At the risk of wading into the dreaded Discourse—
I think some folk need to reframe how they think of interacting with fandom. I’ve recently noticed an uptick of people in comments on fics/posts on Tumblr who seem to be fundamentally misunderstanding how this works.
To me, fandom is a potluck. Everyone has seen The Thing, got inspired, made something to eat, and shown up at the party. We all brought something to the table.
Maybe a bunch of us brought something similar that’s super popular, like chocolate. Some people made chocolate cakes, some people made chocolate chip cookies, some people made lovely little hand-fashioned chocolate candies, etc. You get the idea. And a lot of folks are hanging around the chocolate table because, hey, FREE chocolate! Hell yeah!
The problem I’m seeing is a nonzero amount of people walking up to the chocolate table and going: “WHY is chocolate so popular? I HATE chocolate! I HATE how popular it is and how EVERYONE brought chocolate! Why does nobody ever make caramel?”
Which is weird because, again, this is a potluck. There are definitely still non-chocolate items at this meal that you could be trying right now. Some of them are even caramel. But also you’re walking up to people who made what they liked and getting mad it isn’t created with you in mind.
Then when someone says, “Hey, I like caramel too, did YOU bring any?” The person complaining always says, “Oh, no. I make a lot of caramel at home but I never bring it to these type of things.”
Well, that’s the problem, bud. This isn’t a restaurant. You don’t get to sit and imagine your ideal Fan Content, then demand it from people. And it’s a little annoying when every third post in the tag is someone complaining about a creative lack they could be solving themselves.
The only way to ensure the thing you like will be at the table is to make it yourself OR aggressively support/encourage the people who brought what you liked so that next time they’ll bring more.
Fandom is about community, creativity, and being inspired by other folks interpretation of something we all enjoy. Maybe instead of walking into someone else’s work or a specific tag to complain about how much you dislike it, you direct that desire/energy at your own creative pursuits?
“But I’m bad at making caramel!” You’ll get better. Everyone burns the first few batches.
“But everyone’s too busy looking at chocolate to even notice my caramel!” I promise you, there are always going to be people you who dislike/hate/simply don’t care for chocolate. I’m sure they, like you, would love to see more caramel, or any number of flavors you can think up.
“What if nobody likes it?” YOU like caramel, my friend! YOU will like it!!! That is what’s most important! Do you think I made all these chocolate cupcakes just to watch everyone else eat them? It’s always fun to share, but if I’m making cupcakes, it’s because I want a cupcake.
Have fun, bring what you want, it’s a potluck!!! I promise you someone will eat whatever you bring, but please stop loudly complaining about the food, especially if you’re not going to contribute.
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