to .WWTT.
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What a long, strange trip it’s been. It was on a day nearly four years ago that a discussion was held online between two friends that were states away from each other – yet of a like mind. They felt that something just had to be done and done quickly. All because of a website. They first tried contacting the owners of the site to share their opinions – but the two friends were ignored. They left messages in the guestbook with their real names – but saw their notes deleted or laughed at. So they started talking to their other friends and jumped into chat rooms to get opinions from people they didn’t know personally. Time and time again, the friends got the same response: “We agree. Something must be done.” But one message was different: “What are you going to do about it?” All because of a website. Winter break separated the two friends that year. One went home from college to spend the holidays with her family, the other to a warmer destination to travel. During her travels, she had the pleasure to be introduced to five wonderful men. And while she was talking and laughing and spending time with those men, stuck in the back of her mind were those online discussions. Once back home, she contacted her friend and shared her story and her idea. For her, those five men had stopped just being characters; had stopped being on a pedestal – completely out of reach. She knew she wanted to do something about it. About that website. The one who went home to be with her family had no less of a desire to do something. Her reasons had more to do with her religious beliefs and how she felt as a person. But she still wanted to do something about it. About that website. Back then, most websites were fan sites. News, pictures, bios, quotes, lyrics, poems – yes. Stories, fanfics – not really. There certainly weren’t whole sites devoted to fiction about these five men. Back then, when the stories did begin to appear, nobody gave them much thought. They were harmless, simply written stories – daydreams in print. As the bandwagon grew crowded and then overflowed, the quality of the stories improved, the quantity of these stories grew, and the genre strayed from simple romance to intrigue, mystery, suspense, horror, comical, heavy, and light. And everything in between. Now, it’s uncommon for a site to not have fanfics either on it or linked. As writers mature, so does the material. Not just in content, but in quality as well. Some people mature faster than others – and often it’s those early-bloomers that forget that some people need to move at their own pace, and that pace might just be a tad slower than their own. It was the mature writing style of that website that drew the attention of these two friends. It wasn’t so much the content of the stories – but the fact that there was no warning. A reader would just be going through the chapters and then BAM! Out of nowhere came a very explicit scene involving those five men who have an average fan base ranging in age from seven to forty. True, in that age range, the majority of the fans are old enough to read that scene. But what of those that are too young to even purchase a ticket to a movie that is PG-13 or R? The MPAA has ruled that too much vulgar language and adult situations are not appropriate for people below a certain age. What about fanfics available on a medium that is potentially accessible to any age? No guidelines. No structure. Oh, sure, in the beginning, the two friends tried to put an end to these fanfics. But when the amount of websites offering this new genre grew to something out of their control, they realized that they never had control in the first place. They learned that they didn’t like others telling them what to do, so why were they doing the same thing? Taking survey of where they were, they decided on the best way to battle these websites: create a website of their own. Now a website stating an opinion was fine, but these friends knew that it wasn’t going to do the job. They needed something to fight for. Something concrete to make people see why they created the website. That’s when the What Would They Think? Fanfic Challenge was born. The two friends decided to challenge all the fanfic writers to think before they wrote. Simple enough, right? No huge promotion, no cost, no long hours. Just a simple website that asked each person to ask themselves a simple questions. “What would they think?” Originally, “They” were the Backstreet Boys. Now, “They” has grown to include the writer’s family members, the family and friends of the Boys, and more importantly, the other fans who come across the fanfics. In the past four years, nearly every conceivable argument has played itself out in the guestbooks, over email, and in chat rooms. After some time and a particularly involved discussion with an anti-WWTT writer, the two friends had to talk. One friend realized that they needed to change the way they presented WWTT to the public – that WWTT wasn’t just two fans expressing an opinion anymore, it was something that had to change to encompass what all the supporting fans were expressing. The other friend didn’t want to deal with the grays of the matter and didn’t feel the need for a change. But it was time to revamp the site, time to clean up the language and make WWTT more concise and to the point. The gray matter had to be dealt with. Much of the gray came to light during a conversation via email between the first friend and an anti-WWTT fan. Those discussions eventually became the first Current Issue. The disparaging remarks and hurtful comments that came through that discussion, the messages left in the guestbook and sent to the site in emails made the two friends see that they had to stop and look at how this Challenge was being presented to the public. That brought about the ‘Blue Look’ to WWTT. The Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) were updated and organized. Current Issues were added. A timeline was created. And guidelines were set in place to facilitate discussion in the guestbook. Anti-WWTT websites began to appear. Irrational rude entries were posted in the guestbook. The WWTT email address was besieged with pornographic emails. But the two friends took it all in stride because for every negative comments thrown their way, there were those that offered their support and even those that could maturely say that liked the idea behind WWTT even if they didn’t agree with it. Now it’s rare to find a website without a disclaimer on it. Most people who manage sites with mature content make that fact very clear from the beginning. Pop-up windows, disclaimers on every page, rating systems are all ways that site owners inform readers of what’s involved. Just like the two friends behind WWTT, site owners are beginning to take responsibility for what they put on their sites and how that is viewed by their visitors. The two friends at WWTT believe that they have said all they can at this point in time. Like one of the recent guestbook entries stated, there will never be a finite answer. The key to all of this is respect. Respecting the rights of people to read/write/post anything they want to, and the rights of those who choose not to read/write/post something. Respecting the right to freedom of expression and speech by all sides of the debate; and the right to share those thoughts with those willing to listen. By respecting ourselves and every other fan out there, we will be showing the Boys that we respect them as well. What more can we give them? Please feel free to read through the WWTT site and leave your comments in the guestbook or in the forum. We can still be reached via email at WWTT2002@yahoo.com if you would like to reach us personally. We set out to change the world and failed, but along the way we realized we made a difference. And that’s just fine with us. Remember to ask yourself, “What Would They Think?” and KTBSPA!
Respectfully yours, |
