Active online fandom...

Post by **Denyer** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 3:03 pm

http://www.allspark.com/forums/index.ph ... opic=11593

Your guesses?

Three to four thousand would be mine.

Post by **Hound** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 3:13 pm

Oh I'd say there are quite a bit more than a 3 or 4 thousand of us. There were more than a thousand people at the OTFCC that I went to I think. Though sixty thousand is very, very generous.

I'd guess around ten thousand world wide, maybe a little more...

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 3:16 pm

Ooooh... I'd maybe actually say less... [Transformers Archive are], I'd say, a middle-ranking collective, numbering at a generous count 50 active fans at any one time... same at T-Fans as well? Registered account numbers are meaningless - while there might be only a couple of hundred duplicate IDs, you've got to count all the people who just wandered in to ask about something, all the people who registered to make sure their Transfans/Seibertron/whatever handles were reserved and never/rarely posted, the people who just aren't that interested in Transformers anymore (random example - how long before she stopped posting here did Sheba last participate in a Transformers discussion? Or ADDL?), the various partners who have signed up who never were, and so on.

And that's before we count ones actually interested in current merchandise... sure, the majority of us will probably totter along to the film, but I reckon we have ~10 regularly posting members who bought Infiltration, and about another 10-20 less regular posters (guys like Snarlos, for example) who bought the thing.

http://www.allspark.com/forums/index.ph ... t&p=240694 =D

NB: I know the guy who started the topic on Allspark is largely just larking around, I'm mainly segueing =)

How many do you reckon ATT would add to the figures? Or does pretty much everyone have a registered home of some sort?

Edited for clarity

Post by **Hound** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 3:31 pm

Well what counts as active?

For several years I didn't post here often or anywhere else at all but was a member who read threads, surfed through TF fansites and was actively a fan.

I think if you're actively a fan of Transformers who semi-regularly spends at least some of your time online at a TF fan site or more you count as active.

Chances are Sixshot, Sheba and Addl still visit every so often. Just because they don't post doesn't mean they aren't still fans and aren't still around.

Brendan's got to be considered an active fan of TFs, right? I see his handle all the time but he rarely posts...

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 3:36 pm

See, there are some exceptions to that. Maybe a few dozen. Hardly thousands, though.

I'd disagree that actively spending some time on this site (or any other board) makes you an active fan by itself, though. This place has been going so long that a lot of people just come here simply because it's full of familiar 'faces'. Hell, if I ever really get bored with Transformers I can see myself coming here for the people, and discussing other topics on about the level I feel comfortable with (e.g. I'm much happier chatting about Doctor Who here than I would be at a dedicated board). This place, and Transfans, and probably other places that have been around as long, have long since transcended being mere Transformers sites.

Halfshell · Post by **Halfshell** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 3:43 pm

Originally posted by Cliffjumper
I'm much happier chatting about Doctor Who here than I would be at a dedicated board

I've just stuck my head in at a Buffy forum to try and find an image. I nearly had a nervous breakdown skimming some of the topics...

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 3:49 pm

Originally posted by Brendocon
I've just stuck my head in at a Buffy forum to try and find an image. I nearly had a nervous breakdown skimming some of the topics...

Yeh, Sar's said pretty much the same thing to me whenever I've suggested it to her... apparently they're either full of girls swooning over James and David (or arguing the relative merits of Buffy & Angel as a couple, or Buffy & Spike as a couple - I think it's the Buffy "comic or cartoon?"...), or absolute anorak nutcases.

Who fandom, for one, is a lot more fun in old 'zines, and in moderation online. Most Who fans can start a fight with themselves, imagining hundreds crammed into one forum is terrifying...

Post by **Hound** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 3:51 pm

Originally posted by Cliffjumper
See, there are some exceptions to that. Maybe a few dozen. Hardly thousands, though.

Ok, I'm going to guess there were porbably well over a thousand people at OTFCC when I went in '04. I'd guess probably 90% of them were there because they were a fan. I'd also guess that nearly all of those people spend time online and visit a TF site or two semi-regularly. I'll say one thousand people who went to OTFCC that year are actively online Transfans because it's a round figure and probably fair.

That's, at best, a small fraction of active online fans from the US alone. Then you've got to count the UK, the rest of Europe, Canada, Australia, Japan, the rest of Asia, the Middle East, South America.

How many fans of TFs are in Japan and are active online? One thousand? More than that?

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 4:06 pm

I'll bet there were a few partners along for the ride, and I'd think it was actually a respectable chunk of the North American hardcore fans. And I'll also say a few people went along for friends as much as anything else - conventions, much like forums, take on a life of their own after a while (Hell, Doctor Who even has well-attended Olympiads...).

