#fandom behaviour

[ao3demographicssurvey2024]

The AO3 Demographics Survey 2024 was an unofficial demographics survey of 16,131 AO3 users conducted in January 2024. We have just finished posting our initial results, so here is just a taste of the graphs and data you can check out now over on AO3!

The anonymised dataset from this survey is now available for researchers.

A full list of the survey questions with links to the relevant data is below the cut!

Demographics

How old are you?

Do you identify as LGBTQ+ in any form?

What is your gender identity?

Do you identify as any of the following? (LGBTQ+ related identities)

What is your sexual orientation?

What is your romantic orientation?

What is your race?

Is English your native language?

Which geographic region best describes your current place of residence?

Which religious or spiritual tradition(s) do you believe?

Do you experience the following? (Disability, Neurodivergence, and Health Conditions)

Usage of AO3

Which of the following AO3 activities have you done in the last twelve months?

How frequently do you use the following methods to find works on AO3?

In a typical week, how long do you spend on AO3 or reading downloaded AO3 works?

When did you begin using AO3, with or without an account?

When did you create your first AO3 account?

What languages do you use for reading and posting on AO3?

Works You Post On AO3

Which of the following types of works do you post on AO3? (Media)

Of the works you post on AO3, how often do you post works with the following ratings?

Of the works you post on AO3, how often do you post works focused on the following types of relationships?

Of the works you post on AO3, how often do you post works in the following genres/tags?

Of the works you post on AO3, how often do you post the following types of works? (Format & Miscellaneous)

Works You Consume On AO3

Which of the following types of works do you consume on AO3? (Media)

How much do you enjoy works with the following ratings on AO3?

How much do you enjoy works focused on the following types of relationships on AO3?

How much do you enjoy works in the following genres/tags on AO3?

How much do you enjoy the following types of works on AO3? (Format & Miscellaneous)

Fandom Beyond AO3

Which of the following types of fanworks have you consumed in the last year?

Which of the following types of fandom activity have you done in the last year?

Which of the following websites or apps do you currently use for fandom activities at least once a month?

Which of the following websites or apps have you previously used for fandom activities, but no longer regularly use?

When did you first begin participating in fandom?

How many fandoms have you considered yourself a part of in the last five years?

Which of the following types of media do you participate in fandoms for?

[akookminsupporter]

Not OT7 Enough

I suppose a lot of us were far too naïve to think things would actually change once the members finished their military service. Maybe we were too optimistic, thinking the fandom would clean itself up, that the rubbish would finally be taken out, that whoever stayed behind would be the real fans, the ones who truly respected every single member of the group.

But unfortunately, that’s not what happened. Or at least, it’s not what happened when it comes to Jimin. Surprised? I’m not. Not entirely. But it still makes me sad. It hurts to see that nothing has really changed. In fact, it’s worse now. It’s gone beyond just being an online issue, where people can hide behind a screen and say whatever stupid thing they want. It’s starting to spill into real life. And that’s terrifying.

And you know what? I blame the so-called OT7 fans. They’re the ones responsible for this. They’re the ones who let it happen. They’re the ones who keep letting it happen. Because they never did anything. They still haven’t done anything. And until that changes, nothing else will.

Not when it comes to Jimin.

They still believe, or they just keep pretending, that this isn’t a serious issue. That the haters, the people who genuinely despise Jimin, are simply shippers being weird. And honestly, that’s absolute nonsense. The people who think like that, or worse, say those things out loud, are a huge part of the problem. They are the problem. Not the shippers, not even the haters entirely, but the so-called fans who sit there and do nothing while all this happens. The ones who’ve allowed this group of people to grow and take up so much space, to gain so much power within the fandom. The power they use for one thing only: hating Jimin. Because let’s be honest, they don’t use that power for anything else. Not to support their supposed faves, not to boost charts, not to do anything remotely positive. They only use it to tear someone down. And that someone is always Jimin. It’s pathetic. It’s disgusting. It’s infuriating to watch the same thing happen again and again. The same cycle is repeating itself endlessly.

Every single time there’s drama or negativity around one of the members, it always ends up being Jimin who gets dragged into it. Always. Especially when it’s about Jungkook or Taehyung. Every damn time. And we really need to talk about that. I’m not blaming Jungkook or Taehyung; they’ve got nothing to do with it, but I am blaming the people who claim to be their fans. Because the ones doing this are always the same people. They’re the ones who say they’re a fan of one of those two, or even worse, they call themselves fans of the ship involving them.

And you know what’s worse? Everyone sees it. Everyone knows it’s happening, but they act like it’s not real. Like it’s just shippers’ drama or people being dramatic online. No. It’s not. It’s bullying. It’s targeted hate. And it’s been going on for years. And the fact that people just watch it happen, say nothing, and even justify it, says everything about what this fandom has turned into.

This fandom is hypocritical. It’s dishonest. It’s rotten at the core. People talk about love and unity and supporting all seven, but when it comes down to it, they only care about some of the members, and even then, they only care about their own little delusions. Everything else is expendable to them. They don’t want peace; they want control. They want to decide who gets love and who gets hate.

