On the dark side of fandom are control freaks who try to mandate behavior in their chosen fandom, usually through arrogant condescension and self-righteousness.

Word to the wise: It always ends badly.

A while go, this little gem showed up on my tumblr dash, written by a Pacific Rim fan:

After getting more than a little outrage and a few instructions on tag filtering in AO3 thrown at her, the author of the post retracted and apologized (although as Shinykari points out, the apology itself is problematic).

Putting this specific instance aside, this kind of behavior is pretty common. We see it in people trying to decide what “legitimate” science fiction is (usually, this means only SF written by white guys) or what constitutes “correct” fanfiction (no mary-sues need apply!). I have even seen people who profess to be supportive of inclusiveness then turn around and explain at length why their own rules don’t apply to them. *sigh* This kind of silliness ruins fandoms. For instance, due South fandom is still around but has, I think, finally tanked under the weight of repeated and childish ‘ship wars (and allow me to be a little bitter when I say, sincerely, that I hope the fucking BNFs who brought that whole mess on are crying persecuted tears into their beers over it). It’s place in history is assured but in no way will it ever hold the prominence and weight of a “primary fandom” as it used it.

I don’t mean to make a really downer post about this, though. What keep hoping is that we will learn from these mistakes.