How would you personaliy feel if you comic or novel blew up quickly

[Chronitis]

And then had a very bad fandom surrounding it?

[TheFalseVyper]

This is tough. On one hand, your comic is a huge success! But on the other hand, the success is due to the negative views on it.

I think I would rather have a smaller audience of people that love my comic, than a huge fandom that hates it.

[punkarsenic]

man thats like one of them button push questions...

i think id rather be small / develop a fandom at a healthy rate than have a bad one any day

[joe_galindez]

You mean a fandom that doesn't give me money?

[Tailed]

Depends on what type of "bad fandom" you're talking about. I think It would be bearable if they were just an annoying, overly obsessed and obnoxious fanbase, even though it wouldn't be very pleasant. I guess i'd only have a problem with an inherently toxic group of people.

It's a really tough question, honestly.

[LittleMissDevil]

I would love my comic to succeed - as everyone probably. And I really wouldn't care if the fandom was "bad", at least by the standards most people have for bad fandoms. I have been active in many of the communities people consider bad and I never found them to be that. In most cases what the internet perceives as these super bad fandoms is mostly harmless. I have been active in Sonic forums, bronie communities and have met many "nerds" through my hobbies. And while I had unpleasant experiences I had way more positive ones. What is bad about fandoms just usually sticks out more. Also , drama is part of most fandoms and if you get big, there is always a chance to have fans who produce it. Though most webcomics don't reach the amount of attention the fandoms I was in get.

That being said I would of course prefer a positive and fair community and would position myself as far away from toxic individuals with public statements and try to stand by those, who get hurt by it.

Buuuuuut I still wouldn't say no to a toxic fandom. In the end we as creators are not responsible for the actions of people who like our work (assuming we don't produce content that encourages immoral behavior). And if I had a fanbase huge enough to make a living out of my art, I would be very, very thankful. Not cool to judge the people who brought me where I was.

[joannekwan]

No thanks.

I'd rather stay small and have well-behaved fans.

[fat.rab]

I probably wouldn' t mind ... in any case, I love drama so answering to hateful comments would be fun hahahaha
But on the other hand, I've seen many authors talk about how a toxic fandom affects them and even end up droping series because of that, so I wouldn' t know it since I've never been through a similar situation

[UrMom]

Most likely I'd reprimand the shit out of them for their bad behavior, block all the real bad ones, make public apologies for how shit they are, then make an effort to separate my work from the negativity starting to surround it. I would not give a damn how many readers I'd lose in the process, quality fanbase > quantity any day.

If the fanbase were just a bit overly protective I'd still reprimand them if they attacked people who criticized my work, but I wouldn't be as harsh as with an outright toxic fanbase.
Readers that are overly sexual with the characters (like openly shipping, making sexual comments on pages, and being a general creeper) are aaaaalright, as long as they don't get pushy about it, or take things to a really uncomfortable level. Although I'd still ask them to be respectful about that stuff, since my comic does eventually focus on the importance of recovery after sexual abuse, and I feel pushing sex/fanservice would be kinda distasteful.

[KoreanTacos]

I'm not sure I understand what bad fandom means, but honestly I'm just fine working the way I am now, slowly but surely. I like knowing who my readers are and progressing slowly. I don't need a big fan base to really feel good about my work.

[UrMom]

Do you remember that incident where the Steven Universe fanbase on Tumblr harassed an artist into attempting suicide, and attacking the SU creators for defending said artist, because they thought that person's fanart of Rose Quartz didn't show her fat enough?

I think the OP means a bad fanbase like that. But I could be wrong.

[KoreanTacos]

Oh my, I didn't know about that, but popularity isn't my highest priority with my comics rather than personal missions so I guess I can live without the bad fanbase.

[spadesart]

if we're talking like the avas demon fanbase where they harrassed the author off tumblr and documented her every action its a hard pass from me

but fandoms in general are obnoxious so otherwise i guess i wouldnt mind?
//

Steven Universe fanbase on Tumblr harassed an artist into attempting suicide

also the artist has stated that the incident was due to family issues, not the steven universe harrassment afaik (though this didnt help) and asked people to stop bringing it up

[Aspie_Gamer]

I'd feel like I didn't earn it.

And bad fandom...no thanks.

I've seen that most particularly happen with Steven Universe and Rick and Morty.

Hell, I remember last summer when that gay dating simulator "Dream Daddy" came out and within a couple of days iirc, somebody got put on blast for being "transphobic" when they drew rule 63 fanart for that game all because one of the guys you could date was trans.

[joannekwan]

Let's not forget the whole Voltron fiasco.

As a creator I would just be so livid.
"You come into MY house, STEAL my work, and then threaten BLACKMAIL if I don't make your stupid ship canon, you piece of shit?"

[NickRowler]

I would be 20 levels of confused to where they all came from. I guess reading dumb fanfictions would be funny.

I don't really like unnecessary conflict...so bad fans fighting over dumb stuff would be upsetting. I hate when people are angry all the time, that's why my Twitter is pretty void of anything too harsh. I don't like that type of drama and pettiness, and my work isn't worth getting to that level.

Also, any fandom should never get as bad as MLP:FiM, probably some of the worse fans compared to what the show content is. (I'm not against men who watch girly things, it's just the fandom has a lot of other stuff about it which is pure awful).

[UrMom]

Whoops. ¯_(ツ)_/¯ I don't keep regular tabs on the artist's activities nor follow them, so my bad.

I'm still going to stand by my opinion of those SU fans being an example of a bad fanbase though.

[375]

Oh god this is like a "Killing Stalking" thing where the comic is great! The fandom oh lord let us pray.

I would honestly feel terrible D: Probably even bad enough to destroy the very thing I've created.

[panda3291]

I'm on the same page with you here. You're always going to have SOME obnoxious people in a fanbase anyway, so yeah, it would be annoying, but I think it would be bearable. If it's a bunch of people literally crapping on your work without even remotely trying to give helpful criticism and taunting you about it endlessly, I would probably be bothered.

[Chronitis]

one ring that rules them all.

Probably even bad enough to destroy the very thing I've created.