http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WhyFandomCantHaveNiceThings

This entry is trivia, which is cool and all, but not a trope. On a work, it goes on the Trivia tab.

Seiji Mizushima, director of , director of Mobile Suit Gundam 00 "The people on the Internet who complain about the show were going to hate it no matter what I did, so I don't really care about their opinions."

Someone who is involved in the production of a work is known for interacting with the fans. For example, they take some time writing a production blog or answering fandom's questions, or regularly appear at conventions. All of a sudden, this person stops doing so because some fans become so thick and heavy (and ugly) that this previously fun activity has become a burden and is no longer enjoyable. In some cases, they may end up with bodily harm (or face a threat thereof) by the absolute worst of the unpleasable fans.

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This is Why Fandom Can't Have Nice Things.

The fans complain to and about the creator, hassle them to an unbearable level, constantly ask questions that the creator has already stated they will not be answering, and generally do obnoxious things in the name of their fandom. Because a small handful are ruining it for everyone else, the creator stops whatever fun interaction with the fans they were having. This may give the rest of the fans the impression that said creator is a Nice Character, Mean Actor, even though it wasn't the fault of the creator at all. This can be especially true for those who act respectfully and were unaware of any other fans causing problems. In many cases, this may result in a no-win situation for a creator: attempt to avoid the bad fans, and the fans hate them; alienate the good fans, and the fans hate them.

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This is especially bad towards things that people actually do as a hobby, or out of personal enjoyment. Many a rant has been made by harassed creators/producers/personalities/celebrities who state that they actually could be off doing better things or that their life is already stressful enough with their other job(s) that they really don't need to come home from a long day's work just to be hassled. And many a rant towards pirates have been made saying that they actually need to make money or else they won't be able to produce further installments.

Complaints often arise from Schedule Slip. For example, it's been pointed out that few people who do webcomics actually make money off of them, with most of them doing it as a hobby. When things in real life pop up, such as health issues, it's always the webcomic that has to go first. Sometimes nothing was done to the creator; instead, the fans did something for the creator that caused even more headaches. Maybe the creator had a copyright dispute and the fans responded by DDoSing the other party. Maybe the creator got into a feud with the creator of a rival work or a big name critic and the fans responded with harassment towards that party. Maybe the creator actually was screwed by someone else and the fans responded with threats and the posting of the offending party's personal information. It doesn't matter what their intentions were; if the actions of the fans result in the creator deciding to wash their hands of them because their actions caused an even bigger headache, this is in effect.

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Related to Dear Negative Reader, Writer Revolt, and Why We Can't Have Nice Things. Common scenarios that can lead to this includes Trolling, Flame Wars, Unpleasable Fanbase, Internet Backdraft, Ship-to-Ship Combat, Rule 34  Creator Reactions, Video Game Perversity Potential, Disproportionate Retribution, Fan Dumb, and Hate Dumb. Be Careful What You Wish For is often invoked. Making matters worse, this can sometimes result in an Internet Counterattack and Complaining about Complaining. In some cases, this tends to induce Artist Disillusionment, ending in a take that from the author to the fanbase within the work, sometimes in the presence of a Straw Fan. If it proceeds beyond that, it can ultimately end in the author simply quitting the whole work, and in extreme cases retiring from writing altogether.

One of the many results of G.I.F.T..

Examples

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Anime and Manga

Comic Books

Comic Strips

Brooke McEldowney had Comics.com turn off the commenting feature for his 9 Chickweed Lane comic after a few Trolls made persistent homophobic and misogynistic remarks while another posted links to 9CL strips with pornographic dialogue substituted for the original.

Calvin and Hobbes: Bill Watterson would occasionally sneak signed copies of comic collections into his local bookshop. He stopped when they started showing up on eBay. Rumor has it that one of the reasons Watterson stopped doing Calvin and Hobbes was because his "fans" effectively stole the trademark for Calvin away from him. You know all of those cutesy "Calvin is praying" or "Calvin is Peeing on Something" stickers you see on the back windows of all those trucks and cars? They weren't authorized by Watterson (who licensed a very small amount of merchandise, and nothing like those stickers). By the time the cartoonist found out about them and moved to stop their production, they'd become so ubiquitous and widespread that a judge told him he'd effectively lost his own trademark because he didn't act fast enough. The Other Wiki states that people selling such things were forced to change the caricature to avoid infringement. Not that it would have changed his anti-consumerism stance on Calvin and Hobbes goods and general strong intent to have the "brand" fade away as much as possible.



