Oh God - THIS ^: it's a topic that's brought up in some form on this com time, after time, after time, and for good reason.
To be completely frank, if you take the subject of a pairing so seriously that you start attacking, abusing, and flaming someone who simply says they don't like a pairing, you really have no life. To take something like that so personally (and hell, these people really do get personal), you really don't have a life. To be passionate about a pairing is fair enough, but to launch personal attacks on people who simply say that they do not like the pairing is obsessive, ridiculous, disgusting and inexcusable.
I personally just find pairing wars mortifying. They destroy the atmosphere of a forum, and they are so embaressing to watch. And I just really, really don't care. I like X pairing, you like B pairing, they like D pairing; let's all live peacefully. Unless there is something offensive in a person's pairing then what someone else ships is none of your business.
I there is a FrUk icon, that means LJ will forever stick with my default for all comments.mad_kitty12March 13 2012, 01:11:04 UTC
To take something like that so personally (and hell, these people really do get personal), you really don't have a life.
THIS. I've never experienced a shipwar myself (maybe because I don't try to expose myself too much on the internet with tumblr, art and fics) but I've seen er, 'indirect' shipwars (i.e. attacks not happening in a place everyone can see such as forums or LJ) of some shippers in journals complaining about some fangirls making stamps of 'A/B sucks, B/C is zeh true pairing'. At that point I always stick with the 'If you don't like it, don't look it.' Making a stamp about shipwars is a way to tell yourself that "you don't know that there's more things in life than just fangirl over a fictional couple".
I am passionate over a pairing, but I always give others a chance too look at their work - even if they ship those charas with anyone but them.
Shipping wars are one of the reasons I have little to do with forums these days. I'm sick of feeling apathetically disheartened as yet another decent discussion about characters or plot descends in to furious flaming wars between obsessive fangirls. And I'm sick of not being able to casually state a pairing I ship without it coming under scrutiny, criticism, and deliberation.
Yeah, this is something that happens over and over again and never gets any less ridiculous. Maybe it's some kind of us vs. them mentality with no middle ground - if you don't like this pairing, you must hate it and are therefore an enemy.
Then there's the fact that the majority of the people starting these fights are really young. Teenagers tend to get ridiculously passionate about what they like, not just pairings (band X is the BEST EVER, actor X is the HOTTEST EVER etc.).
Well, if I'm going to be honest, I'm only thirteen and I've been appalled at the behavior of people older than me in the past that gets handwaved with the "they're young" excuse, not that you're presenting it as one. Really, low age doesn't constitute low maturity, the people that can't act responsibly in a fandom and use their better judgement are probably better staying away from it. The people who start flame wars give the responsible fans a bad name, IMO.
You're right, but I still think age plays a role here. Not because young people are automatically stupid or irresponsible, but because they may not yet be familiar with fandom conventions, may not realise how appalling their behaviour is since it's easier to forget you're talking to another person when you're communicating online and because it's so easy to just lose yourself and become part of the mass, especially when you're younger. I mean, how often do kids end up doing something stupid in a group that they'd never do alone?
None of this excuses bad behaviour, but people usually grow up. I did absolutely ridiculous things in fandom when I was younger, including building a website just to bash a character I didn't like.
'Not because young people are automatically stupid or irresponsible, but because they may not yet be familiar with fandom conventions, may not realise how appalling their behaviour is'
I think maturity and personality plays a big role in it as well, however. Heated arguments is one thing, but actual abuse and attacking speaks of personality issues and serious maturity problems. Even in regards to if they happen to be young, a lot of the kind of people who launch these attacks have serious maturity issues.
As for the age-issue, I think a higher percentage of such fans are young/teenaged, but there is still a pretty sizable amount of these people who hail way in to their 20's or beyond. As heliotroper said, some of the most appalling in-fandom behaviour I've seen was commited by fully grown adults.
Because apparently, having different opinions about an certain pairing that is immensely popular (re; USUK, SuFin, FrUK, and Spamano) with the ladies and gents, is like a biiig 'FUCK YOU' with a middle finger to their faces.
Only because there are more people. I've seen fans of rare-pairs crying out loud about how persecuted they are and being downright assholes to everyone else. Popular ships are easy targets because, well, they are popular, but every corner of fandom have their nasty people. I have personally seen more annoying people from rare-pairs than from popular ships... but I only hang up here in LJ.
I once was talking to this massive FRUK fangirl who got all annoyed because I would never leave my 'precious' USUK fandom and then when I told them I also shipped UK with Spain, Prussia, Scotland, and everyone basically but France they got so super pissy with me. It would have been funny if it wasn't so pathetic.
I think people need to lighten up and remember that these characters are also Nations, and because of history can basically be shipped with everyone! I get that you may have a OTP (For England and Prussia I have several) but that does not mean that some one else's pairing isn't right/okay, especially when that person is giving you cannon or historical evidence to prove that yup it is quite possible that their pairing is also justified.
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To be completely frank, if you take the subject of a pairing so seriously that you start attacking, abusing, and flaming someone who simply says they don't like a pairing, you really have no life. To take something like that so personally (and hell, these people really do get personal), you really don't have a life. To be passionate about a pairing is fair enough, but to launch personal attacks on people who simply say that they do not like the pairing is obsessive, ridiculous, disgusting and inexcusable.
I personally just find pairing wars mortifying. They destroy the atmosphere of a forum, and they are so embaressing to watch. And I just really, really don't care. I like X pairing, you like B pairing, they like D pairing; let's all live peacefully. Unless there is something offensive in a person's pairing then what someone else ships is none of your business.
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THIS. I've never experienced a shipwar myself (maybe because I don't try to expose myself too much on the internet with tumblr, art and fics) but I've seen er, 'indirect' shipwars (i.e. attacks not happening in a place everyone can see such as forums or LJ) of some shippers in journals complaining about some fangirls making stamps of 'A/B sucks, B/C is zeh true pairing'.
At that point I always stick with the 'If you don't like it, don't look it.' Making a stamp about shipwars is a way to tell yourself that "you don't know that there's more things in life than just fangirl over a fictional couple".
I am passionate over a pairing, but I always give others a chance too look at their work - even if they ship those charas with anyone but them.
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Then there's the fact that the majority of the people starting these fights are really young. Teenagers tend to get ridiculously passionate about what they like, not just pairings (band X is the BEST EVER, actor X is the HOTTEST EVER etc.).
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None of this excuses bad behaviour, but people usually grow up. I did absolutely ridiculous things in fandom when I was younger, including building a website just to bash a character I didn't like.
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I think maturity and personality plays a big role in it as well, however. Heated arguments is one thing, but actual abuse and attacking speaks of personality issues and serious maturity problems. Even in regards to if they happen to be young, a lot of the kind of people who launch these attacks have serious maturity issues.
As for the age-issue, I think a higher percentage of such fans are young/teenaged, but there is still a pretty sizable amount of these people who hail way in to their 20's or beyond. As heliotroper said, some of the most appalling in-fandom behaviour I've seen was commited by fully grown adults.
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What.
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I think people need to lighten up and remember that these characters are also Nations, and because of history can basically be shipped with everyone! I get that you may have a OTP (For England and Prussia I have several) but that does not mean that some one else's pairing isn't right/okay, especially when that person is giving you cannon or historical evidence to prove that yup it is quite possible that their pairing is also justified.
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People suck. That's the answer to 99% of the questions in fandom.
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