Oh yes, I've seen this one before and it's pretty accurate.

And to get the discussion started: I came into the Sherlock fandom somewhere in the middle when S1 and S2 had already been out and S3 was about 6 months away. I'd say it was a pretty good time to join the show and the fandom. It was great to be able to watch those six episodes (well, seven, including the pilot) over and over again, and the wait for S3 was somewhat bearable. Maybe the fact that I watched S1 and S2 constantly for about six months is the reason why those episodes embody the show for me. I have no idea what I might have felt about it all if I had come in after S3...

Apart from Sherlock I have only been active in the Star Trek fandom. That was at a time when The Next Generation was released... wonderful, so many episodes to anticipate for years and years, various shows... that really was fandom heaven.

Doctor Who is a tragedy, because that happened far too late for me. Of course the show is still on, but my DW is long gone.

Fandom is a word I didn't know when I was younger. How old is it?
Back then, me and two or three friends where our own fandom, sharing stuff, talking about it. There where smaller things, but Harry Potter was the big thing for us, being the Harry generation... until Rowling got too slow with writing to keep Harry at our own age ... It was amazing. I remember reading the magazines and collecting posters and finally joining the hp-fc, harry potter fan club, which started as a tiny place on the still new-for-us internet. Internet wasn't the number one place of fandos yet, I think. Except for those intelligent guys who knew how email news groups worked I guess, but that wasn't us, we were only eleven years old.

First time I heard the name fandom was actually when interacting with Sherlock fans.

I have liked many things, but a fan in a way that does the term justice I have been of Harry Potter (books), LoTR... and this especially in the waiting for the films, and Sherlock.

I'm very fascinated by fandoms, fan cultures... it's like a microcosmos. In love reading scientific works on how fandoms work... there is more and more being written which is nice.

SolarSystem wrote:

How old is the word 'fandom'? That's a good question. I'm really not sure whether or not we used the word to describe the Star Trek fandom back in the 1990s.I think we only talked about ourselves as fans, but I could be wrong.
Maybe I should dig out some of my old Star Trek Fan Club stuff. Yes, there were fan clubs back then where you could become a member if you payed a certain contribution for a year. And then you got a fan club magazine every month of every two months. 

Printed on paper, delivered by a postman. And it included the adresses of other fans you you could write them a letter (on paper) to contact them.

I feel a bit old now. ;-)

Those were the middle ages of fandom. 

You KNOW Tony Hadley, Gently?  Wow! 
 

Liberty, let me tell you a story.
I know of gently's crush on Spandau Ballet and Tony of course.
Last year the band was in the city where I live, participating in an evening event. The next morning I read about it in the paper and was like Oh wow, they were here yesterday!. About an hour later I went to work and walked through the main train station. And can you believe it: There they were! Standing in some waiting area and apparently waiting for their train. So... I got out my smartphone and attempted to take a pic from a distance. Then Tony saw me and made me come over to them. So we said hi and stuff and then I said to him: "You propbably won't believe it, but I have a very good friend, her name is 'gently' (*insert her real name here*), and together with her friend XX (*insert her real name here*) she has been following..." - and that's all I had to say. He immediately knew who I was talking about.
So, that's how well gently knows Tony Hadley and how well he knows her. 
 

Last edited by SolarSystem (August 3, 2016 9:24 am)

So now he knows me, too. 

Wow.
Considering I was at college in Birmingham in the 1980s...
Tony Hadley is something of a celeb.
Well done, you two.
Smashing guy, good singer.
Wasn't mad on Span,but liked their earlier stuff and they were one of the few bands I would dance to in the 80s Brum clubs.

Last edited by besleybean (August 3, 2016 9:53 am)

besleybean wrote:

Smashing guy, good singer.

He is. In his mid-fifties now, put on weight (a few gramms, LOL) but still charming as hell.