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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!
no subject
Oh! This is fascinating. What a great insight. I was wondering if non-journaling sites seemed more conservative due to the fandoms that had a strong internet presence before journaling sites became popular. Maybe they just didn't want to move, and so the older people would be on non-journaling sites. But this didn't seem to make sense, as internet fandom's really only been huge for 15 years, and that's such a short amount of time--not enough to separate age groups between different styles of fandom participation, I think.
It makes more sense that certain ages/personality types gravitate towards the control/organization of non-journaling sites. But I am not conservative, and I *do* gravitate towards organization and control--not the fact that forums and mailing lists have mods, but the fact that you can browse according to topic, not person. I found LJ just a horrible medium for long discussions on which many people could join in with different opinions. Actually, I still find it that way--it's not a list of things to talk about, it's a list of people you have to get to know. And yet I find the people on LJ are more, er, my kinda people.
Detestation combined with bafflement, coupled with an assumption that the small minority of people who raised topics such as homosexuality (even in cases where it was a topic clearly signalled in canon) were doing so specifically to annoy the rest of the group and were, in fact, acting immaturely and childishly.
I'm trying to participate in a forum right now. No one has called me immature or childish for talking about slash (and gender politics, and queer theory), but I keep getting the distinct FEELING that that's what everyone feels whenever I have to pipe up and say, "hello gender dynamics!!!" I couldn't tell whether it was just me, whether it was the medium of fandom interaction, whether it was the fandom itself, whether it was the fen--or whether the nature of the fen had to do with the medium itself, or the fandom itself. Anyway, it's like a different world out there! Though it does seem like it depends on the fandom, as some people in response to this have been saying their mailing lists et al were open to slash.
Thanks so much for your answers.