This spring Ad Astra Con, Ontario’s longest running not-for-profit, volunteer-run, weekend-long, science fiction & fantasy event, made a point of legitimizing fan fiction as an important part of the literary culture by inviting members of the fandom community to attend as guest panelists.
This Week in Fandom, Volume 9
Fan studies is a fast-growing discipline, both with fans pursuing degrees in media and analysis and non-fans studying us from an anthropological perspective. De Montfort University Leicester recently took students to Hollywood to visit the city’s famous monuments to real person fandom: the Hollywood Walk of Fame, decorated with stars in honour of public figures and some notable fictional characters; ‘Grauman’s Chinese Theatre,’ home of myriad film premieres and over 200 famous handprints (and other prints, like the wands used by the three leads in the Harry Potter films); and the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, the burying place of numerous influential members of the entertainment industry. The student group also attended WonderCon. At each attraction, the group ‘observed and interviewed fans’ in order to better understand fans and fan culture.
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Proposed change to the terms of service: change how abuse reports are submitted
Our hard-working, all-volunteer Abuse team has asked for a change in how abuse reports are submitted. Based on the past seven years’ experience, it has determined that anonymous complaints are unhelpful and highly burdensome. First, the majority of anonymous reports are duplicates. Second, a large number of anonymous reports have, in the past, been rejected, but we have no way to contact the reporters to explain what is and is not a violation of the Terms of Service. Finally, many anonymous reports do not include the necessary information, which means Abuse closes them without investigating since there is nothing else it can do—the team can’t follow up to get more information. We realize some people may not feel comfortable reporting things under their own name. However, reports may still be made using a throwaway or dedicated email account, as long as there is a way to contact the person making the complaint.