I don’t use it as much now because my friends are all in different fandoms, but if you joined fandom only in the Tumblr/Twitter era YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT YOU ARE MISSING.
1. Threaded comments that don’t have to be replied to with a whole separate post
2. Profile pages so you could find out about a person and also check out their followers to see if you know people in common/find other people into what you’re into
3. Communities for fic, and newsletter communities for fandoms that rounded up daily news (actor stuff, pics, videos, etc)
4. Much better signal to noise ratio (not seeing the same thing 15 times or having to install xkit just to make your dash readable and filter out fandoms you aren’t in)
5. Just a way, way more grounded sense of where and who people are, instead of shouting into a crowded room all the time
This is my third go-around with Tumblr and fandom, and it’s only manageable now because I’m following hardly anyone (sorry guys). I really cannot wait until somebody makes something that combines the ease of image-posting on Tumblr with the actual content of LJ, because I feel like this place encourages you to be silent.
Shhh, don’t make an original text post, no one wants to read that, especially if it’s just about your personal life (which you couldn’t lock/filter anyhow). Shhh, don’t add text to that reblog, just hide your comments down in the tags, where people have to scroll to see them. Shhh, all you can contribute is a picture of an actor that’s probably already been posted with six different edits to the tag. Just reblog, baby.
I love fandom and fans and it makes me so sad, too, to see what’s been my culture for going on 20 years now get eroded and lost. I don’t know where fandom will be in another 20 years but I’m guessing the history of my chunk of it (Usenet, mailing lists, personal websites, LJ) won’t get carried on.
gummygunk
2087
prguitarman
annaxmalina
theartofmadeline
