Welcome to Gaia! ::

Well, to my friendly fan fellows out here. Here's something that's been bothering me a while and I want to discuss it.

Ever feel isolated and-or shunned because people know you're a fan?

I mean, mostly on Gaia, in the GCD.

I always felt uncomfortable, extremely uncomfortable whenever there is a thread that says that fanthreads shouldn't be allowed to be there or so. That there's a wrong accusation that all the fanthreads are simply hang-out threads.

It angers me so much that people so wrongly accuse all of the threads of this. Because truly, I'm sure a lot of us have tried our best not to let conversation stray too far off topic without dampening the community and fun feeling of the thread. Why is it that they are so annoyed with the fanthreads' presence anyway? Are they annoyed that a thread could get so large while they have no interest in the subject? It just upsets me because really, whenever I see the accusations that our fanthreads are just a large hang-out threads, I see a subtle accusation that we, as fans, are complete idiots. As well as that fans are but a level above the misplaced poster, flaming troll, and the other misfits of forums.

Which, also brings me to another point. Another point that perhaps is my own weird thinking, but something that I just want to say. When people know you are a fan, they see your name often times tacked on to the latest reply bit of a fanthread, and they remember it, they also remember you when you reply in topics outside the thread.

But, whenever you reply in a thread, you make a (what you think is a) valid, thoughtful statement or rebuttal to an argument and you wait and wait and see no reply to it. The author picks out equally good replies, but skips over you? Do you ever think that it's because they see you as a constant fan to an NPC?

And because you are a fan, you therefore have no life, no logic, and no intelligence?

Do you feel this stereotype in effect, especially in the ever-irritable GCD, or is all this just me? o_o;;

Are you comfortable arming yourself with your opinion in the forum, when you're "marked" as "NPC FAN!" ?

Or is this just nonsense? sweatdrop

The sleep-deprived monkie in me says they're just jealous.

But I know that's not true.

I think a lot of Gaians in the GCD just want something to b***h about. Many Gaians are bitchy and thrive on reporting threads and people. But they can't get rid of the fanthreads because, well, we stay on topic. It's also possible that some people are just OCD and don't like seeing old threads, just as people don't like seeing old, unused accounts lying about.

In the rare times I do post in the GCD, I get overlooked. It's part of the reason I stopped posting altogether. I'd type out something well-thought-out and what I hoped would be thought-provoking, but it gets overlooked. Like Elantis said, some people are just lazy and skim. I've even had people yell at me for being too long.

I actually would say that the fanthreads ARE hangout threads. How many of us look forward to seeing our friends and familiar avatars in the threads? I love seeing my friends and talking about Ian. We have a common bond. Since we call them harems I think we start to suggest that there's a closeness these threads have with the people involved. We become friends because of the common love-interests that are Ian and Gino.

And if this doesn't make any sense due to delirium, then remember this:

Some people are just assholes.

You are not alone.