I realized in the elevator that I've been in three book-oriented fandoms. That is to say, I joined dedicated mailing lists to discuss these books; I never wrote (or considered writing) fanfic. (Okay, there was that one Patrick O'Brian zombie piece, but that was for Consuela.)

So. I was on a Dorothy Dunnett mailing list, a Patrick O'Brian mailing list, and right now I'm on the Jennifer Crusie mailing list. The first two wrote long twisty insanely complicated series, and it helped to have other fans explain to you what exactly catharpings were and how a hackbut differed from a sackbut. The Jennifer Crusie thing I fell into; I found the books, joined the list, discovered that JC herself posted there, and was hooked. (She's a very kind woman. I'm pretty much inactive there because it's become so high-volume.)

What about y'all? What did you become so obsessive about that you needed help obsessing?

What about y'all? What did you become so obsessive about that you needed help obsessing?

You mean, aside from Buffy?

Hmm.

Doctor Who. Board games. Freak-Ass Christianity. Calligraphy. Astrology. Dungeons & Dragons. Evolution. Animals generally. Religion generally. Origami. Dungeons & Dragons, v3.5. Ancient history. Card games. Public speaking. Public housing. Wittgenstein. Dungeons & Dragons miniatures. Rugby league. Diplomacy. Debating. Photography.

Wait. When you say help obsessing, do you mean like enabling, or "Dude, you need help"?

Hmm. My various participatory fandoms have included The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, The X-Files, Ani Difranco, The Nields, Dar Williams, the Jossverse(s), and then the whole fandom morass that I've been sucked into over the past few years, of which the highlights are probably LOTR (book and movies), Smallville slash, and now Lost. I think I was briefly part of a couple more folk-fan lists, but I can't even remember which ones they might have been.

ETA: Only one book on the list, and even then, the emphasis (in my little corner of fandom) was on the movies.

I was on a Lois McMaster Bujold mailing list for a long time. LMB posts on it occasionally, and we even got sample pages from a couple of books before they were released. It was fun.

I was on the Sith Academy mailing list, and I'm still on the "daughter list" that came about after the SA webmistress decided to stop doing SA stuff so she could concentrate on her original fic writing.

I was on a West Wing mailing list for a while.

I was on a Lois McMaster Bujold mailing list for a long time.

Oops, I forgot. So was I. I'm even in the FAQ.

My first ever internet community was a Tom Robbins list that attracted people, like, well, Buffistas. But there the comparison ends...that list broke up. Then I made the rounds at Table Talk for a while and learned "Dead Guy On A Stick." and "warm/cool glass of Shut the Hell Up," and well, five million other weird things, but weirdly not Buffy. Since Buffy, there have been so many. Writing lists, that Homicide thing, which led to the L&O fandom...and, just so much...Um, did you know Arizona has a death row website? Well, now you do.

rec.arts.television.b5.moderated (and a karate newsgroup)

Of course, I date back to mimeographed fanzines.

The TESC restrictions on Usenet (we couldn't have it) seriously reduced the number of things I've been online fannish about. I was on a Tori Amos mailing list, the Derby list, and a good many general purpose boards of a talky nature.

I enabled my X-Files fannishness by lurking in various places. I've been on lists for Smallville, Firefly, and Monk, but I have an acute hate-on for mailing list communication, so I never really used any of those.

Oh, I was on the Jane Ross Ewing update list for a while, too, but that's not quite the same thing.

The racing communities, which I was a part of off and on from about 1994, were my first real single-focus online fannishness.

I think I technically had some sort of actual position in Anime Club, but as Anime Club was basically A Bunch of Us Make Popcorn and Take Over the Lounge for Hours, I'm not sure that counts as fannish.

I'm on a Steven Brust list, and I get Charles deLint's mailing list. I tried to get on an LMB list but it seemed to be defunct. I'm subscribed to the forums at Bright Weavings, the GGKay website and, oh wait, this list is going to get long. Huh. Oh shit, I'm even on a Robin of Sherwood list still.

At least I don't still get the gaming apazines on stencil (Alarums and Excursions) that I used to get in the late 80's.

Alarums and Excursions. Heh, I know the woman who puts that out.(She also puts out a filk 'zine called Xenofilkia)

I'm not on a mailing list for any one author, but I am on DorothyL, a mystery listserv.(I'm about two months behind on the digests, but oh, well)