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shipperx:
::tongue firmly planted in cheek while burnishing the sheen of old-school BtVS fandom nostalgia::
A Diagnostic Tool for Post-Traumatic Joss Syndrome
* If you can remember "Kitten Jihad", you might have PTJS
* If you can remember Mutant Enemy's intentional 'prank' of releasing a spoiler for "Into the Woods" that Spike would be dusted, it could've upped your chances of developing PTJS.
* If you can remember the mass Spike-fan bannings on forums such as TWOP (going back to when it was MBTV) and/or when it became forbidden to even mention Spike on several forums and Spike-fans being ghettoized on FanForum to a single spoiler thread, you may have been vulnerable to contracting PTJS or a similar disease of 'Spuffy Persecution Complex.'
* If you were personally insulted (as in an intentional insult posted in direct response to you) by one of the show's writers because you thought there could possibly be a path to redemption for a fictional character, you have a high statistical probability of having developed symptoms of PTJS
* If, following the spoilers for "Crush" you remember the creation of sites such as BAPS as refuge from the toxic levels of character hatred within the general fandom, you may have had early exposure to external factors that created a suseptibility to PTJS.
* If you can remember reading the spoilers for "Seeing Red" (and being dismayed, horrified, and heartbroken by them) three months before the episode actually aired and it coloring absolutely everthing that season from February onwards, you stood a chance of contracting PTJS
* If you experienced a prominent and consistently accurate spoiler source completely wigging out then reluctantly revealing that her (always accurate before) source told her that, as per ME's plans, Spike would never be 'redeemed', the result of this announcement being the acrimonious splintering of the Spike fandom into warring negavista/posivista factions, you lived through a statistical spike in reported cases of PTJS.
* If you remember the sudden and inexplicable (though at that time temporary) deletion of the entire BAPS website and archive (which comprised some 5000 members) over a (holiday?) weekend due to the aforementioned spoilers for "Seeing Red," you have witnessed visible effects of PTJS.
* If you can remember letter campaigns and sexual abuse websites put up by Bangels prior to and in the wake of "Seeing Red" and the running joke of 'rappist lover' (yes, with two p's. That's what made it funny) you may have been exposed to conditions that could complicate pre-existing cases of PTJS.
* If you have any idea what "arf, fucking, arf" refers to, you may have experienced optimal fandom conditions under which cases of PTJS were sometimes developed.
* If you have been A) cyber-stalked by a Buffy-fan B) called an 'evil bitch' C) accused of being in 'the wet panty brigade' D) told that you 'must be destroyed' F) told that you should be ashamed of yourself and never allowed to be near children G) Told to go back to 'writing love-letters to serial killers in prison' H) accused of participating in an 'evil cabal' because of being a Spike-fan and I) needed to change your screen name and edit your spam filter so as to decrease fandom stress, you may have experienced the sort of OTT fannish hell that in a handfull of cases has led to PTJS.
* If you immediately recognize (and groan) at the mention of the screen name silveragent you have had contact with a sufferer of Anti-Spike Derangement Syndrome. Repeated exposure to carriers of Anti-Spike Derangement Syndrome can, in some cases, produce PTJS-like effects (as well as a hypersensitivity to fanboy misogyny).
* If you were repeatedly told that every positive action a character took was entirely predicated on his "trying to get into Buffy's pants" ... even when Buffy's pants were dead and in rapid decay in a coffin underground, you may have experienced the kind of cognitive dissonance that upon prolonged exposure could lead PTJS.
* If you had been told for three years that hoping for storyline redemption of a fictional character rendered you morally repugnant because that character had no 'soul,' only to find when the character got a soul that virtually everything pertaining to it (either prior or post soulage) took place off screen or was reduced to a comparison with wet towels, you may have been at risk of developing PTJS
* If you can remember waking up a 5am to read the live feed of "Beneath You" because you knew that the soul-reveal had been re-written and re-filmed at the last moment and you were anxious that the final version might somehow be more traumatizing than the original script... you probably already had PTJS.
* If you can remember David Fury's "Spike will never be a good person" interview given post-"Lies My Parents Told Me" and released just days after the spoiler that Spike would die in the series finale went out (but prior to the furious Fundy LMPTM backlash that excoriated Fury's fandom shit-stirring ass and which resulted his 11th hour 180to spite them), it could possibly have triggered a reaction quite similar to PTJS.
