A Vague Disclaimer is

Nobodyrsquos Friend ndash Fanfiction

Headers and Tags and their

Changing Role in Fandom

Joanna Kucharska Jagiellonian University Institute of Audiovisual Arts

Joannekucharskaujedupl

joannekucharska

The anatomy of a fanfiction header

Title

Fandom

Rating

Pairing(s)

Warnings

Summary

Authorrsquos Notes

This isnrsquot your parentsrsquo warning

bull Age rating ndash subjective adopted from MPAA

bull Genre categories emotions-based rather than

plot-oriented

bull Warnings for endings ndash character death vs

everybody lives

bull Triggers

bull Categories as warnings ndash donrsquot like donrsquot read

Tags as organisation and bookmarking

Bookmarking sites like delicious

pinboard etc became especially relevant

in case of kink memes

Livejournal amp dreamwidth tags and

community organisation

Streamlined for utilitarian purposes

Present in fanfic archives

Hashtagrsquos the word

Rise of twitter and hashtags

Tool for organisation and

marketing

But also a new form of meta-

language commenting on the

text itself

All the feels in all the tags

Rise of Tumblr as a fannish space

Imperfections and issues of the built-in tagging system

Tags as metadata

Tags as warnings (trigger warnings blacklisting)

Tags as a creative space

Tags as appreciation space and as a space for sbquohatersquo

Tags as fanwork

Hellekson and Busse describe

creation of artistic fannish

expressions as community centered

and engaged in constant

manipulation renegotiation and

revising

Fan Fiction and Fan Communities in

the Age of the Internet

o I love a lot of things about the way this show turned out but maybe the very best one is how

joan is a watson with limits I donrsquot think Irsquove ever seen an adaptation where watson doesnrsquot

sigh in exasperation and then put up with the abuse from day zero shersquos laying down

rules and shersquos patient and forgiving and remarkably low-key (anyone who wakes me up

before my alarm clock on the regular is getting a knife to the face) but she absolutely knows

the difference between eccentricity and unreasonable behavior and is utterly able and

willing to enforce boundaries and to call holmes out repeatedly now that I think of it I

donrsquot particularly find watson interesting or likeable inhellip any adaptation Irsquove seen and

suddenly you have a holmeswatson dynamic thatrsquos actually played as equal where 23rds of

their interaction is negotiation (the other 13rd is mutual appreciation society and itrsquos so much

better because of the negotiations) real friends donrsquot just love you they also challenge you

to become a better version of yourself thatrsquos the show (via smokeandsong) ndashon the Joan

Watson saying bdquonordquo gifset

This isnrsquot your parentsrsquo warning

bull Age rating ndash subjective adopted from MPAA

bull Genre categories emotions-based rather than

plot-oriented

bull Warnings for endings ndash character death vs

everybody lives

bull Triggers

bull Categories as warnings ndash donrsquot like donrsquot read

Tags as organisation and bookmarking

Bookmarking sites like delicious

pinboard etc became especially relevant

in case of kink memes

Livejournal amp dreamwidth tags and

community organisation

Streamlined for utilitarian purposes

Present in fanfic archives

Hashtagrsquos the word

Rise of twitter and hashtags

Tool for organisation and

marketing

But also a new form of meta-

language commenting on the

text itself

All the feels in all the tags

Rise of Tumblr as a fannish space

Imperfections and issues of the built-in tagging system

Tags as metadata

Tags as warnings (trigger warnings blacklisting)

Tags as a creative space

Tags as appreciation space and as a space for sbquohatersquo

Tags as fanwork

Hellekson and Busse describe

creation of artistic fannish

expressions as community centered

and engaged in constant

manipulation renegotiation and

revising

Fan Fiction and Fan Communities in

the Age of the Internet

o I love a lot of things about the way this show turned out but maybe the very best one is how

joan is a watson with limits I donrsquot think Irsquove ever seen an adaptation where watson doesnrsquot

sigh in exasperation and then put up with the abuse from day zero shersquos laying down

rules and shersquos patient and forgiving and remarkably low-key (anyone who wakes me up

before my alarm clock on the regular is getting a knife to the face) but she absolutely knows

the difference between eccentricity and unreasonable behavior and is utterly able and

willing to enforce boundaries and to call holmes out repeatedly now that I think of it I

donrsquot particularly find watson interesting or likeable inhellip any adaptation Irsquove seen and

suddenly you have a holmeswatson dynamic thatrsquos actually played as equal where 23rds of

their interaction is negotiation (the other 13rd is mutual appreciation society and itrsquos so much

better because of the negotiations) real friends donrsquot just love you they also challenge you

to become a better version of yourself thatrsquos the show (via smokeandsong) ndashon the Joan

Watson saying bdquonordquo gifset

Tags as organisation and bookmarking

Bookmarking sites like delicious

pinboard etc became especially relevant

in case of kink memes

Livejournal amp dreamwidth tags and

community organisation

Streamlined for utilitarian purposes

Present in fanfic archives

Hashtagrsquos the word

Rise of twitter and hashtags

Tool for organisation and

marketing

But also a new form of meta-

language commenting on the

text itself

All the feels in all the tags

Rise of Tumblr as a fannish space

Imperfections and issues of the built-in tagging system

Tags as metadata

Tags as warnings (trigger warnings blacklisting)

