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| Department for Secret Obsessions |
| Fan, further, far out: 10 STAGES OF FANDOM by ... ehr ... no idea ... |
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| We'd seriously love
to tell you who the author of the following is, but unfortunatetly, we
don't know. The "10 Stages of Fandom" were sent to us by Jill, who said
this came from the Star Trek fandom. So, our heartfelt thank you's go out
to the unknown author, if you should stumble over this here, please let us
know, and we'll give you full credit. We took the liberty to add a little
bit here and there. And yes, we added an extra-stage. Take the poll - It might be interesting to see where you guys see yourselves. :-) |
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| STAGE 1: FIRST CONTACT |
| This is the stage where
you first discover a show and decide you like it and want to watch it on
at least a semi-regular basis. If you're home and it's on, you'll watch
it. You'll read magazine articles about the show if you see them. Mention
of the show on an entertainment newsmagazine will catch your attention. If
someone else mentions the show in casual conversation it will prompt you
to respond in some way. Most people and most shows never make it out of
Stage One. Example: You ask your husband when that show with this MacGyver is up again. Your hubby asks "who is MacGyver?" |
| STAGE TWO: LOYAL VIEWER |
| At Stage Two, schedule
rearrangements so as not to miss the show begins to occur. Taping of shows
you're forced to miss is another sign that you've reached Stage Two. At
this stage, *you'll* be the one bringing up the show in casual
conversation. You may find yourself finding people who are also fans of
the show to discuss it over the water cooler. The purchasing of magazines
with articles about the show, magazines that you wouldn't ordinarily buy,
is another symptom. Again, Stage Two is still quite common amongst
the general, non-sci-fi populace. Example: You ask your husband if you two could move the trip to the cinema to Wednesday so you won't miss Stargate. Your hubby asks "is this the show with MacGyver?" |
| STAGE THREE: ARCHIVIST |
| Stage Three is where we
start to get into areas that we'd call "fandom." Its most distinguishing
feature is the taping of shows for a permanent episode collection and not
merely for later viewing if you're not home. Other features: saving
magazines and TV Guides that contain articles about the show, watching the
show with a friend who is at Stage Three or higher, and organizing season
finale or premiere parties. Stage Three is still relatively prevalent in
the public, you'd be surprised how many people have tape collections,
especially soaps. Example: "I'm really sorry I overtaped your game, darling, but I just *couldn't* miss this episode!" "You know, this MacGyver guy is starting to get on my nerves!" |
| STAGE FOUR: WEBSURFER |
| Okay, now we're getting
into serious fandom. At Stage Four, the fan will begin to search out and
peruse websites about the show in question. Usually, it also involves the
creation of a bookmark folder for sites about the show. Extensive and
decorative labelling and cross-referencing of the fan's tape collection
may take place. The fan may actively seek out and tape TV news stories or
features about the show. Example: "I'll call the telephone company tomorrow, they made a mistake. $ 457,49 for surfing! They're crazy, don't you agree, Darling? Darling ...? ... DARLING?!?" |
| STAGE FIVE: LISTMEMBER |
| Stage Five is tricky.
It has two major components which I've observed have roughly the same
level of commitment attached but do not always occur at the same time:
membership to show-oriented mailing lists, and reading of fanfiction. If a
person is either on mailing lists OR reading fanfic, they're at Stage
Five. They may be doing both. Stage Five also includes perusal of USENET
groups and active seeking (or avoidance of) spoilers from websites or
newsgroups. Stage Five is where we first start to see fans begin to form
connections with larger communities of fellow fans, usually in the form of
fanclub memberships. It is also at this stage that we begin to see
interest in acquisition of merchandise, and where fans begin to gravitate
towards one specific character and/or actor and/or relationship from the
show in question (though this does not always
occur). Example: "I don't care how many times he's saved the world, that poster will NOT hang in our living room when my mother comes to visit!" |
| STAGE SIX: CON-GOER |
| Just started going to
conventions? Welcome to Stage Six. It has many features: the eponymous
convention attendance, increased interest in things like autographs and
merchandise, participation if peripheral show-oriented activities like
role-playing games, CD-ROMS, and the like. Not all fans experience all
aspects of Stage Six. For example, I collect autographs but have limited
interest in merchandise and I never do RPG. I would also count
mailing-list administrators among the Stage Sixers). Example: "I don't care what episode it was in, Darling, you're NOT attending that con wearing that loincloth!" |
| STAGE SEVEN: CREATOR |
| Stage Seven is like
Stage Five in that it has two distinguishing features, both of which need
not be present: the writing of fanfiction and the creation of small
websites. In a way the two activities are quite similar. Most Stage Seven
websites are places for the fan to hang their fiction, links lists, some
sort of statement from the fan, that sort of thing. Many Stage Seven fans
do not participate in this, relying on Stage Eight fans for their web
representation...far more common is the fanfiction aspect of Stage Seven.
Be it bad fanfic or good fanfic, if you're writing it you've demonstrated
a level of commitment that gets you up here where the bad boys
play. Example: "Darling - I just read this story of yours - I mean ... how is this possible? I mean ... I couldn't do this alone, not to talk with somebody on top of me ..." |
| STAGE EIGHT: WEBMASTER |
| One can attain Stage
Eight while skipping Stage Seven, but most Stage Eighters have either done
little lame websites at some point, or they've taken a crack at fanfic and
so have done their time in the trenches. Not all fans have any interest in
Stage Eight, some skip it and go directly onwards, but for many Eight is
the place to be. These are the fans who have authored fanfic, got a
half-dozen or more mailing lists under their belts, an extensive bookmark
collection, a nice zip disk full of jpg's and wav's, and, most
importantly, maintain large websites with a significant amount of
information. Whether they be fanfic archives, character-specific information pages, fanclub info pages or episode guides, they've earned their stripes. Example: "You DID!" "I DIDN'T!" "Of COURSE you did!" "NO!" "I'm not deaf!!! You clearly moaned "unlimited bandwith"! |
| STAGE NINE: BNF |
| BNF, as we all know,
stands for Big Name Fan. The BNF is well-known in the fan circles he hangs
out in. People seek him out at conventions and wonder if he's coming. His
name is brought up in USENET discussions and his opinion is sought. People
he doesn't know address him by name. This stage is somewhat
fandom-dependent...the smaller the fandom, the easier it is to become a
BNF. But it's possible...some Trek BNFs include Luca Sambucci and Tim
Lynch (aka the Antichrist). They may have achieved fame in a number of
ways: by helming large, oft-visited websites, by becoming reviewers, by
writing reams and reams of fanfiction or by doing fan panels at
conventions. The possibilities are endless. Example: "Darling, this actor over there just asked me if I could ask you if you could sign his BDU's." |
| STAGE TEN: PSYCHO COMPLETIST |
| The final frontier.
The psycho completist's entire world revolves around his or her fandom. They must have all the episodes. They must possess every single piece of merchandise and peripheral material ever made. They have seen every website, read every fanfic, met every actor. They have entire rooms full of stuff and bankrupt themselves to support their addiction. They are unable to converse on any topic without dragging it back to their fandom. Example: "We'll try Prozac." |
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