Hm. I'm not really sure what to address or address first, really.
Shipper is a really broad term. You can be a shipper if you ship canon pairings. You can be a shipper if you ship non-canon pairings. You do not have to ship every single pairing that comes down the pipeline in order to be a shipper. You just have to ship, which usually means you like the idea of two people on a show being together, and you support that ship either by writing fanfic, reading fanfic, or discussing it in depth, and you may or may not want it to actually happen on the show/book/movie/whatever.
The label part of it is pretty much out of your control. People might or might not label you a shipper and mean something bad or good by it, but you can't really tell them what to think, so, you know.
Is this your first fandom? Because, trust me, if you stick around and eventually have a few fandoms and get a bigger picture of how vast and varied fandom is, I think some of your opinions might change a bit. ;)
There's definitely cliques of people, because, unfortunately, not everyone can play as nice as your friends. There are a lot of people who decide they hate a character or pairing and instead of focusing on the stuff they DO like, they focus all their attention on hating that character/pairing and bashing them or whatever, and it's IRRITATING! I mean, if you love Bobby Goren and someone else hates him and half their posts are about how horrible he is and how all his fans are deluded and stupid, you're probably going to defriend and find someone more partial to your views.
For me, it's much more fun to be surrounded by people who get me, because while I Love to ship, I don't really take it so seriously that it ruins the show for me if the pairing doesn't get together. I tend to make fun of myself, the ship itself, the show, etc... in an effort to keep it from getting too serious. I write fic because I love to write, and if people enjoy that, it's extra cool. I only get involved in fandoms in which I ship, but I watch lots of shows where I don't ship or feel the need to be fannish about them.
I have to say that I felt much like you did when I first got into the LJ world and started in my first online fandom. And since then it's been pretty eye-opening for me. I see it as a circle of peers, mostly women, which I love. We talk about shipping, fandom, hot guys, social issues, EVERYTHING. Everything I can't talk about in real life because no one who surrounds me is interested. So for me this is more than just writing smut or talking about Meloni. This is a round table of amazing people who I'm learning from everyday. :)
This is the first fandom I've every really partcipated in, but oddly enough probably not the closest to my heart. I do feel i have found that same comradery with people here, because there is a sense of freedom here that I don't always feel in my everyday life because the things that interests me aren't nessicarily main stream or stuff I can talk to my co-workers about with out solidifying my outsider-ness. Though at the same time some of the people I have connected most to here are not shippers in CI, but we have other things in common.
However I do know what you mean about bashers. It's childish and really if you don't like something either be constructive about it or just don't read/look at it. It really rather simple, but people I think feel a little too much freedom at times and as that brings some together and makes others feel safe to bash people without real consequnces.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts with me.
I guess I kind of like being in a smaller fandom...but we'll see. Since I've started participating here I have found myself gaining interest in other fandoms that I like but haven't participated in and found myself thinking about writing in other fandoms, but have not (oddly enough though many I see as crossovers with CI).
Shipper is a really broad term. You can be a shipper if you ship canon pairings. You can be a shipper if you ship non-canon pairings. You do not have to ship every single pairing that comes down the pipeline in order to be a shipper. You just have to ship, which usually means you like the idea of two people on a show being together, and you support that ship either by writing fanfic, reading fanfic, or discussing it in depth, and you may or may not want it to actually happen on the show/book/movie/whatever.
The label part of it is pretty much out of your control. People might or might not label you a shipper and mean something bad or good by it, but you can't really tell them what to think, so, you know.
Is this your first fandom? Because, trust me, if you stick around and eventually have a few fandoms and get a bigger picture of how vast and varied fandom is, I think some of your opinions might change a bit. ;)
There's definitely cliques of people, because, unfortunately, not everyone can play as nice as your friends. There are a lot of people who decide they hate a character or pairing and instead of focusing on the stuff they DO like, they focus all their attention on hating that character/pairing and bashing them or whatever, and it's IRRITATING! I mean, if you love Bobby Goren and someone else hates him and half their posts are about how horrible he is and how all his fans are deluded and stupid, you're probably going to defriend and find someone more partial to your views.
For me, it's much more fun to be surrounded by people who get me, because while I Love to ship, I don't really take it so seriously that it ruins the show for me if the pairing doesn't get together. I tend to make fun of myself, the ship itself, the show, etc... in an effort to keep it from getting too serious. I write fic because I love to write, and if people enjoy that, it's extra cool. I only get involved in fandoms in which I ship, but I watch lots of shows where I don't ship or feel the need to be fannish about them.
I have to say that I felt much like you did when I first got into the LJ world and started in my first online fandom. And since then it's been pretty eye-opening for me. I see it as a circle of peers, mostly women, which I love. We talk about shipping, fandom, hot guys, social issues, EVERYTHING. Everything I can't talk about in real life because no one who surrounds me is interested. So for me this is more than just writing smut or talking about Meloni. This is a round table of amazing people who I'm learning from everyday. :)
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However I do know what you mean about bashers. It's childish and really if you don't like something either be constructive about it or just don't read/look at it. It really rather simple, but people I think feel a little too much freedom at times and as that brings some together and makes others feel safe to bash people without real consequnces.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts with me.
I guess I kind of like being in a smaller fandom...but we'll see. Since I've started participating here I have found myself gaining interest in other fandoms that I like but haven't participated in and found myself thinking about writing in other fandoms, but have not (oddly enough though many I see as crossovers with CI).
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