Oh my god, I HATE it when people pull the "I'm older than you/been in this fandom longer than you so I'm therefore so much better than you" card. For example, I've been in the FFVII fandom for... forever, but I don't get pissy at the new people who are getting into it because of AC. (I just get pissed as hell at them when they don't play the original game before they write fanfiction or roleplay and thus get the characterizations completely wrong, but that doesn't have to do with how long they've been in the fandom so much as their respect for the canon.)
But yeah, people talking down to other members of a fandom because they're older? (Or doing it in more subtle ways--like calling someone "kiddo" or "dear" or shit like that in an otherwise positive review of a fanfic or something?) I honestly believe that's just their coping mechanism for dealing with people who are so much younger than them and yet can produce such better stuff. And I've seen a lot of it. (Of course, I've also met some awesome older people in fandom, but you know what? I only got to know they were older after getting to know them, because they're wise enough to know that age =/= maturity and didn't wave their age over their heads like flag.)
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Oh my god, I HATE it when people pull the "I'm older than you/been in this fandom longer than you so I'm therefore so much better than you" card. For example, I've been in the FFVII fandom for... forever, but I don't get pissy at the new people who are getting into it because of AC. (I just get pissed as hell at them when they don't play the original game before they write fanfiction or roleplay and thus get the characterizations completely wrong, but that doesn't have to do with how long they've been in the fandom so much as their respect for the canon.)
But yeah, people talking down to other members of a fandom because they're older? (Or doing it in more subtle ways--like calling someone "kiddo" or "dear" or shit like that in an otherwise positive review of a fanfic or something?) I honestly believe that's just their coping mechanism for dealing with people who are so much younger than them and yet can produce such better stuff. And I've seen a lot of it. (Of course, I've also met some awesome older people in fandom, but you know what? I only got to know they were older after getting to know them, because they're wise enough to know that age =/= maturity and didn't wave their age over their heads like flag.)
In short: Fuck them, man. You're right on. <3