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*climbs on soapbox*
Dear Numb3rs fandom,
You know I love you. I certainly haven't stuck with you over the last four years not to feel invested. On the whole, I find you intelligent, funny and a generally pleasant fandom to hang out in. I've met some great friends in the fandom. Without you I wouldn't have met my ninjas, my Evil Overlord (who I have met in person), some of the best of the fandom's fanfic writers, the N3.org mods, and the help I needed to set up things after Recapist fired everyone without warning. You are, on the whole, full of wonderful, awesome people.
Therefore, please, stop cannibalizing yourself. When it happens in other fandoms, it's never pretty. Newbies can be irritating due to their enthusiasm to the old-timers. Old-timers can seem condescending to the newbies because the newbies aren't used to the unwritten rules. Sometimes we disagree, vehemently. I wish I knew how to fix the problem, but all I can offer are suggestions.
On disagreements: Take Robin (squee!) for instance. Some people (like me) love her. Some people don't. I have a serious investment in her staying. Despite this, I can't jump in and defend her every time someone slags her. I'd go crazy. Plus, my icon (Team Robin: We're Awesome) on certain sites says it all. We can agree to disagree without making it personal.
On character hatred: Right now, Nikki is bearing the brunt of the hatred. If you don't like her, fine, but stating it over and over again just comes across like you think you have some control over what TPTB will do. You don't. Ever. If my long-standing joke about a shoutout, world peace and a pony doesn't prove that, then nothing will. I know for a fact that one of TPTB has read my recaps (not all, probably only a couple because I don't think I'm that important in their daily existence) and yet I don't fancy myself as having any influence on the show. If you want wish fulfillment, read fanfic. There are some great stories out there.
On BNFs: We have them. Unfortunately, this means that people want to take them down a peg. This also means there are people who fancy themselves BNFs because of the volume, not value of posting / opinions / fanfic / pictures / etc.. BNFs can come and go. You might not be one now but you may be a couple of seasons down the road. Trying to build yourself up by trying to take down a BNF, by making it personal, or slagging the character of someone else or just spreading your version of events, isn't fair to anyone. Plus, it's really beneath most people. I was unlucky enough to find myself in the midst of an incident like that recently where I found out that someone started recapping because I "quit" and "stopped posting." I could copy and paste the whole message, but the important part is the connotation of the message. By saying I "quit" it completely negates the upset and shock I had at Recapist's closure. Therefore, what people may not realize is that they are touching a personal sore point, when all they think is they're invoking someone else's name to build themselves up. Should I have gotten involved, no. If only I could be as rational as I'd like but even though I'm barely limping along a theoriginalspy.com, I am still around. Does this mean other people can't recap? They can't offer their thoughts? No, but I'm still around. Would I call myself a BNF now? No. But the implication I'm completely irrelevant does sting, a little. I use my personal example, because I can't speak for anyone else and wouldn't assume I could. There are some people who need to remember that.
Anyway, because you're an intelligent fandom, you can take or leave my little soapbox plea. This is just my way of getting out some frustration over what is going on. I realize I have no control over what you do.
Remember, I still love you.
Spy
PS: Seriously, play nice, do not be passive aggressive and cover it up with faux-intellectualism.
*climbs off soapbox*
Dear Numb3rs fandom,
You know I love you. I certainly haven't stuck with you over the last four years not to feel invested. On the whole, I find you intelligent, funny and a generally pleasant fandom to hang out in. I've met some great friends in the fandom. Without you I wouldn't have met my ninjas, my Evil Overlord (who I have met in person), some of the best of the fandom's fanfic writers, the N3.org mods, and the help I needed to set up things after Recapist fired everyone without warning. You are, on the whole, full of wonderful, awesome people.
Therefore, please, stop cannibalizing yourself. When it happens in other fandoms, it's never pretty. Newbies can be irritating due to their enthusiasm to the old-timers. Old-timers can seem condescending to the newbies because the newbies aren't used to the unwritten rules. Sometimes we disagree, vehemently. I wish I knew how to fix the problem, but all I can offer are suggestions.
On disagreements: Take Robin (squee!) for instance. Some people (like me) love her. Some people don't. I have a serious investment in her staying. Despite this, I can't jump in and defend her every time someone slags her. I'd go crazy. Plus, my icon (Team Robin: We're Awesome) on certain sites says it all. We can agree to disagree without making it personal.
On character hatred: Right now, Nikki is bearing the brunt of the hatred. If you don't like her, fine, but stating it over and over again just comes across like you think you have some control over what TPTB will do. You don't. Ever. If my long-standing joke about a shoutout, world peace and a pony doesn't prove that, then nothing will. I know for a fact that one of TPTB has read my recaps (not all, probably only a couple because I don't think I'm that important in their daily existence) and yet I don't fancy myself as having any influence on the show. If you want wish fulfillment, read fanfic. There are some great stories out there.
On BNFs: We have them. Unfortunately, this means that people want to take them down a peg. This also means there are people who fancy themselves BNFs because of the volume, not value of posting / opinions / fanfic / pictures / etc.. BNFs can come and go. You might not be one now but you may be a couple of seasons down the road. Trying to build yourself up by trying to take down a BNF, by making it personal, or slagging the character of someone else or just spreading your version of events, isn't fair to anyone. Plus, it's really beneath most people. I was unlucky enough to find myself in the midst of an incident like that recently where I found out that someone started recapping because I "quit" and "stopped posting." I could copy and paste the whole message, but the important part is the connotation of the message. By saying I "quit" it completely negates the upset and shock I had at Recapist's closure. Therefore, what people may not realize is that they are touching a personal sore point, when all they think is they're invoking someone else's name to build themselves up. Should I have gotten involved, no. If only I could be as rational as I'd like but even though I'm barely limping along a theoriginalspy.com, I am still around. Does this mean other people can't recap? They can't offer their thoughts? No, but I'm still around. Would I call myself a BNF now? No. But the implication I'm completely irrelevant does sting, a little. I use my personal example, because I can't speak for anyone else and wouldn't assume I could. There are some people who need to remember that.
Anyway, because you're an intelligent fandom, you can take or leave my little soapbox plea. This is just my way of getting out some frustration over what is going on. I realize I have no control over what you do.
Remember, I still love you.
Spy
PS: Seriously, play nice, do not be passive aggressive and cover it up with faux-intellectualism.
*climbs off soapbox*
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