This is interesting, and congratulations for putting it all together!
Honestly, my own views are ... hm, I would say that I certainly agree in terms of the account of events and overarching trends, but weight them somewhere between 'a little' and 'very' differently. (It's probably enough to say that I liked Franzeska's meta, with a few serious reservations; likewise I'm generally sympatico with f_fa, with a few serious reservations.)
I keep adding and deleting things, so I'll see if I can actually say what I mean. I think a lot has to do with perspective. I came at journal fandom from the polar opposite direction: conservative hyper-religious background (by US standards) and forum-based fandoms rife with bigotry. The permissiveness and you-do-you YKINMKATO ethos of journal fandom is what encouraged me to question the relentlessly toxic, dogmatic, and prescriptive environment in which I grew up, which contributed heavily to my very poor mental health. And it also gave me the tools and language to extricate myself from the traps I was in IRL. I ... genuinely have no idea where or what I would be without it. If it had been the way it is now, I very much doubt it would have helped me. So I have my bias.
Structurally, I think on the one hand that journal fandom was much easier to participate only to the degree to which you wanted (my experience of fandom was essentially as an archipelago away from the fannish mainland, with news coming slowly when it came at all). It was also easier to be a BNF destroyer of worlds with enormous control over any and all discussion. It was also easier to make mistakes and learn; lj fandom had its bullies, but they got away with condemning their targets as bad writers or pathetic wankers, not pedophiles and abusers—the motives may be the same, but the results are not. And it was also easier for racist, sexist, homophobic, etc rhetoric/trends to promulgate themselves, with fandom scattered and a general atmosphere of Don't Ruin the Fun (No Matter How Awful the Fun Is). And it was easier for errors and misinformation (and libel) to get caught before being spread across fandom.
I definitely think journal fandom was a better place after Racefail. Tumblr fandom of today—I don't know. For me personally, it's worse—pretty much exactly the miserable environment I grew up with in SJ clothes. And it's not being personally attacked (I haven't been, much), but seeing it re-enacted on other people, easier targets than I am. But it's a net worse, not an absolute: there are things that are better. I suppose it comes down to what price we're willing to pay for those things.
no subject
Honestly, my own views are ... hm, I would say that I certainly agree in terms of the account of events and overarching trends, but weight them somewhere between 'a little' and 'very' differently. (It's probably enough to say that I liked Franzeska's meta, with a few serious reservations; likewise I'm generally sympatico with f_fa, with a few serious reservations.)
I keep adding and deleting things, so I'll see if I can actually say what I mean. I think a lot has to do with perspective. I came at journal fandom from the polar opposite direction: conservative hyper-religious background (by US standards) and forum-based fandoms rife with bigotry. The permissiveness and you-do-you YKINMKATO ethos of journal fandom is what encouraged me to question the relentlessly toxic, dogmatic, and prescriptive environment in which I grew up, which contributed heavily to my very poor mental health. And it also gave me the tools and language to extricate myself from the traps I was in IRL. I ... genuinely have no idea where or what I would be without it. If it had been the way it is now, I very much doubt it would have helped me. So I have my bias.
Structurally, I think on the one hand that journal fandom was much easier to participate only to the degree to which you wanted (my experience of fandom was essentially as an archipelago away from the fannish mainland, with news coming slowly when it came at all). It was also easier to be a BNF destroyer of worlds with enormous control over any and all discussion. It was also easier to make mistakes and learn; lj fandom had its bullies, but they got away with condemning their targets as bad writers or pathetic wankers, not pedophiles and abusers—the motives may be the same, but the results are not. And it was also easier for racist, sexist, homophobic, etc rhetoric/trends to promulgate themselves, with fandom scattered and a general atmosphere of Don't Ruin the Fun (No Matter How Awful the Fun Is). And it was easier for errors and misinformation (and libel) to get caught before being spread across fandom.
I definitely think journal fandom was a better place after Racefail. Tumblr fandom of today—I don't know. For me personally, it's worse—pretty much exactly the miserable environment I grew up with in SJ clothes. And it's not being personally attacked (I haven't been, much), but seeing it re-enacted on other people, easier targets than I am. But it's a net worse, not an absolute: there are things that are better. I suppose it comes down to what price we're willing to pay for those things.