michelel72 | Trolling the storyfinders

sgastoryfinders for the past two years.

(ETA 1749 EST: Now flocked.)

I can't say I'm offended or hurt, exactly, at least not on my own behalf. I only expend so much effort searching for fics I haven't read myself; if I don't trip over a useful search string early, well, I can't afford the time.

But. Some people make the time, because the whole point of the comm is helping out one's fellow fans. If I recognize the poster and have good associations — for example, if the seeker is a writer of stories (in and out of SGA) that I've enjoyed — I'm more likely to put in extra effort myself. I feel very sorry for anyone who has been hurt by this nonsense, and all my sympathies are with them. I do hope the community as a whole will not be adversely affected.

I honestly don't see any way in which it's funny or entertaining. Trolls are a waste of time and energy, and I have little respect for anyone who finds trolling entertaining. (The posts themselves are ... there, for me. I have no use for toilet/naughty "humor", though. I am not entertained as a seeker or as a finder.) I can sort of understand trolling a hate community, but trolling a good-faith mutual-assistance community is inexcusable. It's not cool or edgy or funny; at best, it's a sign of emotional and social immaturity.

It's interesting that this follows so soon after

mabfan's Reading Writers You Hate. Make no mistake: I do not in any way think that inane trolling is remotely equivalent to such offenses as Holocaust denial. I will extrapolate, however, that I am unwilling to offer profit to anyone who knowingly acts to hurt others. The currency of fandom, for its writers, consists largely of feedback and recommendations; and I will no longer be providing either to Toft, who should be ashamed (for reasons far more fundamental than the contents of the faked searches).

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Trolling trolls is funny; trolling good people who have made something their happy place and who hurt no one is douchey. If she'd never said anything about it, or only to a small circle, under flock, and if she hadn't allowed trolls in to add insult to injury, she could have had her fun times without hurting anyone. I think she thinks that she's been terribly clever? And is offended that people are taking offense? So is siccing the dogs on them?

Seriously, on both points. (Though it seems to be flocked now — far too late.)

It'd be one thing to take the objections seriously, even if to disagree, but what I saw of the comment threads before the post got locked did appear to be a classic case of defensive bunkering and flailing. The whole thing is just ... unfortunate. Did Toft honestly expect to get the same positive reaction as the Storyfinders Poem or something??

Maybe it was the F_W post that made her want to lock? Even they thought she was douchey.

I read the confession post within minutes of it being posted (Birth of A Wank so to speak, and with Fandom_wank in a three week slump I have no doubt this will end up there) and I couldn't get my head around it. My first reaction was 'What a douchy thing to do' and yet she seems so pleased with the response to her storyfinders requests, and the first comments coming in were all "You're awesome!". I honestly thought *I* was being the stick in the mud.

IMO and if she'd had any empathy she should have stopped her experiment after her first fake request, when the author herself provided the link, so genuinely happy that someone had posted a search for her story. Excuse me while I go give that writer a hug now.

My first knowledge was seeing both the

sgastoryfinders discussion post and

skaredycat's more detailed explanation, but I like to think I wouldn't have thought it was fantastic if I had first seen the confession directly. I was very surprised by those comments.

And I agree entirely. That poor writer.

The whole thing reeks of empathy fail to me. To sit there and deliberately craft lies (actively claiming she'd read the faked stories) without once thinking how anyone else would possibly be affected ... ugh.

Ugh. After I read it, it took me a few minutes to really work out all the ways this was an incredibly shitty thing to do. Minutes. Not two years and eight months.

Oh. That's... oh.

Now I feel sad, because I really like Toft's stories which I've read. And that's such a crappy thing to do. I just don't know how they thought it was possibly a good/funny thing to do. Just, WHY.

And there are loads of people commenting on how hilarious they've been... I do feel very sad for everyone who was on the wrong end of thie 'joke'.

Yeah, I'm always particularly surprised when someone I've liked for one reason (such as Toft's stories) turns out to be problematic, as if that "goodness" should somehow carry over. And I too don't see any way in which the fake posts would be anything someone would want to lay claim to. The writers who thought they had been remembered, the folks who spent time trying to help a fellow fan ... and all for the sake of a "joke" that isn't funny. Bleh.

Thank you for the link to "Reading Writers You Hate," which I hadn't seen.

For profic writers, there are some I try to no longer support financially. Where once I (and with other writers do) would have bought their book in hardcover or trade paper, now I wait for a secondhand copy they won't get a royalty off or make sure to not put in a hold request or purchase suggestion for a library copy. Others I just don't read anymore.

In fandom, as you say, feedback is currency/reward, and yes, when bad behavior is observed, calling someone on it and not rewarding their other actions (even if as you say, exponentially less reprehensible than Hogan's actions) sounds reasonable.

Trolling the storyfinders

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