New Admin

[suede-scripture.livejournal.com]

So hey. moony has graciously given me this community to moderate. A few people seemed worried, so let me make my intentions in doing this clear.

Nothing much will change. fellow_shippers was, is, and always will be a LOTR RPS fanfiction community for all related slash pairings, M/M or F/F, M/M/F, F/F/M, and so on. As long as your fic contains slash with one or more LOTR actors, it's cool with me. If you write LOTR Het, there is a novel little community for that called lotr_het.

Rules will be enforced. There are only four of them, and two are really easy. I'm a non-confrontational person, but the rules are there for all of our sakes. You're all usually good about this, but if you're not, I poke.

I've changed the layout to a temporary very boring default. Eventually, I'll design something fellowshippy and fun.

At some point soon, I would like to organize fic posts into tags and memories so it is easier to find what type of story and/or pairings you want to read. To do this, I'll add appropriate tags to your entries. I think it will be easiest if I do this myself so we don't have several differently spelled tags for the same category (which is what seems to happen when members tag their own, and that just gets messy). Nothing you need worry about there, just post as you normally do, and I'll do the tagging.

Other than that, it's all the same old Fellowshippers. Unless I see a reason to be bossy, you'll rarely see me except when I post my own fic ( which is sporadic at best).

Alrighty? Have fun. Feel free to ask questions and make suggestions.

Comments

[beizy.livejournal.com]

*beams!* You'll do awesome, babe. Am very happy you are at the helm of this slashy ship.

[bunniewabbit.livejournal.com]

Excellent. Nice to have an active mod again. :) Congrats!

[azewewish.livejournal.com]

Awesome!! So glad moony gave you the thumbs up. :) And I'm SO in love with the idea of tagging the entries. *g*

[foxrafer.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure I understand why het stories aren't allowed here. I don't write it and rarely read it, but every definition of slash I've ever found seems to imply that it includes any kind of pairing. I know I'm not a slash veteran, but if the rules in the comm profile don't explicitly say "no het" why can't people just skip those stories they don't want to read (like I skip those pairings or types of stories that don't appeal to me)?

[slashfairy.livejournal.com]

mm now that it's easier to look at again, i may very well be hanging out here again. hmm. change can be good. even for my old eyes.

[suede-scripture.livejournal.com]

My understanding is that the community was begun by members of an old Yahoo group that was very much homoerotic, and primarily m/m only. I'm looking into it, trying to find the first instances of femmeslash or a het posting (and especially to see the response, but I'm already two years in and I've yet to even see a woman in any pairing header!). Wow, the bowels of this comm are... interesting. Perhaps older members could clue us in? I've only been around since 2004, and the comm was born in 2001.

My reservation is that I don't want to change the comm from it's original purpose. Definitions do change of course, I have always assumed 'slash' to refer to same sex pairings. If that is the primarily way the majority of members use this comm, it seems in the best interest of het writers to post in lotr_het, as they'd reach their target audience better and not be skipped over.

[beizy.livejournal.com]

We could argue the history and meaning of the word "slash" probably until we were blue in the face and never reach a conclusion.

My impression of this fandom, though, has always been that slash is m/m pairings. That's why it's called RPS (real person slash) instead of RPF (real person fiction, which covers slash and het).

If this were just a LotR fic community, it wouldn't be called a slash community.

That's the way I've always seen it, at any rate.

[feelforfaith.livejournal.com]

Congrats on the new job :)

I have a question: If we are to enforce the "slash" aspect of the community, does it mean that gen stories will not be allowed either?

[blackbird-song.livejournal.com]

I'm very happy that you're at the helm, and thank you so much for the eye-friendly layout!

As for the question of what does or does not constitute slash, I have to agree with foxrafer that all the definitions I've seen from anyone who's been at all formal about it have been along the lines of pairing two or more characters sexually who simply wouldn't be paired that way in canon. (In RPF, of course, 'canon' is an interesting term to try to apply. ;) ) I would suggest making a post asking the members for their thoughts on the matter. For myself, I'd tolerate such stories being posted here, as I can skip past them, but I wouldn't write or usually read them.

