please don't link to fanhistory dot com

please don't link to fanhistory dot com

: kate_nepveu; September 2nd, 2009

I've been seeing some links to fanhistory dot com for a quick summary of what's been dubbed SurveyFail. Please don't link to that site: it is run by a woman who outs fans for profit, literally. She has even less respect for fandom than the "researchers," I would argue, because she knows the fannish ethical norms she is violating.

Instead, here's a short survey by tablesaw, and a longer one over at FeministSF (among many others; see the SurveyFail tag over at linkspam). I also highly recommend this eloquent response, before the fail began multiplying, by eruthros.

ETA: I am reliably advised, by someone who does not wish further public attention brought to the matter for obvious reasons, that fanhistory has very recently demonstrated that it has not changed its ways.

Tags: gender, links, sexuality

( 26 comments — Leave a comment )

calanthe_b

2009-09-03 02:29 am (UTC)

Thanks for the heads-up; I wasn't aware of FanHistory's, erm, history. I'm now linking to eruthros at DreamWidth.

kate_nepveu

2009-09-03 03:37 pm (UTC)

No problem.

tablesaw

2009-09-03 03:05 am (UTC)

Damnit, I always forget about fan history's, um, history. I'd just added a link to their copy of the original survey when I read this post (an action that kind of undermined your gracious link). Anyway, that link's been removed, so I'm still looking for an easy-to-read version of the original survey.

kate_nepveu

2009-09-03 02:35 pm (UTC)

http://ljgeoff.livejournal.com/296228.html via http://geekfeminism.wikia.com/wiki/SurveyFail

publius1

2009-09-03 03:20 am (UTC)

Y'know, if I were to read you and you alone, I'd think that the Internet was one big seedy underbelly! Man, there's some execrable people out there.

skwidly

2009-09-03 02:06 pm (UTC)

I wish I had the emotional, cognitive, and temporal resources to keep up with more of the cultural goings-on of fandom, and Kate's posts have often acted as a high-level filter for when the fail gets to really critical levels. Which is much appreciated.

That said: if I weren't certain that every other community were similarly encumbered by various foul -isms and idiots, I'd want to dissociate myself from fandom. Really. Ugh.

kate_nepveu

2009-09-03 02:34 pm (UTC)

Indeed. As

veejane says, the reason fandom is full of people who [fill in the blank here] is because fandom is full of *people*.

kate_nepveu

2009-09-03 02:33 pm (UTC)

Hey, I'm busy and I gotta prioritize, you know?

Cute kid post coming soon, though, really truly I mean it (since I already missed her 1-year developmental update . . . )

desperance

2009-09-03 06:28 pm (UTC)

*wants cute kid post*

muuranker

2009-09-03 06:57 pm (UTC)

Hi, Publius1,

There are some folks who are documenting the history of fandom _nicely_ (unless someone know better!) I'm thinking of Andy Sawyer of the SF Foundation (http://www.sfhub.ac.uk/), and Gary Hunnewell, whose collection of Tolkien fanzines is at Marquette (http://www.marquette.edu/library/collections/archives/Mss/JRRT/mss-hunnewell-s1.html).

kate_nepveu

2009-09-03 09:06 pm (UTC)

I don't know anything about those projects and thus this comment is not a reflection on them, but I strongly object to your implication that I am not acting "_nicely_", and thus doing something wrong, by pointing out people who are doing damage to fandom.

muuranker

2009-09-04 06:32 am (UTC)

Sorry for not being clearer - I was replying to Publius1's comment, and by people not acting nicely, I meant what she or he calls "execrable people".

If I mistread this, and Publius1 meant you, then I misread her or his comment, and apologize for my unintended slight.

kate_nepveu

2009-09-04 11:41 am (UTC)

Ah, thank you for the clarification.

badgerbag

2009-09-03 05:42 am (UTC)

Oh no! I *just* linked to it. And it's a good article, despite being on there! *reading your links now*

sparkymonster

2009-09-03 08:30 am (UTC)

Oops, I just sent you a twitter link to this post.

kate_nepveu

2009-09-03 02:35 pm (UTC)

I don't go there on principle, but is it CC licensed?

elfwreck

2009-09-03 05:59 am (UTC)

This post has been included in a linkspam roundup

Definitely a signal I want boosted.

kate_nepveu

2009-09-03 02:34 pm (UTC)

Thanks!

das_dingsi

2009-09-03 06:36 am (UTC)

Thank you. It has been bugging me to see the FH link being passed around. (Don't know if anyone wants [even more] further reading, but just in case: links about FH / events surrounding it have also been collected on Delicious.com.)

As for alternatives; there's also the page over at Geek Feminism Wiki.

kate_nepveu

2009-09-03 02:36 pm (UTC)

Thanks!

kassrachel

2009-09-03 10:52 am (UTC)

I think a rudimentary entry is going up at Fanlore later today, and once the entry exists, it'll get added-to and augmented for sure, so that might be another place to look for intel on this particular fail.

ETA: There is now an entry at fanlore: SurveyFail. (Anyone who wants to is welcome to add material, naturally -- yay wiki.)

Edited at 2009-09-03 11:33 am (UTC)

kate_nepveu

2009-09-03 02:38 pm (UTC)

Thanks!