(no subject)

[wook77]

I'm going to try to keep this as short as possible. As Fandom Wank has made mention of this, I will respond.



Below is the timeline, proof and correspondence regarding the sockpuppeting of eeyore9990 as argyle_the_sock.

April 1, 2008: hd_worldcup posts Riptide by a currently anon author. coffeejunkii posts a review. The moderation team screens this review within 2 minutes of posting. I, personally, contact the author to discuss the review. The author responds (email quoted verbatim and with permission):

OK, see, my first impulse is to say hey, go ahead and unscreen, I'm a big girl and I knew when I made the ending ambiguous that some people would really, really hate it. In a way I'm even kind of perversely pleased by the comment, because I'm not sure I've ever gotten a review that was scathing but intelligent - I've mostly just had reviews that were variations of "eew gross hary would never kiss malfyo thats disgustign" ;)

The moderation team unscreens the comment per the author's request. coffeejunkii and I email back and forth to discuss the review. All three parties agree that a conversation after the reveal will be best.

April 8th, 2008: argyle_the_sock on IJ makes a post entitled "How to Comment on a Piece of Fanwork Without Transplanting Your Arse to the Top of Your Head, or How NOT to be an Asshat".

April 9th, 2008: Multiple people email me about this sock. Trap is set to capture IP address of the sock. Screencap of IP logging: here. argyle_the_sock deletes the post and replaces it with "mission accomplished" message. No screen captures of the original post exist.

April 10th(a): I investigate the IP address of the sock against a list of suggested identities. Disqualify all but one.

April 10th (b): eeyore9990 discusses, in iulia_linnea's meta post responding to the original argyle_the_sock post, how she did not pay attention to the contents of the post. Instead, she found herself impressed with the blockquotes.

April 11th(a): I email the person whose IP matched the sock's. This person is eeyore9990 Screencaps of this email in multiple parts (**Please note that the emails have been edited to remove the names of people/communities not involved in this situation. I have kept the names of those that have posted about either this situation or the reviewing at the hd_worldcup. All posts mentioned were, at one time, public**):

First Email
Request for more time
eeyore's response
My Response

April 11th, 2008 (b): Attached to the emails from eeyore9990 is a supposed copy of the post. I have uploaded this post to here. The redacted parts are as originally sent to me. The section that eeyore9990 redacted is the part detailing how coffeejunkii is an asshat.

April 16th, 2008: I received a request for an update as to the status of eeyore9990's fic from a teammate. I refused to discuss it with this person per the terms of my agreement with eeyore9990. Capture.

April 17th, 2008: eeyore9990 emailed me to discuss the status of her fic. I reminded her of the agreement. Capture.

May 4th, 2008: An anonymouse posts a fandom secret concerning the same situation using similar verbiage to the rant from argyle_the_sock. No proof exists that this secret was submitted by eeyore9990. (Link to post: here including an exchange by anonymice below.

Current: Before completing this post, I emailed the author of Riptide for permission to quote her verbatim. When I did so, I received the following response:

Yes, by all means, use whatever you want. Hopefully it'll defuse things a bit…

And no, this definitely did not sour me to the experience. I'd love to participate in an event like this again, assuming RL allows me to. And you can quote that too if you'd like :)

We, the mods, have held to our end of the bargain. We have not discussed this situation with anyone other than those directly involved. I have my suspicions as to how oulangi received her information as to the identity of the sock but they are just that, suspicions. Regardless of where the information came from, there is now fallout from the wanking sockpuppet and, thus, the agreement is null and void.

As for the ramifications to Team EWE, the mods do not want to punish the team for the behaviour of one of their members. It is completely unfair to them as they had no input to the situation. Thus - eeyore9990's story will remain for voting purposes so as not to negatively affect the rest of her teammates. At the conclusion of the games, her story will be removed from the website and the communities. It will also be removed from the official registry of works produced. Her banning will stand.

Comments

[pir8fancier.livejournal.com]

She is acting as a moderator here. Therefore it should be in the hd-worldcup community where everyone can respond to this. I think she is abusing her moderator responsibilities. These are private emails and private discussions, and it's none of our business. If it is our business, then perhaps we should vote AS THE COMMUNITY on whether or not to ban eeyore. And it should be screened. There are so many things wrong with this situation that I don't nowhere to begin.

