[ SECRET POST #4972 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #4972 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.


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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 39 secrets from Secret Submission Post #712.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I sort of agree. I was really happy when I found out my new co-workers claimed to be geeks and 'fans' of all sorts of stuff. There was even a fellow SW fan. He talked about local conventions, he'd shelled out lots of money for a replica lightsaber, etc.

Then I slowly find out that most of them just mean they like watching/reading whatever it is they're a fan of, and give me odd looks when I get excited about actual fandom stuff. And the SW fan talked a great deal about cons, but that's all it was. He'd never actually been, because 'stuff always comes up'. Which, ok, we're adults. But then last fall The Mandalorian and TROS came out. I'm not sure he'd ever heard of The Mandalorian, and as for TROS: 'oh right, that's about now, isn't it?' Come January, he still hadn't seen it.

I spent a lot of time as a young girl being mocked or, at the least, lonely because I had odd interests. Now they're apparently hip enough people are pretending at them? Exaggerating them? It's just baffling. And yet somehow I still wind up getting weird looks when I try having an actual conversation about whatever fandom topic.

The reason I only sort of agree is because I know lots of fans would gatekeep me from certain fandoms. Possibly even SW, as I'm not bothered to read every book or comic even if they deal with my favorite trilogy/aspect/character.

[(Anonymous)]

God, that's exactly the sort of thing that I hate. I'm a fan of a canon that has multiple installments and nothing pisses me off more than going into a fandom space and wanting to have a discussion about something that involves more than one installment and being met with "oh, I've only played the main part."

Why would you NOT want to at least familiarize yourself with the rest if you like the main part that much?

[(Anonymous)]

Platform restrictions? I mean I don't know which franchise you're talking about, but my mind went instantly to Kingdom Hearts, which you need like three different platforms to play everything.

[(Anonymous)]

SW fandom is absolutely rife with gatekeeping but part of me wonders if some of the gatekeepers would let a dude like that slide merely because he's a dude. in the geek hierarchy there's definitely a lot more "no true fan" attitude leveled at women, POC, and the socially awkward compared to fellow dudebros. then again, they might accept him to his face and shit on him behind his back, whereas to the aforementioned groups they'd be shitty to their faces.

anyway yeah I get you and I feel like that's exactly what OP was getting at. I wish more people could get comfortable saying "I like the thing" without saying they're a fan or in fandom. I like a couple Marvel movies but I am in no way a Marvel fan and I will never claim to be, and that's okay!

[(Anonymous)]

ayrt

Yes! I feel like lots of people forget that fan is short for fanatic. There's a bunch of series that I've watched over and over and truly enjoy, but I can't go on hour-long rants about them. I haven't spent entire nights reading fic or meta or other people's rants about these shows. I don't spend entire days looking forward to new episodes. I feel like whether or not you're a true fan of something doesn't depend so much on what you've consumed of the material, but how much it consumes you? How much mental real estate does it get?

And if that's the criteria, it's just bizarre that someone who claims to be a huge Kylo Ren fan doesn't know exactly when the final movie comes out.

[(Anonymous)]

"I spent a lot of time as a young girl being mocked or, at the least, lonely because I had odd interests. Now they're apparently hip enough people are pretending at them? Exaggerating them? It's just baffling. And yet somehow I still wind up getting weird looks when I try having an actual conversation about whatever fandom topic."

That's because casual fans aren't aware of what deep fandom is. They're not aware that there are thousands of nerds like us on tumblr sharing meta and (maybe) they vaguely know that there's probably fanfic. So when they say they're a huge fan of something, they mean it, because they're just not aware.

Every hobby is like this. Casual knitters don't give a shit about Ravelry drama. People who go to church once a week and don't think about it the rest of the time except when they pray for some sick person on Facebook don't know that there are extensive lay theological debates happening online, etc. But those people might say they're REALLY into knitting and religion.

I think the "I was bullied for being into geek stuff so now I resent casual fans" point is extremely weak, personally. Nobody cares what other people experienced in 8th grade.

[(Anonymous)]

This is a good take, the comparisons to other hobbies is good.

[(Anonymous)]

Heavy eyeroll here. This is the sort of thing that makes a lot of other fans really insufferable to me.

[(Anonymous)]

They're not pretending. They just have a different conception of what being a huge fan means. You sound like one of those people who uses "other kids were meeeeeeannnn to me in schooooool" as an excuse to be an asshole.

[(Anonymous)]

+1

[(Anonymous)]

Wouldn't it be nifty if the dudebro gatekeepers and the AO3/tumblr gatekeepers canceled each other out, leaving those of us who want to squee over our faves in peace?