Where do we go from here?

I've been feeling kind of punk lately. It's hard being a Daria fan. There are all sorts of nuisances to contend with. One of the things often commented upon is that the Daria fan base is the most loving and nicest. I don't know that I'd agree with that. I've been hanging around since September, and I am growing more and more disturbed by what I see.

One of the things I find most disturbing is the fanfic troika. Daria is by far the most popular object for stories on FanFiction.net. There are some very talented people writing Daria fanfic, there are also quite a few hacks. It appears to me that primacy has dominated the generally accepted view of what constitutes a well written fic. Not to denigrate the writing talents of the authors mentioned here, but it is rather annoying to have every shipper fic held up to Diane Long or to Michelle Klein-Hass, as the standard of shipper-fic. These are both very good writers, and admittedly they did get there first, but I don't want my work compared with theirs. Either the author's work stands on it's own or it doesn't. It is not praise to have someone tell me that my work could be a counterpoint to someone else's story.

I also grow weary of the big fish in the small pond attitude among some of the writers. Writing popular fanfic does not make you a good writer. Go out into the world, get published, and then come back and tell me how wonderful you are. It's pretty easy to latch onto someone else's characters, recycle some Arnold Schwarzenegger movie plot, add Monty Python references and call it a great fanfic. Ok, I'll even buy that it's great fanfic. The standards for good fanfic are surprisingly low. It is NOT however, great fiction in general. I hope that I end up eating my words one day, and see the writers lauded/vilified here very successful in the literary world, but I'm not holding my breath.

I also think that the smug, condescending attitude of some of the writers is off-putting to the rest of us. We saw this with the Cincgreen brouhaha on Paperpusher's Message Board. An author had received a scathing review from Cincgreen and posted a rant about it. What was being sought was a consensus among writers to ignore Cincgreen. What we got was a whole host of people writing, in essence: "Well, He always likes MY stuff, he wrote WONDERFUL things about (fill in the blank) but I can see where he could hurt YOUR feelings." The flip side of that was a discussion about a very popular author that went along the lines of: "He HATES my stuff, but that's okay because I'm so unique and special that he's intimidated by me." This particularly loathsome line of yap continued with all kinds of icky descriptions a la "this author's" character's propensity for violence, for how Cincgreen could be harmed in the virtual world. Okay, the rest of us get it, you are super, super popular among people who read Daria fanfic. Your plaque will be arriving in the mail in four to six weeks.

I am also unhappy with the politics of Outpost-Daria. This is universally acknowledged as THE site for all things Daria, and it is very good, for what it is. But although I have submitted everything I have written to the site, simply to broaden my readership, unless you are a "Featured Writer" your chances of having your work noticed through this site are slim to none. I think that it's great that Martin J. Pollard (who, by the way, has a girlfriend) does Daria fans a noble service by maintaining this site, but I do not acknowledge him as the arbiter of all things Daria. He's a guy with a site. End of story.

All of this leads me to my biggest reason for discontent, the Chat Room. #Daria+. What can I say? After hanging around in there for six months, I think I've got enough research put together for the anthropological study. What I hoped would be a place where we could discuss Daria, fanfic and meet like-minded people, for the most part is the premiere place on the web for the LOOK AT ME, LOOK AT ME club. In conjunction with the shameless show-offs, there is the sub-faction of the POOR ME SOCIETY. Interestingly enough, these are the same people.

How many nights have I sat there, agog, at the likes of people, making veiled references to fics in progress, oblivious to the rest of us, who might want to discuss something that is of interest to more than just the two people writing the fic? If you were seriously working on a fic, you would do it in a private message. What is really going on is the desire to monopolize the conversation with what YOU think is interesting, yourselves. Dead boring to the rest of us.

I am also tired of the general view of at least half the room that their scary, scary talent at writing fanfic, somehow entitles them to something. Adults living at home, with no visible means of support, moaning about how mean their parents are. People on public assistance complaining about how some politician somewhere might sit up and notice that an able-bodied person is collecting hardworking taxpayer's money. After all, "I had a terrible childhood, dammit this country OWES me." As one, by one, those of us still in possession of our faculties bail out of there, searching for the one or two people in the room, with whom we have something in common, Daria.

I also have to say that the Ops policy is deplorable. It is clearly not the responsible people, who are willing to monitor the room, break up fights and kick people who are becoming obnoxious. More often than not, it's the ops that are the obnoxious ones. Recently, an op typed a very strong epithet, when it became clear that his, usual, tired complaints weren't being given credence. He even went so far as to change a topic in a related room to suit his own needs, rather than the needs of the community within the chat room. I'm not offended by strong language. I am offended by someone that lays down the law yet doesn't abide by it. Being an op in #daria+ means that you are a member of The Fashion Club. Op status was recently conferred on an author who spends 30 minutes a month, if that, in the room. Why? Because she's so SMOOOCHY! I guess an op isn't someone who works in the room, it is an honorific.

So, while Daria fandom may be recognized as generally nice, smart people who identify with a cynical high school girl, it is also rife with people working out their issues about not having been popular in high school.

I have met some wonderful people through Daria, people who I am proud to call my friends. I have also met some people who are not so delightful. By publishing this, I am nailing my manifesto to the doors of the cathedral. The thing that I find interesting about this is that I could easily return to the chat room, because they don't read anything unless it pertains directly to them. I could bounce in one night, and everyone would be the same as they ever were. Which is precisely why I won't be bouncing into the chat room anymore.

Henry Kissenger once said of university politics, "It's so vicious because the stakes are so small." That sums up how I feel about the whole Daria thing. It is so small. The show will end, and everyone who has a life will get on with it. The rest will have to either join us in the real world, or continue to be virtual stars in the virtual world.