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This IS my homework...

ANYONE ON MY FLIST INVOLVED IN ANY FANDOM WHATSOEVER PLIS READ INSTEAD OF SCROLLING

So here's a thought: a fandom wikipedia. Multifandom, a one-stop-shop for terminology, pairing names, significant communities and events, anything you wanted, really. Because you would be the editors/creators. I'm enthused by this idea, and am willing to purchase a domain name and space specifically for it, as well as install the wiki software. Two questions:

1. Do you know if there's an existing fandom wiki or something like it out there?

2. Would you use it? (And by that I mean not only use it as a reference, but submit information to it.)

Second thing: IF YOU ARE OR EVER HAVE BEEN INVOLVED IN THE RPS RPG 'THE ESTABLISHMENT'

Ok gang, I'll keep it brief (because I aim to maintain my academic integrity) but as succint as possible (because I want to keep you in the loop!):

I'm currently writing my honours thesis on the lotrips fandom. I'm toying with the idea at this time of focussing on 'The Establishment', because I need to narrow it right down (I only have 15,000 words), and I'd like to shift toward analysing fan texts instead of just fan behaviour.

Firstly, I wanted to let you guys know that this was the case (that I'll be looking at your work quite closely). Secondly, I wanted to ask if you had any feedback/ideas about what I'll be doing. I know I'm very vague at the moment, but I'm glad to hear anything you have to say at all, any ideas (or any questions you might have).

I also wanted to ask if you could point me to any seminal posts in terms of est meta - and by that I mean posts etc about how the est started, any issues you might have had, timelines, those kinds of things; though anything else about the est that you would term 'meta' is quite welcome, too.

If you're feeling anxious about the above, let me reiterate: I'll be examining the establishment primarily as a text, the same as one would analyse a film. It is a high priority of mine not to make you monkeys in cages; I'll be looking at you in terms of artists/authors producing a relevant cultural/societal commentary through your work, and the kind of space that had to form for it to exist at all.

This is a little weird, because I kind of slipped out of lotrips fandom right about the time the RPG business really started booming, but possibly this will be beneficial to me when I'm studying it (without the complication of trying to analyse myself, but having the know-how of the fandom environment!), and haven't really read any of the est... but yeah.

So, if you have anyone else involved in the est you think ought to be pointed in this direction, please do so!!

Also, if I do decide to focus hardcore down on the est... do you (as a participant in est) think that it's worth me starting a community (either here at LJ or at JF) or journal to keep you pups/authors/participants up-to-date about what I'm doing? and also for you to keep me up-to-date, if you think there's anything in particular I need my attention drawn to?

THANK YOU ♥ As I said above - all feedback, comments, questions are welcome.

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ooh! fandom! wiki! rhizomic! 's perfect for cross-/multi-fandom/intertextualityness.

are you familiar with http://fireflywiki.org?

RHIZOMES! I LOVE THEM!

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shehasathree - 2006-03-27 08:47 (UTC) - Expand

(I was friendsfriendsing, hi!)

The Directorium (http://directorium.org/Home) is essentially a fandom wiki, isn't it? It could use more input, but it sounds like that's basically what you're looking for.

ooo, thanks for pointing that one out.

It's not quite what I have in mind... that one seems to be more of a directory of fandoms and its off-shoot sites (with an attached glossary); what I have more in mind is a wiki in its purest sense - as an encyclopedia (for example...).

So it would have entries for fandoms, as this one does, but with more information on the fandom's history etc. and not just links to websites. As well as having a glossary capability (as the directorium does), it'd have entries for fandom events (such as conventions, or significant occurances like the yahoogroups downtime that lead to the mass exodus to LJ)... all that encylopedic stuff ;)

Thanks for stopping by!! I really appreciate it :)

1) no

2) yes

*thumbs up*

'The divine exists in cyberspace same as out here': Academics and the Internet Fan-Scholars of Buffy the Vampire Slayer
(don't be put off by the Buffyness!)

oooer. *bookmarks*

PS. yep, am familiar with firefly wiki :)

Re: textual analysis of fannish texts:

shehasathree - 2006-03-27 08:48 (UTC) - Expand

Re: textual analysis of fannish texts:

sharpest_rose.livejournal.com - 2006-03-27 09:09 (UTC) - Expand

Re: textual analysis of fannish texts:

hope - 2006-03-27 09:10 (UTC) - Expand

1. no idea
2. hell, yes!

