The MSScribe Report.

[icarus]

I tried to read the the msscribe report, but somewhere around page two my head exploded.

The report's excellent, written in a journalistic style, carefully researched with disclaimers about unclear or missing information and almost completely without the usual "Rita Skeeter" glee you find in wankery and those who love it. charlottelennox has done a good job. The tone, at least as far as I've read, makes this much easier to stomach, despite the level of lurid detail.

That said, I couldn't stomach it. Lies, blatant manipulation, sock-puppetry of the worst kind where someone invents their own fans and their own pseudo-Christian troll. I fell for this, too, back when "The Black List" was published by fandom_scruples on LJ in 2004. What it says about slashers' biases (and fears?) towards Christians (the real Christians apparently told the troll to turn the other cheek and whatnot) is a little disturbing.

It only occurs to me ... and please forgive my deep and abiding cynicism that arises from having exposed one LJ financial scam, dealt with a harrassing flurry of sockpuppets attacking wildernessguru for criticizing certain pack designs -- (from a designer we know; the guy finally screwed up and dropped info he could only know in person via his sockpuppets, oopsie) -- and one rather persistant troll who hates my Buddhist stuff ... wouldn't it be something if this were all a final grab for attention by msscribe?

I doubt it, but this oldtimer leans on the sidelines and waits for the other shoe to drop. *Icarus chews a toothpick, narrow-eyed*



ETA: Chatting with sharp_tongue and orca_girl, apparently in chapter ten charlottelennox explains how she got involved in writing this account. I haven't been able to read that far. orca_girl points out it's the nature of this type of account for people to doubt it.

Yeah. I've run into that. People immediately want to distance themselves and show that "I'm an oldtimer" *cough* so "I'd never be fooled, nuh-uh, not me!" It's also a sign that the account is successful in making people alert -- too alert at first.

Comments

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

really only going around due to the nature of the narrative itself

Yes. While reading it people become hyper-alert to being conned and start questioning their shadows.

I ran into this with that financial scam, too. It's symptom that you're succeeding in waking people up, even if a little bit frustrating for the person who's carefully exposing the truth.

it becomes clear when CL does her "how this came to be" narrative at the end of part 10

That's what sharp_tongue is telling me. *points up-thread* I haven't been able to get that far. Page two I rolled over, dead.

It's fascinating. In a trainwrecky kind of way.

Femme's convinced me to read it as a sort of warning to fandom and to develop an understanding of what people can do.

All the vibe I get from her is that she used a pseudonym for rhetorical reasons, not because she feared saying this stuff or it damaging her reputation or anything. More, I'm guessing, because she feared more people might not read it if they saw her name on it, or would carry other preconceptions into it if they "knew" the author.

Now I'm curious who this is, and if it's someone I know or have heard of.

Icarus

[cheshyre]

I haven't been able to get that far. Page two I rolled over, dead.
Honestly, I've mostly just skimmed it (and skipped many sections), looking for sections which intersected with my experience of fandom (like the scruples timeframe).

I don't entirely know what to think...

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

I'm feeling a sense of fierce happiness that the bad guy got caught. You could call this report her perp walk.

What she did (from what I've read from page one and two) is awful, but if everything checks out (note the hyper-alertness) let's not forget that we're stepping in as the red and blue lights are flashing and msscribe is being stuffed into the back seat of the police car.

Icarus