The Three Rules of Fandom

[quickreaver]

This was chugging around Twitter and tumblr, and I thought I'd share it here too, see what y'all think of it. Personally, I'm all for it. I can totally adhere to these basics...

Comments

[el1ie]

AO3 has really helped with the tags, I don't do tumblr any longer, but the tagging over there never really bothered me in it's over-use. On AO3, I use a script to removed all the excessive tagging that has appeared since Tumblr blazed a path through fandom, again, nothing anyone does or doesn't do really bothers me, I can police myself as long as it's correctly tagged, one reason I no longer touch WIPs, 4 chapters in and Dean and Castiel are making out without warning kind of puts a damper on my enjoyment, but it's no problem to back out - that's where AO3 is much better than L/J - the tags get changed as the author goes along and finding finished works is the easiest way out for me. Also, everyone is getting much better at using cuts and warning for NSFW images, I never have an objection, just easier to know to be on you're own!! :)

So, yes, things are improving very much, only a few years ago there was the argument over labelling John/12 year old Dean as 'consensual sex'. That did annoy me very much as a consent issue is huge and very much a legal matter, while I can understand there is also a huge divide between non-consensual under-age and a willing under-age character, I still believe certain words carry a deeper responsibility and labelling anything under-age as consensual and not understanding the problems that arise does disrespect readers, the author themselves and fandom at large.

Dog piling on creators over issues doesn't help either - often there's a simple mistake and a private message pointing something out as a problem is so much easier than shouting publicly in outraged horror leading to creators being hounded out of fandom. Many years ago SPN fandom shocked a hell of a lot of people, I think 11 years down the line everyone has become far more accepting and embracing of the slightly more unusual aspects of every fandom, we've grown fast and changed (almost a generation) as indeed the world has.

But there again, I've moved on from SPN fic and many fandoms have the same issues and many more of their own makings, I'm just happy to have AO3 as an archive, it seems to have made everywhere more aware of their content and responsible for what they post and that's the main thing I feel makes fandom a happy place for everyone. Know what you're getting up front and there's no reason - ever - to complain.

[quickreaver]

It's so funny, but since I'm only in one fandom, it frequently feels like "OMG, WE'RE THE WORST." But when I ask friends who are in multiple fandoms, they're quick to point out that every fandom has its sticky spots, and SPN isn't by any stretch as bad as it gets.

I think you're onto something with the observation that since SPN has been on so long, we almost have a generation gap within fandom. (Again, Star Wars and Star Trek fandoms certainly experience this too.) And recent fans may well have a different spin on things than the old guard. I could go into long (and probably consternatious) theories about this generation vs. mine (and I have three teen sons to draw evidence from), but naaaaah, I don't feel quite like opening THAT can of worms!

But thank you for expounding! Hope 2016 treats you tenderly. :)