Snowflake Challenge: Fandom Changes

[author_by_night]

So here is my part in the changing fandom conversations:

I say I'm fine with change, but truth be told, I'm really... not. I mean, I'm not one to glorify the good old days. It actually strikes me as ironic when people act like tumblr invented drama when LJ was one of the most melodramatic sites ever. I loved LJ! Don't get me wrong. I loved the hell out of LJ. But if it weren't a drama hub, fandom_wank wouldn't have existed.  I think tumblr drama is a lot different in many ways, but in other ways, it's that the language has changed. If anything, LJ could even be meaner. There were dozens of communities that existed just to make fun of fanfics thirteen year olds wrote. I don't think that could happen anymore, and I'm glad for that. 

But there was a lot about LJ that was great, too. And that's what I miss, what a lot of us miss, and I think a lot of people who only know tumblr don't get. Or who never used LJ for fandom. Which is valid. I miss LJ fandom how it was in 2007, okay? And it saddens me that it's smaller on DW. And while tumblr has some features of LJ fandom, the quirky stuff and the meta and the images, it's not really the same. I don't feel like there's a lot of community.

And on a personal note: Since this is a public post, I'd rather not get too deep into it, but several years ago I went through some deep personal trauma as a loved one was dying. I needed old school LJ/DW fandom more than ever, and it just wasn't there. I'm going to be honest, I think this led to some resentment. Which wasn't fair. It wasn't. I probably should have tried tumblr then, but I definitely didn't want to risk drama at that point. Then things were better personally, but I was still wistful for fandom. Then I got busy because of some GOOD real life changes, and for a while, I didn't really miss fandom?

Then 2020 happened, and once again I missed the escape. Then I found Schitt's Creek, which led me to being more active on Ao3, which finally saw me give in to tumblr. I'll be honest, I really wish Schitt's Creek fandom was on DW. Because I love DW. I don't love tumblr, it's just... where all the fandom stuff, at least for mine, happens. Things change, though. Tumblr's not going to be around forever; that said, I can't keep hoping DW turns into LJ in 2007. It's not going to. In some ways, maybe that's for the better.

As others have pointed out, fandom constantly changes. We've had fandoms since Sherlock Holmes, and if we ever actually terraform planets in outer space someday, astronauts will probably cheekily share "ancient" Firefly and Star Trek fanfic while writing fanfic for their new mediums. It's going to be different. 

There are of course things I miss. There are things I don't like about tumblr fandom, or fandom altogether. I think it's honestly okay to be sad. I am a little sad about some things changing. I'm also a little sad about people I've lost touch with. But of course, the same is true IRL.  But... things do still change, whether we like it or not. We just have to adapt.

Comments

[jerrbear_81]

I wonder if MiSTing is still a thing people do?

As for Tumblr, it definitely was/is different. When it was still new, it was different from LJ in regard to searching, IMO. Now, it's far different than what it was in its heyday.

I recently rejoined Tumblr, and it's definitely different. Ads everywhere, no sexual nudity, and the "blaze" option (you can pay Tumblr to promote your blogs). I'm still trying to give it a shot, but it's lost a lot of its charm for me. It also doesn't help that a lot of the fellows I receive are from obvious bot accounts.

Isn't the point of social media to connect socially? I can't connect socially with a bot

[author_by_night]

There are YouTube videos that do MST-style commentary about movies, but I don't think anyone does that for fic. Except My Immortal. That seems to be considered fair game.

What helped me with tumblr is ironically what helped me with LJ in the beginning: In both cases, I'd tried it, but didn't have many followers so I dropped out. Then a lot of people from the fandom I was in joined or had joined, so I rejoined and followed those people. But it's still hard to connect, I agree. Because with LJ, when I joined, I also met people and talked to them and there was true interaction, whereas interaction on tumblr is limited.

Now, it's far different than what it was in its heyday.

Well, what I mean isn't that it's the same site. I mean there's a similar mood. But it may just be what I look for in fandom. And I think that's part of it too, everyone wants different things, all of which are valid. For instance, I love meta, and tumblr has a ton of it, but the drawback is that I can't really engage with the meta, which sucks. There aren't comment threads.

[jerrbear_81]

Have you tried threading via re-blogging? It's not perfect, but you can get threads going that way.

Regarding MiSTing, way back when I was participating in the Gargoyles fandom, it was something we did. The first fanfic I ever shared online was MiSTed. I found it hilarious and educational (I became more serious about writing because of it)

[altamira16]

LJ had the whole Encyclopedia Dramatica attached to it that existed to explain the drama or contribute to the drama.

Reading the Wikipedia on Encyclopedia Dramatica, apparently there was an LJdrama community that was eventually banned that led to the birth of Encyclopedia Dramatica.