* If you read the NYDBTFSI demise while AtS was still in renewal limbo (and it not having yet been rumored that JM might crossover) while also having read the Bangel snogging in EoD, that could be an exacerbating condition if one had previously developed PTJS
* If you can remember the purple prose brouhaha and Amazon review spat over Holder's novelization of "Chosen" you may have been exposed to a PTJS irritant.
* If you remember Fury explaining how Harm-snogging came about in "Destiny", you may have experienced an aggravation of PTJS.
Of course these aren't the only factors in developing PTJS. Also, this diagnostic is focused primarily on Spike and/or Spuffy-induced PTJS. There are diagnosable Tara, Xander, and Bangel variants of the condition as well. ETA: Oh! And the Cordelia variant! How could I forget poor Cordy and AtS Season 3-4 Cordelia trauma resulting in its own strain of PTJS??
::tongue firmly planted in cheek while burnishing the sheen of old-school BtVS fandom nostalgia::
A Diagnostic Tool for Post-Traumatic Joss Syndrome
* If you can remember "Kitten Jihad", you might have PTJS
* If you can remember Mutant Enemy's intentional 'prank' of releasing a spoiler for "Into the Woods" that Spike would be dusted, it could've upped your chances of developing PTJS.
* If you can remember the mass Spike-fan bannings on forums such as TWOP (going back to when it was MBTV) and/or when it became forbidden to even mention Spike on several forums and Spike-fans being ghettoized on FanForum to a single spoiler thread, you may have been vulnerable to contracting PTJS or a similar disease of 'Spuffy Persecution Complex.'
* If you were personally insulted (as in an intentional insult posted in direct response to you) by one of the show's writers because you thought there could possibly be a path to redemption for a fictional character, you have a high statistical probability of having developed symptoms of PTJS
* If, following the spoilers for "Crush" you remember the creation of sites such as BAPS as refuge from the toxic levels of character hatred within the general fandom, you may have had early exposure to external factors that created a suseptibility to PTJS.
* If you can remember reading the spoilers for "Seeing Red" (and being dismayed, horrified, and heartbroken by them) three months before the episode actually aired and it coloring absolutely everthing that season from February onwards, you stood a chance of contracting PTJS
* If you experienced a prominent and consistently accurate spoiler source completely wigging out then reluctantly revealing that her (always accurate before) source told her that, as per ME's plans, Spike would never be 'redeemed', the result of this announcement being the acrimonious splintering of the Spike fandom into warring negavista/posivista factions, you lived through a statistical spike in reported cases of PTJS.
* If you remember the sudden and inexplicable (though at that time temporary) deletion of the entire BAPS website and archive (which comprised some 5000 members) over a (holiday?) weekend due to the aforementioned spoilers for "Seeing Red," you have witnessed visible effects of PTJS.
* If you can remember letter campaigns and sexual abuse websites put up by Bangels prior to and in the wake of "Seeing Red" and the running joke of 'rappist lover' (yes, with two p's. That's what made it funny) you may have been exposed to conditions that could complicate pre-existing cases of PTJS.
* If you have any idea what "arf, fucking, arf" refers to, you may have experienced optimal fandom conditions under which cases of PTJS were sometimes developed.
* If you have been A) cyber-stalked by a Buffy-fan B) called an 'evil bitch' C) accused of being in 'the wet panty brigade' D) told that you 'must be destroyed' F) told that you should be ashamed of yourself and never allowed to be near children G) Told to go back to 'writing love-letters to serial killers in prison' H) accused of participating in an 'evil cabal' because of being a Spike-fan and I) needed to change your screen name and edit your spam filter so as to decrease fandom stress, you may have experienced the sort of OTT fannish hell that in a handfull of cases has led to PTJS.
* If you immediately recognize (and groan) at the mention of the screen name silveragent you have had contact with a sufferer of Anti-Spike Derangement Syndrome. Repeated exposure to carriers of Anti-Spike Derangement Syndrome can, in some cases, produce PTJS-like effects (as well as a hypersensitivity to fanboy misogyny).
* If you were repeatedly told that every positive action a character took was entirely predicated on his "trying to get into Buffy's pants" ... even when Buffy's pants were dead and in rapid decay in a coffin underground, you may have experienced the kind of cognitive dissonance that upon prolonged exposure could lead PTJS.
