Fandom far afield

[lettered]

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!

Comments

[tkp.livejournal.com]

I think LJ is a bad place for fic.

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.

[vamp-ress.livejournal.com]

I think that LJ (+ clones) is so popular because it makes publishing so easy and gives you the impression that you have full control over your content. That's the answer you'll get repeatedly (that, and "but that's where everyone is"). To a degree, the usability of LJ is an illusion. I think it's much easier to sign up on any given eFiction site and post a story than it is to sign up on LJ, create a layout you like and then post a story. But anyway. The problem is, that while most fanfic authors can manage to post a story to LJ a lot of them are unable or unwilling to do it in a manner that makes it easily readable. As an archive admin I've come to the conclusion that most authors don't know much about html or usability and the like. Which is all well and good (they're authors after all, not webmasters), but with LJ it leads to the fact that many people don't tag, don't post masterlists - in short, don't give their readers an access point to their stories. It's frustrating.

[tkp.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I don't think LJ is usable in this way at all. I have never found it so. Then again, maybe my goal in posting fanfic is different than other people's. I write it because I love it; I'd do it anyway (and did) if I didn't have anyone to share it with. I post because I want other people to be able to get enjoyment from my fics, and I also want the praise and constructive criticism.

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?

[vamp-ress.livejournal.com]

I truly believe they're not thinking about these issues. They're posting like they would on a "classic" fanfic archive - there, the simple act of posting a story or chapter already presents it in the best possible manner. But they also want the freedom of LJ, without realizing that it takes a lot more work to turn a weblog into your personal fanfic archive.