Monday, January 11, 2010

When it becomes personal...

Well, I should say I am surprised. I'm also a little bit hurt. I'm also a little bit speechless, and that shit doesn't happen often. Well, not THIS speechless.

I'm not quite sure how fate all works out, but fate had me accidentally clicking on my bookmark for The Fandom Gives Back homepage. Since I landed there, I read the last post regarding FGB's final 'Thank You' and their plans for the Eclipse Edition of The Fandom Gives Back.

As I was there, I looked over at the affiliate list. A list this blog used to be on. It was one of the first sites that had us listed as an affiliate. It was a site that we Lambs were proud to be on. And it struck me, "Well, maybe I should go ahead and send them one of our newer buttons". Our graphic queen, catonspeed, did make some pretty ones.

Imagine my surprise, then, when I saw that we were no longer on the list of affiliates. A list that we remained on throughout the course of The Fandom Gives Back. This button here, that used to sit down about ten buttons from the bottom:



I am simply shocked. Believe me, if I could pass this off as just a coincidence, I would. But I can't. The fact is, once upon a time near the beginning of our birth into the Twilight blog world, we were also affiliated with PPSS. When I realized that our button was no longer listed as an affiliate on that page, a page I still read because it has always been one of my favorite blogs, I sent Nina an email with one of our newer buttons. Well, we were never added again. The email was never responded to. We, of course, operate under the presumption with most of our affiliates that if 'you give us a space on your page, you have a space on ours'.

So, okay, I figured out back then that somebody was taking my blog on the Officegate situation a little personally. No biggie. Was my blog a personal attack? Perhaps. It did question the ethics and morals of some individuals involved with the operation of the FGB. Was it an attack on The Fandom Gives Back? Not on your life. Not on mine.

This situation, however, will not be NOT talked about, at least by me. Because, truly, I find it SICK and disgusting that one or all of the operators over there at The Fandom Gives Back have taken this to a level where we are not considered even worthy to take part in FGB. Really? You're gonna throw your fit while representing? It doesn't take a genius to plug in the html coding needed to add a button, nor does it take one to wipe it out. 'Personal' is what this now is. Not just to me, but to every single person on this blog who contributed in some way, even if it was just a re-tweet.

The fact is, we were all proud to take part in The Fandom Gives Back. I was. We all gave our time, we all contributed in some way. We were proud to display the graphic on our page, and we still display the one for Alex's Lemonade Stand on this blog. That won't change.

On November 21, 2009, we posted:



As you know, Twilight Fandom Gives Back organized a four-day Author Auction from the 15th to the 20th of November. The over $85,000 raised went to Alex's Lemonade Stand to help fight against pediatric cancer.

This is a list of what our Sacrificial Lambs did to support this most worthy cause, as well as how successful they were! For more details, please click the links to go directly to each Lambs FFn page or Blog.

IdreamofEddy opened with a straight up offer of a 10,000 word one shot to the highest bidder. Any pairing, any time, any place. Well, ARFess96 put up one hell of a fight, but JaspersDestiny now owns IdreamofEddy's ass...which, in turn, makes her the owner of Peter's ass! Mwahahaha! IdreamofEddy's a valuable woman...$200 for her one shot!

catonspeed auctioned off a 5k word one shot involving two characters of the winner's choice, this includes the winner's name featured in the story. If that wasn't awesome enough, she also offered an outtake of the bidder's choosing from The Last Mile. Congratulations to NCChris (her fabulous beta) and mauralee88 who both put her on lock down quickly - and helped raise $75! Not unfazed by her busy schedule, catonspeed also offered up her blog remodelling expertise, and sold to MaitresseSaint for $25!

JaspersDestiny offered a first class beta service to the highest bidder, offering to beta and correct an entire fiction of the winner's choosing. Merina Green took this great opportunity to make the best of her first fic, at $6/chapter! Therefore, at 20 chapters, Miss Merina Green helped Alex's Lemonade Stand with $120! As Lucy would say, "WIN!!!"

Now, I work for a major hospital in the Des Moines area that also happens to house one of the top children's cancer centers in the United States. I've passed a teddy bear or two to children persevering through the side affects of chemotherapy and radiation. I have watched friends die way before their time because of cancer. I am a mom. I had my reasons for putting up something in this auction. We all did. In this day and age, you can't not be affected in some way.

