Toxic fandom - seriously, WTH?

[The Unconquered Sun]

Welcome to the human race.

[willywonka666]

People are generally bitter and angry and they blurt it out online me. There should be a site, and probably is where you can go to specifically complain about anything, get it out and move on with your life

[BayleyTiffyCodyCenaJudyHopps]

This was something I was particularly bad about for a while. I never got to the point where I was harassing people or hurling around insults, but yeah, for a while I was one of those people who took their fandoms very seriously.

There are positive aspects to joining a fandom, granted. Lord knows I wouldn't have made some of my best friends over the years were it not for us mutually geeking out over something. But I have to keep telling myself that it's all just entertainment at the end of the day. Yes, great art is a powerful thing, but if you can't learn to not take every little thing to heart, your time in said fanbase is going to be a miserable experience, regardless of how much you might enjoy the main property.

Over time I've tried to expand my interests, so as to not have all of my emotional investments wrapped up in one or two things. It's helped me gain a better sense of perspective. I think one big reason fandoms become so toxic is because people aren't willing to look outside themselves, and thus they wind up dying on a hill over their opinion.

[A Platypus Rave is Correct]

Yeah, like a few things probably the internet.

Instead of needing to interact with other people that would probably tell them to shut up and calm down... the crazies get together with other crazies that accept their behavior and it gets worse.

Also even with your real name on social media you aren't within say striking distance if you act like a shithead to people.

[Long A, Short A]

We need to talk about the toxicity of people that want to paint fandoms with a broad brush before we talk about toxic fanbases. We also need and I stress the word need to talk about toxic positively.(oe of the reason I don't see FAN as a safe space even though I like it here)

[BrodietheSlayer]

We've become spoiled as a society. We're so used to getting what we want YESTERDAY, that we think that's supposed to apply to everything, and go nuclear when we don't get that. The Internet has just made that sense of entitlement worse, as now we think that allows us maximum power to make or break whatever with just simple words on a computer screen.

[Mister Pigwell]

May 15, 2017 19:28:23 GMT -5 Long A, Short A said:

We also need and I stress the word need to talk about toxic positively.(oe of the reason I don't see FAN as a safe space even though I like it here)

Please, go on.

[Raskovnik]

The Internet has ruined everything and I only see it getting worse before it gets better.

[mizerable]

May 15, 2017 16:29:33 GMT -5 @jdogindy said:

And, yeah, fan entitlement is horrific.

I could take it to a whole other level above that and just say society in general, but then that would open up the floodgates.

I just continue to see it in many forms nowadays, it's literally black or white with absolutely no option for gray. It's the reason why I think we're seeing more " invisibility" out of people anymore because they don't want stigmas or backlash against them.

But seriously, no one needs to be confrontational to get things done. We should be able to talk about an issue without getting an eyeroll or an accusation that doesn't pertain to the topic at hand.

[Fade]

Internet.

People also will always personalize themselves with things they love.

My personal theory...and I say this as a nerd...in culture, the nerds won. And I'm not really sure that was a good thing.

[Joe Neglia]

May 15, 2017 19:28:23 GMT -5 Long A, Short A said:

We need to talk about the toxicity of people that want to paint fandoms with a broad brush before we talk about toxic fanbases. We also need and I stress the word need to talk about toxic positively.(oe of the reason I don't see FAN as a safe space even though I like it here)

I'm not sure I understand what you're stating.

If I'm following the first sentence correctly, your concern is over how entire fandoms are stereotyped, correct? As in the old "all wrestling fans are meatheads" or "all gamers live in their parents' basements with Cheeto-dusted fingers" type stuff? If that's where you're going with that, I agree wholeheartedly that no fandom should be stereotyped in that regard. But that's a topic for another thread, really, and while related to the subject at hand, isn't what we're discussing here. Not entirely sure it needs to be discussed "before" we talk about this, though. Both are weighted conversations regarding a lot of social and cultural issues and putting one before the other is not, I feel, conducive to the productivity of either's progression.

After that part, I'm not entirely sure what you're meaning with the toxic positively thing? I will say I'm sorry you don't feel this is a safe space - we try our best to keep everyone on a level field here and I'm not really keen on when things tilt in ways that make people (beyond, say, deliberate trolls) feel unwelcome. I am always more than willing to hear whatever grievances you may have toward the boards/site/community in this regard in PM if you so wish. I can't promise I'll fix everything to accommodate every person, as we all have different outlooks, but I'm more than willing to listen and to see if there's something that can be done.

[xCompackx]

I don't think it's entirely the fault of the people. This attitude of "I'm a REAL fan and you're not" is often encouraged by the companies themselves. Look at how WWE demonizes online fans every chance they get. Look at how video game companies use "gamer" as a term, which then breeds the "You're not a hardcore gamer like me" comments. Even Henry Cavill invoked it when defending Dawn of Justice by saying "We made this movie for the fans, not the critics" as if critics were somehow out to get them. Not saying there aren't legit issues with certain fandoms in general, but it has to be solved on all sides if any real progress is to be made.

[Long A, Short A]

Please, go on.

