Discussion: Friendlies!

[embolalia]

People in our community play different roles - readers, writers, betas, lurkers, mods - and it seems that tensions arise sometimes without our really thinking about them. We all love pilots and enjoy this comm, or we wouldn’t be here, and I think we all want this to be a welcoming, inclusive place. So today, I’m declaring this a safe space to talk

Comments

[lyrela]

I am pretty new to the BSG fandom. I started watching the miniseries in September 2011 and slowly went through all four seasons until I finished off the entire run with the finale three months ago. What can I say, the pilots had me at hello

[bluuefiire]

You said perfectly pretty much exactly how I feel! (I started watching about the same time too)

I am SO happy to have found the BSG fandom

[embolalia]

Well, welcome! I think what you've written actually speaks to Bee's comments below - we seem to have various 'waves' of fandom coming through here, too. I've been around for a little more than a year myself, and others for far longer. Sometimes I think there are tensions around that, too, but people are generally welcoming and new folks become part of the fold before too long. So feel free to chat in the future, no need to lurk :)

[callmeonetrack]

I checked every box because I do all of those things or have at different points in my fandom life.

I think when you're a writer or an artist or a comm mod and you're constantly producing stuff that you're posting, you're naturally perceived as being really loud/dominant in the fandom. Reading and betaing and lurking are, of course, quieter, behind-the-scenes kind of activities. It's been my experience that you tend to get out of fandom what you put into it, for whatever that's worth.

Personally, I've always thought people were pretty good at giving beta shoutouts on fic and thanking their readers and appreciating readers/betas/lurkers in our love posts.

I'm always interested to hear feedback, criticism, suggestions for the comms I moderate. And the DPP schedule always has some open slots for anyone who'd like to try to steer fandom conversation in certain directions. :)

[wicked_sassy]

I'm definitely primarily a reader, and have often done beta work. I started off that way in the N_T comm, and now I've betaed for quite a few folks here. A few months ago, letterstonorah asked me to be her ongoing beta, so that's been fun. I like reading stories and seeing everyone's views on Kara & Lee; I also like watching fanvids, listening to fan mixes, and looking at the pretty fan art. I've occasionally written some BSG fic

[callmeonetrack]

However, I feel like the contributions of writers are most sought and most praised in many comms, and a lot of member participation seems geared towards that. I've spent a lot of time doing beta work for mostly-very appreciative writers, but sometimes I feel like my contributions for fandom events aren't considered noteworthy, since I'm not primarily a writer. I think this is because we're always craving new content with the show defunct, and most people just do not write much meta these days. Reading is a silent activity and beta-ing is kind of specific to the content you're beta-reading, so it becomes more of a private one-on-one discussion with the person you're working with usually

[embolalia]

you find yourself repeating discussion points a lot

I do feel like this happens from time to time around here - just by the nature of the comm. But different people are around to be involved from day to day or month to month, so there's not necessarily anything wrong with that.

[callmeonetrack]

Yup. I'm just saying that's why personally I can't always come up with new discussion or meta topics. My brain's just not firing in those directions anymore. Fic, on the other hand, is usually easier if I find a prompt that sings to me.

[wicked_sassy]

<3 <3 <3

Rambly comment is rambly.

[workerbee73]

I feel like I've worn a lot of different hats over the years, and gone from super-heavily involved to the point now where my heart is elsewhere, and I've kind of downgraded myself to lurkerbee/fandom alum status. So maybe I don't really have a place at the table anymore to speak my mind that that's fine. Truly. I'm happy to make room for the next gen

Re: Rambly comment is rambly.

[bristow1941]

Ooooh, I so feel the closure thing. When the show ended I was ready to fire my dvds out of the window and never think about it again. Cooler heads prevailed (ahh, wise friends...) and time was a great healer. Reading the plethora of absolutely amazing post-Poof! pieces has really helped me actually want to rewatch Season 4 and 4.5 (I swear I watched some through my hands going "lalalala, this is NOT happening"!).