modern social media sucks for fandom

[memorizingthedigitsofpi]

Sometimes you just need to make a bulleted list.

• all posts are public, leading to epic levels of wank
• people reply at different points in the conversation, also leading to wank but more importantly, obscuring parts of the conversation and also making the full conversation only viewable to the initial poster
• sharing anything automatically shares it with everyone you know on that platform because you can't have subgroups for your content unless you make multiple accounts
• real fucking names
• constantly changing usernames (looking at you tumblr) makes it impossible to know who you're even following/who's following you. it also makes it hard to keep track of friends
• platforms are maximized for "engagement" not for community, so it's all about getting the likes and shares and who cares about deep diving anything
• priority is mostly given to short form content which makes nuance difficult
• everything moves so fast that it's difficult to have a follow up conversation on anything you post because people can't find the initial thought
• everything is presented without the context of the posts that came before and after them - especially on sites that don't give you a date/timestamp
• tags are communal rather than personal, so you never really know what you'll find in there. Everyone wants to organize their own space, but the items they put in their containers might be something you're allergic to (to stretch a metaphor)

I can't do twitter. Tumblr makes me feel more like either a spectator or a performer. Tiktok is every social media experience I've ever had, played through at 100x speed. No option is perfect, but some are way less perfect than others. At least for me.

Comments

Re: Ramble-y Thoughts

[vriddy]

Aw, man, I feel you so much on the bnha fandom wank, I know you're not using your journal right now but don't mind me following in hopes of maybe seeing BNHA mentions on DW someday too, haha! I had to filter out all bnha meta on tumblr because it made me sick to read. It's so weird because meta has so many nuances, and yet when it comes to some characters suddenly it's absolutely black and white, there is only Right and Wrong and whether that character is hated or not.

Re: Ramble-y Thoughts

[justapotatowriter]

I'm thinking of using the journal for fandom stuff in the future. Just gotta get used to DW and figure out what I want to do. :D

But yeah. I made the "I should probably pretend this fandom doesn't exist" realization the moment I started hating Dabi for being a victim. It was a very foreign and unpleasant feeling. People acted like giving Endeavour the benefit of the doubt (like, early on in the series) was somehow erasing his bad actions like??? No?

It's like people couldn't grasp the idea that if I think someone could do better, I'm admitting, by default, that they're not doing good enough. I can't say "X can do better" and also deny they were doing bad things. That's just impossible.

Part of my fandom enjoyment is reading meta posts, because my own brain is usually too distracted to arrange my thoughts into something I could share with people, and that joy was taken away because most of my mutuals had these Black and White views, and I just started filtering and blocking people all the time and it was just so tiring. Even my headcanons blog is gone.

To sum it up, I have never cared about the morality of characters (my OCs tend to be problematic and aware of it, so expecting others' characters to be saints would be a huge hypocrite move). If something happens in canon that I don't like, I just shrug and accept it as it is, with the idea that it isn't my own story in the first place. I can always make mine, original or fanfic. The idea that I need to publicly criticize every little thing I don't like in a piece of fiction because I have to 'think critically' is just...a lot of work going into stuff that I don't care about.

Oops, I rambled again; it's very difficult to talk about that stuff on tumblr 'cause you just know it's gonna attract trouble.

Re: Ramble-y Thoughts

[(Anonymous)]

I agree with the "I'm going to pretend this fandom doesn't exist" feeling. And I'm also someone who likes reading meta, but also writing it. However I haven't done that publicly/semi-publicly in a long time.

I have several pieces of media where I love the subject deeply, but I absolutely hate the parts of fandom I can find in the standard social media spheres. I can't even bring myself to read their meta posts these days, unless they're from decades ago. It makes me hesitant to even check out the fan spheres in DW, even if they're active, because of the black/white thinking. And the highly political and aggressive posts, as well.

I'd like people to not take media so seriously as that it has to be completely morally pure, but also take the media with enough weight that they can't just rewrite all the characters to be whatever they want them to be, either.

Re: Ramble-y Thoughts

[justapotatowriter]

It makes me hesitant to even check out the fan spheres in DW, even if they're active, because of the black/white thinking.

Yeah, same. I've been in my own corner for a couple of years now, keeping my fandom stuff to myself and only posting about original content. I want to find circles with people like me, but the fear of disappointment is always there.

but also take the media with enough weight that they can't just rewrite all the characters to be whatever they want them to be, either.

I forgot to consider this but yeah. I think that weight is the difference between interpreting a character differently and making them an entirely different character.

Re: Ramble-y Thoughts

[vriddy]

Ah, I don't want to bring the BNHA fandom wank here but I just want to say, I hear you, and I feel you!

I used to find meta inspiring, finding interesting threads that made me go "oooh this would be so interesting to explore into a fic" but then I realised the BNHA ones were just making me miserable and I had to unfollow and filter too. I just wrote this on my journal a few days ago but, "My general philosophy is that I take the bits I like from canon and the rest, well, fanfic’s here to fix it." and that's it, really. Same!!

Re: Ramble-y Thoughts

[mekare]

Two things: Go you for making original stuff! At least something good came out of your negative fandom experiences. Though it always makes me sad to hear about fans being driven away from what they liked.

Oops, I rambled again;

That is what Dreamwidth and other journal style sites are for! I think spending time on sites like Twitter and Tumblr makes you forget (I’m including myself in this) that rambling can be a good thing. Just writing your thoughts down (without the goal of needing it to be a structured essay on a certain topic) feels freeing.

Re: Ramble-y Thoughts

[justapotatowriter]

I'm also very sad that fandom doesn't inspire me as much anymore. It's like, even if I still watch the show, I'll have reservations about the fandom and other fans.

And it really is freeing! Taking thoughts out of your head and putting them down somewhere where you still can see them and think about them later if you want is such an awesome thing to have (especially when I forget things pretty easily)! I'm starting to think of DW like I do of my physical journal, except I can choose who sees it. I think it's the absence of 'notes' on posts. With tumblr, you can't help but notice when something hasn't been interacted with. But here it's just a post in a journal.

Re: Ramble-y Thoughts

[mekare]

I mean, I do notice when an entry I made here has no comments at all. And I rarely post stuff where I really don‘t want people to interact with it (mainly locked posts with rants and or personal stuff). The fannish stuff is always meant to be read. But since there is no kudos button or like feature I know that there are lurkers who still read but are invisible. I used to be one of them after all. ;-)

Re: Ramble-y Thoughts

[justapotatowriter]

I guess it varies from one person to another. (I'm pretty much a lurker, mainly because I often don't know what to say. XD)