State of the journal

So it’s been almost six months now since I started this journal.  It’s been a very, very fun ride and I hope it continues to be in the future.  However, I wanted to bring up some stuff in regards to my file-sharing policies

I’ve been putting a lot of money into my Zuka collection lately.  I don’t think it’s fair for myself and other fans to spend a good deal of cash on DVDs and for people to expect to get entire copies for free.  I think sampling is fine.  I like sharing things with people.  It’s not the same as copying an entire show.  Hopefully when you see a video clip or hear an MP3, you’ll want to buy the show.  Besides, as fannore once said when I first got into this fandom, there are some things that just need to be squeed about with others.

However, with my friends list growing bigger, I’m starting to run into a lot of people who I don’t know at all.  Recently I’ve had a couple of people who I don’t know friend me out of the blue.  Now, people who friend me without making a comment are probably really cool people. However, if you don’t say anything, I don’t have anything to go on and I don’t know if you really just want to be on my friends list so you can steal my videos and put them on YouTube.  Okay, so that’s an extreme case, but you get the idea.

Why is this such a big deal?  Besides the fact that I don’t think it’s fair for me to spend money while others get entire shows for free, Hankyu cares.  They’re very strict with how their images and multimedia are used.  As it is, western fandom gets away with a lot compared to Japanese fandom.  If the image/video/music-sharing starts to spiral out of control, however, they may stumble onto our little corner of the internet and demand for all multimedia to be removed.  They would be within their legal rights to do so.

In short, I want some idea of who I'm sharing my stuff with, or at least more than an anonymous name.  I’m changing my policy from “Go ahead and friend me” (which it currently says on my info page) to “please make a comment, introduce yourself, and I will probably friend you and will gradually let you into the goodies filter as I get to know you.”  I appreciate it if you occasionally comment.  I’m not expecting people to comment every time I post about Kiriyan sneezing, but piping in once and a while is nice.

For anyone who I have recently friend-ed, don’t worry about this as I think most of you did come in and introduce yourself.  I intend to keep things like reviews, commentary, etc. open.  I remember I read ekusudei’s journal for the reviews when I first got into this fandom and it was extremely helpful.  I hope that my inane ramblings help addict others. 

I apologize for the trouble, since I know up until today the message on my info page said “go ahead and friend me.”  I hope no one is offended.  I don’t believe that Takarazuka fandom should be an exclusive club.  At the same time, I’m not doing this to run a multimedia download site.