Board Thread:The Panopticon/@comment-6032121-20200517150418/@comment-45692830-20200607202515

So these lists are obviously incoherent. Doctor Who and the Time War (short story) was promoted by Cook two days in advance of the tweetalong using the hashtag of the tweetalong. If I want to be really persnickety, I can point out that it was posted on the BBC website with vague reference to the tweetalong going on that day, including the hashtag. But I don't think that's needed, and I don't think the BBC was endorsing the tweetalong, since Cook has explicitly said they haven't done so. They're merely referencing fan behavior related to a short story they posted, legally speaking. Similarly The Shadow Passes (short story) is part of a trilogy with two lockdown releases. You simply can't separate it from the other two.

As for the idea that taking Cook's word of Harness, we've not established that Cook and Harness's comments are in conflict. Rather the idea is why we should take Cook to be "the sole arbiter of Lockdown!^tm". As for the idea that Harness's tweet along was over, so, uh, he kept talking to fans who were interested in the story and his work? The horror.

Regardless, the point is the following. There are obvious narrative and structural ties between what DiSoRiEnTeD1 are maintaining are Lockdown! Stories and what they maintain are BBC Lockdown! Tie-ins. Ties so great that the entire distinction between them vanishes, once we remember that Chibnall has to approve all of this. Given this fact, what makes the Lockdown! stories (from DiSoRiEnTeD1's perspective) special? Is it merely Cook getting producer credit? (modulo Sven) Then surely it does no harm to go with the broader categorization and note on her page all the places where she was producer. The idea that Cook is the sole arbiter of Lockdown!^tm is just utterly nonsensical. She's coordinating this with Chibnall, we know this. We've been told this.

And even if we didn't, we're told repeatedly by her that this is a fan project merely organized by her. Something we've been forced to realize at least since the revival is that the writers are fans, and it's near impossible to organize the fan community. For those not aware of this, Rec.arts.drwho has some of the relevant history.

So I guess my argument is that even if someone other than Cook wasn't involved in organizing, and we know there is, at least on the story side, this is a situation where Cook can't put the genie back in the bottle once she lets it out. To say that she's the sole arbiter of Lockdown!^tm is to both ignore what we know about how Lockdown! is operating and to ignore Cook's own statements about the project.