Frankie Posted January 13, 2008 Report Share Posted January 13, 2008 Thinking about how we facilitate freedom of expression, but at the same time also ensure people exercise that right responsibly I was reminded of a post Foxy made some months ago about fan fics... It amused many of us and I am sure you will be able to see the analogy with some recent event and threads Some of these characteristics sound very familiar BARBIESHIPPING Short Definition: A fan of a particular pairing that acts a particular way. Barbieshippers want their pairing to behave in an idealized fashion, and tend to throw fits if anything threatens that cherished bubble Long Definition: A barbieshipper is a fan of a particular ship who lives out their fandom in a particular way. In XFiles (where I believe the term originated), the term tends to be applied mostly to Mulder/Scully shippers, but in fact, you find them in any ship, both het and slash. They tend to be very undiscerning in their choice of fic as long as their couple end up together. They hate with a passion any character or episode that distracted either member of the couple, in even the mildest way. There is no analysis of how or why this might have happened, no allowance for the possibility that the competing character might have merit in her or his own right. For instance, Mulder/Scully barbieshippers still bitch about TFWID, an episode five years ago in which it was suggested that Mulder was in love with someone other than Scully in a past life. They have archives and write fic about the brutal death of his ex-girlfriend, Diana. At its extremity, barbieshippers will even consider fic, etc not involving EITHER member of their couple as a threat to their couple's specialness, just because the very admission that another couple could be interesting impinges somehow on the uniqueness of their preferred one. They will say dismissive and derisive things about people who do not favour their ship or their characters. The barbieshipper has a lot in common with BOFQ groupies, and there's a lot of crossover. Barbieshippers expect to be warned in advance if there is any hint of their heroes even looking at another person in the fic. They expect to be warned if either of them die. They expect to be warned about whether an onscreen competing love interest is even mentioned, and they will often hit delete at the first sight of that person's name, unless that character suffers some terrible, graphic fate. They consider themselves betrayed if these warnings are absent and will make a rule not to read fic by that author again. They will write terrible things about actors who played competing love interests, or target authors and webmasters who support those actors, and this is accepted behaviour in many places. I run websites for two such actors, and I have been targetted for both, in one case to the point of a personal threat. As for why, specifically, "Barbie"? It relates to the dolls, but as far as I know there's no concrete connection. It's just the general idea that Barbieshippers are a lot like little girlies playing with their dolls and not liking it when some other little girl comes along and mucks up their view of the world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cal Posted January 13, 2008 Report Share Posted January 13, 2008 Ah yes, the LJ post that spread like wildfire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taz Posted January 13, 2008 Report Share Posted January 13, 2008 They will say dismissive and derisive things about people who do not favour their ship or their characters. thats so funny and yet I do recognise that in some ways. Me and some others were commenting on something in one of the spoiler threads the other day and were told to get out. Needless to say we didn't When people become obsessed their minds become closed and they don't see anything beyond the object of their obsession, they only see what they want to see, its quite scary really. I read somewhere that in the USA, where this sort of thing is like really major, that psychiatrists and psychologists make big money from treating people for these sort of obsessions, that is when they admit they are obsessed, or when their poor families drag them there kicking and screaming. Someone start a therapy thread please Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emmasi Posted February 29, 2008 Report Share Posted February 29, 2008 Noticed the change of titles on the ye olde "hate" threads. Hate is a strong and volatile word, so I understand why this has happened. I'm just wondering, does this mean that the characters who are the subject of the threads "depreciate" in value as time goes on ? Yes, I did learn something in high school maths. Now if only I could remember how to divide things... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mistified Posted February 29, 2008 Report Share Posted February 29, 2008 Noticed the change of titles on the ye olde "hate" threads. Hate is a strong and volatile word, so I understand why this has happened. I'm just wondering, does this mean that the characters who are the subject of the threads "depreciate" in value as time goes on ? Yes, I did learn something in high school maths. Now if only I could remember how to divide things... Yes, I noticed the same thing and also questioned the "Depreciation" meaning, so.... http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Depreciation Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emmasi Posted March 1, 2008 Report Share Posted March 1, 2008 I think the word might be "deprecation." One little i makes all the difference. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Deprecation "4. Archaic. to pray for deliverance from." lol, sounds about right Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frankie Posted March 1, 2008 Report Share Posted March 1, 2008 If we are being really pedantic the topic titles should be deprecation not depreciation. Deprecation: ...to express earnest disapproval of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emmasi Posted March 1, 2008 Report Share Posted March 1, 2008 That's what I said Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dean Posted March 1, 2008 Report Share Posted March 1, 2008 There we go. The number of i's have been depreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frankie Posted March 1, 2008 Report Share Posted March 1, 2008 That's what I said Sorry... I was half asleep ... well 7/8ths actually Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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