Ok

I've noticed that many of the assessments of fanbases are based on stereotypes and people tend to believe stereotypes because they want to. So, it doesn't matter if the amount of good people outnumber the bad because the bad people make Mr.. or Ms. Callout feel better about themselves. They will do the reverse research to prove their point. Plus,

There's a right way to be positive and a wrong way to be positive. Many people talk a good game about positivity, but they don't show and prove outside of their grand declaration.

Please stop blaming old school bad behavior on the internet. People weren't any nicer before the net exploded, you just didn't notice all the grimy people.

[Fade]

May 15, 2017 23:10:09 GMT -5 Long A, Short A said:

Please, go on.

Please stop blaming old school bad behavior on the internet. People weren't any nicer before the net exploded, you just didn't notice all the grimy people.

While I agree, don't you think the lightning fast connectivity of the internet has negatively effected people and perhaps made it worse?

[Mister Pigwell]

May 15, 2017 23:10:09 GMT -5 Long A, Short A said:

Please, go on.

Ok

I've noticed that many of the assessments of fanbases are based on stereotypes and people tend to believe stereotypes because they want to. So, it doesn't matter if the amount of good people outnumber the bad because the bad people make Mr.. or Ms. Callout feel better about themselves. They will do the reverse research to prove their point. Plus,

There's a right way to be positive and a wrong way to be positive. Many people talk a good game about positivity, but they don't show and prove outside of their grand declaration.

Please stop blaming old school bad behavior on the internet. People weren't any nicer before the net exploded, you just didn't notice all the grimy people.

Yeah I agree with all your points personally.

The positivity thing, I know what ya mean. The "positivity" is swung like a weapon of negativity, sorta in a "I'm a better fan because I LIKE this development" kinda dealy. It does lead to some highhorse BS. It pops up in conversations with the mods when someone reports these things here, hard to moderate from that standpoint though. When is it someone just being a fan? When is it just a counter argument? When is it a contrarian troll? Overbearing positivity is indeed a thing but it's very difficult to judge the motivation. If you have concerns over posts, please, hit the report button.

On a personal level as well I'm sorry to hear you can't consider our community a safespace. As Madison said if you have any ideas how to fix that or want to discuss anything about the board in general PLEASE PM one of us and just vent about it.

[A Platypus Rave is Correct]

My point isn't that I blame the internet for their behavior.

My point is that the internet allowed the shitty people to find each other much easier, and gave them a stronger voice.

That said the Internet has still done more good than harm total.

[Dub H]

Yeh i`m part of the FAN FANBase

[Red Impact]

Attention drawing social media + glorification of jerkiness + Relative anonymity leading people to believe there are no consequences for actions or statements

People will hitch a sail to literally anything that they think can give them any bit of fame and notoriety, no matter how ultimately insignificant it is in the end, which means cartoons and video games and so forth just get firebrands for no real reason other than the fact that if someone feels they can shape something larger than them, then it might give them that instant glorification.

Then you have the reality that the firebrands shape how outsiders view the group they anoint themselves speakers for, so the less vocal, more chill fans of something get painted with the same brush as however the outsiders view the firebrands, which is usually negative because notoriety is easier than esteem.

[Perd]

It's one of Britney Spears' better songs.

[SsnakeBite, the No1 Frenchman]

I blame Twitter.

Okay, I should probably elaborate. Social media in general seems to be increasingly designed to prevent any sort of meaningful discussion, either encouraging or straight-up only allowing for very short answers that make it impossible to develop an argument and therefore makes trading insults and impotent catchphrases the only possible form of interaction between people of differing opinion, creating an increasingly hostile climate. You can't say anything constructive in 140 characters or less, but you can insult them, or pretend to actively support a cause without having to actually do anything about is by spamming hashtags, which is very convenient for people who have nothing to bring to the table.

Add to that the growing number of people with a "you're either with us or you're against us" mentality, who try to make themselves the living embodiment of a cause (despite usually understanding very little about it) and insist that disagreeing against them personally is insulting their entire principles, moving focus away from the real problems and placing it on their petty feuds, denying people any individuality and trying to force them into sides and you end up with a society of people who think anyone who deviates even slightly from their personal moral guidelines is free game to harass, threaten or even assault because they are an unforgivable enemy out to destroy everything their side stands for.

These people only see extremes and can't even comprehend that other people wouldn't fit these absurd caricatures. Just look at the number of people who genuinely believe they can judge an entire person because they wear a fedora or "Hipster" glasses. This in turn causes reasonable, level-headed people (which are still the vast majority, they're just a lot less vocal because there's more to life than this bullshit) to abandon this sort of topics because they feel like they've been overrun by the lunatics. Just look at how much social justice has been hurt from being co-opted by pedantic assholes who care more about self-promotion, proving their moral superiority and waging war against anyone who doesn't blindly praise them.

This is not helped by the more and more permissive attitude towards extremist behaviour, with a lot of people refusing to come down on harmful behaviour because they don't understand the difference between freedom of expression and giving aggressive assholes privileges over the rest of the population. Of course, to make things worse, there's also a lot of people declaring really innocent stuff to be extremist behaviour (again, check out the fedora hysteria).

May 15, 2017 16:28:09 GMT -5 Mister Pigwell said:

Really my point is communities just need to police themselves to fight this crap. Moderation maybe, maybe just people coming together and saying "dude, be better than that".

A-freaking-men.