My definition is that fandom consists of fans who have sought out other fans, and succeeded in creating a group of fans dedicated to the Thing They Love.

A fan is solitary.

YDMV.

status has to do with someone recognizing you as better, and it doesn't matter whether they like you or not.

But it isn't uncommon for people to refuse to recognize the superior status of people they dislike.

Hmm. Then my husband and I are a fandom of two.

Because they don't write fic, or because fic is scary and it drove them away?

Either one, really. Maybe they glass-ceilinged out.

It's nearly an eternal, unanswerable question.

No, see, I answered it. The problem is, no one agrees with me. (FTR: You're in fandom if you seek new people out specifically for the subject of interest (to contrast against huddling on it with people you know) -- there's some production (fanart, fanfic) tweaking I may need to do, but I consider the -dom part (goes to a B&D Monaghan place for a sex) about community for the sake of the show)

Hmm. I don't try to convince people that Historic Costuming Is Cool, although I very happily talk to people who share my interest. Does that mean that costuming is not fannish?

That is, must it be evangelical to be a fandom?

No, see, I answered it.

Well, please feel free to come to the next con I attend and defend it.

Then my husband and I are a fandom of two.

Sure.

But it isn't uncommon for people to refuse to recognize the superior status of people they dislike.

Happens to me every damn day.

My understanding is that anime fandoms and fic have a much higher proportion of men. It was also true of Farscape, interestingly enough.

I gather that when we say fandom in this conversation, we're talking about TV fandom, on the internet only? (I ask because I've been investigating a non-TV fandom on the internet lately, and it's really REALLY not majority-female.)

I haven't spent much time in male-dominated TV fandoms, so I couldn't tell you why the demographic oddity. As Dana notes, some TV fandoms are acculturated to fic, and some aren't, and some get into schisms about it (as happened on alt.tv.farscape, in the middle of season 1).

But true status is not related to opinion. In other words, if I am the Head of Production, I can fire you whether you like me or not. If I am first chair violin, I am a better player (or paid and given parts as if I am better) than third chair, no matter what third chair thinks.

please feel free to come to the next con I attend and defend it.

Hey, I already know no one else (except maybe Allyson) agrees. I need no acceptance.

Does that mean that costuming is not fannish?

I don't think your attitude to costuming defines costuming.