Popping in from Snowflake to say this really resonated with me. Something I've noticed from 90s~00s fandom is that more often than not, I saw fans on mailing lists asking for their fic to NOT be distributed and shared outside the protected circle of the mailing list, and I assume most people respected that and saved it only in their personal archives/inboxes if they wanted to. People who are only familiar Corporate/Consumerist Web Fandom probably would find this strange or unheard of, since the current culture presupposes fic authors and fanartists wanting everyone to see their work, wanting numbers/visibility/traction, etc, and readers/viewers feel more like consumers who can do what they like with what they feel is now theirs. Your point about authors feeling disconnected from their readers made me think about this (although my thought is somewhat of a tangent). It's hard to trust people with your work when you don't know if they'll respect it or your permissions.
Many things you wrote about are concerns I've had about fandom too (and the avoidance of big, cursed fandoms is real), so it's nice to see them laid out and worded so well!
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Date: 2025-01-04 03:40 pm (UTC)Popping in from Snowflake to say this really resonated with me. Something I've noticed from 90s~00s fandom is that more often than not, I saw fans on mailing lists asking for their fic to NOT be distributed and shared outside the protected circle of the mailing list, and I assume most people respected that and saved it only in their personal archives/inboxes if they wanted to. People who are only familiar Corporate/Consumerist Web Fandom probably would find this strange or unheard of, since the current culture presupposes fic authors and fanartists wanting everyone to see their work, wanting numbers/visibility/traction, etc, and readers/viewers feel more like consumers who can do what they like with what they feel is now theirs. Your point about authors feeling disconnected from their readers made me think about this (although my thought is somewhat of a tangent). It's hard to trust people with your work when you don't know if they'll respect it or your permissions.
Many things you wrote about are concerns I've had about fandom too (and the avoidance of big, cursed fandoms is real), so it's nice to see them laid out and worded so well!