Serious question, I heard a guy at my local shop in Akron say 'real fans only read the classics' and it got me thinking about gatekeeping.

It made me realize how often we judge someone's fandom based on what they've read instead of just being happy they're here, you know?

3 comments

3 Comments

dylanh973mo ago

Honestly used to be that guy who'd side-eye people for not reading the "right" books first. Tbh hearing someone say that out loud in a shop just sounds so lame now. It really hit me that getting new people into reading anything is way better than scaring them off with a list.

dakota_taylor393mo ago

Glad you grew out of that, but side-eyeing anyone in a shop was always the real lame move.

joel_young1mo ago

So what changed your mind exactly? Was it just hearing how you sounded out loud, or did somebody actually call you out on it back then. I've noticed a lot of people who were that way just kind of drifted away from it without a real moment of clarity. Always curious what flips that switch in someone's head.