Starboarding

Synonyms:	one-sided shipping, unrequited love
See also:
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

In some fannish circles, the term starboading is used to describe one-sided shipping, or "shipping" a character being in unrequited love with another character. According to TV Tropes, "the term comes from the fact that Starboard is the naval term for the right side of a ship [...]. Thus a Starboard is one side of a ship."

Like with ships where the love is presumed to be requited, this can be support for a "pairing" that is either supported or unsupported by canon. Unlike more mainstream shipping, if the love is ever requited in canon this may cause the "starboarder" to Abandon Shipping precisely because it has become canon.

Whereas a more conventional ship is usually displayed in fanfic summaries and stuff as, say, Bob/Alice or BobxAlice, a "starboard" seems to displayed with an arrow thus:

Bob → Alice