#usenet fandom

I’m an elder fan, I think. For the youngins just playing catch up, long before AO3, the X-Files “Shipping Wars” happened on Usenet. (For a more detailed history, I recommend: https://fanlore.org/wiki/The_X-Files).

Now this is my own recollection, but as I remember it, at the time I entered online fandom, Mulder/Scully fanfiction stories were still popular. And slash stories were still contentious (lots of homophobia toward slash & slash writers, lots of “there is no g-rated m/m, and lots of demands that we keep our chocolate away from their peanut butter.)

Many slashers in XFiles got into fanning the show online & seeking other fans by way of the introduction of Alex Krycek (who became Mulder’s partner while Gillian A. was on maternity leave). There were already Mulder/Skinner stories. Then M/Sk/K stories, and Sk/K stories.

The thing is, Krycek wasn’t in that many eps, really. So fans did a lot of work world-building for him and fleshing him out. Fans did a lot of close reading, both in hopes of figuring out CC’s endgame and bc it was fun.

I don’t recall much antipathy toward showrunner Chris Carter for not giving us what we wanted in a gift box. And, as some fans were reading fanfic before seeing the show, there were convos about, “Oh, so that’s not canon?!” As a subculture of a subculture of a subculture, we did our thing. Others did theirs. And I think most of us liked Scully (and saw her as Mulder’s surrogate sister and bff).

So… I look at 9-1-1 and Tommy fans now and feel sort of baffled by fans saying things like insisting that S8.6 & the breakup was poorly written and OOC. I tried to to perceptions of the breakup as disconnected/coming out of nowhere by comparing the transcripts of the first date with the end, concluding there was quite a bit of foreshadowing. https://www.tumblr.com/miriam-heddy/766816705652654080/for-those-who-said-that-the-end-of-bucktommy-came

Early on, fans began story posts online & in zines with a posted disclaimer and notes. Looking back, these show just how much fandom has changed in terms of relationship between

A fanfic writer and

B) her readers

C) her writing community (editors/beta readers/supporters)

D) show canon

E) the showrunner/The Powers That Be.

Take a look at this (fairly typical) header information(writer disclaimer and notes) from a 1997 story by one of my favorites, torch.

As a thought experiment, try to imagine this in 9-1-1 fandom—particularly in Buddie and Tevan fanfiction communities.