FANDOM SNOWFLAKE CHALLENGE DAY 2
Jan. 2nd, 2018 11:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jinkyoIn your own space, share a favorite memory about fandom: the first time you got into fandom, the last time a fanwork touched your heart, crazy times with fellow fans (whether on-line or off-line), a lovely comment you’ve received or have left for someone. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.
I was in my early twenties when I discovered online fandom. Wow!
This was the late 90s. Professional wrestling was my jam, and Scott Hall was my dude!
Pro wrestling fandom was, and probably still is, a dual fandom of sorts. I started out on usenet and quickly found rec.sport.prowrestling, RSPW.
EVERYBODY was on RSPW back then, fans, smart fans, dirtsheet writers, promoters, agents, writers, wrestlers. and BAH GAWD, even Jim Ross!
It had everything from the backstage gossip, to fans making great lists and writing e-fed storylines, to, in hindsight, straight up trolling training grounds. It was the wild west to me and most of what I know about the internet I learned in my first month at RSPW. So anyway, while I'm immersed in this super male-centric, rough fandom, I'm also very interested in looking at photos of hot wrestlers and bit by bit I found the female fans.
There were websites, and photo galleries, and message boards with threaded conversations so you could meet and talk to other lady fans! Then I found the fan fic and that lead to a whole other level of websites and mailing lists and archives and a different set of fans who would become friends. I learned how to code HTML and javascript, how to make Flash games, how to edit video, how to sell on ebay - I learned a shit ton of stuff during this period. I was in college on a business degree, but looking back some 20 odd years later, I'm making a living off the things I learned through fandom. My real life job is digital content producer, and that's all fandom.
Anyway, this is getting long. Eventually most of the wrestlers I enjoyed left the business or died :/ I fell out of active fandom and was out for a loooooong time until, in 2013ish, I found my new thing, Person of Interest.
I was in my early twenties when I discovered online fandom. Wow!
This was the late 90s. Professional wrestling was my jam, and Scott Hall was my dude!
Pro wrestling fandom was, and probably still is, a dual fandom of sorts. I started out on usenet and quickly found rec.sport.prowrestling, RSPW.
EVERYBODY was on RSPW back then, fans, smart fans, dirtsheet writers, promoters, agents, writers, wrestlers. and BAH GAWD, even Jim Ross!
It had everything from the backstage gossip, to fans making great lists and writing e-fed storylines, to, in hindsight, straight up trolling training grounds. It was the wild west to me and most of what I know about the internet I learned in my first month at RSPW. So anyway, while I'm immersed in this super male-centric, rough fandom, I'm also very interested in looking at photos of hot wrestlers and bit by bit I found the female fans.
There were websites, and photo galleries, and message boards with threaded conversations so you could meet and talk to other lady fans! Then I found the fan fic and that lead to a whole other level of websites and mailing lists and archives and a different set of fans who would become friends. I learned how to code HTML and javascript, how to make Flash games, how to edit video, how to sell on ebay - I learned a shit ton of stuff during this period. I was in college on a business degree, but looking back some 20 odd years later, I'm making a living off the things I learned through fandom. My real life job is digital content producer, and that's all fandom.
Anyway, this is getting long. Eventually most of the wrestlers I enjoyed left the business or died :/ I fell out of active fandom and was out for a loooooong time until, in 2013ish, I found my new thing, Person of Interest.
