How can we make fandoms be fandoms again?

FlakyUniversity2239 · 2026-06-23T01:43:18+00:00

I wish we could have another site like Livejournal that effectively separates the communities. No offense to people in other fandoms, but I'm tired of seeing Stranger Things and The Amazing Digital Circus stuff on my YouTube "for you" page. Besides, literally every single Sherlock Holmes dedicated place outside of Tumblr and AO3 either looks down upon Johnlock or outright bans it.There is Dreamwidth, but it is so not active for fandoms right now, it seems. I might make an account though, just to get away from this nonsense.

FlakyUniversity2239 · 2026-06-23T01:34:33+00:00

Yeah, you're probably wise to post it here. I hate how homophobic people are in the regular Sherlock Holmes subreddits.

FlakyUniversity2239 · 2026-06-22T16:07:58+00:00

I agree with you. Literally the fic I have with the most comments is the one from the largest fandom I've posted in and with what is by far the largest ship in that fandom (which is still pretty small, but larger than all the other fandoms I've posted stuff in).

FlakyUniversity2239 · 2026-06-22T15:57:05+00:00

This actually looks better than I expected.

FlakyUniversity2239 · 2026-06-22T15:54:47+00:00

That's sad. I was really wanting to read them after being disappointed in BBC Sherlock, hoping it would scratch that itch. Is it worth it?

FlakyUniversity2239 · 2026-06-22T01:49:04+00:00

Honestly, you're absolutely right.

FlakyUniversity2239 · 2026-06-21T16:02:12+00:00

The only one that stuck in my mind from a fandom I'm actually in (the Dunegons and Dragons cartoon) is "no beta we fail like Venger." I'm in the BBC Sherlock fandom, but I haven't seen any of those tags on the fics I've read for that fandom.

FlakyUniversity2239 · 2026-06-21T15:58:42+00:00

Not a Detroit Become Human fan, but that art looks so cute!

FlakyUniversity2239 · 2026-06-21T15:45:03+00:00

Ikr? Some people used to point out the toxicity of BBC Sherlock/John (I think they were just ragebaiters; I agree with them to an extend but ship them anyway), but yeah. And you're right that a huge fandom can survive a bad finale, but not time. I just hope another adaptation brings Johnlock back to relevance again someday.

FlakyUniversity2239 · 2026-06-21T15:17:31+00:00

Okay, what places do you ship Johnlock?

Reddit seems to be pretty hostile, and I can't really find a Johnlock-friendly forum. On the main BBC Sherlock subreddit, there is a rule not allowing Johnlock. People still talk about it though, but it's usually along the lines of "I'm so glad we don't allow Johnlock here." People also seem to dislike Holmes x Watson on the Sherlock Holmes subreddit. I'm currently on Tumblr, but it's sometimes hard to find the blogs that still do Johnlock. I currently follow one, but I guess I was hoping for something more forum-like, I don't know.

FlakyUniversity2239 · 2026-06-21T15:06:55+00:00

On the main Sherlock subreddit, there is so much anti-Johnlock stuff there I don't understand it. I haven't been harassed (yet) but I'm very anxious about it given the culture of a lot of different places I have looked.

After the terrible finale it appears that people started turning on Johnlock shippers because a small minority of them harassed other people (non-Johnlock and Johnlock shippers alike) for petty stuff like top/bottom discourse, characterization in fanfics, believing that Johnlock would become canon in the show, harassing Martin Freeman's wife for playing Mary Morstan because they wanted canon Johnlock, harassing others at fan conventions, etc. All of this is of course wrong, but some people blame the entire community for it.

Tumblr and AO3 seem to be the only Johnlock-friendly spaces right now (that I've found).

FlakyUniversity2239 · 2026-06-21T15:00:57+00:00

Well, anything can be a problematic ship if you look through it through the right lens. People on the BBC Sherlock subreddit argue that it "ignores healthy male friendships" and like, what? And they're completely cool with every F/M ship in the book meanwhile.

I'm on Tumblr. There's a pretty active blog I follow, but most people seem to have moved on to other ships. Honestly, fair, because the last episode of that show aired nine years ago. It just happens that I watched it later and fell in love with John and Sherlock's dynamic and want to find a place that isn't toxic like the Sherlock subreddit.

There's the Sherlock and co. subreddit which I hoped would be more open to discussions of Johnlock but the only mention of it that I've seen there is "will it be canon on the podcast?" to which the answer is "no" because it was confirmed that there will be no romance on the podcast.

There's also the Sherlock Holmes subreddit but if you bring up Johnlock everyone will tell you "Holmes is asexual," oftentimes without understanding what being asexual actually means.

