On Fan Histories

With PPMB down and not much else going on, it's time to talk about the idea of a "Beginner's Guide to Daria Fandom". Among the items to be added is a list of links, some abbreviations, and...a history of Daria fandom, to the present date.

This is the part of the project about which I have the most concern. History, inevitably, is a story that's told about events. Supposedly, histories are based on facts, but facts get shaded according to a) how the historian decides to tell his story, and b) what source material is used.

Unfortunately, Daria fandom has taken sides on a lot of issues, and the question is "whose side is the historian taking?" There can be lots of issues that might call for one side or another. Michelle Klein-Hass and the end of Lawndale Commons. Did trolls infect the board, forcing Michelle's hand or was Michelle a comment Nazi? Most of us don't even remember Lawndale Commons, but we've heard about the proto message board. Inevitably, the only sources who remember LC are those who've been in fandom the longest. Would they be biased in the retelling toward Ms. Klein-Hass, since they know her and are probably on good terms with her? What happened to the anti-Michelle forces? Did they drop out of the fandom? Are they still around?

How about the forces who have GAFIAted, who have "Gotten Away from It All". Suni, Covello, Mikkelsen, et. al. Why did they get away from it all? And how much of their stories are you going to believe?

Who gets high notice and who doesn't? Are "Blue Balls" and "Lawndale After Dark" even worth mentioning? Is the old CINCGREEN/Canadibrit feud really worth retelling; did it have any significance other than two fans going at it? What about the Martin Pollard/SBBED.D feud? What about "Boner", a mysterious figure that even I'M unaware of, who haunted the Lawndale Commons boards? What about Sailor Danielle? Ronin? Robert Nowall, who has walked away from PPMB?

Who do you offend, who do you NOT offend, and who isn't worthy of consideration one way or the other? Telling modern history -- like this history of Daria fandom -- is going to become a political exercise very quickly. I'm probably sure it will either a) be so bland as to be meaningless, or b) have the potential to piss off a lot of people. Given the choice, I'd choose "b"; at least the story would be entertaining.

As for source material, a lot of it is unfortunately missing, stored on the most inpermanent source imaginable, the message board. Maybe some old copies could be found at web.archive.org; I wouldn't even know WHERE to begin looking for Lawndale Commons and I don't know what the old PPMB address was. Crazy Nutso has set fire to his own messageboard for so many times that he should be arrested for arson. Someone might keep their old mail...you never know...but figuring out what is important will be very difficult.

There is of course, USENET. alt.tv.daria had a strong presence until the rise of the messageboard; the archives are available there from Google. But then another question arises...how much of a history could Daria fandom really have, anyway?

The first appearance of Daria anywhere was March 19, 1993 -- we are closing in on ELEVEN years of Daria! She appeared in the Beavis and Butthead episode, "Sign Here", her first spoken line, "Anal electrocution. Fifty-thousand volts up the butt!" The show itself began March 3, 1997 with the airing of the episode "Esteemsters" on MTV.

Myself, I divide fandom into two groups:
1) First Fandom: Those who saw Beavis and Butthead/Daria on MTV, and
2) Second Fandom: Those who entered fandom AFTER the last original Daria episode on January 21, 2002.

In short, the problem with a Daria fan history is that a) there's too much to get right, and b) there's so much to get wrong.