The Direction of Fandom
(for the December posting meme- 
degrees - I'm almost done with this, I swear, you guys. XD)
Talk about the direction you see fandom going in (livejournal to tumblr, etc) and if it's a good or bad thing!
Oh man, I have so many mixed feelings on this. I think it's both a good thing and a bad thing. Say what you will about Tumblr, but it's a great way to pass things around- whether it be art or links or whatever. That can be really useful, ESPECIALLY for the fanart side of things... as long as people aren't assholes about sourcing stuff. On the other hand, I really don't like the de-centralization of fandom. I hate that everything is so split up now, between the people that are still clinging to LJ, the ones that have moved on to DW or even other sites, the Tumblr people, AO3... it's just too much to keep track of, and I feel like fandom as a whole is suffering for it. We're losing our identity. We're losing our fandom friendships and the bonds that we had- and I mean this as a whole, not one fandom in particular. A lot of fandom has moved to Tumblr, but it's really ridiculously difficult to have a conversation on Tumblr, so things get lost. I probably sound like the old fart wishing for the "good old days," and maybe to a point I am, but while all of these sites have their uses, I can't help but think that fandom is getting splintered because of it. So basically, it's a mixed bag as far as I'm concerned- some gems but mostly coal.
I'm not really sure what this means for the future of fandom. I see it being mostly a sharing culture without the discussion and fandom friends, and with a lot less feedback on work submitted- I'm talking about quantity vs quality here on that last one. Both AO3 and Tumblr encourage this. Unlike LJ or DW, where you HAVE to leave a comment in order to let the author know you liked it, on AO3 and Tumblr you can just leave a kudos or reblog it without any commentary. Now, I'm guilty of doing this myself, I'll admit. And to a point, it allows for more feedback, which is great. The problem is that it's a much lower quality than before. Okay, you liked it, but why? What worked for you, so I know to keep doing that? Kudos are great, don't think I'm bitching, but it doesn't even COMPARE to a great review in terms of encouragement, you know? It makes me sad. My first friend in fandom was through a comment she'd left on a fic I'd written- we got to talking, and she kind of shoved me into writing for
blind_go , and that was really the beginning of SO MUCH for me. Literally all my other friends in fandom came through BG. Without her prodding encouragement, I'm not sure I ever would've gathered up the nerve to even do BG. My point here is that at least to my mind, you get into fandom through conversations with people, and I'm just not sure how much that's really happening anymore. :/
(Oh yeah, if you have a question/topic/whatever for me, the original post is here!)
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This has been crossposted to my DW account. You are free to comment either here or there, if you'd like to comment. Preferably here, but it doesn't really matter. Whichever one works for you. :D
degrees - I'm almost done with this, I swear, you guys. XD)
Talk about the direction you see fandom going in (livejournal to tumblr, etc) and if it's a good or bad thing!
Oh man, I have so many mixed feelings on this. I think it's both a good thing and a bad thing. Say what you will about Tumblr, but it's a great way to pass things around- whether it be art or links or whatever. That can be really useful, ESPECIALLY for the fanart side of things... as long as people aren't assholes about sourcing stuff. On the other hand, I really don't like the de-centralization of fandom. I hate that everything is so split up now, between the people that are still clinging to LJ, the ones that have moved on to DW or even other sites, the Tumblr people, AO3... it's just too much to keep track of, and I feel like fandom as a whole is suffering for it. We're losing our identity. We're losing our fandom friendships and the bonds that we had- and I mean this as a whole, not one fandom in particular. A lot of fandom has moved to Tumblr, but it's really ridiculously difficult to have a conversation on Tumblr, so things get lost. I probably sound like the old fart wishing for the "good old days," and maybe to a point I am, but while all of these sites have their uses, I can't help but think that fandom is getting splintered because of it. So basically, it's a mixed bag as far as I'm concerned- some gems but mostly coal.
I'm not really sure what this means for the future of fandom. I see it being mostly a sharing culture without the discussion and fandom friends, and with a lot less feedback on work submitted- I'm talking about quantity vs quality here on that last one. Both AO3 and Tumblr encourage this. Unlike LJ or DW, where you HAVE to leave a comment in order to let the author know you liked it, on AO3 and Tumblr you can just leave a kudos or reblog it without any commentary. Now, I'm guilty of doing this myself, I'll admit. And to a point, it allows for more feedback, which is great. The problem is that it's a much lower quality than before. Okay, you liked it, but why? What worked for you, so I know to keep doing that? Kudos are great, don't think I'm bitching, but it doesn't even COMPARE to a great review in terms of encouragement, you know? It makes me sad. My first friend in fandom was through a comment she'd left on a fic I'd written- we got to talking, and she kind of shoved me into writing for
blind_go , and that was really the beginning of SO MUCH for me. Literally all my other friends in fandom came through BG. Without her prodding encouragement, I'm not sure I ever would've gathered up the nerve to even do BG. My point here is that at least to my mind, you get into fandom through conversations with people, and I'm just not sure how much that's really happening anymore. :/
(Oh yeah, if you have a question/topic/whatever for me, the original post is here!)
---
This has been crossposted to my DW account. You are free to comment either here or there, if you'd like to comment. Preferably here, but it doesn't really matter. Whichever one works for you. :D