The Ms.Scribe Story: An Unauthorized Fandom Biography

Hey Charlotte, girl, you got my name right! You wouldn’t believe how many people fuck that up. <3. Dionne All my apologies are belong to you.; WebCite; October 12, 2006 (a post by Ms. Scribe made four months after "The Ms.Scribe Story: An Unauthorized Fandom Biography" was published) 
The Ms.Scribe Story is a multi-chaptered exposé of the fan Msscribe's behavior during her tenure in the Harry Potter fandom. 
The work was written by the pseudonymous Charlotte Lennox and originally posted to the bad penny community on JournalFen in chapters over the course of several days starting June 15, 2006. 
The exposé was thoroughly researched and incorporated evidence collected by many fans, not just the author of the work. 
Charlotte Lennox wrote: "The first draft was a mere narrative, much shorter than this, without links, quotes, or screencaps. When I showed it to people, the response was flattering, and many urged me to make it public. The more people I showed it to, the more information I got in return (just as has happened on the Bad_Penny community), and I ended up with a much fuller and more complete account than I had any idea of when I started." from From Chapter Ten - MsScribe Returns -- main text: ; WayBack Machine backup
A year after the essay was posted, Charlotte Lennox continued to update her entry through multiple "Afterwords" as she received or uncovered new or clarifying information. Previous chapters were also edited to correct or update the entries. The last update was in February 2007.
==The Chapters==
These pages include brief descriptions and links to each chapter and their comments.
Preface (Disclaimers and Acknowledgements)
# The Background
# Msscribe Enters the Fandom
# Msscribe Conquers All
# Msscribe Suffers a Setback
# Msscribe Battles Gryffindor Tower
# Msscribe in the Aftermath
# Msscribe Settles In for the Long Haul 
# Msscribe Survives Challenges 
# Msscribe Leaves the Fandom
# Msscribe Returns
# The Afterwords
==Exposure==
The document reveals that Msscribe, a Harry Potter fan previously in good standing, used sockpuppets and was a habitual liar. 
Through her many pseudonyms, she was a direct instigator of, or key participant in, a significant percentage of the drama within Harry Potter fandom during the period 2003-2004, especially among het shipper communities -- fans who support the idea of heterosexual romances between particular characters.
 
Charlotte Lennox speculates that Msscribe was motivated by a desire to become friends with Harry Potter BNFs (a goal she achieved), "But I think the real driver for her was her love for verbal combat, her zest for blood in the online water."Charlotte Lennox, ; WayBack Machine backup 
The BNFs in question were a group of friends in 2002-2003 sometimes referred to as the "inner circle" which supposedly included Cassandra Claire, Ivy Blossom, Heidi8, and Aja. The Inner Circle via Wayback; WebCite.
Charlotte Lennox drew on many different types of evidence to tell her story: IP addresses; screencaps of websites, posts, and comment threads; inconsistencies in the fangirl socks' backstories; the timing of various posts and account creation; and an analysis of probable motives. 
===The Socks===
Soon after Msscribe started posting fanfic to Fiction Alley in December 2002, she started creating sockpuppets:
*Fangirl socks included Clarabella21, Sarahkjames , and Davis_517, who all doted on Msscribe. Clarabella was later retconned as Msscribe's live-in nanny and could therefore "confirm" statements Msscribe made about her offline life.
*Troll socks (usually Christian) included Fermatojam, Killiganhashope, Pottersginny, Watchful_Entity, Fandom_Scruples Fandom_Scruples page is , Danitoba47, and various anonymous commenters. 
*Other socks included Sporkify Sporkify page ; karma_bitch; and HGempress, the creator of the parody community gt_hidden_room.
Some of the troll socks were moral watchdogs who posted blacklists of fan writers who posted gay smut, "didn't think of the children", etc. The lists always included Msscribe:
*March 2003: Fermatojam's Big Name Sinners list 
*August 2003: Watchful_entity 
*January 2004: Fandom_Scruples probably got the most widespread attention.
Trolls Fermatojam and Pottersginny were also set up as members of Gryffindor Tower , some 2003 posts (a Harry/Ginny shipper archive) to make Gryffindor Tower look bad; Msscribe's friends were not on good terms with the Gryffindor Tower community, partly due to the 2001 StalkerGate incident. Msscribe also created gt_hidden_room, apparently to fan the flames of the Gryffindor Tower mods' impotent rage, and accused a real Gryffindor Tower mod of using Killiganhashope as his sockpuppet. 
