Poll: Distraction Is Good

[thefourthvine]

I'm kind of - not too bright sometimes. For example, when I grabbed an oven rack to move it around without, um, checking to see if it was hot? That was a "not so bright" moment in my life, right there.

Also, ow.

So I want distraction, with a minimum of typing involved. It's time for a poll! With, ideally, lots of comments! Come on, people - please. Distract me.

(I do actually have a place I'm going with this, by the way - except for the last question, which is there solely because LJ is crazed tonight. I'm trying to find out what fans do and how they do it. Assuming the ice does its job, I'll have a meta post on this sometime in the distant, murky future. Probably.)

[Poll #830222]

Comments

[kassrachel.livejournal.com]

For the first few years I was in fandom, I had only one fandom and I liked it that way. The Sentinel was what brought me here, and through it I fell so in love with fandom and slash and the whole phenomenon that I got deeply attached to it and was sad when my friends started moving on to new fandoms.

For a while I was bifannish: Sentinel and due South, which makes some sense, because both are cop/buddy shows.

Then something shifted -- I'm going to blame it on livejournal, actually *g* -- and I started being exposed to a lot of different fandoms, a lot of different fannish love and squee and good times. And these days I consider myself deeply invested in three of fandoms (which blaze like bonfires in my fannish little heart), but peripherally involved in a few others, and still one or two more are on the fringes of my consciousness.

All of which goes to say, I used to be monofannish and now I'm not. I'm not a truly polyamorous fan -- I know people with twenty or thirty fandoms, and I just can't see that happening to me -- but I have five or six, and that feels like a tectonic shift from the days when I had One True Fandom and liked it that way dammit. :-)

[jeddy83.livejournal.com]

I picked Chimera because I'm currently making the transition from Canadian goose (HP) to something that might be a magpie (HP, and SGA) or possibly a hummingbird (HP, SGA and whatever else takes my fancy). Though this might just mean that I am taking a while to grow up since HP was my first fandom.

[mofic.livejournal.com]

I checked polygamy because it was the closest I could find, but I think polyamory is better. I have a primary fandom, and it's the only one I write in. But I read fairly widely....

[carta.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure where this would fit, but I tend to be pretty monofannish for roughly four years or so, then I move on to the next thing. I may dabble in other places, but I stick to my one show/band/whatever. And when I'm done with a fandom, I'm DONE. There is very little going back. If it's a tv show I'm being fannish about (currently SGA), my fannishness wanes as the show begins to inevitably suck (hello, Buffy Season 7, I'm talking about you) and pretty much ends when the show is over. I see no point in being fannish over something that is over, done, kaput.

:)

[sara-merry99.livejournal.com]

I put that I am human--because I do definitely have a one true fandom, but occasionally mess around with others.

But I started out in a serial monogamy pattern. I thought I would stay that way, but apparently The Sentinel is here to stay.

I now have a second, permanent sub-fandom (Riptide) but it's *tiny* (there are, as far as I can tell, four Riptide slash fans). At first I thought it was just a flirtation, but Riptide is sticking around. It's just so small--I've already read everything there is to read multiple times. Not as absorbing as TS.

So I'm in a stable polyamorous relationship with those two, but I do have occasional flirtations, even incredibly deep flirtations that make me think I'm going to leave my true loves. But, like most such things, they only last about three months and then I slink home to Jim/Blair and Nick/Cody/Murray and write some good make-up stories. :)

[lolaraincoat.livejournal.com]

I'm a gorilla zoologist! But in some fandoms I just read (either with [BSG, SGA]or without [dS, Sentinal] experience of the source text), in others I read and (rarely) rec, in others I read and meta, in others I beta and read, and then there's HP. In HP do all those things plus write fic, play in an RPG, go to cons ... I'm most active in HP not so much because I love the texts above all others -- Jossverse makes me happier -- but because that's where I started out in on-line fandom and it's where my closest fannish friends are.

Also, I checked "something else" because hey, RPG! and the art boxes because you can't go to cons or even hang out on lj much without seeing art, and also because of icon-making, which to me is more like lj-participation than artmaking but for more serious iconmakers maybe it's not?

[giglet.livejournal.com]

I'm a chimera with heavy gorilla leanings.

When (as now) I get obsessed with something that *ought* to be a fandom but isn't, I'll amuse myself (at the moment, with "Guns of Navarone") for a while. But I'll read in almost any fandom where people are writing good stories (such as SGA, even though the source material drives me nuts).

At times in my very long fannish life, I've acted like a goose, camel, and human.

And, um, I forgot to ticky the first box of the survey. But you really should be careful!

[semielliptical]

The fannish archetype question was difficult because I go through phases - sometimes I am completely OTP about a fandom, and only dabble in other fandoms on the side. And then for a while I'll be a hummingbird, with no one fandom more important in my life than the others.

Early in my fandom existence I was a serial monogamist, spent about 3 years each in 2 different fandoms. Not long after I got into Harry Potter that started to change. I think partly because Harry Potter couldn't hold my complete attention, and partly because I shifted my attention to live journal and I became much more likely to be exposed to different fandoms.

