Five Comms (and a bonus) that kept Fandom going in 2016

[chasingdemons.livejournal.com]

LJ coms are exactly that: communities. Places where we come together to share the fandom with people who are on our friends list and people who are not. Without communities, I would not have met a lot of wonderful people on LJ. I want to give a shout out to five +1 communities that brought fandom to our little corner of the world in 2016. (I simply couldn’t limit the list to five, so I’ve added a bonus.) This is also an expression of gratitude to the moderators of all communities who give of their time to create a fandom experience for the rest of us.


sb_fag_ends
Created in August 2010, this community promotes Spike/Buffy fanfic and meta up to 1,000 words in length (as well as limited postings of artwork). It's a great concept, especially for those of us who really enjoy the opportunity to participate in brief spurts. The community is moderated by bogwitch, quinara, and shapinglight. I have to say their annual Halloween challenge has been one of the highlights of my fandom year. As of the end of 2016, the community will sadly no longer have active mods, but it remains open for anyone who wants to showcase their work. Thank you for your contribution to the fandom!



seasonal_spuffy
Created in September 2005, this community celebrates all things Spuffy. True to its name, it comes around seasonally (summer, fall, winter, and spring). Last season was moderated by rebcake, teragramm and abelian. Spuffy is not my OTP, but one can't help but get swept up by the joy of Spuffy each round. This community always presents a great collection of fiction and fan art.

noel_of_spike
Created in June 2006, this community blends the majesty of the Christmas season with the adulation of Spike. Makes perfect sense, right? Yes it does! This has always been my favorite seasonal com. The 2016 season was moderated by sueworld2003 and shapinglight. I look forward to this every year!

nekid_spike
Created in May 2007 as an antidote to the wank that had consumed the fandom at that time, this community is all about fun, and only fun - as long as Spike is included. This community has always been the heart of the fandom for me. It’s made really effective use of group moderation from day-one and the mods work as a team to make members feel welcome and appreciated. The community is currently moderated by blondebitz, angelus2hot, comlodge, snogged, spikesredqueen, velvetwhip, and verucasalt123.

su_herald
Created in September 2004, the mission of this community is to publish a daily newsletter promoting fandom activity. On the days I really fret that the fandom is slipping away, this newsletter tells me that there are still people creating fiction and artwork and discussing fandom issues. I credit the su_herald with keeping fandom activity on our radar. In 2015, the community maintainer, rahirah, opened the su_herald on Tumblr at sunnydaleherald. It was a brilliant move, and I think responsible for creating a lot of cohesiveness between Tumbler and LJ. The tumblr site has 557 followers so far.

This is a community that you would "watch" on LJ rather than becoming a member. The newsletters are created by its "editors" who all have busy lives, but take two or three hours each week to create and publish. Full disclosure, I am currently honored to be an editor. The other current weekly editors are feliciacraft, gillo, rahirah, rbfvid, and waddiwasiwitch.


buffyversetop5
Last, but definitely not least is buffyversetop5. Created in September 2005, this is a seasonal com for posting recs of all things fandom. Moderated by yourlibrarian and petzipellepingo, this community is an annual celebration. Classic recs during Halloween, and current recs starting on January 1. Before I had an LJ, when I first started looking around the Internet because I needed more BtVS, I stumbled upon this community and it was like I had struck gold. Thank you, buffyversetop5 for an absolute wealth of information and a place to acknowledge creators in the fandom!

Comments

[waddiwasiwitch.livejournal.com]

This is stellar list and these great communities remind us that this fandom is still very much alive.

[chasingdemons.livejournal.com]

Absolutely! And thanks for your contribution! *salutes*

[yourlibrarian]

Thanks so much for the hat tip, it's always rewarding to know that the community has served its purpose to someone, especially those new to fandom at LJ.

Sorry to hear about the change to Fag Ends but glad it will remain open for posting. I agree that the Herald's appearance on Tumblr is a real plus for the fandom, as I have seen various posts from people there casting about to find fellow fans. Both LJ and Tumblr's terrible search options make the Herald's work a real asset to anyone wondering what's been added to the fandom.

As a member of both closed canon fandoms and a small ship, I've definitely felt the vital role that fests and communities play in keeping people engaged, so I'm glad to see this post reminding people where to find fellow fans.

[chasingdemons.livejournal.com]

You're welcome, and thanks for running this community. I really, really wish there was such a thing as a com Tumblr where people could meet up and post their work.

[comlodge.livejournal.com]

Oh so important and a list of all my faves right here. Like you such comes were my first starting place here and I've had so much fun playing, learning and sharing in them all.

[chasingdemons.livejournal.com]

It has been fun. ;)

[snogged.livejournal.com]

I love that these communities are still active.

[chasingdemons.livejournal.com]

Me too! I'm glad there are still people willing to put the time into keeping them active.

[feliciacraft.livejournal.com]

Thank you for remembering the communities that have greatly contributed to our fandom! And for honouring the Herald with a mention!

[chasingdemons.livejournal.com]

Hopefully it will be a good guide for anyone who stumbles upon LJ.

[ruuger]

I don't know if it's good thing or not, but I've completely forgotten which wankery spawned Nekid Spike... Either I've gotten old or there was just too much wankery back in the day for me to remember them all :D

[chasingdemons.livejournal.com]

I can't remember exactly either. It was one of two things:

It might have been about sexymermaid and the many people who didn't "appreciate" her writing style. She also used the word "rape" in a context some found not appropriate, so, you know, she had to be killed.

Or it was about vamptastica posting a locked entry from a com that was set up to skewer authors they didn't feel met their standards. Major arguments there.

I remember talking to vamptastica on her journal about the current state of ugliness and shanmara said "Hey, we should open a new com and everyone post naked pictures of Spike for the whole weekend." That happened, and the com just continued on.

Good times.

[rahirah]

The sexymermaid thing was darker_spike, wasn't it? The wanks all start to blur together after awhile.

[chasingdemons.livejournal.com]

Everyone probably remembers it a little differently depending on what you were reading, but I was a member of darker spike then and I don't remember it having anything to do with darker spike or being brought up on darker spike. If I was just a tiny bit more insane and my arm didn't hurt, I would find the entry that seemed to start the whole thing. It was on the journal of someone who was an editor of the su herald actually… bringing this full circle. SM had written a story about Spike being raped by swamp thing (who was really Angel) or somesuch thing. This person had just about enough and she wrote a big inflammatory post publicly telling SM to stop it. A million people chimed in of course, and when she was asked in the comments why she couldn't just not read it if she didn't like it, it was proposed by someone else that because she was an editor, she was duty bound to read it. I remember those of us in the "dark" crowd going WTF, why can't everyone just enjoy their porn in peace.

[rahirah]

Thanks for the shout-out, and thank you for helping to make the Herald awesome. :)

[thenewbuzwuzz.livejournal.com]

Yes! Communities are so important. Joining Seasonal Spuffy pretty much made my year, and the Herald is so, so helpful. I'm looking forward to exploring more comms this year, and I'm so glad and thankful they all exist. <3

[shapinglight]

Thank you so much for reccing Fag Ends. I miss it already. As for noel, I feel bad that I was such a rubbish mod and didn't even manage to finish my own contribution.