I've found fanbases are often split between the best and worst people around without much in the middle. It usually comes down to WHY they enjoy the thing.

Star Trek space travel and the social commentary versus pew-pew. R&M science fiction concepts versus being a drunk asshole. Warhammer as satire versus ...whatever they think it is.

Now look, you can think lasers are cool or that one jerk is funny, but if that's all you got... yikes.

There's so many bands I love and I don't even have a clue what they look like much less know anything about their fan base

not interacting with people in general:

I attempt to only talk about these things with IRL friends. When our opinions disagree, we're all nice about it. When we agree, it's really fun to geek out on it together.

Even when we disagree, it can be fun to hear the reasons why. Because we don't attack each other over personal preferences.

But trying to do that online? Nah. Tis a silly place.

Skoolies for me. A few years ago I bought a used school bus and started converting it into a motorhome. I made an account at the main forum (skoolie.net) because there were people there that actually knew useful stuff, primarily about metalworking (which I'd never done before) and the mechanical aspects of bus ownership (which I still don't know shit about).

Surprisingly (or maybe not) skooliers heavily tend towards being right-wing, trump-loving, gun-toting, immigrant-hating wankers. There are exceptions but they always end up being driven away. The thought of going to one of the annual skoolie gatherings is nightmare fuel for me.

Honestly, linux for me (yes I know where I am). Love the software and options, but holy shit is the fanbase incredibly opinionated and full of condescension about it. Also they don’t know how to shut the fuck up about it, and constantly bring it up where it doesn’t belong. Like its a personality trait to them or something.

Rick and Morty.

Fallout.

Star Wars.

Magic (except my friends).

Absolutely every single anime I ever watched.

Terraria has a unusually thirsty fanbase that never fails to disgust me.

Did I mention Fallout?

eSports. Particularly cs2 formerly known as csgo. I haven't played it since July 2019 due to my gaming PC passing away and being unable to afford a new one.

I still watch all the majors.

Rick and Morty

It was so weird to study in STEM and meet other Star Trek fans in the cantina. Now there is something wrong with Wesley Crusher and I'm supposed to hate him and project that on the child actor, too? And when Jeri Ryan is nice enough to come all the way to a European convention, they yell "strip"? (At least they were disgusted as well about the latter, just reported others doing it.)

No thanks, I'll hang out with decent people.

Most of the time, I've found more enjoyment in stuff when I interact with other fans. It can be fun to talk about things together. I've not run into much of the toxicity that I think often must people just assume there is.

Lemmy?

Wait... Fuck

Most 'nerd' stuff. Comic book movie discussion has gone to shit because people have become weird about it. When it's not manosphere bullshit, it's people expecting Endgame level quality and stakes for every single movie now, who would've shat on Iron Man if it came out today, and who need to be reminded of the absolute horse shit that we used to get. They're starting to rival the Star Wars fans in terms of being insufferable.

Outside of the cosy games spaces that I've been hanging around, all I ever hear from Gamers™ is some controversy about a female character being a game. Or gasp a black character. They're happy with the main protagonist being a woman if the jiggle psychics are set to max though.

And online at least, the alternative scene has gone to shit. People from the anti jock subcultures started listening to jocks with microphones on podcasts. People who grew up listening to Jonathan Davis singing about being called a "faget", went on to become people who call others "betas". Metal went from representing rebellion to representing people who go "stop making it political".

And so many 'punks' seem to have become Joe Rogan fans too. I've even had to argue with people calling me a "woke lefty" in fan spaces for The Clash. We all laughed when Joe Rogan said "conservative is the new punk" but it's an even bigger joke because half the people that took his word for it were punks.

Star Wars. It's not perfect, and sometimes bad, but avoiding the fanbase gives me peace.

That is a really creative use of the meme template!

A few days ago some dude I follow did a live stream of a big ultra bike race. Every now and then I went to tune in. To figure out what's going on, of course I checked the live chat.

Man was this an awful place. Half the people are not even able to read the pinned messages, and the other half is backseating a dude that rides 2000k in 3 days and gives everyone shit for the smallest mistake.

I've got a coworker who loves Formula 1. She's seen me nerd out about my special interests with our students (mainly astronomy) and has told me often how much she wished she had someone to nerd out about Formula 1 with. I feel for her, but if most fans are bad news then maybe she's dodging a bullet?

lemmy.world/c/formula1 is small enough that we occasionally acknowledge a race happened.

Warhammer/Warhammer 40k

Love the games an the lore but I wouldn't touch the fandom with a 10 foot pole. Some of the absolute worst degenerates in there...