meta babble on RPF/RPS

[meitachi]

Firstly: Happiest of birthdays to my best suxing and forochel and (because it's likely I won't post again tomorrow) catskilt. To say nothing yet of the 26th, 27th, and 28th... So many May babies!

Secondly: So I was reading some people's thoughts on RPF/RPS and got kind of curious about the flist.

Do you guys have any strong feelings for or against RPF? I know a lot of you guys enjoy it/read it/write it considering that a lot of you I met, uh, in the kpop fandom. So.

I can enjoy almost anything in fiction because I have this huuuge mental barrier between reality and fiction so gay brotherly (apocalyptic) incest? I'm so there. Korean boy band members macking on each other? Sign me up. RL married actors ~falling in love with each other~? No problemo.

Why? Because I like to read what I like to read and I know that it's fiction, very much so, and at most these are merely original characters with the same faces and names as real people. They're characters, even if they're based on real people. (Do you want to read My Thoughts on Yaoi KiHae? Of course you do, heh.) I very much do not believe that Jared and Jensen are in any way shape or form gay for each other, or that Eunhyuk and Donghae are actually anything beyond good friends who like to play up fanservice (well, mostly Donghae with a sort of reluctant Eunhyuk tagging along). ...not that I ship EunHae romantically anyway, uh.

But I know some people don't have the same kind mental barrier and are uncomfortable with RPF/RPS. Which is totally fine. Personal squicks, I get them, as long as no one is trying to judge people who enjoy RPF as somehow sick or somehow invading the privacy of real people. That makes me sad. That makes me kind of annoyed, actually. 'Cause, hey, it's all harmless, in good fun, not exactly meant to be portraying True Facts, etc. Hell, it doesn't even count as fanfiction (legally) - no infringement on copyright, y'all! Writing RPF can get you sued for defamation though, so, uh, it's harmless as long as you don't go shoving your fic in the faces of the people it's about. That is kind of monumentally stupid, rude, and awkward-making. And other negative adjectives. :|

But these are just my thoughts and opinions on RPF. I feel like I've encountered a scary number of fans who, um, really think QMi (KyuMin, EunHae, KangTeuk, JaeHo, insert-kpop-pairing-of-choice) is real or something? And all those J2 tinhatters omgggg make it stop. Yes, fuck yes, they are close and they have a good relationship but that doesn't mean that they are actually in love/fucking up the butt/what-have-you. Not that it would be a problem if they were but let's not make assumptions about their love lives when RL evidence indicates otherwise and that they are nothing but really good friends, yeah? I'm all for writing about it, but when you really start believing it... Then I am slightly concerned, frightened, and distressed. And will be backing away slowly.

In other news, I have been reading a fuckton of gay brotherly (apocalyptic) incest lately. This pimp post, I'm drafting it, forreals. In between epic amounts of reading (and packing and moving and sweating buckets, god this weather). Man, I love summer.


(It doesn't count as talking about kpop if I'm just talking about the meta fandom! ...or so I tell myself. Moratorium still in effect: not broken but slightly...bent?)

Comments

Judgy McJudgerston is Judging your RPF.

[2naonh3-cl2.livejournal.com]

RPF/RPS is superduper wrong. You're wrong wrong wrong. Sick in the head. Also, Donghae can't be in love with Hyukjae, because, you see, he and I are MFEO. We're going to get married. Wait and see.

:P Okay, I can't even keep a straight face while typing that. You know how I feel on it. My question for you is this: J2? pfft. Where's the love for Dean/Castiel? C'mon, Mei. It'd be cool to be in the same fandom again. Same non-incestuous pairing...c'mon. ^o^

Re: Judgy McJudgerston is Judging your RPF.

[meiface.livejournal.com]

I'M WORKING ON IT BUT IT IS HARD. There is so much Wincest fic out there...so much good Wincest fic. ;__;! We will have to find another pairing to ship alsdkgj THERE IS ALWAYS KIRK/SPOCK?

Re: Judgy McJudgerston is Judging your RPF.

[meiface.livejournal.com]

ALSO IF YOU REALLY MARRIED DONGHAE CAN I BE A BRIDESMAID PLEASE? :DDDDD

[peachpastiche.livejournal.com]

Idk like my only real argument against RPF is that I want to be semi-famous one day and I would be SUPER BOTHERED if someone wrote fic about me. And I don't like where people answer that with "blah blah they signed up to be famous so who cares" because to me it sounds a lot like "they were asking for it" :/

BUT this is only my personal opinion and I am sure that plenty of famous people wouldn't be bothered by it. (If only because they've seen REAL fanatics?)