Charlotte writes about the reactions to Pottersginny's outrageously racist remarks:
===Real People===
[[File:5527.jpg|thumb|left|This icon, created in 2006, summarizes how many fans felt about being taken in by Msscribe's posts. It is also a play on her iconic image, a pair of ruby red lips. A copy of the original icon used by Msscribe can be found archived here. Icon making played a large role in the fandom wank community reactions to the Msscribe saga and the Fandom Wank wiki collected links to the many icons here.]]
Charlotte Lennox details how many Harry Potter fans were affected by Msscribe's activities. Individual fans who were involved in Msscribe-generated wanks didn't always enjoy them as much as Msscribe did. Of particular note is Gryffindor Tower, which had its reputation dragged through the mud because everyone believed that they supported Fermatojam and Pottersginny. In March 2005, Charitywank, escalated by Msscribe and her suspected anonymous troll sock, descended into vicious attacks on a scale never before seen on Fandom Wank. Charitywank lives on in infamy.
Msscribe also made false claims about herself that generated sympathy among her friends and sometimes provided her with an alibi:
*She was hospitalized for an acute condition in March 2003.
*Fermatojam hacked into her computer, and she reported him to the police and got him arrested. (The "arrested" bit was apparently added later.)
*She lost her job because of fandom (blamed on Gryffindor Tower mods).
Meanwhile, Angua9 and Dianora (mods at the Sugar Quill archive) and the Gryffindor Tower mods gathered IP addresses and figured out that Msscribe was a puppeteer. Initially, Gryffindor Tower accepted Msscribe's claim that both Clarabella and Fermatojam were real, that Clarabella was the sockpuppeteer and had later "hacked" into Fermatojam's account, and that the IPs matched because Clarabella lived with Msscribe; further investigation disproved this version of events. But Gryffindor Tower was not believed when they posted their discoveries in June 2003.Charlotte Lennox. Chapter Five - Msscribe Battles Gryffindor Tower In March/April 2004, Angua sent a long email to Heidi with detailed evidence, but she wasn't believed either.Charlotte Lennox. Chapter Eight - Msscribe Survives ChallengesAngua9. More Msscribe Stuff, Jun. 22nd, 2006; WebCite, Page 1 and WebCite, Page 2. Charlotte notes that when Gryffindor Tower closed later in the year for unrelated reasons, the IP evidence from the Gryffindor Tower site was lost.Charlotte Lennox. Chapter Seven - MsScribe Settles In for the Long Hall
==Reception of "The Ms.Scribe Story"==
The Ms.Scribe Story was read and linked widely in LiveJournal fan communities during June and July of 2006. It spread beyond Harry Potter fandom and was even noticed by non-fannish sites.Annalee Newitz, Microconspiracies, Metroactive.com, July 19-25, 2006 (accessed 20 June 2010)The Curious Affair of the Sock Puppet, thread on MetaFilter, June 30, 2006. (accessed 1 August 2010) The story was so long, included so many pieces of evidence, and referenced so many different Harry Potter events and people (not just the sockpuppets) that many fans remarked that they were hopelessly confused. However, as a narrative, The Ms.Scribe Story was well-written and made for an entertaining read. People who were not personally affected by the revelations were astonished and fascinated by the antics of Msscribe. Joking comments were made about the ratio of sockpuppets to real people in the Harry Potter fandom.Actually, joking comments are still made. See this Tumblr screencap of a 16 September 2013 Fail Fandomanon comment thread.
While The Ms.Scribe Story is now almost universally considered highly credible, initially there were some skeptics. At the time, Msscribe still had many friends in fandom, and some people pointed to inaccuracies or lack of definitive evidence for some of Charlotte's claims. Furthermore, Msscribe had been accused of sockpuppetry before, but the accusers had not been believed, so it was thought that someone was simply rehashing old wank. However, the wide dissemination of the story allowed various individuals to come forward with further evidence, and many readers reported back that they had been able to independently verify many of the claims. 
Msscribe's actions, the fanwork itself, the identity of the author (still unknown), and related issues were discussed all over Livejournal. For examples, see oulangi's Link Spam (posted June 18th, 2006) and metafandom's June 21, 2006 links.
==Impact of "The Ms.Scribe Story"==
Four addendums were posted, detailing additional information that had surfaced and the reactions of the key players in the drama. 
