Vent: Fans Who Give Fandom A Bad Name
Oct. 6th, 2008 03:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fangrrl_squees(and, by extension, drive me up the fuckin' wall)
This was provoked by a remark, elsewhere on LJ-land. As things are a little quiet at the office, I think I'll vent some spleen...
- Anyone with a stated mission of "freaking the mundanes". This ain't Fight Club and you don't have the right to try shifting someone's paradigm without engaging the clutch. Extra high-voltage lightning points go to anyone who cites being oppressed by organized religion / heteronormativity / the mainstream media as a justification for such behavior, as such reasons are utterly without merit.
(edit: I'd like to add that, yes, there is a difference between refusing to feel self-conscious about one's fannishness, particularly when in a fan-friendly environment - such as a convention - and deliberately setting out to upset someone)
- Related to the above: Cheerfully strutting your stuff is one thing, forcing non-consenting folks to participate in your exhibitionism fetish is something else entirely. Learn the difference and respect it. In my case, this one seems to crop up a lot at BayCon.
- Folks who fail to follow the 6/2/1 rule. Six hours of sleep, two meals, one shower - every day. Okay, sometimes it's more like 4/2/1 for some of us, but we try!
- Speshul snowflakes of any kind. You know who I'm talking about.
- Anyone who asks the question "Why...?" without understanding that the answer is almost certainly "Money". "Why aren't there more guests? Why did the con change hotels? Why did the registration fee go up?" etc.
- The fan who thinks their registration ticket and a seat in the conference room entitles them to engage whoever's on stage in a one-on-one conversation throughout the guest's presentation. You want rapport? Try cornering the poor sod in the bar, if you can. Otherwise let them speak. (For some reason, this phenomenon seems particularly bad at Alexander James concerts.)
- Anyone who buys into any us-vs.-them mentality within a chosen fandom. We're all fans, alright? Just accept that sometimes, we aren't going to agree. If you can't embrace the diversity, at least tolerate it. Extra high-voltage lightning points to the pompous fans who feel the need to explain to folks - in exquisite detail - why they're wrong, sad and deluded. Please, oh please, don't be Comic Book Guy.
- To quote Dave Barry, a person who is nice to you but rude to the waiter is not a nice person. Don't ask me why, but I've seen attendees at SF cons treat hotel staff in appalling ways - patronizing, dismissive, rude, high-handed and, of course, stingy when it comes to tips. If you don't want to tip waitstaff, don't go out to eat. And leave a tip for the maid who cleans your room, dammit. $2 per person, per day. If I can manage it, most of y'all can too.
Feel free to share your own little rants. We might as well get it out of our systems all at once...
This was provoked by a remark, elsewhere on LJ-land. As things are a little quiet at the office, I think I'll vent some spleen...
- Anyone with a stated mission of "freaking the mundanes". This ain't Fight Club and you don't have the right to try shifting someone's paradigm without engaging the clutch. Extra high-voltage lightning points go to anyone who cites being oppressed by organized religion / heteronormativity / the mainstream media as a justification for such behavior, as such reasons are utterly without merit.
(edit: I'd like to add that, yes, there is a difference between refusing to feel self-conscious about one's fannishness, particularly when in a fan-friendly environment - such as a convention - and deliberately setting out to upset someone)
- Related to the above: Cheerfully strutting your stuff is one thing, forcing non-consenting folks to participate in your exhibitionism fetish is something else entirely. Learn the difference and respect it. In my case, this one seems to crop up a lot at BayCon.
- Folks who fail to follow the 6/2/1 rule. Six hours of sleep, two meals, one shower - every day. Okay, sometimes it's more like 4/2/1 for some of us, but we try!
- Speshul snowflakes of any kind. You know who I'm talking about.
- Anyone who asks the question "Why...?" without understanding that the answer is almost certainly "Money". "Why aren't there more guests? Why did the con change hotels? Why did the registration fee go up?" etc.
- The fan who thinks their registration ticket and a seat in the conference room entitles them to engage whoever's on stage in a one-on-one conversation throughout the guest's presentation. You want rapport? Try cornering the poor sod in the bar, if you can. Otherwise let them speak. (For some reason, this phenomenon seems particularly bad at Alexander James concerts.)
- Anyone who buys into any us-vs.-them mentality within a chosen fandom. We're all fans, alright? Just accept that sometimes, we aren't going to agree. If you can't embrace the diversity, at least tolerate it. Extra high-voltage lightning points to the pompous fans who feel the need to explain to folks - in exquisite detail - why they're wrong, sad and deluded. Please, oh please, don't be Comic Book Guy.
- To quote Dave Barry, a person who is nice to you but rude to the waiter is not a nice person. Don't ask me why, but I've seen attendees at SF cons treat hotel staff in appalling ways - patronizing, dismissive, rude, high-handed and, of course, stingy when it comes to tips. If you don't want to tip waitstaff, don't go out to eat. And leave a tip for the maid who cleans your room, dammit. $2 per person, per day. If I can manage it, most of y'all can too.
Feel free to share your own little rants. We might as well get it out of our systems all at once...
no subject
Date: 2008-10-06 11:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-06 11:55 pm (UTC)Another couple showed up halfway through and talked about the delicacies of certain situations ("What should you do if someone smells REALLY FOUL?").
The panel was at 1 but we wrapped at about 1:45 as we ran out of stuff to talk about. We primarily chatted about the 6:2:1 rule, ribbon ettiquette, touching/glomping, respecting guests of the Con during their paneling (as well as respecting other con-goers during paneling), and not being antagonistic. (For example, the three shmucks last year at BayCon at the Hyatt who dressed in almost NC-17 bondage gear and went over to the side of the hotel where the Catholic Evangelists were having their conference...JUST to piss them off.)
no subject
Date: 2008-10-06 11:59 pm (UTC)Hence my growliness about folks who set out to "freak the mundanes" and/or forcibly share their exhibitionism fetish with non-consenting folks...