"Why can't we be all just get along?"
This question has been said more than once within the fandom in the past and will be said hundreds of times in the years to come.
The answer? We're humans, therefore there will ALWAYS be drama.
You can't help it.
So-and-so hates what's-his-face because he said something that so-and-so doesn't agree with.
Mr Fancy Pants attacked newbie fan about the EU and it blew up over social media, so now we all have to pick teams like a school yard game of "red rover" and debate about who was wrong or right for the next 4 months to come.
In retrospect, most of these skirmished within the fandom are petty, while ALL of them will be forgotten over time in the long run so it doesn't matter in the first place.
I remember my first "drama" within the fandom. It was with Brian from the Tosche Station podcast.
He had an encounter with an annoying fan at Dragon Con. I had also spoken to this guy before and I'm pretty sure he wasn't all there in the head. Brian had an awful experience dealing with him (I concur) but went forward labeling all EU fans under his personality. He started attacking those fans and taking shots at the EU in general.
At the time I was still doing my "Defending the EU" series of posts and someone asked me to address his comments, so I did...by reading back an incredible article Brian had written about the EU fandom only a year earlier.
By turning his own words against him I found myself front and center of my first "fan drama"
Slander, lies and death threats were made against me. Brian believed that I was coming to Dragon Con that next year to (get this) fight him.
Me. Fight. Him. Uh...no. I wasn't even going to Dragon Con and I certainly wouldn't go there to fight someone I didn't know. But that's what he thought, I can only guess one of his fans was trying to stir the drama pot and start that rumor.
Screen shots of his Twitter account were constantly sent to me on whenever my name was mentioned. I don't have social media for EXACTLY this reason. I frankly don't care about what is said on social media. Bit a few posts from Brian's followers caught my attention, they were actual threats against my life.
Two people informed Brian they found out where I lived. City and State. And told Brian, if he wanted them to, they would come down to Louisiana and "teach me a lesson for good"
My first response to this was laughter. Then after thinking about it....more laughter.
The next day I felt differently.....and made a video showing the posts and laughing at the whole thing. I provided my full name and address online and even invited my attackers to eat jambalaya with me at my mom's house (it is SO good!) then a trip to my sister's bakery, where I would have them try some amazing desserts and afterwards they could "teach me that lesson"
It was one of the best videos I made.
My wife made me take it down the next day. She didn't find it funny at all.
Eventually, Brian got tired of obsessing over a guy who didn't have social media to respond nor was making any more videos about him, and moved on. Such was my first experience with Fan Drama.
It wasn't my worst, nor my last. In the years since I've been involved with plenty. But in the end guess what? It never mattered. It never does. Life moves on and so do we.
So what's the lesson here? Whatever drama is going on with the fandom, know that it too will pass and mean absolutely nothing in the years to come.
To be honest, if I ever went to Dragon Con again and ran into Brian, I'd buy him lunch, talk about things we have in common and wish him a happy life. Because "fan drama" isn't about who's right and who's wrong, it's about how quickly we can move on with life thereafter.
MTFBWYA
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