Trekking Across Cyberspace: How the Internet Changed Creator-Consumer Relations in Television Fandom

If you happened to interact in any way with “fan Twitter” on the evening of November 5th, 2020, it is entirely possible that you came across some of the truly confounding Tweets created by television fans on the app. Allow me to set the scene: As the counting of ballots for the 2020 Presidential election trudged steadily forward in battleground state Georgia, a strange convergence of events slowly enveloped an already anxiety-ridden Twittersphere. Just as an unfounded story about Vladimir Putin’s potential resignation began to make its rounds on Twitter, a newly-premiered episode of popular science fiction show Supernatural confirmed that its writers had apparently decided to make “Destiel” — the show’s most popular “ship” — canonical in its fifteenth and final season. What resulted was a bizarre succession of memes that connected the election to Supernatural, Putin to “Destiel,” and Georgia’s election results to fandom.

Of course, if you didn’t interact in any way with fan Twitter on November 5th, this instance of internet humor is profoundly puzzling. But the spontaneous creative momentum that drove these Tweets seems in many ways an exemplar of modern fan culture on several social networking sites today: Rapid and witty, eccentric and collaborative, and utterly cryptic to those not familiar with such digital communities. But cryptic though these memes may have been, they continued to circulate on Twitter for weeks, especially when Twitter activity from fans following Supernatural’s finale premiere episode evoked numerous responses from the show’s cast and producers, who defended showrunners’ choices to legions of unsatisfied fans on the app.

Antics like these aren’t new, but how fans relate to the entertainment industry has certainly shifted over the years. And many of these changes can be attributed to the introduction of the internet and the subsequent births and deaths of various networking platforms. This article takes a sweeping look at fan communities from the pre-internet Trekkies of the ’60s to the meme-driven humor of modern-day Stan Twitter. It identifies several game-changing fandoms that used the prime technologies of their time to build community and to share commentary with the makers of their favorite media.

Although early fan communities show that there has long been a considerable degree of interaction between creators and consumers, fans now more than ever wield great influence that can align or clash with the interests of creators. The gradual migration of fan communities from centralized forums to nonhierarchical social media platforms has allowed for more rapid communication and collaboration, making these abundances of fan feedback increasingly hard for the industry to ignore. And it’s this very trajectory of acceleration and decentralization that’s made fan communities more influential — and made creator-consumer relationships more turbulent — than ever before.

To Boldly Go Where No Fan Had Gone Before: Star Trek and the Dawn of the Fanzine

In many ways, the fanbase that cropped up around Star Trek was the blueprint for modern fan practices — Trekkies walked so that every later fandom could run. In the late 1960s, Trekkies innovated fan communication with the introduction of amateur publications called fanzines. Published in 1967 during the first season of the NBC series, Spockanalia was the first of these ‘zines.

Edited by Sherna Comerford and Devra Michele Langsam, the first issue of Spockanalia features approximately 90 pages of short stories, fan fiction, dramatic writing, poetry, and art created by — mostly female — Star Trek fans. The immense creativity and thought that went into each of these pieces is immediately evident, and Spockanalia perfectly exemplifies how print publications distributed fanworks and information among fans in the days before the internet expedited these discussions.

The fanzine’s “bulletin” section, which contains several announcements and direct appeals to Spockanalia’s readership illustrates this phenomenon particularly well: The section author writes, “We are eternally grateful to the people who pick up the check for our favorite program. However, it has come to our attention that small but important segments of action are cut from the broadcast received in some cities.” She then provides instructions for readers to fight for universally equal broadcasts: “If you would like to protest this commercial padding, write to [address].” Remarks such as these demonstrate both Trekkies’ level of attentiveness to the media industry itself and the fandom’s internal cohesiveness despite being connected solely by a print publication.

In an article published on Star Trek’s official website, sociology professors Maria Jose and John Tenuto wrote, “In 1968, Gene Roddenberry called it ‘required reading’ and he communicated that it was given to ‘every new writer, and anyone who makes decisions on show policy.’ What was this influential? Spockanalia, the first all-Star Trek fanzine.” Spockanalia’s history provides a fascinating insight into the nature of the interaction between creators and fans; in addition to Gene Roddenberry’s endorsement of Spockanalia (and his assertion that every new Star Trek writer should read it!), many letters from Star Trek actors appeared in issues of the magazine. This dynamic reveals that some producer-consumer relationships were interactive even in the late 1960s, and suggests that media fanbases wielded a degree of influence over industry professionals who seemed genuinely touched by, and appreciative of, their fans’ creativity. This attitude seems to contrast starkly with many somewhat hostile relationships between fans and the creators of their favorite shows on social media today — what changed?

