Old school fandom: Can we fix it?

[alias_sqbr]

Oops, posted this to the wrong journal, it's now at my Dreamwidth.

Comments

[grahame.livejournal.com]

How are you finding Dreamwidth? I'm hunting for somewhere to move from Livejournal. I poked around your dreamwidth and couldn't find a "friends" page - does it exist and is just hidden? The "friends" concept is the main thing I'd miss from LJ (although I could just switch to an RSS feedreader, the whole locked entry thing is a problem.)

[alias_sqbr]

Overall I really like it, but the reading (Friends) page, while it exists, HAS NO FILTERS ("access" to locked posts does, but I use friends filters for reading not locked posts) Guh!

Here's mine: http://sqbr.dreamwidth.org/read

I have a spare invite if you want to try it out.

[grahame.livejournal.com]

Wow, thanks! I'll take you up on that as long as you're not keeping it for someone more worthy :-)

[penchaft.livejournal.com]

I keep thinking of the Bob the Builder "Can we fix it? No, it's fucked :(" macro.

[alias_sqbr]

That's not quite what I had in mind, but may well be appropriate :/ *uses Bob-the-Buildery-iest icon*

[penchaft.livejournal.com]

What would you say constitutes being in fandom (rather than being a fan, I guess), by the way? Enjoying a book/show/anime/etc.? Talking about it casually with friends? Seeking other people who enjoy it to talk meta? Being embarrassed by crazy fen? Creating or consuming fan-made additions?

[alias_sqbr]

Sorry I took a while to reply, I've been thinking about it.

I think depending on context there are two definitions:
1)fandom is a social group of people who are gathered together to celebrate a common love of a particular thing (book, genre, sports team, etc) You are in the fandom if you're in that social group, whether or not you actually love the thing they're celebrating, and if you love the thing but aren't in the social group you're not in the fandom, but you are a fan.
2)Fandom is simply the collective noun for a group of fans of the same thing, so any fan of that thing is automatically "in the fandom".

And of course like any word it's fluid and has different meanings to different people etc etc.

So as for your questions:
Seeking other people who enjoy it to talk meta? Being embarrassed by crazy fen? Creating or consuming fan-made additions?: Yes under definition 1 (and probably 2)
Enjoying a book/show/anime/etc.? Talking about it casually with friends?: Only yes under definition 2 if you like it a LOT

Also for definition 1: going to cons.