Five Things SoyAlex Said
| Interviews by Fans | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Five Things SoyAlex Said |
| Interviewer: | Sarah Loch |
| Interviewee: | SoyAlex |
| Date(s): | October 7, 2017 |
| Medium: | online |
| Fandom(s): | |
| External Links: | Five Things SoyAlex Said |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Five Things SoyAlex Said a 2017 Q&A guest post, conducted by the Organization for Transformative Works' Communications Committee SoyAlex, then-staffer at Fanlore.
It was part of a series. See Five Things Said.
Excerpts
How does what you do as a volunteer fit into what the OTW does?
Part of OTW’s mission is to “preserve the history of fanworks and fan cultures”, which is exactly what Fanlore tries to do. Documenting what fan history I know, and helping other fans do the same, is something that really appeals to me, which is why I ended up volunteering.
Fandom is huge and multilayered, complex and incredibly rich. It’s also forever changing and unfortunately fleeting. One of the saddest things for me, when it comes to contemporary fandom, is that it shines bright, burns hot, and quickly forgets. Those fans who remember don’t always want to share their experiences, because they either don’t consider themselves “experts”, or they don’t think their personal experiences aren’t representative of the rest of their fandom.
I suspect they simply don’t realize that no side of fandom is too small to put on Fanlore, no personal experience too minor to document. You could say that my personal mission, to go along with the OTW’s and Fanlore’s, is to try and convince every fan I come across that they have something to contribute to Fanlore. I’m happy to report no restraining orders have been filed against me. Yet.
Do you have a favorite page or topic at Fanlore?
There are Fanlore editors who dedicate themselves to documenting the past. And while I sometimes do that as well, editing older fandoms or adding old favorite fanworks, what I love the most is contributing to pages of my fandoms du jour. I started my Fanlore adventure editing the heck out of the Vampire Diaries and The Originals categories, because that’s what I was passionate about when I joined. Now, I try to add as much as I can to the Critical Role fandom pages, because that multiplatform insanity needs to have its history preserved.
I love the Trope pages, mostly because it’s incredibly interesting to see what different fandoms come up with, and looking at all the fics with all kinds of tropes. Let’s just say I will never hurt for fics. There’s always something interesting to find on Fanlore. I love losing myself in the long detailed pages, and I want to hug every tiny stub that needs all the love. Every single page is shiny for me. Don’t ask me to choose a favorite…
What fannish things do you like to do?
I’m a lurker at heart. I love reading fanfics and long complex meta. Oh man, there’s nothing that compares to my love for fandom meta. I could read it all day every day.
I had a phase of watching fanvids, but nowadays I’m back to reading. And on days when I spend way too much time adding content to Fanlore, I think of myself as the fandom research librarian. My Fanlore bookmark folder is endless, full of things I want to add to the wiki. I don’t think it will ever be empty, there are so many cool things fandom makes and does… And I get to witness it all!