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Apr. 22nd, 2003 11:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
out_thereI'm not as deeply involved in SV fandom (and fandom in general) as I was, say, a year ago. A good deal of this has to do with the spoilish aspects of the show. Back then, I hadn't watched the series, and was going full-steam ahead at absorbing whatever I could through the 'net. This included fics, blogs and LJ's.
A year ago, my regular blog haunts were Te's (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
thete1) and Jenn's (seperis), but I frequently read through Hope's (rosenho), Wendi's (happyminion), Pearl-o's and a good deal of others. I lurked a good deal on the TWoP boards, and actually knew what was going on in fandom. The second someone rec'd a fic link, I was there, reading it.
These days, I'm wary of spoilers. I don't automatically follow links, I read through the description and try to weigh up how much of a spoiler it will be. (I'm sure other Aussie's have this problem. Either you're spoiled way in advance, or you're way behind the fandom at large.) I avoid the TWoP lists for the same reason.
I've never been on the main SV mailing lists, but I knew what was going on in fandom through the blog-link. If something happens to somebody, people mention it, write about it, link to it. Someone follows the link, reads about it, and posts their own opinion. Hence, you hear what's going on. Fandom is no longer a large impersonal crowd of writers, it's a huge high-school, and the gossip of who said what to who goes around pretty fast.
These days? I chose LJ Friends on their LJ content (ie. not gonna spoil me) and I purposely keep the list down small. I still can't remember everyone's names, or where they're from, or their favourite fandom (which is something I would like to know about everyone on my Friends list someday, just so when you comment/post, I can connect the thought with who actually wrote it). And it just so happens that these people are generally not the ones right in the middle of fandom, or not the ones to post about the current kerfluffles in fandom.
Then, strolling through Jenn's page for rec's (which I still do occasionally because she always seems to spot the best fics *g*) I come across this, a basic rant on fannish-entitlement, caused by some people's bad behaviour. Really, I completely agree with Jenn. She sums up the main points very well, and from the sounds of it, it's a rant that's long deserved.
But...
My initial reaction to it? I don't want to know. I really don't. It could be selfish, and utterly self-centered, but it's how I feel. I don't condone how those people behaved, but I dislike the bitching that goes on in fandom. Maybe it's just a female-dominated thing, heaven above knows that it occurs in any female-dominated workplace, but the bitching, and the gossiping? I don't like it.
Sure, I know I do it on occasion, but I don't like it. It's ugly, and far too many people get overworked about someone else's slight. I know it's a serious consideration in this case and I'm not pointing fingers at anyone (apart from the demanding people that did this in the first case), but I dislike it.
Policing our own borders, public reaction to utter blatant malice, and well--I never thought I'd say this, but if hostile group social pressure is going to be what has to happen to keep people from acting out in ways destructive to fandom--count me in.
In Jenn's next entry, that's what she said. If Jenn is posting like this, it's a pretty sure bet that a lot of the rest of fandom is too. I dislike it. I dislike that in order to deal with petty, aggressive people, we have to become a petty, aggressive group.
I know. All in all, I'm taking the easy way out, and avoiding it altogether. Unfortunately, there is no simple solution to this, so coming down hard on the individuals in question, even making an example of them, might work well for fandom as a whole.
But really? Where is the line between their sense of fannish-entitlement, and the behavioural demands of fandom? Everybody's throwing a hissing fit because fandom isn't acting the way it should, and other fans aren't producing/respecting as they should be.
I know which side I think is right, I just don't like the fact that I can see the similarities between them so obviously.
A year ago, my regular blog haunts were Te's (
thete1) and Jenn's (seperis), but I frequently read through Hope's (rosenho), Wendi's (happyminion), Pearl-o's and a good deal of others. I lurked a good deal on the TWoP boards, and actually knew what was going on in fandom. The second someone rec'd a fic link, I was there, reading it.These days, I'm wary of spoilers. I don't automatically follow links, I read through the description and try to weigh up how much of a spoiler it will be. (I'm sure other Aussie's have this problem. Either you're spoiled way in advance, or you're way behind the fandom at large.) I avoid the TWoP lists for the same reason.
I've never been on the main SV mailing lists, but I knew what was going on in fandom through the blog-link. If something happens to somebody, people mention it, write about it, link to it. Someone follows the link, reads about it, and posts their own opinion. Hence, you hear what's going on. Fandom is no longer a large impersonal crowd of writers, it's a huge high-school, and the gossip of who said what to who goes around pretty fast.
These days? I chose LJ Friends on their LJ content (ie. not gonna spoil me) and I purposely keep the list down small. I still can't remember everyone's names, or where they're from, or their favourite fandom (which is something I would like to know about everyone on my Friends list someday, just so when you comment/post, I can connect the thought with who actually wrote it). And it just so happens that these people are generally not the ones right in the middle of fandom, or not the ones to post about the current kerfluffles in fandom.
Then, strolling through Jenn's page for rec's (which I still do occasionally because she always seems to spot the best fics *g*) I come across this, a basic rant on fannish-entitlement, caused by some people's bad behaviour. Really, I completely agree with Jenn. She sums up the main points very well, and from the sounds of it, it's a rant that's long deserved.
But...
My initial reaction to it? I don't want to know. I really don't. It could be selfish, and utterly self-centered, but it's how I feel. I don't condone how those people behaved, but I dislike the bitching that goes on in fandom. Maybe it's just a female-dominated thing, heaven above knows that it occurs in any female-dominated workplace, but the bitching, and the gossiping? I don't like it.
Sure, I know I do it on occasion, but I don't like it. It's ugly, and far too many people get overworked about someone else's slight. I know it's a serious consideration in this case and I'm not pointing fingers at anyone (apart from the demanding people that did this in the first case), but I dislike it.
Policing our own borders, public reaction to utter blatant malice, and well--I never thought I'd say this, but if hostile group social pressure is going to be what has to happen to keep people from acting out in ways destructive to fandom--count me in.
In Jenn's next entry, that's what she said. If Jenn is posting like this, it's a pretty sure bet that a lot of the rest of fandom is too. I dislike it. I dislike that in order to deal with petty, aggressive people, we have to become a petty, aggressive group.
I know. All in all, I'm taking the easy way out, and avoiding it altogether. Unfortunately, there is no simple solution to this, so coming down hard on the individuals in question, even making an example of them, might work well for fandom as a whole.
But really? Where is the line between their sense of fannish-entitlement, and the behavioural demands of fandom? Everybody's throwing a hissing fit because fandom isn't acting the way it should, and other fans aren't producing/respecting as they should be.
I know which side I think is right, I just don't like the fact that I can see the similarities between them so obviously.