[meiface.livejournal.com]

That is totally legit! But I think there is some merit to the "they're famous" argument - not that they were asking for it but the fact that, well, that's what comes with fame. It's even recognized in the law - parodies/criticism/whatever of famous people up to a certain point are protected from defamation suits because, well, they are famous. But that gets into the whole "how famous is famous" debate.

Anyway! I guess my position is that it could definitely make people uncomfortable but most of the time they don't know about it? I guess they knnow about it in an abstract sense (i.e., that it exists) but as long as no one's shoving actual fic in their faces or they're not searching for specific fic on the internet, then it's mostly harmless. And that is why people who try to alert the subject of fic that fic exists about them HERE READ THIS ONE I WROTE OMG really squick/anger me.

[celerywench.livejournal.com]

LOVE IT.

I mean RPS. Not the gay brotherly incestuous love @_@ that part really gives me the creeps. (I NEED A LINE OK. I DRAW IT AT GAY INCEST AND HYUK'S FACE.)

But really, RPS is like my best friend. I mean, first off it's harmless fun, second off it's great writing (if you choose carefully) where you also get a (lets face it, pretty fucking voyeuristic-like) little "peak" into the would be lives of your favorite celebrities/stars. Of course, it's very important to, as you mentioned, draw the distinction between "your boys fandomly" and as they really are in their real lives as people.

Fandomly: J2 is as good as married to each other as far as I'm concerned and I am just as happy as any other Pinto fangirl to squeal ridiculously about how ZQ and Cpine clearly love each other b/c Cpine came to NYC JUST TO SEE ZQ; but I'm also able to step back and divorce that from my mind, and recognize that Danneel makes Jensen ridiculous happy and Jared, for his own special reasons, feels the same about Gen; and ZQ is probably in a relationship with Jesse Tyler Ferguson (or some other hot man meat) and CPine has horrible but authentically hetero taste in women.

Honestly, if I were a "celebrity" I would fucking LOVE it if people wrote fic about me (hi is my vanity showing?) because it would be really funny to see how they see me, and outside of grotesquely plotting my death - I'd be pretty ok with most of what is thrown at stars/celeb couples. But then, I also don't give a fuck about privacy (I mean if you can dig up dirt on me that I won't just blatantly tell you, lol go for it).

[meiface.livejournal.com]

hahahaha I like how we always qualify our reaction to Jared and Gen's relationship. Oh man, I do hope they're ridiculously happy even if fangirls are a little "..." about it. We've got nothing to do with their relationship anyway, so I can love Sandy better all I want. :3

You have lines! That's cool. I apparently lost mine ages ago, since it's all fiction to me. ;) But at least we'll always have J2? And Pinto! And many other things, so~ ♥

CPine has horrible but authentically hetero taste in women.

ROFL. Sad but true.

[chrestomanci]

I will admit there was a brief and frightening period of my life where I sincerely believed Ohmiya were actually in love with each other. Um. Haha!?? Anyway I love RPS but I do have a limit-- I can't read anything about someone who is in a serious relationship. Engaged, dating long term, married, whatever. If they're in a relationship, I just can't read it. WHICH LIMITS ME FROM SO MANY SHIPS I'D LOVE TO SEE. But it's a squick! I just feel like it's disrespectful, idk.

[meiface.livejournal.com]

Aww, no J2 then. But I get this! I mean, it doesn't stop me because apparently I have no lines or morals when it comes to fiction, sigh, but I totally understand and respect that viewpoint. I'd like to think all these RL relationships go happily too. ♥ Wishing them (all of them, whoever they are and whoever they're with, haha) the best~

[evaporate.livejournal.com]

I agree! ...but I think you knew that, haha. I used to have pretty strong feelings against RPS but I got over it, mostly. The feelings come back when people start believing that THE GAY LOVE IS TRUE because that makes me :| and when the RPS involves people who are married irl because that also makes me :|

╮(╯_╰)╭

Sort-of tangentially, what really bothers me with RPF fandoms is when people disclaim for ownership instead of fiction. As in, "DISCLAIMER: I do not own the SuJu boys lol" because excuse you, of course you don't. Nobody owns them, k. D: They are not inherently ownable dksljf!

