On the Internet everyone is a dog

[rm]

With LJ/6A's seemingly endless silence (the meaningless quote to CNET doesn't count for my purposes) it's hard to fathom what they were actually thinking, and I'm trying not to go there.

But I will say this: they underestimated fandom. And the reason they underestimated fandom is that we underestimated fandom.

When it started it seemed like a fandom issue.
Even as it began to snowball lots of people were still on the "don't read [that type of] fanfic, don't care" mantra.

But now?

Guess what, kids -- we're all fandom. And I don't mean that in some happy hippy dippy love way. I mean that in the sense of this is what JK Rowling and Peter Jackson and Joss Whedon have wrought. A few years ago it was triumph of the nerds and then dominion of the nerds, but now we're all nerds. Being fannish, no matter how you choose to engage fandom or how often you engage fandom or how thoroughly you engage fandom, is, quite simply fun, ubiqutous and not terribly shameful anymore.

And when what once would have been niche geek movies are consistently and reliably the summer blockbusters? It means fandom isn't a little group of fringe wackos without connections. Rather, it's doenz and hundreds of iterations of two people who met online talking on the phone for hours about which of the celebs and talking heads and heroes of our community we could get to help with this LJ disaster and which ones we know to various degrees personally.

Because that's the other thing about the Internet. It's not just that it's made everyone a star and everyone a nerd.

It's that it's made it so no one is.

Which is, in part, why LJ/6A has the wrath of pretty much all of its userbase on its hands.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

on the economic side, MAYBE livejournal will suffer
but livejournal didn't start out as a business
livejournal accomodated you

but it's good for most of you if those journals got deleted
this escapism stuff is awful
your only validation is in living your own life
vicarious existence is a fucking waste of time

most of the uproar is mostly tireless lobbying by a lil group
sort of like you doing a zillion entries in your own journal
discussing to the converted etc.
but it's really good for your health
delete away..
improvise something new!

[rm.livejournal.com]

dude, my life is more rockin' than you could possibly imagine. fuck off, already.

I'm not fandom.

[timiathan.livejournal.com]

I think that free expression and user-driven content are one of two things that make LJ special (the other being the community aspects, including the structure of the 'friends list' itself). It's a shame to see the new management messing with what's been successful and important. Reminds me too much of pathetic.org's totalitarian implosion.

Re: I'm not fandom.

[rm.livejournal.com]

nut you are a celebrity ;)

Seriously, thanks for expressing any sort of saness in the sea of crazy.

Re: I'm not fandom.

[timiathan.livejournal.com]

The worst is what you mentioned in an earlier post...I can't imagine a rape-survivor not being able to talk about her experience on her JOURNAL. That's kind of stunning, on a number of levels.

And what's with this asshole with the anonymous comment? What's he escaping from in being a jackass?

This whole thing is bizarre.

[newsbean.livejournal.com]

And I think the userbase may actually win this one. This one is big enough that they can't just ignore us.

And we all agree. This kind of unity is amazing, and I am proud.

[abbismom.livejournal.com]

Do you mind if I add you as a friend? I'm a friend of Amanda's and have heard so many wonderful things about you...(btw, you looked awesome as Professor Snape!)

[rm.livejournal.com]

Thank you! and go right ahead.

[tsarina.livejournal.com]

Hahah your emo poetry posting anonymous troll is back! AND! Quoting Guns 'N Roses! Hahahahahahha. Sorry, that was the funniest thing I've seen in days.