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labingiI just read this excellent overview of the evolution of fandom community over the past two or three decades by mxcatmoon (via princessofgeeks). And I want to add my own two cents about what I think has changed and online society might improve some of it.
I agree with mscatmoon's analysis completely: the early(ish) web of the late 1990s through approximately 2007 was a glorious ten or so years for online fandom. Beginning with mailing lists and flowering into discussion forums, fan websites, and the glory days of LiveJournal, there was a beautiful burgeoning of world-wide community oriented around love of particular fandoms (shows, books, etc.). These communities largely shared fan fic and discussion ("meta," God I miss that word), along with some art, icons, fan vid links, etc.
Here are some of the common characteristics that made it work and how they've changed:
1. The posting structure (except for fan websites) was egalitarian rather than hierarchical. There would likely be a moderator, but every member could post or comment, and every post and comment was displayed equally, usually chronologically. In today's hierarchical model, one "important person" (celebrity, successful blogger, influencer, etc.) posts and others like, share, or comment. The result is that what felt like a group of friends talking has become more like an audience clamoring for attention from the famous person--or simply a one-way article, as in most print media.
2. Because popularity was less important to being heard, conversations could be more diverse and open. When scoring likes and hits is a prerequisite to having a voice, there's a vested interest in doing things a broad audience looks for. I think this is partly why search results for shows are so dominated by reviews of episode 1. When scoring big is not needed because you have a small, cozy, engaged audience, there's more freedom to say what you want, not least because the odds of being trolled are less. This freedom allows interesting discourse: fan essays on what Character X's childhood was probably like.
3. The internet used to be more text based, less image based. This is probably a generational woe. The younger folks seem to prefer imaged based, and that's valid. But a necessary corollary of it is that less is said. You can't image an essay about X's childhood with the same nuance you can write it. So there's less discussion, which means less interrelation among people and fewer ideas to share.
4. The internet was smaller and less commercial, so search results tended to bring up more fan-relevant hits. Fan websites would be near the top of the results. Individual LJ posts would appear high in results if relevant to a search. Today, top hits tend to be low on content: IMDB, Wikipedia, reviews of episode 1.... In a word, stuff used to be findable.
5. People used user names more, not their real identity (as on Facebook, Twitter). This could contribute to trolling but in small fandom-based communities, it tended, instead, to be protecting. The fandom community was a place to seek refuge from "real life." It allowed a separation between free, fun fandom talk and "real life" family, friends, work--anything you say online following you forever. The investment in the community itself usually kept it friendly.
What to do?
That's a big question that depends on the socioeconomics of big companies like Google, which I can't affect, but to play with ideas:
1. Create or adapt (or, as possible, choose to use) platforms that are egalitarian. Bring back the idea of the fandom community as a place to be.
2. Avoid strict limits on how much text can be written per post/comment (vs. Twitter) and put users in charge of what/when to put text behind a cut (vs. FB doing it automatically). Allow comments by default, and possibly just don't have likes. Let people either personally comment or not. (But, yes, I do like kudos on Ao3, so...)
3. Adapt search algorithms and other internet infrastructure to emphasize precision of result over site or page popularity. Yes, I know this is easier said, and I'm not a programmer. But it's an important thing to pursue--and not just for fandom, for all searches.
4. Support user names with privacy so they cannot easily be traced back to RL identities unless users so choose (combined with banning for violation of terms of use, overseen by human beings).
And this is totally off the top of my head--like an old LJ post, not a blog entry to be displayed on my website blog page, but oh well. Sometimes you gotta.
mxcatmoon (via princessofgeeks). And I want to add my own two cents about what I think has changed and online society might improve some of it. I agree with mscatmoon's analysis completely: the early(ish) web of the late 1990s through approximately 2007 was a glorious ten or so years for online fandom. Beginning with mailing lists and flowering into discussion forums, fan websites, and the glory days of LiveJournal, there was a beautiful burgeoning of world-wide community oriented around love of particular fandoms (shows, books, etc.). These communities largely shared fan fic and discussion ("meta," God I miss that word), along with some art, icons, fan vid links, etc.
Here are some of the common characteristics that made it work and how they've changed:
1. The posting structure (except for fan websites) was egalitarian rather than hierarchical. There would likely be a moderator, but every member could post or comment, and every post and comment was displayed equally, usually chronologically. In today's hierarchical model, one "important person" (celebrity, successful blogger, influencer, etc.) posts and others like, share, or comment. The result is that what felt like a group of friends talking has become more like an audience clamoring for attention from the famous person--or simply a one-way article, as in most print media.
2. Because popularity was less important to being heard, conversations could be more diverse and open. When scoring likes and hits is a prerequisite to having a voice, there's a vested interest in doing things a broad audience looks for. I think this is partly why search results for shows are so dominated by reviews of episode 1. When scoring big is not needed because you have a small, cozy, engaged audience, there's more freedom to say what you want, not least because the odds of being trolled are less. This freedom allows interesting discourse: fan essays on what Character X's childhood was probably like.
3. The internet used to be more text based, less image based. This is probably a generational woe. The younger folks seem to prefer imaged based, and that's valid. But a necessary corollary of it is that less is said. You can't image an essay about X's childhood with the same nuance you can write it. So there's less discussion, which means less interrelation among people and fewer ideas to share.
4. The internet was smaller and less commercial, so search results tended to bring up more fan-relevant hits. Fan websites would be near the top of the results. Individual LJ posts would appear high in results if relevant to a search. Today, top hits tend to be low on content: IMDB, Wikipedia, reviews of episode 1.... In a word, stuff used to be findable.
5. People used user names more, not their real identity (as on Facebook, Twitter). This could contribute to trolling but in small fandom-based communities, it tended, instead, to be protecting. The fandom community was a place to seek refuge from "real life." It allowed a separation between free, fun fandom talk and "real life" family, friends, work--anything you say online following you forever. The investment in the community itself usually kept it friendly.
What to do?
That's a big question that depends on the socioeconomics of big companies like Google, which I can't affect, but to play with ideas:
1. Create or adapt (or, as possible, choose to use) platforms that are egalitarian. Bring back the idea of the fandom community as a place to be.
2. Avoid strict limits on how much text can be written per post/comment (vs. Twitter) and put users in charge of what/when to put text behind a cut (vs. FB doing it automatically). Allow comments by default, and possibly just don't have likes. Let people either personally comment or not. (But, yes, I do like kudos on Ao3, so...)
3. Adapt search algorithms and other internet infrastructure to emphasize precision of result over site or page popularity. Yes, I know this is easier said, and I'm not a programmer. But it's an important thing to pursue--and not just for fandom, for all searches.
4. Support user names with privacy so they cannot easily be traced back to RL identities unless users so choose (combined with banning for violation of terms of use, overseen by human beings).
And this is totally off the top of my head--like an old LJ post, not a blog entry to be displayed on my website blog page, but oh well. Sometimes you gotta.
no subject
Date: 2019-09-14 07:41 pm (UTC)Here's hoping fans find each other again. I think there's a basic human drive to do that.