I have to say this before I explode.

[hackthis_archive]

Being in fandom is like being in a relationship. Sometimes you are stupidly in love (emphasis on the 'stupid'). Sometimes you are in loathing. Sometimes you are thinking about felonies, sometimes you are thinking about tattoos. And as with every relationship, it's important to communicate. How are people gonna know how you feel if you don't say something, so here is me communicating about podfics.


I have a strict no-podfic policy regarding my work. I know people love podfics. I know people enjoy making them and listening to them, and more power to you. I am not pissing on your parade. Hell, there's a podfic of TRADE that I approved two years ago, but based on experiences since then I don't allow my stuff to be podficced. That's my decision and people have respected that, and for that, I am very grateful.

Why am I grateful? Because people are displaying manners and being thoughtful. They are fucking asking first. How hard is it to ask first? Seriously?

Based on my experiences (and those of people I talk to), I would say 95% of the people who read or record podfics are lovely, well-mannered people who talk to the authors and ask if they can record their stories and whatever the author says, they do.

This isn't about those people.

This is about the people who do not ask permission.

This is about the people who go ahead and record somebody else's story and then ask after the fact if it's cool if they post them since they already appropriated somebody else's work without permission and now they've got this story that they just have to share since they did all this work and they badger the author to give them permission even though they never asked permission in the first fucking place.

Ladies and gentlemen, THAT IS NOT COOL.

How would you feel if I came to your house while you were out and took some of your jewelry or your shirts or your favorite shoes and wore them around and then came back later when you were home and said, "Oh, hai! I took your shit and did stuff with it, but I'm already wearing it now so you don't mind do you?"

Uh, I'm pretty sure you'd fucking mind.

The same can be said for these stories that are recorded without asking.

It's not hard to ask for permission. You send an email or a PM or drop a line and you ask and whatever that person says, whether it's yay or nay or you sure you don't want to use another story, you do, because that's part of what fandom is about: respecting other people. It's about respecting other people's choices, even when you don't agree and they make you sad or irate or frustrated, and not trying to harangue an author when you didn't even have the decency to ask in the first place and then being upset and acting like a dick when that person says no.

We all want fandom to be a place we can come and hang out and be happy and feel respected and understood and appreciated. That all starts at home, it starts with manners and treating people the way you want to be treated. I want to be treated like a human being with thoughts and feelings and consideration. And I think you do, too.

I mean unless you want me at your house when you come home, chilling on your sofa, drinking your beer and wearing your favorite hat. I would even buy my own ticket if your name is Raylan Givens. Just saying.

Please do not link to metafandom

Comments

[wordsalone.livejournal.com]

♥

[svilleficrecs.livejournal.com]

<3

And also, if you felt compelled to write ANY fic with Raylan (and at the moment I'm feeling some Raylan/Tim though I'm not sure how it would work) I would be eternally your bitch, and also promise to never podfic it.

[anywherebeyond.livejournal.com]

*hugs* I'm sorry about the closet raiders, boo.

[sparky77.livejournal.com]

I mean unless you want me at your house when you come home, chilling on your sofa, drinking your beer and wearing your favorite hat.

You are more than welcome :)

[tenaciousmetoo.livejournal.com]

You're reminding me of a conversation I had with a fangirl who could not comprehend that it was a problem that she was converting other people's fic to e-book reader formats that she could then share with the world.

She was completely convinced that (1) the fic was public domain and therefore hers to play with, and (2) she was providing an awesome service (for which she was starting comms and contemplating fees).

I was very proud I didn't punch her in the face.

[alethialia.livejournal.com]

Just WORD to all of this. Common friggin' decency does not go out the window simply because it's the 'net. And frankly, if you're asking after the fact then you damn well know you should be asking beforehand...but you're not. Which makes you kind of a jerk.

[forsweatervests.livejournal.com]

Word.

[bibliokat.livejournal.com]

Manners and Justified quote for the win.

[bunnymcfoo.livejournal.com]

ugh. seriously, some people lack manners.

[snarkaddict.livejournal.com]

That is just plain rude! What is wrong with people?!

In happier news, I love that moment when Raylan said that! ♥

[live-laugh-love.livejournal.com]

wow. that's some balls right there. ill mannered ones at that.

[ariadne83]

How would you feel if I came to your house while you were out and took some of your jewelry or your shirts or your favorite shoes and wore them around and then came back later when you were home and said, "Oh, hai! I took your shit and did stuff with it, but I'm already wearing it now so you don't mind do you?"

My little sister used to do this all the time and it drove me NUTS. To this day I obsessively alphabetize my CDs because I have to know exactly what's missing.

[niciasus.livejournal.com]

Those people are stealing, pure and simple. I'm amazed at what technology has done to people. It has desensitized people and their moral landscape. If they see something on the net, in the community such as in fandom, they think they own it. I just don't get it.

[sheara121.livejournal.com]

damn. it never even occurred to me that people could be so rude.

[daraq.livejournal.com]

I didn't know that you have a strict no-podfic policy. I download almost everything I see, but won't take any of your stories if I run across them in the future. I'm glad you got this out before you exploded - it's good for the rest of us to know what's going on in this kind of situation.

[factorielle.livejournal.com]

Er. Much as I agree that it should be basic courtesy to ask for these things, two points:

1. In terms of how it affects you, I don't see the difference between asking before or after recording. If they're graceful about the fact that they took a risk and lost, then it's fundamentally the same thing. The only difference is that they've wasted hours on work that will never see the day, but that's their problem. If they're not graceful about it, which the person mentioned up there wasn't, then it's something else entirely. But on principle, why should someone ask for permission before starting to record something that may never be finished?

2. The "what you're doing is the same as breaking into my house and stealing my belongings" argument is as fallacious here as it is in the hands of the anti-fanfiction crowd. How does making a recording of a fictional work (that's already based on someone else's to begin with, so there's a healthy dose of irony) equate to trespassing and theft?

[bl-nt.livejournal.com]

aaah total off topic, but you guys that write GK fics are awesome.the talent THE TALENT ..I just love you O_O

[freedomyell.livejournal.com]

you are so right.
I hope you don't mind me commenting randomly like this.
BTW - why do you not want this linked to metafandom?
I've just never heard of metafandom before thought for some reason I think of huge Japanese Robots!