"Toxic" Fanbases

What are the worst fanbases you've witnessed? Have there been any bad enough for you to turn away?

I was into competitive Pokemon for a brief period of time. I mostly used Showdown, and at first I muted my games. before deciding well, it's Pokemon. It couldn't be that bad so I'll give it a chance. What a mistake

So I was never good at it, many times in chat the other person would write something like "How could you be so stupid/bad". That was obvious (I mean I was around 1200 ELO) and the only reason that bothered me is because they would never give feedback.

In worse experiences, one common phrase thrown around was "Kill yourself". One person wrote it repeatedly throughout the game. I muted another person who did it, that person followed me into DM's and began to go into disturbing detail about "how I should". Again I just ignored it and reported them. In another experience someone mistook me for a girl and was writing disturbing things. Again, I muted them in game, they followed me into DM's.

After a while of this going on and on I felt like okay that's enough competitive Pokemon. Although since I joined here around the same time I'm glad it didn't become my persecption of the Pokemon community.

Every fanbase has a toxic side tbh. Like minds congregate and if look, usually not too hard - usually they're located on Twitter, Tumblr, Gamefaqs, Youtube, or Reddit - then you'll find it and woe betide you if you don't agree with them. I suppose some are more infamous than others, but with everything I have ever enjoyed and tried to talk about with others, there are always one or two people who seem determined to stir up as much drama as possible, push their opinions as fact, and generally ruin it for everyone who doesn't agree with their strict interpretation of what it is to be a fan of that particular thing. It's generally not too difficult to find the more toxic elements of fanbases because they're usually the most vocal.

I've never been particularly into fanbases, and I learned a long time ago that it's generally easier to just ignore people and move on than it is to respond to their obvious bait. I've had my fair share of drama on the internet and I'm too old to be arguing with people about fictional characters on the internet when nothing they say will change my mind and I really do not care what they have to say when they're not going to be civil. But as one more recent-ish example, I got right out the Precure fanbase during the Smile era: it was an outright shipping war on Tumblr, and there is a small, very toxic subsection of the fanbase who hold HeartCatch up on a pedestal and are determined to bash everything solely on the principle that it isn't HeartCatch. My favourite Precure being Suite...yeah, I can't say I particularly enjoyed interacting with these people. Also, the Dark Souls fandom is absurdly toxic. That's possibly the only fanbase I would say is more toxic than not.

pro wrestling community aka the IWC by far is the worst fanbase to be a part of. everyone has an opinion and wil tell you you're wrong if u don't agree with them. I once gave my opinion on a wrestling storyline last year, and i was called things and told things that are against the rules to repeat here for 2 days.

Several fandoms I've been in have a toxic side. The Jacksepticeye community for one, definitely has a toxic side. It's more noticeable on some social media than others. For me personally, I've barely seen any toxicity on tumblr. But on some other social media's.. it's a different story.

I think every fandom/community has a toxic side. Sometimes it's more noticeable than others. It really just depends.

phantomnestor said:

I think every fandom/community has a toxic side. Sometimes it's more noticeable than others. It really just depends.

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I was about to say the same thing. like every fanbase has a bad side. some people will take something way too seriously and overreact which ruins the fun for others. I see it all the time.

TheRose said:

pro wrestling community aka the IWC by far is the worst fanbase to be a part of. everyone has an opinion and wil tell you you're wrong if u don't agree with them. I once gave my opinion on a wrestling storyline last year, and i was called things and told things that are against the rules to repeat here for 2 days.

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THIS 100%!

I'm a big wrestling fan as well and I know exactly what you mean. You could try to give your thoughts and you are told you have no idea what you're talking about especially if you're new to wrestling.

Until recently I've always thought the pro wrestling community was just whiny. People will praise a wrestler, that wrestler gets a push, then the internet turns on them. Also every year at WrestleMania there will be people who declare it the "Worst WrestleMania ever". None of this I would consider toxic however.

Uh, well recently Hana Kimura did die by suicide over bullying online. I thought of other stuff that goes on in the wrestling community, and I change my mind. People saying Roman Reigns being diagnosed with Lukemia was just part of the show. People wishing injury on wrestlers they don't like. Or praising when one gets hurt because they didn't like seeing them on TV.

I remember being part of a small wrestling community online when I was 13, and even that could turn hostile. It was around the time Daniel Bryan was rising to popularity, and if you dared say anything negative on him, you would basically be chastised.

I mean you could be chastised just for liking anything else other than WWE because a lot of people think that WWE is the be all end all. It's not because there is so, so much more out there than just WWE.

