The things in the fandom

There are several things that bother me in the fandom. One of which happens to be the casual use of the words "most" and "many" when referring the likes and dislikes of an episode, a character, actor, season, etc.

To say that "most" fans hated the series finale would be incorrect. Because "most" haven't said one way or the other. And since the ones that tend to like things, tend not to be as vocal as the ones that didn't, you're looking at a skewed result.

Interent polls and other fan type surveys are a bunch of hogwash, as the people that fill those things out (myself included) are usually the only people who are active in the fandom. So, if 75% said they at least "liked" A Friend in Need, doesn't make it true that the majority liked it. Just that 75% of the people who came to a website said that they at least partially liked it.

I am a webmaster of one of the largest active Xena websites. Most of the people that drop me a line are "casual online fans" who watch the series, but don't participate in the online fandom. (That includes polls, message boards, mailing lists, etc.) They are so thrown back by all the "the majority of the fans want the movie. They majority of the fans hated the finale. Many fans hated season 5. I can't say I blame them for being thrown off.

This brings me to another thing that bothers me. I've been a fan of Xena for seven years now, and it was only after the series ended that I really began to get upset with the fandom. When I say that I despise the very thing that I love the most, I really mean it.

It came to a point, where I absolutely was disgusted with the fandom. People are cruel. I've learned that much from being in this fandom. And there's a handful of people that continue to do so, to this day. They are usually the ones that have the "it's my way or the highway" mentality. Apparently, some of these people feel they've been dealt some type of injustice has been done to them. What? I don't know.


I guess what I'm really trying to say here is that, don't use the bandwagon mentality and remember that we're all fans of the same series. Remember the Golden Rule.