![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
FFA thread: https://fail-fandomanon.dreamwidth.org/98320.html?thread=483703568#cmt483703568
This is late, and hopefully not creepy, but I'm so happy both of you are good friends and have loving families. You didn't just survive, you thrived.
We did. We are chosen family; our kids call each other cousins and have become close friends themselves.
Man, this is such an interesting comparison! IMO the main difference is their chosen social scenes. Cunanan’s whole thing was that he wanted to be part of the true social elite; he was interested in being around wealthy older businessmen, celebrities, famous or successful people, and was immersed in this HIGHLY status-conscious section of gay male 90s society. A lot of people in that milieu would have been very savvy and used to spotting and avoiding social climbers/scammers/hangers-on, and saw him for what he was pretty quickly. (Although it’s worth recalling that many people believed his stories and others who didn’t nonetheless put up with him, even knowing there was something weird going on with him, because he had status in their scene and appeared to have had a lot of money to throw around.)
Andy has always operated more on the fringes of society and particularly within fannish circles. He’s always tried to portray himself as the Cool Guy, but in a way that really only seems cool to people in those circles, and he could get away with his more offputting qualities because the people he was dealing with either weren’t equipped to spot them or would have accepted them as quirks (cf the Geek Social Fallacies, which I truly think explain how he got away with like 70% of what he did). He’s always made a point of surrounding himself with young people with minimal life experience, vulnerable people and people who are very tolerant of apparent weirdness. Big fish small pond.
Andy has always operated more on the fringes of society and particularly within fannish circles. He’s always tried to portray himself as the Cool Guy, but in a way that really only seems cool to people in those circles, and he could get away with his more offputting qualities because the people he was dealing with either weren’t equipped to spot them or would have accepted them as quirks (cf the Geek Social Fallacies, which I truly think explain how he got away with like 70% of what he did). He’s always made a point of surrounding himself with young people with minimal life experience, vulnerable people and people who are very tolerant of apparent weirdness. Big fish small pond.
https://small.fileditchstuff.me/s16/AyDcDuOYmqYDghdeFXxp.mp4
Andy's legendary cooking skills do not include washing his hands after handling raw meat.
(Found on VKontakte and edited to protect his friend)
Andy's legendary cooking skills do not include washing his hands after handling raw meat.
(Found on VKontakte and edited to protect his friend)
What accent is he trying to do here? And how lovely he kept the tomato paste can open side down on the counter (never mind the handling of the meat)
Just in case we needed more evidence his characters are just 25 different stereotypes in a trench coat, I was rereading some of the sporkings and noticed something when I looked at his DA list - all his Irish characters except Seamus, Sinead (who never fucking shows up that I recall), and Icarus have red hair. He just hides it by calling it auburn or ginger.
https://www.tumblr.com/winjennster/153616545629/file-under-reviews-that-shock-the-hell-out-of-me
I've refrained from bringing this up in the past because I don't like the idea of dragging Winjennster back into this mess, or of ruining what might have been an innocent and positive interaction.
But it's popped up on my dash a couple times over the past few months, and I'm not even in the Supernatural fandom. And the question of whether this might be Andy is haunting me, as people continue to pass it around as a feel-good story. If it's him, I don't want him getting away with it.
Just please leave Winjennster alone about this unless you know her personally, and are sure she'd want to be in the loop. She's already said on her blog that she's done talking about Andy.
Reasons I suspect this is Andy:
1. Winjennster was already an ex-friend of Andy's at this point, as well as the ex-wife of one of his biggest defenders, ravenjeep2001.
2. Corcoran is an Irish surname.
3. "I found this story by google. I was looking for the movie Painted Angels, but your story kept coming up."
The fanfic in question is part of a series called Painted Angels 'verse, but I still don't buy this.
Google "Painted Angels", with or without quotes. You get the movie, and also a bunch of painted angels. One of the most common art subjects for the past several centuries, including now, on places like Etsy and Pinterest. I don't understand how an AO3 series could have "kept coming up" in that search.
4. "I'm an older lady in my 60's but have an open mind" feels less like someone describing herself and more like a writer describing a character.
