I love the way this fandom has become a community - primarily through the Thursday night discussions, side activities, and Tumblr friendships that have developed. There are people in this community that I never would have become friends with in real life, either because we don't live near each other or because we are a decade apart in age or because we have vastly different backgrounds. But the thing we all have in common is our love of this show, and that has helped us forge other connections as well. I love that I can chat with you about being an introvert, and saucydiva and throwingpens about common places where we have lived, and rikyl and jncar and calc_u_later about having kids (and knowing they understand why I am sometimes scarce around these parts). I've met craponaspatula in real life and hung out with her several times, and I never would have done that had I not found this place.
I had hesitated to participate in other fandoms because it always seemed there was a handful of people who ran the show, and those people or the fandom's "elite" fic writers were the ones who decided who made the cut when it came to who could participate. While I do think this community may come off as cliqueish to outsiders, I think that it's been pretty welcoming to people who make an effort to participate. I appreciate that this seems to be a fandom of equals. In many fandoms there seems to be a caste system where fic writers are elevated above everyone else, but here everyone has a voice. We have writers, artists, and expert analysts. We have fandom cheerleaders and archivists and organizers. I love that everybody brings their own talents to make this a unique and thriving community.
I had hesitated to participate in other fandoms because it always seemed there was a handful of people who ran the show, and those people or the fandom's "elite" fic writers were the ones who decided who made the cut when it came to who could participate. While I do think this community may come off as cliqueish to outsiders, I think that it's been pretty welcoming to people who make an effort to participate. I appreciate that this seems to be a fandom of equals. In many fandoms there seems to be a caste system where fic writers are elevated above everyone else, but here everyone has a voice. We have writers, artists, and expert analysts. We have fandom cheerleaders and archivists and organizers. I love that everybody brings their own talents to make this a unique and thriving community.
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