Wank is relevant to fandom history, so the line would get, well, really fuzzy. Analyses of fandom events or the evolution of fandom culture could involve wank real fast. Even on a purely "let's talk about the canon" level, I know I've written responses to other meta that were...not complimentary to the source. Sometimes you disagree with someone's opinions on canon. When I disagree with someone's characterization in a fic, I might write my own fic about that character, but it isn't derivative of that other fic, it isn't a direct response, so I don't mention the other fic, and our two fics coexist peacefully. With meta, responses to responses can escalate.
As I said, a rule against mentioning real-life fans at all might be the only way to keep this from getting out of hand.
There's also the matter of, with fic, even poor quality fic is still obviously fic, so there's no need for quality control. With meta, there's a fine line between criticism and a manifesto of hate. Having spent time in a fandom recently that constantly hatepukes on female characters, I don't think I want to see pages and pages of "god will someone kill that [fictional] bitch already," even if it has a few sentences of poorly-reasoned excuses for why they hate that character tacked on to make it look like meta or whatever. Meta is basically just people's opinions on things. Some people have awesome, well reasoned opinions that make me see canon in a new light. I'd love to see that kind of meta here. But then I remember what people's opinions usually look like, and my heart sinks.
AO3 has a harassment policy. There are ways to deal with abuse without banning essays. The capacity to post is not freedom from consequences.
I guess I'm interested, since I also find myself in fandoms with a lot of negativity to female characters, how do you propose to deal with all the fan ficton? A large number of post-series Harry/Snape stories start with Ginny having her character blackened as a shrewish cow, often an adulteress. SGA fandom was at least good enough to 'warn' for Keller bashing by using the two tags McKay/Sheppard and McKay/Keller, presumably meant to alert Keller haters to her presence in the story. I imagine this happens in every fandom with a popular m/m OTP and canonical female love interest. People don't have to write non-fiction to hatepuke. (Is there lovepuke? Sorry, it's late and my imagination is running wild. I bet lovepuke has glitter and rainbows.)
My feeling is that just because I profoundly disagree with another fan's opinion about a character or a show, I don't get to wipe their opinion away, no matter how loathesome it is. Much as I'd like to. I do get where you're coming from.
Comment on OTW Board response to concerns about the meta decision
Aiffe Sun 03 Mar 2013 12:58PM UTC
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Vera Mon 04 Mar 2013 10:57AM UTC
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