Hating the Haters

[nightfox]

This is really just a rant but I keep seeing this and it really honks me off. There are two places in particular that this issue keeps popping up.

First, I am a happy member of merlin_finders. I love getting recs from other people's searches and I like being able to help out if I can find something for someone else. All in all, it's a great comm. However, I really, really hate when someone takes the time to emphatically specify, NO SLASH. Really? You have to just spew it out like that? Not, "I prefer gen fic" or "I'm looking for het pairings"?

I mean, I understand that slash isn't for everyone and you are certainly within your rights to read what you want to read but there really is something about the way that phrase reads that just screams homophobia to me.

I find it amazing the amount of intolerance you can cram into two small words. The disgust and disdain that pours off that simple statement is astonishing.

On FF.net, authors show their hate with the same phrase or the slight variant of Not Slash and they often take the time to put in bold, italics or ALL CAPS just to be sure you got the message. Slash is nasty and you won't find it in my pristine little fic!

This has been building in me for a while now. I used to just shrug and keep on going but the more I see it, the more it bothers me. I have to be honest, I don't care how good your story might be, if you label yourself as a homophobe at the very top of the damned thing, I sure as hell am not going to read any further. It's not that I'm exclusively looking to read slash either. I'll take well written het and gen fic any day. But I'll be double dipped in dog shit before I support the work of an intolerant prick!

Same thing goes for searches on merlin_finders. If you say NO SLASH, you get NO FIC from me. I may have exactly what you are looking for in my hot little hands but you have just shown yourself unworthy of my help. Take your shriveled little hating heart and be on your way.

OK, that's it for now. Time for me to go fall on my nose and sleep for a few hours!

Comments

[jelazakazone.livejournal.com]

Oh my god. I have not seen on that on Merlin finders (I think I'm not on that comm) but I hate it on ff.net. I hate it when I click on someone's profile who has just favorited a fic I've written and it proclaims how much they hate slash in their profile. Urk. I'm with you.

[k-nightfox.livejournal.com]

Merlin finders is a great comm but I wish they'd police their posts for bashing because that's what it is in my opinion. Grant you, it's a relatively mild form of bashing but still. I like the way the kink meme is run. No bashing/shaming is tolerated.

[jelazakazone.livejournal.com]

Does the kink meme lay out the no bashing guidelines? I think the kink comms are very good about policing bashing. Maybe you could suggest it to the merlin finders comm?

ETA: I'm thinking about this concept of labeling fics. I don't label mine anything. I give pairings and ratings and leave the rest up to the reader. I'm trying to have deep thoughts about this idea, but there is a children's show about bees with a British accent that is rather distracting:D

[k-nightfox.livejournal.com]

Yep, kink me merlin is very clear that no bashing or shaming of any kind will be tolerated and they enforce it from what I've seen. Their mods are quite diligent.

I have thought about suggesting it to merlin finders. Maybe I will!