Laughter > Butthurt, y/n?

[jedibuttercup]

I usually don't comment publicly about negative reviews I receive on my fanfic, but I'm going to make an exception in this case.

Have any of the rest of you heard from Samael3 of fanfiction dot net? I hope you haven't; and hopefully he (or she) will choke on what I just sent back and rethink his (or her) approach before spewing any more poison. Though I wouldn't hold my breath. Anyway, as follows:

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A Review Left by Samael3 on my fic, Annual Report:

(See review here; the fic is a Buffy/Firefly cross, starring Faith and Book.)

(ETA: The review was reported as abuse, and has since disappeared from that link. \0/ I solemnly swear that the following is an exact copy.)

Can I say what a waste of creative potential this is and how pointless to the true fate of humankind this remains. Fluffy and Flutefly are two of the worse shows ever done in TV (which is a very decadent media itself since it's ruled by morns who want naked girl in tar, football and p*rn* channels, not witty willingy defying shows such as the sadly defunct "Commander in Chief" with Geena Davies, should you watch it b*tch, you'd save more neurones than watching Pars Hilton's chiuahua). Next time you decide do something positive for mankind go to a NGO and do some humanitarian work in Africa or Asia, not this BS.

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And My Reply, Privately Sent:

First of all, I'd like to say: thank you. Confused? Read on.

Your comment to my story is so *angry*. And making so very many assumptions about what I do or do not do when not writing and posting here. It's fascinating that you chose this story to comment on as well, as I'm sure there are many, many more in my listing that would, by the standards you have given, offend you far more.

If this wasted expense of emotion-- for it surely is wasted, as it comments not at all upon the story itself-- is any example of the way you behave toward fandom in general, then I hereby encourage you and wish you joy exhausting yourself raging against faceless Others over the Internet rather than inflicting this level of pointless hate on actual living, breathing humans in your vicinity.

If I make even one person smile with something I have written, then to me, it is worth it; and *far* more positive than what you have just done. Far from deterring me, you have encouraged me. Thank you, again.

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... So, what do you think? Too much? Too little to penetrate such a thick skull? Click through to the replyer's own FFN page if you want an entertaining read through a prejudiced, small-minded person's profile. I don't care what a person's politics are, Samael3's efforts are not a reasonable approach to reach and change minds; it is, instead, an obvious attempt to attract attention and wank. I cry false advertising, and smile back through bared teeth: Have a nice day.
~

Comments

[iulia_linnea.livejournal.com]

I suck and have bookmarked a lot of your stuff for future reading, which means I don't know the fic in question, but *sporfles*.

You were very measured in your response; I would have ignored the twit. I like it!

S/he, of course, won't get it. ;)

[zoev-believesin.livejournal.com]

I'm assuming that you posted your story under 'Buffy Crossovers' or said something in the description that indicated this was a Buffy and Firefly related story.

Seriously, what kind of person would read a type of story that they know that they will hate, and then complain that it featured those particular fandoms.

If you really don't like any television shows, then what are you doing reading anything on fanfiction.net

[serendu.livejournal.com]

*blinks*

I don't get it. I mean - why read fanfic if you don't like the shows it features. Weird.

Clearly a very angry person who has too much time on their hands. Instead of leaving ranty reviews why don't they go out and do something... you know - something, dare I say it, useful? Mental.

Your reply was far kinder than anything I would have written!

[beatrice_otter]

Why? He's a troll. He likes being nasty. He gets off on it.

I actually got a "review" from this guy a month or so ago, which I ignored. The next person to review had apparently checked the reviews and seen his comment. He mentioned it in his review, and said it was actually a compliment--this jerk doesn't bother going after people until they have a certain number of stories, reviews, and reads of their story--IOW he only goes after popular writers. If you've caught his attention, you must be getting somewhere.

[serendu.livejournal.com]

Ahh. Thank you! That explains a lot!

[butterflykiki.livejournal.com]

You're a better woman than me, Gunga Din. You're right, they're no doubt looking for a fight, and the bad spelling alone would've had me going wtf??? at them. Your response was much saner than the meandering and pointless vitriol deserved.

[butterflykiki.livejournal.com]

Any reason *not* to report this jerk? Is FFN.net reporting anonymous?

*has finger poised over 'abuse' button*

[jedibuttercup]

I ... honestly didn't think to try. I assume it is? But judging by the "replies to replies" on Samael3's profile page, a lot of other people may have already had cause to try, so I'm not sure how much impact it'll have.