You all claim to support all seven members, but you do absolutely nothing when it comes to defending Jimin. You don’t say a word on your socials, you don’t speak up, and it’s even worse when you’re running big fan accounts. If you have a large platform and you’re not calling out the treatment Jimin gets almost every single day from a group of people in this fandom, then you’re part of the problem. Staying silent is part of the problem. Not saying enough is part of the problem. If you stay quiet, you’re still part of it. Silence makes you complicit. Pretending it’s not your issue doesn’t absolve you. Not doing enough, not saying enough, not caring enough, all of it feeds the same cycle.

How is it even possible that between yesterday and today, I’ve already seen at least two big pro-Jimin and pro-Jikook accounts suspended on Twitter? Why? Because they were reporting that insane woman who literally went all the way to Korea just to spread hate at Jimin’s dad’s café. And I haven’t seen a single major BTS account - NONE - speaking up about it. Not one.

At least not on my timeline. Maybe they exist, and if they do, please send me the link, because I’ve seen nothing. Nothing. The only people I’ve seen talking about it are Jikookers and Jimin-focused fans, the ones who are actually doing something, reporting, speaking out, trying to stop this madness.

Meanwhile, the big BTS fan accounts, the ones who claim to protect the group, have stayed silent. Completely silent. And that says a lot. Actually, no, it doesn’t just say a lot. It says everything.

You know how so many fans love to guilt-trip others for not buying enough albums, not streaming enough, not watching music videos as much as they “should”? They act as if you don’t do all that, you’re a bad fan, a fake fan, someone who doesn’t really care. They treat being a fan like it’s a full-time job. Well, those same people should be the first ones to speak up, to complain, to call things out when one of the members they supposedly support is being treated horribly online. They should be the first to reject, to kick out the ones spreading hate in the fandom.

But they don’t. Oh sorry, correction, they don’t when it’s about Jimin.

When it’s about Jimin, suddenly you only read: it’s “just shippers,” or “it’s not that deep,” or “he’s not even online, he’s not seeing any of it.” When it’s about Jimin, it’s always “calm down,” “don’t overreact,” “don’t overanalyse.” When it’s about Jimin, it’s always “oh, but he’s such a good person, he’d understand if another member won this or got that.”

When it’s about Jimin, it’s always excuses. Always minimising. Always silence. When it’s about Jimin, people suddenly want to be peaceful, mature, quiet and rational. But when it’s about another member? All bets are off. It’s chaos. It’s outrage. It’s hashtags and mass reports and articles written about it within hours. But not for Jimin. Never for Jimin.

When it’s about Jimin, everything goes quiet. That’s when big accounts suddenly decide to “take a break.” That’s when some of them mysteriously “get sick” or “need to focus on their mental health.” That’s when they vanish. Every. Single. Time. When it’s Jimin, there’s always a but. There’s always a pause. There’s always silence.

But not from the Jikookers. Not from the actual Jimin fans. Not from the people who genuinely care about him and about the group. Because we’re still here. We’re still speaking up. And yes, that includes Jimin fans who also love the group. That includes Jikookers who defend Jimin and also support everyone else. Because those people, we are the real fans. Maybe we don’t buy a million albums, maybe we’re not streaming robots, but we defend Jimin online, we protect him, we protect the others too, as best as we can.

That, that, is what being a real fan actually means. And the rest of you? Honestly, you can fuck right off.

The reality is ugly. The fandom has become taekooker. That’s the truth, as simple and as ugly as it is. It’s full of people who pretend to care about the group but spend their time spreading hate towards Jimin. And it’s not just sad anymore, it’s revolting. Because they’ve made this environment so toxic, so unbearable, that it’s no longer fun to be here. You can’t even enjoy being a fan without seeing some ridiculous post dragging Jimin for absolutely nothing.

The problem isn’t being a fan of Taehyung and Jungkook or being fan of the ship. That’s not the issue. The problem is that those shippers are absolutely vile. They’re disgusting. Some of the worst people I’ve ever seen online. Their favourite target is always Jimin. For them, it’s not about enjoying their ship, or having fun with whatever they imagine or create. No. For them, the most important thing is hating Jimin. Saying awful things about him. Making things up about him. Insulting him at every possible moment.

Being a Taekooker isn’t about loving Jungkook and Taehyung. It’s about hating Jimin. And that’s the problem.

So yeah, I’m angry. Because it keeps happening. Because no one with any real influence ever calls it out. Because everyone prefers to pretend it’s not that deep. But it is that deep. It’s cruel. And it’s exhausting to see the same people being protected while Jimin is constantly treated as the scapegoat.

And until people stop pretending, until they admit what’s really happening, nothing will ever change.

[diximixy]

I love it when people make jokes about my/their favorite characters and their storys, but for example with the Emperor it can be very hit or miss. When his fans do it it's hilarious and charming but when people who hate him or just don't really get his character do it, it all just rings hollow.

His fans make fun of him for being a mafia accountant and acting like it's way cooler than it actually is, him sucking ass at being manipulative and his disguise shown in the flashbacks being stupid. Which are all fair points and things that people who don't pay much attention to him would miss.