The variety of works listed on the Contents page of Spockanalia’s first issue demonstrates Trekkies’ deep intellectual and creative engagement with their source material — much like scrolling through a modern-day fanfiction archive! Similarly, Spockanalia’s Bulletin section shown on the right essentially functioned as a pre-electronic era mailing list. From https://oaktrust.library.tamu.edu/handle/1969.1/157232.

The X-Files, X-Philes, and Foundational Forums

Often recognized as the first online fandom of the 1990s, The X-Files’ influence runs deep. It wouldn’t be an understatement to say that X-Philes, as fans of the series called themselves, created the blueprint for how the majority of internet-based fandoms would operate up until today. The term and practice of “shipping” — that is, wanting to see two characters in a romantic relationship — for example, was born on the X-Files message boards of the ‘90s.

The X-Files premiered in 1993, shortly after the debut of the Windows version of AOL. The show’s coincidence with the emergence of early networking systems like Usenet — and the fierce loyalty of its dedicated viewers — solidified its sweeping presence on the Web: one 1998 article claimed, “The X-Files is the dominating fanfic force on the Net, generating the most traffic as well as the most archive sites — both general and specialty — of any other science fiction property around.”

A staple of the first wave of X-Phile activity online was a website called the Idealists Haven, which was launched in 1998 and hosted by Simplenet. Originally home to a single shipper-focused message board and spoiler posts, Idealists Haven eventually expanded to include several boards that served as spaces for fans to share fanfiction and discuss the show at length. Idealists Haven and similar sites often featured extensive lists of guidelines and rules, along with FAQ sections written by page moderators; in this way, these forums fostered lively exchanges between fans while also remaining centrally organized. Right on the Idealist Haven’s original site banner is an affectionate reference to creator Chris Carter; like early Trekkies expressed their appreciation for the Star Trek production team and actors in the first pages of Spockanalia, so too did X-Philes frequently refer to, acknowledge, and attempt to start a dialogue with the makers of their favorite show.

And what’s more, the makers often listened! These early discussion boards allowed for more direct creator-consumer interaction with increased immediacy than in the days pre-Internet. Taking a page out of Gene Roddenberry’s book, Carter and other writers would join in on weekly Friday-night discussions on the Web.

In fact, fan activity on message boards directly influenced the show’s course and content on a few occasions: “I remember one specific instance where I was actually inspired to write an episode based on something I read on a message board,” wrote producer Frank Spotnitz. In another instance of industry-fan convergence, Sarah Stegall, an X-Phile and fan critic whose online work was brought to the attention of Chris Carter and Ten Thirteen Productions, later ended up scoring a gig as a researcher for the first three episode guides.

Even with a moderate degree of dispersal across different sites and message boards, hubs of fan activity in the early days of the Net remained markedly centralized with moderated content and strict posting guidelines; furthermore, these sites often attracted the attention of those involved in the creative process of the show itself.

Idealist Havens’ original homepage includes a brief introduction to the site and a grid that allows visitors to navigate its pages. The site certainly fosters community among fans, but its content is still neatly curated and organized into different categories. From http://web.archive.org/web/19990831145723/http://idealists.simplenet.com/hftfbismu/.

The guidelines and FAQs for Idealists Haven demonstrate the framework within which many early fan communities operated: each board has its own distinct set of rules, and contributors are reminded that moderators preside over each page. The website’s guidelines suggest that earlier fan communities set certain boundaries — i.e. “the boards are not for discussing the actors and their personal lives” — that don’t necessarily exist on social media today. Perhaps this kind of moderation contributed to the generally pleasant relationships that X-Files fans enjoyed with creators. From https://fanlore.org/wiki/Idealists_Haven.

Tumblr: A Study in SuperWhoLock

In the early 2000s, the orderly directness of themed discussion boards, threads, and blogs still reigned supreme among fandoms. However, the mass deletion of Fansites on blogging platform LiveJournal in 2008 and the shutdown of Yahoo’s GeoCities in 2009 prompted a new wave of cross-platform migration. Just where did these newly-nomadic fan communities find their new virtual homes? Enter Tumblr, the anarchic alternative to centralized fandom.

Founded in 2007, microblogging site Tumblr gained popularity around 2012, and soon became (arguably) one of the biggest influences on internet culture during the 2010s. Unlike previous sites, an incredibly diverse array of fannish content — including fanfiction, fanart, gifs, screencaps, video edits, and meta — thrived on Tumblr, where fan communication became increasingly visual.

