Maybe I'm too old and cynical but...

[graculus]

I don't know if it's just me, so here goes:

A certain fandom-notorious author has been the subject of apparent threats of physical violence at an upcoming con, with a bit of shit-posting on Twitter about how folks planned to gang up on her in the bathroom. Anyway, other well-known authors flock to her defence, posts are made telling Twitter support to delete the accounts, and so on (as you'd expect).

Now maybe I've been in fandom too long and seen too many things to take everything immediately at face value. You see, I remember the girl in SG-1 fandom who tried to tell people she'd lost family in 9/11 and then maybe she had cancer too, I don't recall the exact details.

Maybe it's genuine and we certainly know there are enough stupid folks out there on the interwebs but did anyone else think 'uh oh, could it be sockpuppetry?' or was that just me?

Comments

[xochiquetzl]

I have no idea whom you're talking about, but it could always be sockpuppetry.

I have some vague memory of someone posting a long, tragic story of their heroic sibling (?) who was on JackDaniels and who was last seen helping people down stairs in the Twin Towers while they burned. Followed up by the listmom posting an article on Munchausen's.

[graculus]

It's the famous (infamous?) Cassie Claire who's the putative victim here, so maybe past shenanigans makes me more suspicious than would otherwise be the case.

[xochiquetzl]

Yeah, that makes me immediately suspect sockpuppetry.

[manna]

Oh! I hadn't heard anything about it, I had no idea it was CC. I don't think your suspicions are unreasonable.

Actually, I'm having flashbacks to when Ivyblossom announced she was too scared to go to an upcoming con because of DEATH THREATS. Then the 'threats' turned out to be in a Very Secret Diaries-style parody that Aja wrote about being jealous of Ivyblossom's friendship with Cassie, and everyone was a lot less impressed.

(Does this count as CC plagiarizing someone else's drama, do you think?)

[graculus]

Well, she does have a track record of 'homage'. ;)

[leethet]

Well, if anyone needs to get punched right in the ladies' room ...

I'm actually kidding, although I think CC is a POS, frankly.

[graculus]

Yep, some people it's real hard to dredge up any sympathy for and she would be on my list too.

[ruric]

That would be BJ and wow has that stuck in my mind....

[ruric]

I did go have a quick noodle around after you posted this (took me 0.25 secs to work out who you might be talking about!) and it could go either way - sockpuppetry or a bunch of teens who are clueless that though you may talk to your friends like that posting similar 'jokes' on social media is not the best idea in the world.

I'm so glad I grew up in pre-internet pre-social media days. At least most of my dumb ass comments and mistakes are no longer around to haunt me in perpetuity!

[graculus]

Yep, it's quite possible it's genuine but previous shenanigans certainly made me raise an eyebrow. Cynical? Moi? :P

[leethet]

The girl who lost family in 9/11 and had cancer too ... SG-1 fandom had one of those too? HP had one or two (big fandom). Some people are just very sad.

I think the thing is, when most of the fandom is teens and twenties, they get all worked up about stuff that old people (like me) go "Bullshit" and walk away from. They're all invested and emotional, and they're perfect prey for the pseudocidal among us.

I find it amazing, sad, and amusing. :-)

[graculus]

Not sure if there was cancer involved but there was definitely a 9/11-related sob story that took a bunch of folks in and then those of us running the list had to step in quite heavily before it got massively out of hand. One of the many reasons I'd be hesitant to get heavily involved in another live fandom, assuming I fell for one which had a young contingent of course, of which there's no guarantee!