Yeah, to echo littlebutfierce, I think it's best to assume they're NOT universal. But having done that, the next question is: how do you figure out to what extent they do apply, and to whom?
My approach to this has been to a) Assume my experience is not remotely universal b) Figure out how my fannish experience fits within the bigger whole of fandom, and which bits of fandom I have no experience with at all c) Educate myself a little about how those other parts of fandom roll, and what the main differences are. d) Think about the different POVs people might have on whatever topic I'm talking about. If I can't figure this out, make this uncertainty clear in any posts on the subject.
For example: My fannish experience is mostly focussed on English language dw/lj/tumblr blogs and fanfic/fanart about fictional female characters from live action US sources as well as animation, comics and video games from Japan and the US. I have a bunch of 30 somethingish friends into slash, mostly for mainstream stuff like Supernatural. Also some 20 somethingish friends on tumblr into Indian movies and Kdramas but tumblr squee isn't always good for indepth meta.
So, some parts of fandom I have little understanding of: young fans writing slash about real male popstars, non-English language fandoms for ANYTHING, English language fandoms for any source not in English or Japanese, machinima, game mods, slash for video games and anime, male dominated fanfic fandoms, forum based fandoms etc. When a piece of general meta about such fandoms crosses my radar I check it out to get a vague idea of what's going on with them, especially if the topic is the relationship between that fandom and other fandoms. If I stumble into a new kind of fandom (for example when I got into Homestuck most of the fandom was on a forum with lots of male fans and teenagers) I see it as a learning experience and take note of the different fannish norms rather than, say, seeing them as "feral fans" who don't understand that I am doing fandom right.
no subject
My approach to this has been to
a) Assume my experience is not remotely universal
b) Figure out how my fannish experience fits within the bigger whole of fandom, and which bits of fandom I have no experience with at all
c) Educate myself a little about how those other parts of fandom roll, and what the main differences are.
d) Think about the different POVs people might have on whatever topic I'm talking about. If I can't figure this out, make this uncertainty clear in any posts on the subject.
For example: My fannish experience is mostly focussed on English language dw/lj/tumblr blogs and fanfic/fanart about fictional female characters from live action US sources as well as animation, comics and video games from Japan and the US. I have a bunch of 30 somethingish friends into slash, mostly for mainstream stuff like Supernatural. Also some 20 somethingish friends on tumblr into Indian movies and Kdramas but tumblr squee isn't always good for indepth meta.
So, some parts of fandom I have little understanding of: young fans writing slash about real male popstars, non-English language fandoms for ANYTHING, English language fandoms for any source not in English or Japanese, machinima, game mods, slash for video games and anime, male dominated fanfic fandoms, forum based fandoms etc.
When a piece of general meta about such fandoms crosses my radar I check it out to get a vague idea of what's going on with them, especially if the topic is the relationship between that fandom and other fandoms. If I stumble into a new kind of fandom (for example when I got into Homestuck most of the fandom was on a forum with lots of male fans and teenagers) I see it as a learning experience and take note of the different fannish norms rather than, say, seeing them as "feral fans" who don't understand that I am doing fandom right.