[furiosity.livejournal.com]

This matter, as you point out, was largely private. By that logic, it's an abuse of moderator responsibilities to post about a private matter in a personal journal? I'm afraid I'm not really following. At any rate, she can act as anything she wants here: this is her journal. No one gets to tell her what she can and cannot post; not you, not me, not the Pope, not even Draco Malfoy. You can find it distasteful all you want, but I think it's out of line to tell people what they can and can't post about in their LJ space. When I don't like something someone on my flist has posted, I tell them what I don't like about it; I don't tell them not to post such things. If they continue to post such things and I continue not to like it, I defriend them.

I think if she had posted this in the HDC community, then I'd say it was an abuse of moderator responsibilities, because hi, it would have opened the matter up to a hell of a lot more people; just compare the numbers on wook's profile page and on the HDC comm profile. As such, most people without a pronounced interest in HDC beyond "yay fic!" or any knowledge of fandom_wank and various affiliates won't even notice anything's happened. This is fandom. Not everything revolves around our corner of it.

Wook told eeyore she would be outed if she continued to wankstir. eeyore continued to wankstir. Wook did exactly what she said she would and I'm fairly certain she was aware that she wasn't going to receive a pat on the back from absolutely everyone; taking a hard line on anything will always leave people feeling uncomfortable. That there are many things "wrong" with wook's posting this is your opinion, and I respect it because I understand where you're coming from. I just don't agree. I think sometimes everyone does something to deserve a good old-fashioned swat with a rolled-up newspaper; I've had my share of those and I'm no worse off for them.

[pir8fancier.livejournal.com]

I will spell it out for you. By posting this is her personal journal, she is abusing her position as a moderator. Do you think that I now feel any sort of confidence that any discussion she and I might have regarding this community (a discussion that I assume is private) won't end up here at some point. Sure, she can post here. You are absolutely right. By doing so, she has lost my confidence completely if she feels free to broadcast community-related events in her private livejournal. By assuming a moderator role, that does NOT give her the right to post things that are related to the community in her LJ. She has the right to post anything that relates to her, but she is NOT hd-worldcup! A moderator is the spokesperson for our community. She does not have ANY right to post hd-worldcup issues in HER journal.

[furiosity.livejournal.com]

Do you think that I now feel any sort of confidence that any discussion she and I might have regarding this community (a discussion that I assume is private) won't end up here at some point.
If you take it upon yourself to behave like a total wanker, create a sockpuppet to vent your spleen and call negative attention to a fest she runs, sure, it might end up here. But you wouldn't behave in that way, so why would you even consider the possibility? You can employ slippery-slope reasoning all you want, but I know wook. She would not just willy-nilly repost private communication unless she felt strongly about the "other side" doing something shitty. If you want to assume that she'd post these things willy-nilly, that's your right, but you'd be incorrect.

And I reiterate, wook has the right to post absolutely anything in her LJ. I'm just not going to agree with you on that particular point, especially considering that wook OWNS the community. You don't. I don't. She does. She started it; she's the head honcho. She can talk about it wherever and whenever she likes, especially in her personal journal. You're basically saying that mods aren't allowed to discuss community business in their personal journals -- I can't agree with that, ever.

[wook77.livejournal.com]

She does not have ANY right to post hd-worldcup issues in HER journal.

Using that logic - I shouldn't pimp stories, I shouldn't make an announcement that I am abstaining from commenting on stories until afterwards, I shouldn't post squee and I shouldn't discuss anything to do with the community as they can all be termed "issues".

I chose to post this on my journal because -

a.) I told eeyore that the one of the ramifications was that I would out her as the sock, not that the community would do so.
b.) My flist is much smaller and thus the likelihood of a dogpile is lessened.
c.) I have posted on the team community about it and there is a free flowing conversation there, the details of which I am not at liberty to discuss.

Also - I find your statement of - You are absolutely right. By doing so, she has lost my confidence completely if she feels free to broadcast community-related events in her private livejournal.

There are, literally, hundreds of negative issues that have cropped up in running this fest and this is the only negative issue that I have discussed here. And the only reason that I am discussing it at all is because the agreement was not adhered to. If you do not feel that you can trust me, please feel free to defriend me. I would rather you not have to worry about your private musings under flock being broadcast.
If it is our business, then perhaps we should vote AS THE COMMUNITY on whether or not to ban eeyore.

