It's past time to cut through this fucking buillshit.

[tzikeh]

I have stayed out of the OTW insanity since it began. I didn't even know how to begin to talk about it, and I didn't want to wade in while things were shaking out, and I didn't want to read things that were going to make me angry, because I knew it would just cause me impotent rage, since there was nothing I would be able to do.



I HAVE NO PROBLEM WITH PEOPLE WHO DON'T LIKE/DON'T WANT TO PARTICIPATE IN THE OTW IF THEIR PHILOSOPHIES ARE IN DIRECT CONFLICT (bolded now for those who fail at reading comprehension and think I'm defending OTW, instead of what I'm actually doing, which is bitching about people who hide their identities so that they can say nasty things about OTW), but I am so done with people who are against the OTW with absolutely no facts to back up their opposition. They are the Teabagging Party when it comes to OTW: frothing at the mouth with blind hatred, but they have absolutely no fucking facts and they just believe whatever their mental, seething leaders say without bothering with critical thought, or fact-finding of their own.

In case anyone reading this thinks that I'm somehow part of the OTW "machine," let me be crystal clear. I have no part in OTW. I'm not on the board, I'm not a beta-tester, I'm not a coder, I'm not part of the PR department, I'm not anything at all when it comes to the project. But I am DONE with this fucking insane bullshit Teabagger-mentality ignorance that has spread through some sections of fandom that are just spoiling for a fight with the OTW, because they've heard from someone who knows someone who said something they didn't like.

I have fucking HAD IT.

Whiny, shitty fucks who bitch about the OTW, but create sock-puppet accounts to do it so no one who knows them will know it was *them*, can shove it up their own asses. Cowards. Bullies. Those of you who have a beef with the OTW and have created sock-puppet accounts just to write about it? Show your faces, you craven pieces of shit. How dare you hide so that nobody who knows you finds out what you think. Afraid of conflict with people you know? Coward. You want to dish it out while not having to own it. Put up or shut up.

Comments

[liviapenn.livejournal.com]

Somehow, that doesn't still sound like the selfless and generous gift, but like a gift with a lot of conditions, all set by me without room for negotiation.

Every group effort run by a few people comes with some kind of conditions. Yuletide has always come with conditions. You have to be a fiction writer, not a fanartist or a vidder. You have to sign up in November and write your fic in the last two months of the year, not in February or August. You have to post your fiction to the archive, not to some other location. You have to agree that it will be hosted there permanently (at least, for the last three years, this has been the rule.) You have to abide by Yuletide anonymity. Etc.

That doesn't mean that the time, work and money that the mods have put into this challenge over the years are any less "freely given." The rules are the way they are because that's the only way to *accomplish anything* without making things impossibly hard for the mods. You can't submit vids instead of stories, because the archive isn't set up to provide that kind of bandwidth. You can't sign up any time of year, because matching would be impossible. We're talking about *practicalities* here, not random mod whims, and that's what I don't see people really grasping.

The power imbalance in such a relationship is profound,

So is the "who actually does the hard work of running the challenge" imbalance. I think it's an imbalance most people are pretty comfortable with, when you look at it like that.

If I want to throw a party at my house and say "Hey guys, just so you know, I've become a vegetarian, and I'm not serving my famous chicken wings," I can do that. You know why? I pay the rent on the house. I paid for the food that I'm serving. I'm the one that is doing all the work of cooking and serving and cleaning and decorating and hosting the party. Is it really reasonable to respond, "But I love your chicken wings SO MUCH, you HAVE to cook them this year. You just have to. I love this party and I love your chicken wings, and if you don't serve meat you're FORCING me not to come. It's like you're throwing me out on the street where I'll never see my friends again! I might even starve to death! I want all the birthday presents I ever gave you back! I'm going to get the other guests together and take a vote and MAKE you cook those chicken wings!"

Really? C'mon now.