We can thank the covid "fans" for the decline of fandom overall, including fanfiction. Not the ones who came into fandom naturally, who follow the rules and manners of fandom.. no.
I mean the stupid ass mainstream assholes who "found" Fandom via tiktok during covid and invaded it, and brought their expectations with them. Suddenly, fandom went from "the weird kid thing" to everyone and their mother crawling around fandom spaces.
Back before covid, there were rules. Expectations. That Fandom was for the outcasts of society's social side, ***not*** for the masses.
Now? Now we have asshole mainstreamers opening etsy shops to bind and sell fanfiction. CHILDREN are telling ADULTS what to do in KINKTOBER. There are 18/19/20 year olds online screaming that anyone who *dares* go to ao3 needs to be arrested and their devices taken and inspected. Fanfic "readers" who take unfinished ao3 works and feed them into ai because they didn't want to wait for the author to write it themselves.
They have the balls to say us, the weird ones, need to leave the space BUILT BY, BUILT FOR, the weird ones, to leave. So they feel more comfortable. Yeah. We built the space for ourselves and others like us. And the mainstream assholes want in these spaces, without respecting the LONG ESTABLISHED RULES AND ETIQUETTE.
And to those people, I say kiss my ass and either learn some fucking fandom manners, or leave fandom spaces you little brats.
Also yes. I 100000% believe fandom needs to be gatekept and HARD. We have post covid CHILDREN trying to run things, and run off the adults. You know.. the ones who create cosplay materials. The ones who run conventions. The one who run Artist's Alley. These fucking kids really think that all of fandom is 13-18 only. Fuck, I hate the mainstream covid brats.