To whoever removed our affiliate button from The Fandom Gives Back page, I hope removing that button made you feel better. I really do. I am completely shocked, but not shocked enough to shut the hell up.





31 comments:

  1. You know it shocks the hell out of me that more people don't raise the "bullshit" flag when it comes to certain people in this fandom. One of the reasons I love this blog so much is that you guys don't conform to popular opinion or have agendas. You guys just put it out there and let everyone decide for themselves. It seems to me that some people have have decided their own agendas/grudges are more important than raising money for sick kids. How very sad and immature.

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  2. How heartbreakingly selfish of them. They really have no place in publishing if they can't take one little negative blog post about the new venture.

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  3. That is really sad and shows just what level of maturity we're dealing with here. God. I'm pretty new to this fandom and even making this comment may get me banned from some places, but I don't give a sweet pink fuck. Fandom can be a wonderful thing, where you meet like-minded people and bond over obsessions... er, interests... but it can also be place of schoolyard rules with bitchy little preschoolers. You have to try to let it roll off your back and know that you are the bigger people. Fandom has been part of my life for quite a few years now and I've seen a lot of shit go down. It blows over. Makes me just think "I'm too old for this shit." Hugs, bbs.

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  4. *shakes head in disbelief*
    Sad. Real fucking sad.
    And very mature of them. *snorts*

    I was proud of FGB. I may have not contributed to it, but I tried my best to spread the good word via twitter, a/n and even on my FFn profie. The fact that the fandom came together and raise at least $80,000 for cancer is just amazing.

    Are we (the lambs) not allowed to speak up and have our say? For them to take this to a personal level is just pathetic. I looked up to these people. I had so much respect for them.

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  5. Last I knew we were all out of High school for a while now. I seriously can't believe the cliques in this fandom. I really was unaware of it for quite a while. It wasn't until I started playing in the forums a bit and then noticed it even more after joining twitter. Don't even get me started on Omnific and the fact that very few are willing to voice their concerns in fear of the repercussions. I actually saw on twitter today that someone had spoke negatively about Omnific and was promptly blocked from following it's twitter page. It's really sad.

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  6. That's, simply put, silly. I mean, we affiliate with you guys and even though I don't agree with the some of the things posted on your site I'm not going to jump to remove you, especially without warning or an email stating why. Blogs are about freedom of speech. People know, or at least should, that what you say isn't bond, just opinion, so that one post really shouldn't have prompted being removed. Stupid.

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  7. So I got the child to the doctor, Strep again. Well not again, it just didn't go away the first time. But it gave me time to think more, because frankly, I just couldn't this afternoon.

    There is one thing I want to address, and actually it's a person who is involved with FGB. Lolashoes. Now Lola was very forthcoming and very mature when back in November she addressed the issue as best as she could concerning the pulling of her stories. I believe when she commented on this blog, she spoke nothing but the truth. She has been in the process of re-posting those stories. I also am inclined to believe that it wasn't her pulling off our icon. It just doesn't seem like her style.

    I'm not a complete bitch. I'm not constantly searching out shit to blog about concerning the issues regarding Omnific, The Office, Ninapolitan, TBY789, Psymom, or anyone else involved in this fucked up mess.

    I am simply a lover of Twilight, and I love writing about it. If you look down at the bottom of this page, you'll see our disclaimer stating that we are here to enhance the Twilight Community, yadayadayada..in preferably a respectable manner.

    But, I will simply state how I feel when I FEEL that something in particular is a threat to this fandom, and I WILL blog it when I feel that something will affect it in a negative way. We have to protect it. It belongs to all of us. Some of us live off this fandom on a daily basis. Omnific and the association with Twilighted I think should be considered a threat to this fandom. They are the first if not the last in what I think will be a series of steps that will have Stephenie giving us a C&D.

    Yeah, someday, it is going to end anyway. But I'd rather have it ride out it's course without any interference some a few people trying to cash in on a pig that they don't know how to butcher in the first place.

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  8. Hi, I wanted to let you know that I am the one working on their new site. It is altogether possible, in the process of making a spreadsheet with all of the links that I inadvertently deleted your affiliate button as well as others. I know that you said that you don't frequent the site, but there were even a few days that the entire site was closed to everyone.

    I know for a fact that Lola, Christina, and Nina appreciate everything that everyone did to contribute to The Fandom Gives Back. I don't know why you posted this here instead of asking them directly; it seems like you didn't want to get to the root of why your button was removed but just wanted to rant.