Yep, toxic people are almost everywhere - online games and even semi-education forums!

tbh, my most recent experience is that once, I was helping another person and providing motivation, but toxic people just insulted me because they perceive themselves as "morally superior" after allegedly claiming things that I obviously didn't do. It's not just a difference of opinion anymore, they will attack anyone :O

I am always reluctant to say that I like Undertale for... obvious reasons. The game itself was a blast for me. Is it the best thing ever? Probably not, but did I enjoy my time with all the characters? Absolutely.
The fanbase, however, is notorious. From obnoxious shippers, excessive amounts of R34, loud kids who defend Undertale to be the best game ever to just loud fans in general who won't stop shoving Undertale down everyone else's throat. It's been several years since the game's release and the fanbase seems to have calmed down a bit and are not that prevalent in the public eye, but I'm pretty sure if I were specifically go and dig through the fandom, it would still be a hot mess I wouldn't want to be associated with.

The My Little Pony fandom is the most toxic fandom I've ever been in, and I still hate that I let myself call myself a brony. =/ I regret it to the highest degree of anything.

Also, the Magical Girl fandom is pretty horrific, so I stopped engaging with it. The Tumblr Magical Girl fandom, especially, is really bad, tbh, and the confession blog I used to follow had me get random anons calling me stupid once for having an opinion, so. Never again, tbh.

I don't think I've come across any one fandom that is horrendous all together. Like others here have said, there are bad apples in every fandom, as well as great people.

I've always heard the internet slam down on the Homestuck fandom but I only ever met nice people when talking about HS so I think the weirdos just got too much spotlight :)

Lynx said:

I've always heard the internet slam down on the Homestuck fandom but I only ever met nice people when talking about HS so I think the weirdos just got too much spotlight :)

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Agreed, the only toxic people I've seen involved with Homestuck are the people vehemently attacking artists/writers/etc for being toxic when they're... really not?

I've also heard that the K-Pop (specifically BTS) fandom has a really, really bad reputation. :( Especially with that whole incident not long ago with fancams. I don't have Instagram or Twitter so I don't think I see the bulk of the purported toxicity personally, but everyone I know who likes Kpop is chill af.

And fandoms like Undertale, Hetalia, Steven Universe, Youtubers, Furry, Rick and Morty, Drag Race, and Star Wars are just low-hanging fruit. While they do exist, few are truly bad eggs. Vocal minorities and all that.

The competitive Smash Bros crowd killed any interest I had in the series tbh. Stuff like not showering or bullying a 15 year old girl.
In a similar manner, Persona 5 fans. On most of Atlus' tweets are people begging for a Switch port - it's gotten to the point where it's very obnoxious and plain harassment. I love Persona 5 myself, but spamming #breakfreepersona only gives people a negative impression.

Fairy said:

I've also heard that the K-Pop (specifically BTS) fandom has a really, really bad reputation. :( Especially with that whole incident not long ago with fancams. I don't have Instagram or Twitter so I don't think I see the bulk of the purported toxicity personally, but everyone I know who likes Kpop is chill af.

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I wouldn't say it's just BTS, all groups have toxic fans in their fandoms. Obviously not everyone is like that, but there's a lot of fanwars, flamewars and immaturity over the pettiest things. Twitter's especially bad with people spamming fancams for views, even under unrelated tweets.

Pyrax said:

I wouldn't say it's just BTS, all groups have toxic fans in their fandoms. Obviously not everyone is like that, but there's a lot of fanwars, flamewars and immaturity over the pettiest things. Twitter's especially bad with people spamming fancams for views, even under unrelated tweets.

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Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to imply it was only BTS fans. That just seems, from my outsider perspective, to be what the most people complain about in regards to the Kpop fandom. Like I said, everyone who I engage with in the fandom has been delightful and the music itself slaps lol.

The brony fandom. It, amongst other things, eventually turned me anti. 'Love and tolerate' is complete BS. It's pretty much the exact opposite.

EVERY SINGLE FIGHTING GAME COMMUNITY. When you want help to get better... these asses only tell you 'git gud' and nothing else. Yes. That is so helpful. Instead of... oh I don't know... actually helping you accomplish this. Just a thought.

Final Fantasy fandom has started going this way. The games are bashed constantly. I actually liked Final Fantasy XV.

Wrestling fandom have a bunch of whiners as well.

I could probably go on forever but those are the ones that immediately come to mind for me.

The Mega Champion said:

EVERY SINGLE FIGHTING GAME COMMUNITY. When you want help to get better... these asses only tell you 'git gud' and nothing else. Yes. That is so helpful. Instead of... oh I don't know... actually helping you accomplish this. Just a thought.

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I actually have been posting some combo strings I've come up with for MK11 on my twitter account so others can try them too.

The Mega Champion said:

EVERY SINGLE FIGHTING GAME COMMUNITY. When you want help to get better... these asses only tell you 'git gud' and nothing else. Yes. That is so helpful. Instead of... oh I don't know... actually helping you accomplish this. Just a thought.

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The Dark/Demon Souls and Bloodborne fandoms are very similar. Not "toxic" per se, but definitely not interested in being inclusive and helpful.

stan twitter

*Cough* Star Wars *Cough*
Seriously, that fanbase is toxic like you would not believe!
Of course, the Sonic the Hedgehog fanbase is notorious for being toxic as well. (Or at least the last time I checked it was)