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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!
Re: Here from metafandom
This is interesting to me. I understand that many fandoms existed before journaling sites and just did not make the transition. What I'm wondering about is why some newer fandoms choose non-journaling sites (or why newer fandoms choose journaling sites--either one! ...Although on a journaling site, you could potentially just say, "hey! I saw this new show or just read this book!" and then off you go, with several other people who are doing the same thing, or who have already done it but were interested too. That is, the fandom start up cost is a lot lower on a journaling site--and seems more intuitive?)
A lot of Livejournal fandom seems to me to be media-based--live action television shows with large slash fandoms.
I think this is true, and it's why I'm so interested. Why is this so? Right now I'm interested in a fandom based around a book written in the 1850s, and there's virtually no activity on LJ, and quite a lot on a forum I found. There's also no interest in slash on this forum. I started with the Jane Austen fandom--a fandom which also never really transitioned its home bases to journal sites, and which also has very little interest in slash. I'm trying to figure out why these different sorts of fandoms spring up in these different places.
(I guess it could have something to do with what I said about fandom arising intuitively on a journal site. If a show is airing, or HP books are coming out, many people at once might mention them in passing on their journals--and then suddenly there is a fandom. If I read a book by Elizabeth Gaskell--no one on LJ cares, and I have to be more active in my seeking of fandom.)
I hate the way both forums and journaling sites manage archiving. I love reading fanfic, and I love being able to find fanfic, and in both cases it's more poorly organized than fanfic archives like the Pit of Voles and AO3.
Oh man, SO TRUE.
A forum poster of a serial story doesn't link to the previous versions; a journaling poster forgets to tag one chapter
I really don't understand forum posters who don't link, and journal posters who don't tag. Of course, I understand forgetting to tag, but I've found stories that aren't tagged at all, and I wonder . . . why are these stories here? Aren't they meant to be read? And now they are unreadable! I, as a reader, don't necessarily feel entitled, but it makes me think the author is thoughtless (which isn't necessarily true!)
It torments me when I think I've missed out on something, and I like to read fic in places I can be sure of finding all the fic there is to find.
Eeeeee! You and me both.
Thanks for your answers!