Catherine

[wicked-lady82.livejournal.com]

"Slash fiction is a genre of fan fiction. The term refers to a sexual or romantic relationship between two same-sex (originally only male) characters in fan fiction. These pairings are often described in detail as the pairing is likely to be the focus of the story (though this depends on what genre of fan fiction one is reading – ex. gen or ship). Slash tends to occur outside the canon universe but does not necessarily oppose canon. "Slash" once referred to fan fiction in which one or more media characters were involved in an explicit adult relationship as a primary plot element. Now it is simply the term used to refer to any pairing between characters of the same sex. Femslash is a sub genre of slash where the a romantic or sexual relationship occurs between two female characters from canon."

I nicked the definition from Wikipedia, not the most completely reliable of sources, but it had a good definition. Here's the link if you wanted to read up more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slash_fiction

[blackbird-song.livejournal.com]

Because I'm feeling particularly geeky here, I'll just jump in where angels fear to tread and say that RPF (and FPF, for that matter) also includes gen, which can be devoid of any form of pairing.

From a technical point of view, the definition of slash has always included the pairing of people who 'would never be paired in the original story.' (Obviously, the whole genre of slash as a term started with FPF, in the form of the old K/S stuff, hence the absurdity of applying 'original story' to RPF.) Under that definition, Brokeback Mountain fanfiction that pairs the two main characters should, theoretically, never be called slash. Pairing Ann Coulter and Al Franken, on the other hand, might qualify. *reaches for Braino*

While I'm a hopeless slash addict in the casual sense of the word (meaning m/m pairings), I do think that it might be a good idea to ask the membership what they'd like for this community. (I really wish that LJ's rules would allow polling in communities with basic accounts!) A mod change is a perfect excuse for feeling up out the members.

Catherine

[azewewish.livejournal.com]

I can't think why gen wouldn't be allowed. Most hard-core slashers think of gen-fics as 'pre-slash' anyway. ;)

[casey28.livejournal.com]

I have always assumed 'slash' to refer to same sex pairings.

That is how I define it as well. I would really prefer that het stories not be posted to slash comms.

I'm looking into it, trying to find the first instances of femmeslash or a het posting

Here's a link to a het fic from back in 2005:

http://community.livejournal.com/fellow_shippers/3024790.html#cutid1

The author defines the pairing of Pam/Elijah as LOTR RPS, but I don't see how a male/female pairing can be considered slash.

[suede-scripture.livejournal.com]

I understand where you're coming from, but in this particular fandom and community (and especially because this movie cast is very manly and very close), I've never known slash to refer to anything besides same sex pairings (many people use the term to warn of same sex content). I've just skimmed through the comm archives from start to finish, and I really have to say, the instance of het is literally something like 1 in 5000. This has always been an overwhelmingly m/m community, with occasional femmeslash. It has only been after this comm was neglected post-2005 that het posts made a very rare showing, which leads me to believe previous mods may have deleted any others.

I could certainly ask for a vote, but I've got to be totally honest, I don't think it would sway many. I really don't think posting het in a heavily gay-oriented community is in the writer's best interest if they want readership, which is really the point of posting fic in comms in the first place. It's nothing against het, it's that this really just seems like the wrong place.

That definition of slash really doesn't make a lot of sense in RPF. Canon by def means factual info. Technically I would never consider any real person fiction to have a "canon" in the sense of who should be paired romantically together unless it was absolutely a known fact. Billy/Ali is canon, because we obviously know they are a real life couple, but there is really no factual gay "canon" in this fandom (we technically only have one openly gay actor as it is, right? Memory fails). But to define slash as simply an "abnormal" pairing within the genre doesn't make any sense in a genre where no pairings, gay or straight, are at all factual that we know of. It's all make believe after that point.

[ladysunrope.livejournal.com]

congratulations -looking forward to your modly changes and thank you in advance for the tagging.

