there are a lot of people now "in fandom" in some sense who were never going to do fandom the way we were used to doing it. If that was their only option, they wouldn't be here.... I would guess that the absolute number of people interesting in two-way communication and making things is probably the same or has grown, but they make up a smaller proportion of fandom than they used to.
This is a very good point! And a good thing for me to remember!
And it's not that I want all these other people to go away--I'm glad they're having fun doing their thing--I just wish I could find more people who like the old-fashioned way of doing things, and I feel like it's really difficult to find them!
You remember how there used to be two kinds of fandom? One was (grossly generalizing) mostly dudes, and they were all about collecting facts and going to cons and...I don't know what else they did. But they were very separate from the mostly female and queer side of fandom that was much more into transformative works of all kinds whether that was fic or meta or vidding or whatever. And while there was some overlap--particularly, for me, in my early Star Wars days--they kind of functioned as separate ecosystems? I would like a situation more like that, where the lines between different ways of doing fandom were more clear. Not as a gatekeeping thing, because I don't really want to gatekeep. Just as a way of...finding my people. If that makes sense.
But I think the commodification comes partly from fandom being mainstream now. Absolutely.
Yes, it's money, but you're not exchanging the money FOR anything. This might not fit the technical definition of a gift economy, but it is still a gift, an expression of appreciation, not a payment in exchange for goods or services.
I think you're right that there is a difference. I think I have just never fully adjusted to the idea of giving strangers on the internet money. It just feels weird to me!
Thank you for sharing your experiences re: feedback with me! Mine were quite different--going from Buffy to kpop was not much of a shock for me, because even though the circle of writers/readers was smaller in kpop, it was still mostly LJ people who were really heavy commenters. Since I left that fandom behind, I literally had not been in a fandom until I got into The Untamed, which is a completely different beast. But you're right that that could be more about size than about the nature of fandom itself.
And YES re: platforms! I still hold out hope that some kind of platform will slowly gain steam that is more text-based and more fitting for in-depth conversations. But if it does, it will be going against the tide of the entire internet (not just fandom), that's for sure.
I just wish it weren't happening on Discord! I do not like the platform! If we all went back to secret locked-down message boards, I would be 100% fine with that! I don't mind the secrecy of it all (in fact, one of my major beefs with contemporary fandom is how Out There it is). I just specifically can't deal with Discord. But I guess if I wait another ten years, another platform will come along...
as a wise man once almost said, fandom will find a way. :')
Lol! True!
Thank you for sharing! You've given me a lot to think about!
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This is a very good point! And a good thing for me to remember!
And it's not that I want all these other people to go away--I'm glad they're having fun doing their thing--I just wish I could find more people who like the old-fashioned way of doing things, and I feel like it's really difficult to find them!
You remember how there used to be two kinds of fandom? One was (grossly generalizing) mostly dudes, and they were all about collecting facts and going to cons and...I don't know what else they did. But they were very separate from the mostly female and queer side of fandom that was much more into transformative works of all kinds whether that was fic or meta or vidding or whatever. And while there was some overlap--particularly, for me, in my early Star Wars days--they kind of functioned as separate ecosystems? I would like a situation more like that, where the lines between different ways of doing fandom were more clear. Not as a gatekeeping thing, because I don't really want to gatekeep. Just as a way of...finding my people. If that makes sense.
But I think the commodification comes partly from fandom being mainstream now.
Absolutely.
Yes, it's money, but you're not exchanging the money FOR anything. This might not fit the technical definition of a gift economy, but it is still a gift, an expression of appreciation, not a payment in exchange for goods or services.
I think you're right that there is a difference. I think I have just never fully adjusted to the idea of giving strangers on the internet money. It just feels weird to me!
Thank you for sharing your experiences re: feedback with me! Mine were quite different--going from Buffy to kpop was not much of a shock for me, because even though the circle of writers/readers was smaller in kpop, it was still mostly LJ people who were really heavy commenters. Since I left that fandom behind, I literally had not been in a fandom until I got into The Untamed, which is a completely different beast. But you're right that that could be more about size than about the nature of fandom itself.
And YES re: platforms! I still hold out hope that some kind of platform will slowly gain steam that is more text-based and more fitting for in-depth conversations. But if it does, it will be going against the tide of the entire internet (not just fandom), that's for sure.
I just wish it weren't happening on Discord! I do not like the platform! If we all went back to secret locked-down message boards, I would be 100% fine with that! I don't mind the secrecy of it all (in fact, one of my major beefs with contemporary fandom is how Out There it is). I just specifically can't deal with Discord. But I guess if I wait another ten years, another platform will come along...
as a wise man once almost said, fandom will find a way. :')
Lol! True!
Thank you for sharing! You've given me a lot to think about!