But although fans gained greater flexibility on Tumblr, they seemed to lose the opportunity for organized, long-form dialogue that LiveJournal and its predecessors provided. In an analysis on fan culture on Tumblr, scholar Serena Hillman wrote that “The concept of belonging to fandom in Tumblr is fuzzy. Unlike Facebook, you do not get accepted to groups. You are part of the fandom when you think you are.” Indeed, this move from the moderated to the wildly decentralized dislodged the established “structures” of many fandoms. Tumblr’s non-hierarchical approach to discussion and posting soon gave rise to several very interesting phenomena, including fandom “cross-pollination,” on a larger scale than ever before.

Perhaps the most prominent example of such intersection is SuperWhoLock, a behemoth crossover between the mega-fandoms of television shows Supernatural, Doctor Who, and Sherlock. Although these three shows share some similarities, they are largely unrelated. As such, SuperWhoLock is an interesting case study for understanding how Tumblr sub-communities function and fuse together: unlike Spockanalia readers or members of X-Files forums, fans on Tumblr aren’t just exposed to fanworks from their own fandoms, nor are they obliged to follow content rules or guidelines. The absence of moderated activity made way for large, loosely related followings to morph together in surprising new ways: Tumblr in many ways opened the creative floodgates, and crossover fanfiction, manipulated gifsets, comparative discourse, and pairings between characters from different TV universes soon became exceedingly common.

Unlike earlier sites, nobody stays in their lane on Tumblr. This post perfectly captures how “Tumblr culture” works, as each sub-community — from the Supernatural fan community to the “science side of Tumblr” — is acutely aware of how every other “side” operates. Inside jokes shared by users across Tumblr demonstrate how unexpected collaborations on the site constantly create brand new kinds of humor.

Furthermore, as Hillman wrote in her exploration of Tumblr culture, “Most participants described their interactions in terms of ‘always on’ technology.” By many accounts, Tumblr became a more immersive and time-consuming endeavor than its predecessors, which undoubtedly contributes to its hyper-collaborative environment. Though decentralized, Tumblr’s design inspires its users to churn out more content, have more interactions, and develop more opinions than on sites with limited areas of focus.

This gifset, which combines images and characters from Supernatural, Sherlock, and Doctor Who to create a new, fan-imagined scene is a great example of how Tumblr allowed for an expansion in fans’ creative thinking that led to many prolific crossovers.

And perhaps this is why fan culture on Tumblr simply feels different: whereas previous mediums of fan communication cultivated, for example, a distinct X-Phile or Trekkie culture, Tumblr cultivates Tumblr culture, a shared vernacular of pop culture references, memes, and slang that is reflexively shaped by the largest fandoms on the site. It’s also possible that this super-culture and constant collaboration led to a sort of radicalization among fans, as Tumblr fandoms soon became known across the internet — and in the entertainment industry — for their volatility and excitability. (Sleepy Hollow actor Orlando Jones once said in an interview, “ I am also sure that a certain segment of Tumblr, in particular, will find further reasons to dislike me or pass judgment, and that’s a part of the process too.”)

Indeed, even for creators and stars who don’t interact frequently or directly with their Tumblr fanbases (given that many of these individuals might be outsiders to the site), these impassioned new mega-fandoms — and their abundance of opinions — would soon become even harder to ignore.

Tumblr’s chaos isn’t for everyone. In this post on a LiveJournal forum, an unimpressed fan who tried Tumblr warns others that Tumblr isn’t the place for “serious discussion” or true emotional engagement with other fans and their work. In this way, the platform’s atmosphere is a clear departure from those of fandoms earlier on. From https://fail-fandomanon.livejournal.com/29566.html?thread=131921278#t131921278.

“The Bird App”: Stan Twitter and the Power of Speed

Perhaps the most highly interactive social media platform live today, Twitter has once again shifted the nature of industry-fan interactions and relations. Twitter is both a more widely accessible medium than super-niche fanzines and discussion boards and is a more commonly used social media platform than Tumblr. In many ways, Twitter’s proximity to “mainstream” online culture and its and simple premise of sharing thoughts in 280 characters or less makes it almost effortless compared to other hubs of fan communication: like Tumblr, “stan Twitter” has no hierarchical structure, and breeds lots of fandom cross-pollination — but unlike Tumblr, you need not have mastered the art of fan fiction or the .gif set to gain a following.

And what’s more, Twitter is fast — if you use Twitter, you know that refreshing your timeline can be a whiplash-inducing experience. As such, any thread of semi-organized discussion among fans moves quickly; more often, though, the buzz will develop around very particular events (the confirmation of a popular “ship,” for example!). The app’s immense popularity and accessibility also mean that showrunners and producers are likely to be active Twitter users already, making it much easier for them to monitor and tap into fan activity. In this way, Twitter provides what is perhaps the easiest — and quickest — means of direct communication between fans and the entertainment industry to date. But the amount of power that legions of fans on Twitter wield can spell either success or trouble for producers in this two-way channel of exchange.

