Other people have said it better than I ever could, so, yes. I think you have some good points, but I don't think LJ is quite as central as we like to think it is. As someone said above, most of comics fandom is on boards; I only ever visit them when someone links to a particularly horrific statement made on one of them, and my masochism takes over. Fanboys make up an enormous amount of comics fandom, and the number of them on LJ -- or, at least, in the parts of LJ that I frequent -- are incredibly low.
And it's not just the guys, either. What I see as being 'DC fandom' on LJ is, really, just one particular aspect of it. I was drawn to it because I got interested in the animated Justice League series -- and, in particular, the Flash. This is where the vast majority of fiction for Flash and my other favourite characters is, so this is where I hang out. (Also, shrift is largely responsible for my becoming a Flash fan in the first place, and so I just kind of followed her lead on the issue. ;) If I'd been converted by someone I knew from elsewhere, well, who knows where I would've ended up?)
I haven't been able to find a huge amount of good fic for my favourites outside of LJ, but I have noticed a lot of fic for other characters. If we're talking animated DC, there's a lot of Green Lantern/Hawkgirl, Batman/Wonder Woman, and so on at other sites, while there's virtually none around here. Are they also being posted at other parts of LJ? I have no idea.
To be honest, I don't know if I'd be spending nearly as much time here if MBTV hadn't gone to shit. While it wasn't as convenient as LJ, it was still a good place to discuss a lot of fandoms with a bunch of friends. I left because of mods going nuts (banning people indiscriminately, getting rid of all the Australian threads, which meant I had no place where I could post without encountering spoilers, and so on), and I think that, had that not happened, I would now be dividing my time between there and here. A lot of my LJ friends are people I met through fandom on MBTV, and it worked fine while it lasted.
Which, I guess, just demonstrates another advantage of LJ: your LJ is unmoderated, and, if a mod kicks you out of a comm, you can start your own. There are, of course, disadvantages, such as people posting unmarked spoilers to comms (and I'm not about to defriend comms on this basis, because we're so far behind on stuff that I'd never be able to add them back). And I am so far from my original point. Crap.
I think what I was trying to say is that LJ is good, but there are definite upsides to other forms of fannish interaction. I really did like being able to go to a site that had fora for a vast range of shows, and just jump in on the relevant thread; searching LJ for a comm that a) covers what you're looking for, and b) doesn't suck can be a deeply frustrating process. I can totally see why people stick with fora, lists, and otherwise. Hotmail deleted the account I used for mailing lists, awhile back, and I haven't yet gone about re-subscribing; and I know I should, because there were always plenty of stories posted to these lists that weren't posted to LJ (AFAIK). I think that it's good to cover all your bases, and follow different forms of fannish interaction. I'm currently not doing that, because pretty much all the characters I love are being covered right where I am; but, if I got back into Farscape fandom, I would totally be back on the lists.
Having said all that, LJ is pretty damned cool, and I can certainly see where you're coming from. ;) It's the best way of becoming a multifandom ho. (The downside, of course, is that when you drift into a new fandom, the fannishness of your friendslist suddenly becomes irrelevant, and you're mentally yelling and screaming for people to SHUT THE HELL UP ABOUT SGA, ALREADY, while said people are probably having the exact same response to your rambling about comics. ;) )
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And it's not just the guys, either. What I see as being 'DC fandom' on LJ is, really, just one particular aspect of it. I was drawn to it because I got interested in the animated Justice League series -- and, in particular, the Flash. This is where the vast majority of fiction for Flash and my other favourite characters is, so this is where I hang out. (Also,
I haven't been able to find a huge amount of good fic for my favourites outside of LJ, but I have noticed a lot of fic for other characters. If we're talking animated DC, there's a lot of Green Lantern/Hawkgirl, Batman/Wonder Woman, and so on at other sites, while there's virtually none around here. Are they also being posted at other parts of LJ? I have no idea.
To be honest, I don't know if I'd be spending nearly as much time here if MBTV hadn't gone to shit. While it wasn't as convenient as LJ, it was still a good place to discuss a lot of fandoms with a bunch of friends. I left because of mods going nuts (banning people indiscriminately, getting rid of all the Australian threads, which meant I had no place where I could post without encountering spoilers, and so on), and I think that, had that not happened, I would now be dividing my time between there and here. A lot of my LJ friends are people I met through fandom on MBTV, and it worked fine while it lasted.
Which, I guess, just demonstrates another advantage of LJ: your LJ is unmoderated, and, if a mod kicks you out of a comm, you can start your own. There are, of course, disadvantages, such as people posting unmarked spoilers to comms (and I'm not about to defriend comms on this basis, because we're so far behind on stuff that I'd never be able to add them back). And I am so far from my original point. Crap.
I think what I was trying to say is that LJ is good, but there are definite upsides to other forms of fannish interaction. I really did like being able to go to a site that had fora for a vast range of shows, and just jump in on the relevant thread; searching LJ for a comm that a) covers what you're looking for, and b) doesn't suck can be a deeply frustrating process. I can totally see why people stick with fora, lists, and otherwise. Hotmail deleted the account I used for mailing lists, awhile back, and I haven't yet gone about re-subscribing; and I know I should, because there were always plenty of stories posted to these lists that weren't posted to LJ (AFAIK). I think that it's good to cover all your bases, and follow different forms of fannish interaction. I'm currently not doing that, because pretty much all the characters I love are being covered right where I am; but, if I got back into Farscape fandom, I would totally be back on the lists.
Having said all that, LJ is pretty damned cool, and I can certainly see where you're coming from. ;) It's the best way of becoming a multifandom ho. (The downside, of course, is that when you drift into a new fandom, the fannishness of your friendslist suddenly becomes irrelevant, and you're mentally yelling and screaming for people to SHUT THE HELL UP ABOUT SGA, ALREADY, while said people are probably having the exact same response to your rambling about comics. ;) )