\o/ thanks for commenting :D

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perverteerno1.livejournal.com - 2006-03-27 09:24 (UTC) - Expand

1. I have no idea if such a thing already exists.
2. I would definitely be prepared to contribute.

WOOT. thankyou :D

Sounds like an awesome idea. If my muse ever revisits me, I would most certainly use it!

*thumbs up*!

There are at least two Lost wikis. I don't know of any multifandom ones.

I would like to say I would use it. In theory I am all for it. Trouble is that I tend to overcommit and by the time I ever get around to contributing anything, someone's beaten me to it. I could contribute a couple of very obscure fandoms if such things are welcome, though :D

Oh, I'm not looking for a team of people to establish the whole thing! I thinking in terms of if you're looking for something, and it isn't there... put it in yourself ;) just checking that other people would work on the same principle!

So basically, if you see something is missing, would you have the inclination to put it in? hee.

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andraste-oz.livejournal.com - 2006-03-27 09:30 (UTC) - Expand

A multifandom wiki would be awesome.

And I have a lot of unused space on my domain.

So, you know. If you were interested in starting one, I would be happy to host.

I was considering putting it at my multi-fandom hosting domain, oscillating.net, but I think i wanna invest in something that could support it for the long-term (buy a domain and all). Thanks for the offer, though, I'll keep it in mind :)

I think a fandom wiki is a brilliant idea, and I would definitely use it.

*ticky box*

thankee, darlin, for your 2c :)

do it, do it, do it.

or, you know, i also volunteer my massive webspace and bandwitdth what i don't use.

re Est, woo! hee. ping me on aim sometime?

\o/

I shall ping you on aim right now. or you can ping me? wheeeeelijah.

This isn't what you're talking about, but you may also want to look at Fandom Wank Wiki (http://wiki.fandomwank.com/index.php/Main_Page). Just for the purposes of defining the boundaries of what fits into a fandom wiki and what might be better off in the Fandom Wank Wiki.

yarr, I am familiar with the wankwiki. and that's a very good point. thanks!

Ooh! Yes! Hoorah! That sounds awesome!

Your thesis sounds fascinating too, although I am not involved in lotrips fandom in the slightest

thankyou for the feedback!

i, too, am excited about the thesis. one day i'll actually get down to work on it...

Pointed here by

anatsuno.

The thesis sounds like a cool idea, but the Est. is not really very LotRiPSy. There's Dom/Lij and for a while there was Viggo/Bean, but the majority of the game is not LotR-related and most of the other LotR actors who are played there are not in relationships with other cast members.

It seems to me if you were wanting to write something about LotRiPS as a phenomenon, the focus would be on how there was this cast bonding that took place and everyone picked up on that and the interaction, etc. and thus so much RPS was born, but the Est. doesn't really have that feeling since it's not primarily LotRiPS.

The Est. was not formed as a LotRiPS game, and the two cast member relationships that did happen came about on accident, through in-game interaction, and were not planned.

So, not that I don't think a paper on the Est. wouldn't be really cool, but I'm just saying I don't think it's in any way representative of LotRiPS fandom as a whole, not by a long shot.

That said, here are some of the first posts made regarding the game.

http://www.journalfen.net/users/telesilla/16402.html
http://www.journalfen.net/users/telesilla/16753.html
http://www.journalfen.net/users/telesilla/16988.html
http://www.journalfen.net/users/telesilla/17342.html
http://www.journalfen.net/users/telesilla/17810.html
http://www.journalfen.net/users/telesilla/17987.html
http://www.journalfen.net/users/telesilla/18357.html
http://www.journalfen.net/users/telesilla/20026.html

Thankyou so much for commenting! i really appreciate it.

