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Just posting here because I've been reading the new issue of Transformative Works and Cultures and I was quite horrified by Jason Mittell's (really great) essay on Lostpedia, maybe because Fanlore (and somebody's question about how much canon vs. how much fanon should be in Fanlore) was on my mind.
Mittell explains that when he first started working on Lostpedia, "Lostpedia had a space for queer readings and shipping fandom on the page called Pairings," and Pairings were defined as "relationships, either real or suggested, that fans enjoy and would love to see consummated. The desire for love to blossom on the Island between several pairs of characters, to varying degrees of commitment and affection is explored further in fan fiction". Mittell further notes that: "Same-sex pairings were unproblematically included in this list."
But then!
"On January 2, 2009, the Pairings page was transformed without discussion. On that day, a Lostpedia sysop removed all noncanonical relationships from the page, offering only the explanation "removing fan wished relationships. non-encyclopedic cruft."
Mittell himself went in and created a "Pairings (fanon)" page but he also looked at the history of the pairings page and found controversy about shipping, slash, and pairings ("This is an unneeded, idiotic and ridiculous article btw.") and female fans defending themselves ("Emotion and human relationships ARE a totally legitimate part of the Lost world. Just because it's not hard math or supermystical doesn't mean it's not important.")
Anyway, it struck me like some Mirrorverse world of Fanlore, *g*, where the canon is important and fanon, including pairings and fanworks, was not. It did seem also to confirm the sense I got from the Fanlore mods that Fanlore is there to be a record of US and what we made and did more than a record of the shows/canon, etc. So viva "non-encyclopedic cruft!":)
Mittell explains that when he first started working on Lostpedia, "Lostpedia had a space for queer readings and shipping fandom on the page called Pairings," and Pairings were defined as "relationships, either real or suggested, that fans enjoy and would love to see consummated. The desire for love to blossom on the Island between several pairs of characters, to varying degrees of commitment and affection is explored further in fan fiction". Mittell further notes that: "Same-sex pairings were unproblematically included in this list."
But then!
"On January 2, 2009, the Pairings page was transformed without discussion. On that day, a Lostpedia sysop removed all noncanonical relationships from the page, offering only the explanation "removing fan wished relationships. non-encyclopedic cruft."
Mittell himself went in and created a "Pairings (fanon)" page but he also looked at the history of the pairings page and found controversy about shipping, slash, and pairings ("This is an unneeded, idiotic and ridiculous article btw.") and female fans defending themselves ("Emotion and human relationships ARE a totally legitimate part of the Lost world. Just because it's not hard math or supermystical doesn't mean it's not important.")
Anyway, it struck me like some Mirrorverse world of Fanlore, *g*, where the canon is important and fanon, including pairings and fanworks, was not. It did seem also to confirm the sense I got from the Fanlore mods that Fanlore is there to be a record of US and what we made and did more than a record of the shows/canon, etc. So viva "non-encyclopedic cruft!":)