[foxrafer.livejournal.com]

Clearly the majority of the people here are grossed out by het. I'll never understand the extreme reaction to something that most of the women here have actually done but I know it exists. I'm of the technical (perhaps academic) school that blackbird_song mentions below: "would never be paired in the original story." And if one story in a million is het, it seems easy for people who are grossed out at the idea of male/female sex with actors they know from a film to skip. But from the reaction to this question from so many people I can see that het won't be allowed. But lotr_het looks like a dead comm to me; a fic hasn't been posted there since August. Het writers aren't going to get any readers that route either.

[foxrafer.livejournal.com]

I would really prefer that het stories not be posted to slash comms.

I know that het won't be allowed ont this comm based on the responses to this question so far, but I'm so curious why having it posted here would be so awful. I really do want to know; I've never understood the extreme reaction to het that exists in this fandom. I don't read stories with certain people in them but I just skip them. I don't read character death stories so I skip them.

[foxrafer.livejournal.com]

I work for an association for a profession with a hinky wikipedia definition probably because it was created by a group that we disagree with. I look at wikipedia a lot, too, but I always look for confirmation of what's written elsewhere. I'm of a different school of thought (blackbird_song's definition fits what I've found and have always adhered to) but I appreciate the link. It doesn't convince me this comm should exclude het but I know it will so I'll have to ask to be added to this person's friends list so I don't miss the rest of her story. It's a great beginning and it makes me sad that it won't be allowed here anymore.

[foxrafer.livejournal.com]

I just wanted to thank you for providing another point of view. I really don't get why het is considered the evil, ugly step-sister in this world. Everything written here is fiction, and honestly these guys would probably be more put off by what we do here than any of the ladies, but I can see that it won't be allowed here. There's really no where else for these writers to go, though, and that makes me sad.

[kissing-athelas.livejournal.com]

I have to say I agree. I don't read het. In fact, I very rarely read anything that isn't Dom/Elijah. But it doesn't bother me that things I don't want to read are posted here, because I can just scroll on past. If the community was becoming 10-1 het-homo posting, and there were 10 het stories posted a day, *then* I might start to get pissed off. But het stuff is posted on here so irregularly, and let's face it, it's so rare with lotrips anyway... it just seems silly to get upset by it.

[kissing-athelas.livejournal.com]

Seconded! I think tagging is an awesome idea. I wish it had been in force when I first got into lotrips!

[strongplacebo.livejournal.com]

Brilliant; I think it's going to be good to have some fresh blood.

Quick question: where do you stand on gen fic posted here? I've always sort of seen this community as a general Lotrips comm, as in one for all stories about all cast members (though I would tend to use lotr_het for het stories). I assumed the reason that slash was so dominant was that there are so few girls in the films.

[celtprincess13.livejournal.com]

Thank god that horrid green layout is gone! *kisses your feet*

Glad to see you at the helm.

[blackbird-song.livejournal.com]

I was just being uber-geeky and challenging the idea that slash has to mean same-sex pairings. While I'm 99% sure that the definition is settling into one of same-sex pairs, rather than simply unlikely ones, my experience of this fandom in terms of slash definitions has been different from yours. That said, I can't at all deny the preponderance of m/m pairings in this particular community. (And may I congratulate and thank you for taking the time and trouble to look up all the posts? I'm so glad that you're modding this community, now! :D )

Personally, I'm delighted to read and/or write only same-sex (specifically m/m) pairs. I suggested soliciting member opinions because I'm curious and am not sure if the members have ever been asked. Of course, whenever I've asked for opinions in the LotR FPF (mostly S) comm that I mod, hardly anyone has responded at all!

Catherine

[feelforfaith.livejournal.com]

I would like to see gen posted here. I'm not a big gen reader, but sometimes I find something I really like--the "Astin's Diaries" I'm reading now, for example.

Most hard-core slashers think of gen-fics as 'pre-slash' anyway. ;)

You don't say! ;-)