Spoiler: Some of this text recycles my tweets from earlier today

[laceblade]

Recently, sasha_feather started a good post about accessibility at WorldCon. In her own words, the purpose of the post is "not to pick on WorldCon or to cause drama, but rather to say, here is a problem, at this convention and at others. What can we do to work on addressing this problem?"

Most of the comments are on-topic.

I would like to frame this thread. It starts with someone mentioning that sometimes in fandom, people use "insider knowledge" (in this case, an entire track of fake programming that had some people wandering all over an inaccessible convention hotel looking for non-existent rooms). sasha_feather notes that insider knowledge is A Thing in fandom, and "what is needed are ways to welcome people into that."

Someone anonymously responds with, "There's insider knowledge in fandom, but there isn't a lot of it, and it's not secret. Everyone who knows it, learned it on their own. If the process had been difficult or unpleasant, fandom would be a much smaller place.
If you don't find that satisfactory, consider joining the N3F."

To which sasha_feather eloquently responds, "My response to this entire comment can be summed up by, "citation needed.""

Then, Teresa Nielsen Hayden shows up to give sasha_feather a citation (I think?!).
The entire comment is so bizarre that even though sasha_feather hilariously responded with, "Cool story, bro" and froze the thread, I MUST BLOG ABOUT IT.

Firstly, TNH's comment seems to assume that sasha_feather is not already "in" or a "part of" fandom, despite the post making it clear that she organizes Access at WisCon.
Her pompous introduction is also useless. I do not understand its purpose; she could have simply said, "I have imposter syndrome, too." Regardless of the back story, can we not just make fandom more accessible? Must Big Name Fans always trot out their personal Horatio Alger stories to prove how they EARNED their way into fandom, as if to say, "And damn it, if it worked for little ol' me, it will for you, too!"

I tried to pick apart TNH's entire comment, but she seems not to have read the post on which she's commenting. None of it is relevant or meaningful to the ongoing conversation.

I'd really just like to draw attention to this quote: "If you want fandom enough to not care that you're a neo, enough to get you to wade straight in, you'll discover that there are practically no barriers."

It is actually hilarious to me that, IN A POST ABOUT ACCESSIBILITY, she would say, "If you want fandom enough....you'll discover that there are practically no barriers."
IN A POST ABOUT THE LACK OF ACCESSIBILITY AT CONVENTIONS.

I CANNOT.


For those looking for amusement, we did start a fannishCV hash-tag mocking TNH's ludicrous "fan credentials" with our own.

Comments

[wrdnrd]

The fannishCV hashtag was a thing of beauty that kept me delighted for an hour at work this morning. I wish there were a way to save ALL of it, including the stuff i saw from friends with locked accounts.

I only lament that sasha_feather thought of posting a Neo (from the Matrix) gif with kitties AFTER she froze the thread.

[laceblade]

sasha_feather can save the gif for if/when a horde descends on this post.

We could storify the public tweets?! But you're right that it doesn't save the locked ones, :[

[littlebutfierce]

You can reprint my tweets too! Ahahahaha.

Edit: No, wait, maybe not? Or some of them? IDK. #suddenlyshy

[wrdnrd]

I don't even know how i'd manage to save locked tweets anyway!

[littlebutfierce]

Oh, I figured in case anyone wanted them badly enough to copy-pasta them (like I did w/my EDL tweets).

[sasha_feather]

You have permission to reprint my tweets!

[laceblade]

It's not a permission thing, though. Storify can only "find" public tweets - there isn't a way to storify locked ones.

I am not copying/pasting that shit by hand! Too lazy for that.

[sparkymonster]

I'm still thinking of things for my fannishCV. I had a fandom arch enemy for 2 years of Supernatural. It was LOLariously amazing.

I still really want to be on short list for something for my fannishcv. Not sure what though.

I definitely want credit for getting into The Sentinel fic years after the show was canceled. Also can you list a fandom on your CV if you're fic only in it? Where do I list OTPs? Can I list BNFs I know? How about those I hate? Is getting on Fandom Wank plus or minus 100 points?

[sasha_feather]

Plus 200! For genting on Fandom wank.

[laceblade]

SOMEONE SHOULD MAKE A TEMPLATE AND WE SHOULD DO THIS SHIT.
I want ones with embedded gifs, like these Glee ones with a HP theme (Rachel's!).

On fannish CVs, will "mission statements" be allowed, or more of a passing fancy as they are right now on "regular" CVs?

omg I want a fandom archenemy. I suppose that I could make one at ontd_glee with minimal effort :O

[wrdnrd]

HEY, YOU'RE THE FORM MASTER, YOU MAKE A TEMPLATE.

[raanve]

Fic-only fannishness counts as "Other Skills", I think.

BNFs you know = references

OTPs are like the spots on your resume where you talk about programming languages & whatnot.

Fandom Wank is definitely bonus points.

I'd say you're on the shortlist for a Fannish Educator award for your outstanding work on educating folks like me about classic comics & the amazingness of Wonder Woman, except I seem to recall you won that category.

[were_duck]

This post makes me really sad that I wasn't able to be on twitter today! But... omg. WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-OW.

[laceblade]

YOU CAN STILL TWEET AT THE HASH-TAG, IMO.

[raanve]

I think I kind of want to keep going on the hashtag? IDK. This may make its way into my DW post later today.

Basically what I am saying is +1 to laceblade's comment.

[sasha_feather]

It occurred to me while walking to my car that John Scalzi told us, Anyone who wants to be a geek, gets to be one!

[wrdnrd]

And he's the King of SFWA, so he oughta know!

[jesse_the_k]

I lack the discipline to say anything sensible, but I'm so glad we're on the same side :,)

[ladyjax]

Wow, that was some special fail sauce all up in TNH's comment.

[cereus]

"If you want fandom enough....you'll discover that there are practically no barriers."

Sounds like some hardcore "Inspiration Porn" to me. O_o

http://notyourinspiration.tumblr.com/

... and also a way of ignoring any issues raised by disabled people.

[badgerbag]

*hypnotic handwave*

There are no barriers! These are not the barriers you're looking for!

[torachan]

Ha! I saw that hashtag on twitter, but had no idea that's where it started.

[amadi]

Ah! I saw a couple of Sasha's FannishCV tweets but it was the day when Everything Exploded (One Thing Literally) so I wasn't on Twitter much and missed the context.

I'd love to see a Storify if anyone has the chance to pull one together.

[bcholmes]

That is kind of... um... wow.

[laceblade]

Pretty much.