“Fake news” – fandom edition

out-there-on-the-maroon:

shinelikethunder:

bassfanimation:

dendritic-trees:

buckyballbearing:

In 2k17, a lot of us have pledged to be more cautious about ‘fake news’ posts on Facebook

I propose we extend that concern to fandom

There’s a very low bar on this site (or any site) for people to post whatever tf they want, and a very high incentive to post fake receipts to win arguments

(Or at the least, misleading “receipts” such as “Artist XYZ is a bad person” because they drew a picture of bad things happening to completely fictional characters)

So this year, if you see a callout post:

• Look for signs of bias. I have the sneaking suspicion that “XYZ-is-bad.tumblr.com” is not an objective source.
• Be wary of unsourced accusations. “Person A is a homophobe!” is a statement, not evidence. Look for original sources. Did Person A post “I hate gay people” on their blog?  Or did they draw fanart of an unpopular het pairing?
• Look for context. Check out Person A’s blog to see if you have the whole picture. Did Person A pick a fight out of nowhere, or was that viral post made in response to an anon harassing them?
• Ask “what real person was hurt”. Writing a fanfic is not the same as committing a crime in real life. If Person B claims that Person A is a real-life “abuser” because they shipped two (100% fictional!) characters, Person B is out of line. 
• Consider ulterior motives. Did Person A recently open a Patreon and receive a slew of hateful messages about ‘selling out’?  Did Person B have an argument about characterization with their co-author and then suddenly “reveal” a list of unsourced accusations?  Who stands to gain if someone else is driven out of fandom by angry anons?

Long story short, I don’t believe everyone in fandom is evil – nor that every accusation is unfounded. I do believe that unfortunately, in this modern ‘post-truth’ world, we are all going to have to get much better at fact checking and source validity…both in fandom and in real life.

I love this.

One little thing I find helps with this is to remember:

A thing that makes you feel bad, is not necessarily a thing that is bad.

So, you know, people shipping your NOTP, or having headcanons that contradict yours or writing fic on topics that make you frightened or uncomfortable is actually upsetting. And you can totally be upset about it.

But it doesn’t actually follow, necessarily, that the person upsetting you, is actually doing something wrong. They might be. Its possible. But its more likely you need to add some tags to your blacklist and put it from your mind.

Bless this post forever and ever Amen.

I think I said it the first time this post went around, but I just want to repeat it:

The very first thing to ask yourself when assessing a callout post, IMO, is “what are readers supposed to do with this information?”

If the answer is “go give this asshole a piece of your mind” or “unfollow/block this person, tell all your friends to do the same, and send ‘helpful’ anon messages to anyone who hasn’t gotten the shunning memo yet,” I don’t give a fuck how solid the proof is, you’re being enlisted as a foot soldier in someone else’s grudge wank.

If the answer is “be cautious about trusting this person with your money, personal details, or intimate friendship” or “think twice before giving the benefit of the doubt to any accusations this person makes about others,” it’s time to start looking at whether the receipts hold up. It doesn’t automatically make it credible–in the second case, especially, you’ll have to evaluate accusations and counter-accusations on the merits, because pre-emptively smearing the whistleblower is a time-honored technique of assholes everywhere. But at least the thing you are being asked to do is a valid purpose of the “callout post” format.

FWIW, I think most callout posts–as in, standalone posts addressed to the community at large and meant to discredit the target, as opposed to something said in the course of an argument/discussion or addressed to the target themselves–are grudgewanky bullshit. If the members of Person X’s newest fandom don’t know they’re an asshole with unsavory opinions, believe me, 99 times out of 100 it will become obvious soon enough. But, since it’s impossible to build a community whose trust can never be abused, there are situations where announcements meant to discredit someone in the eyes of the community are warranted. Namely, when someone is abusing fandom’s trust in them to defraud/control/destroy other people, especially if the trust was gained under false pretenses.

Fandom’s not immune to scam artists, charismatic abusers nurturing cults of personality, or assholes who use strings of false identities to fly under the radar long enough to hurt people before their reputation catches up to them. The purpose of a legit callout post should be to build a case for revoking the community’s presumption of trust, thus removing what allows such people to operate. The offenders still get to exist, chat with their friends, make art, write fic, bang out entertaining shitposts that rack up 50,000 notes, whatever–the point isn’t to stop them from doing that. It’s to warn everyone else not to buy them stuff based on a sob story, register for their “convention,” get enamored of their oh-so-true badass exploits, or uncritically believe the smack they talk about people who’ve gotten on their bad side. In the less noxious cases where someone has simply “earned” a reputation as an authority which they’ve been using to shut down others’ opinions, and it turns out their reputation is based on total bullshit, the goal of a legit callout should be to take the argument-from-authority crutch away from them and make them back up their points like the rest of us peons. It’s not that they can’t be right, or that the former scam artist will never deliver on something they accepted money for. It’s that they should have to to disprove a presumption of shenanigans instead of being taken at their word.

Callout posts began to warn newcomers to fandoms about known abusers and predators. Someone shipping your NOTP is not the equivalent to someone who preys on underage fans online or sexually harasses people at conventions. 

If someone shipping your NOTP tags, block the tag. If they don’t tag, politely ask them to tag, or block their blog.