Annie wrote:
Uh, maybe I don't want to be studied, especially in such a manner. Maybe I also don't want to have my motives for liking certain types of fan fiction examined and I certainly don't particularly care to be *told* why I like something and what that something "is" (in complete disagreement to my own stated preferences and what *I* believe that something "is").
This is, in fact, the crux of the problem many fans had with Camille Bacon-Smith and Henry Jenkins' books about fandom. Many fans were highly offended that they had been part of some sort of "study." Personally, I have never had a problem with either book or either author... but, then, both authors had spoken directly to both Leah and myself and I remember even signing a release with one of them. So, we *did* know what they were up to. Apparently, there were a good number of fans who didn't know and didn't take kindly to be the basis of someone's academic lab experiment.
OK, well as someone who is both a fan and who has researched, studied and published on fandom thanks to participants from this very list, I feel I have to come in on this discussion.
I would be *gutted* to think that people on this list have felt like lab rats. Everyone who took part in the Q study took part, I *truly* hope, because they wanted to, and knew that they were free to pull their responses if they didn't want them analyzed. I hope I behaved professionally throughout, and if anyone who took part feels as if I misrepresented or mistook them; *please*, let me know (off list). I hope to god that people know that I have the utmost respect for their opinions and thoughts, and that when I work not just as an academic but as a *human being* (and these are the *same thing* to me) on any subject, *all* I am doing is trying to *understand*.
I analyze B7 fandom because I'm part of that community; I love it and the show. I also love my academic work and it's part of my nature to use it to understand my own everyday life. I work under an admittedly vague and possibly deluded assumption that both fans and colleagues might be interested in hearing how I think, academically, about fandom - or, fannishly, about academia.
I'm finding as I type I'm starting to get upset, which definitely *is* unprofessional, so I'm off for another cup of coffee.
Una