Most of Europe is more dispersed (though NTFA deserves to be factored into that big list of Hooks', as there's probably much less of an overlap than there is, say, between here and Transfans). Transforce and Auto Assembly don't anywhere near match the attendance of OTFFC even if we combine the figures and (very charitably) assume about 50% of the attendees don't go to both... and there are very few dedicated TF conventions in the rest of Europe.

Asian fandom is a bit more of an x-factor, I'll agree, but I still think we're talking between two and four thousand. I'd seriously say Japan can't match America's fandom because the line isn't as popular over there, and it's a much smaller country. I'd say a generous estimate would be a similar amount of active fans to the UK (a smaller place, but somewhere Transformers faced less competition).

Post by **inflatable dalek** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 5:32 pm

Originally posted by Brendocon
I've just stuck my head in at a Buffy forum to try and find an image. I nearly had a nervous breakdown skimming some of the topics...

I imagin the reverse is true for more caual Trasformie fans who pop in here every so often... "Optimus Prime Vs. Suiperman? What the hell sorta topic is that? Why do they keep arguing over Brawns death? Who are these Chuckle Brothers that Dalek keeps going on about? Buncha nutters".

Halfshell · Post by **Halfshell** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 6:36 pm

Originally posted by Cliffjumper
apparently they're either full of girls swooning over James and David (or arguing the relative merits of Buffy & Angel as a couple, or Buffy & Spike as a couple - I think it's the Buffy "comic or cartoon?"...), or absolute anorak nutcases.

Most of them seem to be on a similar level to the crazy OMG TF cartoon fangrrrls who write thousands of fanfics about how Thundercracker secretly wants Prowl and cry in the corner if you dare voice an opinion other than theirs... then return half an hour later to write a thousand word post psychoanalysing why your opinion is wrong.

The main difference being that, in our case, we can dismiss the nutters because our Big Giant Robots are essentially asexual... sadly these loons are focussing on humans, so you can't even wade right in and spray the root of the argument with logic.

Example post I just saw: "OMG! In OMWF, when Sweet's henchmen kidnapped Dawn she was singing "nobody even knows" - she's got a huge secret and we never found it out!"

No... she asked if anybody even notices. How the hell can you argue with people whose mentality is to read deep and meaningful shocking subtext into dialogue that they can't even be arsed to check is right?

Anyway. Rant over. Back to that discussion you were having... whatever it was...

Bouncelot · Post by **Bouncelot** » Sat Jul 29, 2006 7:50 am

Originally posted by Cliffjumper
Who fandom, for one, is a lot more fun in old 'zines, and in moderation online. Most Who fans can start a fight with themselves, imagining hundreds crammed into one forum is terrifying...

In my experience Who forums are often quite civilised, as long as you stay out of the new series sections.

Cliffjumper · Post by **Cliffjumper** » Sat Jul 29, 2006 9:31 am

Originally posted by Bouncelot
In my experience Who forums are often quite civilised, as long as you stay out of the new series sections.

hmm, but how civilised would I be?

I like your place, even if I haven't had chance to do much more than lurk of late - it's abut on my scale. I took one look at a couple of forums on OPG and it scared the crap out of me. And I've read Ian Berriman articles.

Arcee · Post by **Arcee** » Sat Jul 29, 2006 10:35 am

Originally posted by Cliffjumper
(or arguing the relative merits of Buffy & Angel as a couple, or Buffy & Spike as a couple - I think it's the Buffy "comic or cartoon?"...)

If you turn that around for a moment, does that mean "comic or cartoon" is our fandom's version of shipwars? Between that and people not believing that Transformers are capable of such relationships to begin with *points to Brendocon's post*, would that explain why our fandom, by and large, thankfully doesn't have shipwars?

btw, I have it on good authority that Sheba's still interested in Transformers, she just doesn't post here.

Post by **inflatable dalek** » Sat Jul 29, 2006 3:16 pm

I'd actually love to see a Angel Vs. Spike version of the Cartoon/Comics argument.

David is badly animated, full of internal inconsistances and rarely the same colour twice...

Halfshell · Post by **Halfshell** » Sat Jul 29, 2006 3:54 pm

Originally posted by Arcee
Between that and people not believing that Transformers are capable of such relationships to begin with *points to Brendocon's post*, would that explain why our fandom, by and large, thankfully doesn't have shipwars?

Oh, this fandom has plenty of lunatics who can't deal with the source material beyond obsessing over relationships. They just tend to stick to their own corners of the net.

And I didn't say Transformers are incapable of relationships. I just refuse to dignify the insane notion of engendering machines that have been proven to reproduce asexually.

Hawkeye · Post by **Hawkeye** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 5:36 pm

And I didn't say Transformers are incapable of relationships. I just refuse to dignify the insane notion of engendering machines that have been proven to reproduce asexually.

here!here! while it doesnt particularly ruin it for me when I see it in the official fiction (like when black arachnia is handled in beast wars). its a can of worms best left unopened if only to keep those crazy fangrrl fan fictions from existing.