Many people who had been friends with Msscribe were very upset. The revelations about Msscribe also seemed to create a domino effect, as the behavior and motives of other people were called into question.comment thread started by Heidi, 2006-06-21. Meanwhile, many apologized to the much maligned Gryffindor Tower crew.
With The Cassandra Claire Plagiarism Debacle , posted in August to bad penny, added to the mix, many readers outside of the fandom concluded that Harry Potter fandom was ridiculously wanky. However, some Harry Potter fans noted that their corners of the fandom had been unaffected by Msscribe's antics. Victoria P wrote:
Even fans reading the most affected ships didn't necessarily notice the people involved, because of Harry Potter's huge size. In 2006, ratcreature wrote:
Another fan expressed their feeling of distance from this wank: 
Shortly after the Mssribe essay was posted, some fans attempted to summarize the events with literary analogies:
A fan in 2006 wrote about, "The MsScribe Story," fan history, and its sometimes fleeting ephemera and impact: 
==Some of Msscribe's Comments Following the Posting of "The Ms.Scribe Story"==
MsScribe confessed to nothing publicly and maintained radio silence for many months. In the end, Msscribe maintained that Clarabella was a real person even in her final comments, but by this time she had admitted to a few of the other sockpuppets.
Msscribe's comments:
On October 12, 2006, she posted: 
Reactions to this apology are here.
Then, on August 15, 2007, almost a full year later, Msscribe posted another entry in her LJ describing how Clarabella, who was living with her at the time as her informal nanny and home care aide, had manufactured many of the sockpuppett accounts. The entry was written at Clara's request in order to exonerate Msscribe. Msscribe explained that she had no knowledge of Clara's activities and felt betrayed:
MsScribe also stated that if the fans who tried to alert her to Clara's behavior had been nicer, she would not have been so blindly loyal to Clara:
 
Msscribe's post was a repeat of a series of earlier posts and emails by her and Clarabella in May 2003 where they both revealed that Clara had been the one behind the sockpuppets and was a good friend who made "bad decisions."See The Ms.Scribe Story: Chapter Four - Msscribe Suffers a Setback. The 2007 post quickly became a topic of discussion at Fandom Wank. Harry Potter Wank: The Comeback, posted in Fandom Wank, 16 August 2007. Charlotte Lennox did not amend her essay to address the "new" revelations as they were repeats of the 2003 posts. 
However, numerous other fans weighed in, with the majority of contributors, both named and anonymous, expressing doubts as to the truth of the events as described by Msscribe. Msscribe also appeared in the fandom wank discussion thread to further clarify her statements, which in turn led one fan to quip:
On August 17, 2007, Msscribe posted: 
On August 18, 2007: Msscribe posted: 
==Msscribe as a Subject of Fanworks==
The Msscribe essay and events inspired some fans to write several filk songs, fanfiction RPS and create icons: 
.
A longer filk, "Proud Scribbles," was written and set to Creedence Clearwater Revival's 'Proud Mary'. An excerpt is included below. To read the entire filk, go here:WayBack Machine link.
In 2006, bookshop commented that someone should write "RPF" involving Charlotte Lennox and Mina de Malfois. Someone obliged and on June 26, 2006 cesario posted her two part At Her Grace's Behest. It shipped Mina/The Archivist and Mina and Charlotte but, as the author put it, "In a...Mina kind of way."
There even was a ficlet told from the POV of the man who was "framed" for being Fermatojam:
A fanmix was created, using song titles as a letter to Msscribe:
And then there were more LOTR parodies:
By 2009, fans were composing poemsArchive.is link. to the saga. An excerpt from one:
The essay has been recommended numerous times on successor platforms such as tumblr and twitter:
Additional tumblr posts can be found under the msscribe tumblr tag and twitter posts under msscribe.a static archived snapshot of a portion of the msscribe posts on tumblr dated May 8, 2014. A static archived snapshot of recent twitter posts mentioning msscribe dated May 8, 2014.
By 2014, fans were role playing the Msscribe Saga on tumblr. Accounts were created in the names of msscribe,. fermatojam,. no1msscribefan (the account header reads "All the variations of "babygrrrl" were taken"),. epi-cyclical ("I had to get creative with hyphens"). and heidi-8..
