Fandom is so toxic right now

[Armus]

The internet attracts hate like sugar attracts flies; it reveals the worst aspects of fandom. There are a lot of fans who don't like the new Doctor Who, or Star Wars, or Star Trek, and they don't represent the toxic losers who spend too much time trashing anything that doesn't meet their expectations.

 

[XCV330]

It's too easy now to shut off contact from anyone but those you agree with, and through that barrier hear only the loudest of those you disagree with. An echo chamber would be bad enough, but one that allows only unfiltered madness to permeate its walls is even more troubling. And after only a short while it becomes difficult to understand that you are as much in that chamber as those beyond the walls you've immured yourself behind.

Fandom allows an even tinier echo chamber box with which to retreat into.

The answer is difficult but it is going to have to happen. People need to get out and deal with people they wouldn't normally deal with. There has to be some kind of unifying factor.

I think people should join bowling leagues, personally. You meet all kinds of people in a bowling alley, and if you join a league, you'll find yourself alongside them, united in one of the most noble pursuits humanity has ever aspired to: knocking down wooden pins with a big bowling ball. you get to talk to them, realize you don't agree with them about much of anything, but they are people, just like you, and they will learn the same. And you'll make friends you never thought you could.

Go bowling, world. Or curling, that looks kind of fun too.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Thank you for proving my point.

Um, no. All he did was disagree with your assessment of the character. That's not the same as accusing you "of being part of that toxic fanbase."

 

[Nyotarules]

It's easy to be toxic when you are not face to face with the other side, and no one knows your real name or where you live. I suspect most toxic fans are cowards hiding behind anonymous tech.

 

[XCV330]

It's easy to be toxic when you are not face to face with the other side, and no one knows your real name or where you live. I suspect most toxic fans are cowards hiding behind anonymous tech.

I used to think, generally speaking, we all just wanted to be happy. I kind of thought that was the goal, for better or worse. But now, I honestly think some people really strive and work hard to be unhappy and spread it around. It doesn't make sense, but the evidence is all around.

 

[Jayson1]

I used to think, generally speaking, we all just wanted to be happy. I kind of thought that was the goal, for better or worse. But now, I honestly think some people really strive and work hard to be unhappy and spread it around. It doesn't make sense, but the evidence is all around.

I don't know about that but people do tend to focus on the negative. People want to be happy I think but people also love to complain and focus on the negatives in life. Misery is more compelling and I think feels more real since I don't think many people in life are ever truly happy. I think look at happiness like it's a Halmark Card which naturally it will never match up in real life so you got to take it out on something and it ends up often being your favorite shows or movies.

Jason

 

[Armus]

Personally I find talking about what I like, and learning how to better describe why I enjoy it, much more satisfying than criticizing what I loathe. So if I criticize something, I try to keep it in the context of praising something I do value.

 

[Kemaiku]

Fandoms have always had toxic elements going back decades now. Every one of them has unsavoury groups, individuals, etc

Having been a part of a couple of dozen actively at least at some point over 15 years online, you will always run into them. Even the smallest and seemingly nicest will have pretty nasty followers.

People are far more vocal in general these days. It's hard to remember at times that as many new things you see every day that are toxic, you have as many people making an effort to make things better within those fandoms too. It's just going to stick in your mind more seeing someone say something racist/sexist/homo+transphobic than it is someone who created a beautiful piece of artwork because one will upset your day more.

What seems to differ is there are more fandoms than ever, we have 24/7 access to not only it but everyones thoughts on it, with probably everyone that bit more on edge lately.

 

[JD]

I don't know, it does seem like things have gotten worse in the last years.
I try my best to just ignore it, but sometimes it does get aggravating and depressing to see just how big of asses people are capable of being.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Fandom has always been toxic. It's just that the internet has magnified it, giving vocal minorities their own private soapboxes to yell out their displeasures.

 

[Turtletrekker]

Thank you for proving my point.

What point was that? I said nothing toxic. I simply disagree with you. Or is disagreeing with you how you define toxicity?

 

[Jedi_Master]

Fandom has always been toxic. It's just that the internet has magnified it, giving vocal minorities their own private soapboxes to yell out their displeasures.

I disagree. Fandom has been (until the last decade or so) universally supportive, gathering regularly, creating fanworks, purchasing products, and promoting the thing they loved. Yes, there have been individual fans or even small groups of fans who have complained about some changes in long-standing properties, but the foundations of toxic fandom (entitlement, bias, self-reinforcement, aggressive anti-factualism) have really been cemented in the Internet age.

 

[Owain Taggart]

I disagree. Fandom has been (until the last decade or so) universally supportive, gathering regularly, creating fanworks, purchasing products, and promoting the thing they loved.

That might be down to perspective and what you've personally experienced. But it's always been there in one form or another.

I even feel that in certain cases, producers have engaged in toxic behaviors and only made things worse.

 

[Jedi_Master]

That might be down to perspective and what you've personally experienced. But it's always been there in one form or another.

I even feel that in certain cases, producers have engaged in toxic behaviors and only made things worse.

Disgruntled fans, and fans who complain about various changes - yes...
But baked in bias, hatred, entitlement, self-reinforcement? Those are modern phenomenons.

 

[Turtletrekker]

Toxic fandom dates back to, at the very least, Paramount daring to put forehead ridges on the Klingons and to them daring to put a bald French man on the bridge of the Enterprise.

 

[Jedi_Master]

Complaining about changes is not "toxic" - serial harassment of actresses, particularly ones who are women of color, threats against various figures (again, primarily female) that are involved in the creative design of a show or film, and other quasi-criminal acts... that is toxic.

 

[The Nth Doctor]

I disagree. Fandom has been (until the last decade or so) universally supportive, gathering regularly, creating fanworks, purchasing products, and promoting the thing they loved. Yes, there have been individual fans or even small groups of fans who have complained about some changes in long-standing properties, but the foundations of toxic fandom (entitlement, bias, self-reinforcement, aggressive anti-factualism) have really been cemented in the Internet age.

You clearly weren't a member of this board (or a lurker) in the early 2000s.

Hell, if you used this board as an example, things have gotten considerably nicer. That or Bonz chucked the worst parts into the nine circles of hell.

 

[Armus]

There will always be toxic negativity on the internet, but now that older TV and film franchises, like Star Wars a 40 year old film series, are changing to reflect the larger percentage of women and minorities in the market, a minority of older fans will use the internet to voice their disapproval of casting more women and minorities. I think that will pass in time.

 

[Turtletrekker]

Complaining about changes is not "toxic" - serial harassment of actresses, particularly ones who are women of color, threats against various figures (again, primarily female) that are involved in the creative design of a show or film, and other quasi-criminal acts... that is toxic.

Agree with the latter entirely, but not with the former. Toxicity takes all shapes, forms and sizes. Are you telling me I don't remember all of the horrible toxic stuff that was said in 79 and 86? All the horrible and toxic stuff that was said against Bermen and Braga in later years? On these very boards? Because I can assure you that I do.

 

[Jedi_Master]

Threatening someone's livelihood or wishing that harm (professionally or personally) comes to them, is toxic, and is part of what I consider to be "quasi-criminal" acts.