Snowflake Challenge #15

[justanorthernlight]

Challenge #15

In your own space, opine on the future of fandom.

I was initially hesitant to partake in this one because I'm trying to avoid spreading too much negativity, but then thinking about it made me realize that I am coming up on 20 years of having been a member of online fandom.

My family upgraded from dial-up to DSL around summer/fall 2003, and I could finally hang out on the Andromeda forums without clogging up my parents' phone line. This was back in the day when shows included the URL to network-hosted forums in the end credits. The forums led me to FF.net and (eventually, ~10 years after ff.net) Tumblr, Tumblr eventually led me here. (I managed to miss email lists and struggled to get the hang of LJ, but that's a story for another day).

Physically, I think fandom will exist wherever the social internet exists. Where people gather, they will talk about things they like and things they dislike, which usually includes media. I have no idea where that will be or what it will look like.

For better or for worse, the rules of fandom will conform to whatever rules that section of the social internet follow. (When in Rome, do as the Romans do, when on Twitter, engage in the manner in which other Tweeters do, particularly if it gets The Algorithm to throw more traffic your way, copypasta for whatever platform comes next). The norms are shaped not just by member of fandom but by society at large, so let's keep an eye on that and try to bring the kind of culture/energy we want to be on the receiving end of.

Since leaving Tumblr a couple of years ago, I admit that a lot of my fannish experience is me sitting in my own corner making spaceship noises to myself. I enjoy consuming other peoples fanworks, but I've watched the meta and the Discourse™ go through cycles of the same arguments so many times with only minor variations... most of the things people are hand-wringing about now aren't new, they're just using new names and new terminology. I don't think these things will every be truly settled, large populations will always have different wants and opinions (also for better or for worse). We view the past with rose-colored glasses, but these fault lines aren't anything new.

My first year of online fandom was also the year the Battlestar Galacitca reboot (miniseries) came out, and fittingly my thoughts on the future of fandom can be summed up as "All of the has happened before, and all of this will happen again."

I'm going to keep reading and keep vidding, and I'm going to keep avoiding the things that make me mad. Fortunately, I enjoy sitting in my own corner and making spaceship noises.

Comments

[colls]

*pulls out Andromeda icon*

me sitting in my own corner making spaceship noises to myself
Ha! :)

[justanorthernlight]

Andromeda fandom was such a formative experience for me (also, led me to reading my first femslash fic, which was a key moment in my lesbian awakening 😂)!

[svgurl]

Happy (Early) Fandom Anniversary!

"All of the has happened before, and all of this will happen again."
Well said. I think your approach to fandom is the right one. It is supposed to be fun and fortunately, for the most part, we can avoid what we don't like and should.

[justanorthernlight]

Thank you!

[silveradept]

Pew-pew-pew, pew-pew?

The cyclical parts of fandom are reassuring, sometimes, in that they won't ever really go away, and aggravating sometimes, because they will never actually go away. I think more people are going to go into their own corner and make spaceship noises and maybe find a friend or two to help for a little while. And that might end up good for everyone.

[justanorthernlight]

*Adds some engine noises to the pew-pew-pews*

Yeah, fandom is a broad group of different communities, and trying to treat them like one singular thing with one singular set of rules(/values) is a mistake. Find your people and curate your feeds/circles ruthlessly is my view!

[silveradept]

Indeed. I wish that were still the default thought, rather than trying to appeal to the greatest number of people all the time. It makes for a less enjoyable experience for everyone.