Big Name Fan

A Big Name Fan (frequently abbreviated BNF) is, as the term suggests, a well-known fan, either in an individual fandom or in the fannish community as a whole. It was a part of the vocabulary that media fandom inherited when it split off from science fiction fandom. According to Science Fiction Citations, the term antedates 1950.
This term was originally attached most often to well-respected members of fandom, particularly those who organized or worked on conventions, produced zines, wrote for zines (either fiction or non-fiction), created fanart, and acted as a liaison with professional writers.Willis, Walter A. How to BNF Without Tears Originally in BEM #1, April 1954. (Accessed 25 October 2008) Online media fandom has its own criteria for what makes a fan a BNF.Minisinoo. SOCIAL STRATIFICATION and the "BNF" Phenomenon. Posted 16 February 2003. (Accessed 25 October 2008)
In recent decades, however, "BNF" has taken on a pejorative connotation, and is often used to describe fans over-impressed with their own prominence who may attempt to use their popularity for personal gain or to indulge their own unreasonable whims. It may be said that the accusatory aspect of BNFdom is meant to democratize fandom, to spread the wealth of recognition around by taking it away from those who have much of it, there by linking it to the tall poppy syndrome;Tall Poppy Syndrome on Wikipedia at present, there is no way to distinguish whether someone is being called a BNF in the purely descriptive sense or in the pejorative sense except by context. In effect, to be famous is to be vulnerable to the accusation of fame-whoring.
From a fan in January 1989: "When did "BNF" become a pejorative? It's an old and honored term in 60 years of Fandom. BIG NAME FAN has always designated those who WORKED FOR the fandom; put out newsletters, the zines, organized the Cons, brought fans together, disseminated information. They DID IT FOR the fans." from Linda Terrell in The Federation Archives
It is unclear when the pejorative sense of BNF was born; ironically, by contrast, the science fiction fandom term Secret Masters of Fandom, which is roughly equivalent, began as a pejorative but moved in the opposite direction, and is now a neutral word.
See Mina de Malfois for a fictional representation of a BNF.
==From Nobody Ever Admits They're a BNF==
(Except Forrest Ackerman)
Once someone has gained BNF status, other fans' behavior toward and assumptions about them may change, as chronicled in Nobody Ever Admits They're a BNF by Hope, an essay posted to the Fanfic Symposium that pointed out, among other things:
:[...]Get used to keeping things to yourself. There are lots of things that other people have the freedom to say that you don't. If you love your show and say so, you're forcing the unhappy fans to like it or shut up. If you hate your show and say so, you're forcing the happy fans to hate it or shut up. Any opinion you might have is actually policy making: you are dictating unto the rest of the fandom how things will be.
:[...]You can neither add too many fellow BNFs to your friends list, nor remove too many non-BNFs from your friends list. If the former, you're part of a clique. If the latter, you're a bitch. [...] Also, you must friend everybody who friends you, or you're an inaccessible elitist.
:[...]Everybody knows that once you become a BNF, you have to drop all the friendships you've already made and make friends only with the other BNFs. Whether you have ever spoken to BNF Mary, you are now friends with BNF Mary. Even if you thoroughly dislike BNF Mary, and BNF Mary equally hates you- you are friends. Everything BNF Mary does, she does with your explicit approval, even if she eats babies' brains with spoons for lunch.
:[...]any business you choose not to conduct in the full view of fandom in an unlocked journal is being unfairly withheld from the fandom-at-large.
:Locking your journal because you don't want Aunt Marge reading your slash is also exclusionary. Using a pseud when your real name can be found online is exclusionary. Because you're a BNF, it's okay for other people to use your real name in public, and there's nothing wrong with other people re-posting your locked LiveJournal entries so the whole fandom can enjoy. You are public property.Nobody Ever Admits They're a BNF, by Hope, posted July 9, 2004. Accessed May 30, 2009.
==Lack of Consensus==
It should be noted that there is no consensus as to what, exactly, constitutes a BNF. A 2008 Journalfen discussion post kettu. Big Name Fans in fandom_discuss. Posted 27 January 2008.
(Accessed 25 October 2008). archived. shows just how much opinions vary on what a BNF is. A sample of the various opinions shared there of what a BNF is:Another version of the neutral meaning of BNF is provided in Sharyn McCrumb's Bimbos of the Death Sun (Random House, 1988)
And for a few fans, a BNF can be platform specific (mailing list, LJ or tumblr), with some concluding that the last BNFs died off when fandom migrated to Tumblr. The following are comments from several members of fail-fandomanon in June 2013 where one fan asked: "Who are today's BNFs?"
For some, it's still all about fame. Fame of any kind:
==BNFs: Recipients of Goodies and Resentments==
A fan's good fortune (and ability to leverage power) can provide exciting opportunities to gain access to interviews, visits to sets, correspondence, and other access to TPTB. On the flip side, this access can also result in resentment among fellow fans. One Beauty and the Beast (TV) newsletter editor in 1989 described in great detail her personal tour of the set, and the dynamics she experienced: 
The actors, writers and producers of Blake's 7 were frequent guests at conventions, wrote fanworks of their own, wrote intros to zines, and were very accessible to fans. While many fans enjoyed this close contact with the celebrities, this close intermingling had some devastating effects, only one of which was jealousy. See The Blake's 7 Wars.
==Additional Reading/Meta==
* by Walter A. Willis (1954)
* BNFs and FMFs: Random observations by EB (1994)
* My life in slash, and BNFs by Sandy Hereld (1994)
* The Burden of Popularity (2001)
* No, seriously, y'all would tell me right? by thebratqueen (2002)
* ; page 2 and the related 
* Women in packs by Alara Rogers (2003)
* Fleshing Identity: Why We Can't Stop Talking about BNFs by Thamiris (2004)
* Nobody Ever Admits They're a BNF by Hope (2004)
* What makes someone a BNF? by Emma Grant (2005)
* On really, really popular people, fans, and canon by thelastgoodname at Fanthropology (2005)
* Fandom: The Meritocracy by sistermagpie (January 2005)
* by LariLee (2005)
* (2005)
* Women and Power (Meta on BNFs, Hate, and Anonymity) by Miriam Heddy (2006)
* How to Win Friends and Influence People. Sorta.; page 2; archive link page 1; archive link page 2, by cereta (2006)
* Fandom, celebrity, and power: BNFs
* ; archive link, a Tumblr post with over 6000 notes, consisting of fans using created Tumblrs of BNFs to comment on this, and other fandom scandals and personalities; each Tumblr link goes to a page of commentary, making this a unique fanwork (February 2014)
==References==
Category:Science Fiction Fandom GlossaryCategory:2018 Featured Articles
Category:Social Media Feature-Terminology Thursday