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inteligrrlfrom franticsga's journal
Real-People Fic. I swing back and forth between ashamed and unabashed when it comes to real-person stuff. I hate locking stuff down, but I also hate the thought of anybody in a real person's life stumbling on stuff written about them shagging.
Qualifications: I hail from bandom, where RPS is a way of life, and I've been around other areas of fandom for years - these are my general observations on the matter.
1) They know you're doing it. Well, not you in particular, but they know it's out there. There's footage of one of the boys from Cobra Starship complaining that he's always on the bottom in fanfic, Tom Conrad apparently pulls it up when drinking with his buddies and leaves nice feedback, and Ryan Ross thinks we're all freaks - but it's Ryan Ross and really, he's one to talk.
2) The general rule of thumb is to put a big "DON'T GOOGLE YOUR SELF, NO SERIOUSLY HIT THAT BACK BUTTON IF YOU SEE YOURSELF OR YOUR FRIENDS. FINE, DON'T SAY I DIDN'T WARN YOU" disclaimer and leave it at that.
3) It's actual people, rather than copyrighted material - there's no prosecutable angle because they are CELEBRITIES who have deliberately put themselves out there for public consumption. Really, only someone like Tom Cruise is going to try to stop the internet from being crazy, and quite frankly he wouldn't have a case.
Just in case you don't know this (but you're not idiots, so I'm assuming you do):
Internet privacy for dummies:
As a good rule of thumb you should always try to keep your RL identity separate from your online one. I'm not saying don't post about Mr. B, or adorable baby shenanigans - just don't tie it concretely to your actual identity.
Things I try never to mention online:
Real name (first name yes, last no)
specific address
company/location of employment (school you can usually get away with, with fandom as pervasive as it is among the younger generation and the size of student bodies it's pretty anonymous)
the RL names of friends and family.
Keep your facebook/myspace/whatever separate as possible, because they operate off of factual information such as name/age/location and it's really easy to follow one to the other.
If you have a twitter either use it for fandom or RL - don't link it to both your facebook and your Live Journal account.
Just like I have a separate password for random/nonessential internet accounts, I also have a separate email for use with different aspects of internet life - junk/personal/fandom - it's a bit more work, but a lot more secure. Unfortunately I thought of this a bit late, so there are still areas where I need to go and detangle my own online/private contact info - but ideally at some point I will have everything successfully separated as much as possible.
Also, know that if you give someone IRL the email you use for fandom they can track your journal/fic down. I've had people I didn't expect find my journal because of this, which is disturbing, but fortunately it has worked out for the most part. This is why I use a different email for job applications etc. Having more email accounts can be a pain, but it's worth it - and the earlier you learn that the easier it is to keep your privacy.
Basically, if you can google your name and get your journal then your next employer/loan officer/random stalker can too. My mother shows up two full google pages before I do, so overall I think I've been relatively successful in keeping a low profile. However if you're not so lucky with the google search test I would start stripping out personal references from back entries or just move journals. So long as you abide by these general rules then you're free from all but the most determined cyber terrorist - and there's no stopping them.
Hope that's somewhat helpful.
franticsga's journalReal-People Fic. I swing back and forth between ashamed and unabashed when it comes to real-person stuff. I hate locking stuff down, but I also hate the thought of anybody in a real person's life stumbling on stuff written about them shagging.
Qualifications: I hail from bandom, where RPS is a way of life, and I've been around other areas of fandom for years - these are my general observations on the matter.
1) They know you're doing it. Well, not you in particular, but they know it's out there. There's footage of one of the boys from Cobra Starship complaining that he's always on the bottom in fanfic, Tom Conrad apparently pulls it up when drinking with his buddies and leaves nice feedback, and Ryan Ross thinks we're all freaks - but it's Ryan Ross and really, he's one to talk.
2) The general rule of thumb is to put a big "DON'T GOOGLE YOUR SELF, NO SERIOUSLY HIT THAT BACK BUTTON IF YOU SEE YOURSELF OR YOUR FRIENDS. FINE, DON'T SAY I DIDN'T WARN YOU" disclaimer and leave it at that.
3) It's actual people, rather than copyrighted material - there's no prosecutable angle because they are CELEBRITIES who have deliberately put themselves out there for public consumption. Really, only someone like Tom Cruise is going to try to stop the internet from being crazy, and quite frankly he wouldn't have a case.
Just in case you don't know this (but you're not idiots, so I'm assuming you do):
Internet privacy for dummies:
As a good rule of thumb you should always try to keep your RL identity separate from your online one. I'm not saying don't post about Mr. B, or adorable baby shenanigans - just don't tie it concretely to your actual identity.
Things I try never to mention online:
Real name (first name yes, last no)
specific address
company/location of employment (school you can usually get away with, with fandom as pervasive as it is among the younger generation and the size of student bodies it's pretty anonymous)
the RL names of friends and family.
Keep your facebook/myspace/whatever separate as possible, because they operate off of factual information such as name/age/location and it's really easy to follow one to the other.
If you have a twitter either use it for fandom or RL - don't link it to both your facebook and your Live Journal account.
Just like I have a separate password for random/nonessential internet accounts, I also have a separate email for use with different aspects of internet life - junk/personal/fandom - it's a bit more work, but a lot more secure. Unfortunately I thought of this a bit late, so there are still areas where I need to go and detangle my own online/private contact info - but ideally at some point I will have everything successfully separated as much as possible.
Also, know that if you give someone IRL the email you use for fandom they can track your journal/fic down. I've had people I didn't expect find my journal because of this, which is disturbing, but fortunately it has worked out for the most part. This is why I use a different email for job applications etc. Having more email accounts can be a pain, but it's worth it - and the earlier you learn that the easier it is to keep your privacy.
Basically, if you can google your name and get your journal then your next employer/loan officer/random stalker can too. My mother shows up two full google pages before I do, so overall I think I've been relatively successful in keeping a low profile. However if you're not so lucky with the google search test I would start stripping out personal references from back entries or just move journals. So long as you abide by these general rules then you're free from all but the most determined cyber terrorist - and there's no stopping them.
Hope that's somewhat helpful.