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Fandom far afield
When was the last time you participated in fandom on the internet not through a journaling site? I don't really mean posting fanfic to something like fanfiction.net, unless you also post and discuss in the forums there. I mean discussion, meta, the posting of fanfic, the making of graphics, etc, all being share through a medium other than LJ, DW, Insane Journal, JournalFen, etc. This would be a forum, website, mailing list . . . if you did something like a fanzine, not online, I'm interested in that too.
1) What fandom was it?
2) What was the medium? (e.g. was it a forum, a mailing list, etc)
3) When was this?
4) Are you still active in that fandom?
5) Why did you participate there, and not at a journaling site?
6) Are you more active in fandom on journaling sites or at other places?
7) How did the different mode of interaction affect your fandom participation?
8) Does there seem to you to be a difference in fen between the other medium and journaling sites? What are the differences? Why do you think those differences exist? Is it the nature of that fandom, or do you think it has anything to do with where that fandom is taking place?
9) What were the fen in the other medium's thoughts on yaoi? (No, seriously. What was the general sentiment towards slash?)
10) Was it easier or harder to get into a fandom through a medium other than a journaling site?
11) Which medium do you prefer?
If it sounds like I'm doing a study, I'm not. I'm just dabbling around in this other fandom, the fen of which seems mainly to congregate around a forum rather than playing on LJ/DW. I'm wondering how many people share my experiences there. Forums used to be my main method of fandom access. I was comfortable in them and found LJ inconvenient and not very suited to my style. I became used to it because I decided a lot of cool people were here...and now I'm beginning to think it's the only way!
1) What fandom was it?
2) What was the medium? (e.g. was it a forum, a mailing list, etc)
3) When was this?
4) Are you still active in that fandom?
5) Why did you participate there, and not at a journaling site?
6) Are you more active in fandom on journaling sites or at other places?
7) How did the different mode of interaction affect your fandom participation?
8) Does there seem to you to be a difference in fen between the other medium and journaling sites? What are the differences? Why do you think those differences exist? Is it the nature of that fandom, or do you think it has anything to do with where that fandom is taking place?
9) What were the fen in the other medium's thoughts on yaoi? (No, seriously. What was the general sentiment towards slash?)
10) Was it easier or harder to get into a fandom through a medium other than a journaling site?
11) Which medium do you prefer?
If it sounds like I'm doing a study, I'm not. I'm just dabbling around in this other fandom, the fen of which seems mainly to congregate around a forum rather than playing on LJ/DW. I'm wondering how many people share my experiences there. Forums used to be my main method of fandom access. I was comfortable in them and found LJ inconvenient and not very suited to my style. I became used to it because I decided a lot of cool people were here...and now I'm beginning to think it's the only way!
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1) What fandom was it?
Lord of the Rings, Blood Ties
2) What was the medium? (e.g. was it a forum, a mailing list, etc)
mailing lists, forum, multifandom archive, singlefandom archive
3) When was this?
Five minutes ago:)
4) Are you still active in that fandom?
Yupp.
5) Why did you participate there, and not at a journaling site?
Because I'm in fandom mostly for the fic and for a number of reasons I think LJ is a bad place for fic.
6) Are you more active in fandom on journaling sites or at other places?
Difficult to say, it's probably 50/50, mostly because one of my main fandoms (LotRPS) is mostly happening on LJ.
7) How did the different mode of interaction affect your fandom participation?
I think journaling sites let you see a more complete picture of a person (you just have to decide whether you actually want that), because most people use LJ as their personal space - posting meta, personal stuff, pics, fic, different fandoms. Whereas on mailing lists and fic archives the interaction centers around the fandom in question. You're more on topic.
8) Does there seem to you to be a difference in fen between the other medium and journaling sites? What are the differences? Why do you think those differences exist? Is it the nature of that fandom, or do you think it has anything to do with where that fandom is taking place?
I don't think there's much of a difference - yes, of course, the way people will interact depends on the platform they use and certain traditions and conventions will evolve. But I don't think it goes deeper than this. Rather, I think fandoms as a whole are different from one another. One will have more fic, one will attract vidders, one will be very traditional and so on.
9) What were the fen in the other medium's thoughts on yaoi? (No, seriously. What was the general sentiment towards slash?)
In LOTR at least, the general consensus doesn't depend on the platform. It's either love or hate and you'll always find people who will flame those with a differing opinion.
10) Was it easier or harder to get into a fandom through a medium other than a journaling site?
I generally don't start out in a fandom on LJ, because I never know where to start. I prefer to find a fanfic archive and work my way through from there.
11) Which medium do you prefer?
Depends on what I want to do at the moment. If I want to read fic: an archive. If I want to discuss aspects of a fandom: list, forum, LJ. If I just want to talk with likeminded people: LJ.
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I agree completely. Several people have answered, "I'm at LJ because it seems like that's where the fic is." And for me, that seems to be true--I find so much more of the fanfic I want to read here than anywhere else. But it also seems to be the absolute WORST place for the posting and consumption of fic; I do not understand it!
Rather, I think fandoms as a whole are different from one another.
...Yes, I think that this is so. But I also think traditions and conventions evolve within particular fandoms which make them seem more different than the fen actually are. For instance, if one fandom has more vidders and another more fic, it might not be the case that vidders were interested in one and fanfic writers in the other, or even that the canon lends itself more to one or another. It can be just that someone did a very good vid in one fandom, which led to "generations" of people following that lead, making the fandom vid-centric, you know?
Thanks so much for your answers--this is really interesting.
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When I see fic that isn't tagged, or on which chapters are not linked, etc, I wonder why that person posted their fanfic. Are they just not thinking about usability? Or do they not want their fics to be usable, that is, is their main motivation for posting something else entirely?
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