[sasha-davidovna.livejournal.com]

I'm a magpie with some human and wolf leanings - I tend to have one or two main fandoms that I'm regularly involved in, several rare fandoms that I'm devoted to but don't get to do much in because they're so small, one or two torrid affairs that sometimes turn into main fandoms and sometimes fade away, and a whole bunch that I dabble in as the opportunity or mood strikes, but otherwise don't do much with.

I checked three as the number of years I've been actively involved in fandom, but I've been fannishly inclined my whole life, just didn't realize there was a name for it - and a community of similiar people! - until about three years ago.

[suchthefangirl.livejournal.com]

I hope your hand (hands?) is/are feeling better.

I hate polls cause I never know how to answer them. Here's the thing, I started reading slash and fan fiction about three years ago, since then, I have fallen in love with several different fandoms, though one or two of them I think of as "special." But, as for how long I have been in fandom? I went to my first convention over 25 years ago, haven't missed Comic Con (except for the birth of Daughter Number Two when con came to me) in twenty years, and I have considered my self a fan for as long as I can remember.

But, fan fiction, and especially slash, I just discovered recently. I have become an obsessive fan girl and spend way to much time on my computer. I am selective about what I read, but I do have several fandoms I will read, but, only certain combos. I am very unlikely to read something pairing up the "wrong" (in my world) pair. So with in my fandoms I am very monogamous, does that make sense?

[cereta.livejournal.com]

I am somewhere between magpie, lone wolf, and zoologist. I'm not so much a "fan of fandom" (although who am I kidding: I am) as I am a fan. "Fan" is the lens through which I view most culture, most TV and books and movies. It's my default approach to text these days, except when I'm actually teaching. I can't even really categorize my multifannishness, because everything is fandom to me these days.

[melannen.livejournal.com]

I picked Magpie as my animal, but I think I'm really more of a passenger pigeon. Or possibly a gray squirrel, back in the days when they migrated with the pigeons: I descend on a fandom in a chittering hyperactive mass, strip it clean of all readable stories in one week flat, and then swoop off to the next one. But I'll come back when it's had time to re-grow a bit!

Also I don't so much haul shiny things back to the nest as I bury them in little secret caches all over the place to unexpectedly find later. And I don't so much gafiate in bad seasons as curl up in my nest with stories and only come out when I need to go find one of my old caches for more supplies.

[chalcopyrite.livejournal.com]

My relationship with my fandoms defies radio-button definition! I said "bigamy," but -- see, I usually have two primary active fandoms at a time, but they can change (Highlander, we had a good thing, but I needed to grow). Sometimes they stick around for a while (Popslash, SGA and Me: How We Made It Work), sometimes there's a third (the DCU and I are taking a break from each other right now), sometimes I might as well be monogamous, for all you can tell from my reading patterns (give me an epic and I'm yours at least until I finish it). Then there's the repeated casual flings (Angel, I had a great night, till next time); the torrid affairs (Supernatural, baby, I'll call you); I'm always ready to hook up with an ex (Sentinel! It's been too long!); but we have an Agreement, and my primary fandoms understand if I don't come home for a night or two . . . weeks. (Gods, I'm abusive.) So a better characterisation might be "varying degrees of sluttishness, but I know there's always someone(s) waiting for me at home."

[chalcopyrite.livejournal.com]

::looks at above comment, goes back and changes "bigamy" to "polygamy"::

Because honestly, who am I kidding? But I still say circumstances vary.

[modillian.livejournal.com]

I'd just like to say I love all the animal names, and the use of Baaaaaaaaaby animal, very cute! *thumps gorilla chest*

Chimera here

[laurashapiro.livejournal.com]

Magpie + Camel + Gorilla, oddly enough.

I'm not a "shiny things" person, but I really responded to the part of the Magpie description that talked about keeping the old fandoms back at the nest. What I've learned is that I'm never really done with anything -- every show I ever got fannish about, I'm still fannish about in some way.

Camel: I had a couple of *very* dry years between Buffy and BSG. It was kinda sad.

Gorilla: 3-6 seems to be the maximum number of shows I'm capable of being truly passionate about at any given time, usually including one of those that is "back at the nest".

[ainaria.livejournal.com]

The Chimera thing. I've behaved in different way in every main fandom I've been.

Now I read lots of different fandoms, but I'd say my main fandom is SGA and I've stayed by it for over a year, but I still read other fandoms. A lot.
Or when I read HP fic that was the only thing I read, until one day, I didn't. Well, now I read that too.
Or when I read Smallville I read only that, but I only stuck by it for like six months. Or with the X-Files I read lots of other fandoms too at the same time, but I'd still say that during that time my main fandom was the XF. The list goes on.

