fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #3307 ]

⌈ Secret Post #3307 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 04 pages, 078 secrets from Secret Submission Post #473.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

07. http://i.imgur.com/vka2L0y.png

In recent months, I've found myself growing increasingly tired of vague secrets that don't name the fandom/ship/etc.

Most especially when there's no indication that the fandom is small or that OP would be recognized. Why not name it?

S!B: I've lurked since 2009. This isn't a new trend. Why is it only bothering me now? (Less discussion & f!s "anonymity," I think, but still.)

I don't know about you, anon, but the lack of specific context often makes it difficult to judge the merit of the secret.

I can understand not naming the fandom because your secret is one that doesn't need the extra context ("I 'ship something that there's no fic for," "some of the people in my fandom are jackasses," etc.) and you don't want the extraneous details either derailing the conversation or making people skim past your secret because they don't know the people in the picture. It only annoys me when it's "I have hidden a series of subtle clues to what I'm actually talking about in this secret and I want you to dissect it in the comments and find an answer OMG PLZ PAY ATTENTION TO ME."

I think some people honestly think that the "secrets" part of "Fandom Secrets" means the fandom you're talking about is supposed to be a secret too.

Which is just dumb, unless it's such a small fandom or the situation you're talking about is so famous, that just mentioning what fandom it is going to cause problems for you.

Fans can also be so myopic that it doesn't occur to them that they have to tell us what fandom they're talking about

For me, it's because the issue is so charged that the flame war might hit me. I want to vent, but I don't want to be listed as one of those controversial parts. :/

Sorry, anon. :\ I so wish I could make some specific secrets for my most favored fandom. I was specific once and there were people who actually knew the fandom when I thought it was too obscure. So now I'm afraid if I keep doing it, people might be become curious and easily find me. Then again, maybe I'm just being paranoid. There are a few other people in my tiny fandom, just not as active as me.

If the secret is meant to be vague (and not simply unknown because OP hasn't included the fandom) then I assume they have their reasons. Maybe their fandom is small and they just haven't stated it explicitly because that would also be a giveaway. OP is a better judge of whether or not being vague is right for them than you or I.

Yup. I bet the vast majority of secrets with no stated fandom are made that way for a reason. People don't typically just 'forget' to include their fandom, they figure the secret could be traced back to them in some way.

And honestly, I understand that. I've made a couple vague secrets before because I knew if I specified a fandom anyone who read my comments would probably guess it was me and/or call me out, lol.

So especially in situations where people are in a small fandom or have been involved in something that's blown up in fandom (for good or ill), it makes sense to leave out details.

I've made vague secrets before where I didn't specify the fandom. I didn't do it because it's a small fandom and people I know follow this community and while the risk of discovery is small, it's still significant. I want some measure of plausible deniability. Obviously I can't speak for everyone who makes vague secrets, but I always have a reason for doing so that's valid to me. Whether or not you or anyone else considers it a valid reason doesn't concern me much, because you get to decide how you make secrets, and I get to decide how I make secrets. /shrug

Agreed. I only make vague secrets because I want to get something off my chest, not necessarily call out a specific fandom.

Another thing I noticed from my past submissions if I make it clear what the fandom is people just derail the conversation or cause drama instead of talking about the core issue and the reason I wrote the secret. It's better to be vague.

I've made secrets about a BNF in my fandom before. There's more than one BNF but it's not a large fandom and if I identified it, it'd be really obvious who I meant. She has a lot of fans and it would likely get back to her. She's not a very pleasant person and I just don't want the inevitable drama.

I understand why people do it. It's because people want it to be a secret and pinpointing the fandom might make it obvious who you are or who you are talking about. Some people just want to vent without creating any wank. Nothing wrong with that.

I made a secret a while ago where I complained about a specific event, and if I named the fandom, someone might have been able to ID me personally.

I don't have much to say on the actual secret but I just want to say hi to OP as a fellow seven-year lurker \o/

What I don't get is when people play the vague game, but end up saying the fandom/ship/whatever later on. It's like, why did you bother being vague in the first place if you were going to come out and say it anyway?

I agree, OP, that pisses me off, too. Vague secrets are boring and I hate feeling like OP is trying to make us ~guess. And for goodness sake, it's anonymous, so unless it refers to specific circumstances within a fandom where MAYBE they could be traced (as though this community has THAT many participants lol) I just think it's a bit egotistical to think anyone gives a fuck.

1. You don't have to participate in the community in order to see the secret, because it's public.

2. This dreamwidth comm has just over a thousand members.

3. The LJ comm has over 12,000 watchers.

4. Secrets from this community are regularly posted elsewhere, such as tumblr.

5. Many users here also have friends in fandom (surprise!) who follow this fandom related community (surprise again!).

The possibility that a secret maker's identity might be obvious if they ID'ed the fandom is not insignificant, and at any rate, they're the ones who have to figure out if maybe they don't want to take that chance. Not sure why this is so hard to understand.

...if the picture in the secret is a direct reference to a not well-known piece of media and they are complaining about the lack of fans, but don't give the name or any reasons why they think others should watch it, then that's a little irritating. Because they could maybe entice some people into watching/reading/listening to it.

...if they are complaining about how they haven't found much fic/art/discussion of their character/pairing, but don't mention the character/pairing, then I think they've missed an opportunity, because FS had a lot of people in a lot of different fandoms and it's possible the secret poster could be pointed toward some fic/art/discussion they weren't aware of.

[ SECRET POST #3307 ]

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I usually assume they have their reasons, but...