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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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The reason I actually did this post is that I'm really into Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South right now (and the BBC adaptation), and I just can't figure out why this fandom seems to mostly live on a forum. I understand the fandoms that were around before LJ was big, but the N&S adaptation came out in 2006, and it's what really made the N&S fandom exist. By that time, LJ fandom was fully alive and kickin'! ...Although now that I think about it, many on the N&S board say they're converted P&P fans. Maybe they were comfortable with the forum format and just stuck to it.
Jane Austen fandom on lj seems to skew much younger and less meta-y.
I think being an older fandom whose canon appeals to an older audience has a lot to do with how different JA fandom is to DAO fandom including the difference in medium.
This is really interesting, and something I haven't thought of before. I guess because when I think of JA, or N&S, I think: it's literature! Of course the people into it are going to be older and more intellectual. For my former main fandom on LJ, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I just naturally think: it's called Buffy. It's going to be teens and they're going to talk about T, A, and general ass-kicking. But instead it's sort of flipped--I found very meta-oriented groups talking about BtVS, and JA--not so much. Then again, I shouldn't talk. I was 17 when I got involved in JA, and pretty much what I wanted to talk about all. the. time was Marianne and Brandon getting together. Though I did have a lot of meta, too.
That said people have been quite supportive of me writing femslash.
ooooh whom? (Please say Lizzy/Georgiana...I want me some of that.)
I think the fact that Jane Austen fandom has no major lj presence does put me off a bit.
I agree! Why isn't it here? I want it to be here! I tried to do this whole fic fest thing to liven up the 19th c. lit fic scene and it was a COLOSSAL FLOP. I thought if I built it they would come, you know? But very few came!
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I think I actually saw that. If it was the one I'm thinking about, it did made the round between the small-ish group of JA fans I'm part of. I think that at the time I considered participating, but I was not at all sure the type of fanwork the fest was prompting would mesh with what I could produce. (For example, I'm a very canon focussed person, particularly regarding pairings.)
If I could guess, the other JA fans in the forums never got to hear of it.
And people not in the fandom, even though they may be fans of the cnaon or like the idea, are less likely to get involved in something that will consume time they usually give their own fandoms, excepting established cases like Yuletide.
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It was called
Anywho, I think a lot of people were intimidated, for similar reasons. I thought about going to JA forums about it, and decided not to--both because it would be a lot of trouble (I'd have to register several places) and because I didn't expect a lot of cross over. I did tell the N&S forum on which I've been participating about it, with no response. What I was expecting was fen to come out of the woodwork of LJ/DW, really.
I think you're right about people not wanting to consume time with something outside their primary fandoms, but . . . well, one of the reasons I'm not in JA fandom was I couldn't find it on LJ, except in the form of approx. 1 billion icon communities. I thought if I started something for the canon I'm interested in, people like me who just couldn't find them on LJ/DW would say, "ah, here's a way to be involved in this fandom through my journal! Considerably less effort than a forum..." Primarily, I wish JA, the Brontes, and Gaskell, with occasional Dickens and Wilde thrown in, were just huge fandoms on journal sites, with posts popping up every day on my flist with people saying intelligent things about them all the time, and writing fic about them and--and--stuff.
Anyway, as much as I love non-canon pairings in some fandoms, I don't really seek them in much of the period drama I enjoy. In fact, I'm very boring; mostly I just want the main pairing of each book when I actually seek fanfic: Emma/Mr. Knightley, Margaret Hale/Mr. Thornton, etc. But I would read anything in these canons if it was good, and I wanted as many people as possible who felt they could participate. Apparently in saying that, no one will!
I have since changed the exchange format to a fest format. I have yet to go around promoting that; I'm really burned out on the whole idea. But I still mean to do it.
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Depending on when the fest (classes -_-), I would be interested in participating.
(Actually, there are JA fans from the forums in lj--I get the impression they either don't use it for fandom participation, or they use it, like me, for other fandoms.)
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I think Buffy is particularly meta-ish, I mean half the episodes practically have big blinking "This Is A Metaphor" signs :)
Heh. Sorry, Mary/Anne :D
*reads your conversation with hlbr*
Maybe a general "19th century lit fanfic/fanworks" comm which ran periodic fests? That way people could post links to their own fics, recs etc as well. It would give more content to keep things alive, and I know I'd be more willing to join it (I don't write under deadlines) Especially if it was for fanart and comics as well, which is what I mostly make (fanart NOT being the same as icons, ack)
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Don't fests have deadlines? Do you mean we could just say, "hey, Jane Austen month at 19th c. comm!" and try to get people to post links, rec, and generate content during that month? I'm interested in any suggestions that would get people to participate in this.
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I keep meaning to do more but get put off by all the image refs I'd have to look up not to feel like a newb who just copied the adaptations :)
Fests have deadlines, but if you have a general comm which allows discussion and recs which ALSO posts the occasional fest then those who don't do fests can just scroll past those posts. But "Jane Austen month" would be cool too, as well as being something I would be more interested in myself.