Fandom and Viewer Issues: "Fan" Is Short for "Fanatic"

[Watt]

I think Colin,  Jen,  Gin,  and Josh have it right though. I don't twitter much but I do follow them on Instagram and I find the lack of social media presence seems to be one of the only ways of avoiding it.  Ginny is basically not on at all ever,  Colin is sporadic at best,  Jen posts weekly but rarely engages, and even Josh avoids engaging the fans much.

I think thats key.  As much as we would like more fan-actor interactions I think they are way better off ignoring all comments and crazy fans and having very strict rules regarding cons. Stay the fuck off twitter and don't respond and/or bait fans.

I think Bex Mader may be the best at managing her fans via social media.  She's adorable.

[Serena]

Yes, the problem with regularly engaging with fans on social media is that then the fans start acting like they "know" you and basically own you. So when you do something totally innocent (like Lana tweeting Shatnet, or Jennifer breathing) that, because of their own internal fandom drama they've decided they don't like, they can turn on you on a dime. 

[Souris]

On 5/23/2016 at 8:30 AM, mjgchick said:

Yikes, I wouldn't have the courage to do such a thing. Not that I don't mind smut but I don't know I feel like their should be a fourth wall between us and the actor, crew and even A/E.

It's not courage, it's tackiness & rudeness IMO.

I have heard stories where JMo will tell a fan "I'm sorry, I'm not comfortable with that" or "I'm sorry, I don't do that" if they ask for crossing-a-line things like kisses. Actors SHOULD do that if they're not comfortable with something. I get they want to make the fans happy, but they are people not trained animals. Each should get to set their boundaries.

Edited May 25, 2016 by Souris

[Writing Wrongs]

So SQ fans are mad at Shatner for saying a bullying CS fan is probably a fake account?

Quote

@WilliamShatner oh funny how when it's SQ, they're bullies. but when it's a CS, it's a fake account. lol.

He's battling OUAT "fans" all over his account.

Edited May 26, 2016 by Writing Wrongs

[Curio]

Yeah, Shatner calls it like it is:

Quote

I only see when I get tagged or during LT it's mostly hate from the small # of bullies who want Sean & Colin gone.

Quote

Well did you see the replies to Lana's tweet? The majority of those lamenting it identified as SQ.

[Faemonic]

3 hours ago, Writing Wrongs said:

So SQ fans are mad at Shatner for saying a bullying CS fan is probably a fake account?

He's battling OUAT "fans" all over his account.

It's probably just  Ethan self-hacking again. I don't know how to take the earth-dwelling god of the Trekkie fandom deigning to tweet in this direction. Not that Trekkies are bad, I'm pretty sure my mum was one, but...I keep thinking this fandom must have gotten really attention-catchingly reputation-ruiningly bad! (Or the Shatner gets bored.)

[daxx]

Shatter gets bored and likes to be the center of drama.

[Rumsy4]

Quote

I think the main problem I see with actors joining tumblr is that it's much more of a fandom space than Twitter that's being used for so many different things. And it's a place that most fans likely consider safe to say/post things they're willing to share with their fellow fans, but would not necessarily want any of the people they are in fact posting about to see. Like their fanfic or certain arts or even any slightly embarrassing, fangirl/boyish text posts. We talk about certain boundaries that should still exist between fandom on the one hand and those involved in bringing the show to life on the other in the fandom thread all the time and this oddly enough feels, at least to me, like one of the cast (likely unintentionally) taking a big step across one of said lines. But then again I'm generally extremely wary of any TPTB involving themselves in fandom spaces these days because, well... "The 100" debacle.

I agree. I think it takes a delicate balancing act when creators and actors come on tumblr. There is a great chance of drama if some nasty fan(s) decides to troll Mader. JMo stealth-crawls on tumblr, which I think is the best way if they are curious about tumblr. In smaller tumblr fandoms I've been a part of, there's always been drama when the creators got too involved in fandom. I think/hope Mader knows enough to stay out of drama.

