January 30th, 2004

As most of you know, a few weeks ago I posted a notice about Gina DeMarco and some fanart she used on her site without permission from the fan artists.

Following this incident, I received an email from Gina informing me that she is an employee of "20th Century Fox Studio" (sic), and that Fox did not take kindly to me "slandering"* her on my website. She threatened me with legal action by Fox's legal department if I did not take down the fanart theft notice.

This email was not carbon copied to Fox's legal department, as one might expect, but to Gina's friend Karen, and included the rather broad statement that if anyone "defemed" (sic) Gina on *any* website, Fox would take legal action against them on her behalf.

Since this incident, Gina and Karen have gone on to make the same threat of legal retribution in at least one other forum, apparently as a form of intimidation, to silence anyone who dares to mention any of unpleasant things Gina has done.

On the Page 32 message board, they specifically mention "Heather in legal" as their contact regarding this alleged legal action against people who "slander" Gina.

Some quick checking with Fox revealed that there is no "Heather" in Fox's legal department. This same check failed to reveal anyone named "Gina DeMarco" on Fox's employee roster. (This employee list includes *everyone* at Fox, from temporary employees to people such as Joss Whedon. But no Gina DeMarco.)

The only conclusion to be drawn is that Gina DeMarco is a false name, just another sock puppet, who, while she may indeed work at Twentieth Century Fox Studios in some capacity, does not do so under the name she claims Fox will go to court to protect.

Given the information I gleaned from Fox, I decided to ignore this threat from Gina.

A few days after Gina's email arrived, I received a message from Karen accusing several wr.com fanartists of stealing manips from an artist at Logan and Marie's Dolphin Haven and claiming them as their own.

Given the recent dust-up over wr.com fanart, and given that Karen has leveled no fewer than seven unjustified accusations of plagiarism/theft against WRBeta/wr.com authors and artists since 2001, I at first assumed this was some petty revenge tactic. At the very end of her accusations, however, Karen made mention of the email I received from "Fox."

The combination of these two points--theft accusations and mention of Gina's email regarding the "slander" on wr.com--makes it fairly obvious to me that this was meant to be a message to me more than an actual, valid theft accusation. It appears as long as the accusations against Gina remain up on wr.com, Karen intends to pick on the people associated with the website.

Karen's accusations were, honestly, completely laughable. A simple glance at the manips in question makes it clear that they are not the same artwork. I find it hard to believe that she actually thought for even one minute that she was making a valid claim.

Several of the people singled out in her accusations are familiar with Gina and Karen, and have seen Karen make baseless accusations in the past. Those people waved off her allegations. But one of the accused is a newer member of WRBeta/wr.com, and had no clue at all why they were the target of this displaced hostility.

It was while typing up an email to this person, explaining what had happened and why they were being targeted, that I decided to take down the notice about Gina.

While I personally dislike the idea of giving in to these tactics (and find it repugnant that they have stooped to intimidation and persecution in hopes of hiding the truth), I can't justify letting them do this to innocent people. I can't justify making other people suffer because I'm too stubborn to take down a few paragraphs of text on my website.

I'd like to think that my involvement in this fandom makes it a better place, not a worse one, and if my actions are causing people to suffer harassment, well, then I'm falling on the "worse" side of the fence. And I don't want that. I like having this website, and I like having the WRBeta list, and I know that there are thousands of people out there who enjoy them. People who have nothing at all to do with this situation Gina and Karen have created.

So, in the end, that's what is more important to me. More important than getting my back up and proving some silly point that means almost nothing in the greater scheme of things.

When I posted the notice about the fanart theft, I was doing what I thought was right. And judging by the number of people who saw the notice and realized that their fanart was being used without their permission, it *was* the right thing to do. I'm firm on that point. Fandom is, by its very nature, self-policing, and the only thing keeping everyone in line is the threat of public exposure if they break the rules.

Obviously, there are some people who don't give one whit about the rules, or even the rest of fandom, and are willing to violate the number one rule of fannish etiquette: you don't bring fellow fans to the attention of the Powers That Be. Ever. And you certainly don't do it so a person can hide their misdeeds.

Gina and her associates are perfectly willing to do this, it seems. They are perfectly willing to expose wolverinandrogue.com to Fox in order to get back at me for letting people know that Gina was using their fanart without their consent. This is a shame, and not just for me personally. While this may technically be *my* website, it's the product of the efforts of hundreds of fans, and it's a place hundreds of thousands of W/R shippers visit every single month. I won't be the only person to lose out if Gina and Karen follow through with their threats.

Threatening to put this website at risk is unconscionable. Fans bicker and snipe and fight over things all the time, all over the Internet, but this has obviously gone far beyond the standard fandom flamewar when people are willing to grossly violate fandom etiquette in this way, and destroy the work of hundreds of people simply so they can feel like they've "won."

Because threatening to shut down this website isn't just a strike against me, I realize that it's not right for me to put it at risk. Maybe Gina and Karen don't care about the rest of fandom, but I do. So the notice about Gina is coming down.

