On branching communities and fragmentation
Friday, April 26th, 2013 07:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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mindcrackloveAlternate title: Hi Tumblr, I see you.
Meta talk time! As some of you know, there's a good handful of Mindcrack fans over at Tumblr, and because Tumblr is the ultimate hive of all things fandom and shipping, it's no surprise that the kind of Mindcrack fans on Tumblr already overlap with community members here. But the parts I find interesting are where there isn't overlap. There are fanartists there who never post their work to the subreddit, and I've seen a fair amount of fanfiction there that never gets seen here. Collectively it's like a whole new branch of the Mindcrack community, with content unique to that site not found elsewhere. And in some ways, this is really cool, to see how communities branch off from the main hub and develop on their own. It's like how this place came to be as a more ship friendly place than the subreddit. These new splinters of the collective fanbase develop to serve different needs. There's going to be a different feel in each new place that develops, which is great for people who may not like or fit into the prevalent atmosphere of the mainstream hubs like the subreddit.
In other ways, though, I find it kind of frustrating. Not because I have to subscribe to different avenues of fanwork sharing to keep up with everything that's going on, even though I did resist Tumblr for quite some time and finally caved in because there was Mindcrack stuff, but because it starts to feel fragmented after a while. I'm still in a mindset where I want certain things to be centralized in one spot. General discussions, fanart, and video lists go on the subreddit. Different kinds of discussions, shipping squee and fanfic go here. There have been a number of individual cases of Mindcrack fanfic appearing on various different sites, and that's fine. I find those isolated cases fascinating. And the Mindcrack content on Tumblr was a lot like a series of isolated cases, mostly of general fanart that may or may not appear later on the subreddit, with an occasional mention of someone's ships. But more recently... there's been some stuff. Fellow Tumblr users probably know what I'm talking about. Stuff involving a sort of collaboration of people, coalescing in a series of back and forths, focusing on Things that make me want to yell "GET TO THE DAMN SALAD" to everyone involved. It is my impulse to want to consolidate notable happenings of the shipping to a centralized spot.
However.
I started thinking, if some of these people aren't already involved here, which is the case, why not? There's already a space for that sort of thing, and this place seems to be well known enough that I don't think it's a case of not knowing we exist, so there must be some other reason. Maybe it's because we're relatively well known, and with "certain people" known to be watching, I can understand someone not wanting their thoughts and works to be too widely seen (which is why I am not including links). Maybe there's something else about the format of Tumblr that they prefer, even if I can't think of what it is. Tumblr is good for certain things, but fostering active communication is not one of them, which is more my preference. Others may have different preferences, so maybe I'm being selfish wishing those fragments involved in the shippy aspects of Mindcrack would migrate over here once in a while. But I do wonder if there is a way to bypass some of the inhibitions people have delurking for the first time, like maybe an occasional thread where everyone's encouraged to comment anonymously, more like the original prompt thread before the community officially existed. I don't know, but I do want new people to feel comfortable participating if they're interested in the things we do. Yes I'm looking at you, Tumblr people.
And I do want to hear other's thoughts. How do you feel about separate pockets of the shipping community? Should we try to consolidate them to one place or let them be, even if the lack of centralization means potentially missing out on some good content? Also, if you are/were a lurker, what kept you away, and what would make you want to participate in shipping related things on a platform like Tumblr rather than here?
**A Clarification** I don't want to give the impression I want to pressure anyone to join or participate if they don't want to. My intent is merely to understand and possibly learn how to make sure we're not doing anything that's turning people away. Perhaps this post was not the best way to go about this, so if I've made anyone uncomfortable, I apologize. I'd hate to think I've marred whatever tenuous relationship I have with anyone I follow on Tumblr. But if you simply have no desire to participate in this community, that is perfectly fine and I won't bother you any further. Sorry for the inconvenience. I'll go back to reblogging silly cat gifs, okay?
Meta talk time! As some of you know, there's a good handful of Mindcrack fans over at Tumblr, and because Tumblr is the ultimate hive of all things fandom and shipping, it's no surprise that the kind of Mindcrack fans on Tumblr already overlap with community members here. But the parts I find interesting are where there isn't overlap. There are fanartists there who never post their work to the subreddit, and I've seen a fair amount of fanfiction there that never gets seen here. Collectively it's like a whole new branch of the Mindcrack community, with content unique to that site not found elsewhere. And in some ways, this is really cool, to see how communities branch off from the main hub and develop on their own. It's like how this place came to be as a more ship friendly place than the subreddit. These new splinters of the collective fanbase develop to serve different needs. There's going to be a different feel in each new place that develops, which is great for people who may not like or fit into the prevalent atmosphere of the mainstream hubs like the subreddit.
In other ways, though, I find it kind of frustrating. Not because I have to subscribe to different avenues of fanwork sharing to keep up with everything that's going on, even though I did resist Tumblr for quite some time and finally caved in because there was Mindcrack stuff, but because it starts to feel fragmented after a while. I'm still in a mindset where I want certain things to be centralized in one spot. General discussions, fanart, and video lists go on the subreddit. Different kinds of discussions, shipping squee and fanfic go here. There have been a number of individual cases of Mindcrack fanfic appearing on various different sites, and that's fine. I find those isolated cases fascinating. And the Mindcrack content on Tumblr was a lot like a series of isolated cases, mostly of general fanart that may or may not appear later on the subreddit, with an occasional mention of someone's ships. But more recently... there's been some stuff. Fellow Tumblr users probably know what I'm talking about. Stuff involving a sort of collaboration of people, coalescing in a series of back and forths, focusing on Things that make me want to yell "GET TO THE DAMN SALAD" to everyone involved. It is my impulse to want to consolidate notable happenings of the shipping to a centralized spot.
However.
I started thinking, if some of these people aren't already involved here, which is the case, why not? There's already a space for that sort of thing, and this place seems to be well known enough that I don't think it's a case of not knowing we exist, so there must be some other reason. Maybe it's because we're relatively well known, and with "certain people" known to be watching, I can understand someone not wanting their thoughts and works to be too widely seen (which is why I am not including links). Maybe there's something else about the format of Tumblr that they prefer, even if I can't think of what it is. Tumblr is good for certain things, but fostering active communication is not one of them, which is more my preference. Others may have different preferences, so maybe I'm being selfish wishing those fragments involved in the shippy aspects of Mindcrack would migrate over here once in a while. But I do wonder if there is a way to bypass some of the inhibitions people have delurking for the first time, like maybe an occasional thread where everyone's encouraged to comment anonymously, more like the original prompt thread before the community officially existed. I don't know, but I do want new people to feel comfortable participating if they're interested in the things we do. Yes I'm looking at you, Tumblr people.
And I do want to hear other's thoughts. How do you feel about separate pockets of the shipping community? Should we try to consolidate them to one place or let them be, even if the lack of centralization means potentially missing out on some good content? Also, if you are/were a lurker, what kept you away, and what would make you want to participate in shipping related things on a platform like Tumblr rather than here?
**A Clarification** I don't want to give the impression I want to pressure anyone to join or participate if they don't want to. My intent is merely to understand and possibly learn how to make sure we're not doing anything that's turning people away. Perhaps this post was not the best way to go about this, so if I've made anyone uncomfortable, I apologize. I'd hate to think I've marred whatever tenuous relationship I have with anyone I follow on Tumblr. But if you simply have no desire to participate in this community, that is perfectly fine and I won't bother you any further. Sorry for the inconvenience. I'll go back to reblogging silly cat gifs, okay?
