Comments | beexsam: School report

waruji in beexsam

School report - help please

May 19, 2010 14:16

Hello, I’m Waruji (Serpentine Wisdom on ffnet) I’m a university student currently writing a 25-40 page essay about fandom on the web for my sociology class and I would be really grateful if you would answer a few questions for me. I'm not sure if this post is allowed, if it isn't I apologise. Just tell me and I’ll remove it.

There are no right or ( Read more... )

fandom, discussion

Comments 16

catc10 May 20 2010, 04:34:11 UTC

1) How would you describe fandom? Oh, fandom! Fandom is like a club that you don't have to ask to be a part of --you just ARE. There are many places people in a fandom can meet and greet and say 'hi' to one another, and you don't have to participate in any of them unless you want to, you can watch any of them if you want to, and if for some reason the fandom is split two-ways in a decision, you can back one side, both sides, or neither! It's like a family made of your friends! (But you only choose to be close to a few ( ... )

catc10 May 20 2010, 04:36:39 UTC

8) How do think size affects fandoms? For example in terms of quality or enjoyment? Are there any noticeable differences between bigger and smaller fandoms? There are BIG fandoms (Harry Potter, anyone?) and big fandoms (Supernatural) and small fandoms (Spirited Away, Gargoyles), and SMALL fandoms (Wise Guys, Jane and the Dragon). As far as I can tell, there is only the difference in amount. Big fandoms will have MORE. More good, more bad, more 'eh'. Small fandoms will have less. Less good, less bad, less 'eh'. Small fandoms are a little more accepting, I think, because they have less numbers to make disagreements with sides to them, but that's about it. You can enjoy fandom of any size with equal zeal as any other size, and quality ratios are going to be similar where ever you look ( ... )

catc10 May 20 2010, 04:36:54 UTC

12) Is there any fandom that is valued more or less than others? For what reasons? I feel that this is probably better phrased elsehow. People are going to value fandoms at different levels based upon what they, personally, like. I like mostly anime and book fandoms, with a few TV and movie fandoms thrown in. My sister's are mainly the same. But from TV I prefer 'iCarly' to 'Torchwood', which isn't the same as her. I think that certain PARTS of fandom are less valued than others in certain contexts, too. In TV fandoms, you won't see so many fanARTs as fanGRAPHICs (photomanipulation and the like), but in anime, it's going to be different. Some fandoms lend themselves to fanMIXs (fan CDs), over fanMUSICVIDs. However, no matter the fandom, FANFICTION is ALWAYS dominant over all ( ... )

mimi_sardinia May 20 2010, 05:12:35 UTC

1) How would you describe fandom?
A community of people who have a strong fondness for a form of entertainment and like to communicate about it in various ways.

2) Why do you participate in fandom? How?
Because Fandom gives me a community that is interested specifically in things I am interested in.
My usual form of participation is reading fanfic, commenting on such, discussing both the canon and fanfic.

3) How many, approximately, fandoms are you apart of?
Currently I only consider myself active in two fandoms - Harry Potter and Transformers - and even then, my activity in HP is only restricted to reading, not including community interaction.
I have been involved in more fandoms in the past - Star Trek, Baldur's Gate (Dungeons and Dragons), Dragonball Z, Harry Potter (actively involved in the community), Lord of the Rings, and Final Fantasy/Kingdom Hearts.

4) What are the most positive and the most negative parts about fandom?I think that the positives and negatives can be the same thing - the social interaction can be both ( ... )

mimi_sardinia May 20 2010, 05:13:13 UTC

7) If you stop participating in fandom, what do you think will be the reason?
I cannot imagine any way I would voluntarily stop being involved in Fandom. The only way I would stop is if I lose my computer.

8) How do think size affects fandoms? For example in terms of quality or enjoyment? Are there any noticeable differences between bigger and smaller fandoms?
The bigger the fandom, the more fanfic that is available. On the other hand, the more fanfic available, the more bad fanfic available too, and the more fans there are of the annoyingly childish, intolerant, or just biased type. Those types of fans can be troublesome.

9) Do you notice a difference from when you were new (1) to fandom and now? In your writing style? What you like/dislike? How you approach new fandoms? How you interact with other fans/writers/reviewers?I think I have been able to detect a marked improvement in the quality of fanfic I can stand. At one point in the last couple of years I reread a fic I had saved in my files. It was a fic I loved at the time I ( ... )

mimi_sardinia May 20 2010, 05:13:55 UTC

12) Is there any fandom that is valued more or less than others? For what reasons?
The only fandom I can think of that gets almost universal disapproval is maybe the Furry fandom. I don't think this is a fault of Furry fans being fans of anthromorphic animals but that the Furry Fandom has allowed in a lot of really strange kinks that can easily disgust people. The fact that it can very quickly drift into beastiality does not help.

13) On a similar note, fanfiction.net is a huge fanfiction site but there are many people that refer to it as “the Pit”. Does it deserve that reputation? Do you feel that there are some fan sites that have a higher status than others? For what reasons?Fanfiction.net is refered to as "The Pit of Voles" ("The Pit" for short) because it has so much badfic on it. It is a collaroy to my answer about large fandoms - the larger the archive, the more likely it will have badfic on it. FFN is simply the biggest and easiest fanfiction archive online and as such is usually the first place young newbie writers will go ( ... )

nonyme May 20 2010, 12:50:25 UTC

I'll try to post an answer to your questions later, but I want to suggest (if you haven't done so already) interviewing some fans old enough to remember what fandom was like before there was a web. There may be a few here old enough, but not a lot -- Transformers fandom seems to have a lot of fans in their 30's, but not many older than that.

scarecrowqueen May 20 2010, 17:15:06 UTC

1) Fandom is a social movement of people who gather to discuss their common interest in a book/movie/tv show/comic/etc, usually resulting in creative expressions such as fanfic, fanart, icons, playlists, and the like. it's something of a cultural phenomenon ( ... )

scarecrowqueen May 20 2010, 17:16:14 UTC

13) I am a user on FF.net, but admittedly the title of ‘Pit’ is well deserved in some cases. Because it’s such a huge nexus of so many different fandom, it’s wide open to trolling, spamming, flaming, and all around-bad behavior. There’s no way on Earth the mods could possibly keep up with policing everyone, so less scrupulous people tend to run rampant in their anonymity. I spend a lot of time on Livejournal communities, and they tend to be better run, more positive, and comprised of more experienced writers and artists, and as smaller communities the mods are able to keep a better eye on the goings-on, and many of the members themselves will gladly put their foot down to stop disrespectful behavior ( ... )

niyazi_a May 21 2010, 21:29:43 UTC

1) How would you describe fandom? Craziness both good and bad. It's a chance for fans to, in a sense, break that barrier down between producer of media and consumer of media--we do both ( ... )

niyazi_a May 21 2010, 21:29:55 UTC

Ooops skipped Q 8!!: I think the really huge fandoms are really intimidating. They almost HAVE to become cliquefied and I imagine it's hard to get into as a newbie (I'm thinking of the SPN or Harry Potter fandoms here). My fandom is pretty small I think and I like it because when I see, say, our fic newsletter, almost all the authors are on my f-list already so I really feel a connection ( ... )