Tags as a creative space

Tags as appreciation space and as a space for sbquohatersquo

Tags as fanwork

Hellekson and Busse describe

creation of artistic fannish

expressions as community centered

and engaged in constant

manipulation renegotiation and

revising

Fan Fiction and Fan Communities in

the Age of the Internet

o I love a lot of things about the way this show turned out but maybe the very best one is how

joan is a watson with limits I donrsquot think Irsquove ever seen an adaptation where watson doesnrsquot

sigh in exasperation and then put up with the abuse from day zero shersquos laying down

rules and shersquos patient and forgiving and remarkably low-key (anyone who wakes me up

before my alarm clock on the regular is getting a knife to the face) but she absolutely knows

the difference between eccentricity and unreasonable behavior and is utterly able and

willing to enforce boundaries and to call holmes out repeatedly now that I think of it I

donrsquot particularly find watson interesting or likeable inhellip any adaptation Irsquove seen and

suddenly you have a holmeswatson dynamic thatrsquos actually played as equal where 23rds of

their interaction is negotiation (the other 13rd is mutual appreciation society and itrsquos so much

better because of the negotiations) real friends donrsquot just love you they also challenge you

to become a better version of yourself thatrsquos the show (via smokeandsong) ndashon the Joan

Watson saying bdquonordquo gifset

Hashtagrsquos the word

Rise of twitter and hashtags

Tool for organisation and

marketing

But also a new form of meta-

language commenting on the

text itself

All the feels in all the tags

Rise of Tumblr as a fannish space

Imperfections and issues of the built-in tagging system

Tags as metadata

Tags as warnings (trigger warnings blacklisting)

Tags as a creative space

Tags as appreciation space and as a space for sbquohatersquo

Tags as fanwork

Hellekson and Busse describe

creation of artistic fannish

expressions as community centered

and engaged in constant

manipulation renegotiation and

revising

Fan Fiction and Fan Communities in

the Age of the Internet

o I love a lot of things about the way this show turned out but maybe the very best one is how

joan is a watson with limits I donrsquot think Irsquove ever seen an adaptation where watson doesnrsquot

sigh in exasperation and then put up with the abuse from day zero shersquos laying down

rules and shersquos patient and forgiving and remarkably low-key (anyone who wakes me up

before my alarm clock on the regular is getting a knife to the face) but she absolutely knows

the difference between eccentricity and unreasonable behavior and is utterly able and

willing to enforce boundaries and to call holmes out repeatedly now that I think of it I

donrsquot particularly find watson interesting or likeable inhellip any adaptation Irsquove seen and

suddenly you have a holmeswatson dynamic thatrsquos actually played as equal where 23rds of

their interaction is negotiation (the other 13rd is mutual appreciation society and itrsquos so much

better because of the negotiations) real friends donrsquot just love you they also challenge you

to become a better version of yourself thatrsquos the show (via smokeandsong) ndashon the Joan

Watson saying bdquonordquo gifset

All the feels in all the tags

Rise of Tumblr as a fannish space

Imperfections and issues of the built-in tagging system

Tags as metadata

Tags as warnings (trigger warnings blacklisting)

Tags as a creative space

Tags as appreciation space and as a space for sbquohatersquo

Tags as fanwork

Hellekson and Busse describe

creation of artistic fannish

expressions as community centered

and engaged in constant

manipulation renegotiation and

revising

Fan Fiction and Fan Communities in

the Age of the Internet

o I love a lot of things about the way this show turned out but maybe the very best one is how

joan is a watson with limits I donrsquot think Irsquove ever seen an adaptation where watson doesnrsquot

sigh in exasperation and then put up with the abuse from day zero shersquos laying down

rules and shersquos patient and forgiving and remarkably low-key (anyone who wakes me up

before my alarm clock on the regular is getting a knife to the face) but she absolutely knows

the difference between eccentricity and unreasonable behavior and is utterly able and

willing to enforce boundaries and to call holmes out repeatedly now that I think of it I

donrsquot particularly find watson interesting or likeable inhellip any adaptation Irsquove seen and

suddenly you have a holmeswatson dynamic thatrsquos actually played as equal where 23rds of

their interaction is negotiation (the other 13rd is mutual appreciation society and itrsquos so much

better because of the negotiations) real friends donrsquot just love you they also challenge you

to become a better version of yourself thatrsquos the show (via smokeandsong) ndashon the Joan

