When LJ arrived, it quickly became Flavor of the Month as far as online fandom, and pretty much sounded the death knell for the heyday of regular ol' Yahooish discussion lists, which I think is a shame. There functions that a list fills that journals don't - primarily, it's a whole lot easier and less time consuming to respond to detailed discussions on a list. You can also choose to receive the posts in more than one way, and you don't have to go hunting for them (unless you want to).
I enjoyed multi-fandom/non fandom-specific lists which discussed fandom and slashdom in general, but they've pretty much disappeared - if not literally disappeared, then gone totally dead because of the stampede to journaling. I for one would welcome a comeback of such lists.
Yes - so very much of fandom these days is based around how much can you produce, how fast can you get a story out there, etc. There really are just consumers and producers, and the consumers don't seem to want to do anything but consume - there is precious little discussion of a fandom's characters, plots, relationships, etc. - the sort of discussion that encourages me to write. I've never been able to write in a vacuum, so if I have no discussion, I have no drive to write.
I am a writer (at least, I have written, though never prolifically), but I've written comparatively few stories and each takes me a while. That's just the sort of writer I am, it doesn't come easily to me, as far as motivation, energy and flow. The fandom I was most prolific in was when I was involved in the most discussion. As fannish discussion in general has dried up, so has my desire to write, because part of the kick I get out of writing is in the sharing/discussing, and it ain't happenin'.
It's also my opinion that in Days of Olde pre-Onelist, Yahoogroups, etc., when there were very few online discussion lists, period, because you had to run all the list software yourself, people appreciated the sense of community and maybe were more tolerant of various opinions and personalities because they wanted to be able to play in the pond. They stuck it out and continued because they enjoyed the feeling of belonging. When lists became a dime a dozen and you could start one in five minutes, anyone who had a momentary snit could start their own list, yadda, yadda, and there are now just too many lists, blogs, web sites, etc. and not enough fans to creating a good active talk-base. Sigh...
no subject
When LJ arrived, it quickly became Flavor of the Month as far as online fandom, and pretty much sounded the death knell for the heyday of regular ol' Yahooish discussion lists, which I think is a shame. There functions that a list fills that journals don't - primarily, it's a whole lot easier and less time consuming to respond to detailed discussions on a list. You can also choose to receive the posts in more than one way, and you don't have to go hunting for them (unless you want to).
I enjoyed multi-fandom/non fandom-specific lists which discussed fandom and slashdom in general, but they've pretty much disappeared - if not literally disappeared, then gone totally dead because of the stampede to journaling. I for one would welcome a comeback of such lists.
Yes - so very much of fandom these days is based around how much can you produce, how fast can you get a story out there, etc. There really are just consumers and producers, and the consumers don't seem to want to do anything but consume - there is precious little discussion of a fandom's characters, plots, relationships, etc. - the sort of discussion that encourages me to write. I've never been able to write in a vacuum, so if I have no discussion, I have no drive to write.
I am a writer (at least, I have written, though never prolifically), but I've written comparatively few stories and each takes me a while. That's just the sort of writer I am, it doesn't come easily to me, as far as motivation, energy and flow. The fandom I was most prolific in was when I was involved in the most discussion. As fannish discussion in general has dried up, so has my desire to write, because part of the kick I get out of writing is in the sharing/discussing, and it ain't happenin'.
It's also my opinion that in Days of Olde pre-Onelist, Yahoogroups, etc., when there were very few online discussion lists, period, because you had to run all the list software yourself, people appreciated the sense of community and maybe were more tolerant of various opinions and personalities because they wanted to be able to play in the pond. They stuck it out and continued because they enjoyed the feeling of belonging. When lists became a dime a dozen and you could start one in five minutes, anyone who had a momentary snit could start their own list, yadda, yadda, and there are now just too many lists, blogs, web sites, etc. and not enough fans to creating a good active talk-base. Sigh...
Will stop rambling now.