[meiface.livejournal.com]

Oh disclaimers - I feel like most of them are carried over from fictional person fiction because people don't stop to think about what they're saying. But the point is to disclaim this story as true, not that you own...whoever...

sldgkfhj I don't suppose you're into Supernatural fandom (or its respective RPF fandom) at all? I'm so aflutter about them right now and I'm going to explode if I don't find someone to flail at. 8D I should go find people instead of accosting people who have no idea what I'm talking about.

[ch-ar-me.livejournal.com]

ngl tinhatting is so so fun. it uh brings out the cray cray stan in me. it usually fuels more canon-based fic, and as much as i love au, rl-based fics makes me more *_____* (the whole i can totally see this happening in my head is exactly just that. it's still in my head.)

it's still all in good fun for me. there's still a line in my head that separates what i read in fic and see irl. i think i's something like, i'm tinhatting their friendship? their relationship with each other?

i mean i will tinhat kradam until the ends of time, but whether they fucked, are fucking, or will be fucking irl isn't really what's important.


THEY LOVE EACH OTHER. THAT'S IT.

[meiface.livejournal.com]

I don't mind tinhatting as long as people can still separate reality. Tinhatting in fandom is really practically what fandom is all about - just for fun and what entertains us. (Sadly I can't even tinhat J2 properly because they're happily and newly married, or KiHae BECAUSE KIBUM DOES NOT EXIST. Rofl, my life.)

I will read more Kradam and tinhat their superclose and cute relationship! :D I love it when people have that kind of relationship - it is happymaking to see. ♥

[ch-ar-me.livejournal.com]

just remembered back then when so many people didn't like katy too. i think she's awesome, and one of my main ://// with the fic is how authors deal with katy and just. bah. i just have good compartmentalizing skillz in my head.

[meiface.livejournal.com]

Hey, totally legitimate! It really isn't for some people and that's okay. There are parts of fandom that, uh...ship things I don't ship? orz I think that's probably the only parts of fandom I don't really get into - fictional incest, BDSM, whatever, doesn't even make me bat a lash anymore, sigh. Oh, wait, lolicon/shotacon! That is Not My Thing so that is something I just ignore and go about my day with.

Hmm it really is interesting to see how people react to RPF or even just RL-actor-based shows. I can see how it could be disconcerting.

I don't know about other people, but almost all the time I ship RPF pairings it's because I really love the RL friendship that's providing the basis for the ship. I guess that goes back to the huge mental barrier I have between fiction (yay omg totally in love) and reality (omg their RL friendship is awesome). :>

[undersaturn.livejournal.com]

I used to be wary of RPF at least and tried to keep myself away from it. (Says the girl who's first ever fic reading was Dom/Elijah BDSM.) But then SJ happened and I totally caved in. heh. I concentrate on keeping the fic versions separate from the real versions in my head at least.

I will say that after I met Tablo in person last year, I thought I could never read any fic of him ever again. It broke the barrier, you know? But again, I slowly became cool with it months later. It's just I'm more particular about what I'll read with him now, and it depends on what mood I'm in. The man has a child now, it's a lil weird!

[meiface.livejournal.com]

I started off fandom way back when with RPF - writing fic for BSB, hahaha. So I guess it's always been my destiny to fictionalize RL boy band members or something. orz

I wondered if I would still be able to write for kpop after seeing SJ live and - omg!! - holding Donghae's hand and stuff. But I apparently can totally put up that barrier. I haven't met Tablo and it might be a little weirder since he can read and understand English, but as long as no one's linking fic to him, it's basically like reading/writing Western-fandom RPF to me, so it doesn't bother me too much. But I can definitely understand how it'd be different for other people. Some people can't stand any RPF, some people can't stand it after they meet someone, some people can't stand it if the people in question are married, etc.

[meiface.livejournal.com]

/BEAMS

You will enjoy my (eventual) pimp post then! ahaha yeah, occasionally I hope very very hard they don't ever encounter fic of them (though I know with J2 it has been brought to their explicit attention at cons and I got such an embarrassment squick ugh ugh DO NOT WANT SHUT UP SHUT UP WHY ARE YOU TELLING THEM). Man it must be tough to be a celeb with a cult fandom following. Because I bet J2 gets way more fic than, for example, Brad Pitt. Weird.