[Shanna Marie]

I don't know about actors, but in the book world, there are authors who use tumblr basically like a blog, so they post photos and essay-type things without necessarily engaging with fans. They post stuff that can be reblogged without going in search of other people's stuff to comment on or reblog. So they maintain their own tumblr, but it's a one-sided thing.

[daxx]

Orlando Jones is on Tumblr but he's a very fandom savvy actor. 

[sharky]

But he also follows all of his mentions. Last year I suggested he should be cast as Merlin and he liked my post. I don't know how I would feel if Colin liked a post I made about his red vest of sex. 

[daxx]

He wished me a happy birthday when I quoted him about age and fandom.

[Rumsy4]

Mark Ruffalo is on tumblr too. 

[Serena]

Ruffalo uses his Tumblr mostly to post about his environment causes, right? Not really fandom stuff. I think it's smart, because that way he can reach more people.

[myril]

Quote

I think the main problem I see with actors joining tumblr is that it's much more of a fandom space than Twitter that's being used for so many different things. And it's a place that most fans likely consider safe to say/post things they're willing to share with their fellow fans, but would not necessarily want any of the people they are in fact posting about to see. Like their fanfic or certain arts or even any slightly embarrassing, fangirl/boyish text posts. We talk about certain boundaries that should still exist between fandom on the one hand and those involved in bringing the show to life on the other

3

What boundaries?

Think it's time that people, adults as much as adolescents, get better (digital) media literacy. No, knowing which buttons to push on your phone or computer screen is not it, not meaning that. It starts with awareness of where you are. The internet is a mix of very public, semi-public, semi-private and private, and we have to realize what is what and when to use what place for what purpose. Tumblr is regularly a public place, picture it as one of the central marketplaces of your city/town, if that helps, and a blog as one of the billboards set up there. Twitter regularly is an open public space for everyone to participate in unless you make your account private or sent direct messages. Facebook is in many ways a very public place as well, even though it once started out as more of a semi-private sort of peer group thing. Instagram is public unless you make your handle private or sent pictures privately.  And guess what, when we are doing things in all public people can see us, hear us, everyone can, it's not in our control there at all who can see it. Worse, whatever we put out there into the public we might not  be able to ever take back, someone can record it, archive it, it might haunt us years later. We might hope that the actor we so publicly and embarrassingly drool over might be so decent not to bother, or is too busy to do so, to not take a look or at least not let us know they do, but we have to realize that we have no control over it. So if someone doesn't want  them to see their corny or even tacky fan art, adult/slash/femslash fan fiction, not even by accident, then they shouldn't make them public. There are more private places to use if someone wants to share. LiveJournal for example is still around, has more options for privacy and community management (think it still does, haven't used it for a while though), and there is some activity on LJ as well, but guess it's just more convenient nowadays to use Tumblr. But you can make a secondary Tumblr blog, password protect it, and thus have some control who is able to see your things even on there.

But I think a lot of people want it that public, hoping for some form of recognition, some moment of catching a ray of fame, while maybe not considering that that fame can turn into something quite stressful.

When sitting at home on your comfy couch with a nice cup of tea or coffee it might feel like a cozy small place, but the internet is big and often a very public place. Everyone can train to keep that in mind, but not all do. Younger people seem to be a tad more aware of it, but not even all of them are.  I see an even bigger lack of awareness if it comes to GenX and older. Kinda funny how often adult people talk about having to make sure that kids know about the risks of internet, aka moving in a public place, while they themselves move around like ignorant klutz - not even considering things like asking their kids if it is okay to share those cute vacations pictures with the circle of dad's and mum's followers on Facebook (that is if the parents even know how to keep posts private or to a limited circle of people). Aside of the fun with stickers, funny faces, geo-tags, event-tags and so far lack of annoying advertising spam, this is a reason why younger people like apps like Snapchat, more private and temporary. Just not that good to share fan art. But how should the kids learn to handle it better when we adults, their parents and teachers, often enough fail at it?