* If you had been told for three years that hoping for storyline redemption of a fictional character rendered you morally repugnant because that character had no 'soul,' only to find when the character got a soul that virtually everything pertaining to it (either prior or post soulage) took place off screen or was reduced to a comparison with wet towels, you may have been at risk of developing PTJS
* If you can remember waking up a 5am to read the live feed of "Beneath You" because you knew that the soul-reveal had been re-written and re-filmed at the last moment and you were anxious that the final version might somehow be more traumatizing than the original script... you probably already had PTJS.
* If you can remember David Fury's "Spike will never be a good person" interview given post-"Lies My Parents Told Me" and released just days after the spoiler that Spike would die in the series finale went out (but prior to the furious Fundy LMPTM backlash that excoriated Fury's fandom shit-stirring ass and which resulted his 11th hour 180
* If you read the NYDBTFSI demise while AtS was still in renewal limbo (and it not having yet been rumored that JM might crossover) while also having read the Bangel snogging in EoD, that could be an exacerbating condition if one had previously developed PTJS
* If you can remember the purple prose brouhaha and Amazon review spat over Holder's novelization of "Chosen" you may have been exposed to a PTJS irritant.
* If you remember Fury explaining how Harm-snogging came about in "Destiny", you may have experienced an aggravation of PTJS.
Of course these aren't the only factors in developing PTJS. Also, this diagnostic is focused primarily on Spike and/or Spuffy-induced PTJS. There are diagnosable Tara, Xander, and Bangel variants of the condition as well. ETA: Oh! And the Cordelia variant! How could I forget poor Cordy and AtS Season 3-4 Cordelia trauma resulting in its own strain of PTJS??
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-01-14 07:36 pm (UTC)I hope whatever Joss does with Spike in the comic doesn't cause a complete relapse, though have to admit that my euphoria over what Joss said about Spike being 'like Angel, incredibly important to Buffy' has given way to a slight feeling of unease.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-14 07:37 pm (UTC)*twitches*
no subject
Date: 2010-01-14 07:44 pm (UTC)As for the PTJS, I'm a happy little spoilerphobe, so I missed a lot of that. However, I didn't miss getting eviscerated by Bangles and Spike-haters on TWoP, especially after Seeing Red. Ah, fun times.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-14 07:45 pm (UTC)I hate to tell you how many of these I've actually had happen to me.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-14 07:48 pm (UTC)To paraphrase Monty Python "And If you tell the fans today, they won't believe ya!" :0
*Sets to memories*
no subject
Date: 2010-01-14 07:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-14 07:55 pm (UTC)It happened THAT late in the game? I'd heard about it, but I'd always thought it was during season six...
no subject
Date: 2010-01-14 07:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-14 08:12 pm (UTC)Survivors, like you, of the PTJS, made me be more skeptical in my expectations and I am forever grateful for that.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-14 08:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-14 08:17 pm (UTC)And having my own experience with the militant quarters of the bangel crowd, yup, I can understand how one could get traumatized by this.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-14 08:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-14 08:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-14 08:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-14 09:01 pm (UTC)And that's when Sparklies started!
My biggest Chosen memory is when we read the spoilers aloud in yahoo chat, and laughing hysterically because "cookie dough" was so absurd, we were sure it was a foiler.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-14 09:07 pm (UTC)Which is why, despite loving DW/TW like pancakes, I stay far, far away from the fandom. Fans can be insane, writers can be morons, and I'm not interested in any kind of trauma. (Esp not in a fandom with 40 years' worth of grudges... *g*)
I wonder why fans are like this though. Esp in regards to Spike... Which reminds me! (I'm sure you're familiar with this one):
The Educated Fangirl's Guide To The Spike Wars.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-14 09:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-14 09:24 pm (UTC)The "arf" thing is niggling my brain but I can't retrieve the information. What does it mean?
Do you remember the name of the podcast where Fury finally admitted he'd been a boob all along?
no subject
Date: 2010-01-14 09:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-14 09:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-14 09:34 pm (UTC)But I clearly have PTJS.
no subject
Date: 2010-01-14 09:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-14 09:44 pm (UTC)All you brave and seasoned Spike/Spuffy veterans, I salute you for all your sacrifices! I'm glad you're still among us to tell the tales. :)
no subject
Date: 2010-01-14 09:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-01-14 09:45 pm (UTC)