I do think that traditional methods of subculture socialisation do operate within fandom, though. When the subject of socialising people into fandom norms comes up, in those terms or others - such as what it's appropriate to post to communities, feedback, etc - what usually comes up is a kind of initial lurking period as the newbie struggles to acquire basic norms.
It seems to me, however, that that method is losing ground over time (although I could be wrong - I have no evidence to back that up, and I haven't been in the same fandom since the days of mailing lists, even though I did make the ML-to-LJ transition in 2002 with the main big wave, I think). It seems that the popularity of initial post disclaimers such as "Newbie here, so please excuse any mistakes" is growing instead into the new norm. That has been especially notable on fandom wank, for instance. I suspect the distribution of introduction posts was quite different in different fandoms in the ML days though, so that could just depend on where people are coming from.
You do also see a fair number of "newbie guides" floating around LJ fandom, but usually not centralised in a way easy for the newbie to find. You can expect a newcomer to fandom/lj fandom to have basic knowledge of the internet many times - say, to be able to use basic google-type search functions - but not to be well-versed in the art of finding things in LJ, which mainly blocks spiders.
There is still a practise of older fans taking newbies under their wings, as well as responses to introductory posts and inquiry posts (of the "searching for recs" or "how do I post fic" or "where do I get icons" sort, I mean) and gentle corrections to unacceptable things like community spam. But there's also a reluctance to make those necessary corrections sometimes - or one might say, a faction who resist them - which can result in fandom schisms with "newbie" vs "oldbie" communities such as in fandom wank or good omens.
Personally, I advocate gentle correction, as well as centralised fandom presences on lj (such as main newsletters, I mean, or noticeboard communities), with those central communities offering some resources to the newbie - other communities, resource posts. I don't think I know of any newsletters linking to newbie guides, but perhaps they should.
I was reflecting yesterday that part of the problem with clearly articulating these norms for the group is that fandom descends from a particular subculture which has always been fairly resistant to a clear articulation of those. On the one hand, fandom (all the way back to science fiction fandom) celebrates its inclusivity - embracing all geeks and nonconformity in general. In principle, all you have to do to be a part of it is to seek it out and go, so many fans don't wish to acknowledge that it does have unwritten rules. On the other hand, like all subcultures/ social groups, it depends on those unwritten norms as a means of distinguishing insiders from outsiders, and will automatically resist any attempts to make them wholly explicit.
no subject
I do think that traditional methods of subculture socialisation do operate within fandom, though. When the subject of socialising people into fandom norms comes up, in those terms or others - such as what it's appropriate to post to communities, feedback, etc - what usually comes up is a kind of initial lurking period as the newbie struggles to acquire basic norms.
It seems to me, however, that that method is losing ground over time (although I could be wrong - I have no evidence to back that up, and I haven't been in the same fandom since the days of mailing lists, even though I did make the ML-to-LJ transition in 2002 with the main big wave, I think). It seems that the popularity of initial post disclaimers such as "Newbie here, so please excuse any mistakes" is growing instead into the new norm. That has been especially notable on fandom wank, for instance. I suspect the distribution of introduction posts was quite different in different fandoms in the ML days though, so that could just depend on where people are coming from.
You do also see a fair number of "newbie guides" floating around LJ fandom, but usually not centralised in a way easy for the newbie to find. You can expect a newcomer to fandom/lj fandom to have basic knowledge of the internet many times - say, to be able to use basic google-type search functions - but not to be well-versed in the art of finding things in LJ, which mainly blocks spiders.
There is still a practise of older fans taking newbies under their wings, as well as responses to introductory posts and inquiry posts (of the "searching for recs" or "how do I post fic" or "where do I get icons" sort, I mean) and gentle corrections to unacceptable things like community spam. But there's also a reluctance to make those necessary corrections sometimes - or one might say, a faction who resist them - which can result in fandom schisms with "newbie" vs "oldbie" communities such as in fandom wank or good omens.
Personally, I advocate gentle correction, as well as centralised fandom presences on lj (such as main newsletters, I mean, or noticeboard communities), with those central communities offering some resources to the newbie - other communities, resource posts. I don't think I know of any newsletters linking to newbie guides, but perhaps they should.
I was reflecting yesterday that part of the problem with clearly articulating these norms for the group is that fandom descends from a particular subculture which has always been fairly resistant to a clear articulation of those. On the one hand, fandom (all the way back to science fiction fandom) celebrates its inclusivity - embracing all geeks and nonconformity in general. In principle, all you have to do to be a part of it is to seek it out and go, so many fans don't wish to acknowledge that it does have unwritten rules. On the other hand, like all subcultures/ social groups, it depends on those unwritten norms as a means of distinguishing insiders from outsiders, and will automatically resist any attempts to make them wholly explicit.