My Love/Hate Relationship with Fanlistings
January 13th, 2009 | Categories: Online | 9 CommentsI have been creating and maintaining fanlistings since April 2006, and I still love the idea of fanlistings now as much as I did when I first discovered it. During my time at TFL, I have been a member of the community as a regular member, a trouble checker, and currently, a category staffer. I love the network, I love the community, and most of all, even after almost three years, I still love fanlistings. But as much as I love them, they still drive me crazy sometimes.
It’s not the network that gets on my nerves, nor the lovely people that staff the network and help it run as smoothly as it does. It’s the severe attachment that some people get to the concept of fanlistings that often does my head in. Obviously I love all of my fanlistings – I wouldn’t be running them if I didn’t like the subjects! But as much as I love them, I realize they are only fanlistings. Just a hobby, just something for fun, just something I like to do. In the larger scheme of things, they don’t really matter. When I’m old and withered and gray, will it matter whether or not I was rejected for this subject, approved for that subject, and suffered from a “rejection streak”1? I highly doubt the fact that I wasn’t approved for one of the most popular subjects at TFL will cause the rest of my life to unfold in untold amounts of trauma and depression, just like I doubt the fact that if I was approved for a hugely popular subject the rest of my life will be gloriously upon gloriously happy simply because of that approval.
I know that people can get carried away with subjects they love, but there is a delicate line that is sometimes crossed with fans. Some people freak out about their “application skills”2 (not a legitimate worry) to their “troubles history”3 (a legitimate worry), and all of this gradually builds up and it leads one to wonder how people let themselves get so swept away with the things they love. Whether or not one is approved for a fanlisting they had applied for shouldn’t send them into a tailspin and have them mutter darkly under their breath, “I can’t believe they were approved over me, I would have done a better job with the fanlisting, obviously I’m the bigger fan.” Sure, be upset about it for five minutes (or ten, if you really want to stretch it) and then move on. There’s more to life than fanlistings ;)
Fanlistings are meant to be fun, they were never meant to be a source of depression, and the minute fanlistings becomes serious business are when they no longer become fun – and why would anyone subject themselves to stress and anxiety for a hobby when there are a huge amount of legitimate worries in everyone’s personal lives?
- When you apply for subjects and each time you apply you received a rejection for a prolonged period of time [↩]
- Some people think that writing the greatest essay about their love for the fanlisting subject increases their chance of approval, but it actually has very little weight in the decision making process [↩]
- If fanlisting owners have a prolonged history of having their fanlistings be troubled according to network rules, that weighs in on the approval decision [↩]
Tags: fanlistings, opinions, tfl
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Hi, I'm Manda. I'm a college student studying communications and languages. I like to read, shop, bake, and travel. I have a tendency to listen to my favorite songs on repeat for hours on end. Sometimes I catch myself thinking in a language other than English. 
To be honest, I have never been a member of any fanlisting. Quite wierd, right? I can understand why some people love it that much, but it wasn’t important enough for me to join one.
But the concept of this whole post reminds me of gaiaonline.com, where I’m a mod of some clans and guild, and everytime people get rejected, they either start flaming or complaining and whining. Seriously, what’s wrong with them?
Obviously, we both know that I have been known to do this and am guilty of complaining. I’m also guilty of saying I have bad application skills. However, on that note, I didn’t know the application had so little to do with the decision. I had absolutely no idea how little it meant.
I try not to be attached, I really do. And, when I first came back, I certainly got upset by a rejection. But, typically, I’m totally fine with everything. Back before my break, I was probably hated by a lot of people there. I complained when I got rejected. I talked about my “rejection streaks”. But, if I had known what applications meant, I highly doubt I would have. It’s that knowledge that makes me totally understand my rejections. Like 100%.
I do love TFL a lot. The community is great and it’s allowed me to meet a lot of really awesome people. I do get annoyed at those that complain and get unbelievably upset over something. I know I was guilty of that in the past, but I’m not any more. In recent days, I haven’t been. It’s just the right to own a website, nothing more. It’s something that’s a lot of fun. I love looking at my collective and seeing how lucky I am to own the ones I own (especially grey cats). My favorite part about it is seeing who shares your love of something.
But yea. I could go on longer, but I won’t. I’m pretty sure a lot of this entry was caused by me and my VegOpt posts, and I truly apologize. I really didn’t know how staffers really chose. I didn’t. I feel like I’ve changed a lot since my first month back and my complaint about the Tim Burton FL over in Designers or whatever. I’m sorry I’ve been kind of a jerk, and I’m hoping to turn things around and not annoy everyone any more. :-/
This post was a result of my observations of the reactions that fanlistings can elicit in TFL members based on nearly three years of my experience with the network. My comments are in no way directed or based on one person, it’s simply something that I’ve noticed for a long, long time but haven’t really had a chance to articulate my thoughts on the matter. Most people have been guilty of getting too carried away with fanlistings at one point or another, but most grow out of that stage rather quickly and can be lovely people. It’s those that maintain the “fanlistings are life” mentality for years that irritate (and worry) me the most.
Ah TFL. I loved being a part of that community, but in the end I just grew out of it. I knew my time was coming when I no longer found it imperative to track everyone’s adoptions, approvals, rejections and the like. I think it didn’t help that I was also bored of hearing the same old thing over and over again. You’re right–the people are lovely, but sometimes a bit melodramatic. They are just websites, after all!
As a former TFL-er, I know exactly what you mean! I mean, i’d be depressed for a bit if I was rejected for something I really wanted, but when I see posts with people saying they no longer have the will to live, or that they’re going to quit the fanlistings business now because this is the 8th time they’ve been rjected, I can’t seem to take them seriously. It’s depressing, yes, but not that bad!
You really couldn’t have said it any better. It saddens me to see not one, but many many people taking the whole thing too seriously. Naturally we all like to be accepted and hate to be rejected, but these kind of things happen. And being rejected for a fanlisting has to be one of the mildest forms of rejection you can get. Maybe learning to take them in the mildest form is the basis of learning to come to terms with bigger ones. I just hope that people are learning. :)
I loved this post… and it’s so true. I agree with Melody, a FL rejection is the mildest form of rejections.
I’m on a break of TFL… I’m still updating my fanlistings and all, but I haven’t applied for anything or been around the boards in ages! I really miss those old times and I hope I can come back to them soon because I love those little websites too much… but not THAT much to the point of getting seriously depressed, hee. :)
Totally agree. As a former staffer at the ~*~drama network~*~ (aka The Anime Fanlistings), I know that people get waaaaay too carried away with fanlisting rejections and approvals. Fanlistings are just websites and frankly, TFL isn’t the only “end all, be all” to approving them. People can have “unapproved” fanlistings, even though the TFL approved ones aren’t official anyway.
I remember when I applied for Ayumi Hamasaki (my biggest fanlisting), I wrote like…one sentence. So it goes to show application skills really don’t matter! Haha.
I also third the statement that Melody made: fl rejections are really the mildest ones in life possible.
[...] Network since April 2006 and have been a category staffer at the network since December 2006. Through all of the ups and downs, I have thoroughly enjoyed being both a member and category staffer at the network. I’ve had [...]