I draw the line at decapitating horses.

What about zebras?

Oh! Chickens! What about chickens?

Or camels, 'cos like, camels aren't even natural animals!

I think the line might actually be at anything bigger than me.
So chickens are fine. Small zebras. Lesser fans.

*quietly cancels order for blue whale*

oh, we already did that at Continuum 3.. honestly, there are photos, somewhere, of the horse's head in the bed.

I've told you, Gaiman had it coming!

So, you'd sit at a table and in a thick accent speak ambiguous utterances that somehow people none-the-less understood somewhere inside their spinal cord?

Going to con committees and saying, "I gunna suggest a guest you can't refuse..." Actually, I think I just did that Sunday!

And my Aussie accent can be broad after a Nullabor trip.

And I'm pretty sure you'd kill for me ;)

Could be worse. fred_mouse says you could be the dogfather, or hogfather of fandom.

I don't know that I'm up to killing though. Could I just maim instead? Menace?

How about mean-spirited poking in the ribs?

Oh that I can do!

With fingers or toes!

What's a SMOF?

I'm sorry, you're not cleared for that.

It stands for Secret Master of Fandom. As you can imagine, 99% of the people who take the idea as something to aspire to, or think of themselves as such, are actually ammoral wankers who want power.

That said, I know two people who actually do the hard work, and have never struck me like most of the rest. Alan Stewart, who used to do a phenomenal amount of stuff very quietly in the background, and smofbabe who, despite her LJ name, has always struck me as giving wholeheartedly of herself to fandom, rather than taking from it to build a personal power-base.

Edited at 2009-05-06 12:34 am (UTC)

It's the general rule of thumb though, isn't it? If someone gets described as a SMOF, then clearly they're not. They might be a bit of a public MOF, or PMOF, but generally overly excessive PMOFs just get laughed at, argued with or ignored.

The problem exists within the sort of people who aspire to SMOFdom. And not all the public ones are harmless, some are quite willing to do major damage to people, clubs, and events in the pursuit of their power base.

I'd decapitate George Lucas for you. Just saying.

Then fly my pretty!

Oddly my first thought was not one of mafia, but one of a scruffy bloke flying through the skies one a battered Starship Enterprise (riding it more like a tricycle than flying IN it) and bestowing Conventions to all the good little boys and girls of fandom. Yes, both of them if they were good.

I blame Pratchett for bending my mind.

Dude, I've known you from before you started reading Pratchett, so don't bloody blame him!

Quick, get yourself a violin case and a dodgy suit.

You don't like Confather? How come?

'Cos I have to admit, my first reaction was, "Awwww. Yes." I mean, you essentially spawned Continuum. And you have a whole gaggle of little fledgling fans (not unlike myself) who you've taken under your wing at once time of another as they took their first stumbling steps in the world of Aussie fandom.

Cheep?

I don't dislike it it so much am confused by it, and as mentioned in one of the other replies, I do like that it doesn't feel like a serious term.

But I've always been confused by any recognition of me as a fan. Recognition of my writing, or my animation, or my song-vids (or whatever the hell they call them now) I get. I don't quite get the being noted for... trying to mostly treat people well, and trying to help or be useful to the fannish community. It's nice, and I try to accept it graciously as anyone should accept a compliment, but it never ceases to surprise me.

Hey look, I've never been able to detect when someone's attracted to me, and I still don't get that Lex is my son. There's a huge gap between what I understand logically and what I understand at a core emotional level. And I tend to operate on a emotional level.

Cheap? Why yes I am :)

Secret Bastards of Fandom came up the other day. Maybe something to with ditmar awards, I really wasn't paying attention. I really do miss the ditmar for Best Fannish cat, that was an award the fans could get their teeth into and in all seriousness the Ditmars are of and for the fans.

No! James, you fool! You said "Ditmar!"

Now there will be an endless round of bitching, whingeing and personal attacks start in the comments for this post.

Shita! (Yes they have forecast rain tomorrow--something for our Maltese speaking readers)
I thought I had to say "IT" three times after midnight, whilst drinking a glass of water and juggling a chainsaw and a couple of cats...

I have a chainsaw you know. I bought it late last year. It is electric, with a fourteen inch cutting thingy. Not easy to take to a con, but I recently found my hockey mask whilst tidying up. We also have two cats and three guinea pigs (Now I am just rambling on) and I have been eating hot salami and goats cheese as a wicked snack (Yes, it always comes back to food, gee I could go a flat white coffee, but it too late and I don't want to stay up and do a fanzine--gotta go to work tomorrow)

I was feeling a bit down, but now I feel better, perhaps that is the hot chile coming in

That's because you're a silly. **nods intelligently**

And now, something you have to see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xB-M_tYhLGU