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here's the thing
May. 23rd, 2023 08:10 pmThe OTW inhabits this weird dual space in my mind (and possibly in reality but I'm not bold enough to state this quite that affirmatively).
On the one hand, it's An Institution of Fandom - caps used because it's just that huge. Its hugeness is only partly related to the number of works and the number of registered users and the number of hits, etc. Its size within fandom is much more about the ideas it represents. Fan creators own their own works. Transformative works are legitimate creations. Own the servers and tell "the man" to go to hell. Fannish culture is worth preserving. By fans, for fans.
On the other hand, it's a bunch of cobbled together fannish projects. Like, imagine whatever zine or big bang or [insert thing you're into] got big enough that it had millions of people interested in it. Imagine the people running that zine in their free time because they love their fandom now trying to provide a service to millions of people literally every day. Now imagine the kind of drama you hear about with any particular fannish project and expand that out over a thousand volunteers - some of whom have been around for over a decade.
I don't really have a point here. I'm mostly just trying to find words to express ideas that I'm still working my way through. I spent a long time thinking of OTW as The Institution and it hasn't really been all that long at all since I realized it's actually just another fannish project and therefore subject to all of the same issues that every other fannish project is subject to - but scaled up by a factor of a hundred.
Been a while since I posted some thinky thoughts. Figured I might as well.
On the one hand, it's An Institution of Fandom - caps used because it's just that huge. Its hugeness is only partly related to the number of works and the number of registered users and the number of hits, etc. Its size within fandom is much more about the ideas it represents. Fan creators own their own works. Transformative works are legitimate creations. Own the servers and tell "the man" to go to hell. Fannish culture is worth preserving. By fans, for fans.
On the other hand, it's a bunch of cobbled together fannish projects. Like, imagine whatever zine or big bang or [insert thing you're into] got big enough that it had millions of people interested in it. Imagine the people running that zine in their free time because they love their fandom now trying to provide a service to millions of people literally every day. Now imagine the kind of drama you hear about with any particular fannish project and expand that out over a thousand volunteers - some of whom have been around for over a decade.
I don't really have a point here. I'm mostly just trying to find words to express ideas that I'm still working my way through. I spent a long time thinking of OTW as The Institution and it hasn't really been all that long at all since I realized it's actually just another fannish project and therefore subject to all of the same issues that every other fannish project is subject to - but scaled up by a factor of a hundred.
Been a while since I posted some thinky thoughts. Figured I might as well.