5. "I was simply curious. I've never read a story like this with two men. Three days later, I'd finished the first story and read all the other little stories before starting on this one."
Again, this reads to me like a writer going for a comedic smash-cut. "I've never read a story like this with two men. Three days later..."
I realize many people in many contexts do talk about their own experiences in a more narrative way, I'm just noting it along with everything else.
6. "I couldn't understand why this story wasn't a book in bookstores and my granddaughter explained to me about fanfiction and now i know."
A kind and ~tolerant~ older woman who knows absolutely nothing about online fandom—not even the existence of fanfiction—somehow finds her way to AO3, where she reads not only her first fanfiction but her first gay love story. And it's Destiel. And it's yours. And she loves it so much she thinks it should be in bookstores.
Funny and heartwarming if true. It just also sounds like exactly the kind of shit Andy would come up with.
I'm not saying any of this is impossible, but all of it together looks very Andy-shaped to me.
What does anyone else think?
I've refrained from bringing this up in the past because I don't like the idea of dragging Winjennster back into this mess, or of ruining what might have been an innocent and positive interaction.
But it's popped up on my dash a couple times over the past few months, and I'm not even in the Supernatural fandom. And the question of whether this might be Andy is haunting me, as people continue to pass it around as a feel-good story. If it's him, I don't want him getting away with it.
Just please leave Winjennster alone about this unless you know her personally, and are sure she'd want to be in the loop. She's already said on her blog that she's done talking about Andy.
Reasons I suspect this is Andy:
1. Winjennster was already an ex-friend of Andy's at this point, as well as the ex-wife of one of his biggest defenders, ravenjeep2001.
2. Corcoran is an Irish surname.
3. "I found this story by google. I was looking for the movie Painted Angels, but your story kept coming up."
The fanfic in question is part of a series called Painted Angels 'verse, but I still don't buy this.
Google "Painted Angels", with or without quotes. You get the movie, and also a bunch of painted angels. One of the most common art subjects for the past several centuries, including now, on places like Etsy and Pinterest. I don't understand how an AO3 series could have "kept coming up" in that search.
4. "I'm an older lady in my 60's but have an open mind" feels less like someone describing herself and more like a writer describing a character.
5. "I was simply curious. I've never read a story like this with two men. Three days later, I'd finished the first story and read all the other little stories before starting on this one."
Again, this reads to me like a writer going for a comedic smash-cut. "I've never read a story like this with two men. Three days later..."
I realize many people in many contexts do talk about their own experiences in a more narrative way, I'm just noting it along with everything else.
6. "I couldn't understand why this story wasn't a book in bookstores and my granddaughter explained to me about fanfiction and now i know."
A kind and ~tolerant~ older woman who knows absolutely nothing about online fandom—not even the existence of fanfiction—somehow finds her way to AO3, where she reads not only her first fanfiction but her first gay love story. And it's Destiel. And it's yours. And she loves it so much she thinks it should be in bookstores.
Funny and heartwarming if true. It just also sounds like exactly the kind of shit Andy would come up with.
I'm not saying any of this is impossible, but all of it together looks very Andy-shaped to me.
What does anyone else think?
It does sound like Andy. Heck, I think Andy even used the name "Shelia" all the way back in the Baggenders days. Wasn't that the persona he used in that awful hiding in plain sight story where he was seducing Orange Blossum and others over the interwebs and explaining exactly how he would do it.
But not saying it is Andy, it just sounds an awful lot like him. And the doddy old Irish lady in her 60's sounds fake even if it isn't Andy. People in their 60's are not generally that out of touch to not know what slash or fanfic are. It's the over the top explanation that gets me. Why not just say "WOW, I've never read anything like this, but I stumbled upon your story and I REALLY loved it! You're a great writer! You should be in bookstores!" The person making it all about them if very Andy-esque
But not saying it is Andy, it just sounds an awful lot like him. And the doddy old Irish lady in her 60's sounds fake even if it isn't Andy. People in their 60's are not generally that out of touch to not know what slash or fanfic are. It's the over the top explanation that gets me. Why not just say "WOW, I've never read anything like this, but I stumbled upon your story and I REALLY loved it! You're a great writer! You should be in bookstores!" The person making it all about them if very Andy-esque
NAYRT but it reads like a young person’s idea of how an old person (specifically an old woman - obviously an old lady is sweet and a bit naive and an old man is a cantankerous guy who thinks a lot about The War) is. It’s giving Granny from Looney Toons.
