Those who do not remember history are comdemned to repeat it?
I never really believed that, but fandom sure makes it hard to argue with this statement...
I remember the very first time I saw a flame war about someone being an "elitist" BNF. (God, that was a while ago... Ah, good times. *g*) I was so new to online fandom then that I had to google to find out what "BNF" actually stood for (OK, so it wasn't *that* long ago, if google was already around. It sure *feels* like a long time, though...), and imagine my surprise when one of the first links I found was an article from the *1960's* written for a fannish zine, *long* before LJs *or* bulletin boards were ever even imagined, talking in a tired way, as if rehashing an already old argument that had gotten boring long ago, about people complaining about Big Name Fans taking all the glory and discussing the presence of "elitist cliques". A few terms might have been a bit different, but other than that, it could have come *straight* out of that flame war I was watching unfold more than 30 years later.
(ETA: Did I say the 1960's? Now that I've found the article, I see that it was actually *1954*. So, it's been more than *50* years, not 30. Ah, well. What's a few decades between friends. ;) )
And I had to wonder -- how is it that the arguments haven't changed at *all*, in such a long time? Fandom itself has transformed since then, hasn't it? Things have gotten so much faster. It no longer takes weeks to start getting feedback for an stories you might write, or to get a reply to a discussion you are in. We are even talking about completely different shows and books. So why haven't the conflicts we are faced with changed at *all*? Why are we using our shiny new toys to rehash the *exact same arguments* that have been already beaten to death hundreds of times before this?! I mean, sneak a peak at fandom_wank sometime. These arguments happen *literally* every week, and they *never* change. (Right down to friends-locking the original file when the argument gets out of control. *sigh*) *Every* fandom I've ever participated or lurked in has had them, many of them have had a lot more than one.
New fans are going to come into fandom all the time, and there are always going to be fans that are going to feel left out, and feel like the "cool kids" are ignoring them. And there are always going to be kids who would rather complain loudly about it to attract attention, rather than actually do some work and *learn* from the people with more experience than them. But after about the 10th time such argument happens, it's hard to get all that worked up about it. Come on, these people are idiots. Paying attention to them will only make them feel like you are validating their arguments. Can't we just ignore them and move on with enjoying the parts of fandom that are actually fun and worth while? *is sad*
I guess this is actually related to something elishavah mentioned in a recent post -- when you get into a fandom for the first time, how do you know when a particular subject has already been discussed to death? Well, I'm going to tell you -- no matter *what* fandom you are getting into, this particular subject definitely *has* been talked to death. After 30 years, I doubt that there is really a new argument out there any of us can come up with that *someone* hasn't mentioned already. Let's just get over it already and move *on*.
And that is all that I am ever planning to say about fannish kerfuffles. *sigh*
(And one of these days, I'm actually going to learn to follow my own advice and keep *out* of kerfuffles. *g*)
I remember the very first time I saw a flame war about someone being an "elitist" BNF. (God, that was a while ago... Ah, good times. *g*) I was so new to online fandom then that I had to google to find out what "BNF" actually stood for (OK, so it wasn't *that* long ago, if google was already around. It sure *feels* like a long time, though...), and imagine my surprise when one of the first links I found was an article from the *1960's* written for a fannish zine, *long* before LJs *or* bulletin boards were ever even imagined, talking in a tired way, as if rehashing an already old argument that had gotten boring long ago, about people complaining about Big Name Fans taking all the glory and discussing the presence of "elitist cliques". A few terms might have been a bit different, but other than that, it could have come *straight* out of that flame war I was watching unfold more than 30 years later.
(ETA: Did I say the 1960's? Now that I've found the article, I see that it was actually *1954*. So, it's been more than *50* years, not 30. Ah, well. What's a few decades between friends. ;) )
And I had to wonder -- how is it that the arguments haven't changed at *all*, in such a long time? Fandom itself has transformed since then, hasn't it? Things have gotten so much faster. It no longer takes weeks to start getting feedback for an stories you might write, or to get a reply to a discussion you are in. We are even talking about completely different shows and books. So why haven't the conflicts we are faced with changed at *all*? Why are we using our shiny new toys to rehash the *exact same arguments* that have been already beaten to death hundreds of times before this?! I mean, sneak a peak at fandom_wank sometime. These arguments happen *literally* every week, and they *never* change. (Right down to friends-locking the original file when the argument gets out of control. *sigh*) *Every* fandom I've ever participated or lurked in has had them, many of them have had a lot more than one.
New fans are going to come into fandom all the time, and there are always going to be fans that are going to feel left out, and feel like the "cool kids" are ignoring them. And there are always going to be kids who would rather complain loudly about it to attract attention, rather than actually do some work and *learn* from the people with more experience than them. But after about the 10th time such argument happens, it's hard to get all that worked up about it. Come on, these people are idiots. Paying attention to them will only make them feel like you are validating their arguments. Can't we just ignore them and move on with enjoying the parts of fandom that are actually fun and worth while? *is sad*
I guess this is actually related to something elishavah mentioned in a recent post -- when you get into a fandom for the first time, how do you know when a particular subject has already been discussed to death? Well, I'm going to tell you -- no matter *what* fandom you are getting into, this particular subject definitely *has* been talked to death. After 30 years, I doubt that there is really a new argument out there any of us can come up with that *someone* hasn't mentioned already. Let's just get over it already and move *on*.
And that is all that I am ever planning to say about fannish kerfuffles. *sigh*
(And one of these days, I'm actually going to learn to follow my own advice and keep *out* of kerfuffles. *g*)