It seems to me if you were wanting to write something about LotRiPS as a phenomenon, the focus would be on how there was this cast bonding that took place and everyone picked up on that and the interaction, etc. and thus so much RPS was born, but the Est. doesn't really have that feeling since it's not primarily LotRiPS.

The main push of my thesis is not to be 'about lotrips' - my working title at the moment is "Slash communities and the articulation of non-hegemonic sexuality & creativity", but because I only have a comparatively small amount of words to play around with, I need to focus tight in on a specific fandom - and I picked lotrips because I feel that the RPS boom really has forced open avenues of creativity and interaction that weren't that present before.

So yep, not writing about the 'phenomenon' of lotrips, or RPS, but how that kind of environment nutures and produces texts such as Est - and subsequently, the significance of works like Est and the importance of recognising them as cultural texts.

I am mainly exposed to the Lotrips-pairing side of Est, yis, but it is quite early days with my thesis yet - I can very easily shift the focus and examine Est itself as a text, and not make generalised posts talking about 'my lotrips thesis', heh.

(no subject)

kyuuketsukirui.livejournal.com - 2006-03-27 11:27 (UTC) - Expand

I think it's a really good idea! :-)

woot! *thumbs up*

I don't know if any exist, it definitely should though.
If I can contribute anything I will. =D

that's tops, bro. thanks :)

Hey there!! You've already got two Establishment people who've been around since the beginning to talk to, but I'll offer myself up as well since I'm the current moderator--I joined the game about 4 months after its inception, so I've seen it go through several transformations as well.

As a slash community, I think you really will find it fascinating--it's also interesting to note that it's currently living a second (third?) life, as many of the original players have moved on to other things or dropped in their activity and we've recently in the last 6 months had a huge influx of new players, new enough that the Est is only their 1st or 2nd slash rpg community. So it's really interesting to see all the different influences, from the old 'pros' to the green newbies.

Feel free to ping me on aim or email me if you want to discuss furhter. :D

aim: intensetobey

Hihihihi! thanks for poking your head in :)

that whole fluidity/flux thing is one of the things i'm really focussing on! I've added you to my buddy list, will no doubt hit you up some time in the future :) :)

I'm not in a slash fandom at the moment so I don't know how much help I would be but two fandom-related wikis I know of and use frequently are the DramaWiki (http://wiki.d-addicts.com/Main_Page) and the Homestar Runner Wiki (http://www.hrwiki.org/index.php/Main_Page).

The thing about fandom is that it is always changing and for me, as a relative old-timer in lotrips, I don't think I want to read the history of this particular fandom, and I'm not sure if anyone who is new to lotrips would find a fandom timeline useful, unless of course they're going to write fic about the fandom itself...

I could see where maybe a canon timeline or a glossary of terms would help new writers/readers, but if you decided to include fandom discussion or a greatest-hits collection of wank-provoking material, well, you know where that project would end up.

What I had in mind would serve more as a reference base rather than a tool... does that make sense? not something particularly to help out authors or whatnot (as that is what the individual fandom wikis are for), but a wiki for the phenomena of fandom itself - so's we can start recording everything that's going on, the language we're inventing, etc, so's people like me can use it as a reference ;)

I think I need to make sure from the outset, though, that it's a user-written thing and very subjective... so that there is no 'greatest-hits' collections, just lots of experiences and points of view.

thanks for the input :)

(no subject)

twothreefour.livejournal.com - 2006-03-30 09:27 (UTC) - Expand

I'd be more than willing to help out with a wiki - adding content and whatever. I think it's a fantastic idea, and as far as I know there aren't any general fandom wikis anywhere. I know this idea came up in the hp fandom and the owner of the hpwiki offered to just include fandom content on that wiki. That's not exactly what I'd be looking for in a fandom wiki though. I'm more interested in multi-fandom sociological sort of wiki, where you could look up info and history on anything from a fandom specific term to something general like slash.