There is a thing that a lot of people IMO seem to be ignorant to. They want to be closer to their stars, want to see more of what they do and who they are, want to engage and the star to engage with them - and social media brings us seemingly a little bit closer, or makes one feel even as close at times as if they were good neighbours or friends. But surprise: That goes both ways. While most actors, writers, whatever little or bigger stars might be way too busy to notice most of what fans are doing, and mostly then just give a bit of love they've received back and choose to ignore the rest, as long as the stuff is published publicly on social sites, on the internet, they have every right to take a look at it and like everyone else to comment on it if they want to. As everyone else should, of course they too should know and heed respect and netiquette, but as fans are trying to break the wall so can they.

 

That is something I find quite amusing about William Shatner: While I think he is often arrogant, he ignores boundaries fans expect their stars to keep while those fans themselves so seldom are ready to respect the same boundaries. Shatner is sometimes unnecessarily schooling people, but he is dead right when telling, that every time someone on Twitter uses the handle of a person (meaning @whoeverthename), reply or mentions, these tweets show up in those people's mentions and notifications. Whenever you hit the reply button to a tweet, everyone mentioned in that tweet you reply to will get the reply if you don't manually edit the handles out that shouldn't get it. So if you want to talk about someone without showing up in their mentions, don't tag them, maybe use # (hashtag) instead. - which I think is a good way to handle talking about celebrities and people of public interest unless you explicitly hope for their attention or want to direct what you are saying at them. But even then as long as your tweets are public what you say is public and everyone can comment on that - even the celebrity some seem to think should stay silently enduring on their pedastal. It's an open, public conversation and not a closed, private chatroom. Neither is Tumblr.

[Panopticon]

22 hours ago, myril said:

That is something I find quite amusing about William Shatner: While I think he is often arrogant, he ignores boundaries fans expect their stars to keep while those fans themselves so seldom are ready to respect the same boundaries. Shatner is sometimes unnecessarily schooling people, but he is dead right when telling, that every time someone on Twitter uses the handle of a person (meaning @whoeverthename), reply or mentions, these tweets show up in those people's mentions and notifications. Whenever you hit the reply button to a tweet, everyone mentioned in that tweet you reply to will get the reply if you don't manually edit the handles out that shouldn't get it. So if you want to talk about someone without showing up in their mentions, don't tag them, maybe use # (hashtag) instead. - which I think is a good way to handle talking about celebrities and people of public interest unless you explicitly hope for their attention or want to direct what you are saying at them. But even then as long as your tweets are public what you say is public and everyone can comment on that - even the celebrity some seem to think should stay silently enduring on their pedastal. It's an open, public conversation and not a closed, private chatroom. Neither is Tumblr.

Love your post and wish it could be required reading, especially that last part.

Here is my personal cautionary tale: Once upon a time, I was live-tweeting a television program and using the show's hashtag. I started to make a snarky remark about an actress' obvious, terrible plastic surgery. Then I decided not to be a jackass, and instead tweeted about a funny one-liner her character had delivered. I didn't tag the actress; I didn't know her handle; I didn't follow her; and she certainly didn't follow me. She was, however, live-tweeting her show and apparently scanned the show's hashtag... because she retweeted my tweet. If I had gone through with the original, horrible remark about her appearance I'm sure she wouldn't have retweeted it, but she certainly would have seen it.

I've been better behaved since then.

The internet. Very little of it is private. Be nice.

[Rumsy4]

Insightful article on fandom entitlement culture. 

[KAOS Agent]

I wasn't sure where to put this one, but this seems like it fits. There is now research that says spoilers actually help you to enjoy the story more. From the article, "[The researcher] thinks that spoilers free us up from having to pay too close attention to the plot, thereby enabling us to focus on other, richer aspects of the book, film, or TV show of choice—character development, sensory descriptions, or minor details we may have missed the first (or second) time around."

