great big fandom meta of doom, part one

This was a week for fandom meta, wasn't it? So many conversations going on, most of them civil and/or intelligent in one form or another. Different people brought many different thoughts to my mind. I argued seemingly opposite sides of discussions, thanks to my maddening astrological tendency to see all sides of everything. ;) But, ideas begat thoughts begat theories ... I've been sitting on a few for a few days.

Thus, behind the cut, my first attempt at articulating some of those thoughts. I might even unlock these posts, because, hey, discussion is fun. But, anyway, inside, we talk about whether LJ makes fandom larger or smaller than back in the old-school mailing list/Usenet days, whether ship/pairing wars are killing fandom, and my personal pet theory that the Mary Sue Report communities are the most destructive thing to ever happen to fic fandom.

( much rambling ahead, proceed with caution )

Wow. Long. Very long. And that's only the first part of what I wanted to talk about. Whoo, feeling all meta and wanky and shit. Go me! Or something. Heh.