State of fandom ?

[redcirce]

So I'm in a bad mood, mostly because my city is kind of wrecked, which of course there is nothing I can do anything about. However, I've also been thinking about fandom a bunch recently, especially with the LJ flist redesign riling people up. Hopefully this won't be too rambling and will make some sense?

Comments

[kilodalton]

Idk, I'm kind of ... everywhere and nowhere? I think people are just being very quiet until something of interest pops up. Then again, my main fandom is DW and that's dwindling quite a bit. Who_daily is pretty much dead, and I don't know how much of that is due to the show being on hiatus right now. I'd like to think more of it is due to the fact that the show kind of sucks right now so people aren't getting inspired (ergo not as much fanfic), but it's hard to say. Teaspoon still has a nice flow of new fic, but a lot of these stories seem to be rapid-fire-posted by the authors, which makes me suspect (although well, I know in some cases), that people are just cross-posting existing fic from either Tumblr or fanfiction.net

[redcirce]

Hmmm, yeah, now that I think about it, fandom-specificity is probably a big part of it- maybe I should try to find some new fandoms? My other main fandom before this was Buffy, and though I don't follow the fandom much it is definitely quieter than when the show was airing. And I'm on a few Harry Potter comms that still seem to get a bunch of fic, though HP fandom is gigantic. It just seems that Who fandom is still big on tumblr, so I don't know if most of Who fandom is now there or if they are somewhere else too? And wow, 70 posts a day is much busier than mine- I can't keep up with my tumblr feed because of all the postings, but my LJ flist averages around 10-15 posts on a busy day, with comms...

Yeah, I didn't know if the archives were busy or not because I was hoping to not have to go back to searching for fanfic, but maybe I should?

[kilodalton]

Yeah I haven't been able to find much Who fandom outside here, Tumblr, Facebook (mainly DW and the TARDIS with Craig Hurle, but that's just 100k people clicking "like" on everything and giving one-line comments ... no real interaction), and Gallifrey Base (which I'm never going back to. Ever. Sheesh they'd even probably make Moffat blush with their sexism and hatred

[redcirce]

Who fandom seems pretty active on tumblr, but I can't tell if they're LJ refugees or have just always lived on tumblr.

I've heard such awful things about Gallifrey Base, I've never even been tempted to look at them.

There definitely seem to be several fandoms that are super active now (SPN, Sherlock, Korra, and OUAT, which I've been meaning to check out), but most of them are still airing pretty regularly, while Who is on hiatus? I also can't tell if the fandom has gotten bigger or smaller since Eleven.

I haven't been to Teaspoon in a while, but sometimes I feel like I've read all the Doctor/Rose fic on the internet, which I know is not true. (I've definitely read all the epic ones that caught my fancy, though.)

[_thirty2flavors]

Yeah I feel mostly the same as you and it's sort of disheartening because like you I've been in fandom a really long time. AND DAMNIT I GOT COZY HERE ON LJ. But my flist is quickly becoming a ghost town -- there's like, maybe 5 posts a day where once upon a time it would be 2 pages worth of new entries

rambling probably

[redcirce]

It is sad. Although I am mad at the LJ henchmen for being jerks, I am more mad that whatever they're doing/not doing seems to not be encouraging people to stick around. (Unless fandom randomly decided to move?) Even a lot of comms I thought would always be really busy have become eerily quiet.

it really isn't set up for that and it's MUCH harder to follow anything. Bah. I feel the same and I was hoping maybe there was some trick or something to tumblr I was missing, beyond Savior and Missing E. Do people just reblog every single time they want to comment on something? While it makes me super happy that tumblr is full of people still squeeing madly about Who (and pretty much all fandoms really),and making awesome, giant Martha graphics and shippy (though sometimes unintentionally hilarious) Doctor/Rose gifsets, I feel like it's really difficult to even say "Hey that thing you made was amazing and awesome!" unless you, like, personally message them which seems creepy. But there are a bunch of people that seem to have tumblr besties, so

[fogsblue]

Ummm, well I have LJ, which is where I primarily live, DW which I try to remember to keep up to date, though probably fail and tumblr.

LJ is where most of my thoughts, fandom or otherwise are likely to end up. Though I have noticed it's been a bit quieter lately, there's still a fair bit going on. Though not so much DW related, except for fic. But even that's slowed down.

Tumblr is where I go to look at pretty images and such. I agree, it really doesn't work for actually communicating with people really. Nor leave a proper comment on a fic or art. But it is busy.

I've noticed a lot of comms on LJ seem to be getting a bit quieter which is sad. I mean I've only been on LJ a year or so, maybe a bit longer and things are getting quieter...

And yes, I've forgotten where I was going with this. Oh right... I think it might depend on what the people on your flist are mostly talking about?

[redcirce]

Yeah, someone noted above that maybe I'm in the wrong fandoms. But Who seems to be going pretty strong on tumblr, so I don't know?

I also don't know if the quiet on LJ is cyclical, but I definitely feel like it was much more busy 2 or 3 years ago. It is sad. :P

It's good to hear what other people think!

[fogsblue]

It wouldn't surprise me if it was kinda cyclical. Things happen, people drift off for a while, then return later when something ignites their interest.

Who definitely seems to be going reasonably strongly on tumblr. I wonder if people like the way it works? The ease of finding new stuff maybe?

[yumimum]

My lj paid account is up this month and I'm probably gonna switch to DW and crosspost. It's only my f-list and fandoms that've kept me here this long. *sigh*

And I hate, hate, hate that lj has brought us to this point :(

[redcirce]

I can't really justify paying for LJ when I pay for DW, but I have to figure out where to host my pictures first, and moving them seems like it will be such a hassle. LJ why you make me do this.

Yeah, I'm on it pretty much for the flist and comms now, as functionality is no longer it's selling point. :P

[annissag]

I'm right there with you, circe. I keep hoping Fandom will jump ship to Dreamwidth, but it seems more likely that it will just die.

[redcirce]

Ugh. I sorta agree, yet hope we are both wrong. At least fandom is busy on tumblr?

The LJ/DW thing confuses me so much, because I was so anti-Dreamwidth at first, but then once I got annoyed at LJ for something or other and tried it, I loved it and find it much better than LJ at a lot of things. So I just DON'T UNDERSTAND why people seem to hate it so much with no reason.
I did have a different journal before LJ, and I have accounts at other sites like tumblr, so maybe I am less resistant to change? Doesn't feel like it though, I kind of hate change but still love Dreamwidth ...