Among the exchanges:
===Further Reading===
====2006====
 
* , by musesfool, June 16, 2006
* , by oulangi, “Personally, as someone who watched these sagas unfold from the sticky peanut gallery of fandom wank, I never quite *got* msscribe.” June 16, 2006
June 17, 2006:
* , by alchemine, June 17, 2006
* , by lyore, June 17, 2006
* , by Phoenixwriter, June 17, 2006
June 18, 2006:
* , , by oulangi, June 18-19, 2006 
* , by Phoenixwriter, June 18, 2006
* , by Narcissa Malfoy, June 18, 2006
* , by rhiannomr, June 18, 2006
* , by oulangi, “I think it's the first time since who knows when a million fan voices suddenly cried out: "whaaaa... the fuck?!"” June 18, 2006
* , by story, June 18, 2006 
* Fandom’s Best Five Years Ever!; WebCite, by sparkly stuff, June 18, 2006
June 19, 2006:
* Microconspiracies, WebCite, by Annalee Newitz, June 19, 2006
* , , , by heidi8, June 19, 2006
* untitled, WebCite, by oulangi, “We're nearing the home stretch in this edramaganza, and the shock seems to have rippled right across all fandoms.” June 19, 2006
* Fandom Nostalgia; Archived link, by suaine] June 19, 2006
* , by doctoraicha, June 19, 2006
* , by nmalfoy, June 19, 2006
* , by nmalfoy, June 19, 2006
* , by finisterre, June 19, 2006
* , misscam, June 19, 2006
June 20, 2006:
*Charlotte Lenox as a writer of historical narrative; WebCite, by cordelia v, June 20, 2006 
* ; by mudblood428, June 20, 2007
* , by aubrem, June 20, 2006 
* On the Machiavellian machinations of a so-called fan; WebCite, by amihan 811, June 20, 2006
* My humble post on the drama; WebCite, by ryf, June 20, 2006
* Church of the Fannish Mind; WebCite, by rj anderson, June 20, 2006
* Dear Fandom, ; WebCite, by veracity, June 20, 2006
* untitled; WebCite, by cleolinda, "Just as a coda to the Charlotte Lennox thing, we have at least two confirmations of some of the skullduggery." June 20, 2006
* What use Fandom?, page 1; WebCite, page 2; archive.is, by Ivy Blossom, June 20, 2006
* by thelastgoodname, June 20, 2006 
* , by vehemently, June 20, 2006
* , by telesilla, “We all want to be liked." June 20, 2006
* The other kind of meta-fandom; WebCite, by mawaridi, June 20, 2006
* , by stoney321, June 20, 2006
* , by Seema, “Some Trek friends and I have been reminincising about days of yore on the newsgroup, when the cult of personality wasn't quite strong…” June 20, 2006
* , by tangle of thorns, June 20, 2006
* It’s just riveting – more fandom thoughts; WebCite, by suzannemarie, June 20, 2006
* , by doctoraicha, June 20, 2006
* , by watermelon20204, June 20, 2006
* , by vee fic, June 20, 2006
* They’re fritzing my com; WebCite, by everagaby, June 20, 2006
* , by drakyndra, June 20, 2006
* , by gowdie, June 20, 2006
* The Last of the Charlotte Story, WebCite, by rhiannomr, June 20, 2006
* , by Phoenixwriter, June 20, 2006
* , page 2, WebCite, by zoepaleologa, June 20, 2006
*I Don’t Understand People! (offline), WebCite, by jocelyncs, June 20, 2006
* , post by mad maudlin at Fanthropology, June 20, 2006
June 21, 2006:
 
* , by soupytwist, June 21, 2006
*, by doctoraicha, "So you would've believed inconclusive IP evidence over a friend who you had no reason to believe was dishonest?" June 21, 2006
* untitled, page 1 WebCite, , Maeglin Yedi, "So yeah, it really matters that the other side of this story is now finally revealed, even if the original wanks started 3 years ago. Because these wanks influenced a whole lot more people than just the ones personally involved. It influenced fandom as a whole, especially when the sockpuppets started targeting fandom in general and not just small groups of people in it." June 21, 2006
* , by Milkshake Butterfly, June 21, 2006
* , by darkrosetiger, June 21, 2006
* Old news to some, not news to others.; WebCite, by dhole, June 21, 2006
* , by mofic, June 21, 2006 
* , by swatkat24, “Whoever charlottelennox is, she’s one hell of a writer” June 21, 2007
* can't sleep = random internet shit; WebCite, by fan_this, June 21, 2006
* untitled, WebCite, by Chase, “Like so many of you, I've skimmed through most of the Msscribe saga. The academic in me is fascinated by the workings of fandom culture. There probably is a dissertation in this whole mess somewhere. The fangirl in me is disgusted. Not, primarily, by the lies and hurt feelings caused--though of course those are regrettable. But by the colossal waste.” June 21, 2006
