So now that there's a discussion about if Gatekeeping is good or bad due to stuff like the cancer of MHA fans, etc, it's probably a good time to talk again about what i think with the theory of the Three Steps towards Decadence of a Hobby:

The first step would be the incepcion stage. Most hobbies begin as a niche thing; They're consumed, promoted and bought by a few ppl who are dedicated. These ppl were atracted by the hobby AS IT IS; meaning, they liked the things in the hobby and that's WHY they went into it/

These ppl like the hobby enough that they're willing to dwell into it when it's an actual hassle to do it. When you get looked at or even bullied for it; when it's hard to find and expensive; when you have few ppl to share it with/play/etc.

This is the concept of the "true fan"/

"True fan" is often used in a fallacious way to attack old time fans, but in the end it just means someone who went into the hobby because they truly enjoyed its elements, and despite having to deal with everyone's bullshit to enjoy it, vs ppl who have it a lot easier now/

But on to the second step: Thanks to efforts of fans, who ingeniously believe the hobby will be better if it becomes more popular, and with some "luck", the hobby ends up being discovered by the mainstream, sometimes suddenly. Then the hobby receives a big influx of people, BUT/

Those ppl aren't there cause they truly enjoy the hobby as it is; they're there simply cause it's the popular thing of the moment; their friends are all watching it, or it's the mainstream movie/anime/etc of the moment, etc; so these ppl weren't REALLY atracted by the hobby/

And some of them will, and will become true fans, but most probably won't, and they won't add much to the hobby. They really don't consume much in the way of products. Marvel is a good example of this; the movies are mainstream but comic sales are lower than ever/

That's because these ppl don't really like the hobby; it's simply the popular thing of the moment to ditch when something new comes. Now, ppl can watch whatever they want, ofc, but there's a problem with this: Since these fans don't like they hobby, they demand it to change/

They think that instead of them adapting to a hobby they're going to, the hobby has to adapt to them. And since they didn't go into the hobby cause they liked the elements in it, they find a lot they don't like and want to change. 2007 is a good example of step 2/

It's the year shows like Big bang theory appeared, Superhero movies started to make "geek culture" popular, and "posers" started to appear. Today's MHA fans and many other hobbies are on step 2.

Then it comes step 3: When activists and big companies realize the hobby is popular/

Activists realize the hobby has become influential and try to co opt it. They become agressive and will do ANYTHING to meet their goals. Lies, harassment, doxxing, inciting to violence, trying to cancel people, etc. Overal making the old fans to shut up in fear and create a false

image of what the fans want. Then at this point some big company buys the hobby due to being popular, or maybe a big company had it already. Then because of activists influence, and because they often infiltrate these companies, the company thinks the hobby has to change/

So they change it into something completely different and casual and PC, and old fans leave cause there's nothing there of the original hobby anymore.

They fund another new niche hobby, then rinse and repeat the process.

So a certain level of "gatekeeping" may not be bad.