Fan Works

Film  Live-Action

Literature

Music

Sports

Some athletes refuse to sign autographs since a lot of memorabilia dealers/autograph seekers will use children to solicit them from athletes and then run home and put the item on eBay. Also, some athletes refuse to talk with fans after certain fans trash stadiums or engage in hooliganism. For example, former NFL lineman Robert Gallery admitted that he disliked people who did the former.

Sports statistics web pages sometimes have these. One semi-popular page has had its sole webmaster consider shutting it down because of some fans who regularly harass him when he doesn't update on time, especially due to real life issues. One time, his wife (and even his son!) felt like responding to some of these emails saying "Sorry we've not updated - the funeral's on Friday if you want to pay your respects."

Wilfried Zaha, Crystal Palace ace, left Twitter after losing his temper with a group of abusive, unpleasable fans.

Fireman Ed, the New York Jets' unofficial mascot, was the team's most famous fan for 32 years, but retired his persona in 2012 claiming that he had gotten fed up with the increasingly aggressive and negative behavior from his fellow Jets fans. He would return in 2015.

Cited as one of the reasons why Formula One killed off the United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen International after 1980. The "fans" who attended in the later years tended to be rowdy and drunken, with a particular enthusiasm for setting things ablaze in the infield section known as "The Bog", located inside the track section called "The Boot" (turns 6-9). note the largest item they managed was a Greyhound bus in 1974 This activity basically made it untenable for Watkins Glen and F1 to fix the primary problem with the track, which was the safety issues that killed several drivers in the late '70s.

This activity basically made it untenable for Watkins Glen and F1 to fix the primary problem with the track, which was the safety issues that killed several drivers in the late '70s. Seattle Seahawks punter Jon Ryan, despite not being all that famous on account of being, well, a punter, was once considered one of the more entertaining professional athletes to follow on social media. However, in the wake of the Orlando nightclub shooting in 2016, he was harassed by a number of homophobic Twitter users who chose to defend the shooter. Ryan was so disgusted by this that he withdrew from social media completely.

Tabletop Games

When the Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition Player's Handbook 2 was released in 2009, a digital copy was bought and distributed literally within minutes. This was the last straw for Wizards of the Coast, who responded by discontinuing any and all .pdf format sales of their books . They also sued eight people involved in the distribution. Ironically, every single D&D book release was still scanned and pirated, there just now being a small delay. It wasn't until 2013 when WOTC returned to the .pdf market (although, the company is still reluctant to release major books for 5th edition D&D in this format).

Toys

BIONICLE: The Big Bad had No Name Given, instead known by his title of "Makuta". When an entire group of Makuta were introduced, head of story (and fandom's resident Word of God) Greg Farshtey went ahead and revealed that his name is "Teridax". The fans weren't exactly thrilled with this name, and said so in no uncertain terms. As a result, Farshtey canceled plans to reveal the name of the other big No Name Given character, the Shadowed One, rather than deal with backlash again. Bionicle set designers did intend at times to join BZPower's forums (where Farshtey himself posts), but decided against it, not wanting to expose themselves to the immense fan hate whenever a new line of sets is revealed. But this is more of a "Why certain fansites can't have nice things", because set/piece designers do visit other boards where they don't have to worry about being attacked.

Transformers: Designer Aaron Archer used to be a regular poster on a message board, with his own section where he would answer questions. Then someone had to go moan at Hasbro, allegedly because Archer was unprofessional and rude, almost certainly actually because the complainer was jealous that another board had such a major draw. Hasbro promptly declared that it was over. Bob Skir of Beast Machines also had a closer relationship with the fans than most official entities, but the on-line community was so harsh towards the series he co-wrote, that he decided to break up. He didn't attend the fan conference he and his partner Marty Isenberg were invited to either (nor did Marty). Thus, they are both still among them.



Webcomics

Western Animation