The Stupidest Person On The Internet

[filkertom]

You just aren't going to believe this.

Comments

[annathepiper]

I've been chortling over this one all day. I can't decide which is better commentary on the matter, the 'weapons-grade stupidity' review tag on the Amazon page for that book, or Scalzi's commentary about how you couldn't get more stupid if you had head trauma from a tauntaun.

[dragonscholar.livejournal.com]

Not the stupidest, but this has been traveling around the internet.

[allandaros.livejournal.com]

Must...restrain...Fist of Justice...

It's not just fanfic. It's bad fanfic.
It's not just bad fanfic. It's bad fanfic that's getting published.
It's not just bad fanfic that's getting published, it's bad fanfic getting published COMMERCIA...
*blinks*

I think my brain is trying to throttle itself. The only thing stopping my brain from doing so is the fact that it wouldn't be able to throttle this lady instead.

[trdsf.livejournal.com]

I think a MSTing is in order, m'self. I mean, she obviously can't take issue with derivative works based on her writing... ;)

[roane.livejournal.com]

"Commercially" is a relative term. Apparently she owns the publishing company that put her book out, so really, it's self-published. :)

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

So's everything of mine since Plugged. And that's unquestionably commercial. Which, in this case, means "for money". The big problem here is that she's trying to make money by using someone else's property in a way that's indistinguishable from their way of doing it. It's not satirical, it's not authorized, it's not anything but copyright infringement.

[ericthemage.livejournal.com]

Should we take bets as to how long it will take for Lucasfilm lawyers to take it down?

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Oh, her web site is already down.

[ericthemage.livejournal.com]

It's still on Amazon though.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

And Barnes & Noble, and Powell's. Some "non-commercial" venture, huh?

[ericthemage.livejournal.com]

I'd be surprised if anyone bought it after looking at those reviews. Sheesh!

[admnaismith.livejournal.com]

I'd be surprised if anyone bought it since it's right there as a PDF for free.

Any volunteers to download the PDF? I'll bet it's such a great read!

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Well, actually, a number of people have done exactly that sort of thing. Cory Doctorow (http://www.craphound.com/down/), for instance, and Harvey Danger (http://www.harveydanger.com/downloads/). Later this week, Neil Young (http://www.neilyoung.com) is gonna stream his new album for free.

[jrittenhouse.livejournal.com]

See my LJ for how it got on all those sites: they have a auto-relay deal with a third party, so all of their vanity press stuff automatically gets fed into those sites. Which is how their vanity POD press stays alive. In short, she and her husband just cut their own throats, because the third party and the other sites will automatically ban all of their stuff from here on out.

[trdsf.livejournal.com]

Her website (www.thenaberriegirls.com) has already been vaporized; so far, nothing else has panned out. Feh. I'll keep looking...

[trdsf.livejournal.com]

PDF where? I've been poking through the 'Look Inside' feature at Amazon, and it looks... dull. Maybe some time in the Mystery Usenet Theater can make it more interesting. :)

[admnaismith.livejournal.com]

Nahh, not even in the top ten dumbest internet episodes. In fact, I'd be surprised if it didn't turn out there was a young idiot doing something similar every month or so and becoming sadder but wiser people at the end of the day. What sets it apart, IMO, is that she calls herself an editor, and therefore, oughta know better.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Well, y'see, I really do think this is a case of, literally, one of the stupidest people imaginable who isn't a sitting US president. She writes a fanfic version of one of the most recognized properties in the world (not a problem), says she "took off [her] editor's cap" when writing it (big problem, from the reviews at Amazon), self-published the thing complete with launch party and distribution on the biggest booksellers on the web (oy), and then says it's not commercial (huge, stupid, reality-denying, what-the-fuck-is-wrong-with-your-brain-chemistry problem).

Parody is one thing. Satire is one thing. Fanfic not-for-profit is one thing. Coming up with an alternate version of a frickin' movie franchise and trying to make money off it without the blessings of the franchise creator... that's just dumb.

[jrtom.livejournal.com]

I agree that this is pretty stupid. However, I would guess that lots of people are confused by copyright law. (Granted, someone who works in the publishing industry should know better.)

Furthermore, I'd argue that she's far and away less stupid than this particular DHS official (http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/04/04/homeland.arrest/index.html). Not only does he have even less of an excuse for knowing that such behavior could get him in trouble--very few people in our society would guess that a 55-year-old couldn't get in trouble for trying to seduce a 14-year-old--but he told "her" that he worked for DHS. Even if a sting operation never occurred to him, did it cross his mind that telling her who he was and who he worked for might set him up for blackmail if things didn't go well? Plus, if he got caught, given his employer (and his profession!) he must have known just how high he'd get hung.

