StoneTriple
New member
As members of online forums, we?re all familiar with the term Fanboy. It?s most often used as a slur, and I suppose I can see why. Nothing wrong with passion, but remaining a little grounded never hurts either. Besides this board, I?m on three other boards regularly. All are boards covering long-running ventures, each with all manner & generations of fans. I?m also on several motorcycle boards, but they don?t really fall in with the type of behavior I?m discussing. I?m also going to leave out trolling & baiting because that?s beyond the scope of my question.
Anyone with any time-in on a board knows there are fans who consider themselves purists, true, original, etc. The discussions can get heated, passionate, & sometimes angry. Again, I understand that level of devotion when there is such an emotional connection to an entity. None of us would be here in the first place if we weren?t moved by the character Indiana Jones. Same for the other boards as well.
Members will often readily defend the franchise if they feel it?s being unfairly attacked or misunderstood. If they get a little too zealous, they start to be seen as exhibiting Fanboy behavior, or if they step into fanaticism ? they?re full-on Fanboys. Again, I get all that. I don?t provoke other posters because that?s not why I?m here. I do, however, find it very interesting.
We?re all familiar with at least a couple of Fanboys that were around here for a while. One was so dug-in that he started to call out fans of Kingdom as not actually being fans at all. He followed certain people around the board and provoked them ? as if he were trying to rid the board of fans who were wrong, who were damaging his altered world. He was fighting a war that can't be won - a war against reality.
Like a similar poster on the Star Wars board, they try to state opinions as fact, call for boycotts, denounce the current state of the franchises, and most often - try to revise history by claiming certain films are real, while others are not. They seem especially locked-in on the word true. They?re true fans, others aren?t, certain films are true, others are not, this is canon, this isn?t, etc, etc. That?s about the time they go on my ignore list.
Now, for the record, I'm a life-long Star Wars nerd. There are tons of things I don?t dig about Star Wars, so I get the disappointment. However, I?m aware that the parts I don?t like actually do exist. So, I ignore them - don't watch, don't buy. However, I don?t try to alter the space\time continuum or call for a universal rejection by fans ? as though that will somehow cancel out their existence. I?m very dug-in myself where my thoughts are concerned, but I?m not fighting a war. I?m just a fan with certain preferences. I?m a life-long 007 nerd, but I didn?t like Quantum Of Solace ? at all. So, I watched it once, posted a few thoughts on the 007 board, and moved on. Maybe the next one will be better. It doesn't ruin the past.
However, (in my best Capt Picard voice) ?there is a new faction? of Fanboy. The Fanboys so dug-in that they hate a film before they ever see it. They know for certain that the franchise is ruined just by the director, the cast, the writers, etc. They declare war on their own kind. They anxiously await the new film ? just so they can spend hours a day trashing it. They treat the thing like it?s a virus trying to infect the organism (franchise). All of this ? without having seen the film. Man, the worst yet has to be the Fanboy hate\war on the new Star Trek film. Truthfully, it?s fascinating behavior.
What drives a fan to that level of devotion? When do they separate from reality at that level and turn against the very thing they've sworn to protect? Their hate seems to feed on itself to a point where they can?t let it go. It becomes their identity.
I guess my real question is this: If they haven't even seen the new film in a series, what's really driving their hate?
Anyone with any time-in on a board knows there are fans who consider themselves purists, true, original, etc. The discussions can get heated, passionate, & sometimes angry. Again, I understand that level of devotion when there is such an emotional connection to an entity. None of us would be here in the first place if we weren?t moved by the character Indiana Jones. Same for the other boards as well.
Members will often readily defend the franchise if they feel it?s being unfairly attacked or misunderstood. If they get a little too zealous, they start to be seen as exhibiting Fanboy behavior, or if they step into fanaticism ? they?re full-on Fanboys. Again, I get all that. I don?t provoke other posters because that?s not why I?m here. I do, however, find it very interesting.
We?re all familiar with at least a couple of Fanboys that were around here for a while. One was so dug-in that he started to call out fans of Kingdom as not actually being fans at all. He followed certain people around the board and provoked them ? as if he were trying to rid the board of fans who were wrong, who were damaging his altered world. He was fighting a war that can't be won - a war against reality.
Like a similar poster on the Star Wars board, they try to state opinions as fact, call for boycotts, denounce the current state of the franchises, and most often - try to revise history by claiming certain films are real, while others are not. They seem especially locked-in on the word true. They?re true fans, others aren?t, certain films are true, others are not, this is canon, this isn?t, etc, etc. That?s about the time they go on my ignore list.
Now, for the record, I'm a life-long Star Wars nerd. There are tons of things I don?t dig about Star Wars, so I get the disappointment. However, I?m aware that the parts I don?t like actually do exist. So, I ignore them - don't watch, don't buy. However, I don?t try to alter the space\time continuum or call for a universal rejection by fans ? as though that will somehow cancel out their existence. I?m very dug-in myself where my thoughts are concerned, but I?m not fighting a war. I?m just a fan with certain preferences. I?m a life-long 007 nerd, but I didn?t like Quantum Of Solace ? at all. So, I watched it once, posted a few thoughts on the 007 board, and moved on. Maybe the next one will be better. It doesn't ruin the past.
However, (in my best Capt Picard voice) ?there is a new faction? of Fanboy. The Fanboys so dug-in that they hate a film before they ever see it. They know for certain that the franchise is ruined just by the director, the cast, the writers, etc. They declare war on their own kind. They anxiously await the new film ? just so they can spend hours a day trashing it. They treat the thing like it?s a virus trying to infect the organism (franchise). All of this ? without having seen the film. Man, the worst yet has to be the Fanboy hate\war on the new Star Trek film. Truthfully, it?s fascinating behavior.
What drives a fan to that level of devotion? When do they separate from reality at that level and turn against the very thing they've sworn to protect? Their hate seems to feed on itself to a point where they can?t let it go. It becomes their identity.
I guess my real question is this: If they haven't even seen the new film in a series, what's really driving their hate?