    I also know for a fact that neither Christina nor Lola are involved with Omnific Publishing.

    Personally, I hope that you continue to support causes like The Fandom Gives Back through this blog as well as the donations that you have made at the hospital that you work at. It's about the kids, not about the drama. **shrugs** I wish it could stay that way.

    If I was the one who deleted your button by mistake, I apologize. I will admit that after reading this post, though, I am not running to the page to...as you so eloquently put it, use my genius to plug in the html coding needed.

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  9. Wow. Well first of all, i'm totally blown away by this. We're in the process of moving to another site and several people have been in and out of that blog for the past few weeks taking codes and information from one site to the other. I had no idea any of the banners were even gone.

    Second, I haven’t been to this site in some time and was unaware of “Officegate” or any other personal attacks that have apparently been made. I guess I fail to see what the point of all this was. If you were seeking clarification on why your affiliate banner wasn’t appearing on the site, I would assume that you would have come to us directly. If your purpose was to increase page hits and incite angry comments, I suppose you’ve succeeded.

    I apologize for any misunderstanding but wish you would have come to us first; this could have easily been avoided.

    Kassiah, thank you so much for responding on our behalf until I could get home to do so.

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  10. Well I'm all for admitting these things 'do' actually happen. I mean, it sure as hell was me that wiped out some coding on my own personal blog and my comment section is all screwed up. I mean,you can't rely heavily on copy and paste, right?

    Copy and pasting the html into a spreadsheet to grab later COULD certainly wipe out the coding between Lustorium's and TwiLOL. And also, that list of affiliates was incredibly long.

    I guess though I shall watch it more closely now, and inform any of our affiliates that they might want to send an email regarding their affiliation when The Eclipse Edition begins.

    Oh wait. There all still on there.

    WE are also very much aware that Christina and Lola are not on the Omnific Staff. Believe me, for the sake of the fandom, we have been doing my homework. I appreciate you addressing this issue, and I Thank You.

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  11. I'm so confused. I don't know why a simple email couldn't have just been sent. The PPSS affiliates have been gone for a while. I can't even answer as to when they'll be back other than I'm trying to figure out the roll gadget so they are text not images.

    I'm sure you sent me an email, I can go through and look if you remind me of when it was. I don't purposely ignore emails. Especially from affiliates.

    None of this is personal, I'm not sure why anyone would think it is.

    You can have a problem with me all you want but the FGB has nothing to do with it. We're streamlining the site, if that's not a good enough reason, well I can't add any more to that.

    This is your site, you're certainly welcome to post whatever you see fit and I respect that. I do not however wish to participate in defending myself over something that could have been solved with an email instead of this.

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  12. Wow. What a shame. This is so ridiculously fucking petty, I can't even see straight. Do we not have other issues in this fandom? Why doesn't this blog take up the banner against Omnific and try to save this entire community while we can? Affiliate buttons? Jesus. I am so disappointed.

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  13. Hi. Not to butt in, but my banner was also off the FGB page and is now back on. I don't think it's a conspiracy. They're under construction. Both Christina, Nina and Lo are classy ladies. I can't imagine they would pull anyone off an affiliate site without contacting them first.

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  14. Christina,

    I have sent email regarding a previous email to Nina, that went unanswered. In every way.

    I previously made a couple reviews on The Office. Those went unanswered, in every way. I understand, you simply had too much going on.

    Another blog member requested information as well, that went unanswered, in every way.

    You don't talk. We can't listen.

    We are happy that you aren't associating with Omnific. I still think it's fucked up that you pulled that story with two chapters left to publish on FF due to 'an opportunity that has come to light during recent media' bla bla bla.. That's just my personal opinion.

    And frankly, on the issue of this blog receiving more page hits...Um..I..or we..don't give a shit who reads our blog. We will have our supporters, and so will you. If we wanted to kiss everybody's ass, we wouldn't be blogging what we think. We'd just feed bullshit which seems to be running thick and gooey these days. We're not seeking fame. We came to have a good time.

    Oh, and by the way. We were more than happy to particpate in FGB. You are welcome....

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  15. Anonymous said...

    Wow. What a shame. This is so ridiculously fucking petty, I can't even see straight. Do we not have other issues in this fandom? Why doesn't this blog take up the banner against Omnific and try to save this entire community while we can? Affiliate buttons? Jesus. I am so disappointed.