[catskilt.livejournal.com]

Thank you bb! ♥♥♥♥♥

Does RPS = real person slash? Not roleplay, right? I've been writing real person fanfic since I was thirteen, so I don't know if I ever had a problem with it (I did have problems initially with slashing people, though, but I got over that quickly). It's all fiction to me, and as long as it remains fiction in our minds, I think it's fine. I like RPS because I know the characters that people are writing about, and it's nice having actual faces to attach to those characters.

I do have a couple of friends who are really against RPS, saying it's disrespectful towards the artistes and etc., and all I have to say is, the guys themselves play it up. They blatantly offer fanservice and everyone in the industry knows that pretending to be ghei is all part of it, and they know very well that that will spawn fanfic. That's how it goes, and it's got nothing to do with invasion of privacy or disrespect. Those critics need to get off their high horses :|

[meiface.livejournal.com]

:DDD Go have a fabulous day, okay? Although I know you already got your cake...

Yup, RPS is real person slash, RPF is real person fiction. I got into RPF right when I got into fandom with BSB so I have no upper moral ground to denounce it, haha. Even if I wanted to, which I totally wouldn't.

True, in kpop and even with a lot of Western fandoms, RPS is based off fanservice or pre-existing close friendships. But even without the fanservice (e.g., HaeSica is not that fanservicey at all), I would still ship and write and whatever, because it's all still fiction to me. I mean, I understand why other people disagree because there are legitimate discomforts for some people but that's personal. I'm not going to force them to write or read or like RPF, and they don't need to try to stop me from writing/reading/enjoying it either.

[papered.livejournal.com]

laughs, so basically I HAVE NO MORALS when it comes to fic. but yes, re:RPF/RPS, if the whole fandom is basically built on it (ie. kpop), I obviously don't even hesitate - but I find that interestingly enough, I *do* hesitate when it's a non-RL-people fandom? like supernatural, ahahaha. (but then again, I don't ship wincest either, so I suppose that affects my views re:J^2.) THAT SAID, I think that that just happens to be my view on spn (ie. what I'm used to) and doesn't actually have anything to do with my opinion re:rps in general, and also, YOU KNOW I'LL STILL READ J^2 ANYWAY. you are always welcome to !!! at me about them :3 :3 :3

[meiface.livejournal.com]

OMG IS THIS THE FIRST TIME WE DON'T SHARE A SHIP IN A FANDOM? WHAT DO YOU SHIP IN SPN HOW IS IT POSSIBLE-- /gapes in shock

Anyway I will totally convince you to J2...maybe... If I ever finish linking/coding this pimp post omgggg. Ugh. They are so cute though. Idk, I don't really have moral issues about RPS but sometimes I'm just not as interested in it? Like Merlin RPF, I don't really care to read for some reason, although I'm all for Merlin/Arthur. Maybe there just needs to be the right ~dynamic~ to hook me. That's usually it, actually. I have to like the dynamic, regardless of whether the pairing is Real Person or Fictional Characters.

/smushes♥

[nightflight.livejournal.com]

I've enjoyed RPF and RPS since I was in middle school? It never even occurred to me that it could be strange or unsettling until the Internet became involved and I started seeing other opinions.

I always kinda figured, though... it's not the people themselves I'm playing with, it's their public characters, their public persona. I still feel like this, because there's no way for me to know how so-and-so is actually like, so it's just the surface reflection that I'm picking up on.

Oddly, though, now that I've actually managed to somehow interact with Keita a bit, I find myself less able to fic him, which is strange. Maybe the distance that fans and their objects of adoration usually naturally inhabit makes it easier to find the necessary mental distance to "characterize" them properly? I don't know! I want to write more, but I'm being distracted and hence this crappy comment will have to do! But it's not even a lack of DESIRE to fic him, because my brain gives me about ten different ideas a day, but just... something blocks me from feeling comfortable about it. I hate that!

[meiface.livejournal.com]

Same for me actually! Though now I can see why it could be uncomfortable for some people. But I'm really sharing your mindset - I'm writing fictional characters here, even if they're based off real people, so. /shrugs

That said, I know people who've met kpop stars too and can't write them anymore! Of course, I saw them irl (but would not count as "meeting" them) and that hasn't stopped me, haha. Maybe it really depends on the level of interaction. And, of course, it varies from person to person. I'm just going to be jealous that you got to interact with Keita at all! ;[]

[nyw.livejournal.com]