In both cases, though--since really what we're getting at is a total lack of wisdom coupled with what is presumably at least a moderate (if not high) intelligence--I am reminded of this quote from Spider Robinson's short story, "Distraction": "Man, you're no smarter than I am--you're just a fancier kind of stupid."

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

I could absolutely make a case for that doof being stupider. In a lot of ways, though, it's the exact same kind of stupid -- the "I won't get caught" flavor, that for whatever reason can't imagine that their inept blundering will be noticed.

Heh. Reminds me: I had a job for six hours once -- never made it out of the initial training session -- selling water softeners by phone. (That wasn't the job I'd signed up for, but that was what they were trying to direct me toward, which is one of the reasons I bailed.) The trainer was this big Austrailian guy, Jeff Hunter I believe his name was, who explained why the company's mascot was a rhino. A rhino, y'see, can't physically take a step backward. A rhino sets his sight on an obstacle, lets nothing come between the two of 'em, and BAM! Obstacle gone. The obvious counterpoints (that a rhino can't correct its mistakes if it takes the wrong path, has very bad eyesight so it can only react to the most obvious problems, has such thick skin that it doesn't notice what residual damage it might be inflicting as it stomps around, and can basically only break things) seemed to elude Jeff.

[jrtom.livejournal.com]

Oh, I agree that the stupidity is similar in kind; good point. I do think that it's just barely possible that the fanfic author might have been confused as to her position in re: IP law (and thus less stupid and more ignorant), but basically not really possible that the DHS official might have thought he was on the right side of the law. (It also seems very likely that the consequences of getting on the bad side of Lucas' lawyers are less...immediate...than the consequences of getting convicted as a sexual offender of children.)

Your "rhino" story reminds me of another: my wife and a friend of hers were judged to be "as subtle as a bulldozer" and "as subtle as a rhinoceros" respectively. This of course resulted in a discussion as to which was more subtle; eventually it was decided that my wife must be more subtle, as the discussion was taking place in Minnesota (lots of bulldozers, few rhinoceri). :)

Incidentally, if this article (http://szgdocent.org/resource/aa/ungulate/a-rhino.htm) is correct in its description of rhino dominance games, the assertion that rhinos can't go backward is actually not accurate. (Not that this makes Jeff look any better.)

[mouser.livejournal.com]

I had that job for about the same amount of time. Answered an ad for "Water Tester" - thought it was some thing where you went around and got samples for actual LAB testing...

Until they tried to rent me their little kit.

[admnaismith.livejournal.com]

Well, yeah, dumb. Even really, really dumb. Probably people more into the fanfic realm than I am are better connosieurs of "copyright dumb" and can really appreciate the nuances of dumb there.

It's just, I guess my perspective is a tad different. In my line of work, I regularly encounter people who left stable 25-year marriages with still-minor children, to run off with someone they met on the internet, whose face they've never seen. Or who write public posts about crimes they commit, and wonder how they ever got caught. That's where I get my top ten dumb internet people lists.

[wouldyoueva.livejournal.com]

A little Googling turns up an interview with hubby, who explains that yeah, we charge the people who want to be published but oh, it's BETTER that way, because we can publish more poets and not have to chase after foundation grants.

Gosh, a vanity press that doesn't have the balls to admit they are one, and blatant copyright infringement. Nice folks. Who'd ever thought there'd be someone who'd make us root for Lucas and his lawyer birds?

[trdsf.livejournal.com]

The user comments on the Amazon page are just priceless. LucasCorp is going to jump on her so hard, she might end up eligible for the Darwin Award.

[deadpool247.livejournal.com]

Wow. Hey, I've done fanfics (and still do fanfics) for X-Men and Exiles comic books. But I know better than to get them illustrated and sold without Marvel's permission. What was that chick thinking??

[hitchkitty.livejournal.com]

If she tried to pass it off as a parody, she MIGHT be safe from George's Mighty Copyright Powers. Parodies fall under "fair use", last I checked -- and a good thing for you they do, Tom.

But that doesn't seem to be what she's doing, so yes, she's stupid. Too stupid even to avail herself of the one out she might have.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Well, see, that's the other thing. The page that I linked to above lists several other pages, and some of the commenters on those pages bring up fanfic, fan videos, etc., etc. They all overlook the three most important points: all of those fan creations acknowledge the original work exists, none of them are passing themselves off as alternatives to the original, and none of them are trying to make money as alternatives to the original. Remember that "The Phantom Edit" only really got in trouble because it was perceived as a possible threat to sales of Episode I on DVD (which should've been a big clue to Lucas right there that he was doing something wrong, but that's a separate issue). I'd love to get my hands on a copy of the PDF just to see if this woman even bothered to credit Lucas or Lucasfilms in any way.

