"So the commercialization just wasn't there in my (exclusively online) experience."
It was definitely less obvious online. I'm not sure whether fan artists sold their wares online - I wasn't paying attention - but the only fandom-related commercial products I remember encountering online either was originalfic or was from Eastern fandom (lots and lots of doujinshi). Or was serial-numbers-filed-off profic, which has been around for decades.
"Yeah, a few of us talked about that somewhere upthread. My own (very unrealistic) feelings are that we should work hard to unionize and get people paying living-wage jobs so that they have time to create fanworks for fun"
Totally agree! I think "not having time to do anything other than make a living" is at the heart of a lot of problems in our culture. During my lifetime, I've seen volunteerism plummet, which has totally reshaped American society in a very nasty manner.
no subject
"So the commercialization just wasn't there in my (exclusively online) experience."
It was definitely less obvious online. I'm not sure whether fan artists sold their wares online - I wasn't paying attention - but the only fandom-related commercial products I remember encountering online either was originalfic or was from Eastern fandom (lots and lots of doujinshi). Or was serial-numbers-filed-off profic, which has been around for decades.
"Yeah, a few of us talked about that somewhere upthread. My own (very unrealistic) feelings are that we should work hard to unionize and get people paying living-wage jobs so that they have time to create fanworks for fun"
Totally agree! I think "not having time to do anything other than make a living" is at the heart of a lot of problems in our culture. During my lifetime, I've seen volunteerism plummet, which has totally reshaped American society in a very nasty manner.