Tumblr Free Day

[kitewithfish]

Last night I had the bright idea of removing the Tumblr app from the homepage on my phone (not deleting it! Just moving it out of sight) and man, I am glad I did. I keep reflexively looking for it when I have a minute to myself, because Tumblr was good for distractions and new stuff and pretty pretty art, but not for community. 

Whereas anytime I open up a DW window I end up with nine tabs and three replies to write because To Be A Fan On DW is to be a chatty, chatty human being. XD

Does the social media you're using effect who you are on that platform?  I tend to think it does, but I am betting people have other experiences.

I have tried to establish Kitewithfish as Who I Am in fandom with little IRL crossover, so most of my online stuff is as a version of myself slightly detached from people who might google my name. Who I am online with fannish folks is different than I am with people on, say, Facebook, but it's pretty close to who I am in person. I have mostly kept FB a Fandom Free Zone for me, since god, that site gives me the Heebies AND the Jeebies, but I happily chat about fanfic with people who know me in life, tho I am coy about usernames. 

Comments

[yalumesse]

Habits are so hard to break! And yes, platform matters hugely to me. On tumblr I said almost nothing because it made me uncomfortable that my words would end up on strangers' blogs and I'd never know about it. I keep fandom life and real life separate.

[thenewbuzwuzz]

Ah, HERE the link was! I just read "Fan is a Tool Using Animal" for the first time, loved it, thank you!

[tropicsbear]

I'm very paranoid about keeping my fandom and IRL sides separate (exceptions are made for friends I made in my uni animanga org). My Facebook gets very generic fangirling content and none of my fanworks.

[kitewithfish]

A function of Tumblr v DW different methods of getting media in front of your eyeballs, I think.

On Tumblr, this is The Discourse: only the most controversial opinions got widespread bc the posts were reblogged by the True Believers, the Moderates Softening the Position, and the Absolutely Opposed. The fight makes things *more* visible. To avoid it all, you'd have to end up blocking even the people who are commenting to register their opposition - which, hell, sometimes I did.

On DW, the wankery has to be hosted by someone at their journal or community, and it's more contained - you have to go looking for it. It spills out, yes, but to get the full details you have to go back to the source of the wank, and blocking one person can really effectively remove a lot of fanwank from your life.

Honestly, my view on blocking was honed by Facebook. I block people and delete comments with gleeful abandon and I've ended up with a reasonably civil bunch of folks who I like to hear from. Fandom, learn to block. It's fine.

[kitewithfish]

Blissful social media silence is a gift. I mostly use FB to keep up with a loose collection of college chums and local community issues that I want to keep track of, so I do keep my hand in, under a pseud, but mostly as a lurker and commenter.

DW is a gift and the community has been largely fairly genteel in its kerfuffles. *fingers crossed*

[kitewithfish]

Here's hoping!

[kitewithfish]

My IRL facebook is under a pseud as well, actually, with zero tagged pictures. Screw their TOS - I'm not letting people screenshot me without having to lay a papertrail.

[kitewithfish]

Yeah, there is that. The "oh, shiney" quality of Tumblr cannot be understated.

The odd cultural expectation that we'll friend everyone on FB who we know IRL is just... why? I don't need more straight(TM) people either. I have Enough Heterosexuals.

[kitewithfish]

If I'm open about fandom with someone online I'm pretty open about RL stuff, but I absolutely don't mention fandom stuff around people IRL unless they let something slip. I was teased about fandom stuff pretty harshly in middle school so I literally never bring it up unless someone else does first.

Grrr! That ticks me off! I was lucky enough to be in a semi-nerdy group that some of them were tuned into Harry Potter fanfic, so it was only slightly weird. But yeah, I was pretty closedmouthed about it until I recently, when I just decided that, screw it, my social circle can deal with it. Not at work, but I'll get fannish about things with people in my life and it has slowly pulled a few people into the pit with us.

[kitewithfish]

Concur - there's an element of re-learning to ride the LJ bike with DW, and figuring out what people will read and what's worth investing the time in. Tumblr is just a nice collection of pretty things, really.

[kitewithfish]

I adore this - "Well, I tried being mindless and unengaged and then, dammit, I'm making meaningful connections with people!"

[kitewithfish]

On tumblr I said almost nothing because it made me uncomfortable that my words would end up on strangers' blogs and I'd never know about it.

Ugh, THAT. I've never been sure if that was a function of the notifications system being so convoluted and bad or if it was from people reposting, or what, but man, I saw that same thing happen to so many people.

[kitewithfish]

I don't think my FB gets *any* fan related stuff, honestly. Maybe a little bit about the Marvel movies when I go to see them, but largely, there's nothing there that marks me fannish at all.

[tropicsbear]

I make the occasional, "This movie was great!" posts on FB but I reserve the depths of my fandom flailing for either my fandom Twitter or Dreamwidth. My aunts do not need to know how much I love buff fictional men. (Honestly, if it wasn't for FB Messenger, I'd probably delete my account lol.)

[kitewithfish]

Sigh - yeah - but drama will find you and the internet is, in fact, real, so why let the bastards get you down.

[bayliss]

Shit... I was there for MsScribe and her Million sock puppets. I was there for most of Cassie Claire's bullshit, too. Pretty much any wank that occured on LJ I saw and watched like a train wreck.

Hell, I was plagiarized and Impersonated on LJ, so yeah. (it was 57 stories total. around 30 of them were mine, I think.) I understand the need to keep shit separated, but I still like to be authentic. Honestly, If someone from Real life googled me all they would find would be my Pintrest, Facebook, and Instagram. LOL that's the way I want it. :-)

[alchemistdoctor]

Also, the lack of 'spreading' information by reblogs means that when you see an opinion blogged by someone, it's their opinion, and their responsibility. I think DW has a lot more responsibility involved about posting things you can stand behind.

[alchemistdoctor]

This is just a solid agreement with what you said. We don't have a like button here. :)

[kitewithfish]

oh, yeah, I totally buy that. Even if you are linking to drama, you have to choose to do that with a new post and then probably add original commentary on it - no shortcuts, all our linking is artisanal, hand coded links.

[kitewithfish]

oh, god, cassie fucking clare - I legit cannot believe she had a tv show made from her stuff. Like, my mind is just, *explodey head*

[multiplelizards]

I've got some really great friends now who I'm pretty open about fandom stuff with and it's fantastic. I mean, we do eventually find each other, lmao. I was never a super outspoken person to begin with so it's not like that ever changed a whole lot, I was just more careful about who I brought fandom stuff up with.

[potboy]

<3

[bayliss]

I sold a couple of her books to some teenage girls when I worked at Walmart a few years ago.

Legit I said, "Oh i read these when they were still Harry Potter Fan fiction and she was accused of Plagiarizing parts of them."

The girls looked at me like I had a third head.

I still have never read any of her books, nor watched anything based off of her shit. ( I am, in fact, a petty old bitch when it comes to her.)

[kitewithfish]

I'm torn between being more amused that the tiny humans assume that you a) don't know about fanfic or b) would not dare mention it in public, or c) had no idea Cassie Clair wrote fic and was the source of fandom wank back in the day. We're in post 50 Shades reality here, anything goes.


I still have never read any of her books, nor watched anything based off of her shit. ( I am, in fact, a petty old bitch when it comes to her.)

Preach!

[sylvaine]

Yeah, for sure, I think you've hit the nail on the head - higher costs, but also higher rewards!