If you have any onnections to HP fandom, you've probably heard about the Bad_Penny write-up of HP wank and a certain fandom personality. I won't comment on that. I remember quite a few of the later incidents and wanks and I know some of the people. I have been a member of the SQ and lurked at FA, so you can guess what "side" I supported at the time.

I also won't say how terribly inappropriate I consider comments about "ugliness" when it adresses visible features. It's like calling someone black and meaning it as an insult. Beautism is just as bad as any other kind of superior derision.

But. That's not what I wanted to write about.

I stayed up all night reading the riveting and detailed account of things that may or may not be true (I personally believe that Charlotte, whoever they are, has put way too much effort into making everything as transparent as they could for it to be completely off base) and I just fought myself out of bed to see if there was any fallout. What strikes me most is how people a) can't believe that any one person could do this and b) that a lot of comments suggest that this person must be some kind of really sick, really creepy and quite *special* lunatic.

It reminds me of my anorexics. I get shit like that, on that scale, all the time. As a scary super-mod with the added caveat that I'm supposed to keep them alive and healthy, I follow IP adresses and analyze linguistic variables to prove or disprove certain insane posts and just generally get an understanding of the people behind it. I can definitely understand what drives someone like Charlotte. The urge to know what the hell is going on is a strong one. If I had to cast myself into this mystery, I'd be one of the detectives (at the time, I was a bad-fic writer.... not that that's changed much)

I see this all the time. I'm not sure if the internet facilitates using different identities, manipulating people toward your own supreme goals; it's not fannishness per se, but possibly there's a connection between the anorexic mind and that of fans? (God, could it be caused by the same thing? Are we all borderline insane? Is fandom a mental health issue? A coping strategy?)

The research scientist in me is jumping up and down in joyful glee. I can hardly wait for the next chapter of the saga.

If you are--like me--somewhat annoyed at LJ for catering to a very young crowd and trying their best to mimic MySpace (with all the things we may not like about that site!), there's one thing you can actually do: let yourself be counted in the age demographic.

As long as LJ sees HERE that the largest number of users is in the 17-20 crowd, they'll try to cater to that audience. One problem from my perspective is that the 18 year olds are less likely to pay, and I'd like to see the statistic modified for paid users! But as long as they're looking at the hard numbers only, we might as well throw ours into the mix.

So, if you're like me, and never wanted your birthday out there, you can you to EDIT PROFILE and add your DOB to be counted in internal LJ statistics but not displayed.

I just did that for all my accounts (I'd forgotten how many I created over the years and I forgot my Holocaust teaching one, so that's next :-). Given the age of many fannish folks and our tendency to not always have our birth year displayed, here's a chance to hopefully tilt those statistics a bit!

Pass it on and let's see whether we can make a difference and maybe let LJ folks know that some of their most active (and paying) users are not 18 year olds!

EDIT: maygra points out in her post HERE that being a paid member may not hold that much weight. However, there's still the possibility of a snail mail campaign. I, for one, am considering it, despite my letters having to come from Germany (for the lack of actual e-mail adresses for *any* of the high-level SixApart staff.)

However, if you are in the European area, you might want to drop a line here: olivier@sixapart.com

Or go with the snail-mail option:

Olivier Creiche
SIX APART SA
104 Avenue du Président Kennedy
75 116 PARIS