I take for granted that some things should go without saying because I’m Fandom Old and some people haven’t seen the things I have. So for those who are unfamiliar with this stance-
Put it away. Don’t come back. Don’t think about it again. If it’s really bothering you, inform them that they need to tag that kind of material. That’s what the tagging system is for.
And especially, I can’t believe I’m saying this- especially do not attempt to report them to the copyright holder. At best, it’s a waste of time.
At worst?
IP holders have a really tenuous relationship with their fandom. I can guarantee you that they are aware of what a headcanon is and I assure you that they are aware of some of the worst. They try their best to ignore the worst ones. It is, in general, not worth it to laser-focus in on a single private person’s non-profit projects in relation to your brand.
But let’s say you get what you want- you alert the copyright holders of the offending person and you get their work scrubbed from the Internet. You won!
You have not only opened a can of worms, but you have crashed into the front window of a tackle shop.
There is now precedent for the IP holder to investigate further. And please understand that the author of a series is not always the IP holder. Sometimes its the production company that has the final word on what is libel and you may not agree with the production company. So your fluffy queer coffee shop AU may in fact be in danger as well.
I know it sounds far-fetched, but I’m telling you that every generation of fandom has a story about their favorite author filing a C&D and threatening to sue twelve-year-olds for copyright infringement, or a corporation deciding that they didn’t like certain content.
Do not give them that inch. I don’t care how awful the headcanon is. It is not worth it.
If a fanwork upsets you, then find one that does not upset you and put all your energy into supporting the one that you like. And speaking from a realm of experience- a writer is so much more likely to quit writing if they receive no encouragement. Filing a C&D will only fill them with spite, and they will continue writing if for no other reason than to piss you off.
Win-win: support an artist you like and avoid a spite-write.
Please don’t take us back to the 90′s and early 00′s. Those were dark days.
Pros of being a Fandom Old:
– never have to worry about my mom finding out about my porn fic
– have seen it all before and give few if any fucks
Cons of being a Fandom Old:
– forced to work at actual job instead of writing fic all day
– have seen it all before and get regular “ugh not again” moments
I feel like with the new ~fandom drama~ or whatever going around, I should re-introduce my favorite theory of fandom, which I call the 1% Theory.
Basically, the 1% Theory dictates that in every fandom, on average, 1% of the fans will be a pure, unsalvageable tire fire. We’re talking the people who do physical harm over their fandom, who start riots, cannot be talked down. The sort of things public news stories are made of. We’re not talking necessarily bad fans here- we’re talking people who take this thing so seriously they are willing to start a goddamn fist fight over nothing. The worst of the worst.
The reason I bring this up is because the 1% Theory ties into an important visual of fandom knowledge- that bigger fandoms are always perceived as “worse”, and at a certain point, a fandom always gets big enough to “go bad”. Let me explain.
Say you have a small fandom, like 500 people- the 1% Theory says that out of those 500, only 5 of them will be absolute nutjobs. This is incredibly manageable- it’s five people. The fandom and world at large can easily shut them out, block them, ignore their ramblings. The fandom is a “nice place”.
Now say you have a medium sized fandom- say 100,000 people. Suddenly, the 1% Theory ups your level of calamity to a whopping 1000 people. That’s a lot. That’s a lot for anyone to manage. It is, by nature of fandom, impossible to “manage” because no one owns fan spaces. People start to get nervous. There’s still so much good, but oof, 1000 people.
Now say you have a truly massive fandom- I use Homestuck here because I know the figures. At it’s peak, Homestuck had approximately FIVE MILLION active fans around the globe.
By the 1% Theory, that’s 50,000 people. Fifty THOUSAND starting riots, blackmailing creators, contributing to the worst of the worst of things.
There’s a couple of important points to take away here, in my opinion.
1) The 1% will always be the loudest, because people are always looking for new drama to follow.
2) Ultimately, it is 1%. It is only 1%. I can’t promise the other 99% are perfect, loving angels, but the “terrible fandom” is still only 1% complete utter garbage.
3) No fandom should ever be judged by their 1%. Big fandoms always look worse, small fandoms always look better. It’s not a good metric.
So remember, if you’re ever feeling disheartened by your fandom’s activity- it’s just 1%, people. Do your part not to be a part of it.
A Beautiful Monster 