Day 14 -15 Snowflake Challenge

[alexcat]

Day 14

In your own space, talk about what you think the future holds for fandom. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

I have no idea. Fandom as I knew it is mostly dead. The loyalty and close friendships seem to be a thing of the past and the tropes and such are so bizarre now that finding a niche is hard sometimes. I guess I have a we'll see attitude right now since the great migration from Tumblr.

Day 15

Talk about why you participated in Snowflake &/or what you got out of it. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

I like SC - it's great fun and makes a person think... I notice lots of people seem to be uptight about it - they seem to miss the point all together. It's a fun way to reconnect with fandom with the idea of being involved in even a tiny way. I've met some new peeps most years and hope to this year as well. I plan to do them as long as I can and they continue.

Comments

fandom

[oldtoadwoman]

I think fandom is what you make it. For a while, years ago, I was hanging out with some very bitter, cynical fans who were always arguing about the downfall of fandom (very judgy about what other fans were doing, very defensive about what they were doing) and just had to step away for a long time because fandom had become sort of toxic… except it wasn't fandom that had become a toxic place, it was the handful of people I had been choosing to hang out with that were toxic. (In hindsight, I can now see so many instances where they were undercutting my self-worth in real life as well as fandom.)

Look for the fun stuff that still excites you and ignore the grumps who make everything stressful.

[spiced_wine]

I’d be perfectly happy just to know a few nice people. That would be fandom, for me, (as well as material to read and fanart, of course).

I find Snowflake such a positive thing. It’s very feel-good :)

[keiliss]

Your day 14 is my day 14, just I got carried away about it when I started writing. I miss the networking a lot. Still, it's interesting to see where it all goes and staying mentally flexible is supposed to be good for one.

[spikedluv]

Fandom as I knew it is mostly dead

I miss the sense of community so much! I expect that fandom will continue to be spread out and everyone will do fandom differently, but I'd be really happy if some of the people who are visiting DW from Tumblr would stick around. (NGL I'd miss the GIFsets if Tumblr imploded altogether.)

It's a fun way to reconnect with fandom with the idea of being involved in even a tiny way

This, yes!

[eldritcher]

Oh, I am having spurts of nostalgia in reading these snowflake entries today.

I think LJ was a place where both fic/art and community coexisted. The fic has now moved to Ao3 and the community over to Tumblr or Discord or other platforms. The fragmentation has made it difficult to have that seamless, convenient way of meeting new people over fics or artworks as before. Text as a medium has taken a backseat due to the mobile-first style of interactions.