Three Weeks for Dreamwidth - Questionnaire #5

[dickinsons]

@3weeks4dreamwidth is celebrating Dreamwidth's anniversary!
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Hello, hello!

Let's check ot these next two questions:

9. Has tumblr caused you to stop liking any fandoms, if so, which and why?

I'm gonna extend "tumblr" to all social media. I'm trying to think of fandoms where this happened for me, because I have the feeling it's happened before, but I can't think of any right now. I get why this would happen, though. People can be very annoying with ship wars and the like, and harassing people over this, which can ruin your fandom experience. What often happens to me is I don't interact with fandoms if I see they're like that, and I might avoid starting a canon for the same reason.

10. Name a fandom you didn’t care/think about until you saw it all over tumblr.

Extending "tumblr" to all social media again! To be honest, I usually have the opposite of FOMO: if everyone's talking about it, it starts to annoy me and I have no interest in it. I don't know how weird this is, but it's true!

Comments

Yes ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

>>What often happens to me is I don't interact with fandoms if I see they're like that, and I might avoid starting a canon for the same reason.<<

Thank you for validating the "you're what's wrong with fandom" and "if you harass people, they won't stay in a fandom and make fanworks" parts of the Three Laws of Fandom.

Me, I don't want to be around assholes. Whether it starts before or after I'm in a fandom, I won't put up with it and will find something else to do somewhere else.

>>To be honest, I usually have the opposite of FOMO: if everyone's talking about it, it starts to annoy me and I have no interest in it. I don't know how weird this is, but it's true!<<

I do that too. If something is too popular, I don't want to get involved with it, because then people think I'm like them, and that mistake usually makes everyone unhappy. They need to know I'm a freak up front.

Re: Yes ...

[dickinsons]

Thank you for sharing that link, I hadn't heard of the Three Laws before! I wish more people considered them, because fandoms can be truly hostile when people don't respect them. I'm going through another case of people attacking others over a ship, and I'm so tired of it at this point.

Re: Yes ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> Thank you for sharing that link, I hadn't heard of the Three Laws before! <<

I'm happy I could help!

>> I wish more people considered them, because fandoms can be truly hostile when people don't respect them.<<

I wish that too.

>> I'm going through another case of people attacking others over a ship, and I'm so tired of it at this point.<<

Numerous responses exist.

Some people are posting links to the Three Laws of Fandom when things get fractious.

Others favor Don't Be a Dick.

Suzette Haden Elgin recommending posting recipes.

I came up with Poke a Bigot in the Eye for when people are being really egregious.

A less confrontational approach is to post something unrelated, on-topic, and more interesting. Say if people are shipwarring, post a questionnaire or trivia quiz for the same fandom. This helps pull attention away from the fanwank and gives people something else to discuss.

You could also rec a community, fest, or other venue for the same fandom that is not currently in flames. Make sure people know that they have alternatives and don't have to put up with that shit if they don't want to.

Or strike up a conversation on the same topic in your blog, which you control, so if people try to set it on fire you can delete their posts or even ban them if necessary. DW offers robust privacy and moderation tools.

Also check the community's rules and if anyone is breaking those, consider reporting that to the moderator(s). Some mods will quash fanwank if people complain.

Re: Yes ...

[dickinsons]

Thanks for your suggestions! I guess my issue is this stuff happens (to me) mostly on spaces like Twitter and Tumblr, so it's more difficult to deal with than if it happened in, say, a DW/LJ comm. I love your non-confrontational ideas, like investing energy in other fandom activities so that the attention is diverted to that.

Re: Yes ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> Thanks for your suggestions! <<

I hope it helps.

>> I guess my issue is this stuff happens (to me) mostly on spaces like Twitter and Tumblr, so it's more difficult to deal with than if it happened in, say, a DW/LJ comm. <<

Oh, it's not just you. Those two venues are notorious for fanwank and other problems. See, they're not optimized for healthy interaction; they're optimized for drama to spur activity and therefore revenues. So if you're aiming for congenial interactions there, you are paddling upstream. It's much easier to manage on a venue that built better, like DW. Some people like Mastodon or Pillowfort but those are deliberately designed so you pretty much have to know someone before you can find things, as a way of discouraging both drama and spam.

>> I love your non-confrontational ideas, like investing energy in other fandom activities so that the attention is diverted to that. <<

If you like the non-confrontational approach, then consider keeping a stock of positive materials that you can post at need. I have a massive list of questionnaires here with multifandom, specific fandom, and nonfandom options. You could get more mileage out of those by posting questions in sets of 3-5 because most lists are longer than that. Posting pictures from a fandom is another option. There you might want to bookmark websites that post new pictures often. Frez, dizzojay has a new picture from Supernatural fandom almost every day. Some icon comms are high-traffic too.

You might also like:

"Improving Community in Fandom"

"Improving Communities on Dreamwidth"

Some of those techniques will generalize to other platforms.

Re: Yes ...

[dickinsons]

You're so right! Twitter, in particular, is very drama-oriented. I feel like Tumblr used to be different, but it's gone to hell as well eventually. Oh, well.

I can't thank you enough for all your ideas and links regarding improving community and dealing with fandom drama!

Re: Yes ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> You're so right! Twitter, in particular, is very drama-oriented. I feel like Tumblr used to be different, but it's gone to hell as well eventually. Oh, well. <<

Indeed, they used to be different. See "enshittification."

>> I can't thank you enough for all your ideas and links regarding improving community and dealing with fandom drama! <<

*bow, flourish* Happy to be of service. You might like to browse my memorable How To posts.