A Community Space you Like
TALK ABOUT A COMMUNITY SPACE YOU LIKE. It doesn't need to be your favorite, or the one where you spend the most time (although it certainly can be). Maybe it's even one that you've barely visited. But talk about that space and how it helps support fannish community.
My first thought was "oh crap, I used up today's prompt in my answer for question 12" and I did have a lot to say about community there. Then I thought about what I else I could put, looked at some other answers and... well, I guess this one is going to be depressing and also date me massively, because I don't think I've had a real sense of a home community for over a decade now.
For anyone new to my posts here, I'm not really a fannish person, so much as someone who got swept up into it because of the homogenisation of nerdy online spaces to the point where it's assumed you're In Fandom by default. So I look at everyone's posts about how wonderful and welcoming fandom is, but I don't feel it. See my entries for challenge 3 and challenge 4 for more, but I mostly of come from an original roleplay/worldbuilding culture that doesn't really exist any more in its original state, and the people I knew in it have either moved on to either fandom proper or become professional artists, that is if they haven't totally vanished. Most modern writing and worldbuilding communities, likewise, assume professional intent, or are just too big and public without any of the closeness.
It's definitely age talking but I personally feel online interaction peaked with LJ style sites. It's weird seeing people talk about Tumblr as their nostalgic home when to me it was this open, way too chaotic space without a hint of privacy. I could never get into holding a discussion via reblogs. I call it a "goldfish bowl space" - everyone's watching and there's no space to yourself.
Or maybe small forums were the peak? Really I miss forums because you can drop in whenever you want. It bugs me how Discord has taken their place - I don't like to be constantly having to check a live chat and notifications when I have to factor in stuff like work and timezones. I like the privacy and I can see how that appeals, but it's annoying to find somewhere that might be a fun community space only to be met with a link to immerse yourself in yet another 24/7 live chatlog.
Anyway I think I've yelled at enough clouds, but yeah... I think ultimately there's not much I can say. I'm glad places like Pillowfort and Dreamwidth exist, but the hard part is finding likeminded people in a sea of Fandom. But at least I get to go to a bar and sculpt dragons every so often.