[ash-blackwell.livejournal.com]

According to the copyright page (minor stuff omitted for space.):

(c) 2005 by Lori Jareo

Published by WordTech Communications LLC, PO 541106, Cincinnati, Ohio 45254-1106

About the cover:
The galaxy Andromeda as photographed by Robert Gendler. Used with permission. Visit his website at robertgendlerastropics.com.

The author also wishes to acknowledge starwars.com and theforce.net for source material.

The characters in the book are trademarks of Lucusfilm ltd. The publisher of this book is not affiliated with Lucusfilm.

----

I don't think that's going to help her any....

[sdorn.livejournal.com]

Tune: the obvious Christine Lavin song for this one...

It was a Mary-Sue fanfic novel, from a universe she'd grown to love.
And she knew that others would read it, if she just gave the story a shove.
So she published it with her own company, and it made Amazon's page forthwith,
and now she's holding a cease-and-desist note from a lawyer who's a Lord of the Sith.

What was she thinking? Does she know the law?
She'll realize fast, just before her assets are swallowed by the Lucas Inc. maw.
What was she drinking? Was it fermented from wood?
But her future fame's assured, cause we'll now see her often at the front of George's limo hood.

[eamclaren.livejournal.com]

The best part is that, when one flips through the "Look Inside!" viewable pages on Amazon, one can see that she credits the photographer responsible for the cover, and says that the image is used with his permission.

[jhayman.livejournal.com]

Oh, gosh, fans are ROLLING all over the world about this. Did you read the reviews and the discussion on the Amazon site. Choice, very choice.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Saved those pages. Hilarious stuff.

[musicmutt.livejournal.com]

Looks like this has been a great publicity stunt for her. Perhaps she's not so dumb as we seem to think.

[palenoue.livejournal.com]

This is true. She might be coming out with another book "How To Be Fantastically Stupid and Make Money" and this is just to generate a viral buzz. People who attend Donald Trump seminars will probably buy it.

[musicmutt.livejournal.com]

Pt Barnum once said "no publicity is bad publicity." She is dancing in the dragon's jaws and to do that you are either taking a calculated risk or you are just foolhardy. There can be a very fine line between the two. I believe what she is doing is plagiarism and that is wrong. But look at the discussion it's generated here alone.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, the Barnum theory is wrong under some circumstances, and the first of which is when you've got a smarter than average audience. Yeah, she might get some "hey look at the freak" noteriety, but within publishing I suspect she'll be known as someone too stupid to be trusted, and among fans as a bad Mary Sue author who tried something so dumb that everyone else just gaped.

[jss]

Amazon's tags included:

[Amazon] Customers tagged this item with
First tag: copyright infringement
Last tag: why the hell is this listed here

bad fanfic (4), only living brain donor (3), copyright infringement (3), the stupid it burns (3), Lucas is so going to kill you (2), Very Very Very Illegal (2), a Chernobyl-esque mistake (2), Copyright Infringement (1), a bigger mistake than Jar-Jar (1), lawyer up sweetheart (1), is yoda gonna have to smack a btch (1), weapons-grade stupidity (1), a moron (1), the goggles (1), fan fiction for sale (1), crazy like a fox (1), stupid people doing stupid things (1), illegal and idiotic (1), blacklisted from fandom (1), a neuron short of a synapse (1), needs a good lawyer immediately or possibly a psychiatrist (1), stupid in deep doodoo (1), fanfic gone very wrong (1), bad fanfic (1), there is a duck on your head (1), CRAP (1)

I first saw this (this go-round) in lifecollege's LJ, here. I think the commenters above and the ones on Amazon said it pretty well.

[youngcurmudgeon.livejournal.com]

God, I hate people who give fanfic a bad name. Fanfic by itself can be a very good thing, but WHY do people feel the need to ... ? Gah.

As always, Han Solo said it best. "I'm out of it for a little while, and everyone starts getting delusions of grandeur."

My BEST laugh, though

[capplor.livejournal.com]

was the customer tags on the amazon listing. Oh, MY!

[purpleranger.livejournal.com]

Wasn't it Heinlein who said, "Never underestimate the power of human stupidity"? I think the only that really surprises me about this is that she thought it was going to remain unnoticed.