Some of it is just when you "arrive" as well. ... I ended up writing a monster fic that took off at precisely the time when online fandom was taking off. If I had written it much later, maybe it wouldn't have taken off like it did.
Good point. New fandoms can explode so easily now, what with free mailing lists and journals, etc. When I got into TXF fic in 97, I was on one slash list and one general list. So, you could know all the people and see all the fic. Then onelist and egroups arrived on the scene and things really began to split.
If it didn't sound so much like work, it would be interesting to look at various fandoms and chart their popularity -- people involved, number of lists and communities, fics/vids/art being created. And make a cool graph.
Re: fandom and timing
Good point. New fandoms can explode so easily now, what with free mailing lists and journals, etc. When I got into TXF fic in 97, I was on one slash list and one general list. So, you could know all the people and see all the fic. Then onelist and egroups arrived on the scene and things really began to split.
If it didn't sound so much like work, it would be interesting to look at various fandoms and chart their popularity -- people involved, number of lists and communities, fics/vids/art being created. And make a cool graph.