this bathysphere is perplexing!

[sab]

Hey, LOTRips people? There's this thread over on the seekrit_pics community talking about smackin' down some troll or mole or whatnot, and I'm perplexed. Is it me? Looks around...

I'm so confused. I totally friended the community; I'm not a part of LOTRips fandom or even LOTR fandom (while being a fangirl in my own right -- and proud of it! -- off in my own other fandoms), but I was certainly enjoying watching the discussion and the fallout over there. I had no idea that my friending the community would create such draaaaamaa.

I didn't, um, I didn't friend the community to see Jason's pictures -- dude, I am IN the pictures, hell, I *took* some of the pictures; I just friended y'all on a lark when y'all started friending *me.*

Essentially, what happened was this: Jason, who is in no way internet-naive, but who does tend to give everyone the benefit of the doubt and has general faith in the goodness of humanity, uploaded the pictures to his gallery (which was alive and kicking long before y'all found it) and left it unlocked, figuring he'd give the URL out to his friends and family and let us enjoy his photography.

A good question might be, how did fandom discover his gallery in the first place? A reasonable answer might be: well, it's the internet, things are bound to get out eventually.

So, badda-bing. Some fan found the pictures, and the horse was out of the barn. Jason, still having general faith in the goodness of humanity, opted to password-protect some of the albums, while keeping others open, fully aware that fans were visiting and enjoying them, and figuring, well, as long as the fans didn't overload his bandwidth or steal and repost his pictures elsewhere, what was the harm? So about half the galleries were open for the past few months as we tested the waters, but folks kept nabbing and reposting the pictures and Jason's bandwidth usage skyrocketed.

Then last week we had the gingerbread party and the pix went up, and didn't get locked down quick enough, but there had always been plans in the works to lock down and password-protect the whole site, and so, a couple days ago, Jason did just that.

If you have any questions about this, I will answer them as honestly as I can, but there's no hypocrisy or eeeevil at work there, just the matter of trying to save Jason's site from being overrun by fans bent on conspiracy-theorizing about the content of these (really rather innocent, rather personal, and rather human) photos. Plus -- as far as I can tell, half the fandom was bucking for Jason to lock down the site all along, saying he was naive about the ways of the internet and shouldn't have put them up for public viewing in the first place. So what's the deal?

Comments

[cpsings4him.livejournal.com]

Sab,

While I am a LOTR fan, I am not a LOTRips person, but I just wanted to tell you that I hate that this has happened! You all seem like such nice, kind, generous, just all-around good people - and you don't deserve to have to deal with this.

I have no idea who the 'troll' is they are apparently referring to in those threads. I have not read that thread or any other thread in that community. I knew about the seekrit pics community (for you'd have to be living under a rock in the LOTR fandom to NOT know about it), but have deliberately NOT gone there just because I knew Jason was NOT cool with people doing that - and I respect that.

I kind of missed the opening scene of this whole thing. It seemed to have happened so fast and apparently while I was in bed! By the time I heard about any secret pics, the main ones in question (apparently some of Elijah eating corn [still haven't seen those - and yet I live! *marvels!*] and some house pics) had already been taken down and put under lock. So, at the moment I entered the 'know' of these pics, the person who had originally put them up in her journal was fretting over having done so and working damage control. I just kind of looked at the whole thing with a 'erm...ok, not sure what just happened here, but whatever' and went on with my life. Then, a few days later, someone posted a message that Jason said it was fine to look but not touch - that as long as you didn't pinch any of the pictures for yourself, it was fine to come and look at them - and this person included the addy. Naturally, being the curious girl I am, I admit, I went, I looked.

Once I got there though, what interested me more than the E pics were some of Jason's landscape pics! I love to draw and paint and some of his photography just screamed to be painted! So, I e-mailed him to ask permission to use one of his (non-Elijah) pics as a model for a painting. He was very generous and told me that it was fine to use that particular pic for that purpose and that he would even like to see the finished product. I had mentioned to him that I hoped it was really ok that I had been in his gallery at all and told him about the message I had seen. I was then informed by Jason that the message I had seen had been a (conveniently!) truncated one that apparently left out the part about bandwidth being a problem, etc. He asked me to let anyone I knew in the LOTR fandom know this. I did, in this thread in my journal. (http://www.livejournal.com/users/cpsings4him/66811.html) I feared it would do little good as my friends list is rather miniscule in comparison with some and especially so light of the massiveness of the general LOTR fandom.

I don’t know what my point is really other than to say again that I’m sorry that some over-zealous fans have made your lives even a tiny bit more complicated and that I wish there was something (other than the tiny bit I tried to do) I could have done to prevent it.

You know we’re not all like that, right? As I said when I first stumbled across your journal - yes, I am an Elijah ‘fan’ and that is what first grabbed my attention about your journal…but on closer inspection, you are also quite an interesting, funny, MASH lovin’, Scrubs-lovin’, charming girl and I enjoy your entries - whether or not they include talk of certain well known friends of yours.

Let me know if there’s anything I can do - I’m not a BNF or anyone even remotely ‘important’ in so far as the fandom goes, but I’ll try to help in any way I can.

Blessings!
cp

[iamsab.livejournal.com]

No worries, kiddo. And thanks for posting. I certainly don't gauge all of fandom by the actions of some particularly neurotic loons.

I didn't know you were the one who wanted to paint one of Jason's pics! He told me about that when he got your e-mail, and we're both looking forward to seeing the finished product. He was really flattered.

[cpsings4him.livejournal.com]

I didn't know you were the one who wanted to paint one of Jason's pics!

*grins a bit shyly and blushes*

Yup! Tis I!

He told me about that when he got your e-mail, and we're both looking forward to seeing the finished product. He was really flattered.


He did?!? He was?!? Oh! I am so thankful and tickled that you told me that! I was worried he just thought I was insane! :p You know, he was so nice and very cordial to me (his mama must have raised him well!) when I e-mailed him (even though he didn't know me from Adam and I was one of those pesky Elijah people who were looking at his pictures)! See what I mean...just really nice, kind, all around good people!

The painting itself is still in just a rough, sketchy stage right now - and is actually in oil pastel rather than paint at the moment. In fact, I have just been doing a little experimenting with it as far as colors, mood, lighting, etc. and haven't yet decided where I wanna go with the larger finished piece. Having a grand time with it! :) I'll be sure to let ya'll see it when it's finished.

*leaves still grinning from ear to ear!*