I love RPS, but it gets mighty awkward when I talk to fic readers of fictional universes because I forget that not everybody reads or even knows about RPS. I must admit it frightens me a little to see fangirls bring signs to concerts that say things like... "Donghae loves Eunhyuk" or "QMI forever" (okay so I've never seen the latter but you get my drift) because it's kind of crossing that imaginary barrier between fandom and real life and that just sets off too many alarm bells about how wrong this whole thing could go. All those fics about what might happen if so-and-so from so-and-so band / movie / whatever found out about all the fanfiction about them butt-fucking each other? Still works of fantasy (which is interesting to think about in a meta way, tbh) but probably very untrue, and very dangerously so. I'm not trying to make a mountain out of a molehill, but it's just an observation that this sort of fic perpetuates the blurring of said line between fandom and real life, and that line is precisely what needs to be kept very clear in order to keep RPS fun and safe and perhaps even existent at all.

That said, if I'm not wrong years back J2 admitted at the Winchester Con that they'd heard about Wincest and were pretty amused by it, or something. 8D I thought that was hilarious, and I don't even watch Supernatural xD

On the other hand, sometimes I love RPF more. Friendship is often thicker than anything romantic, and it's nice to read about celebrities having people they can actually trust. I think fic gave me the misguided impression that everybody's out to look for love and romance, but I learned from real life that really... this is not true. When I read well-written RPS with every thing a girl could want in a significant other, my brain goes 'awwww' but a part of me thinks, well, this is fictional, isn't it? So there's a sort of distancing from the emotional connection with the characters. But when I read RPF or band-fic, that 'awwww' is more involved and the longing for that ideal more genuine because it's 1) more likely to be true and 2) more attainable for us all.

[meiface.livejournal.com]

Oh I almost never talk about RPF outside of people I know who are okay with it, because I know it's a touchy thing for a lot of people, even more than just fanfiction. Most of the time I just don't have the energy to get into that debate so I just don't talk about it.

Yeah, I'm pretty "..." about the EunHae signs at concerts too but, well, the boys are into fanservice and more likely than not they see it as a sign of support for their friendship andcontinued fanservice, so I guess it's not too huge a deal? It still squicks me though. I like having this line, this mental wall separating fiction from reality. I don't really want to cross that, thanks. ;_;

J2 know about Wincest, oh lord do they. Fans keep bringing it up, ugh. But, hilariously, the show itself has mentioned Wincest in a canon episode! It was a total shoutout to fandom, mocking it. It's a complicated set-up (I'd have to explain plot...) but basically Wincest fic exists in canon and the boys stumble across it and are freaked out and Dean's all: "Dude, they know we're brothers, right?" Oh SPN is good at random fandom shoutouts. They probably also know about J2 RPS, which actually weirds me out a lot more, since that means people are telling them, "hey, we're writing about you, not just your character." :| Another blatant line-crossing, dnw. I'll write and read and enjoy it all I want, but I'd really prefer not to go flaunt it in their face, y'know? What is that?

And friendship fic is lovely. <3 Gen is seriously underrated too.

[forochel.livejournal.com]

I WAS YOUNG AND IMPRESSIONABLE AND THE LOTR ACTORS LOVED MACKING ON EACH OTHER




QED I HAVE NO PROBLEMS WITH ANYTHING EXCEPT ADULTERY AND BESTIALITY.

[forochel.livejournal.com]

OH AND ALSO PEOPLE FORGET THAT THEY'RE WRITING ABOUT INTERPRETATIONS OF REAL PEOPLE NOT THE ACTUAL PEOPLE. BASICALLY OCs THAT SHARE THEIR FACES AND SOME MANNERISMS.

[black-goose.livejournal.com]

sets tinhat at a jaunty angle.

nah, I like tinhatting, it can be fun, and while I might talk like I mean it, I don't actually think that like, Hanchul are foreals fucking, or were fucking, or whatever. You never know what's going on in the background, so it can be fun to try and ~guess~ what's happening, and idk. Mostly they just look pretty together :| RPS used to squick me, but slash itself used to squick me. I think it's only like, mpreg and bestiality that makes me go D: now.

[meiface.livejournal.com]

DUDE I CAN'T EVEN TINHAT MY OTP, FUCK KIM KIBUM. Whatever. :( This is why I've left them for J2 now except I can't tinhat for them either because I fangirl their RL marriages too much, hahaha. /fails at being a crazy fangirl

Yeah, I'm with you - there's still stuff that squicks me but I don't go around telling anyone that they'e wrong for enjoying it/writing it/whatever, so I'm sort of hoping people who are squicked by RPS can sort of maintain that distance too. It's fun and harmless, imo. :D

[taylormercury.livejournal.com]

This is an interesting subject, and it always makes me re-think my own opinions towards it whenever a discussion comes up.

