Oy. I can't believe I forgot about the Dave's Girlfriend Wars. I was right there for that! I guess I was thinking more of the webcomics community as a whole than about the fanbases of specific strips—but I think William G may have a point, that there really isn't a "webcomics community" per se, but rather a bunch of smaller, more strip- or collective-oriented communities that overlap in places. And even still, I was overlooking the perennial griping about Keenspot coming from the Keenspacers (although that may be a different kind of resentment).
I think you're right about your explanation of the love/hate dynamic. But that prompts another question: why is this such a common trend? Is there something about being a fan that tends to bring this out in people? Is it that the typical fannish topics tend to attract that sort of personality? Is it just that the negative elements of fandom are more visible and this "trend" is just the result of unconscious publication bias (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Publication_bias)?
no subject
Date: 2005-11-29 07:23 am (UTC)I think you're right about your explanation of the love/hate dynamic. But that prompts another question: why is this such a common trend? Is there something about being a fan that tends to bring this out in people? Is it that the typical fannish topics tend to attract that sort of personality? Is it just that the negative elements of fandom are more visible and this "trend" is just the result of unconscious publication bias (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Publication_bias)?