has the org become female?

[Arigatomina]

I'm gonna say it was Me, Scintilla, and uhh, Jasper(in which case you were correct with jasper)

I actually had you and Scintilla pegged as guys. Jasper was one of them - I was sure of her. The other three...heh, I was wrong about. ^^;

[Kionon]

I'd hazard to guess that the AMV community is becoming more female than it has been in the past, but that's only because the anime community itself is more female. I think I recall a report about a year or two ago at some convention that back in the 90s, the demographic was a 20 year old male (not even teen, they didn't have the time, the resources, or the money to get anime; it was mostly college kids with clubs and fansubs, originally interested because of action shows), but now the demographic is a 15 year old female (precisely for the opposite reasons; ease of access, plus the wide range of shoujo).

I tend to believe the AMV community is moving in the same direction. I still think that the AMV community is male dominated; after all most of the male editors from the late 90s really haven't retired, and they set the pace.

[Arigatomina]

...but now the demographic is a 15 year old female (precisely for the opposite reasons; ease of access, plus the wide range of shoujo).

That would explain a lot. Especially about the recent changes in the fanfic communities. That's the only 'female run' aspect of anime I'm familiar with. I guess I assume since amvs require equipment while fanfics require nothing but internet access, it would still be a lot harder to pick up the latter. I forget no one's on dialup anymore. It really explains why there are so many girls in the wmm help section this year. ^^;

I still think that the AMV community is male dominated; after all most of the male editors from the late 90s really haven't retired, and they set the pace.

It's too easy to forget how old some of the guys are here. Some of them were making amvs before I discovered anime (1999). That's just sad. ;p

[JaddziaDax]

you dont even need internet to create fanfic... O.O you dont even need a computer, all you need is a pencil some ideas and a notebook/paper @_@

(at one time i thought i was a writer, turns out im not)

[Arigatomina]

you dont even need internet to create fanfic... O.O you dont even need a computer, all you need is a pencil some ideas and a notebook/paper @_@

Yeah, but it doesn't really count if you can't pimp it online for reviews.
I think ficwriters are a thousand times more greedy than amvers (on the org) when it comes to expecting insta-positive feedback. I've yet to see an editor submit part of his vid and hold the rest hostage until he got a certain number of reviews. That sort of thing is getting really common with fanfics.

[JaddziaDax]

the fanfic peoples i talk to dont seem that way but i suppose the harry potter comm is different from the anime comms... although there was also that outrage over eljay and suspensions and stuff recently @_@

but i have seen some people try to work their amvs that way... its very very very rare... and most people who post WIPs are looking for con-crit and not just a "pat on the back"

O.o also i think that alot of people on the org are alot harsher critics that arent afraid to say what they mean... where as in fanfic people will kiss ass weather or not the story was actually "good" (because they dont want to hurt their friend's feelings.. perhaps?) most of us around the org are used to con-crit and expect it... even from friends O.o and we understand "you cant please everyone"

I've also seen people do similar things to what you described... (not quite holding for ransom, but ive seen people make partials and never finsih work cause no one seems interested) but then again that gets almost insta-thread-lock around here O.o so they cant sit around and whine that they didnt get feedback so they arent finishing it...

[godix]

Not to beat the obvious to death but getting back to the threads point; the vanity, demand for attention, pointless compliments regardless of actual worth, and throwing a hissy fit if they don't get compliments are all generally regarded as female traits. Which shows that fanfics are far more female orientated than AMVs.

OTOH there are some con threads here that are guarenteed to provide humor year after year as people whine they didn't win. Who knows, maybe this is proof superboi is really a chick.

[SQ]

There are a lot of "sexist" generalizations in here, but I don't mean to offend anyone.

I think that the .org is still predominantly male, but it is because of this that we are noticing a more of a female presence. While females are no where near majority yet, since we're used to fifty guys and one girl, another girl is like.. "Hey wait a second... We're lacking a sausage, here."

Take, for example, AWA. I've been going since 2001 (but only started as an AMVer in 2002). In that time I was THE only girl in presence until about 2005 or 2006.

I also tend to agree with Oto and Kionon on the whole 'gender is subjective' thing, but right now we're talking about sex, not gender.

On to what the whole bolded disclaimer is about, though.

Why has there been an increase in females to the .org, an increase in their popularity, but no true increase in VCA winning?
In addition to the whole titties argument (which I really think is true), there are some things males have that girls don't. Minus the huge overbearing age difference between males nad females in the community:

Males have:

- money
-pirating skills
- more technical skills (girls tend to go more artistic)
- jobs/responsibility(or at least an understanding of it)
- more free time

Girls tend to have:

- less money, but more money management
- artistic senses
- lack of computer knwoledge
- spoiled/bratty tendencies and no understanding of responsibility
- less free time, but better time management skills

More girls use WMM because it's easy, and it's free. They realize that this a program that's convient, easy, and can be used. Then when they "see the light", they just try to make things work better in WMM. There's an entire website dedicated to making awesome things in WMM. Hell, there's a whole forum to producing special effects on an AfterEffects level with it, and it's from simple XML Files!

Not that girls would understand how to utilize custom effects like this, but it's there, and it shows that you don't have to buy/install other things.

Girls don't use other programs because they either don't have the money, or don't know how to pirate. Let's face it here- the .org plays kissy face with legality, but most of us know we all pirate at heart. Girls tend to take things for face value. So when we say buy everything and rip from DVDs, they take that to heart and don't want to pirate an editing software. Not that they could figure out how, anyway.

Girls aren't winning VCAs because the VCAs have drifted from less of an artistic + technical award to more of a technical use + popularity award.

It's more often a music video that has wowed us in technical aspects is going to win an award, rather than the artistic base. Tack onto this that girls aren't using top-of-the-line programs to edit with, and you have yourself a male-dominanted award ceremony.

Plus, because of the whole money and leack of computer knowledge issue girls have, they 9 times out of 10 don't understand how to rip a DVD or even have the DVD in the first place. They don't have an understanding of copyright laws either, so they think if it's on YouTube it isn't illegal.

A growing number of IDIOTS(girls and guys alike) in my and generations after mine have decided it's completely cool to download things from Youtube and put them on TVs. I learned that someone actually downloads stock footage off YouTube, puts it on a DVD, and gives it to his clients if he's missing it otherwise. This makes me EMBARRASSED that a) this guy is even IN business and b.) We're surrounded by people who actually thinks blowing up YouTube footage looks okay on a TV/projector/anything bigger than 320x480 screen.

YouTube footage aside, some girls know how to work the fansub areas but are too dumb to remove them, so there's a lot of subs in girls videos. Moreso is that girls tend to look for pats on backs instead of serious critisism, and when told the subs take away from the video, they usually go "Nuh uh! The subs help because of what they're saying!" Not to mention the one time I physically told a girl how to remove subs in the easiest way possible, and she ACTUALLY TOLD ME that if she cropped them out we'd miss some IMPORTANT information there.

Because, yes, there's a ton of information in an anime in the 30 pixels where subs are.

So now you've got female editors who may be doing some amazing artistic shit, but the technical part of it is so lacking it's usually painful to watch.

[Nessephanie]

Wow, you seem to think all females are idiots that can't fine their way around a computer program. I'm not going into it cause I hate most of this crap about sexes, but I think half of what you said is completely bullshit.

[SQ]

A large percentage of it is the age gap. Most girls on here are like 15.

And you forget, I'm a girl too and wrote that.