[butterflykiki.livejournal.com]

Heh. Probably not, but I had him pinged for abusive language, anyway. And lookit, the review is gone. I wasn't logged in at the time, so I guess it's not necessary.

[jedibuttercup]

\0/ Thanks.

[kerravonsen]

You won't change him, but you rock mightily for your reply. He might be baffled for a moment that you didn't return anger for anger.

If I make even one person smile with something I have written, then to me, it is worth it; and *far* more positive than what you have just done.

This is awesome and spot-on. Yes, it is too little to penetrate such a thick skull, but nothing short of a miracle would do that. Some thick-skulled people can be reached by their own personal suffering, but he already has so much anger in him, I don't think even that would change him. As I said, a miracle.

[kerravonsen]

His review seems to have vanished.

[jedibuttercup]

\0/ Awesome. Glad I typed it up before it disappeared, though.

I'll have to check back and see if my name shows up in a rebuttal on his profile.

[maevebran.livejournal.com]

I do not get it. Dude is crazy. {{hugs}} The bed spelling of the review makes me think he was just spoiling for some wank.=)

[avamclean.livejournal.com]

From what I've seen Samael3 is a tool and this just helps to confirm it. I'm sorry you were spewed by his stupidity but your response was fantastic.

[lt-kitty.livejournal.com]

Laughter > Butthurt

Depends entirely on the source of the latter.... ;)

Regarding the actual question...

I really don't get the point of Samuel3's review. If he's not into Buffy and Firefly, why is he even reading your fanfic? Does he wish for you to write in another fandom? Or professionally? Wouldn't it be more productive to say something like, "I love your fic, and I wish you'd write X story for Doctor Who. Can I offer you cookies?" or "You're so fabulous, you should write original characters and go pro!" So much nicer than insulting your current fandoms!

Also,how did he decide you were writing for humanitarian purposes? That's honestly a WEIRD assumption.

[kerravonsen]

"I love your fic, and I wish you'd write X story for Doctor Who. Can I offer you cookies?"

I would love to offer jedibuttercup cookies to write Doctor Who, but offering her DVDs would be more helpful, except I can't offer her either one, seeing as I'm on the other side of the world...

On reading things that annoy you

[anabels.livejournal.com]

There is a rather interesting discussion going on around the place about how teh Internet allows peopl to limit their infomration intake to only those sources that they are likely to agree with and how this can harm discussion and debate on important issues. So there are things to be said from reading things that annoy or commentators whose perspective differs from your own.

However I do not think this in anyway applies to fanfic (or any other type of fiction). In this case if you read things that are clearly flagged as unlikely to appeal to you and then complain that you didn't enjoy, you are a moron.

You reply was a good deal more measured and reasonable than the moron (or morns by his spelling) deserved. Kudos to you.

People like this raise the requirement for life to come with a /ignore command - except for the above mentioned risk of missing something important!

[jdsmith-gfu.livejournal.com]

Troll. Pure and simple. The basic inability to spell in the attempt to attack gives it a way. This is a lowlife who gets his basic pleasure out of finding new ways to assault faceless others he assumes have no way to fight back.

[tarlanx]

I would have mentioned that if fandom is so pointless then why is the b*tch reading it instead of doing relief work in Africa?

Don't feed the trolls

[catherinecookmn.livejournal.com]

Don't respond to silly trolls. You're only playing into their hands. He's probably laughing his head off right now -- seriously, they call it "lulz", which is their form of "lolz".

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/03/magazine/03trolls-t.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all

Re: Don't feed the trolls

[jedibuttercup]

I'd like to think I was doing the opposite of "playing into his hands". I read fandom_wank sometimes, and I've been active online since 1996; I hardly need schooling in 'net behavior.

Negative emotions is what he was obviously looking for; that grants a feeling of power, to stir someone's shit up that way.

But passive non-response does no favors to the recipients of such trolling, either. You don't shut a human canker up by ignoring him; he only tries and tries again until he gets a response from someone else, and he will eventually, which is why we get email spammers.

Positive response may not stop him, but may make him feel irritated at lack of causing the expected response, rather than empowered; and that's what I was going for.

[flingslass.livejournal.com]

I love it. It's so polite it'll get up his/her nose :D
This is the response I'd give "Piss off (or orf if you are listening to my accent) Dickhead!