Whaler

In Word of Honor fandom, a whaler is a Zhang Zhehan fan who does not believe the theory that his Instagram account is controlled by someone else. Essentially, it is a derogatory term used by fans who do believe the theory. More polite synonyms include "ZSJ fan" and "ZSJ believer". Fans who use these terms define whalers as fans who believe that "Zhang Sanjian" (ZSJ) is Zhang Zhehan (ZZH). 
Zhang Zhehan fans who do not believe that the Zhang Zhehan posting on Instagram is a fake named "Zhang Sanjian" do not have a term for not believing the theory. Not believing the theory is considered the default position both within and outside Word of Honor fandom. Instead, everyone else refers to fans who do believe the theory as "conspiracy theorists" (although some "whalers" may or may not believe in an alternate set of conspiracy theories about Gong Jun). 
A definition from bizarrequazar, a conspiracy theorist:
Both groups of Zhang Zhehan fans (whalers vs. Instagram skeptics) think of themselves as fans of the real Zhang Zhehan and the other set of fans as not true fans. Thus, when someone on social media uses the hashtag #theRealZhangZhehan, it's not clear without more context which view they support.
==Context==
Zhang Zhehan is a Chinese actor who played the lead role in the dangai drama Word of Honor. His costar was Gong Jun. Their ship name is Junzhe. Some fans who ship them believe that they are in a romantic relationship in real life; these fans are called tinhats. A smear campaign destroyed Zhang Zhehan's career on August 13, 2021.
On twitter the term whaler first appeared in early May 2022 and seems to be a reference to a whale merchandise design sold by Zhang Zhehan or someone associated with him. Sometime after he was cancelled on August 13, 2021 and lost his verified accounts on Chinese social media, an unverified account named Zhang Sanjian started posting. (The name "Zhang Zhehan" became sensitive, forbidden words on Chinese social media, so he would have been unable to create an account with his own name.) Some fans thought it was him, but others did not. When Zhang Zhehan's verified Instagram account, zhangzhehan_super3, was reactivated in April 2022 and started posting again, there were some brand elements/merchandise in common with the ZSJ account, leading some fans to assume that Zhang Sanjian must be Zhang Zhehan and leading other fans to assume that the Instagram account was no longer controlled by Zhang Zhehan. 
In late April/early May he posted a letter and video of himself that indicated that he had not had any contact with Gong Jun in months, they were not friends, and that Gong Jun was working against him and using CP marketing without his consent. He also made some disparaging remarks about m/m shipping in general. This was upsetting to Junzhe shippers, and especially upsetting to the tinhats. In the video he seemed to address tinhats in particular and implied he no longer considered them his fans."Since no matter what I wear, it will make a lot of people 'ship cp', then I design my own favorite clothes. As long as those who like and support me want to see and listen and are willing to resonate with me, then I will come to you unswervingly. For those who don't want to wake up, I can only say that our fate is over." Translation by Chinese star news: , youtube video, May 3, 2022. Therefore, the tinhats believe that the video is fake and that the Instagram account is controlled by whoever is behind the "Zhang Sanjian" account. To them, whalers are not really fans of Zhang Zhehan, since they are "actually" fans of "Zhang Sanjian".
Zhang Zhehan has continued posting photos and videos of himself to his Instagram account. He has also met fans in public, released music, and held concerts in Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur. Conspiracy theorists (not just the tinhat shippers, but also solo fans who doubt the identity of the Instagram) believe that one or more impostors are impersonating him on these occasions, that the fans he met were paid to lie, and that images and videos are altered in some way to make them look like him.
==Multiple Definitions?==
The definition may be changing or may just not be used very consistently. For example, sometimes whaler refers to anyone who is "duped" by the Instagram account, but sometimes it's used to describe people who "know" that the Instagram is fake and are actively participating in the "scam gang" tricking fans into believing that "Zhang Sanjian" is Zhang Zhehan., tweet by _zuokanyunshu, 21 August 2023.
This July 2023 twitter exchange indicates that "whaler" might be reserved for Zhang Zhehan fans whose efforts to promote him are annoyingly excessive:
==Usage Examples==
==References==
Category:Word of Honor