Barker being sexy doesn't excuse this week's episode from not even including the big drama during judging we saw during the promo.

If you check the colour of Tyra's jumpsuit in the promo during the line "What were you thinking?!" you can see that it's different from the jumpsuit she wore during this week's judging.



TYRA BANKS, YOU'VE MISLED ME. I was looking for insane drama, Tyra. I was looking for a girl probably crashing to the floor in tears and Nigel filing a law suit.

That was kind of a big fail.