I'm more interested in multi-fandom sociological sort of wiki, where you could look up info and history on anything from a fandom specific term to something general like slash.

EXACTLY. *high fives*

*goes off to purchase domain*

No idea if a fanwiki exists, I think it's a wonderful idea, I'd most likely both contribute and use it.

I used to be in Est a while back (had a character involved with Dom if you'll be focussing on LotR aspects); I think it'd be cool to know how the thesis is going, and I can't think of anything to offer, but if you have questions, count me in!

awesome! thanks for sticking your hand up :D i'll be in touch.

I variously played Dom, Jeff Fahey and Zooey Deschanel in the Est, so I can answer questions both Lotrips-related and not so much.

\o/ I will be prodding you. oh yes I will. thankyou!

there's this one, too (http://wiki.redshirts.net), which everyone went on about what a great idea it was ... and then never actually contributed to it.

thank you for the link! i'm going to focus more on the etymology of fandom as a social phenomena as opposed to a fandom/text directory. but it's good to get an idea of what's out there already!

fandom encyclo-wiki sounds great, but there would be a fair amount of argument, everything from what "drabble" really means toyd (o whether het is allowed on a slash wiki and then of course, "the meaning of the word 'slash'"... So setting up a dispute resolution mechanism is probably important.

As for the other thing, I was an Est watcher from almost the beginning, and participant after about six months, playing straight vanilla Billy Boyd (an interesting challenge in a kinky slashy game) and later Miranda and Alan Cumming. Happy to help with any background you need, finding the people involved, etc.

fandom encyclo-wiki sounds great, but there would be a fair amount of argument, everything from what "drabble" really means toyd (o whether het is allowed on a slash wiki and then of course, "the meaning of the word 'slash'"... So setting up a dispute resolution mechanism is probably important.

thus, i was thinking, the wonderfulness of the wiki! where users are able to edit, and histories of pages are able to be kept... and i'm hoping that if i approach it with the 'every definition is the right one' attitude, i'll get more pages with multiple interpretations than people being angry because their information has been replaced by someone else's opinion.

Do you think that could work?

Thanks for putting your hand up for the est stuff! i'll definitely be in contact.

:)

1. I have none to tell you but ROCK! Fandom wiki=love.

2. Not concerning me at all

3. AWESOMELY AWESOME! (I'm kind of assuming that you're the SCA/unimelb person that Rachel mentioned the other day because it would be uncanny if there were two LotRiPS people at unimelb at the moment.)

(I'm kind of assuming that you're the SCA/unimelb person that Rachel mentioned the other day because it would be uncanny if there were two LotRiPS people at unimelb at the moment.)

o.O I am! er, hi! this is slightly weird. but cool! hello!

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sajee.livejournal.com - 2006-03-27 21:51 (UTC) - Expand

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hope - 2006-03-27 21:54 (UTC) - Expand

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sajee.livejournal.com - 2006-03-27 21:59 (UTC) - Expand

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hope - 2006-03-30 07:35 (UTC) - Expand

1. I think there is, but I'm not sure.
2. I wouldn't be a regular contributor, but I would probably pop in now and again.

Well, if you're looking into Est, I was Natalie Portman in there for about a year and a half or so (I left July/August 2005 due to lack of time). When I started females were few and far between, but by the time I left, Est had ceased to be primarily a gay sex all the time club, and there were good more women in and around.

I wasn't as prolific as some of the other writers, but well. Yeah. If you want to look me up, go right ahead. ^^ I'm yueni in JF as well as in LJ.

A possible topic for you to look into could be the initial proliferation of "all male all the time." Not that females were looked down upon, just that the first writers in there were all mostly about the gay sex. I believe there was Carrie Anne and Lin Fiorentino who were the primary two females in there before I joined.

Thanks for the info! esp the stuff about the female characters... definitely something i need to look into.

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