monikers

[marycrawford]

Long ages ago, I picked Mary Crawford (or nowadays, marycrawford) as a fannish pseudonym because there were some writers I admired who had literary pseuds, like Emma Woodhouse and Flora Poste - it's been so long that I can't quite remember, but I think they were all K/S fandom zine writers. And so I chose Mary Crawford, because nobody had chosen her yet, because I love her, and because she was the only character to make a gay joke in all of Jane Austen.

There are some advantages to a 'real name' pseud - it's easy for people to call me Mary when we meet, online or offline, and I like that. The disadvantages are largely that I can't search for my own work when I'm feeling blue and want a pick-me-up, hoping to find someone saying something nice, because any links are inevitably Austen-related. And another issue is that I can't namesquat my pseud on any other type of social media, except if I get there very early, which is rare. (I don't have a twitter, and I'm sorry for everyone who's going to miss using it.)

I was in time for cohost, not that I've used it at all yet, so I'm marycrawford there.

I recently picked up Tumblr again, and I'm mcvices there. I've used it so rarely because it overloads my brain easily and I hate tagging, but the gifs are pretty. And for me, a major upside of the Twitter breakdown is that fandom saint wenella has made her way to tumblr and is posting Zhu Yilong photos and interviews she translated there, so I can see them more easily. (He is too beautiful and this is a fascinating interview.)

Comments

[trobadora]

I'm so glad wenella is on tumblr now too! Not just so I'll be able to find her again if twitter breaks, but also because things like that interview translation are so much easier to read in a single post.

[marycrawford]

Yeah, absolutely, twitter really isn't set up for any text that's more than a paragraph. And I always had to fight the 'log in now' window after seeing the first two-three images, ugh.

[trobadora]

Yeah, that log-in nag is so frustrating! It's why I've been looking at twitter via nitter, but damn, you shouldn't need a workaround to look at a website!

[marthawells]

I tried to follow you on tumblr but I've only been on it 15 minutes and it's giving me anxiety. I used to use it so much to look at art and photos but I don't think I can do that anymore in the current format.

[marycrawford]

Aw, thanks, I followed you back! I used it so little that I don't even know what about the format changed, but I do get similar 'brain overload' vibes if I stay on it too long. Probably I will mostly be (re)posting Guardian art and Zhu Yilong closeups and the like, anything text-based will always go here.

[marthawells]

I wanted it to look at Untamed gifs and photos, but I may just use the login to get past the "you can't see this if you aren't logged in" screens.

[amorettea]

Didn't get the hang of Twitter. I like conversations! I'm on Tumblr but rarely post. I miss the days when LJ was THE place and we could all keep up with each other.

[marycrawford]

I like conversations too, even if I don't always have the brain to post anything on DW. Glad you're still around!

[elenothar]

Wenella migrating to tumblr is a definite silver lining for me - I was never on Twitter so I just checked hers occasionally, and the longer interviews etc are so much nicer to see in one post like this.

... I'm also feeling somewhat sheepish that I never made the connection between your name and Austen, though it can be somewhat excused by Mansfield Park being one of the few I haven't got around to reading yet.

[marycrawford]

Hee, it's not like my pseud has any relevance to the fandoms I actually write in! I love Mansfield Park a lot but it's a heck of a weird book, where basically everyone is an asshole except our noble heroine, whom I would like to drown in a pond 9 times out of 10. (The 10th time I want her to set the house on fire so she can finally get warm, goddamn.)

[elenothar]

Yes, well, arson and drownings go well in hand somtimes...

[tinny]

Yay I didn't know about the gay joke in Mansfield Park, and also not that that's where your pseud comes from. Thanks for explaining and linking.

I'm neither on twitter nor tumblr, so I don't really mind where to look at wenella's posts. :D But I'm glad she's making contingencies for eventual twitter failure. She's the best and we'd be so lost without her.

[marycrawford]

Aw, I'm glad my explanation was useful, that's good to hear! And yeah, wenella is an absolute saint and deserves every one of those photobooks that make me drool.