the rate at which i interact with fandom has fluctuated throughout the years from extremely participatory to silent and reserved, and now for the last few years i've engaged with fandom at almost the same rate as i did when i was a young teen. but the Way i interact has changed a lot. i often consumed content secondhand since i was primarily on instagram in the mid 2010s, and i guess bc of this my opinions on fandom and its inner workings were way less informed...? i also never posted my own content! these past few years have been very exciting and fresh for me and i can't see myself ever going back to being a pure consumer within any fandom bc it's just SO fun to Give smth of mine to those who share the same interests as me. it's a little scary too, but... mostly fun LMAO as for expectations, i haven't given this much thought, but if i were to form a solid opinion i'd say fandom, at least in terms of behavior, has changed and not necessarily for the better? things are tense, people are impersonal and mean, But i know all fandoms have these issues, and inner conflict is nothing new, so it isn't exactly surprising. nonetheless, there are amazing people on here and wonderful fanmade content that makes all the downsides of fandom worth dealing with!! i'd say my fandom experience across multiple fandoms has been, for the most part, positive... i don't think i'd still be around otherwise