The banning of eeyore is not under discussion. This is moderator privilege. What moderator of a fest puts up a vote for the group at large to discuss the banning of a member? This is, by far, much more wankier than anything than I have done.

[neversleeps.livejournal.com]

No. Just so much no. I was totally going to give you the benefit of a doubt before this.

For one thing: you contradict yourself, because you say that she isn't worldcup, but that she can post what's related to her. But, as HD Worldcup is her community, that she had the idea for and decided to start, anything that goes right, or wrong, with the community is related to her, and, by your definition something she has the right to post. See what I did there?

Secondly. This is not a democracy. At all. Which means it really doesn't matter what you think she should post, because this is not your LJ. There's no vote on it, and Wook can post whatever the hell she wants in it, whether it's related to a community she mods or not, because It's Her LJ. By that logic, she shouldn't have even pimped it, or any other communities she mods, out to begin with.

This comment and the one before it reeks of entitlement and "authority" as if you're the all-knowing one of what should and should not be posted in a personal LJ, of which I beg to differ, and it's really unfortunate that I don't know you and that this is the first impression I get.

[pir8fancier.livejournal.com]

It's called a community for a reason. She is a moderator. Therefore, she moderates. She does not own. By your reasoning, we should call these dictatorships and the people who belong to them serfs.

[neversleeps.livejournal.com]

Nope, not my reasoning, but thanks for trying.

I don't give a fuck about what goes on in the community, nor did I mention anything about that, or if I care about how you feel about it for that matter. What I do have an issue with is you saying, "this does not belong here." That has been my entire point. That what you think of what she does or does not post in her LJ, community related or not, doesn't matter.

When she's writing in her personal journal, it doesn't matter what communities she maintains, she can say whatever she wants about them; she has that right. And, just as similarly, you can either a) not read, or b) defriend.

[kestrelsparhawk.livejournal.com]

I had a major unsettled feeling about this discussion till I read pir8's comment, and now this clarification. Thanks for putting your finger on my problem, pir8! To take names out of it, a moderator who exposes specific struggles with specific people is taking a risk of losing credibility among various community members and deepening a rift by emphasizing that there are sides to take. First thing that happens when someone disagrees, often is appeal to personal trust; that solidifies polarization, and there goes the community. For example I'm a total outsider who wandered into this because a friend saw a connection between it and a post I did on something else entirely. Now I feel that if I were involved with HDWC in future, it would be taking a side. I have the utmost respect for the writers and mods in the H/D community, and while my gleeful little voyeusistic mind enjoys reading wank, my heart hates it.

[midnight-birth.livejournal.com]

I was going to comment myself, because when something's so blatant and, in my opinion, wrong, I of course can't keep my mouth shut, especially because the person above is accusing Wook of hell even knows what, while I highly respect the way she handled this, but you summed up all my points very well, furiosity. :) I was surprised that arguments "you have no right to post *blank* in your own LJ" or "just because you own a community doesn't mean you own it and you owe us something" existed still, really, except when highlighted on Fandom Wank, but they obviously do. And while I adore raw honesty, there is just too much attacking and little sense in what the OP has said that and then continued replying, having too many contradictions and claims to some kind of "rights" that simply don't exist here.

This is not a democracy. Wook's community, Wook's rules, Wook's journal, Wook's consequences. I know I probably would have been a whole lot less calm if someone claimed on my LJ that as a mod of a community, I can't bitch about a troll because I have no right. Besides, Wook warned her. I don't think she thus proved that she can't be confidential. All this proves to me is that she went through with her threat, and I really don't feel bad after the wank that Eeyore pulled. In fact, I think that if anyone does something like this, they deserve to be outed, forget confidentiality. Wook is not a priest or a doctor. Life is cruel.

:) Ahh. Sorry for jumping in like this a few days after the fact, but my brain broke a little when I accidentally scrolled down and saw this whole thing. I am absolutely incapable of just walking by if I feel something needs to be said. And I think what you said furiosity, really needed to be said, because the accusation makes no sense to me. Heh. And I'm studying to be a criminal lawyer. They're breeding me to be an ass, and I'm still not emphasizing with the OP.