Fandom Question!

[missmiah]

HEY, FANDOM!!!!! I HAVE A QUESTION FOR YOU!!!

Two, really.

I've seen these phrases bounced around at fic fests and archives and in author notes and I do not know what they mean.

Alpha and Cheerleader.

I mean, I know what a Beta is. I use one for fic. I've even got two sort of. One is my longstanding Beta (Hi, rewil) that I've had since I first entered the HP fandom with the first chapter of my long gone Snape/OC fic. Beta!Beck was a professional copy editor type person for years and she's super smart and she knows grammar and punctuation like whoa. Also, she doesn't get upset when I randomly call/ping her in the middle of the day (or night if we're both awake) to ask her to help me remember a word that I may or may not remember a vague definition for and possibly some letters in it.

The other person I let read my non-polished and published bits is a friend I made early in my fandom career (SEVEN YEARS! It's been SEVEN YEARS, devsgma!) and I trust her to be totally honest if something is a piece of crap or doesn't make sense or if I've got Snape crawling out of a tub when I've already established he only has a shower (example has not actually happened).

I consider them both Betas to me.


Is that wrong?


And if they're both Betas, then what the heck is an Alpha, and what is it used for?


AND AND what is a Cheerleader? Do they see the piece before it's posted? Do they just tell you how fabulous you are and how wonderous your fic/art is?


So confused.

Comments

[sigma7.livejournal.com]

Wild mass guessing: I think a cheerleader is like a very easy-to-please beta, and if alpha is used as it is in software development, then an alpha is like a beta, only they see even rougher drafts, more the AN DEN DEY KISST AN IT WUZ PURTY level of prose. But I'm guessing.

Just remember not to throw an extra "h" into "sitting."

[missmiah.livejournal.com]

Just remember not to throw an extra "h" into "sitting."

I saw that the other day, and I almost died laughing, and then I got very paranoid and considered find/replacing my way through my fic documents just to make I hadn't done the same thing.

If you are correct, and I don't see why you shouldn't be, then I do not really understand the purpose of having a designated Alpha or Cheerleader - that just seems like too many steps and too many fingers in the pot. I mean, I will sometimes bounce ideas off of people which basically amount to "and then there will be hawty smoochy times with a side of awwwsocute" and also "at this point some plot happens, but I haven't figured out what" but that is just bouncing ideas off people. I wouldn't call it discussing my fic options with my alpha or anything, especially when the person(s) I'm discussing this with in the first place is usually one of the beta types.

[kauricat.livejournal.com]

Sounds like fanfic is developing bureaucracy. Awesome.

[leni-jess.livejournal.com]

A cheerleader seems to be someone who encourages you through the hard slog, and listens to you wail, and tries to make appropriate responses (encouraging without inflating); she may also make helpful suggestions, as a beta does. In other words, it's a tough job, and many people who sign on for it may just settle for "of course you're wonderful!" Which, depending on the writer's personality/value for self, may serve a very useful purpose. Or not.