curled around these images

Something that has been on my mind for a while (hee...for a good reason I have to add) is how do fans generally feel about their work being used in other fans work?

If, for example, someone made a video showcasing fan art, fics and vids how would you feel if your work appeared it in? Or if your story was podficced? Or if your art was posted to a story? Do you think you should have been asked permission for it to be used or do you think that because you have released to the public domain it's available for anyone to use in a their own work? (I'm not talking about taking it and claiming it as their own - that's definitely a huge no).

As fans we take inspiration from products that are copyrighted (TV show, films, music etc) and we often use them in our own work - usually transforming them into something else to share with fellow fans. We don't seek permission from the source - once they are available to the public we jump all over them. How does that change for our own work - be it art, fic, vids, podfics? I know we don't get paid and nor do we make money from our work, so is that the sole reason why getting permission to use other people's fan work is so important? Is it just courtesy? Is it an unwritten etiquette amongst fans? Does it depend on the transformative work it appears in? Would it matter if the work was controversial or making a statement you didn't support?

Or am I missing a another explanation for why permission has to be sort and granted whenever we use other's fanworks? (I'm simply curious. I have no agenda here other than making sure I'm not missing some ethical morality (or law!!) when it comes to using fan works). And I'm not talking about taking other people's work and claiming it as your own. Or producing something that the viewer would assume is yours even if you can't give precise credit (I know that's murky, but there are times when it's obvious that the work doesn't belong to the creator - like a screen cap of a website for example).

For me I think the courtesy is nice, but I figure once my work is out there it's up for grabs. I'm usually honored when I see my work used in someone else's - or it's an inspiration for something else. Credit is nice, but not essential. I think part of the fan community is about sharing - but maybe I'm be naive on this front.

I've been seeking out Batcave fics and I wondered if a Batcave comm has been created?

There's been the wonderful Batcave Fic and Art Commentfest so I wondered if a) there was a comm for the massive amount of fic and art that SHOULD come out of this wonderful place and b) if not, should there be one?

(it's total anal of me because I like things all in the one place :D)


If the answer is no there isn't one and yes there should be one who's gonna make it? Or maybe help me? ;D

raloria posted this on her awesome spn_ontheset comm and it really made me wonder....

( another Jared talent..? )

Also... I deserve a friggin MEDAL for not checking out the preview for the next ep. YOU GUYS!! Is it Saturday (well, you know, Friday...) YET?!?!

...probably because it's supposed to be an episode reaction. But it's not, because there's ANOTHER GODDAMN HIATUS!! Boo hiss boo!!

So instead, a completely inane and pointless post.

There are things that are said or occur in fanfic regularly enough that it makes me wonder if I actually missed the references in canon. (I have seriously wondered these.... )

1. Did John ever tell his boys to "suck it up"? (or direct reference made to him saying that in the past). Or has Dean ever said that to Sam?

2. Have either of the boys ever run out of hot water while having a shower?

3. Have either of the boys ever called first dibs on the shower? Or said "don't take all the hot water"?

4. Has Dean ever called Sam "Samantha"? Or Princess? (I know Dean's called Sam "Francis" but the others...?)

5. Have we ever seen their first aid kit?

6. Have they ever kissed which has led to amazing sex? yeah...ignore that...

ETA (another one I thought of) Has Dean ever complained about Sam's long hair?

See? Completely inane. (It's been a looooooooong day. Without my show to pick me up. That's my excuse anyway...)

Carry on.

I know. I ask a lot of questions. I've learned over time that that's the best way for me to learn and a great way to get info relevant to LJ.

This time I have one for the picspammers.

I have actually opened up Photoshop and I AM PLAYING! \o/ I have figured out how to size and colour and I'm damn excited about that.

The question is. What is a good and reasonable size (kb/mb) for an image? I have no idea if I should be aiming for a say 300kb file or lower. Higher? Obviously the higher the better for quality, but what is consider too big? I suspect if a picspam is too big it would take the average person too long to dl the images. Yeah?

And umm... png or jpeg? Argh! New learning curve.

Also *HUGS* everyone for the show/tell info. SO awesome. I learned heaps. Mostly that writing seems hard!

Vidding flisties...

Has anyone else been put in a moderating queue (recently) when posting to supernaturalvid?. This is a first for me and I'm wondering how long approval takes?

*taps foot* my patience is wearing very very thin...

ETA: Don't post with too many links. Probably thought it was spam. Or something. /o\

Probably because I haven't being paying as much attention as I should.
( this isn't at all spoilery... Unless you haven't been watching s6. I'm just paranoid like that  )

Can anyone link me to a straightforward tutorial on making .gifs? I'd really like to give them a go and my attempts so far have been pretty abysmal.

Also... a ( wee question re 6.12.. )

I'm still holidaying on the Central Coast of NSW. Best holiday I've had in ages. Angst free and very relaxing.

Met up with the lovely ruby_jelly. So nice to meet someone as mad as me. (Ha! She's awesome...*g* ) Great to chat about the show on common ground - rather than trying to convince someone else how additive and amazing the show is.

Though we did ponder something we couldn't answer. Maybe someone can shed some light...

( Did we miss something..? )

Also...

( Sammy speculation.. )


Can you tell I'm in the mood for some show chat?! I think meeting RJ stirred that up and also I AM MISSING MY SHOW!!

There may be a more appropriate place to ask this question, like a podfic comm, but I'm not sure there is one. So I'll try here first.

I listen to my podfics on my MP3 player. So I DL the MP3 file when choosing a story to listen to. I've recently noticed that most stories are in M4b format. What is that? I can't seem to convert it to MP3 (I've tried through Sound Converter and it doesn't recognise the format). Is that just for iPods or something? Also - and here's a really naive question - What's a podbook? How does it differ from a normal podfic dl?

Thanks if any one can shed some light on my lack of technical knowledge.