When Fanboys Attack - Shoutbox Sunday
Feb 24th, 2008 by Kali
Disclaimer: I use the term fanboy, because there are more of them in the fandom than fangirls. But rest assured, guys aren’t the only ones guilty of this kind of behavior.
Is it me, or is fandom getting uglier? There have always been a few wankers in every fandom, but it seems like Mortal Kombat fandom is degenerating into a series of arguements. I do mean arguments, too. Not friendly debates, but outright internet screaming peppered with personal attacks.
Maybe I’m just showing my age (or my gender), but I can’t get that riled up over what everyone else considers srs bsn. Someone copied one of my articles? Big deal. Someone thinks Scorpion is better than Sub-Zero? So what? Someone doesn’t like my cosplay? *Gasp* I just can’t work myself into the kind of fit that some of these kids manage to do.
I can’t get myself all worked up into these “inter-site wars”, either. Seriously, WTF guys? It’s another fansite, not a terrorist cell. If y’all were paying attention, you might notice that half the members are probably on both sites anyway. Don’t get me wrong, healthy competition between sites is just that, healthy. But if you’re planning anything along the lines of a flame war, hacking, blackballing or spamming, you’re doing it wrong!
So fandom, WTF? Why get your panties in a bunch over what amounts to a bunch of pixels and some guy you’ll probably never meet? Being anonymous does not give you the right to be an asshole, even if that’s what seems to happen (1) Put your big girl panties on and deal with the fact that someone hates your favorite character with at least a little perspective, not CAPSLOCK.
1. See John Gabriel’s Greater Internet Fuckwad theory.
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