Homestuck fandom, accountability, and you
So. I’ve seen a lot of posts around on tumblr and FB about how bad the HS fandom was at SacAnime Winter 2017. I wasn’t around that group at all this con, but I do have some thoughts.
One of the problems with the HS fandom seems to be a lack of accountability within the fandom itself. Besides that for some unfathomable reason it attracts younger and/or less mature fans (especially at the con this happened at, which seems to have that demographic to begin with), people within the fandom seem to have one of two reactions: participate in or otherwise let the misbehavior happen, or try to separate themselves from the fandom as to not be seen with the bad parts. Either way, people within the fandom who may be misbehaving don't have any sort of role models or anyone they can trust and respect to tell them to knock it off with their bad behavior. (Believe me, if I had seen the bad behavior, I would have said something, but I wasn't around the big groups of Homestucks this con so I just have to take everyone's word for it that they were especially bad this time around.)
Another problem, tied into the first one, is that a lot of people have moved on from active participation in the fandom. A lot of us are still fans of the comic, but since we've been in the fandom for a while and the comic has now ended, we may not have motivation to participate in the cosplay scene since it's already been done and we want to do new things, not the same fandom we've been doing for the past 5 or more years. (I'm sure that there are also plenty of fans who left the fandom due to harassment or because they were tired of the other people in the fandom. Some of that has factored in to why I've mostly stopped with HS cosplay as well as the above reasons.) This means that a lot of the people who either matured with the fandom or who were older and/or more mature going in to the fandom have left and moved on, and what is left is the younger and/or less mature crowd. The bad reputation of the fandom doesn't exactly help people want to participate in the fandom publicly, either.
The HS fandom has always had a bad reputation, especially in Sacramento, but it seems like it was especially bad this time around. I'm personally of the type who has moved on to other fandoms but also doesn't want to feel like I'm babysitting kids 10 ~ 15 years my junior. I used to run all-ages HS fandom events (anyone remember Dinnerstuck?), which became 21+ fandom events, when then stopped, because I got tired of constantly being "fandom parent." (That and a few legitimate safety concerns with having it all ages.) When I am around Homestucks, I try my best to help set the tone for the interaction, but a lot of us who are that type have moved on to other things. (Hell, I had to clean up a spilled drink that wasn’t my own in winter 2016 because a group of HS cosplayers I briefly chatted with spilled it on the floor right in front of me and then left it, even after I asked them to get paper towels from the nearby restroom to clean it, so I had to go to the restroom and get the towels myself, grumbling the whole time. If there was security staff nearby I would have grabbed one of them and asked them to help flag down some cleaning staff.)
It's all rather unfortunate, but there needs to be a change of the culture of this fandom from within, but at this point...I'm not sure if it's possible, given the momentum it has on the current track. Since the fandom has gone down significantly in size recently, the bad elements are proportionally much larger.
For those still active participants in the fandom, or who witness the behavior, it's not enough to distance oneself from it and say "I'm not one of those Homestucks," but a new example needs to be set, and people need to call others out in person when bad behavior happens. If there’s something that’s potentially unsafe, causing a fire hazard by blocking hallways, or possibly causing damage to the facilities, and the individuals or group doing it aren’t listening when you tell them to knock it off? Get con security. Give them one warning, and then get con security. This kind of behavior needs to stop. They’ll get mad, act like they’re being singled out, whatever else, but they’ll get over it. People within the fandom need to show a willingness to take responsibility for their own actions, but taking responsibility for the actions of others only gets so far, since those people then never learn to take responsibility on their own.
I don’t want to see HS get banned or anything, but there needs to be a culture of accountability within the fandom. I honestly can’t believe I’m STILL making HS PSAs in 2017. I’m so, so disappointed in you all.
