She didn't name the name, RL. And while I understand that someone is fully free to discuss the conjunction of their online persona with their real life, I don't feel comfortable doing it for them.

I've known that those two people were the same person for years, just as I know other identities of people I know online. That doesn't mean I make those announcements publicly. I figure if they want people to know, they won't use a pseud.

Okay. I had assumed that since she identified herself as being in the article, in a public LJ post, and identified what she had talked about in the article, that she was fine with people drawing the connection between names. That's why I thought it was okay to say that-- I wouldn't casually out anyone I happened to know unless I thought I had clear indication they were comfortable under both names (as I use both "Rebecca Lizard" and "Lauren Rile Smith", but just feel more natural under "Rebecca", & anyone in fandom is welcome to know what my real-life name is, if they happen to care).

But I will certainly bow to yr superior sense of fan etiquette; and then I'll shut up typing, because all I've done here over the last couple days has gotten me into trouble. (I'd forgotten what the taste of posting-board arguments was like.)

I don't know about superior senses of fan etiquette. What I know is that I like to respect people's choices. If someone was interviewed in a magazine about fandom and the article said, "Mary Sue McCartney, who writes Harry Potter fanfic as SillyQ..." -- well, that would be different because Mary Sue would have admitted to it publicly.

But the article in question didn't, and just because I have access to someone's LJ doesn't mean I feel comfortable saying publicly, "SillyQ the ficcer is also Mary Sue McCartney the novelist", because I figured it out from her LJ. If Mary Sue wanted that known, she wouldn't write as SillyQ.

Everyone in fandom has different levels of comfort with regards to their identity. And when I'm uncertain, I go with the individual's own choices. That's all. YlevelofcomfortMV, and clearly does.

I can see the level-of-privacy difference between a public newspaper and a public LJ post, but I would have considered a public LJ post and a public fan posting board to be on the same level of privacy, and so.

t stopping

There also may be copyright laws involved, if the person in question is a novelist with an ongoing relationship with an agent or a publisher. To publish anything on a public board under one's professional name could be inviting trouble, both from people and institutions who stand to make money from the work of that person under that name, and from the writers/owners of the books or films that are being ficced. It's much less easy to overlook possible infringement when it's done by a known "name."

I would have considered a public LJ post and a public fan posting board to be on the same level of privacy, and so.

I would have too, Rebecca. I guess not.

Dunno if anyone else here reads the magazine Bitch, but there's a relatively thoughtful article about slash in the latest issue. The writer gets a few things wrong, primarily with regards to terminology, but she does make it clear that there is no one answer to the question of why women write slash. That's my major peeve about most media coverage of slash or fic in general, that the writers inevitably try to come up with just one reason for our behavior.

The article sounds to me like she's been lurking on the multi-fandom boards, lists, and LJs, although she doesn't cite anyone other than someone on some board I'd never heard of.

I'd post a link but I can't be bothered to see if it's available online, and I expect it probably isn't. I'm glad I dropped the cash on the magazine -- I'd never read it before and there are some great articles in it. I should have subscribed long ago, since it calls itself a feminist take on pop culture.

t de-lurk due to summer break and increased time for postage

Consuela, Bitch actually has the article featured at their website:

[link]

Incidentally, Bitch also has an interview with TWOP's Wing Chun in their previous issue.