I'm not entirely sure that's a good thing with Once. I think the show is so shallow with things outside of plot, plot, plot that fan enjoyment is higher when you're focused on figuring out the convoluted plot rather than the secondary details.

[YaddaYadda]

I disagree. Spoilers tend to build up excitement and expectations. There are tons of speculations that are far better than what the writers come up with for their episodes. When we speculate in the spoiler thread, we actually try and connect the dots, so that the arc makes sense, and is consistent with everything that's been written thus far.

A&E and Co don't do that. And a lot of times, knowing spoilers is a huge letdown because of the expectations we build up. 

I find it more true with books though. I read the first 3 chapters of a book before I flip to the last 2 or 3. Once I know the ending, I wanna know how the author got there.

[Lii]

Spoilers are different for everyone. Some people voraciously devour every spoilery tidbit they can get for their media, whether it be books, movies, or television. Some people only want blanket spoilers for a few things. Some people can't bear spoilers at all. It just depends on what works for you, and the circumstances totally differ every time. Trying to make blanket statements based on arbitrary studies or polls or what have you is never going to work... it's just going to give people more self-justification for casually spoiling things for other people in inappropriate places at inappropriate times, really.

That's pretty much that.

[Curio]

Spoilers are a double-edged sword. I couldn't imagine going a full season not devouring spoilers for this show because speculating about the direction the writers may go is really fun (and honestly more fun than watching the show most of the time), especially for someone who enjoys learning about the writing process of a television series. On the other hand, this show is so unorganized and they use deus ex machinas so often that it's somewhat useless to get too involved with speculation. I wasn't spoiled at all in Seasons 1 and 2, so Graham's death came as a total shock to me. Maybe that's why I'm still so bitter about his death and why I'm still upset Regina has gotten away with it for so many seasons. For the people who knew his death was coming, it was easy to blow off, but for someone unspoiled, it came like a punch to the gut. However, being unspoiled didn't make Season 2 any more enjoyable. In fact, I kind of wish I had read spoilers back then so I could brace myself for what was coming. The only pleasant surprise I got from 2B by being unspoiled was their interesting decision to make the finale's flashbacks Bae/Hook-centric.

[Camera One]

I couldn't imagine going a full season not devouring spoilers for this show because speculating about the direction the writers may go is really fun (and honestly more fun than watching the show most of the time)

I agree, though I avoid spoilers and even previews, so I like reading speculations based on what actually happened in the previous episode.  I find the "little" surprises are more rewarding and sprinkled out if they are surprises, like seeing an old character returning, or trying to guess the twist of the week with no prior knowledge.  As some said above, this is not the type of show where anticipation is actually rewarded most of the time, so it's going to be a letdown anyway, I'll rather be surprised Charming and Emma has a scene together, instead of knowing ahead of time and looking forward to it.

If a character is really beloved, though, I do prefer to know if they will die before hand, since I do find it a little traumatic if it's a character I *really* like when I had no idea that was their last episode.

[KingOfHearts]

8 hours ago, KAOS Agent said:

I wasn't sure where to put this one, but this seems like it fits. There is now research that says spoilers actually help you to enjoy the story more. From the article, "[The researcher] thinks that spoilers free us up from having to pay too close attention to the plot, thereby enabling us to focus on other, richer aspects of the book, film, or TV show of choice—character development, sensory descriptions, or minor details we may have missed the first (or second) time around."

I'm not entirely sure that's a good thing with Once. I think the show is so shallow with things outside of plot, plot, plot that fan enjoyment is higher when you're focused on figuring out the convoluted plot rather than the secondary details.

I personally agree with that assessment for myself. I would rather know what's going to happen. Spoilers keep from my expectations getting too high, which helps minimize my disappointment. Conversely, spoilers provide a sense of anticipation and hype. Sometimes, I'm able to stomach a few bad episodes because I know something more interesting is coming along. There are some others shows I do not want to be spoiled about, but Once is a different case. If I had any faith in the writers, I wouldn't need press releases or set photos.

