Privacy expectations in fandom

From Fan History Wiki

Prior to the growth of the Internet, many fans used their real names in fandom. It was important in order to gain access to fanzines, for publishing and for organizing fan related events. If you wanted privacy, you were expected to take steps to ensure that your information was not out there.

This attitude largely was brought over to the Internet. If you shared the information in a public place, there was no expectation of privacy and that the information could not be shared, unless the person specifically asked for it not to be shared. It was reinforced as people came on-line with lessons on Internet literacy, where people were informed that anything you put on-line can become public and do not share that information unless you are willing to risk it. This idea was reinforced by the repeated incidents of real life consequences for people discovering people's fanac: The individual is responsible for maintaining their own privacy.

The one major aberration to this attitude involved LiveJournal, because of LiveJournal's FLock, where there was the belief that all information on LiveJournal should be considered privileged and should not be shared unless consent to share it was given. When people shared FLocked information, including personal details and real names that were shared under FLock, they were castigated for it.