The following commentary turned up on the blog of Amanda Palmer or, as many fans know her, Neil Gaiman’s fiancee:
neil also called me up slightly out of sorts, because some of HIS fans were upset about the blog. (T)his ties in with a slight problem i’ve been having lately, which is a whole new wave of neil’s fans coming over the fence to see what i’m about. (A)nd when they see conjoined twins, black humor, and half-naked red carpet photos, they run screaming (and run screaming in neil’s ear. and the screams aren’t pretty to listen to.) The entire blog can be read here:
Despite being a veteran of assorted fan temper tantrums, excoriations and blacklistings, I still found that just a bit hard to believe. But I did some checking around and, sure enough: Although there are fans reacting in a reasonable manner, there is also knee-jerk cursing out of Neil, badmouthing, and general nastiness. Even Neil’s measured suggestion that people actually wait until the hotly debated Evelyn/Evelyn project comes out so they can judge the finished project prompted curse-outs, profanities, and the default word that fans toss around whenever they want to express their ire in an inflammatory manner: Fail!
Castigating Neil because they don’t like a project being developed by his fiancee? “Why is Neil marrying this woman?” bleated one poster, prompting much head bobbing from fellow bobble-heads.
What the hëll, people? Seriously. What the hëll?
You want to talk about “fail?” How about “Fanfail”. Fans failing to act in a manner that is considerate or civilized or intelligent. Fans making untoward, unkind and unjust comments about the personal lives and romantic choices of professionals when it’s none of their dámņëd business. Instead of attacking Neil because he’s engaged to marry someone who’s working on a musical project that they don’t like (not that they’ve actually heard it or have any intention of doing so), how about they turn that laser-sharp personality deconstruction on themselves and realize just how unfair and how small-minded they are. If nothing else, they can ask themselves how they would feel about being attacked and held responsible for the actions of their significant others.
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