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Anon culture in fandom

  • Jul. 18th, 2010 at 4:13 PM
crypto: Amy Pond (Default)
So I'm working on my next post for the Symposium blog and I'd like to write about anonymity in fandom. But I need your help!

I've been following the latest anon meme that sprung out of the ViVidCon debates (is there some kind of Fight Club thing where you're not supposed to link to it? or actually name it? I'm going to err on the side of caution here, but let me know if there are standard anon meme rules or norms I should be observing), and it's been pretty fascinating to see the different dynamics of how discussions play out there vs. on LJ/DW. I've checked out a few other anon memes in the past, but this is the longest I've ever followed one. Yet I haven't left any comments on the meme, so I can't claim to be a participant-observer -- there's something about posting anon that just weirds me out (personally, not when other people do it). I'm not sure what it is, but I definitely got weirded out the couple of times in the past that I posted on anon love memes where you tell people on the flist how awesome they are. Which, hey, people on my flist are awesome, and deserve to hear that! So I don't know what my mental block here is.

So I'd love to hear from any of you about the pleasures (and perils!) of posting anon, or participating in anon memes. I'm also thinking of saying something about kink memes, which are the other major place that I'm aware of that carve out a pro-anon space in fandom, and seem to be on the rise over the last couple of years. But I know even less about kink meme culture than anon memes! So any observations, insights, experiences you'd like to share about kink memes & anonymity would be welcome.

And I think I need a third thing, right? I figured I'd at least reference the WoW/Blizzard Real ID controversy, but it would be nice to have a third instance of anon culture in LJ/DW-based media fandom, if anyone has suggestions.

Anon posting for comments is on, naturally (ETA: and IP logging is off). Thanks in advance!

ETA 2: I've fallen way behind on responding to comments, but I'm reading them all & appreciate all the perspectives & experiences & context that everyone's offering.

ETA 3: The first part of my Symposium blog post on anon memes is now up.

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Comments

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(Anonymous) wrote:
Jul. 21st, 2010 09:57 pm (UTC)
Believe it or not, it's possible to be disturbed by the lies and viciousness and bullying hate memes encourage even if you aren't personally a victim. Mind you, I think hate meme victims have a perfect right to criticize them and I think the idea that anyone who has been attacked or had lies spread about them on a hate meme has no right to be unhappy about it is a particularly stupid one, but trust me, there are plenty of people who have never been a victim, who don't even know anyone who has ever been a victim, of a hate meme who still find them disgusting.
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(Anonymous) wrote:
Jul. 25th, 2010 06:12 pm (UTC)
I recall hearing of a study that established that women who witnessed a man harassing another woman, even if the witness was at no point the target, became more distrustful of men in general. I would not be surprised if there was a similar effect in other forms of class-based bullying.
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