When haters joke it's basically always about tadpoles this tadpoles that, or making fun of fans for "falling for his manipulation"...in what world are those things funny. The first is just reducing a character to the most basic known fact about them which because of that obviousness is just a bore and the second being making fun of and bullying real people which is just not funny.

If you can't make a joke about a character be about their actual character traits or their actions in the story and not just the most basic of those then maybe you just don't need to do so. And don't bully people god damn it that's just basic human decency.

[weirdcoregal35]

Fandoms be like

(Tw ahead)

“Oh, they’re so in love!!”

And then it’s the MOST parent and child family relationship to ever exist.

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(images are NOT mine. Credits to original owners)

…Sometimes, I hate being in my fandoms.

[vorchagirl]

Lmao. Omg. The mods from my friends discord who want to police AI have seen the post and are sending me anons.

Are these guys teenagers? For real. This behaviour is something else.

[roswayward]

I'm going to go on a rant here but i honestly get REALLY annoyed when people go too far with hating on the movies , I've seen people who insult movies only fans and go as far as insulting their intelligence

and im going to say something that might be controversial but reading the books doesn't automatically mean being superior with knowledge and understanding of the series

i have seen book readers who still hated on katniss and peeta getting together despite reading katniss thoughts and feelings , and people who defend Coriolanus 's actions despite reading his inner dialogue and knowing the psychotic and disgusting thoughts he has especially towards tigris and sejanus and lucy gray yet people still rooted for and defended him and demonized sejanus or lucy gray despite of all the kind things they do in the book

so reading the books doesn't atomically mean superiority it's how people chose to interpret the story even when they have the source material they still will misinterprete it

So PLEASE PLEASE FOR THE LIFE OF ME STOP 👏 HATING 👏 ON THE 👏 MOVIES 👏 AND THE PEOPLE WHO ENJOY THEM 👏

granted these types of fans are a minority but when they show up they take it too far with hating on the people who like the movies it feels like a personal attack because im a movies only fan

you guys can love the books and disagree with the choices the movies made but don't take it to the point of insulting people who enjoy them and it is their only exposure to the franchise and their intelligence some don't have time to sit down and read and enjoy watching instead of reading so let people enjoy the franchise however they consume it

and i feel like i should mention this again in case people forget about it suzzane doesn't hate the movies and is involved and asked in making them , she was impressed by the costume design and was happy when Jennifer Lawrence was going to portray katniss and she liked Elizabeth banks portrayel of Effie that she used the Mockingjay movies as an opportunity to expand on Effie 's character it was both her choice as well as the directors and they discussed the scripts with her and film crew and actors talk fondly of her and the story and she vices versa and have photos with the lead actors and those are just the examples that I know of I'm sure their is plenty more but the point is that suzzane have a good relationship with the people involved in the movies and she liked how they brought her story to the big screen

[silviastoll]

I need people to start understanding that these are people. They are people who do this because they love the sport. because they're hungry, they want to win. Every loss hurts. They are performing on the highest stage possible in their sports. FOR US. THEY ARE ENTERTAINMENT TO US.

BUT TO THEM? IT IS THEIR LEGACY, IT IS EVERYTHING THEY WORKED THEIR ENTIRE LIVES FOR.

They are PEOPLE. and people deserve kindness and respect. and if you are incapable of that then you're not a fan.

I can say with absolute confidence that I do not hate any of those men. I don't care about some of them, I find some of them to be boring to watch as drivers. But I would NEVER send hate mail to them or their families. I would NEVER send racist messages. I would NEVER insult them to their faces.

You can hate their team. You can hate their engineers. You can even hate the drivers, but keep it to yourself. Don't make it their problem, its a you problem, keep it to yourself. They do this for the love of the sport. The car performing badly isn't the drivers fault. The team making a bad call or showing preferential treatment isn't the drivers fault.

I am so new to this sport, like this year levels of new. But I know one thing, and that's fandom. You cannot be a fan of something and hate those who love it. Those boys love driving those cars, they love this sport. They would not push like they do if they didn't. How dare you attack and diminish everything they worked for just because your favourite isn't winning. How dare you.

edit (12/08/2025): i would like to add, since some people have come at me for this, that this is not me endorsing any drivers or saying we should not hold them accountable for racism, homophobia, zionism, Islamophobia, sexism or anything of the sort. That shit is unacceptable and should not be forgiven. This post is about attacking drivers for things that aren't in their control or aren't their faults.

[elnotwoods]

the fuck are you so deeply invested in other peoples lives that you stalk them, send them and their friends death threats, absolutely lose your shit about who they date (or if they even date).. like these actors owe it to you 🫵 a tumblr/socmed rando to have any of these informations! like imagine you doing this to a colleague, a random person you found attractive in the store or whatever.. and then you take it to such lengths that you stalk, fucking pay money to get tarot readings on these people, have people analyse their body language, doxxing their loved ones.. you seriously need to reevaluate why you waste your precious time on this earth to be this involved, so parasocial.. these actors already gave you access to their vulnerability with their portrayals of characters we love, they do not owe you more!