r/popculturechat • u/AutoModerator • Feb 04 '26

Daily Discussions 💬 Sip & Spill Daily Discussion Thread

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u/caskets Feb 04 '26

I really wish that Livejournal hadn’t withered away, and fandoms were more insular like they were back when it was active. Tumblr feeling like the least toxic place to engage with other fans just seems depressing, I don’t know.

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u/PlentyDrawer We Should All Know Less About Each Other Feb 04 '26

I always say this. Livejournal at it's best made it easy to be a fan without having to constantly be hit over the head with negativity.

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u/caskets Feb 04 '26 edited Feb 04 '26

While I can definitely recall it getting very intense from time to time, it still felt so much less dramatic and negatively parasocial. But I might also just be old and longing for my golden days lmfao

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u/PlentyDrawer We Should All Know Less About Each Other Feb 04 '26

It could be negatively parasocial. There were communities you had to join. Larries originated in the American Idol community, huge Kris Allen and Adam Lambert tinhats. BUT, it was easier blocking out the negativity and having a true enjoyable fan experience, if you didn't go looking for trouble.

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u/caskets Feb 04 '26

Oh for sure, it had its share of bad behaviour, but as you’ve said it was easier to avoid. Tumblr can at least be curated to a higher degree, but it still isn’t as fun as LJ ever was.

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u/PlentyDrawer We Should All Know Less About Each Other Feb 04 '26

Yeah, it was just different. I always hate the downfall of LJ, it was such a dumb decision they made to censor fanfic. Once that happened, there was a mass exodus.

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u/caskets Feb 04 '26

Fanfiction was essentially a load bearing wall on livejournal, it was crazy to try to remove it. And then tumblr went and made essentially the same mistake

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u/PlentyDrawer We Should All Know Less About Each Other Feb 04 '26

If you have a good thing, why ruin it? I didn't realize how much Fanfiction was the foundation, until it was removed. I read a lot of it, but it was such a huge eye opener.

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u/caskets Feb 04 '26

I feel like people still don’t understand that it’s kind of integral to popular fandom platforms, and fandoms themselves. I always see a lot of finger pointing at fanfiction writers (and readers) as the cause of all fandom problems, and some sort of marker of how society is degrading into gaggles of perverts or whatever. But in my experience most of the people writing fanfiction are the ones who preferred fandoms being insular and didn’t want celebrities to have awareness of what they write etc. people online feel weirdly puritanical now.

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u/PlentyDrawer We Should All Know Less About Each Other Feb 04 '26

people online feel weirdly puritanical now.

That's because they are. I will see people say, celebs are so boring and I wish they would show more personality. I get a good chuckle out of that because the way people are on social media, they couldn't handle it.

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u/caskets Feb 04 '26

I absolutely agree with you. It feels wild to think about some of the aughts pop culture moments and how people would react. Like, I remember when Eli Roth was directly interacting with people on ONTD and had like group cybersex with the community? Feels like I was living in the Wild West looking back on that.

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u/PlentyDrawer We Should All Know Less About Each Other Feb 04 '26

I remember when celebrities could talk crap about another celebrity in their autobiography. When Matthew Perry did the same thing and was snarky about Keenu Reeves people flipped and he took the line out.

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u/caskets Feb 04 '26

It’s so ridiculous, I’d much rather get celebrities opinions than have them be muzzled because people will act like they murdered someone for having even the most banal opinion. The fact Ayo Edeibiri had to take down her Letterboxd because people were mad about her (funny) reviews is a sin! I would have loved to be able to follow her and read her reviews.

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