#postbyrb

One of the points made in this article is whether or not fandoms actually make following a show more complicated. Does having millions of people sharing their millions of different views and opininos make it difficult to form your own opinion on a show? I don't think I'm part of a fandom (although I probably am and don't even notice it), but if I was following a series and was simultaneously reading posts on a forum in which people dissect all the details happening in the plot or between the characters, it would all just be very confusing to me. The original Entertainment Weekly article even states that a fandom may give way more depth to a plot than it even intends.

We talked a little bit about beauty "gurus" on YouTube last week and I wanted to point out the various fandoms involved in the YouTube community. There are many subcultures on YouTube and it is quickly becoming a popular way to form online communities. Beauty videos are becoming popular and there is a whole fandom that discusses products, fashion, and makeup tutorials.

A parody video about what it's like to be in a fandom. Coincidentally also a form of DIY media!

A whole forum dedicated to discussing various moments that happened between Watson and Holmes that indicated a sexual relationship between them.

This article describes a different form of fandom - slash fanfiction. This sort of fandom is described as "centered around relationships between between same-sex characters". These characters are usually male. According to another article, http://www.hwslash.net/slash.html, it is usually written by female authors. This is a very sexualized form of fanfiction, and there are many abbreviations that most followers know that I found very interesting. "UST" is unresolved sexual tension. "PWP" is one I found the funniest. It means "plot, what plot?" describing a story in which the focus is not on a plot but rather on "the exploration of a sexual encounter". "H/C" describes an event where a character is Hurt and another comes to bring Comfort. Funny enough, there is a huge "Holmesslash" following in which people explore the relationship between Sherlock Holmes and his sidekick Watson.

Last week we discussed indie-gogo.com in class. Recently, I realized a lot of my Facebook friends have been creating these funds for themselves to help them afford their study-abroad trips. Besides this one, another friend of mine created a fund for her pre-med mission to Ghana. On indie-gogo, anyone can create a campaign for anything they want; all they have to do is ask their community. However, is this truly a good thing? Because of this website, many humanitarian campaigns, movie ideas, technological advances, etc. can become funded and their creators can benefit, but if anyone can sign up, who's to say that the funding won't go to something else?

Another example of the absence of privacy on the World Wide Web. Detailed instructions open to the public on how to access private information on a popular website, Linkedin, that has members ranking the highest positions in huge companies. It’s hard to get these people’s email addresses for a reason, and LinkedIn doesn’t include them for a reason. For example, as stated in my previous post, CEO of Mozilla can easily become bombarded with hate mail due to OkCupid’s message to it’s users about his personal beliefs. I’m sure he has a profile on LinkedIn, since it has become the leading service for connecting professionals in various fields.