Recent Tweets from Supernatural fans demonstrate how Tumblr’s spirit of collaboration and crossover lives on Twitter as well: fans were quick to create memes about a bizarre convergence of events!

On the one hand, Twitter astronomically increases fans’ advocacy abilities: many a successful “save our show” campaign has been run through Twitter. Fan activism is a phenomenon that dates back to the Spockanalia days, but shows discarded by their networks can now be salvaged within hours on Twitter (as was the case with Brooklyn Nine-Nine in 2018, for example) rather than after weeks of snail-mail campaigns!

The many faces of Twitter: in these Tweets, celebrities unaffiliated with the show Brooklyn Nine-Nine join fans in their rallying to save the show. The accessibility of Twitter has accelerated fan activism tenfold, allowing popular hashtags like #SaveB99 to become immediately visible to those in the industry, whose attention can raise a campaign’s profile.

Twitter’s swiftness also works perfectly for the so-called “second screen experience” with which the entertainment industry is obsessed. Prolific online engagement occurring simultaneously with a live broadcast allows a show (read: its fans) to market itself, and encouraging this ongoing engagement among fans is a way for producers to ensure the economic survival of a show. To this end, creators and actors will often join in on “live-tweeting” sessions to generate even more buzz.

Yes, Twitter gives the industry a quick and easy way to capitalize off of fan labor and activities — but Twitter also gives fans a powerful double-edged sword. Just as fans might rally in the interests of creators, brandishing their fierceness to save their favorite programs, they can just as easily turn their blades against creators when unsatisfied with what they’re given. And placing fans in such close proximity to the creative process has given many creator-consumer interactions a distinctly different vibe than the more formal, less frequent, and genuinely encouraging exchanges between Gene Roddenberry and Trekkies in the 1960s. Glee executive producer Dante Di Loreto once said of Twitter fans: “You hear things on Twitter and what happens is it’s a lot like giving notes. You want to hear people’s opinions and if there’s a consensus or something rings true in you then you have to address it.” Glee writer and co-creator Brad Falchuk continued: “I appreciate everybody’s opinion… Just not so many of them.”

Indeed, although a constant stream of fan feedback at creators’ fingertips can be useful (gone are the days of waiting on handwritten letters to gauge audience approval), these exchanges can quickly turn sour or interfere with producers’ visions for their shows. Like in the case of Supernatural, a show that’s long enjoyed a large and active Twitter fanbase, many fandoms have intentionally used Twitter to voice often well-warranted criticisms of their favorite programs. Lisa Macklem writes in her analysis of Supernatural fan culture, “as both sides, fan, and producer, get to know each other better, expectations are raised and disappointed.” Certainly, this sentiment rings true, to some degree, for every fandom/creator relationship established and sustained through Twitter.

On the other hand, giving creators and fans constant access to each other can make already strained relationships feel a bit too personal. In this series of Tweets, “Supernatural” writer Adam Glass responds to fans’ critiques of the show and its history of queerbaiting. Although Twitter allows fans to be highly influential, the fact that fans and creators can constantly monitor each other often leads to fans feeling even more alienated when met with defensiveness from creators addressing issues near and dear to fans’ hearts. Conversely, a constant stream of feedback from fans means that showrunners can no longer engage with fanworks (more or less) on their own terms like Roddenberry and Carter might have; instead, they’re frequently inundated with content on their timelines and in their mentions.

TLDR; Concluding Thoughts on Internet Fandom

Television fans have always had a relationship with the industry and creators have always cared what fans think. However, tracing these examples of fandom tells a gradual narrative of evolution and diversification as the internet continued to evolve and innovative fans continued to do their thing. Star Trek’s fanbase gave us the fanzine, a wildly creative precursor to digital archives and mailing lists, while X-Philes and their forums laid the groundwork for online community-building, often catching the eye of The X-Files’ creative team. Tumblr ushered in a new area that broke down boundaries between fan communities, and unleashed even more fervent, eccentric waves across the internet. And just like on Tumblr, stan Twitter lets fandoms bleed into each other while its simplicity and speed put fans right next to creators. It’s evident that as the internet has evolved, creator-consumer relationships have become increasingly complicated as boundaries dissolve and tensions rise. Nevertheless, the broader cultural implications of fans’ influence on the internet today should not be overlooked: with each opinion, Tweet, and post, viewers have more power than ever to shape the future of media representation.

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