What does it take to be a fan?

[Lord Garth]

I think gatekeeping is a over used term for what is really just passion and taking something way to serious.

I think of a gatekeeper as being against anything the "new" series or movies do. Even if they claim they just want something "good", nothing "new" will ever give them what they deem as "good", so they'll have a problem with anything the "new" stuff does, whether they mean to or not. I don't doubt that they're sincere when they say they hope for something they'll like but, because of their mindset, it'll likely never happen.

I put "new" in quotations because the series or film might not even be new, but it comes from after a certain cut-off point. Whatever that is for them.

@justaiesha take note that any fandom of anything that lasts long enough (usually 10 years or more) will have fans that only like the old stuff and will resist and/or be skeptical of anything new. It's just like with music.

 

[Jayson1]

I don't think they are impossible to please but it can be hard to do while also making something that new fans would like as well. It's always good fortune when you can get something like The Mandolorian that pleases almost everyone.

Jason

 

[DarthTimon]

I think of a gatekeeper as being against anything the "new" series or movies do. Even if they claim they just want something "good", nothing "new" will ever give them what they deem as "good", so they'll have a problem with anything the "new" stuff does, whether they mean to or not. I don't doubt that they're sincere when they say they hope for something they'll like but, because of their mindset, it'll likely never happen.

I put "new" in quotations because the series or film might not even be new, but it comes from after a certain cut-off point. Whatever that is for them.

I remember the furore when the 2009 film was on the way. Some fans were bitterly against it, months before it premiered. It was hate for hate's sake.

 

[fireproof78]

I remember the furore when the 2009 film was on the way. Some fans were bitterly against it, months before it premiered. It was hate for hate's sake.

Still baffles me to this day.

 

[Lord Garth]

I remember the furore when the 2009 film was on the way. Some fans were bitterly against it, months before it premiered. It was hate for hate's sake.

Even a year-and-a-half to two years before. One night, in very late-2007, when I was a moderator in the Kelvin Forum, I handed out seven (!!!) warnings in one night. That was the point when I decided, "The Hell with this!" and stepped down as a mod altogether soon after. By the time the film came out, I had next to nothing to do with the board anymore.

But on the flip-side, when the movie came out, everyone I knew was asking me about my take on the film. They were coming up to me like "He's the expert!" I enjoyed it so I told them, "I thought it was pretty good!" It was a canned answer but if I talked about it with everyone who came up to me asking me about it, I never would've gotten anything done.

I can only imagine what it must've been like here.

 

[TimeIsAPredator]

I think of a gatekeeper as being against anything the "new" series or movies do. Even if they claim they just want something "good", nothing "new" will ever give them what they deem as "good", so they'll have a problem with anything the "new" stuff does, whether they mean to or not. I don't doubt that they're sincere when they say they hope for something they'll like but, because of their mindset, it'll likely never happen.

I put "new" in quotations because the series or film might not even be new, but it comes from after a certain cut-off point. Whatever that is for them.

@justaiesha take note that any fandom of anything that lasts long enough (usually 10 years or more) will have fans that only like the old stuff and will resist and/or be skeptical of anything new. It's just like with music.

It works both ways as yes there are gatekeepers like you say but also plenty of fans who have legitimate criticism of the new shows and get painted as gatekeepers by people who are essentially blinkered new show gatekeepers

 

[Lord Garth]

It works both ways as yes there are gatekeepers like you say but also plenty of fans who have legitimate criticism of the new shows and get painted as gatekeepers by people who are essentially blinkered new show gatekeepers

I didn't like ENT or Star Trek Into Darkness. So, yes, there are people who are in the middle.

 

[Noname Given]

That you enjoy/like the show enough to stay interested in it and keep watching.

(All the lobbing about of the "True Fan" label (IMO) is nonsense <--- And this coming from someone who saw TOS on NBC first run and has been watching and enjoying Star Trek in its various forms - with the exception of ST: VOY which I never watched much past S1 .)

 

[CorporalClegg]

I think gatekeeping is a over used term for what is really just passion and taking something way to serious. Everyone who complains ends up doing something like that for something they enjoy eventually anyways. Especially when you get older. All those fans who love lets say Rey in Star Wars will be in 30 years pissing and moaning when they find out she spent the rest of her life a moisture farmer and now it's up her son to learn from her mistakes and go out into Space and be a Hero and she was wrong to just sit back and let the Sith come back again.

I think of a gatekeeper as being against anything the "new" series or movies do.

You guys are thinking of the Mere-exposure effect.

Gatekeeping is just as it implies. It's people standing outside the Star Trek fence - or a bouncer outside Club Star Trek if you'd rather - with a list they deem quantifiable and objective to allow admittance. But of course the list is completely arbitrary and subjective.

Usually it's just annoying. But sometimes it can lead to nefarious trouble. See videogame culture and women*.

*Really all nerd culture and women. It's just that videogames gained the most newsworthy attention.

 

[Lord Garth]

You guys are thinking of the Mere-exposure effect.

Gatekeeping is just as it implies. It's people standing outside the Star Trek fence - or a bouncer outside Club Star Trek if you'd rather - with a list they deem quantifiable and objective to allow admittance. But of course the list is completely arbitrary and subjective.

From now on I'm going to call them "Star Trek Bouncers" instead of Gatekeepers.

"Where's your ID?!?!!!"

 

[TimeIsAPredator]

From now on I'm going to call them "Star Trek Bouncers" instead of Gatekeepers.

"Where's your ID?!?!!!"

Sorry sir but I can't let you in wearing a DIS uniform. It's club policy

 

[Jayson1]

Things would be so much more simpler if everyone just ran their opinions by me and then I can give a thumbs up or down on them and then move on. No major conflicts. Answers figured out quickly and efficiently and wisely since it's me accepting or denying something. This is how you solve the problem. You shrink gatekeepers into a single gatekeeper.


Jason

 

[TimeIsAPredator]

Things would be so much more simpler if everyone just ran their opinions by me and then I can give a thumbs up or down on them and then move on. No major conflicts. Answers figured out quickly and efficiently and wisely since it's me accepting or denying something. This is how you solve the problem. You shrink gatekeepers into a single gatekeeper.


Jason

Are you the gatekeeper?
I am the keymaster

 

[K1productions]

Are you the gatekeeper?
I am the keymaster

Some of us nerds may see that quote as a subtle way of asking someone out :P

 

[CorporalClegg]

Venkman certainly did.

 

[justaiesha]

little update: I got a 1st (top marks) for this essay so thanks guys.

 

[justaiesha]

It's a snarky answer. But only because I find the question is so silly.

It's implied gatekeeping, which I fucking despise.

wasn't a silly question after all!

 

[Lord Garth]

little update: I got a 1st (top marks) for this essay so thanks guys.

Congratulations!

 

[Gov Kodos]

I'm doing a report for uni about fandom (people's taste in tv shows e.t.c) and I'd love to know what makes you a 'true' fan and what separates you from mainstream viewers. Fast replies would be amazing coz the essay is due in 4 days

Parsing about what makes a true fan, complaining about canon compliance or lack thereof, pontificating on the relevance of Gene's vision and if there ever was one, and of course, diversity- what is it, is it needed, was it ever enough.

 

[Dryson]

Making fun of the Egg Plant Queen and her Andorian Blue Splashes of Life suiters is up there for certain.