See... I mean that even when readers use the term "content" or "content consumers" or the like. It very much gets on my nerves. I am a writer who writes stories. I am not a content producer.
On archives, community was built by commenting. That's how, in my early years in the fandom, I met people who are still friends: we commented on each others' stories. It was possible to have that sense of community simply because of that reaching out. That said, the larger part of community came from off-archive places like the Yahoo!group and Livejournal/Dreamwidth. Discord has replaced that. (I don't know too many people who use Reddit for fandom. I know they exist, but it's not a place I would ever think to go to.) It's not a bad thing. But the size of AO3 makes it difficult to get to know each other via comments in the same way smaller archives do.
But I think that's largely not what I meant. It feels like, to me, that unless you are constantly writing and posting fic, you are irrelevant to fandom. You don't matter because you're not prolific or talking up whatever you're working on or just being around 24/7. It feels like there's no space for those of us who are quieter or slower or who can't talk about what we're actively working on or hope to write in the future. We are shut out from the community because we're not what the community wants.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rosecarmine
(no subject)
Date: 2022-10-09 11:48 pm (UTC)On archives, community was built by commenting. That's how, in my early years in the fandom, I met people who are still friends: we commented on each others' stories. It was possible to have that sense of community simply because of that reaching out. That said, the larger part of community came from off-archive places like the Yahoo!group and Livejournal/Dreamwidth. Discord has replaced that. (I don't know too many people who use Reddit for fandom. I know they exist, but it's not a place I would ever think to go to.) It's not a bad thing. But the size of AO3 makes it difficult to get to know each other via comments in the same way smaller archives do.
But I think that's largely not what I meant. It feels like, to me, that unless you are constantly writing and posting fic, you are irrelevant to fandom. You don't matter because you're not prolific or talking up whatever you're working on or just being around 24/7. It feels like there's no space for those of us who are quieter or slower or who can't talk about what we're actively working on or hope to write in the future. We are shut out from the community because we're not what the community wants.