Y E A H
Man, lemme tell you, this transition was a TRIP to watch in realtime.
When it comes to the former, this seemed to be a time when more when fans would come together on forums or sites like DeviantArt where moderators would, well, moderate their behavior and keep things in order. I got my start in fandoms with Pokemon forums like Serebii and Bulbagarden.
It didn’t always work but it was done well enough to make sure little to nothing got out of hand. With sites for fanart and fanfiction, you could report somebody for harassment and be on your way.
Social Media sites like Tumblr and Twitter have little of this, the appeal being that no moderators means they can bitch and vent about what’s eating them without facing repercussions. No infractions, no banning, they’re free.
Said freedom is tragically easily abused and made this site what it’s infamous for it today. When you add in content creators who use this to interact with their fans, well, the ugly side of fandom will waste no time making their strike and delude themselves into thinking that they’re the good guys in all this.
When it comes to joining the more infamous fandoms like Steven Universe or Voltron, get your start on forums where the worst you’re bound to find are fanwank and nonsense. With Tumblr and Twitter, I’ve only been able to handle the bullcrap because of what I went through before…
futakuart