Maybe I'm over analyzing here, but that is one difficult question. Or possibly I'm just not very good at summarizing. :)

[cofax7]

Chimera/turtle/gorilla/human, I think. Serial monogamist with the occasional flirtation on the side. Which means that my Writing fandoms are/were XF, Farscape, SG-1 (with a dollop of SGA before the McShep took over the universe). I'll read far more widely, and was a Buffista long before I started writing and posting fic in XF. I'll read lots of fandoms, although I generally insist on knowing *something* about the source, and I have drabbled in Buffy, Firefly, WW, Lost. But my primary/writing fandoms change very slowly. I don't see anything coming at the moment that will suck me away from SG-1, but I know that I've dropped my old fandoms when the canon closed, so I suspect I'll be moving on in the next year.

[sally_maria]

For me it was remembering that not only was the thing I was picking up from the oven hot - the shelf above that I banged my hand on was as well. Ouch. Hope your hand is feeling better.

As for the poll I'm definitely a weird kind of chimera, the kind that mutates over time. I'd have to say I started out as a serially monogamous human - with one main fandom at a time but minor secondary ones when I ran out of fic to read in the main one. And I was magpie enough to hang on to the old ones in a minor way. But then I fell into several fandoms at the same time with on-going canon, so I couldn't exhaust them and move on. So at the moment I'm more of a gorilla, for SG-1, SGA and House, with zoologist moments and occasional flings with other fandoms when a story looks interesting.

Which is far more information than you wanted, I'm sure.

[vickita.livejournal.com]

I'm kind of a magpie, and kind of a turtle. I don't pick up on every shiny new fandom that comes along, but I do pick up on new fandoms probably every year or two, usually around the time that large numbers of my favorite writers move on to them. I mostly keep my old fandoms around, but I pay a lot less attention to them than I do the current fandom. I'm hardly ever really excited about more than one fandom at a time.

[hackthis.livejournal.com]

First I was going to check a hummingbird, because well, I haven't lasted longer than a season or two with anything since, err, well, ever? Except Entourage, but there are only 100 people in Entourage and I try to actively strong-arm every last one into staying. And then I was going to check 'camel' because it's not like I don't want a fandom* I just can't find a show/canon that appeals to me, and so I wander around from place to place hoping for something to strike me, but nothing does. So then I was a camel with wings, which you know, getting to a chimera place -- and then I realised I have nothing but Ari. And we all know Ari is an entirely different stripe of anything, so. I have no idea.

I am a fandom of one.

*serialkarma and I were discussing this the other day, where I was lamenting the lack of 'newlywed' fandom excitement in my life. You know, where you get all fluttery talking about your fandom, and you're posessive, and you unplug the phone when the show is on so you won't be interrupted. I miss that sort of sheer excitement, but I don't miss the drama and the disappointment at all. So, I shrug, and Ari pats me on the head, and I go back to whatever crack is in my pipe at the time.

[lurksnomore]

I am a magpie zoologist. Also, the book Language Shift and Cultural Reproduction? Is owned by two libraries at my Esteemed Institution. Huh. And it sounds interesting, too.

[faith-girl222.livejournal.com]

i think i probably should have checked "Interact with other fans, either in real life (cons, for example) or online (feedback, comments, chat, etc.)." as well, but i haven't done all that much of it recently. so here's me being extra honest about my honesty.

[imkalena.livejournal.com]

I move from fandom to fandom, but it takes me 2-4 years to do it. I do read other fandoms, sometimes. Like I'll read an Atlantis piece if a friend recs one to me. But I can't imagine writing in any but my latest One True Fandom.

[mamadeb.livejournal.com]

1. I, too, have learned that oven racks are hot - and I have the scars to show for it. Usually the back of my hand, which is why I only wear oven mitts now - no simple potholders for *me*.

2. I'm a...gorilla magpie zoologist. I tend to keep only a few fandoms active, and go back and forth, but I don't actually *leave* any. And I really, really, really like the meta about fandom itself.

3. Fandom is an...odd term because it has two separate meanings for me.

a. The community of science fiction fans - to be specific, convention going sf fans. There, I run cons and con suites, sit in filk circles, attend, participate in and moderate panels and chat in hallways. And find a husband and some of my closest friends.

b. The community of media fans/the source material of their activities. There, I read, write, beta and midwife stories, and consume the other products (art and vids.), go to conventions, participate in discussions and write essays about canon and metacanon, and chat online. I've found other of my closest friends there - and there is considerable overlap as well.

I've been a science fiction reader since I could read; I've been a media fan since I saw my first Star Trek episode at age three. I've written fanfic since I was eleven, and slash since I was fourteen. (Ahh, Starsky and Hutch.) I went to my first media (Blake's 7) convention at the age of 26 and my first general SF convention a month later. I posted my first fanfic to the net in 1997. So I can't really put a number on it.

[vass]

What's your fannish archetype?

Something between magpie, human, and gorilla.

Call it a cat. It's a more introverted introverted type: not so much that I chase the shiny as that I get used to the same people feeding me, and sitting on the same laps, even if those laps move house and I have to move with them. But I do chase birds, and bring dead things home to share with loved ones, and if there's a new, clean pile of laundry, I will have to sit down on it.