Fandom is so toxic right now

[Dave Scarpa]

pretty much reflects our political climate, so hateful, small minded and petty. Whether it’s Dr. Who for casting a woman, Star Trek for casting an African American woman, or changing some details, or the Walking Dead, for dealing with cast changes, it seems that fans just spew and spew. Where is the open minded dreamers that used to be part of Fandom. I’m almost ready to give up

 

[Gov Kodos]

You don't need to listen to fandom, whatever that is since it is so absurdly broad a term as to be meaningless.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

People don't like change. I still contend this only happens with established characters not new IP. No one care if a new character is black, female, gay, trans or whatever.

So why is there not more new IP? People don't like change...

 

[Tosk]

Where is the open minded dreamers that used to be part of Fandom.

Right where they've always been.

The negative side, it's always been like this. It's just easier for people to be loud now. Ignore them, nothing they say changes your life unless you let it.

 

[Butters]

If you’re listening to these people, the dickheads that spew hate, engaging with them, then you’re unwittingly part of the problem.

If everyone rolled their eyes at these nutters online and left them to get on with it alone, they’d soon find other avenues for their frustrations. Spreading misery online is easy, if they had to leave the house to do it, it would be too much effort. Don’t save them the trouble by being upset remotely. Make em work for it.

And remember, the proportion of dickheads in any random sample is always tiny, most people are alright. Fandom is no exception.

 

[Nyotarules]

Check the origin of the word fan... it explains a lot.

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

People fixate on trivia and ignore what is really screwed up with their lives? It's probably a well recognised psychological condition.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Now? Unfortunately, this is not new by any means. Fandom has always been toxic.

 

[Anwar]

People don't like change. I still contend this only happens with established characters not new IP. No one care if a new character is black, female, gay, trans or whatever.

So why is there not more new IP? People don't like change...

Because new IPs rarely sell.

 

[Ovation]

Whether it’s Dr. Who for casting a woman

Hey, HEY!!! That’s Doctor Who. Dr. Who was the non-canonical film version with Peter Cushing and doesn’t count, as any real fan would know.

 

[Saul]

Fandom has always been very toxic.

Where are the open minded dreamers that used to be part of Fandom.

Scared away for having an opinion.

 

[Phil123]

hahaha an all too realistic example/joke. (Ovation)

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

Fandom has always been very toxic.

True. I remember the months right after Star Wars premiered in 1977, and how much hate was fired between Star Trek and Star Wars fans, with some Trekkers arguing that only the simple-minded or childish found SW entertaining, and after the '79 release of Star Trek - The Motion Picture, some SW fans mocked ST fans for their movie with the "all the old people in it". It was nasty.

 

[Nyotarules]

True. I remember the months right after Star Wars premiered in 1977, and how much hate was fired between Star Trek and Star Wars fans, with some Trekkers arguing that only the simple-minded or childish found SW entertaining, and after the '79 release of Star Trek - The Motion Picture, some SW fans mocked ST fans for their movie with the "all the old people in it". It was nasty.

Whatever would those folks have done if they had social media?......

 

[bolak]

People don't like change...

I hear this line a lot in my work ( in an IT department of a non-IT company ) to excuse things we are told to change in order to save money: "Yeah the users will complain that we removed Function X, but they always complain; they don't like change. Just do it."

It'd rephrase it as "people don't like change that costs them, mentally or financially". Which is entirely logical. Do you?

If we changed the website to give every 100th visitor a free prize they'd fairly certainly like it...

 

[Kelthaz]

Yeah, on one hand you have the toxic alt-right, fanbase that makes cuts of The Last Jedi with the women removed and send disgusting, racist twitter messages to WOC forcing them off the platform. And because of this everyone is on eggshells around these franchises. You can't say that Michael Burnham is a shitty character or the new Ghostbusters sucked without being accused of being part of that toxic fanbase. And this isn't just online either; it's seeping into real life. Engaging with fandom just isn't as fun as it used to be.

 

[Turtletrekker]

Michael Burnham isn't a shitty character.

 

[Kelthaz]

Thank you for proving my point.

 

[Butters]

And the new ghostbusters was always going to compared against the classic original. An original movie can get away with being only ok, a remake has to be something really special. It wasn’t.

 

[fireproof78]

Better the devil you know-people do not like change. We simply have more ways to express our discontent.