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taraljc's LJ got me thinking about what it takes to be considered part of a fandom. Now, as with a lot of things dealing with media and so forth, you're not really going to get any three people to agree on a single definition. But I'm going to throw one out there anyway.
First off, I'm talking now about specific fandoms, not generic ones. In other words, "comics fandom" is too broad to come under this definition, but "X-Men comics fandom" is borderline and "Pyro fandom" is definitely covered.
Second, this isn't meant to be a "fanlier than thou" measure. It's not to compare the fannishness of different people. Rather, it's intended to help people rank their own interests. Because, when you're a media geek, you probably LIKE a lot of stuff but reserve your LOVE for only a few.
( Test behind cut. )
Okay, that seems like enough. Off the top of my head, I'm not sure where to draw the line between "casual interest" and "member of the fandom", bit given the extreme nature of most of these items, 3-4 is probably the dividing line. One or two can be flukes, after all (for instance, I've attended conventions for mainly social reasons, rather than because I was heavily into the topic of the convention), but once you've done three or four of the things on this list, you're probably Of The Fen. And some fandoms are harder to score in than others, especially focused fandoms that don't have conventions and have little to no merchandise.
For reference, I got a 6 for Transformers, and I'm pretty active in the fandom. #11 is a lot harder for Transformers than it is for, say, comics (a dozen or so comics pros know me on sight, for instance). On the other hand, I only have 1 point (2 if you're lenient) for Galaxy Rangers.
Later addition: I score 6 on Shadowfist (buy everything, stories, art, webpage, pros know me, I've been credited). I also score 2 for White Wolf games (11 and 12 only). :)
taraljc's LJ got me thinking about what it takes to be considered part of a fandom. Now, as with a lot of things dealing with media and so forth, you're not really going to get any three people to agree on a single definition. But I'm going to throw one out there anyway.First off, I'm talking now about specific fandoms, not generic ones. In other words, "comics fandom" is too broad to come under this definition, but "X-Men comics fandom" is borderline and "Pyro fandom" is definitely covered.
Second, this isn't meant to be a "fanlier than thou" measure. It's not to compare the fannishness of different people. Rather, it's intended to help people rank their own interests. Because, when you're a media geek, you probably LIKE a lot of stuff but reserve your LOVE for only a few.
( Test behind cut. )
Okay, that seems like enough. Off the top of my head, I'm not sure where to draw the line between "casual interest" and "member of the fandom", bit given the extreme nature of most of these items, 3-4 is probably the dividing line. One or two can be flukes, after all (for instance, I've attended conventions for mainly social reasons, rather than because I was heavily into the topic of the convention), but once you've done three or four of the things on this list, you're probably Of The Fen. And some fandoms are harder to score in than others, especially focused fandoms that don't have conventions and have little to no merchandise.
For reference, I got a 6 for Transformers, and I'm pretty active in the fandom. #11 is a lot harder for Transformers than it is for, say, comics (a dozen or so comics pros know me on sight, for instance). On the other hand, I only have 1 point (2 if you're lenient) for Galaxy Rangers.
Later addition: I score 6 on Shadowfist (buy everything, stories, art, webpage, pros know me, I've been credited). I also score 2 for White Wolf games (11 and 12 only). :)