[author_by_night]

That's right!

[jerrbear_81]

I didn't know ED was created because LJ banned LJdrama. I used to comment on posts at LJdrama. Another community I loved going to was WTF_OMG

[muccamukk]

There is still, in the year of our lord 2023, and active sporking comm on dreamwidth! I run into it on site searches every so often.

But yeah, I do not miss Mary Sue hunts, or sporking, and how popular it was. I don't miss friends list drama.

There really have been times where I wanted to be in fandom as I was in 2006, and just found it wasn't possible, the people weren't there. And trying to match fetch happen just made things worse, mental healthwise. The only solution I've had to those times is to turn off the Internet for a couple weeks and try to reset.

[author_by_night]

But yeah, I do not miss Mary Sue hunts, or sporking, and how popular it was

What got me was, there was a very popular ship in my main fandom I didn't really get. Can you even imagine if I'd started a community sporking that ship? I would've been kicked out of fandom. Beyond that, however, that ship wasn't for me, the same way original characters weren't for everyone. They always mocked the idea of "don't like, don't read", except I think that's pretty valid! If you hate OCs, any OC is going to be a Mary Sue. Because I didn't like the ship, any fic for that ship was going to be "bad." Even if it was actually an amazing work.

nd trying to match fetch happen just made things worse, mental healthwise.

Yeah, same here. I have (literal) OCD tendencies. I've definitely had to step back.

I don't miss friends list drama either! Remember those "honesty" memes where you'd leave anonymous honest comments? Who thought that was a good idea? And even "love memes" could backfire because if someone got 100 comments, someone else got 5....

[bleodswean]

me, too, me, too. and i'm sick of being sad about it and also about hearing how change is good and eveything's fine just different. i miss the halcyon days of LJ with a deep grieving sense of loss. yes, there was drama! and i feared and loathed alot of that wank and i'm sure i'm romanticizing so much of how i remember the good bits being, but it's easy to do that as the only thing to compare/contrast those fandom days is these fandom days and there simply isn't any comparison. it's quieter than a tomb in here, a03 is all about kudos, there is no more conversation or meta or challenging anywhere i look. and i do look. even the journaling has changed and that change seems to have erased the sense of community LJ had for a decade.

aargh.

[lunabee34]

I try To be good with change but I don't like it either. Lol

[lordhellebore]

I miss LJ and fandom there too <3 Not saying fandom as it is today is bad, but . . . eh. Nostalgia.

[pianogurl330]

Yeah I miss the days of LJ and fandom on there too. I happy with DW but it isn't like how it was back in the day. *sighs*

[silveradept]

Change being constant is a thing to accept, even if for some people it seems to be sometime to enjoy.

Thank you for remembering that old LJ was full of drama, wank, and terrible behavior. (And for reminding us that DW still carries many of those things within itself as well.) There's a lot of well-deserved ill to speak of it, as much as there were great things about it.

[author_by_night]

Yeah, I think it is important to remember. I even suspect at least some of the drama on tumblr was actually carried over by LJ. It wasn't perfect by any means. To be honest, I think the internet is drama no matter what. I have the same thing with forums - I miss them, yet I can remember a lot of drama at most of the ones I went to.

[elizalavelle]

LJ had some vicious corners back in the day for sure. I think it's got it's own charm but you have to want to interact with the internet in a more longform way to like this style of social media vs options where you click a like button and scroll on by. I love the interaction here, it's why I've stayed forever (I'm counting DW as LJ in terms of form)

[sea_thoughts]

I miss how much easier it used to be to get into fandoms. Nowadays everything feels closed off. Tumblr is not the same (which in some ways is good), Discord is not the same. I miss the people I used to see on LJ in the late 00s, most of whom just vanished. I never wanted a FB page so I wasn't able to connect that way and I have no idea where most of them are now. I might even be interacting with some of them without knowing it. This is why I'm still on Twitter, basically, because there are people on there who otherwise I wouldn't speak to.

[author_by_night]

So many people disappeared! (We probably miss some of the same people.)

I've actually hoped I might find some former fandom friends in my new fandom, but so far I've only come across someone I was just aware of in passing. Part of theproblem though is that the HP fandom was so huge - I've actually come across a LOT of people who were in it, but our experiences in it were wildly different. (A lot of my friends were Harry/Draco shippers. I'm not here to knock ships, you do you, but I never got into that one, so we wouldn't have crossed paths.)

[tripleransom]

I'm afraid that for me, it's always 1895, so I miss the old LJ days fiercely. (Damn the Russians anyway).
I never got into the drama, just enjoyed the Sherlock Holmes stories and discussion so very much.