* Charlotte Lennox; WebCite, by wahlee 98, June 21, 2006
* , by painless j, June 21, 2006
* , by lodessa, June 21, 2006
* , by Milkshake Butterfly, June 21, 2006
* , by kindkit, June 21, 2006
* , by moderntime, June 21, 2006
* , by warrioreowyn, June 21, 2006
* Msscribe, the Fandom Mary Sue, page 1 (offline, see WebCite), page 2 (offline, see WebCite) page 3 (offline WebCite), by mikkeneko, June 21, 2006
* The Woman who Sued Herself (June 21, 2006)
June 22, 2006:
* (June 22, 2006)
* something Uplifting, WebCite, by mommanerd, June 22, 2006
*, by Kelsey, June 22, 2006
*, by lydia petze, June 22, 2006
* , , by sistermagpie, June 22, 2006
* , by stmargarets, June 22, 2006
* , , by ari o, June 22, 2006
* , by doctoraicha, June 22, 2006 
* , by the dark twin, June 22, 2006
* , by cupidsbow, "I have to admit that my first reaction to the biography is sadness," June 22, 2006
* Don't Plan Anything For the Next Couple of Hours--I've Got Some Reading For You; WebCite, by Abigail Nussbaum, June 22, 2006
* More Msscribe Stuff, by Angua9, June 22nd, 2006; WebCite, Page 1 and WebCite, Page 2.
June 23, 2006:
* , by lil shepherd, June 23, 2006
June 24, 2006:
*	, carissa_lynn, June 24, 2006
* , by mecurtin, June 24, 2006
* , by ladymaidmarian, June 24, 2004
* , heidi8, "I don't have words for how sorry I am for some of the things I said and did, as well as some of the things I didn't say or didn't do during this wank and during the past wanks that are referenced by it." June 24, 2006
June 26, 2006:
* Tangled Web, page 1; WebCite, page 2; WebCite, by papersky, June 25, 2006
* , by Cleolinda Jones, “You don't have to bow and scrape and beg forgiveness for some vague sin. Just acknowledge that something hurtful happened, even if we're still in the discovery process and aren't entirely sure what's what yet.” June 26, 2006 
* , by ari o, June 26, 2006
June 28, 2006:
* , by ari o, June 28, 2006
October 2006:
* All my apologies are belong to you.; WebCite; by Dionne/MsScribe, October 10, 2006
====2007====
* , phaballa, April 28, 2007
* , by carissa_lynn, August 16, 2007
* , queenettefallon, August 19, 2007
====2010====
* unpopular fannish opinion: i feel bad about mocking the snapewives, by seperis ("This came up in MsScribe too, actually; the weird thing was, there was a lot of OMG NO SHUT UP at the idea of calling CPS because she was using multiple sockpuppets to play a really fun game of munchausen by internet proxy, but I think the dealbreaker was she was ironic enough about it. It's not even that I think there's a double standard here; I think it's a very consistent standard. MsScribe's actions, though destructive, sometimes personally, were in retrospect clever; she was manipulative and played on stereotyping, and it wasn't like she believed her own sockpuppets were real or something. They were tools for a goal.")
====2012====
* , by wrabbit, December 8, 2012
====2013====
* The 10 best tales of online drama from 10 years of Fandom_Wank by Aja Romano at The Daily Dot, posted March 11, 2013 WebCite.
* , by Scott Alexander, December 23, 2013
* , April 2013
* , March 2013
* Slashcast Metachat: Fandom Wank (2013)
====2018====
*Bored woman creates 12+ sockpuppet accounts, becomes a fandom celebrity by gaynerdcleric on r/HobbyDrama, October 2018
====2020====
* Msscribe: The Harry Potter Fandom's Greatest Con-Artist - When Posting Goes Wrong, a video essay on Msscribe; YouTube, by Eldena Doubleca5t, March 31, 2020
====2023====
* Ms.Scribe's Fanfiction Empire Of Lies by Strange Æons, January 31, 2023
====Undated====
*
* The MsScribe Story: An Unauthorized Fandom Biography/List of Comment Links to fan commentary on or around June 20, 2006. While many of these links are gone, or difficult to locate, their titles provide a narrative all their own.
==References==
Category:Non-fiction WritingMs.Scribe Story: An Unauthorized Fandom Biography, The
Category:Harry Potter Fandom Occurrences
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