KTF
(Did you mean Kent Trufandom?)
Ktf, an initialism for “Kill the Fuckers,” refers to a condemnatory style of criticism — usually of fanzines, but sometimes of books, personalities and more — that takes no prisoners. It was particularly prevalent in British fanzines in the 1980s.
Practitioners delighted in it and saw it as a harmless part of fannish interplay, an extension of earlier derogatory pundits such as F. T. Laney in the 1940s. To quote one 1980s fanwriter’s reaction, after he was called out for describing another fan as a “boring, simple-minded cretin”:
“Is it right to throw gratuitous insults?” you wonder. That depends.... But in upholding the right for anyone to say what they like about whoever they like in whatever fashion they like, I do draw some sort of distinction between – to phrase it as generally as possible – the insult intended to wound as much as possible, and the insult intended to amuse. The latter is acceptable, part of the normal give-and-take of the fannish round, while the former is not.... I’m not out to do down, not by any means; I’m just poking what I see as a bit of legitimate fun at him (and passing comment on the worthlessness – or so it strikes me – of his activities into the bargain).
Ktf reviews can be mean-spirited, and have led to more than one victimized faned’s gafiation. Dave Langford wrote: “It’s not a very helpful critical term, having grown over the years into a too-diffuse phrase of condemnation covering a wide range of material from the merely abusive and inept (relatively rare) all the way across to balanced commentary which expresses negative views even in passing.”
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