Edited June 1, 2016 by KingOfHearts

[daxx]

This is the only show I seek out spoilers for. I don't actively avoid spoilers for others but don't hunt them down like I do with this show. Not sure what that says about me...

[Shanna Marie]

I'm usually a spoilerphobe, but on this show I'm all in on the spoilers, I think because I get a lot more pleasure out of speculating on the spoilers and analyzing them than I get from the show itself, and the show itself is at such a level that I don't think being spoiled can add any more disappointment than would already be there.

The backlash on that fandom article linked above has already begun, with criticism about "mansplaining" and shaming young women for things they enjoy. But I don't think the article ever said that the coffee shop fanfic was a bad thing that people should stop doing, just that fans shouldn't harass creators into turning the actual show/comic/movie series into their coffee shop fanfic.

[Selina K]

I am a spoiler whore and it has only bitten me twice (one show) where I feel knowing too much of what would happen took away from the enjoyment of a show.  Without being too revealing, they were both for the new BSG - the 'final' Cylon reveal and what happened to Starbuck.  I was really pissed about the lack of CS payoff in this final, but knowing it was going to be a bore going on made me somewhat less aggravated, I guess, in that I didn't have high hopes.  I still have season 3 episodes on my DVR, but this finale hit the delete pile right away.

I think you can make the assumption that many people like having broad knowledge of events - look at the popularity of genre reading.  I love romance novels because I have an implicit contract of "known" with the author - I am guaranteed the hero and heroine are going to be together in some capacity at the end of the book.  I don't have to read ahead because I know they will be together.  I can read more for characterization because the plot is more or less a done deal.  I wonder if there would be correlation between spoiler seekers and genre readers.

Edited June 1, 2016 by Selina K

[Joanh23]

22 minutes ago, daxx said:

This is the only show I seek out spoilers for. I don't actively avoid spoilers for others but don't hunt them down like I do with this show. Not sure what that says about me...

Daxx I'm the same - Once is the only show I actively look for spoilers on, and the irony is for all other shows I watch I love not knowing what's going to happen.

[Curio]

6 minutes ago, Shanna Marie said:

The backlash on that fandom article linked above has already begun, with criticism about "mansplaining" and shaming young women for things they enjoy. But I don't think the article ever said that the coffee shop fanfic was a bad thing that people should stop doing, just that fans shouldn't harass creators into turning the actual show/comic/movie series into their coffee shop fanfic.

Those fangirls need to chill. Maybe I skimmed the article too quickly, but I never got the impression the writer was turning this into a guy fandom vs. girl fandom perspective thing. Guys can also daydream about coffee shop fanfics. Ironically, this show could actually be improved if they included more coffee shop scenes, but that has nothing to do with the woman's perspective or "giving my favorite character all the nice things." We just need more normal scenes to offset the plot! plot! action! plot! 

[profdanglais]

I know people who loathe the 'next time on ...' thingies at the end of shows, say nothing of spoilers. Personally, I like knowing what to expect. Knowing that X is the destination doesn't make the journey less interesting, for me at least. 

[Rumsy4]

1 hour ago, daxx said:

This is the only show I seek out spoilers for. I don't actively avoid spoilers for others but don't hunt them down like I do with this show. Not sure what that says about me...

Same here! With any other show I watch live, I'm actually a spoiler-phobe. But with ONCE, knowing spoilers somehow makes it more tolerable for me. The Show doesn't lend itself to proper "detective" viewing becasue the resolution typically comes from a deux ex machina. So, the detective aspect gets transferred to interpreting spoilers and how they'd translate on-screen.

[Eolivet]

2 hours ago, Curio said:

I never got the impression the writer was turning this into a guy fandom vs. girl fandom perspective thing.

I think the issue was the guy was complaining that male creatives were getting death threats over their creative works when that literally happens to women -- even non-creative women -- every day on the Internet, and it's now only a big deal that it's happening to men, and to male creators of things that men like.

