Fandom Wank

Fandom Wank was a Journalfen community dedicated to making fun of drama caused by fans on the internet, also known as wank. Journalfen went down in April 2015JournelFen; Fanlore:JournelFen, but it is accessible on WayBackMachine page.
Some of the content is archived at Website crawl of the 'Fandom Wank' community for 2015-03-01.
The Journalfen community is the third incarnation of Fandom Wank, after being TOSsed from both Livejournal and Blurty.More information and chronology needed here.
Also see Fandom Wank Wiki.
== History ==
Fandom Wank went through many changes of venue since its inception.
All timeline information has been acquired from the Fandom Wank Wiki Timeline.
=== The Era of Livejournal (2002-2003) ===
The first Fandom Wank was founded on LiveJournal on October 16, 2002 by Dara and TOSsed on January 14, 2003. It is not known who reported it or why it was deleted from LiveJournal. Reactions were puzzled and angry.TOSsers
=== The Era of Blurty (2003) ===
Fandom Wank at Blurty was founded by Versaphile on January 16, 2003. It was TOSsed on March 9, 2003. Things happened in between.
=== The Era of CrazyLife (March 2003) ===
Fandom Wank at CrazyLife was founded by Telesilla on March 10, 2003. It was only active there until it moved to JournalFen on March 16, 2003.
=== The Era of Journalfen (2003-2015) ===
Fandom Wank found a permanent home on March 16, 2003 when ZorroRojo, having just founded journalfen, offered them a place to stay. The newly homed community was founded by Dara, who created the Modsquad,Fandom Wank Wiki; and grew into the large, active community we saw for a long time. Sadly it was lost along with the rest of JF in 2015, and no attempts to recreate it elsewhere are visible.
== Fandom Wank Wank: The 2004 Deletion of Fandom Wank==
On June 23, 2004, Fandom Wank was deleted.
Read about it at Fandom Wank Wiki.
== The Fandom Wank Communities ==
The following is a vague way of grouping up the wank and wank-related and wank-stepchildren communities.
Fandom Wank is a part of a loosely affiliated set of wank and fan-related communities. In general, these communities were founded by the same people who founded Fandom Wank.
This entire part is referenced in the Fandom Wank Wiki.Fandom Wank Communities The split in type is pretty much an interpretive dance of categorization, so take it with a grain of salt. A Venn diagram might be helpful.
=== Fandom Wank Subsidaries ===
.
These communities are Fandom Wank-oriented and tend not to be wank communities themselves.
* Fandom Wank Icons - some icons were specific to a particular wank, others focused on the fandom wank community as a wholeWebCite for Fandom Wank Icons (accessed July 4, 2014).
* FW Mod DebateWebCite for FW Mod debate (accessed July 4, 2014).
* FW's Greatest Hits - This is where you can ask about wank from days gone by. And wank that never was reported by Fandom Wank.WebCite for FW's Greatest Hits (accessed July 4, 2014).
* FW Fairy TalesFW Fairy Tales (accessed July 4, 2014).
* FW Stuff (no entries as of July 4, 2014)
* FW MeetupWebCite for FW Meetup (accessed July 4, 2014).
=== Wank Feeder Commmunities ===
These communities act as feeds for Fandom Wank and the other wank communities.
* Clairvoyantwank - For wank that is not yet at critical mass.WebCite for Clairvoyantwank (accessed July 4, 2014).
* Wank Report - For reporting wanks in the wild. Anonymous commenting is permitted. Note that the two posts together contain over 15,000 comments. A snapshot of the first pages of the third wank report and the fourth wank report can be found here and here.WebCite Wank Report (accessed July 4, 2014).
=== Wank Communities ===
These communities generally follow the same format as Fandom Wank for pointing and laughing.
* DL Anon - For wank about the Domlijah Tinhats. Apparently, enough to justify their own core wank constituency.
* HP Cornfield - For Harmonian and related Harry Potter wank, because there really was enough to populate a community.
* I-Wank - For reporting wanks you instigated, were heavily involved in, or the reason for. Or something.
* OTF Wank - For when fandom is not wanky enough and RL has better material.
* Wankitywank - This is where you mock the people who mocked. It's very meta.
=== Other Communities ===
These communities are generally more focused on discussion and ranting:
* Fandom Lounge
* Fandom Rant
* Jurisimprudence: see Snacky's Law
== The Fandom Wank Spin-Offs ==
These communities are spin-offs but are not tied directly to Fandom Wank, though the founders are usually members of one or more of the above. They may or may not use the feeder communities. At this point, a Venn diagram would be helpful.
=== Wank Communities ===
Pointing and laughing:
* 6A Cornfield - All wanking about LiveJournal goes here (link)WebCite for 6A Cornfield (accessed July 4, 2014).
* Bad Penny - For revisiting old wanks.
* Fandom Wank Espanol - For wank in Spanish. (link)
* FW Offline - For wank that happens offline (link).WebCite for FW Offline (accessed July 4, 2014).
* Gaia Wank - For wank on/about Gaia Online.
* MockityMock - (Former) home of your friendly neighborhood cabal.
* Operation Mock - Discussion of Scientology, Anonymous's protest, and related wank.
* Political Wank - For wank about politics.
* Shy Wank - A meetup/friending meme community for shy users on Journalfen.
* Spitting Image
* Tech Wank
* The HMS STFU
* Unfunny Business - An increasingly important comm in recent times, news and discussion about topics deemed too heavy for Fandom Wank (such as racism and sexism) are banished to here.
* We Wank
=== Non Wank Communities ===
Doing stuff that's usually not pointing and laughing. That does not mean it does not happen.
* Anon-No-More
* Fandom Court
* Fandom Discuss
* Feline Lounge
* FW Cookbook
* Hufflen00bs
* Metaquotes (JF)
* Random Lounge
* Random Rant
== Reactions to Fandom Wank ==
Some fans see FW as a group who position themselves as arbiters of right and wrong within fandom. Cryptoxin described them as a rogue judiciary. Others see FW mainly as a group of mean-spirited mockers, or a home of trolls who stir up ill feelings.
From a fan in 2001: 
===Some 2002 Comments===
===Some 2005 Comments===
See: Fandom Wank Poll: Fandom Wank, possible virtures of. for more.
 
 
==Fandom Wank's Origins and Purpose: From a 2013 Interview==
In 2013, Snacky was interviewed about Fandom Wank. Their comments are excerpted below. See the link at Slashcast Insider Interview with Snacky for much more. 
==Further Reading/Meta==
* by thebratqueen (2002) 
* Chapter 242 of Libertine's Guide to Surviving the Harry Potter Fandom without spontaneously combusting in an embarrassing way. by Libertine (2004)
* (2003)
* (2003) 
* the waning of ambivalence by sophia_helix (the effect of Fandom_Wank on fan behavior) (January 2005)
* Fandom Wank Poll: Fandom Wank, possible virtures of. (January 2005)
* Wank Communities: Fandom Police, or Playground Bully?; archive link (February 2005)
* Fall of Fandom Wank (September 2016)
* So What is It With Wank?
* Fandom in/as Contact Zone (Fandom Version)
* Fandoms have 1% Toxic Fans Theory
* r/hobbydrama has more or less turned into fandomwank at this point ; Wayback link; archive link by kinnoth (2020)
== References ==
Category:Discussion