January talking meme: my longest-running fandom

slashedsilver asked “Which fandom of yours has lasted the longest? What draws you to it? What has changed about it over time?”

Potter’s definitely lasted the longest; it was the fandom I initially found and got into, and I’m still here… fuck, nearly eight years on. Aside from the obvious - I’ve met so many great people here, so I stay even though I read vastly less fic than I used to - I stay because it’s big and active, there’s always something else cool going on; because it’s stayed with journaling platforms, which are my favourite way to fandom; because there are a lot of cool, varied characters with different relationships, which is really great for a multishipper like me; because I like the world, and I like reading and writing fantasy. I also think it’s partly because the source has such a mix and meld of genres that it really lends itself to massive variety in the genre and style of its fic. Slapstick comedy and dark dystopia both have a way in, an element of canon to sort of hook themselves onto. Whereas with something like Avengers or White Collar, the tone of the source material means that the genres that feel right to me are much more limited.

How has it changed over time? IN SO MANY WAYS. I have a feeling much of HP is becoming more multishipper or multifandom or both, probably because we have fewer new fans and it tends to be the way people go as they spend more time in fandom generally. And Tumblr, probably because it takes a lot less effort to reblog than to post or comment, seems to breed multifannish people - people self-identify in bios and profiles and even LJ friending memes as fannish about way more stuff than I remember being typical. There are fewer epic-length fics and waaaaaay less meta. But the three biggies as far as I’m concerned (although I know I’ll think of something else the second I post) are

( the dominance of fests )

( the shift in platforms - this goes outside HP, of course )

and ( the passing of the crown of The Crazy Fandom, and the rise of the Cult of Nice )