random poll

[ratcreature]

As another decade ends (I can't believe it's going to be 2010 in just a few days. yikes!) you see all the usual retrospectives etc.; also I've been editing fanlore (and you should too, the wiki needs more people /end shameless plug). This led me to wonder: if you've been in fandom a long(-ish) time, do you ever feel nostalgia for fandom how it used to be? ("Fandom" in this case intentionally vague as I just mean whatever form of fandom you were involved in the era you are nostalgic for.) And if so, for which time period? So I thought I'd do a poll.

The first is a question of whether you feel nostalgia, and in the second you can check tickyboxes to indicate for which time period you are feeling nostalgia. That I have split into two options for each period for an indication whether you actually were in fandom in that time period and feel nostalgia due to firsthand experience, or feel nostaligia because you have read or heard about that time and wish you had been in fandom then, because it just sounds more awesome to you than fandom now. I did give up to the early 2000s as options to feel nostalgia for, though I am a bit dubious whether you can call it "nostalgia" proper if it's less than ten years ago.

Poll #1929 fandom nostalgia poll

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 158

View Respondents

Do you feel nostaligia for fandom as it used to be?

View Answers

Yes.
32 (20.8%)

No.
29 (18.8%)

Sometimes.
85 (55.2%)

I have not been in fandom long enough to feel nostalgia.
8 (5.2%)

For which time period do you feel fandom nostalgia?

View Answers

pre-1950s fandom, which I knew firsthand
0 (0.0%)

pre-1950s fandom, because it sounds awesome
8 (6.3%)

fandom in the 1950s, which I knew firsthand
0 (0.0%)

fandom in the 1950s, because it sounds awesome
4 (3.2%)

fandom in the early 1960s, which I knew firsthand
1 (0.8%)

fandom in the early 1960s, because it sounds awesome
2 (1.6%)

fandom in the late 1960s, which I knew firsthand
2 (1.6%)

fandom in the late 1960s, because it sounds awesome
2 (1.6%)

fandom in the early 1970s, which I knew firsthand
3 (2.4%)

fandom in the early 1970s, because it sounds awesome
2 (1.6%)

fandom in the late 1970s, which I knew firsthand
3 (2.4%)

fandom in the late 1970s, because it sounds awesome
6 (4.8%)

fandom in the early 1980s, which I knew firsthand
7 (5.6%)

fandom in the early 1980s, because it sounds awesome
6 (4.8%)

fandom in the late 1980s, which I knew firsthand
11 (8.7%)

fandom in the late 1980s, because it sounds awesome
5 (4.0%)

fandom in the early 1990s, which I knew firsthand
22 (17.5%)

fandom in the early 1990s, because it sounds awesome
9 (7.1%)

fandom in the late 1990s, which I knew firsthand
62 (49.2%)

fandom in the late 1990s, because it sounds awesome
12 (9.5%)

fandom in the early 2000s, which I knew firsthand
73 (57.9%)

fandom in the early 2000s, because it sounds awesome
8 (6.3%)

Comments

[lotesse]

My nostalgia tends to be mixed with regret - because I was at the edges of some cool stuff in the late 90s/ early 00s, but I was too young and shy and lurky to really get into it. So I don't want to go back, so much as I want to have a chance at late 90s fandoms with the social confidence and writing skills I've got now!

[ratcreature]

I was never a lurker. I wrote fb to the author of the very first online fanfic I've read, squeeing about finding fandom through her site (that had also episode guides and such which I was initially searching for). I never heard anything back from her. I expect I must have come across somewhat oddly, especially as English isn't my native language and back then I had only really used it in school settings so writing responses took much longer at first. Fandom was good practice. I didn't let that discourage me though and soon after joined my first mailing list, where I read the FAQ/rules (at least I had that much sense) and then posted the same day, without ever lurking first to get a feeling for the place, which I now know is advisable. I mean, I lurk in fandoms sometimes if I only read, and don't do much else, so I mostly lurked in XF while I was participating in the Sentinel, but not out of shyness.

[lotesse]

How old were you? Because that might be the difference. I started dipping my toes into organized fandom when I was about twelve, when the early excitement for the LotR movies was really ramping up, and I spent several years being absolutely silent. I felt at the time like I was just too little to have anything to say! By the time I was fifteen I was writing fic, but still keeping pretty quiet among the BNFs and acafen.