    What other issues are there? Pfft. I was sure there was none before Omnific came to light. And that's a great idea! Or better yet, let's just get the shit over with and take it to Stephenie.

    Hmm. Tina? These all just kind of floated in rather quickly, wouldn't you say?

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  16. Vixen- I'm sure you are right.

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  17. This topic has certainly exploded. It comes across to some, maybe not many, that the fandom is volatile. You want to publish? Awesome! Do we want to be your guinea pigs? Probably not.

    I love FF. It's my escape from the crazy that is my life. Lately, however, my escape is disappearing in chunks. As a writer you don't owe your readers anything, but don't be surprised when people get upset to see something they love vanish with little to no explanation. If you're lucky enough to be popular in the FF world than a big effing congrats to you, but remember it's the readers who put you there. There are many amazing fics with a minuscule readership and those authors would be thrilled to be in the position some have come to take for granted. I guess my point is this: when the fandom is bogged down by egos and fighting people will look for something else and then everyone loses.

    Besides, it would be a fucking shame if the wants of a few drew enough attention to end the party for everyone. Just saying.

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  18. All of this could have been avoided if there was one live site up at a time. That is something that professionally minded people do.

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  19. Do it! What have we lost to OnMyDick publishing lately?

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  20. Christina,

    I'm not sure you knew this, but I loved your story. I still do. That is why I responded so passionately when the story was pulled. It started a chain that just keeps growing and growing. I was reading Lola's after Tina referred me, which I also loved immensely. I can't help but feeling the way I do. Stories do that. Would we be writing about Twilight and it's characters if they didn't?

    No personal attack was intended. But I did have to question some morals. Not just yours. But in regards to this Omnific situation, your story was used as an example. The speculation of you publishing TO was already running wild. Don't believe me? I urge you all to go check out A Different Forest.

    There are two annon reply's up above. To the first: Valid points, my dear. I read about an hour last night worth of comments on ADF and I could have still gone on. It's never ending, and it's all starting to read the same.

    The second annon: I'm sorry, I'm not getting what you mean one live site, could you elaborate? I'm working on an hour of sleep here, sick baby and all that...

    Nina: Email doesn't seem to be working. And the affiliates have not been gone awhile. I visit your site every day that I'm off. I visit several. My email with the new buttons was sent on December 2, 2009 at 8:54am, CST. I'd be glad to re-forward it. And I don't have a problem with YOU. I don't know YOU. I have opinions relating to Omnific and it's introduction into the Twilight Fandom. I have opinions relating to fics being pulled for publishing. I am also not alone.

    We can accept that perhaps our removal from FGB webpage was a technical error due to the page being remodeled. And it makes us happy to know that we'll be added.

    Tina has gone to bed. She will answer any comments relating to her posts or others in the morning. I myself am going to go write about some vampires, and I'll do the same in the A.M if the fuckery is still a flying.

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  21. I'm second Anon (M0rticia), with the Two Live Pages. Kassiah said that she made a spread sheet that may have lost the code to the button to this site. Then Christina said that a few people have been in and out of two sites taking code one place and putting it another. That means there are two sites up and running.

    Two live pages are bad. Lots of people in and out of the two pages are even worse. There should be one site that is "live" as in seen on the Internet by all the unwashed masses, and one site that is being worked on so that screw ups like this are not seen by said masses and are fixed before they become a problem.

    Now, just to add to "Officegate" - wasn't there an orginal author who handed the story off to a second author?

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  22. Hi, just wanted to clear this up. There aren't two live sites. The site is being redone for the FGB: Eclipse Edition. It is easier for me to c/p stuff into a spreadsheet so I don't lose it when I switch it over. That has happened to me before.

    I agree with Anon (I think Morticia), two live sites would be bad, and that isn't the case here. I think we all can agree that having a user-friendly is more beneficial for everyone.

    I also agree as a reader that having your favorite stories pulled sucks ass. This went on well before there was an omnific. Where is In the Land of Milk and Honey? Where's OHL? I miss lots of stories, and I am mad about it.

    With that being said, I think there's a huge difference in saying that you are mad about an author pulling a fic or an entity threatening to destroy the fanficdom that we love to maliciously posting about not being affiliated with a group that has the sole purpose of raising money to fight children's cancer.