As it is, I'd say I pretty much feel the same way you do about RPS/RPF. It hasn't bothered me really for a long time, since I started my internet fanfic life in Beatles fandom (not slash, though, for some unknown reason, slash fiction for them, and other non-asian groups/things, weirds me out) so I've been exposed to this thing for many many years now! And I've had a long time to come to term with it.

As far as I'm concerned, I enjoy reading it (sometimes, less now than I used to) and I enjoy writing it (sometimes, again XD), and I have very little qualms about the fact I'm sometimes romantically writing about two men who are not gay for each other in real life. I know that it isn't real, and I know that I do it just for fun, and that the people I write about are never, ever going to see such things (goddamn that would be the most awkward embarrassing thing ever :|) And also, as much as I might proclaim unending love for certain pairings, and go HOMG SO-AND-SO KISSED SUCH-AND-SUCHS CHEEK SQUEEEEEEEEEEE I know that it isn't likely to be anything beyond fanservice/friendship, and that is FINE BY ME. I'M OKAY WITH THAT, REALLY, MY LIVE DOES NOT BEGIN OR END WITH SOME PAIRING.

Though, oddly, when I think about it too deeply (as in, omfg these are real people ahdjakdk what am I doing) I weird myself out, but that's just me being a weirdo when I over-analyse anything >>

But, I can see why the idea of RPF/RPS does squick other people (for a multitude of reasons) and THATS OK. YKINMK and all that jazz, and I really don't care what other people enjoy with their fanfic, but what I don't like is being judged for enjoying what I enjoy :| Things might squick me and I might be like OMFG MPREG/INCEST/BESTIALITY IS SOOOO WEIRD AND ICKY GRAAAAAH but I wouldn't ever dream of telling people to stop WRITING what they like! Even if it weirds me the hell out, I tend to assume that these people also know that they know the real people they are writing about probably don't have sex with their mother/dog/whatever.

Actually, I have NO IDEA where I'm going with this :| I just always like your interesting posts about things like this, and it's something I can comment on! (as much as I love SPN, I'm not a part of fandom ;~;) and I usually do have thoughts on these subjects!

So yeah, I'm all for RPF/RPS, but I'm not for judging me for liking it!

(Also, interesting question I think I saw pop up in debate in one of the fic rant comms lately was about where does the 'privacy' thing for RPF begin and end in fanfic, and at what part should a real person's life stop being written about, like family members/friends/children who aren't famous, are they, by association of the famous person, up for grabs to be written about, or should fanfic writers not write about them beyond a mention of their existence if needed?)

also, what is tinhatting? (I'm sorry my comment is so tl;dr and not bringing anything to the discussion ;___;)

[meiface.livejournal.com]

Yup, I think we basically have the same opinion about RPF! And the same attitude towards other things we don't like - I would never tell someone to NOT write it if it's not my kink; I would just avoid it. I have to say, people who go out of their way to tell RPF fans that RPF is inherently wrong and whatever really bug me. :\ But that does bring up the question of where "privacy" begins... I guess with J2 stuff, for example, they've specifically mentioned their siblings/intended majors/etc at conventions or in interviews, so I feel like that's all fair. I guess I can also see why it'd squick people, but for me it's just realistic detail added to this original-fic-with-OCs-who-share-these-actors'-names kind of dealio. I mean, it's all still fictionalized in my head, you know? So it doesn't bother me too much.

...so now I don't know what I'm saying anymore, haha.

Anyway, I am happy that we can talk about things like this! Because I'm reading like crazy for SPN but I wouldn't say I'm really active in the fandom. I lurk and read because apparently I fangirl passively nowadays, haha. Not so much with the writing of fic that much for me these days either...

Tinhatting, according to Urbandictionary anyway, means someone who twistss everything that two celebrities do to make it look like they're in love. I think the epistemology is basically about alien-conspiracy believers who wear tinhats to be able to communicate with aliens? Anyway, it's basically twisting everything to prove their conspiracy/shipping theory. Lots of J2 tinhatters who frighten me. :| And kpop is rife with them too...

[lego1016.livejournal.com]

I don't really have anything new to add to the above discussions other than to say that writingthewall has some very nice discussions about rps/rpf happening.

[meiface.livejournal.com]

Oooh intriguing - thank you for the comm link!