*This* notice will remain up here on wolverineandrogue.com until February 5th, 2004 (one week from today), at which point I will remove this one as well.

After that point, I expect to never be forced to mention Gina or Karen on this website ever again.

I expect this to be the end. Period. I expect Karen and Gina to go away and leave us alone. No more bogus plagiarism claims, no more ridiculous fanart theft accusations, no more sock puppets, no more anonymous flames, no more threats, no more harassment. No more anything. The end.

I apologize to everyone who has had to witness this unpleasantness, or been a victim of it. Fandom should be fun. A lot of people are trying to make it otherwise right now, and I'm not going to be one of them.

Make fandom a better place. Feed the good dog.

Devil Doll

*"Slander" is defined as "a false and defamatory oral statement about a person." What I said was not only a *written* statement, which would classify it as "libel"--a fact I'm surprised those supposed Fox attorneys don't appear to know--but the things I said about Gina's theft of fanart happen to be *true*. Therefore, not slander *or* libel. Simply facts.

February 18th, 2004

This is yet another (and, I hope, the final) chapter in the Gina DeMarco situation I addressed here several weeks ago. I've made my previous comments available here for reference. In my last words on the matter, I did say that I hoped to never have to bring this up again, but that hope was obviously short-lived, due to recent developments.

Last week, several people, including myself, received an email from a "Debra" at 20th Century Fox. A total of ten people received the same email I did, not including Gina DeMarco, Karen, and Autumn, who were also copied in on the message.

The email reads as follows:

All,

There have been many slanderous remarks made about our employee Gina DeMarco authored by yourselves. We would appreciate in the future that you refrain from posting or making any reference to her in a public manner. She is an employee of 20th Century Fox Studios and we take these slanderous remarks seriously.

Also refrain from making any derogatory comments about Karen [last name removed to protect privacy. This is a reference to the same Karen who received a copy of the email] as she is an affiliate of Bad Hat Harry Productions, which is a part of 20th Century Fox.

Let it be known that refusal to comply with our request will not only result in closure of your websites but also a lawsuit against you for trademark infringement and slander. Fox traditionally appreciates its fans but will protect our employees from them as well.

I hope I have made myself clear.

Sincerely,
Debra Meringa
Sr. Counsel
20th Century Fox Studios

On February 17th, I spoke with the Executive Director of Human Resources at 20th Century Fox regarding this and similar threats made against fans by and for Gina and Karen.

I was told the above email is completely fraudulent and in no way authorized by anyone at Fox with the power to make such statements. In addition, I was told that Gina and Karen have absolutely no connection at all to 20th Century Fox, and any claims to the contrary, or claims of enjoying Fox's legal protection, are fraudulent.

If you have received any emails from Debra, Gina, or Karen claiming that you could be subject to legal action by 20th Century Fox, you can ignore any such statements. They are a misrepresentation of Fox, and are not to be taken seriously.

Fox is investigating this situation and is collecting information regarding these claims. If you have received any emails from Debra, Gina, or Karen implying that Gina and/or Karen are affiliated with or protected by 20th Century Fox in any way, please contact me and I will tell you who to contact at Fox. Fox asks that you not reply to the "Debra" email address.

This is obviously a very serious situation, and one that Fox is not taking lightly. Several members of the Super Hero Hype message boards received similar emails, and the owner of SHH is also cooperating fully with Fox. You can read his statement on the matter here.

I am hopeful that Fox's confirmation of the fraudulent nature of these threats will bring an end to this situation. I also hope that from here forward we will be allowed to enjoy fandom, rather than feeling harassed and threatened by a small number of people who appear to enjoy that sort of thing.

Please feel free to contact me about this if you have any questions.

Devil Doll

February 18th, 2004

Update

A bunch of us received this email tonight. This email came from a real person at Fox, one I have spoken to on the phone, so there is no doubt as to its legitimacy:

To All Concerned:

Please be advised that the e-mail that you received last week regarding Gina DeMarco and Karen Boyer was not authorized by Fox or anyone authorized to speak on behalf of Fox. The e-mail that was purportedly sent by Debra Meringa, Senior Counsel at Fox, was fraudulent and not authorized by Fox or Debra Meringa. Gina DeMarco and Karen [last name removed to protect privacy -- not that she extends the same courtesy to others] are not employees of Fox, nor are they authorized to speak on behalf of Fox or any other Fox entity. Fox is currently investigating the situation and taking steps to prevent such illegal activity from occurring in the future. We have informed superherohype.com of the fraudulent nature of the postings purportedly made by Debra Meringa and have posted a message on the message board regarding this situation.

Please do not send any e-mails to Debra Meringa or attempt to contact her in any other manner. This e-mail account was used to send the e-mail message without the consent of Fox or Debra Meringa who has no connection to this situation.

Thank you for your cooperation and patience as we continue to investigate this situation.