Yeah sure Tumblr is a hellsite but I know someone who wrote a fanfic in the 1990s that someone else didnât like, so when she was selling printed copies of the zine with the story in it out of her hotel room at a convention, this other woman STOOD IN FRONT OF HER DOOR TO REFUSE PEOPLE ACCESS. Because the story featured a ship she disliked. And I feel like somehow, 10,000 Tumblrs still canât compare to that level of Extra.
Your periodic reminder that the technology and the scale of distribution changes, the basic impulse to fandom wank does not
Iâve actually heard about this event [or a similar event, which I can believe] from someone who was trying to get into the room to either buy the zine, or visit with the writer, or just see what was going on [idr]. Apparently it was quite the talk of the bar that night, and resulted in several heated [re: drunken] debates over whether Door Stander was violating Writerâs free speech, or if removing Door Stander would have violated Door Standerâs free speech.
Me, at the time, a 19yo with very little understanding of the law: âI meanâŚwas it?â
Fandom Friend, who was a 40-something lawyer: âIâll tell you the same thing I told everyone in that bar. No one was violating anyoneâs free speech. Bitch was just being rude, and worse, obnoxious about it. You ever act like that in public, be aware youâre not changing anyoneâs opinion. Youâre just giving them a brand new opinion about you.â
It was a very formative conversation in my young adulthood.
Same person also told me to never mix coke and acid. Which was also pretty solid advice.
