Deep Conversations

I've been thinking about that tumblr post by caelum-in-the-avatarverse called fandom can do a little gatekeeping as a treat. vriddy made a post about it here at meta_warehouse. For me, this discussion resonates because I'm trying to strike a balance between protecting my fic from AI data scrapers and nefarious people while also gaining views and kudos and comments from other fandom enjoyers who might like my fic. I love getting kudos even when they're from guest/anon accounts. Before, I just assumed people weren't logged in to AO3 because maybe they were embarassed/didn't want their username associated with the fics they liked, but the 'lurker' label is much more broad and there a lot of reasons someone might not have an account or be logged in that I hadn't considered before. Maybe they're just not logged in because it's allowed/easier.

One of the links in the original tumblr post led me to this 2021 post with an ask about whether fandom was getting dumber - and the discussion there was about how 'easy' it is to access fandom spaces now.

I thought nyxelestia's response was especially on point:

The guy who founded Pinboard and talked about exactly this in his 2013 presentation describing how and why he welcomed fanfic fandoms over to his site when Del.icio.us died. Literally, one of his takeaways/suggestions to tech companies trying to grow a community on their platform:

Don't Make It Too Easy

One counterintuitive thing about active communities is that they sometimes use clunky, outdated tools. This doesn't just apply fandom, you can find it in all kinds of places. I like to scuba dive, for example, but the main scuba site is a terribly crufty PHP message board.

Our first instinct as programmers is to want to make these tools better. But these terrible interfaces serve a protective function, where they keep the community insulated from drive-by visitors and require new contributors to endure a a period of apprenticeship and lurking.

If you ever wonder why comments on sites like The Guardian or the New York Times are total trash, one reason may be that they've gone to too much effort to make it easy to post to the site.

I so agree that fandom is way too mainstream - even AO3 itself - and that has created a lot of our problems now. But then what's the fix? Make AO3 harder to navigate? I love the tag search features, so I certainly don't want those to go away.

I said I was going to lock all my fics, but I realized I've been forgetting to lock my newer ones. I kind of wish the site defaulted to locking all fic.

To close out my thoughts on Escapade Con this year: The Falcon and The Winter Soldier panel was a lot of fun. There was a lot of positivity, and reflection on Sam as THE person to take over as Cap even though there is significant baggage involved. There was discussion about how it was great that they did discuss race outright in the show, and had Bucky get humble about his lack of knowledge, and people who were familiar with the comics had some really cool predictions that I'd like to see come true. I'm still annoyed with all the unnecessary killing and violence at the very beginning, but eh, it was an action show first and foremost.

The Supernatural panel was fun too! It was kind of cathartic to make fun of the prequel a bit. The discussion was mostly about fics we liked to read, and some reccs came out of that regarding outsider POV which is such a great trope - but especially with SPN fic.

I was grateful for the newcomer meet-up. That's how I met Jocarthage, and then they introduced me to Roswell: New Mexico!! Of course I find a shiny brand-new show right when it gets canceled :( But I've binged s1 and s2 and it's such a fun show. I'm getting my alien and scifi fix but also, SO MANY SHIPS <3

The 'save the kinkmemes' panel gave me an interesting perspective on preserving your online presence. I was thinking about deleting my LJ, but panel members discussed how saving your own content isn't necessarily about you - it's like a record of what was happening online in fandom spaces and otherwise at that time. Plus, you don't know who has read/saved your posts and wants to go back to them (I know I have followed quite a few dead links on LJ and I've been disappointed). At least AO3 exists so we can save your own fic - it's just tricky to save fic that was happening in comment threads, and you can't just post other people's fic on AO3.

The Teen Wolf panel wasn't my fav. There were a lot of Peter fans and I'm not that girl. I have glanced at some negativity online, but I joined the fandom late so I avoided a lot of it - this panel definitely gave me a glimpse because I heard why people don't like Scott (he assumed the worst about Stiles and blamed him for stuff???) and Allison (she should have stayed evil because she was too mean to Derek's pack???). But Allison is one of my favorites, so I'll just stay in my happy corner of tumblr :P

The law review about the A/B/O fic lawsuit was great. I had read the big 'mainstream' article when it came out, and I definitely cringed that the writer didn't know anything about fandom and also that fandom was so out in the open, but it was fun to discuss with another lawyer and hear other fan reactions to it. You can't call a trope protected intellectual property!! But also, the case didn't proceed all the way because one of the authors was caught in a lie and that led to a deal.