Your analysis gave me a lot to think about. It's insightful and accurate, although I admit it took me aback slightly because it places me closer to the Fanlib end of the spectrum than the "fandom" end of the spectrum.
In their world, you are judged by the product you produce, or at least the product you can promise you will produce, not by the social ties you have.
Uh oh. I think that's my world, too. Although I enjoy the social contacts I've gained through my involvement in fanfiction (I've been reading/writing Tolkien fanfiction for five years), social contacts weren't the primary reason for my involvement, and they remain a fringe benefit, so to speak. Maybe because my focus remains primarily on fanfiction itself, rather than on "fandom" in a broader sense, I would regret losing an objective sense of the quality of the "product" in favor of "judging" authors by their network of social contacts.
In fact, social ties in the manner which fandom employs them, that is, social ties used for being social, are essentially valueless in FanLib’s world. Since in their world value is judged by the products produced, the idea that the social interactions themselves are what are most highly valued is incomprehensible to them.
I hate to say this but it's kind of incomprehensible to me too. Not passing judgment on others who feel differently, it's just not what I'm here for. I hope I never get to the point where I judge the quality of a story by the length of the author's flist.
I completely agree that Fanlib has horribly botched every aspect of its interaction with the fandom, and fell flat on its face barging into an established, self-contained, self-sufficient society and promising to show us the light and the truth and the way. There's a stunning level of arrogance and condescension there. Just wanted to get across that even those of us who are here primarily for the fanfiction rather than the socializing are just as offended.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2007-05-26 03:33 pm (UTC)In their world, you are judged by the product you produce, or at least the product you can promise you will produce, not by the social ties you have.
Uh oh. I think that's my world, too. Although I enjoy the social contacts I've gained through my involvement in fanfiction (I've been reading/writing Tolkien fanfiction for five years), social contacts weren't the primary reason for my involvement, and they remain a fringe benefit, so to speak. Maybe because my focus remains primarily on fanfiction itself, rather than on "fandom" in a broader sense, I would regret losing an objective sense of the quality of the "product" in favor of "judging" authors by their network of social contacts.
In fact, social ties in the manner which fandom employs them, that is, social ties used for being social, are essentially valueless in FanLib’s world. Since in their world value is judged by the products produced, the idea that the social interactions themselves are what are most highly valued is incomprehensible to them.
I hate to say this but it's kind of incomprehensible to me too. Not passing judgment on others who feel differently, it's just not what I'm here for. I hope I never get to the point where I judge the quality of a story by the length of the author's flist.
I completely agree that Fanlib has horribly botched every aspect of its interaction with the fandom, and fell flat on its face barging into an established, self-contained, self-sufficient society and promising to show us the light and the truth and the way. There's a stunning level of arrogance and condescension there. Just wanted to get across that even those of us who are here primarily for the fanfiction rather than the socializing are just as offended.