Okay, I'm horrible, but...

[unfeathered]

So I just opened up my flist to this, which leads to a petition to bring back Ianto or else. "Basically, i will not watch another episode or season of Torchwood if there is no Ianto or Janto in it. I refuse to watch it."

Well. I have to say... yay! If all the 'Janto' fans stop watching, maybe the rest of us will actually be able to venture into comms like torch_wood again, and maybe my flist won't be flooded with 'Janto' fics all the time!

Comments

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

Heh, yeah, I've been seeing that all over the place.

I totally understand that people are upset and will stop watching because the character they invested in MIGHT be gone (my fingers keep wanting to type it's Torchwood but that's a whole other thing). But I think they're seriously a)under-estimating how many people feel the same and b)over-estimating how much RTD cares about online fandom.

I did some made-up maths. torch_wood has nearly 5,000 people watching it. Even if that's...say...1 in 5 of fans online, that's still only 25,000 people. Day One pulled in 5.9 million viewers. The numbers dipped thanks to Michael Jackson, but surged again for Day Three to 4.2 million. So...that's a fictional average of...say...3.5 million. That makes online fandom...0.71% of viewers. So even if I'm wildly out with my online-fandom guestimations, and I'm only seeing 1 in 10 of fans, we're still a pretty small percentage.

There's a definite logic problem in trying to influence someone when we're so small in numbers and we know that the creator doesn't like online stuff anyway...

[unfeathered]

And now you've gone and used statistics to back me up. I love you! :-)

(Mind you, I'm fairly sure I 'signed' a few petitions round about the time they decided to can Buffy and then Angel so I can't really talk too much... *g*)

[jadesfire2808.livejournal.com]

Heh, imaginary statistics, given there's no way of knowing how big online fandom is, but still. For me, the big one is that we *know* RTD doesn't like internet fandom. If we really want to mess with him, we should all turn up at the writers blogs/twitters/online-forums and say how much we loved what he did.

I'm all about the mind games.

(*grin* Yup, we've all done it! I tend to think of it more as 'I need to express this!' than 'Oh yes, this will make the difference', which has the benefit of keeping me sane. Well. Stops me getting madder ;))

[unfeathered]

Hee, yes! Maybe this will have the effect of keeping Ianto dead! (Not that I hate the character, I must reiterate - just the fans - and it's fun pissing them off!)

[stackcats.livejournal.com]

I haven't caught up yet, but I have already been spoiled for this and... well. There is nothing more repulsive in fandom than fans bullying creators. What if the actor doesn't want to come back? What if this plot twist is important for next series? Or series 5 of Doctor Who? The fans have no right to tell the creators what to do with the storylines. That is what we have fanfiction for.

But yeah. I could live without the Jack/Ianto shippers clogging up the fandom.

[unfeathered]

Exactly. Yes! We all have things we wish for, but in the end it's not us who are telling the story. And keeping a character/relationship around just because the fans like them, well... 'Spike' comes to mind.

Actually, that's probably the reason this pisses me off so much. I went through it all with 'Spuffy' which made me loathe Spike for years because I couldn't help associating the character with his fans, and I've tried so hard to keep an open mind with Ianto but it's just hte same thing all over again.

[stackcats.livejournal.com]

It certainly doesn't help me make up my mind about Ianto (still not sure where I stand). And yeah, the Jack/Ianto relationship being so openly displayed on BBC1 is a GOOD thing, but it is not the be-all and end-all of the show. We've been shown over and over than Jack has had many other lovers, he doesn't have a one-true-love. Not even the Doctor.

I've heard about the Buffy/Spike relationship, and since all I've really seen of Buffy is bits of season 1, it makes no sense to me. At all. I think I can guess why it pisses you off!

[unfeathered]

I am *so* ready to be shown Jack getting involved with someone else. I don't care who or how or whether it's serious or casual or what; I just want omnisexual, polyamorous Jack back!

The Buffy/Spike thing is interesting. I have recently rewatched S6 and the start of S7 and I'm really enjoying their relationship now. It's dark and twisted and complicated and fascinating. It was only the fans who put me off it before!

[canaana.livejournal.com]

Ditto. Getting very quietly tired of hearing what a good queer role model Cap'n Jack is. Not that I object to queer role models, but I always thought the charm of that character was that he was equally likely to lech all over the guy in the suit or the overweight secretary at Rhys's haulage firm.

[unfeathered]

Amen! :-)

[aeshna_uk]

Oh, to be able to put torch_wood back into my main viewing list again. I remember when it used to be such a civilised little comm....

But, yes, what you said. ;)

[unfeathered]

It *really* annoys me that I have to avoid torch_wood. That's where I met all my initial friends in this fandom, who still make up the majority of my friendslist, and it really bugs me that the comm turned so infantile as soon as Jack/Ianto became canon.

[aeron-lanart.livejournal.com]

Still not on comms (except the newsletters) and not likely to be for a while thank goodness. And that petition is just plain daft, as if TPTB *care* about silly Janto fans watching or not there aren't enough of them to make a difference.