sometimes I get a distinct feeling that mediocre texts become the focus of conversation just so fans can have a walled garden in which to practise a fairly poor standard of criticism and fanfic /riffage
I do sometimes get that feeling too, that's one of the ways in which I feel a disconnect from fanfic fandom as a whole. Though I think it's also that fanfic tends to grow from stories which (in the fanficcers mind) don't fulfill their potential. Harry Potter is a very good example of this: she created very engaging characters and backstory, but did a lot of really annoying things with the plot, which inspired people to "fix" it.
One of the problems with fandom (scifi/fanfic, whatever) imo is that there are sensible people, but there's a huge pressure not to rock the boat and harsh the squee. Ask strangedave about trying to critique steampunk...
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I do sometimes get that feeling too, that's one of the ways in which I feel a disconnect from fanfic fandom as a whole. Though I think it's also that fanfic tends to grow from stories which (in the fanficcers mind) don't fulfill their potential. Harry Potter is a very good example of this: she created very engaging characters and backstory, but did a lot of really annoying things with the plot, which inspired people to "fix" it.
One of the problems with fandom (scifi/fanfic, whatever) imo is that there are sensible people, but there's a huge pressure not to rock the boat and harsh the squee. Ask