BoE and Turi

[lotesse]

Okay, all former PonyPals. Tell me what you think of Turimel's upcoming book.

I'm not sure where I stand on this. On the one hand, I'd really like to have all the information, as I ended up standing dazed on the edge of all of it, and the proceeds are going to reimburse those that lost money, and sociologically I think that the whole thing is fascinating. But, I'm also worried that fandom will end up looking like a freakshow, and I don't want BoE to get the tabloid treatment. I really did love it, at least the Pony, which was thankfully free from most of the crazy.

PonyPals, will you buy it? Should it be printed? Why or why not?

Comments

[anima-mecanique.livejournal.com]

Personally, I think it's a horrible idea. This scam is bigger than just her -- Sean Astin was involved, for god's sake. The book might put out the truth about Amy and Abby, but what will the whole mess look like to outsiders? It will look like a freakshow of gullible losers and lunatic fans. It will eviscerate the reputation of the fandom. If the worst happens and this mess gets widespread press, it will probably make it nearly impossible for the fandom to set up legitmate charity ventures. Who would trust a subculture that produced that debacle? In my opinion, the book is bitterness getting ahead of good judgement.

I can't speak for the "Inner Circle", so to speak, but almost all of us on the boards had never heard any of the IRA-escaping, Merry-channelling stories. We barely interacted with OB and MrFrodo, as they were known then. They hardly ever visited the boards. Their story seems transparent when you have all their emails and later information, but hindsight is 20/20. At the time it looked like nothing more than a couple of overeager folks who failed due simply to honest incompetance. We wanted to help them out. How were we to know any different? We got a lot of abuse right after TentMoot Crash from (mainly Fandom_Wank) visitors who seemed to think we should have run a background check on them or something. Frankly, I think such people can go hang, but that is a viewpoint that we're likely to get a lot of if this thing spreads out of fandom.

[lotesse]

I know, honey, I was there. :)

But Turi is also one of us, and I do believe that she's a level-headed, fair person. I'd expect her to be very careful in her manner of presentation. And the foreword is by Tehanu, who has a lot of fandom cred. It's not like this is being done by outsiders. These are our own people, and they were right there with us. the f_w'ers weren't.

Not arguing one side or the other; I know you feel strongly about this. I do too, and I'm really not sure that this is a good idea at all. But it is Turi, and I do have some faith in her.

[anima-mecanique.livejournal.com]

I know you were there...I'm sorry, I didn't mean to imply you were outside or anything...

The thing is, it might be written by our own, and by respected fandom people, but once it's in published book format, the audience is no longer just fandom. I guess I might be hypersensitive...it might come from being a gamer, which is still an incredibly misunderstood subculture. I have friends whose parents honestly think that by playing D&D they are putting themselves a mere step away from sacrificing kittens to Satan. All this was caused by a court case, a handful of movies, and a boatload of sensational misinformation. I guess in my own way I'm being bitter too -- I'm afraid of something like that happening to LOTR fandom, even in a small way.

It's not about not trusting Turimel. It could be anyone writing the book and I'd still feel the same way. I know how badly she was hit by them, and believe me, I have sympathy. But this is the wrong way to get back at them.

[anima-mecanique.livejournal.com]

I know you were there...I'm sorry, I didn't mean to imply you were outside or anything...

The thing is, it might be written by our own, and by respected fandom people, but once it's in published book format, the audience is no longer just fandom. I guess I might be hypersensitive...it might come from being a gamer, which is still an incredibly misunderstood subculture. I have friends whose parents honestly think that by playing D&D they are putting themselves a mere step away from sacrificing kittens to Satan. All this was caused by a court case, a handful of movies, and a boatload of sensational misinformation. I guess in my own way I'm being bitter too -- I'm afraid of something like that happening to LOTR fandom, even in a small way.

It's not about not trusting Turimel. It could be anyone writing the book and I'd still feel the same way. I know how badly she was hit by them, and believe me, I have sympathy. But this is the wrong way to get back at them.

[lotesse]

No worries:)

I do know what you mean, and I have terrible misgivings about it. Out of curiosity, is there any way you think it could be done right? Or should we just bury it and try to forget?

[anima-mecanique.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure. It probably could be done right, but I can't think of a way that would be accomplished. Burying it and forgetting is not the right thing to do either, but writing and promoting a book about it...I don't know, it almost seems to give the incident a sort of glamour, when it was really nothing more than an ugly, hurtful deception. Admittedly it's pretty bizarre in its scope, but...I think the last thing the whole mess needs right now is more publicity.