I actually disagree about that article, because I personally am so sick of creative types (mostly male) whining about harassment on the Internet when they make themselves accessible. Accessibility is going to breed familiarity, and thus, entitlement. To me, it's so obvious -- if you don't want interaction with the public, stay off the Internet. I feel like I have read that particular piece of advice a number of times here and elsewhere. They can't threaten you (except through snail mail) if they can't find you.

But I always roll my eyes a little bit at the pearl-clutching that goes on by creative types about their fans: "I did something people are passionate about and then made myself publicly accessible. Gee, why am I getting so much hate?" Probably a minority opinion, but I think there's a certain level of entitlement to that type of thinking: that they want the Internet, but on their terms. Some fan interaction, but not too much. Guess what -- the Internet doesn't work that way. They either make themselves accessible -- along with everything that entails -- or they don't. But I don't think they don't get to dictate how people consume media or (other than by use of the block button) dictate fan response.

Put it this way: there have been passionate fans since time immemorial, but the sheer amount of craziness has gone up astronomically since people could click a button and be instantly connected to the people behind their favorite types of media. Gee...who could've predicted that?

I mean, Shonda Rhimes has probably gotten called every name in the book, every racist, misogynistic insult you can think of (in additions to legitimate criticism about her writing) and as far as I can tell, she lets it roll off her back. This and the writing thread is filled with (deserved) disbelief at Adam Horowitz for doing yeoman's work engaging with fans unhappy about the direction of the show. But superhero comic book guys, well...those are apparently the ones who need defending.

Edited June 1, 2016 by Eolivet

[Rumsy4]

Just because people put themselves out in social media doesn't mean they should all be tough enough to take all the harassment that comes along with the territory. It is bad when done to women. It is bad when it is done to men. The thing is, we don't really know how misogynistic insults and death threats affect people like Shonda Rhimes. The person who wrote the article is not the writer of the Captain America comics. So, I don't really get the comparison with Shonda. I don't agree with all the points brought up in the article, but I do agree with his perspective about consumerism influencing quite a bit of fan entitlement and driving the bullying that seems to go along with it.

[KingOfHearts]

Quote

Just because people put themselves out in social media doesn't mean they should all be tough enough to take all the harassment that comes along with the territory.

They should be aware of the risks, but I agree.

Quote

Same here! With any other show I watch live, I'm actually a spoiler-phobe. But with ONCE, knowing spoilers somehow makes it more tolerable for me. The Show doesn't lend itself to proper "detective" viewing becasue the resolution typically comes from a deux ex machina. So, the detective aspect gets transferred to interpreting spoilers and how they'd translate on-screen.

I accidentally read a few major spoilers for Lost and I never forgave myself. With Once, I tend to speculate better storylines than what we get. Then I end up being disappointed because it's a lot lamer than what I hoped for. Lost, on the other hand, usually delivered when it came to unexpected twists and turns. I was surprised by new developments many times over the course of the series. (I watched it all on Netflix.)

Edited June 2, 2016 by KingOfHearts

[maryle]

unpopular opinion but, I do believe that the creator has  the right to write their story the way they like it without the influence of fans. It's great that fans can voice their feeling about the creative product they choice to consume today but the idea that show runner should let fandom dictate the creative process is dangerous for the art itself. (any art product  in any form is the resutant of the subjectivity of one or some) and no a popular contest made by an online poll.  Even, if they wanted what fandom or fans liste to anyway!

If Romeo  and Juliette were writing in this fandom ere  it will be asking for a big fat happy ending.  The last scene will have been a Big wedding where the two clans will have hug their conflict away. And, will have been forgot the next week.

In Once'world. No, SQ is not obvious for the G.A and probably be a shark jumping moment if happening for most the general audience. No, because most are homophobe but because both women had been shown explicitly hetero.

