My memories of the golden era of the Buffy fandom

[sombrefan]

A lot of it was glorious, some of it was batshit crazy. Here's the crazy stuff, cause we're fans and we love the negative.



This is how I remember it

1) The endless (personal) Noxon bashing.
2) Snarky message boards thinking it was cool to call SMG a ****. And bitch about her weight.
3) The "Why Spike is a rapist" website and the subsequent parody of said site.
4) Tara fans refusing to believe that the show went on after season 5.
5) The bitter nasty shipping wars
6) Older fans getting annoyed with the newer fans who just wanted to talk about how hawt their favourite actors were.
7) The "I will never watch this show again" mantra after every episode aired.
8) The "why don't they just call the show Spike?", "Why shouldn't they?" debates.
9) 20th Century Fox sending C&D notices to fansites.
10) The attacks on the writers.

Comments

[sueworld2003.livejournal.com]

And your point is? I mean you name a fandom that hasn't indulged in this kind of madness now and again?

[simonf.livejournal.com]

These days there seems to be a rosy tinted view of the fandom when the show was on the air. I say piffle to this.

indulged in this kind of madness now and again?

Now and again? It was all the time. There hasn't been a wankier fandom since.

[sueworld2003.livejournal.com]

You been part of the Who fandom? The supernatural one? They're all been 'guilty' of that type of 'wank'.

It's what the hard core of every popular fandom does.

[simonf.livejournal.com]

I have seen the wank that comes out of those fandoms and it's not on the same level. Harry Potter came very close though. The wank in the Buffy fandom wasn't resticted to the hardcore, it was widespread.

[sueworld2003.livejournal.com]

Well talking to people directly involved with said fandoms I have to say I strongly disagree. Sorry.

[wondersheep.livejournal.com]

You're kidding, right?

I don't remember a widespread campaign to send death threats to Joss when he broke up Buffy and Angel, but that's what the Harmonians did when JK Rowling said Harry and Hermione would never hook up.

Also? Twilight Fandom.

[simonf.livejournal.com]

DeKnight got threats after Seeing Red aired. I think what pushed some people over the edge was him doing a really disastrous radio interview which went down like a lead balloon.

[wondersheep.livejournal.com]

Yes, but there weren't multiple kill-deknight.com web pages and the FBI didn't get involved and start slapping Conspiracy charges on fans.

Also? Buffy fandom, with 100% less rioting!

[flake-sake.livejournal.com]

These days there seems to be a rosy tinted view of the fandom when the show was on the air.

But is there really? So far I've heard lots and lots of stories about how much worse shipper wars and drama was back in the day. No rose tint anywhere in sight.

I've heard a lot of people say how the show was far better than the comics are now, but on fandom, everyone who was there seems to agree, that the show days where the time when the crazy was at it's peak.

And isn't it with all fandoms if you take a look at fandom wank?

[sueworld2003.livejournal.com]

"And isn't it with all fandoms if you take a look at fandom wank?"

IMO, yes.

[rua1412.livejournal.com]

You forgot about "let's hope Kennedy never existed"! I supported it LOL

[ubi4soft.livejournal.com]

9) 20th Century Fox sending C&D notices to fansites.

What is that?

(I came late in the fandom (online in 2008 - 2009) interested in S8 after Angel was revealed as Twilight.)

[simonf.livejournal.com]

Cease & desist notices. 20th Century Fox told fansites to take down images, fanfic and even spoilers otherwise they would take legal action.

An example of how it affected one site when season 7 was on the air.

http://www.angelicslayer.com/tbcs/spoilers.html (http://www.angelicslayer.com/tbcs/spoilers.html)

[sueworld2003.livejournal.com]

So like the Beeb was doing to Who sites at one point, and what WB did with a few Harry Potter sites.

[simonf.livejournal.com]

Yes. The 20th Century effort felt very scatter gun as in "why target that site but not this one?". It did not seem like a concerted effort to control the fandom. They may been trying to make an example but everyone ignored it.

