Backlash
For this site, and for the term paper that inspired it, I wrote a great deal about subcultures to which I do not properly belong. It is worth noting that in the months following this site's launch there have been some questions raised as to whether or not I, personally, would qualify as a soulbonder (I do, on occasion, write fiction, but it isn't very good,) but that's neither here nor there. Here, I will be discussing (in retrospect) some of the more negative responses this site has had from those who do identify as soulbonders or otakukin. Expect this particular page to be much more informal/conversational than the rest of the site.
I should probably mention that I did get a lot of positive feedback, both from academics and people involved in this sort of thing. I also got some critical remarks, pointing out things I had ignored and the like. Most of the actual negative comments, almost without exception, came from the ~soulbonding Livejournal community.
....the biggest cause for concern, apparently, was that I had read and discussed their community journal without explicit permission.
Yeah, you read that right. I didn't get too many people complaining about the way I'd portrayed their subculture, or arguing against the links I drew to Japan and capitalism; they were mostly just upset that I had linked to their blog.
I don't really have to go into too much detail about how this is ridiculous. It's 2008; I figured that most people knew that if you don't want someone reading what you wrote (and possibly responding to it! oh noes!), don't post it on the freakin' internet. Seriously, the internet is probably the last place you would want to write something that you would be afraid of someone criticizing. (FWIW, the ~soulbonding community seemed to figure this out, but a little late - if you visit it now, all posts since the date of this site's launch are private and can only be read by members.)
I took out these people's LJ names, because I figured most of them would be gone in a few months anyways. Most people seem to switch LJ-names every other week these days. But, I left everything else in. And yes, I did leave all of the quotations and links, in full, in the academic draft of this paper, as well. When I deliver this at an upcoming conference, they'll be in there.
I'm not a member of ~soulbonding, so I can't confirm if it's true or not, but according to an e-mail I received in January, allegedly from a member of the community, the moderators have added a message to the community rules stating that everyone must ask permission before quoting the community. If that is the case, well, LIS, I'm not a member of the community, and the community rules don't apply to me...
If the bloggers at ~soulbonding still feel disrespected and violated because of all this, well, the only thing I have to say to 'em is that they're not getting special treatment from me. I'm like this with every paper I write. God knows I didn't call up Jacques Derrida last semester to ask if I could please, pretty please, quote (and, omigod, maybe even criticize) his description of differance in my other term paper. 
July 4th, 2008 - 04:28
For what it’s worth, I find your website fantastically interesting and well researched. Is there any chance you’d be willing to share the original paper? (Internet communities, commodity culture and the “kawaii” culture of Japan are all of great interest to me and I think your paper would make a very good read.)
August 4th, 2008 - 21:02
Sheesh. People so often seem to forget that the internet is not exactly a sanctuary for anything, let alone one’s private thoughts with others. It is a place of global communication, and as such, it comes with the burden that ALL communication made can be potentially shared and distributed en masse. I don’t understand why this is so difficult to process. If they feel a need for privacy for the sake of their OPEN GROUP (and honestly, you weren’t exactly posting intimate information like full names and addresses), they can connect with others via email. Or heck, go create a yahoo-group that has to be approved by the administrator before a person can join, so their credentials/former lives as dungbeetles can be looked over and verified (that was slightly mocking. so sue me). There are so many precautions one can take, and if certain groups are going to be sensitive about it, they need to quickly learn how to build the walls of defense; not whine/gripe when someone quotes something they freely posted that can be found on GOOGLE. Anyway. Just know you have one ally on your side in the matter
September 16th, 2008 - 11:57
Through repeated elbow rubbings, it’s my opinion that most soulbonders are fundamentally immature. I’ve found the same pattern in young people that RP online, and in the worst of art-kids. Unsurprising that art-kids, RPers, and soulbonders often intersect.
This section of your site however smacks of immaturity as well. It’s in the way you’ve handled the tone, which is informal, biased, and conversational, and also given the impression that you feel entitled to the information. How is that different than feeling entitled to the information in the way that they are?
Perhaps you are in the right, or perhaps not, but you certainly should realize how it all appears. If you are satisfied nonetheless, then that is your prerogative. If not, then perhaps some editting is due.
September 16th, 2008 - 16:08
I’m not surprised the soulbond community freaked on you. They are such spechul snowflakes that their “reality” is too fragile for others to look at with any degree of scruitny.
I used to be a soulbonder.
Then I grew up.
A lot of the people in that community need to step back and look at themselves and realize that its all fiction and a lot of it they didn’t even create.