Dying fandoms that reject new fans

[Burst]

This is another thing I've noticed a lot lately that always makes me scratch my head. You have a hobby that's been around a while such as stamp collecting, model railroading, a sport that's become more niche, or a franchise that has either finished or not had any new material for a while, and you have a fanbase that's getting increasingly older if it isn't already mostly middle-aged men. These guys invariably slag on the current generation for not being interested in the hobby, yet at the same time they whine and moan anytime anything changes that could potentially make it more accessible.

I guess a lot of this is sort of a twisted sense of self-preservation, that they've gotten used to the group being so small that they're afraid that new blood will change the way the hobby is, despite the fact that otherwise the hobby is going to die off. But a lot of times it seems like they would rather selfishly see their hobby die off than see anybody change it into something they don't like.

Anybody else see this with other fandoms, or have I just been hanging around bitter Indycar fans too much?

[Bo Rida]

To paraphrase The Dark Knight I think I'd rather my hobbies died as something I loved rather than living long enough to be changed into something I hate.

Although changing into something different but just as good or even better would be great, it just rarely works out like that.

[Deleted]

Baseball Card collectors are pretty good at this

[Apricots And A Pear Tree]

All Fandoms reject new fans.

[Deleted]

Wrestling.

[wildojinx]

Comic Books. You'd think they'd try to attract new fans with all these comic movies/tv shows/cartoons, but they dont even try.

[Deleted]

I feel sort of this way with Star Trek. The 2 new movies, while fun to watch, don't feel like "genuine" Star Trek to me.

I'm a TNG fan (TOS is pretty cool too), and since there's barely a 5% chance we'll get anymore TNG-related TV shows or movies (VOY and DS9 are basically part of the TNG system), this thread sort of applies to me (and maybe more of the fanbase as well).

[Deleted]

Oct 26, 2014 16:21:51 GMT -5 Apricots And A Pear Tree said:

All Fandoms reject new fans.

This is the truth.

It's not that ALL fans from everything reject people or believe they have to prove new people are real fans (horrible term slung that's around a lot) it's that many geeky subcultures used to be a refuge to long time fans of things.

From pro-wrestling to music to video games to stamp collecting to...well, anything, a lot of things people form fandoms over tend to be less accepted in society, the moments those things get big recognition or are accepted as the in thing, you get sections of those fandoms acting jerks to people who only recently start to enjoy things. They act like gatekeepers to retain their own victimhood even if they're the ones acting like tools.

From "fake geek girl" to "not been to 20 of the bands gigs, you fraud/you don't like this new album?! Phony!" to "you only got into Watchmen through the film!" junk, people who used to feel most held down in social circles -even when they likely aren't when they see the forest for the trees- tend to become the bullies or snobs they once hated. And sometimes people like that never realize and become the most repugnant individuals which makes fandoms look AWFUL. Even if 90% of a fandom are the loveliest folk around, 10% of absolute wankers make people leave/not support the product the new&old fans want to talk about.

[OldDirtyBernie]

Transformers. Dear god Transformers.

But still, I'm right there along with them.

[Clash, Never a Meter Maid]

I'll echo the "all fandoms reject new fans" brigade. With anything that grows large enough and has a certain amount of longevity, eventually a subgroup of grand old men and women will emerge who are usually uncomfortable with changes to the franchise and its target demo.