Filking, and stepping on toes.

This is a discussion I've been wanting to open for some time now, but haven't felt like the time was quite right--with this new discussion on religious filks, I think the time is now.

replyI've been filking less and less at each con I go to, for several years now, and for one single reason...
...every time I filk, I seem to end up stepping on *someone's* toes.

Different things each time, of course. Once it was a religious song that someone felt was inappropriate. Another time it was "jamming" with someone who felt put upon by my request to play along. And so on.

Maybe I'm just a big, obnoxious, overbearing person, in which case I'll quietly pack my guitar into its case, bid you all a fond adieu, and sit in the corner listening to other people play.

replyMaybe a certain amount of misunderstanding and stepping on of toes is par for the course, and I'm worrying too much over nothing, and should just go ahead and filk, and do my best to avoid offending people unnecessarily.

replyMaybe I'm being oversensitive, and all people are really saying is "Hey, next time try doing this slightly differently", not "You were a big, obnoxious, overbearing person, and we wish you'd go away and stop bugging us."

replyMaybe *everyone* worries obsessively about offending people at filk-sings, and is breathing a huge sigh of relief that "it's not just me", and someone's finally opened the topic.

replyThere've been discussions of "filk etiquette" on this list before, all of which have been helpful and enlightening and useful--but all of which seem to start from the assumption that it's possible to be perfectly etiquetteful, and that by so doing, one can avoid ever offending other filkers.

replyreplyreplyI'm a SNAG. I don't *like* having people upset with me. And it's gotten to the point where I'm seriously considering dropping out of filking entirely, just so I don't have to hear one more time "Well, most people really liked your filking, but X, Y, and Z were terminally offended by <action>."

Frustratedly yours,

Mickey. Received on 01/30/97