He didn't use the name Sheila in that story; he had his boyfriend (the "Ozzie Bloke") calling him "sheila", which is Australian slang for girl/woman.
Wait, hold up. Far as I know, you can't google Ao3. It's not crawled for it. (I discovered this when I found an old fanzine and was trying to see if it'd been digitized anywhere. It had, but you had to know to search Ao3 to find it!)
Google actually suggested "Painted Angels AO3" in the dropdown when I tried searching for Painted Angels. But searching for "Painted Angels" with or without the quotation marks just turns up the movie and painted angel figurines.
Painted Angels fic got results for the fic, and depending on the search engine, includes AO3. Google doesn't, but Bing does.
I guess if you kept searching for Painted Angels, you could wind up going with a suggested search from the dropdown out of curiosity?
Painted Angels fic got results for the fic, and depending on the search engine, includes AO3. Google doesn't, but Bing does.
I guess if you kept searching for Painted Angels, you could wind up going with a suggested search from the dropdown out of curiosity?
TB has a post about Andy's anthropomorphizing of the injured sparrow he and Meg take care of:
https://theteablogger.tumblr.com/post/775778396900900864/you-may-have-already-noted-this-but-andys-claims
Q: You may have already noted this, but Andy's claims on twitter about being able to understand what his sparrow is saying (and thus sparrow language in general) seem to be ramping up in unbelievability- apparently yesterday the bird was able to communicate that it didn't want its conversation with other sparrows recorded and shared. Andy makes mention of several of his followers who have apparently been having FaceTime calls with the bird. There's at least 5-6 of Andy's followers who consistently comment on the bird updates and show no credulity, expressing how much they want to be able to communicate with the bird like Andy does. It's probably not the biggest deal, but the whole thing has just been giving me an odd vibe. Feels like Andy once again making friends/followers by demonstrating abilities and knowledge no one else has.
Yes, his allegedly deep connection with sparrows has been getting weird for quite a while. He says he can understand some of their language, enough to relay things that the flock outside his house is talking about and things that Nuggie communicates to him. On top of that, Andy has written about things like Nuggie watching movies and musicals and following every emotional beat, to the point of showing the characters his malformed feet to offer encouragement when they’re lacking confidence. Andy is anthropomorphizing the hell out of that little bird. Meanwhile, his followers praise him for knowing sparrows better than ornithologists do.
I’ve lived with a parrot before, for many years, and I bonded very closely with him. I agree that birds are much smarter and more emotionally complex than most people realize. But they’re not humans. Their thoughts and feelings are not exactly like ours and we have no way to know exactly what’s going on in their heads. Projecting onto them can lead to misunderstandings of their behavior and needs. Andy seems to be taking good care of Nuggie, from what I can tell–bearing in mind that we only have his word for it–but that doesn’t mean he’s right about everything.
I’m not trying to suggest that Andy is forming another cult based around his bird, but like you said, Anon, it’s notable that he is once again positioning himself as someone who has a special ability that no one else has. He’s also repeating an old pattern in making himself the sole conduit to communicate with someone who holds a great deal of emotional significance for people. Back in the day, it was any of 160+ “others”, and later, the DAYDverse/Harry Potter characters; now, it’s a rescued sparrow with a disability, whom a lot of people apparently find inspiring.
Andy has read TB's post:
https://theteablogger.tumblr.com/post/775793961913794561/andy-has-read-my-post
https://theteablogger.tumblr.com/post/775778396900900864/you-may-have-already-noted-this-but-andys-claims
Q: You may have already noted this, but Andy's claims on twitter about being able to understand what his sparrow is saying (and thus sparrow language in general) seem to be ramping up in unbelievability- apparently yesterday the bird was able to communicate that it didn't want its conversation with other sparrows recorded and shared. Andy makes mention of several of his followers who have apparently been having FaceTime calls with the bird. There's at least 5-6 of Andy's followers who consistently comment on the bird updates and show no credulity, expressing how much they want to be able to communicate with the bird like Andy does. It's probably not the biggest deal, but the whole thing has just been giving me an odd vibe. Feels like Andy once again making friends/followers by demonstrating abilities and knowledge no one else has.
