Vid chats poll

[bop_radar]

I have had Many Thoughts since posting about vidding fandom. One main one has to do with vidding chats.

For those new friends who may not know, I ran a series of chats about vidding in my journal. A bit of history about them: vidding chats began because I wanted to talk to other people about things to do with vidding (pretty simple!) and because I'd recently realised a few other friends wanted to too. We originally polled for interest on them here. Once they got started, I personally underestimated the interest from a wider group but it was really cool to have people from different backgrounds and experience levels pop up and share their thoughts. I tried hard to make the chats welcoming and inclusive, but I'm also aware that my own biases (including a propensity to crap on!) came through. And I became more self-conscious over time about the limitations of me being the OP. I'd always hoped people would talk to each other as well as to me, and this did happen a bit but there was still definitely an extent to which it felt like I and other people were commenting into a vacuum. Also, there were many great suggestions for topics but I didn't always feel I would be the best person to host them. For instance, some people wanted more of a focus on newbie issues, but I can't get around the fact that after three years of vidding I'm not really a newbie any more. And some people wanted more technical or high-level (for want of a better word) discussions and I thought 'ohhh, that would be cool! I'd love that too!' but wondered how to host them because I wouldn't necessarily have much to contribute to a discussion myself. Of course, I could have hosted both (and sort of did) by being honest about the perspective I was speaking from and encouraging others to share their thoughts.

The other issue was simply a time one: I got very busy at work and still am. Some momentum with them was lost. So... I've been wondering for some time whether vid chats should have their own community. And following recent discussion, that seems even more desireable to me. So that they can be seen to belong to the wider community, so that they seem more welcoming because it's not just one person hosting and so that there can be more chats covering more areas.

Of course, I have no idea if other people agree! And it would totally depend on whether there's enough interest and whether other people would be willing to host chats some time. Personally I feel there would have to be other moderators of such a comm, other than me. While I can't imagine never hosting one again myself, I think it'd be really important to have people from a range of backgrounds and experience levels host. I'd absolutely love feedback on this. So! Poll.

[Poll #1450417]

Please feel free to comment with any other thoughts!

Comments

[laurashapiro.livejournal.com]

Wow, really? That makes me sad. ):

I just...wanna point people to lim's comment some more, yanno?

[bop-radar.livejournal.com]

Many things make me sad, yes! And yes... though I've had behind-the-scenes feedback about that as well. The feedback was basically 'we're not all lim' in the sense that some of us want more community/socialising than that, and when people are upset it's not solved by simply saying 'you're just making too big a deal about it' (which is a gross oversimplification of what she was saying, I know!). So while I personally adore lim's comment, I'm not sure it is balm to everyone. :(

Oh, it's all so hard!

[laurashapiro.livejournal.com]

How frustrating.

I mean, I'm not trying to say that there's just one answer for everyone. I get that that is not so, and should not be so. But the thing that makes me saddest about fandom is how socially vulnerable so many of us are. I tend to cling to Eleanor Roosevelt's saying, "Nobody can make you feel inferior without your permission." In fandom, we give away that permission all the time. We post things like "Here's my new vid, hope it doesn't suck too much," we give other people status and constantly deflect it when others try to give it to us, we think nobody likes us or nobody knows we exist...

I can't help wanting to make that go away.

::sigh::

[bop-radar.livejournal.com]

I know! We're definitely all very socially vulnerable. And I love that saying too, but it's harder to practice than to preach. For me personally at least.

we give other people status and constantly deflect it when others try to give it to us, we think nobody likes us or nobody knows we exist...
*nods* I want that to go away too. I can only change my own behaviour though and just keep on correcting myself back on course when I fail.

[laurashapiro.livejournal.com]

You are wise. I have a hard time backing away and not trying to fix things. I have to keep reminding myself that, as you say, it's only my own behavior that I can change.

I realize, too, and this goes back more to our posts of the past couple of weeks, that I really did kind of slack off in the new-vidder-encouragement detail this year. I used to spend a lot more time doing beta, offering tech tips, and watching/reccing vidders that were new to me, but last year I was stressed out and didn't do it so much. Gotta get back on that train. I don't have the excuse of a job right now to interfere!

[bop-radar.livejournal.com]

You shouldn't feel guilty about 'slacking off' though! We're all here for fun, right? And hey, you do a LOT. I know how much it's meant to me personally... I would never have even dreamed of submitting to VVC ever in an eternity had not you wanted to include my vid in the Newbies show two years ago. (And oh, how I wept when I lost it!) I think everyone knows you do a lot... but you can't fix the world. ;) Neither can I and I'm struggling with that a lot in the wake of all this ... I want to rush out and fix EVERYTHING. I think that's a good thing because it was a wake-up call to me, but on the other hand we must both remember we're only human. (I may be talking to myself here: because I find it incredibly hard to remember and am feeling crushing guilt about my inability to resolve all woes.)

[laurashapiro.livejournal.com]

Ah, I remember that. ::hugs:: But you'll be in other shows!

Thanks for the support. It sounds like we both tend to take on a lot of responsibility for the communities we love. Maybe we should go a little easier on ourselves from time to time?

[bop-radar.livejournal.com]

I think we may indeed be similar that way. :)