Neos, BNFs, FMFs
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| Title: | Neos, BNFs, FMFs |
| Creator: | |
| Date(s): | Mar 5, 1994 |
| Medium: | mailing list post |
| Fandom: | multifandom |
| Topic: | |
| External Links: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Neos, BNFs, FMFs is a 1994 essay written by a Scottish fan.
It was posted to Virgule-L and used here anonymously with permission.
Another fan wrote BNFs and FMFs: Random observations in response.
Some Topics Discussed
- differences in how fans organize themselves, formally and informally
- Slash Bashes in Southern California
- BNFs
- FMF was a term used to refer BNFs and stands for "Frequently Mentioned Fan"
- are BNFs a thing of the past, from a time when there was only one big fandom?
From the Essay
I've had this sort of conversation with several visitors recently, including one Sassennach who was absolutely overwhelmed by the size and frequency of SoCal fan shindigs, and an Eastish Coaster who was more familiar with Chicago and East East Coast fan groups. For the sake of speed, all 'our' and 'us' and 'we's included here refer to the local group of which I'm one of the cogs...Anyway, our English friend couldn't quite get the structure of our group, until it was pointed out to her that we don't *have* a structure. Anarchy rules, staved off only by our wonderful [M] who very calmly does the mailing lists and picks dates for gatherings.
That's the sum and total of our 'organisation'. Our English friend was used to a) smaller gatherings, where people would actually do things as a group (watch an episode, have tea, have something to eat, pass things round, distribute stories etc). Our free-for-alls just about deafened her! or b) conventions, which are much more all-for-one than ours are. She was also used to a situation where there was (no *real* insult intended) a queen bee who basically sat in the centre and held the reins.
The Eastish Coaster was absolutely boggled by our lack of structure. *Her* experience was that when groups became as large as ours, then what happened next was that someone would be made secretary, someone else would take care of gathering funds, someone else would do the newsletter, etc etc etc, otherwise, anarchy ruled.
She seemed quite surprised that we *liked* total disorganisation! She was also completely taken aback that most of us didn't even know the *name* of the local group, and what's more, couldn't care less, and what was more, we didn't even *pretend* to having any form of hierarchy or formality. Nothing. Nada. Apart from [M] doing the mailing list/dates, and those are changed by someone saying, hey, that's wrong, or I want to be added, or I can't come that date, can we do the following week.
It's impossible to be a BNF in our group, the concept just does not fit with our bunch. Our East Coast visitor expressed darkly ominous 'hopes' that the group would be able to continue being like that, but made it clear that she doubted it and thought that all our egalitarianism would just disappear like chocolate at a con as soon as someone decided to organise the group.
We took great pleasure in telling her that it *had* been tried, and that the person in question had probably been completely blocked in her goals for the very first time in her life. Very nicely, of course, but the group simply refuses to cohese [sic] into anything other than a bunch of primarily slash fans who get together every month and have a lovely time.
Now, I had originally thought that was typical of fan groups, but I've heard murmurings from a couple of sources that this ain't so.What all that rambling is leading up to is this: our group doesn't do BNFs, and we're delighted to get neos -- if they're marginally functional, that is!
My perception was that BNF was a concept that died out with K/S being the only fandom, when the group much more clearly defined and far less dissolute (in *every* sense of the word!) than the current multiple-fandom groups. I thought that BNFism was mainly confined to the days when there was but one fandom, so what one person was doing in that fandom (Leslie Fish, par exemple [sic]) could be *very* important to fandom, as opposed to the current situation, which I see as being wonderfully wide-spread and varied, so much so that one person can't have that much of an impact anywhere--apart, perhaps, in her own branch of slash.
Anyone else agree? What about you (hee, hee, hee) old-timers? Is there a difference? Or has my impression of BNF come from muddied lore rather than what you yourself experienced? And for the neos (see, I'm an equal opportunity Inquisitor!), do you see BNFism nowadays? Or something else?
Personally, I like the term FMF [Frequently Mentored Fan], because I think that's a far better reflection of what goes on.