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Oh Usenet, On Some Days I Do Miss You
Oct. 31st, 2013 09:56 pmWhenever someone starts talking about fandom community rules, fandom morals, fandom etiquette, fandom "my way is the Way and it has always been", I remember the good old days of the Internet. In 1997 a few fans complained about the existence of adult fanfiction on the Internet saying that because the Usenet was a public forum, we had to keep the "airwaves" child friendly. Why?: Because ".....restraint and rules are necessary for society to function. Yes, you are free to express yourself -- but within the limits of society -- or else you will have only chaos and anarchy."
And the Net's response: "....this isn't "society" -- whatever the hell *that* is! -- this is the Internet. And it goes all over the entire world, and the only real rule is, there ARE no systemwide rules. There are a few customs, observed by more users than not. But there are NO hard and fast "rules", and I for one hope that there never will be. We have handed over far too much of our freedom to well-meaning moralistic prudes. This [newsgroup] , and the 'Net in general, are where I personally draw the line. In case you hadn't noticed, the very essence of the 'Net is decentralized chaos -- and for the most part it works really well."
Read more from the "Less NC17 Stories!" thread at alt.startrek.creative here. This debate led to an attempt to - surprise surprise - create spaces that would be free of fiction that "introduced the concept of homosexuality" (aka No Slash Here).
Bottom line: anyone speaking for Fandom ("Fandom with a capital F and that spells Trouble right here! in River City"), can only truthfully represent their own limited POV. The fandom world is vast, multicultural, multilingual and multi-POV. Just take a peek at tumblr and twitter and remember: "This has all happened before. And it will all happen again." Please report back to me when it does. Thank you kindly.
And the Net's response: "....this isn't "society" -- whatever the hell *that* is! -- this is the Internet. And it goes all over the entire world, and the only real rule is, there ARE no systemwide rules. There are a few customs, observed by more users than not. But there are NO hard and fast "rules", and I for one hope that there never will be. We have handed over far too much of our freedom to well-meaning moralistic prudes. This [newsgroup] , and the 'Net in general, are where I personally draw the line. In case you hadn't noticed, the very essence of the 'Net is decentralized chaos -- and for the most part it works really well."
Read more from the "Less NC17 Stories!" thread at alt.startrek.creative here. This debate led to an attempt to - surprise surprise - create spaces that would be free of fiction that "introduced the concept of homosexuality" (aka No Slash Here).
Bottom line: anyone speaking for Fandom ("Fandom with a capital F and that spells Trouble right here! in River City"), can only truthfully represent their own limited POV. The fandom world is vast, multicultural, multilingual and multi-POV. Just take a peek at tumblr and twitter and remember: "This has all happened before. And it will all happen again." Please report back to me when it does. Thank you kindly.