Good Fans and Bad Fans

Fandom:	Pan-fandom
Dates:
See also:	Fan Policing, Groupies, Fan Entitlement, Purity Control, BNFs
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A long-running discussion in fandom is what constitutes good fans and bad fans.

I'm a Trekker!, a 1980 guide

Bad

• being a passive fan, simply a consumer who expects to be entertained, as opposed to being an active fan who provides labor or creates fanworks
• bandwidth thievery
• being groupies, being too obsessive (Stan)
• creating fanworks for the wrong reasons
• shipping the wrong characters (Ship Wars, Purity Control)
• fans making unreasonable demands on archivists
• giving fanworks to the actors (Breaking the Fourth Wall)
• posting fic on their own fansites without permission
• general mayhem (Thanfiction)
• not being able to tell the different between actors and characters
• hogging TPTB's attention at conventions (jealousies in Blake's 7 fandom, one of the things that led to The Blake's 7 Wars)
• being greedy and pushy when asking for autographs, not being patient in lines
• creating fanworks which are not complimentary (Black Cover)
• asking actors about controversial subjects (such as same sex relationships between characters)
• fans being too critical of canon, showrunners, characters
• fans who don't give enough (or the right kind) of feedback to other fans
• fans who aren't active enough in fan and letter campaigns
• fans who stalk actors and other TPTB (for example, sasaengs)
• asking stupid or repetitive questions of actors and other TPTB in online and in-person spaces
• being a bully and abusing power, gaslighting (Cassandra Claire)
• having the wrong priorities and/or interests
• being childish
• creating wank for fun and profit (Laura Hale)
• plagiarizing (The Cassandra Claire Plagiarism Debacle)
• creating fanworks knowing the original creator forbids it (Open Letters to Star Wars Zine Publishers (1981))
• writing in someone else's 'verse without permission (Epilogue)
• not being grateful enough to canon and the people who create it
• posting critical reviews in fannish spaces (message boards, letters of comments in zines, comments in archives) and in mainstream spaces (Goodreads)

Good

• sharing fannish items with other fans (lending zines, making recordings of shows)
• agreeing, fawning, and being only complimentary in a TPTB's space (fan comments at Someone Is Angry On the Internet)
• buying only officially licensed fan items
• supporting a poor official creation so that the next one might be better (many fans encouraged others to see Star Trek: The Motion Picture over and over again even if they didn't like it, as supporting the franchise would make it more likely to get a better movie in the future)
• devotion, loyalty, adoration, dislike of criticism
• trust TPTB to have a good plan, to tell the right story (Chris Carter Effect, many comments regarding the Star Wars franchise and the wisdom of Papa George)
• makes the world a better place, uses their fannishness for good

Changing Norms

• fandom and profit

a 1991 polemic called Application for the Grand Poo-Bah Status in BEAUTY AND THE BEAST Fandom

Protecting Fan Image from Outsiders

Protecting fan image in the wider world, the press.

Oddities, Geeks, and Nerds

Don't be too weird as fans are weird enough already.

About The Fan Who Wore a Star Trek Uniform for Jury Duty (1996):

Ugh. The image of that woman in the Trek uniform is what ruined our image in the public eye for over a decade. We're still trying to recover from the 'Trekkies' debacle. Most Trek fans have a grip on reality, and just watch the shows for entertainment. The media and the mainstream see only these extremists who take things way too far.

Much More Serious Charges

Can lead to truly horrific things like abuse, choosing to circle the wagons and cover up bad/criminal behavior at conventions and other fan spaces in order to protect fan image. Examples: Walter Breen, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Ed Kramer.

Notorious Public Fans and Cautionary Tales

• The Fan Who Wore a Star Trek Uniform for Jury Duty
• the assignation of John Lennon
• the John Hinckley Jr./Jody Foster incident
• Marion Zimmer Bradley Fanfiction Controversy and dogpiling on a fan

Fan Comments

Sure, we can sit in the fannish community and say that the person who transitions from Fan to Insane!Fan is one in 10,000; and the person who transitions from Insane!Fan to Stalker!Fan is one in 10,000 of those. But it only takes one of those to affect an individual author.

Accepting the public image of fandom is difficult, but not entirely undeserved. An attempt was made on the President's life, and John Lennon was murdered by a fan. How can we make the public understand that these people are mad and incidentally fans?

When the media gets on their 'all fans are demons and/or crazy cultists' they don't bother to say: "All Jody Foster fans are blankity, blankity, blankity." They say ALL fans.

Good fans don’t threaten the control and ownership of the powers that be. They know their place in the hierarchy. But they also understand (because they’re being told this repeatedly in small and large ways) that they are above those bad fans who have the nerve to do things for themselves, to interpret and create for themselves and for other fans, and to blatantly disregard the powers that be.

Sample Discussions

• a variety of opinions about the distinction between two terms: trekkie and trekker (1970-onward)
• Public Image by Sonni Cooper (1981)
• It's too bad that enthusiasm's been given such a bad reputation. by Stephanie Wiltse (1991)
• All I can see of fandom is something that was once beautiful which has now become painful and almost unbearable. by Beth Blighton (1991)
• Dear Negative Reader by Laurell K. Hamilton (2006)
• A Lecture from the Convention Lady by Catherine Mori (1992)
• Take the time and read before you go off and do it... by ladyamarra (2006)

Sample Fanworks

• Two Beauties and a Beast, a heavy-handed polemic on good fans and bad fans by Wendy Darling, Vincent intervenes when two panting fans pursue Ron Perlman in the park (Once Upon a Fairy Tale 1992)