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  23. Kassiah:

    Malicious? Okay. If that's what you think this blog was about, I can accept your standpoint and your opinion, and I can respect it. But,

    You are biased. And that's okay. I'm biased, too. I'll back up anyone associated with this blog first and foremost. I will listen..or in this case..read, every comment or suggestion and take everything into consideration before I respond. Given our..and MY track record at commenting and getting responses to on other blogs, stories, and most importantly, E-MAIL..I'm going to assume everything that was stated in the post.

    (The rest is for everybody)

    I think it's safe to say, that if you read through this commment section, you can see discussion happening between the few that want to discuss it and who want answers. And you can see those who just prefer to keep they're real thoughts, opinions, AND actions to themselves..or their 'group'. There is an image to project, after all.

    This is blogging. Agree or don't agree. But don't just assume you can come in here and spout some words and those are to be considered the decree, and you're out. All that tells me is that you don't really give a shit what the others in this fandom think and you're truly in it for yourself. Or is it because my posts are disrespectful and you feel you're not going to stoop to this level? They are MY thoughts, my opinions. And believe me, they can change. It happens all the time. If nobody talks, how can we listen? I will simply tell you how I see and perceive it at the time. Give me a reason to change it. Or don't. After all, I'm just another reader, sometimes writer of a Twilight Fan-fiction story.

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  24. Aww, Mae. I Love you and your inner bitch, too.

    When I was in high school, the drama club kicked me out. Go figure.

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  25. I dunno why they'd kick you out Kay... /snort LOL

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  26. Uh, wasn't The Office started by one author and then continued by another author?

    The excuses for the button going poof are making less and less sense

    -- m0rticia (that's with a big fat zero)

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  27. I love that the fandom came together for such a good cause but everything that I have seen during and up to now from people running the auction makes me question their motives. From pulling there stories and then Omnific. Tbh I'm waiting for the shitstorm coming for this "publishing company". Bottom line they are making readers pay for fanfiction.

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  28. JaspersDestiny, whenever I have a huge list of anything that I am putting it in any kind of logical order, I always use mail merge. It does work out well for me.

    IdreamofEddy, you are right, I am biased. But I would never purposefully remove anyone's affiliate button from anything, especially from the FGB website. If it makes you feel any better there are a few other links and things that are missing.

    I honestly didn't think people were looking at the site right now, no one even mentioned it on the few days that I had the entire site shut down. I know the focus will on it when the new site goes live in March, and I wanted to have everything looking good then.

    Perhaps I wouldn't have considered the post malicious if she said that she had emailed about it and got no response. I am all for bringing awareness to fuckery; however, I do not consider that to be the case in this situation. I don't know what else to say, besides I hope that the FGB cause will continue to unite the fandom, rather than serve as yet another way for dramz to seep in and take over.

    Also, I am sorry ya'll were kicked off the cheerleading team and drama team.

    Oh yeah, and the reason I came here? To grab a button that that doesn't blink to add to twificnews affiliates.

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  29. Kassiah,

    Do you need a square? I have just our Blog banner minimized into a square somewhere in a file if that works better for your layout. Thank You, BTW.

    I don't think the drama will pass over into the upcoming Eclipse Edition of FGB, It started with the pulling of stories. Nina and Lola both had legitimate reasons to pull their fics, we understood that it was done because of the media situation and the operators didn't want any negativity to reflect on FGB, when it started receiving media attention. The Office though...hmm. I'm sorry but the first posting on that matter by Christina just seemed to open a can of worms, and it wasn't just from this site, according to Nina.

    And said drama lasted for one day. I blogged about it, answered a few comments, and that was it, I thought. FGB was a huge success. Nobody here doesn't appreciate the effort that has to be put forward in order to get the fandom to unify for such a good cause. We DO.

    Drama wasn't for me. I had a problem with scripts..always wanted to add my own little thing, just like with books.

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  30. JaspersDestiny, I meant if the original post said that about the email then I wouldn't have considered it malicious. I get it now.

    Yeah, the blinking buttons are driving me crazy. I am switching them on my sites, after you sent me the one for the site-log, I came to get one to go on the front page.

    I also get what you are saying about the wording she used when the Office was pulled. I am just telling you that I know she doesn't have a publishing deal.

    I'm glad the drama is over. As a fellow contributor to FGB, I appreciate the effort that you put in to donating your time and services to this worthy cause.

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