Another Once example, Regina is really meh to me, I will never watch a show about her, but I will never deny the right to A and E. to write her the way they choose and make her central.  I will certainly not send them hateful comments about how, for me, she is still a narcissistic bitch after 4 years of her redemption's story.  I could write it here or on a blog about my personal perspective on Regina as subject and bad role model but for me, it's the end of my power (as audience, fans, consumer)  I mean boycott or other threat usually never work. 

In my case the only thing I do if a show  deceive me is just stop watching altogether or skip some episode I do not care for  (Once ex; sometimes I do skip Regina's centric this year Sister was that episode) and concentrate or what I do like. That dosen't mean not asking for representation in general or better story telling just that a particular product will never touch every problematic that touch you or should be.

[Rumsy4]

2 hours ago, maryle said:

If Romeo  and Juliette were writing in this fandom ere  it will be asking for a big fat happy ending.  The last scene will have been a Big wedding where the two clans will have hug their conflict away. And, will have been forgot the next week.

LMAO! Perfectly true! 

[Minneapple]

13 hours ago, maryle said:

unpopular opinion but, I do believe that the creator has  the right to write their story the way they like it without the influence of fans. 

I agree. It's their story. At the same time, if I don't like it, I'm free to change the channel or turn off the TV. 

I think it's fair for creators to learn to accept some kind of criticism, and to be open to dialogue about their work. After all they're putting it out there for public consumption. But they shouldn't have to put up with harassment, bullying or nastiness online. That's just poor behavior on the part of the fans.

[Lii]

On 6/1/2016 at 10:04 AM, Selina K said:

I am a spoiler whore and it has only bitten me twice (one show) where I feel knowing too much of what would happen took away from the enjoyment of a show.  Without being too revealing, they were both for the new BSG - the 'final' Cylon reveal and what happened to Starbuck.  I was really pissed about the lack of CS payoff in this final, but knowing it was going to be a bore going on made me somewhat less aggravated, I guess, in that I didn't have high hopes.  I still have season 3 episodes on my DVR, but this finale hit the delete pile right away.

I think you can make the assumption that many people like having broad knowledge of events - look at the popularity of genre reading.  I love romance novels because I have an implicit contract of "known" with the author - I am guaranteed the hero and heroine are going to be together in some capacity at the end of the book.  I don't have to read ahead because I know they will be together.  I can read more for characterization because the plot is more or less a done deal.  I wonder if there would be correlation between spoiler seekers and genre readers.

I am so sorry that happened to you. Like, SO SORRY.

Also, the correlation between genre readers and seeking out spoilers is at least somewhat due to the fact that genre novels are much more often forced by publishers to be published in trilogies or long series because of recent market trends, so fan communities always pop up for hardcore theorizing, and spoilers run wild. It's a thing.

On 6/1/2016 at 7:37 PM, KingOfHearts said:

They should be aware of the risks, but I agree.

I accidentally read a few major spoilers for Lost and I never forgave myself. With Once, I tend to speculate better storylines than what we get. Then I end up being disappointed because it's a lot lamer than what I hoped for. Lost, on the other hand, usually delivered when it came to unexpected twists and turns. I was surprised by new developments many times over the course of the series. (I watched it all on Netflix.)

 

Lost is like the ultimate warning of why you should never get too invested in fan theories.

[Eolivet]

Great (albeit lonnnnnnggg) Tumblr post explaining the problems with that fandom article more eloquently -- and more loquaciously -- than I did:

http://bookshop.tumblr.com/post/145327373853

I think the idea that it's really female-dominated fandom that he hates is very perceptive (and backed up by his tweets).

Which is why I said Adam Horowitz is doing yeoman's work answering and engaging with his critics.

[Serena]

Yeah, the article is bad. He starts with "Some fans act like assholes on the Internet." and somehow ends up with "And therefore fans should stop critiquing the text, at all, forever." What kind of thin-skinned argument! 

[Hookian]

OMG Lana I'm so done with you. She claims to read SQ FF and talks about licking Emma's armpit and then other areas. I swear she's so damn extra it's pathetic.

