Why the Tumblr format makes it easier to be disappointed by fandom
(and harder to avoid people who damage your fanish experience)
I posted this to my Tumblr, and I though it should go here as well.
I have been in fandom for about 17 years now and I have been lucky enough to never have had other fans put me off my fandom and pairing enjoyment. Hell, until recently I had not even heard of people leaving fandom because other members of the same fandom were unpleasant. In my experience people left a fandom for another fandom or for RL, never because the fandom turned unpleasant.
Was I incredibly lucky that my corner of fandom was predominantly nice and sweet and got along?
I was originally in Livejournal and then on Dreamwidth.
And recently on Tumblr.
Since I joined Tumblr, I have seen several people be put off by fandom (the fandoms I am/was part of on Tumblr are Inception, Marvel Movies and Teen Wolf).
And I think this is not only an issue of the fandom, but an issue of the way Tumblr works as opposed to blog sites like Livejournal and Dreamwidth. Let me enumerate:
1. People reblog articles on Tumblr. On blog sites, people share links.
So if a person writes a negative rant about a show or pairing on Tumblr, you might see this rant several times, in its complete form on your dash, sometimes with comments and expansions. On a regular blog, you would see the complete version only once if you followed the person and then only links or quotes from other blogs, making it easy not keep reading hateful articles if you don’t want to. (Personally I prided myself in not reading things that make me feel bad, because fandom is my happy place, but now I realize I am really bad at stopping reading when it is right there in my dash, and Tumblr occasionally makes me sad).
2. Tumblr notifies you when someone reblogs you. Blog sites notify you when someone comments to your post directly.
This means that if you write or reblog something, you will know who reblogged it. But also the “So-and-so reblogged you and added…” tells you immediately if someone is criticizing your art/fic/opinion.
On traditional blog sites, this would be a discussion in the comments of the article and if the commenter wanted to he could put a link to the discussion on their blog, which you probably wouldn’t be following anyway. On regular blogs, you are more unlikely to see the hate unless the persons comment directly and if they comment directly, the community does not see the hate unless they are actually reading your blog.
Further, on regular blogs the discussion is between you and the people you allow on your blog (since you can usually lock “friends only” posts or disable anonymous commenting, and if someone is really obnoxious can go so far as to freeze threads, delete their comments or block them). But more importantly, the discussion is more private, and only people who follow you or go looking for it will see it. I view it as some sort of encapsulation of rants, where you as a member of the community are not constantly passively exposed to them.
This two things are actually features on Tumblr, and I really like them when I come across opinions I do want to explore, because I can see the OP’s opinion and then several replies (often with opposing opinions) and I can draw my own conclusions. I like this especially in regards to politics and history. And when it leads to fanish creativity like fanart or mini-fics.
Personally, I do not like it so much when it is someone ranting about how much they hate a character/pairing/show I love. In that case it cuts into my fandom enjoyment to see people being mean.
I will keep being on Livejournal and Dreamwith and Tumblr, but I will try to keep in mind that the Tumblr format is different and act to distance myself from elements of fandom that cut into my enjoyment.
Always keep in mind fandom should always be fun!
You can also read this entry on Dreamwidth.
Comments
I posted this to my Tumblr, and I though it should go here as well.
I have been in fandom for about 17 years now and I have been lucky enough to never have had other fans put me off my fandom and pairing enjoyment. Hell, until recently I had not even heard of people leaving fandom because other members of the same fandom were unpleasant. In my experience people left a fandom for another fandom or for RL, never because the fandom turned unpleasant.
Was I incredibly lucky that my corner of fandom was predominantly nice and sweet and got along?
I was originally in Livejournal and then on Dreamwidth.
And recently on Tumblr.
Since I joined Tumblr, I have seen several people be put off by fandom (the fandoms I am/was part of on Tumblr are Inception, Marvel Movies and Teen Wolf).
And I think this is not only an issue of the fandom, but an issue of the way Tumblr works as opposed to blog sites like Livejournal and Dreamwidth. Let me enumerate:
1. People reblog articles on Tumblr. On blog sites, people share links.
So if a person writes a negative rant about a show or pairing on Tumblr, you might see this rant several times, in its complete form on your dash, sometimes with comments and expansions. On a regular blog, you would see the complete version only once if you followed the person and then only links or quotes from other blogs, making it easy not keep reading hateful articles if you don’t want to. (Personally I prided myself in not reading things that make me feel bad, because fandom is my happy place, but now I realize I am really bad at stopping reading when it is right there in my dash, and Tumblr occasionally makes me sad).
2. Tumblr notifies you when someone reblogs you. Blog sites notify you when someone comments to your post directly.
This means that if you write or reblog something, you will know who reblogged it. But also the “So-and-so reblogged you and added…” tells you immediately if someone is criticizing your art/fic/opinion.
On traditional blog sites, this would be a discussion in the comments of the article and if the commenter wanted to he could put a link to the discussion on their blog, which you probably wouldn’t be following anyway. On regular blogs, you are more unlikely to see the hate unless the persons comment directly and if they comment directly, the community does not see the hate unless they are actually reading your blog.
Further, on regular blogs the discussion is between you and the people you allow on your blog (since you can usually lock “friends only” posts or disable anonymous commenting, and if someone is really obnoxious can go so far as to freeze threads, delete their comments or block them). But more importantly, the discussion is more private, and only people who follow you or go looking for it will see it. I view it as some sort of encapsulation of rants, where you as a member of the community are not constantly passively exposed to them.
This two things are actually features on Tumblr, and I really like them when I come across opinions I do want to explore, because I can see the OP’s opinion and then several replies (often with opposing opinions) and I can draw my own conclusions. I like this especially in regards to politics and history. And when it leads to fanish creativity like fanart or mini-fics.
Personally, I do not like it so much when it is someone ranting about how much they hate a character/pairing/show I love. In that case it cuts into my fandom enjoyment to see people being mean.
I will keep being on Livejournal and Dreamwith and Tumblr, but I will try to keep in mind that the Tumblr format is different and act to distance myself from elements of fandom that cut into my enjoyment.
Always keep in mind fandom should always be fun!
You can also read this entry on Dreamwidth.
Comments