Watson saying bdquonordquo gifset

Tags as fanwork

Hellekson and Busse describe

creation of artistic fannish

expressions as community centered

and engaged in constant

manipulation renegotiation and

revising

Fan Fiction and Fan Communities in

the Age of the Internet

o I love a lot of things about the way this show turned out but maybe the very best one is how

joan is a watson with limits I donrsquot think Irsquove ever seen an adaptation where watson doesnrsquot

sigh in exasperation and then put up with the abuse from day zero shersquos laying down

rules and shersquos patient and forgiving and remarkably low-key (anyone who wakes me up

before my alarm clock on the regular is getting a knife to the face) but she absolutely knows

the difference between eccentricity and unreasonable behavior and is utterly able and

willing to enforce boundaries and to call holmes out repeatedly now that I think of it I

donrsquot particularly find watson interesting or likeable inhellip any adaptation Irsquove seen and

suddenly you have a holmeswatson dynamic thatrsquos actually played as equal where 23rds of

their interaction is negotiation (the other 13rd is mutual appreciation society and itrsquos so much

better because of the negotiations) real friends donrsquot just love you they also challenge you

to become a better version of yourself thatrsquos the show (via smokeandsong) ndashon the Joan

Watson saying bdquonordquo gifset

o I love a lot of things about the way this show turned out but maybe the very best one is how

joan is a watson with limits I donrsquot think Irsquove ever seen an adaptation where watson doesnrsquot

sigh in exasperation and then put up with the abuse from day zero shersquos laying down

rules and shersquos patient and forgiving and remarkably low-key (anyone who wakes me up

before my alarm clock on the regular is getting a knife to the face) but she absolutely knows

the difference between eccentricity and unreasonable behavior and is utterly able and

willing to enforce boundaries and to call holmes out repeatedly now that I think of it I

donrsquot particularly find watson interesting or likeable inhellip any adaptation Irsquove seen and

suddenly you have a holmeswatson dynamic thatrsquos actually played as equal where 23rds of

their interaction is negotiation (the other 13rd is mutual appreciation society and itrsquos so much

better because of the negotiations) real friends donrsquot just love you they also challenge you

to become a better version of yourself thatrsquos the show (via smokeandsong) ndashon the Joan

Watson saying bdquonordquo gifset

sometimes i think the casting call was for a white girl because

a woman of color raising up an army and becoming the

symbol of the revolution would be too close to social

commentary they considered too radical because we can

rage against the patriarchy only if itrsquos in the future and we can

rage against racism only if itrsquos in the past but we canrsquot rage

against both because that is too close to threatening the

status quo of the present (via dealanexmachina) ndash on a fancast

gifset of Qrsquoorianka Kilcher as Katniss Everdeen

the look bones and spock share behind jimrsquos back like

lsquohersquos gonna go do something reckless and

stupidrsquo rsquoindeed i estimate the likelihood of such an

event at 999999999rsquo [ MUTUAL SIGH ] and then

theyrsquore both in the turbolift before jim even fully turns

around donrsquot look at me i feel nothing (vialeighway) ndash

on a Star Trek TOS gifset

Tumblr-style tags on other platforms

o AO3 and bdquoAdditional Tagsrdquo section

o AO3 TOS tags are part of the content of the

work

o Tag Wrangling

o bdquoI do think that if fanwork-creators adhered to

AO3 rules - ie using their warning system their

tagging system etc etc - in addition to their tag-

rambles Irsquod be okay with it I would just avoid

the tags like woah unless I wanted the writer to

talk me out of reading their fic rdquo (via glockgal)

Fan Works are networked

group efforts and are

constantly reshaped through

intra-textual output

Paul Booth Digital Fandom

(2010)

destinationtoasttumblrcom

destinationtoasttumblrcom

via wrangletangletumblrcom

httparchiveofourownorgworks591845

Somebody had to write this (so why not me) by

who_la_hoop

destinationtoasttumblrcom

destinationtoasttumblrcom

via wrangletangletumblrcom

httparchiveofourownorgworks591845

Somebody had to write this (so why not me) by

who_la_hoop

destinationtoasttumblrcom

via wrangletangletumblrcom

httparchiveofourownorgworks591845

Somebody had to write this (so why not me) by

who_la_hoop

via wrangletangletumblrcom

httparchiveofourownorgworks591845

Somebody had to write this (so why not me) by

who_la_hoop

bdquoconversationalrdquo tags becoming canonical

Darcy is the fandom bicycle and I love it

Ship Darcy With All The Things

I Believe in Jasper Sitwell

Loki Does What He Wants

Bruce Banner Smokes Marijuana

Up all night to get Bucky

Clint Barton Jumps Off Buildings

Where Was Clint Barton During Captain

America 2

Clint Barton Made a Different Call

Natasha Romanov Is Not a Robot

Natasha Romanovrsquos Arrow Necklace

Nick Fury Knows All

Howard Starkrsquos A+ Parenting

Phil Coulson Has the Patience of a Saint

Everyone Loves Sam Wilson

Steve Rogers and the 21st Century

Steve Rogers Can Wield Mjolnir

Tony Stark Doesnrsquot Like Being Handed Things

Tony Stark Has Daddy Issues

Everyone Is Poly Because Avengers

Darcy Lewis is Tony Starkrsquos Daughter

Loki and Thor Are Not Related

What Happened in Budapest

Canon Divergence - No Hydra Takeover

Jotunheim Won the War

(via wrangletangletumblrcom)

thank you

joannekucharskaujedupl

joannekucharska