Metafandom (newsletter community)

metafandom is a newsletter community on LiveJournal. It was founded in January 2005 by lim, Cathexys, spuzz and Makesmewannadie. 
The idea to create metafandom came from a conversation with Sophia Helix, on her post the waning of ambivalence, during which she said: 
metafandom eventually completely replaced Metablog, an earlier LJ community designed to link to blog posts of general fannish interest.
The name "metafandom" was originally meant to suggest "beyond individual fandoms and about fandom itself", but this meaning is largely ignored by the members of the community, who prefer to it to mean "fandom meta", leading to an endlessskuf. 'I don't think shaggirl has anything to do with fandom meta...' 05 March 2005.gaudinight. 'a litte disappointed in Metafandom' 23 April 2007.oh, good grief! by telperion1 via LiveJournal. Published December 22, 2009 (Accessed July 1, 2018). circular argument about the inclusion of content that is not "meta."
Having a post linked on metafandom could be both a blessing and a curse. Depending on the topic and fan temperament, having someone preface a comment on a post to your journal with "here from metafandom" could be welcome, or not so much.
==History==
The inaugural metafandom post was posted on January 23rd 200523rd of January, 2005 It linked to 25 posts, the first one being Sophia Helix's post quoted above. 
On January 4, 2006, lim posted the first metafandom FAQ
*The mods have changed over the years, and the community later cross-posted to Dreamwidth and used Delicious and an automated bot created by Murklins to simplify the posting.
*By 2010, the community included a lot of links to content that was more about social justice than fandom, or about intersections between fandom and privilege. This caused some debate, and also indirectly led to the creation of Linkspam on Dreamwidth.
*As of late 2010/early 2011, the newsletter version of metafandom on the various journal platforms was not published as often. However, metafandom editors continue to collect links in the metafandom delicious account (which includes the link to and snippet from each relevant post). Thus, the delicious account can be used not only as a way to find archived metafandom links, but also as an inbetween-newsletter-issues source for (to be) metafandom-ed links.
*The last post was in June 2011. (Note that Delicious was relaunched in September 2011, breaking functionality many newsletter communities had relied on to make posting links from delicious easier. If metafandom had still had plans to continue, this would have torpedoed their plans.) In 2013 the newsletter Metanews was started by other fans to fill the hole Metafandom left.
*In 2017, the LJ community was imported to Dreamwidth as a backup. https://fairestcat.dreamwidth.org/640248.html
As of 2017, the livejournal community had 1,121 posts; 4,223 comments; 2,104 members; and 3,788 watchers. (Accessed 9 April 2017)
The most recent FAQ (as of Jan 29, 2019)
==Reactions/Reviews==
===On Being Linked by Metafandom===
Some fans complained that after being mentioned in a metafandom post they received unwanted and negative attention. One of the list moderators wrote:
However, others were grateful for the exposure and discussion that ensued from a metafandom link.
===Positive Commentary on Metafandom===
In 2009, a LiveJournal post titled In search of anti-racist fanfic writing discussion which sought after "a place where people who are in the process of writing fanfic can talk about colonialism, appropriation, etc. in the source material/canon and in their own narratives" received some comments recommending metafandom as a place to find discussions of race and racism.
In 2010, a fan wrote approvingly of the positive discussion of Mary Sues taking place on metafandom, publishing their own thoughts on the subject in response.
===Criticism of Metafandom===
Some LiveJournal comments made in 2009 remarked on the fact that the metafandom community had become very self-absorbed and inward-looking, and had ceased to have any kind of productive debate as a result - suggesting that the quality of discussion on metafandom possibly deteriorated in later years.
satismagic:
azalaisdep:
telperion1: (in response to azalaisdep)
elliska:
===Popular Topics on Metafandom===
===Metafandom's Legacy===
====2011====
In 2011, LiveJournal user schmevil wrote a post entitled I really miss Metafandom, in which they lamented the loss of metafandom and what it brought to fandom, and the lack of a similar community to take its place.
Other users agreed, and pondered whether it might be possible for someone new to revive metafandom and keep the newsletter going.
====2019====
In 2019, a fan on fail-fandomanon asked: What did you think of metafandom, back in the day?
Role in Livejournal Fandom
Acafen
metafandom is still occasionally cited as a reference for fans who are interested in reading through older meta.Tumblr post by flyingfish1. Posted on December 5, 2017. Accessed on August 13, 2018. The term "metafandom" is also used in contemporary fannish discourse to describe meta about fandom or fannish topics, although it's unclear if that usage reflects the specific legacy of the community or just an original derivation of the term."metafandom" tag on Tumblr. Accessed on August 13, 2018.
==Further Reading==
* Fan Fiction Oral History Project with Kristina Busse (2012)
==References==
Category:Meta Journal Communities
Category:2000s Meta
Category:2010s Meta
Category:2018 Featured Articles