[sueworld2003.livejournal.com]

So, yet again of 'same old, same old' when it comes to fandoms. *g*

[ubi4soft.livejournal.com]

Ouch. Thanks for explaining.

[ubi4soft.livejournal.com]

There's a site called fandom wank http://www.journalfen.net/tools/memories.bml?user=fandom_wank

and going by that index tag Harry Potter fandom has definitely more posts, but maybe because is more recent. It is also a good read of what it was in the days (I surely wouldn't survived that)

[kerry-220.livejournal.com]

Go to the Buffy page of IMDb. You can have all this and more - Right here...Right Now :-)

(Well, except 7...)

[leoff.livejournal.com]

I always loved the fact that in season 5, Giles makes one passing remark mentioning there were "3 Hellgods" and that lead to MASSIVE speculation on who the other two Hellgods were. They of course never turned up.

[simonf.livejournal.com]

Do you remember the fevered speculation about the numbers on the shirts during season 6 (or 7?).

[leoff.livejournal.com]

Oh god, yes. All the damn codes and transferring them to dates and enemies and all that...

[wondersheep.livejournal.com]

That entire summer after Restless was one big speculation-a-thon.

Good times. Good times.

[me-llamo-nic.livejournal.com]

I'm fond of thinking that the three Hellgods were Glory, Jasmine, and Illyria. I don't really have any basis for it, but it's a fun thought.

[me-llamo-nic.livejournal.com]

Fandom is a funny place. I'm glad I missed a lot of that. (In other news: SMG and Alyson are so HAWT!) Dollhouse was the first Whedon project I kept up with as it aired and that was strangely stressful.

[bitsyrant.livejournal.com]

As opposed to now.

1) The endless (personal) Allie bashing
2) Snarky message boards thinking it's cool to use SMG's words as weapons against the narrative but only when they think she'd agree with them.
3) The "Why Buffy is being raped in #34" ongoing argument.
4) Any fan who has invented a narrative that isn't Season 8 refusing to consider it canon.
5) The bitter nasty shipping wars: part II
6) Older fans and newer fans being almost completely indistinguishable because they are all acting like children.
7) The "I will never buy this comic again" mantra after each issue comes out.
8) The "Where's Spike?" "Who cares?" debate.
9) 20th Century Fox removing fantastic fan videos despite the fact that they are harmless at worst and free advertising at best.
10) The attacks on the writers

I have never seen a worse fandom than this. I don't know how Who fandom can be considered just as bad. I watched Paul Cornell with my own two eyes have a reasonable conversation with the craziest of crazy Ianto fans and it ended in a hug. A HUG. When I watch Who my experience is not marred by the awareness that huge swathing amounts of the fandom will scream about every single episode. In comparison, I haven't truly been able to simply enjoy the narrative of Buffy Season 8 because there's so much fan wank that you can practically hear the screaming yahoos in the real world. Maybe that's what Buffy was saying when she was fucking in space. "Christ, I can hear them even from all the way up here!"

[athenamuze.livejournal.com]

Maybe its where you are looking? I'm pretty involved in some parts of the fandom, but not supremely active on Whedonesque, and I've had many lovely experiences with fans. I met my best friend through this fandom and we've managed to be nice to one another in spite of the fact that we have rather opposing ships.

I have seen this stuff, for sure, and I know its out there, but the group of people constantly bitching I think have centralized to one (or two) spots.

You know...

[kuzibah.livejournal.com]

Scabs don't heal if you keep picking at them.

Re: You know...

[iidoru.livejournal.com]

Hee! I only had the loveliest experience with Buffy fandom, but
I guess I was sheltered in my little corner of the web. When the wank got too much, I hid.

[menomegirl.livejournal.com]

You forgot the influx of spam to every Buffy/Angel board on the web from Cordelia fans during the summer months after the season 4 finale aired.

[thestormcellar.livejournal.com]

Don't forget the perpetual flouncy flouncers who would run off to start their own boards, slink back with tails between their legs, then flounce off again after a few weeks.