[KingOfHearts]

11 minutes ago, Hookian said:

OMG Lana I'm so done with you. She claims to read SQ FF and talks about licking Emma's armpit and then other areas. I swear she's so damn extra it's pathetic.

Source? (Apologies if it's already in the thread.)

[Hookian]

1 minute ago, KingOfHearts said:

Source? (Apologies if it's already in the thread.)

She said it at the con she was at today in her panel.

[sharky]

You can find some people's reactions on Twitter. She also did a panel while wearing a "ER Army" shirt with the quote, "For the love of our queen." I just... I mean, could you imagine all the SQ fans up in arms if Colin wore a shirt that said "Hookers: When I jab you with my sword, you'll feel it." They would be saying it just proves that Colin is self-centered and thinks everything is about Captain Swan and Captain Hook the rapist. But Lana is a hot mess and isn't that wonderful?

Edited June 4, 2016 by sharky

[Camera One]

It was nice of Sean Maguire to still go to fan events.  Though for all of these actors, I can't even imagine answering the exact same question five million times.  I tried to watch some of the short interview clips they posted on Twitter, but it was hard to have enough patience since they've already expressed similar sentiments in previous interviews.  There's so little depth to these characters and plotlines that there's really not that much to say beyond the obvious.

Edited June 4, 2016 by Camera One

[RadioGirl27]

Wow, Lana has reached a new low.

But I get her. While Jennifer Morrison is directing her first featured film, with a cast that includes Michael Angarano, Allison Janney and Ed O'Neill, she is doing her third or forth con of the summer (I have lost count) and she has a few more scheluded. She knows where her place is once the show ends and that she would need those fans she is pandering if she wants to be a bit relevant. I mean, from all the main cast, she is the only one who hasn't worked in anything else (other than going to cons) since the show started.

[Sarcastica]

I always get nervous when I see activity in this thread. I just groan and think "Now what???".

*groan....Lana*

[Rumsy4]

I am horrified. This is crossing the line from cringeworthy to coworker harassment. I feel bad for JMo.

[YaddaYadda]

31 minutes ago, Camera One said:

It was nice of Sean Maguire to still go to fan events.  Though for all of these actors, I can't even imagine answering the exact same question five million times.  I tried to watch some of the short interview clips they posted on Twitter, but it was hard to have enough patience since they've already expressed similar sentiments in previous interviews.  There's so little depth to these characters and plotlines that there's really not that much to say beyond the obvious.

 Now imagine doing a whole summer of cons.

[Serena]

Bless Lana for always providing us with entertainment in the long hiatus months. And bless Jen's workaholic little heart for having just started filming Sun Dogs and being way too busy to go on Twitter and see people's reactions.

Edited June 4, 2016 by Serena

[RedKeep]

This isn't really related to anything in particular that's been said or done at any of the cons that happened so far this summer, but I'm getting the feeling that most of the fandom drama that happens in reaction to what's going on at them is online based, and based on what's passed in tweets/pics/etc, rather than experienced by fans who are actually at the events. Like, with every con that we had so far I've had people over my dash or in tags on social media being caught up in drama about something that (supposedly) happend whereas people who are actually at those events are often surprisingly irriated by said drama and thought it was no big deal at all. I imagine the fandom being so overly tense and caught up in constant fighting between certain groups online might play into that and it seems like fans who meet each other in person at such events don't experience that in quite the same way. At least I hope so.

That said, to address today's mess: Gods I really wish actors wouldn't encourage fans to bring up stuff like fanfic to them and if Parrilla did talk about it during her panel it's cringeworthy and really no wonder some fans have no sense of boundaries. A the same time, though... I'm just as over some CS fans and their obsession with SQ and all of their fans, though. I just clicked myself through some of the tags for this week's con and it seems like the loud ones of those two groups in particular are just constantly at each other's throats now, only waiting for a cast member/writer/whatever to give them a reason to launch another round of attacks.