Yes, his allegedly deep connection with sparrows has been getting weird for quite a while. He says he can understand some of their language, enough to relay things that the flock outside his house is talking about and things that Nuggie communicates to him. On top of that, Andy has written about things like Nuggie watching movies and musicals and following every emotional beat, to the point of showing the characters his malformed feet to offer encouragement when they’re lacking confidence. Andy is anthropomorphizing the hell out of that little bird. Meanwhile, his followers praise him for knowing sparrows better than ornithologists do.
I’ve lived with a parrot before, for many years, and I bonded very closely with him. I agree that birds are much smarter and more emotionally complex than most people realize. But they’re not humans. Their thoughts and feelings are not exactly like ours and we have no way to know exactly what’s going on in their heads. Projecting onto them can lead to misunderstandings of their behavior and needs. Andy seems to be taking good care of Nuggie, from what I can tell–bearing in mind that we only have his word for it–but that doesn’t mean he’s right about everything.
I’m not trying to suggest that Andy is forming another cult based around his bird, but like you said, Anon, it’s notable that he is once again positioning himself as someone who has a special ability that no one else has. He’s also repeating an old pattern in making himself the sole conduit to communicate with someone who holds a great deal of emotional significance for people. Back in the day, it was any of 160+ “others”, and later, the DAYDverse/Harry Potter characters; now, it’s a rescued sparrow with a disability, whom a lot of people apparently find inspiring.
Andy has read TB's post:
https://theteablogger.tumblr.com/post/775793961913794561/andy-has-read-my-post
AYRT
Huh, interesting. Thanks, nonny! I didn't realize that other search engines crawled it! Guess I'm gonna have to start using BING, of all things, to see if any old fanzines got put there...
Huh, interesting. Thanks, nonny! I didn't realize that other search engines crawled it! Guess I'm gonna have to start using BING, of all things, to see if any old fanzines got put there...
SA
A linguist breaks down Andy's claims:
https://abyssalsquiid.tumblr.com/post/775828493856587776/you-may-have-already-noted-this-but-andys-claims
And Abbey confirms that Andy is reusing a scam:
https://theteablogger.tumblr.com/post/775967756928565249/the-state-of-arrested-development-he-exists-in-is
A linguist breaks down Andy's claims:
https://abyssalsquiid.tumblr.com/post/775828493856587776/you-may-have-already-noted-this-but-andys-claims
And Abbey confirms that Andy is reusing a scam:
https://theteablogger.tumblr.com/post/775967756928565249/the-state-of-arrested-development-he-exists-in-is
OP
That's interesting! Do you Google things ending in "AO3" a lot by chance? That's never popped up for me on any kind of Google search.
That's interesting! Do you Google things ending in "AO3" a lot by chance? That's never popped up for me on any kind of Google search.
AYRT
Nope. I rarely, if ever search for things ending in "AO3" on a search engine. I'm more likely to go to AO3 directly and ctrl+F through the fandoms if I'm looking for something.
Nope. I rarely, if ever search for things ending in "AO3" on a search engine. I'm more likely to go to AO3 directly and ctrl+F through the fandoms if I'm looking for something.
AYRT
Huh. I wonder what's up with Google. Thank you for the data!
Huh. I wonder what's up with Google. Thank you for the data!
I know I shouldn't be surprised, not really, especially after such a consistent pattern of wack claims but I really didn't have "Can speak sparrow" on my Andy 2025 bingo card.
This reminds me of the comment on a Ms Scribe story from an abused Pakistani woman who found solace in fanfic.
By which I mean I don’t believe a word of it and I worry about anyone who does.
By which I mean I don’t believe a word of it and I worry about anyone who does.
Page 64 of 64