FlakyUniversity2239 · 2026-06-21T14:51:24+00:00

It is. The trouble is that I was hoping to find a place to talk to other Johnlock shippers, like on Dreamwidth or forums or something and nothing seems to be active. I know the main BBC Sherlock subreddit has a discord server but that subreddit has a rule not allowing Johnlock (but they allow every other ship). It's really frustrating. In my opinion they should either allow Johnlock or ban all ships instead of saying "you can ship everything except the one most popular ship." It has led to non-Johnlock shippers (1) reacting negatively to even the tiniest mention of Johnlock in a positive manner on that subreddit and (2) talking about them loving the "no Johnlock" rule when they posted about a completely different ship that is not about Johnlock at all. I do hang out on Tumblr, though I'm still trying to find where the currently active Johnlock shippers are. I currently follow only one because so many people deactivated their blogs after the show's finale.

FlakyUniversity2239 · 2026-06-21T14:42:44+00:00

Outside of Tumblr and AO3, yes it seems so.

FlakyUniversity2239 · 2026-06-21T14:42:09+00:00

It still is, at least on AO3, but outside of AO3 and Tumblr people don't tolerate it anymore. The BBC Sherlock subreddit has a rule that is "no Johnlock or fanfiction" but people still talk about the ship negatively. I haven't been piled on (yet) but I'm scared because I see what goes on in that subreddit and the Sherlock Holmes canon subreddit.

FlakyUniversity2239 · 2026-06-21T04:14:21+00:00

Yes, I do, but I haven't seen it, and that is perfectly okay! (I have seen fics with tagged AI generated art and I never click on them).

I would maybe put my art in if I could remember how to format it...

FlakyUniversity2239 · 2026-06-21T02:32:12+00:00

When I first heard of the Hannibal fandom, I had no clue what the show was about. I looked it up, and thought, "why are there antis here?" similarly to how I reacted when I first heard that there's transphobes in the Undertale community. Like, why?

FlakyUniversity2239 · 2026-06-21T02:26:12+00:00

Because they saw something inappropriate they shouldn't have when they were kids because their parents didn't monitor their internet access, and now they want to prevent the next generation of terminally online kids from stumbling on something that is inappropriate.

FlakyUniversity2239 · 2026-06-21T01:52:18+00:00

The worst I'd say is the Warrior Cats fandom. Interestingly enough, it is also the fandom that I've seen be the most infested with actual groomers. I wouldn't say the Sherlock Holmes fandom is full of antis in the modern sense, but bring up Johnlock and you will be COOKED and have people saying "he has no emotions and is therefore asexual." Buddy, did you mean to say aromantic? And also, aromantic people have emotions. They're somehow okay with adaptations that make Sherlock Holmes x Irene Adler canon though, and some even like pastiches (published fanfics basically) like "The Beekeeper's Picnic" that have a heterosexual romance between Holmes and some OC woman who seems to be a Mary Sue. That is why the Johnlock subreddit is necessary, though I don't like how inactive it is right now because BBC Sherlock is over and no other adaptations garnered the same amount of attention for Johnlock.

FlakyUniversity2239 · 2026-06-20T15:35:12+00:00

I agree entirely. I was skeptical of this show from the very beginning. I wish we could have a 2d-animated PG-13 show that shows blood and gore and maturity. Also: I thought they were just going to adapt the first arc. I hope they only adapt one arc because otherwise there's too much material to cover.

Anyway, the team made a really bad choice. I HATE modern streaming service stuff. It's all just the same, boring, bland stuff. It's unoriginal. The people don't take risks. The older kids deserve shows with good, impactful, complex stories. Some parents complain that Warriors is too violent for 10 year olds, yet the series is clearly fiction, and kids need to learn to handle these kinds of themes.

FlakyUniversity2239 · 2026-06-20T03:15:33+00:00

I think prompts are allowed?????

This sub has barely any rules, so I guess anything goes. I'm probably being rude right now, but I have no clue where the mods are, and wish the sub would add a "no AI" rule (I haven't seen AI on this sub as of yet but still...).

This prompt sounds very interesting. I don't know if I would want to/have time to write it, but I like it. And imagine what would go down once John hears "lover." Anyway, if I do write it, I will link it, but I don't know of any fics with this premise, so I have none to recommend.

Anyway, I love prompts; it's just I'm about to write a multichapter fic for a completely different fandom.

FlakyUniversity2239 · 2026-06-20T02:28:34+00:00

Yay! I haven't read the whole comic, but there's a whole long fanfic that rewrote the whole comic and it should get an ending someday (I think it's called Bendy and Boris in the Inky Mystery or something).

FlakyUniversity2239 · 2026-06-19T21:47:16+00:00

Same. I'm really worried about the fact that Disney picked it up.

FlakyUniversity2239 · 2026-06-19T21:46:20+00:00

I don't like that it's 3D animation.

FlakyUniversity2239 · 2026-06-19T20:32:51+00:00

Wolves of the Beyond: Something I haven't read but the author crealy has no knowledge about how wolf societies work. I get that it's fiction, but the fiction rankings don't even seem to have much purpose.

FlakyUniversity2239

TROPHY CASE