Irritated

[indri]

The local DVD stores don't have the Angel boxed sets in stock just now and I need AtS Season 2 Part 1 for the Drusilla story. I'll have to order it online, which means I won't get to watch it until next weekend. But I want to watch it now, dammit!

Also, a maddening post by Valkyrn is tempting me get involved in another BBF brawl. I should back away from the computer now.

Comments

[speakr2customrs.livejournal.com]

I think it's not so much a BBF brawl as it is everybody jumping on Valkyrn and giving him/her a good kicking.

[makd.livejournal.com]

'Splainy, please? (I so hate to miss a good brawl. Unless I'm in the middle of one.)

If you need to research Drusilla's story - how about buffyworld.com (the episode transcript) or the buffydialoguedatabase?

[indri]

BBF, as you may know, is the Better Buffy Fics Yahoo Group. It's a place where people rec fic of good literary quality regardless of genres and pairings. I have in the past much appreciated its recs and its archives, but with 1300+ members, there's always going to be someone there whose opinions are going to drive you batty. Also, at any given time, 90% of fanfic-reading subgroups think that their favourite fic is under-represented and/or vilified there. I've heard this complaint from B/A fans, B/S fans and slash fans. Oh, and every so often the list implodes in arguments about grammar, characterisation, English dialects, fanon, slash and "what is a Better Buffy Fic anyway?". I persevere with BBF because it has pointed me towards many excellent fics I would never otherwise have read and because its members provided me with encouragement early on. Most of my favourite fellow authors comment there regularly.

One of the mods, Valkryn, recommended an S/B human-AU set in 1823 in India. I know I have very different tastes from Valkyrn, so despite the pairing and the intriguing historical setting, I did not go and look. Others did, and reported that the history and setting was complete nonsense. Valkryn responded by saying, roughly, that it looked accurate enough as far as she was concerned, that she didn't expect much accuracy in historical settings and that we were all reading about vampires anyway, so what did it matter?

As someone who much appreciates the efforts of others to provide convincing historical backdrops in fics, this casual dismissal of basic technique was a tad annoying.

Maybe more than a tad. So I am carefully not responding.

[chrisleeoctaves.livejournal.com]

I dropped out of BBF months ago...not because I felt "vilified" as a B/A shipper but because I found many of the recs that people gushed over absolute tripe. (Okay, and yeah, I did find a pervasive anti-B/A sentiment there...unless one of the BNF B/A writers was recced...and in two years I bet I saw only a half dozen B/A recs.)

Still, listening to your complaint, I'm glad I bowed out. While it's true that some good stuff goes through that list, I suspect loads of other great stuff is missed because the most vocal of the BBFers simply poo all over it cause it isn't there thing or make it a place where people like me felt intimidated to offer up recs. (And I'm not easily intimidated.)

I've found LJ a much nicer place to discover new stuff and I've gone back to random surfing because there's no potential gasket-blowing.
*g*

[makd.livejournal.com]

Never heard of the BBF group, so haven't missed it. Are they associated with the Better Buffy Ficion Archive? If so, then I'm kinda familiar with the archive end of it. And wow - yeah, I've heard of the occasional kerfuffles associated with Better Buffy, now that I've had some time for the name to percolate in my brain.

If the BBF Website is the archive for the Yahoo group, then why belong to the Yahoo group? You're going to get the stories, anyway....

I do scan the Better Buffy Fiction Website about once/month for new fic, but have usually read all the stories archived there.

[makd.livejournal.com]

Duh. Just answered my question about the BBF website and the Yahoo group. They're the same thing....Boy, sometimes I am just T.H.I.C.K.

And, I repeat: why bother with the Yahoo group when they're going to post the stories, anyway - and you can read the story without the kerfuffle?

[indri]

why bother with the Yahoo group when they're going to post the stories, anyway -and you can read the story without the kerfuffle?

1. There's often a considerable timelag (six months or more) before approved stories are added to the archive.
2. You get to read considered discussions of fic by people whose views you respect (rahirah and speakr2customrs responded to Valkryn).
3. I find it easier to keep track of emailed recs rather than LJ-posted recs.
4. Back when I used to finish fics that I started, there was always the egoboo of being rec'ed and discussed there.
5. Sentimentality. One of my first fics was rec'ed there, which prompted Coquette/witling and others to email me, which was my first personal contact with Buffy fandom.
6. Where there are recs, there's kerfuffle, with the possible and notable exception of your LJ :) Today I'm narrowly avoiding weighing in on the "authorial intent" debate.

THE AUTHOR IS DEAD!

*runs, hides*

[indri]

Forgot to add an important reason.

7. You get to rec good fics to 1300+ people who might never otherwise read them, for the benefit of both readers and authors.

[chrisleeoctaves.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the archive is the result of fics that get recced on the list. If they are seconded or thirded they get archived.

And I can't believe I misspelled "there" in that post.

The former English teacher in me quivers when I see stupid mistakes like that....

[indri]

many of the recs that people gushed over absolute tripe

Sadly, yes.

I've found LJ a much nicer place to discover new stuff and I've gone back to random surfing because there's no potential gasket-blowing

Perhaps I should just stick with LJ recs. makd has already provided many more than I am ever likely to read.

[indri]

Forgot to reply to the second half of your comment!

I habitually go through transcript and screencap sites for research and up until now that's been more than enough. But when I was discussing my views on Dru with peasant_ by email, it became clear that I'd missed important nuances that changed my view of the human Dru in particular. Not being a regular viewer of AtS until S5, it seems I've missed a few things.

[makd.livejournal.com]

ahh. Yes, AtS did flesh out more of Dru than was first presented on BtVS.