Gale talks: Salt in Fandom
I have touched on the concept of salt in fandom Multiple times. But when it comes to fandoms, I notice how Broad this term has become.
There are multiple types of salt, and multiple meanings attributed to salt.
In this post, I will be going over the different types and meanings of salt.
Lets start with the different types of salt:
Canon salt: When someone has a problem with the general canon of the show, Mainly when the show goes in a direction the fan is not happy with. If the show is episodic, this can be called Creator salt, Writer salt or (episode title) salt. Canon salt usually involves a lot of rants that claim how bad this decision was. Reasons from doing character/s wrong, dumb lore drops, retcons, etc. This covers problems with the show’s plot. (Side note, Creator salt also can be unrelated to the canon, but often involves twitter or instagram)
Character salt: This is when someone has a problem with a specific character. Often this can range from finding them annoying to hating them like if they were Hitler. This is also the type of salt some consider the most ‘toxic’ but this is subjective and I feel falls short to one other type. Character salt is also the most broad in its definition. One can have character salt if they find a decision a character made dumb, or if one simply wishes to bash them with extreme prejudice. Character salt is often the result of Canon, Fandom, or Ship salt. The salt on the character is more concentrated because a lot of people find it easier to blame one character rather then issues with others or the show.
Ship Salt: Ship being short for relationship. Ship salt refers to the relationship between two characters. Ship salt is 99.9% referring to romantic relationships, it is more rare then striking oil to find salt or hatred on a Platonic relationship (Though not impossible,). Ship salt is often caused as a result of the ship interfering with one’s personal favorite ship. Though there have been cases where ship salt has been caused by one’s issue with canon, an issue with the fandom, and/or Character salt. Ship Salt is often considered the most toxic as one’s Ship is very personal and not agreeing with one’s ship can be seen as the equivalent as kicking one’s pet. Many fandom scholars agree that Ship Salt is most mentally toxic to ingest and before considered salt. Some salt goes so far that one would even be considered an Anti-shipper, as to say one dislikes the ship so much, that they go to great lengths to oppose it.
Fandom salt: The ‘Full circle’ salt. This occurs when someone finds the fandom they are in to be annoying, toxic, or just unbearable. This is the salt where one reflects on the fandom they are apart of and points out just how insane the salt that the fandom has towards Canon, character/s, other ships, and even other fans of the show. Fandom salt is considered to be a double edge sword, as to call out the fandom is to acknowledge potential faults of one’s own, or worse, to be considered a ‘Boot-licker’. Fandom salt can also be toxic just like the other salt, but it is less likely as Fandom salt usually involves the person being self-aware. But this is not always the case.
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Now Salt comes in multiple levels. Though the definition of salt is simply ‘Criticism a person has with something’ but it has become far to broad in certain fandoms. Now the definition of what is salt varies from person which results in “Everything negative” being considered salt. But I have been able to narrow down the Main types of ‘Salt’:
“The Critique” Salt: This is salt in its most common form and the true definition of salt. This is when a person has a reason for not liking a certain thing. This version of salt is ‘Not’ hatred of the thing they have salt with. This version is simply pointing out the problems. You can tell this type of salt by the language used explaining it, often citing reasons or previous canon. This type of salt is often used on Canon salt and Character salt. This type of salt can also be used on Ship salt, but it is hard to come by if the ship it is ‘Critiquing’ is popular. This type of salt is one that most people dont have a problem with, in fact it can be healthy. Allowing one to have a new view on something. It is also used to inspire new works/ fix it fics. Which are always fun to read.
“Spite” Salt: This brand of salt is the most frequent type of salt one sees when it comes to Character and Ship salt. This type is the more feral, emotional salt. This brand of salt is often used to Bash a character the person doesnt like. Often the ‘Spite’ salter will try to sound like a critique, especially if their interpretation of the character is OOC, often trying to transcend smarter by saying “Oh its simply what could be if they went too far” or “It is the next step” or that degree of pretentious. Spite salt can also form Anti’s in Ship salt. Though interestingly, Spite salt in Ships can result from not hating the ship, but the shippers themselves.
“Pure Sodium” Salt: The highest level of toxicity. When someone hates a certain thing to such an illogical degree that they completely rewrite everything about it to make it so the Salter can hate it more then anything else in their life. Often trying to trick people into reading prompts that have negative things about the thing they hate. It is apparent when one find it, and it is the most tragic of the levels of salt, since when one has reached this level, Reason is out the window. They are just nothing but hate and Bile for whatever it is they are hating. Its like the ‘Rabies’ of the fandom. Once it has reached the foaming of the mouth phase, its too late.
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I hope this helped those who needed help understanding what salt is, and I hope we can alter the tags more so we can have. people that want to criticize fairly not be lumped in with the pure sodium peeps.
