Of course, it felt like an emergency at the time, but I wonder how much thought was able to be given to these issues, even as hypotheticals. (This is not a criticism of the OTW's process in forming its nonprofit. Just an observation/wondering.)
At that time, it almost feels like a different Age. People wanted to post their fics or art and that seemed to be ‘it’. I would never have considered fanfic being used to spread hate; it just wouldn’t have occurred to me.
I think unfortunately they are. You look at what we've gone through in recent years, specifically, in the Tolkien fandom: the attacks on presenters at the Tolkien Society Seminar on diversity, the hatred aimed toward actors of color cast in RoP, and the repeated leveraging (across decades now!) of Tolkien by the far right, in service of a white supremacist ideal.
That shower, yes. I mean, of course they are fans of Tolkien but I’ve never run into them in fandom (so far) they seem to also believe that Tolkien shouldn’t be touched; years ago I ran into them on forums but I feel they create nothing, add nothing to the fandom save hate and look on the legendarium as some kind of bible.
But by a community archive putting the community's culture at the forefront (versus comprehensiveness), the means certainly exists to say, no, this hurts people in our community and we're not willing to allow it.
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rosecarmine
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Date: 2023-06-09 12:11 pm (UTC)At that time, it almost feels like a different Age. People wanted to post their fics or art and that seemed to be ‘it’. I would never have considered fanfic being used to spread hate; it just wouldn’t have occurred to me.
I think unfortunately they are. You look at what we've gone through in recent years, specifically, in the Tolkien fandom: the attacks on presenters at the Tolkien Society Seminar on diversity, the hatred aimed toward actors of color cast in RoP, and the repeated leveraging (across decades now!) of Tolkien by the far right, in service of a white supremacist ideal.
That shower, yes. I mean, of course they are fans of Tolkien but I’ve never run into them in fandom (so far) they seem to also believe that Tolkien shouldn’t be touched; years ago I ran into them on forums but I feel they create nothing, add nothing to the fandom save hate and look on the legendarium as some kind of bible.
But by a community archive putting the community's culture at the forefront (versus comprehensiveness), the means certainly exists to say, no, this hurts people in our community and we're not willing to allow it.
Yes, this!