lettered | 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!

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9) What were the fen in the other medium's thoughts on yaoi? (No, seriously. What was the general sentiment towards slash?)
If there was any slash-writing going on, it was taking place away from the forums. The His Dark Materials forum doesn't have a fanfic section (although some members write fic, mainly longish, adventure-type gen) and the Obernewtyn forum seems to focus much more on 'missing moments' genfic as well.

I can't remember any discussion of slash, whether in relation to fanfic or just in relation to interpretations of the books, ever coming up. Discussion was very much focused on canon, and we did discuss canonically gay pairings (the angels Balthamos and Baruch in HDM, for instance), but not in relation to pairings in and of themselves. Shipping, as a whole, was not discussed on the forums in any extensive way.

10) Was it easier or harder to get into a fandom through a medium other than a journaling site?
I think I discussed this at 6 and 7, but I'll reiterate - I found it much easier to get into fandom through my forums than through journalling sites. I think this is mainly due to my particular preferred forms of fannish interaction, rather than any particular fault of the fen who participate in fandom on journalling sites, though.

11) Which medium do you prefer?
I prefer the forums for the reasons outlined above, but I wish the situation wasn't like this. There are a lot of people in my LJ-based fandoms whom I'd love to get to know better, but I don't really know how to go about it or how to interact with them when I feel like I'm coming from such an unequal position (ie not producing fanworks that other fen can enjoy).

Discussion was very much focused on canon,

I wonder if this is because there was no focus on fanfic? I mean, that sounds obvious, but for me, discussion has always had a lot of elements of "what if?" This might be because I also write fic, but there are some canons I'm interested in for which I'm not interesting in writing fic; I mostly just want to discuss. But even for those canons I'll tend to get shippy, or tend to want to explore things which aren't explicitly in canon, but which canon suggests.

I don't really know how to go about it or how to interact with them when I feel like I'm coming from such an unequal position (ie not producing fanworks that other fen can enjoy)

:o( As a fic writer, I can't identify on the unequal position level, but I do feel like getting into a fandom on journaling sites is hard. As someone above put it, in a forum, you can be sure of why everyone's there, and you know there's at least one thing you share. On a journaling site you have to actually go out and find individuals and connect with them in order to get any discussion out of it. But it's for this reason, too, that I feel I've made deeper relationships on LJ. I have/had some good friends from forum days, but there's more connection with individuals on LJ for me.

I know you're not looking for advice or anything like that, but I do feel that people pay attention to meta--which, I mean, if you're interested in discussion, you probably have meta. Or even if you don't have meta, you probably have questions you're interested in asking, because you want to hear other people's opinions. You just have to make sure people see the questions--so you kind of have to pimp yourself to a newsletter and/or metafandom. I don't like doing that; I'm extremely grateful someone else apparently pimped this to metafandom! But it really works. Sometimes strangers show up and you just have these really long conversations.

Now, metafandom is huge, so you don't necessarily build relationships that way, but if you're posting a lot of discussion type things in one fandom generally people start to notice they're clicking over the the same person over and over. They also notice if you're the person they keep getting into long conversations with.

Lastly--if there's people you want to know better, I've found that being a little persistent does work. Obviously, you don't want to stalk anyone or comment on their every post. But ...if there's someone whose thinky thoughts you really like, if you continue to reply to posts they make that interest you with your own thinky thoughts, generally they will notice, "hey! This person has good discussion!" even if you're not posting fanworks.

Thanks so much for answering these questions--this is really interesting!

Thanks so much for your advice about getting more involved in journal-based fandom. It is something I'm interested in, but I just need to work on getting a bit more confident about delurking and joining with conversations.

I wonder if this is because there was no focus on fanfic? I mean, that sounds obvious, but for me, discussion has always had a lot of elements of "what if?" This might be because I also write fic, but there are some canons I'm interested in for which I'm not interesting in writing fic; I mostly just want to discuss. But even for those canons I'll tend to get shippy, or tend to want to explore things which aren't explicitly in canon, but which canon suggests.

This is what I was trying to get at and not expressing particularly clearly. On the forums, I've found discussion is more on what is there, and less on potentials or possibilities. That's not to say that discussion of characters' relationships didn't ever happen, but it took place as a part of a much greater whole. I think it ties back in with the lack of fanfic thing, since it's my experience that the majority of people interested in fic are primarily interested in pairings and shipping. (I know there are many out there who aren't, or who are interested in shipping as part of a greater whole, but that's certainly the impression that I get from reading fanfic and meta about fanfic.) Does that make sense?

Fandom far afield

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