Fandom Police

Synonyms:	fannish policing, policing fandom, fanpol, fan posse
See also:	Antishipping, Callout Culture, Dogpiling, Fandom Wank, Puriteen, Ship War
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Often in fannish conflict, one or both sides may claim that the other is acting as Fandom Police, repressing or censoring other fans in what they consume, create, and talk about.

This sometimes occurs during Ship Wars.

It can also be used sarcastically, referring to older fans or BNFs as gatekeepers, or the non-existence of any formal regulation of fandom.

In the mid-2010s, a Purity Culture in Fandom arose, mainly on Tumblr, arguing that problematic content, such as rape, incest, or under-age sex, should not be allowed anywhere including Archive Of Our Own. As of 2019-2020, the abbreviation fanpol became popular.

Fan Comments

1995

FAN POSSE: Often enough at Escapade to pique my curiosity, and now here in the apa, fans say that they don't want to write certain kinds of stories because of the negative reactions of fan.

Who are these fans?

Why is everyone so scared of them?

Couldn't we gang up on these other fans and scare them?

The Fan Posse (or the Fan Police) as I have been known to call them. I don't think that there's an organized group out there intimidating other fans (at least I hope not.) I think, instead, that it may be more of a problem of writers writing for positive feedback (as many of us do) and not being willing put the work into something they think they won't get stroked for. But that's just my guess. On the other hand, here does seem to be a problem with some fans wanting to make (and then enforce somehow) "rules" of fandom. [C] & I have refused to be the Fan Police @ Escapade, and have passively resisted others' attempts to make us conform to their rules for dealers, zine copying, and so on.

Meta/Further Reading

• Yes You Are Allowed, a 2014 Tumblr post by shinelikethunder
• That took TOO LONG, fandom., a post by ethrosdemon on Live Journal on July 22, 2008.
• Like, i’m not saying that adults don’t have a place in fandom. they can and they do, and many are perfectly great people. a part of a 2017 Tumblr post by onethousandroaches
• On fandom content and policing, a 2018 essay by fozmeadows.

See also

• The Three Laws of Fandom
• AO3 Content Discussion (2016)