I'm human, and it's part of the human condition to avoid change. So I admit I get a little irritated when stuff on ファンポップ changes. I still haven't got used to the differences between the 検索 bars on the site, for instance - every 日 I scratch my head, wondering why I get no results when I look for "Fanpop Users", until I realize that I was looking within the link instead of through the whole site (someday I'll get used to this. Someday soon, I hope, as I was one of the users who requested the feature!). Similarly, back in August 2008, I found myself getting irritated that all the featured 記事 seemed to be about different hypothetical romantic relationships featuring characters from different TV shows, particularly "House".

Now, I have nothing against "House" または 'shipping related to that show. But for the 次 three months, 日 in, 日 out, it seemed like every freaking featured article was another "House" 'shipping story! What I was missing was what seemed like a greater diversity of 記事 being published and featured: that is, the way the site had been before August, when on any 与えられた 日 あなた would see 記事 from any club, sometimes even クラブ I wasn't even aware had existed before then. In the past couple of months, the uniformity of the featured 記事 got to the point where it was something of a joke for me:

Q: Did あなた see the featured 記事 on Fanpop? It's totally new!
A: Yeah, House and Cuddy go out to lunch in that one!

It's a bit mean, I know. But it really has seemed like all the 記事 have been from the same spots.

I was thinking about this the other day, and suddenly I realized something: I was looking at this all wrong.

Exactly as it should be
For a while, events in my life kept me from doing much on the site. All I managed to do was pop in, look at my updates, and shake my head in bewilderment at the display of yet another featured 'shipping article. But, over the past week, as I've started to use the site もっと見る often again, I've noticed something else about these 'shipping clubs. They're full of content, and have a bunch of people who have fanatic メダル in them. This was key to my change in attitude, because it forced me to acknowledge the obvious, which I'd been avoiding previously: the ファン of these 'shipping クラブ are engaging in ファンポップ community exactly as they should be.

What I mean によって that is this: 記事 get 投稿されました as featured 記事 because people are viewing and rating them (specifically, もっと見る people are viewing and rating them than any other 最近 記事 which hasn't already been featured). People get メダル because other people view and rate their content, as well as they themselves posting a lot to the threads in the forum. To get a fanatic medal, あなた have to have 投稿されました a LOT of content, and get it rated によって a LOT of people.

によって extension, this means that the ファン of link (and, to a lesser extent, link and link) are viewing and rating content at a high rate, which implies that they care a great deal about their subject. あなた could also surmise that the ファン of that spot are viewing and rating their content もっと見る than the ファン of nearly any other club.


It's not "them", it's me
So I want to congratulate all the "House" 'shippers out there: you're doing community right. You're viewing each others' content and rating it far in excess of everyone else.

That there hasn't been a greater variety of featured 記事 the past few months is the fault of everyone else not in those clubs. If calls to action for Human Rights または Accounts of Trick-or-treating on Hallowe'en aren't appearing (for ランダム examples), it's because the ファン of those クラブ aren't 書く articles, the 記事 that are being written aren't getting read and rated によって a lot of fans, または just that there aren't that many active ファン in those clubs. The "Huddy" ファン have been doing their "jobs": that is, being enthused about the content in their club, to the point that they read it all, rate it all, and discuss it all in the forum.

What are the rest of us doing? Complaining about how people aren't rating, または using proper keywords, または crediting their images? Those are valid points - I don't want to diminish that - but while many of us get hung up about how others could improve their behavior on the site, the ファン of these 'shipping クラブ are quietly proceeding, doing exactly what we should all be doing without imploring each other to do what comes naturally. Of course I don't know how other people feel, but nowadays I'm delighted to see もっと見る 'shipping 記事 featured. It means that community is happening in those clubs, and my hat's off to them all.

Thank you, 'shipping fans, for reminding me what one of the big reasons for ファンポップ is: to 登録する together with other "fellow fans" in community.