The Puppies are displaying their broad ignorance of the field they claim to revere

[orangemike]

Historically, SF fandom was centered in the fanzines, constantly refreshed by names culled from the letter columns of the prozines. Conventions were rare and widely scattered, whereas a letter cost less than a dime to mail, and fanzines could easily be printed and mailed for much less than a quarter-dollar. If you lived in a big enough town, this

Comments

[elenbarathi]

We few, we happy few, who remember mimeographed fanzines. Heh, most of these pups have never even seen mimeograph; it's a Lost Art.

Kerfuffles in fandom are as old as fandom itself. "Infinite are the arguments of mages"; whenever two or three geeks are gathered in one place, there is almost always a major difference of opinion about something - generally something that no one but a geek would care about, or even understand, in the first place.

It's all just part of the fun of being Fen, neh?

*adores Tom Lehrer*

[orangemike]

Sadly, the Puppies (mostly, but not exclusively, the Rabid ones led by VD) are not being even remotely fannish about it. They are determined to take the Hugos away from the untermenschen and their traitorous collaborators.

[kalimac]

I've never used a mimeograph either, but as an SF fan I consider myself an inheritor of the tradition of those who do, because I know and read and respect that tradition. And I was part of the Dylan "Times They Are A-Changing" "never trust anyone over 30" boomer generation, so I don't want to hear anything about young people these days being different in their attitude towards the past.

[starcat_jewel]

I don't want to hear anything about young people these days being different in their attitude towards the past.

Indeed. The one place where I agree with the SPs is that there are a shitload of fans out there -- real fans, people who read and love SF -- who have no idea what the Hugos are, let alone that they can nominate works and vote on the winners, and that's not right. And that situation is the direct result of the insularity of lit-con fandom over the last few decades. We, as a community, need to reach out to those people and bring them into the big tent, or we abdicate our right to claim that there is such a thing.