Supernatural Anonymous Kink Meme
| Journal Community | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Supernatural Anonymous Kink Meme, The Classic SPN Anonymous Kink Meme, Blindfold SPN |
| Date(s): | 2009-January 2012 |
| Moderator: | lazy daze and balefully |
| Founder: | lazy daze, balefully, Fleshflutter (unaffiliated and unrelated to the community since 2009) |
| Type: | kink meme |
| Fandom: | Supernatural |
| URL: | on LiveJournal |
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The Supernatural Anonymous Kink Meme (or Blindfold SPN as it is also known) was a kink meme hosted on Livejournal that ran about twice a year. Like most kink memes both the moderators and posters were anonymous.
The rules were simple: participants post anonymous requests (prompts) for fan fiction based on their kinks (usually sexual, no matter how extreme or tame, rather than narrative kinks) and their fellow fans fill these requests by writing fics and posting them anonymously. Writers may only post fills while the round is active (usually 14 days total from start of prompting) and may not de-anon to claim fills until the round is officially closed.
As soon as the round is closed, the prompt-and-fill post(s) for the round are flocked to become visible to members of the community only. Because of the adult nature of many of the themes, members must be 18 or older.
The community also emphasizes that requests should not be judged or criticized. If a story contains something the reader does not like or finds offensive, they are requested to "move right along."
- Round One took place in January 2009
- Round Two: Blind Faith happening 8 months later in August.
- Round Three: Blind Luck (July 2010) and
- Round Four: Blind Date (January 2011)
- Round Five: Blind Fury (July 2011) soon followed.
- Round Six: Blind Item concluded in January 2012.
blindfold-spn is one of several kink memes in Supernatural fandom. The Supernatural Kink Community (a.k.a. spn-kinkmeme) runs every month, year-round, as do other kink memes like spn-hardcore and the knotting-focused take-the-knot community.
The last round of kink prompts ended in January 2012 after the community had a heated debate over two anonymous prompts requesting fiction involving underage children. While the community had a policy of allowing requests for underage prompts focused on fictional children, at least one of the prompts requested the use of a celebrity's child. After the majority of the community objected, the moderators deleted the requests and modified the policy to exclude underage requests focusing on real people who were under the age of 18.[1] However, some fans still called for a boycott of the community because it had taken the moderators 48 hours to hear from their membership, evaluate the debate and change their policy. Complicating the situation was the belief by many members of the community that the two underage prompts were written and posted by fans with the express purpose of shocking the community and forcing a shut down of the community as a whole.
While no proof of trolling was ever offered, the suspicions, when combined with the overall angry and accusatory tone of discussions and feelings of kink shaming led the moderators to announce they were retiring the community after the sixth round of requests ended.[2]
References
- ^ "Due to the high likelihood of a particular prompt, which compromised the mental health and safety of several Blindfold participants, being left specifically for the purposes of trolling, we have removed it as well as the surrounding discussion. In addition, the discussion around this prompt has lead to an unhealthy and combative atmosphere, something we've always been set on avoiding...We apologise for this situation, and particularly to anyone who's been made uncomfortable. We ask that henceforth the names of real people under the age of 18 be excluded from all prompts and fills. ETA: We'd like to add that Blindfold has always allowed underage fics and prompts and will continue to do so. This new rule only addresses the involvement of real children. If you are unhappy or uncomfortable with this rule, please consider your own comfort levels first in deciding whether you'd like to continue participating in and/or reading any of Blindfold. Moderator's post Response To Recent Issues, dated January 17, 2012.
- ^ "Besides people leaving troll prompts, from the ridiculous to the upsetting, when we opened up the discussion to hear your reactions to the rule change, there was an outpouring of hate and intolerance that is exactly, exactly what we started Blindfold to avoid. We struggled with deciding whether to stop it, delete the comments; but we didn't think it was responsible or good modding to censor and silence a discussion that had clearly been brewing. But that it happened so intensely right here, one of the few safe places left in fandom where we had a policy of non-judgment, really, really hurt us. That was the end for us as mods. We wanted to give you guys your last hurrah, but having such a torrent of kink-shaming as well as some completely irrational and insulting fighting on both sides was very difficult to bear. We don't want to foster that kind of atmosphere, and we don't think we would ever be able to go back to the way it was. It's not fun for us anymore, and we think it's probably not fun for others of you, too....Thank you to every single person who has ever participated in Blindfold, whether as a prompter, writer, feedbacker, or even just a silent reader. We hope you got something positive from the community and from the other participants, and that you enjoyed the opportunity of a safe, fictional and judgement-free space to learn to love, embrace, and own your kinks. You don't have anything to be ashamed of." Moderators final post dated January 30, 2012.