Thank you for sharing your experiences. In particular
(fansites as fanwork is so much less common now that fans don't know how to interact with it)
...I think you've nailed an important aspect of it. Flashing through my head are so many recent instances of people sending messages regarding fansites and straight out saying they don't know what type of thing they just read ("your blog on [character]" and "your personal scrapbook on [character]" come to mind to torment me).
Also crusty old curmudgeon moment, but I get the sense that younger folks especially are more invested in labels and definitions of types of media they interact with and are often outright uncomfortable with what does not fit within their known boxes (not fansites but: recently at a convention a teenager came to my table and asked me "what is this? what is your art style called?". I fortunately had the quickness of wit to immediately answer "it's called mine!", but the interaction will haunt me anyway...).
So within the limits of what I can do without choking myself into definitions and such... has perhaps the time come to put on fansites (and also on social media update posts) a pre-emptive explanation of what even is this site and what does it want with the reader? Hmm.
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Date: 16 Jun 2026 16:20 (UTC)...I think you've nailed an important aspect of it. Flashing through my head are so many recent instances of people sending messages regarding fansites and straight out saying they don't know what type of thing they just read ("your blog on [character]" and "your personal scrapbook on [character]" come to mind to torment me).
Also crusty old curmudgeon moment, but I get the sense that younger folks especially are more invested in labels and definitions of types of media they interact with and are often outright uncomfortable with what does not fit within their known boxes (not fansites but: recently at a convention a teenager came to my table and asked me "what is this? what is your art style called?". I fortunately had the quickness of wit to immediately answer "it's called mine!", but the interaction will haunt me anyway...).
So within the limits of what I can do without choking myself into definitions and such... has perhaps the time come to put on fansites (and also on social media update posts) a pre-emptive explanation of what even is this site and what does it want with the reader? Hmm.