Fan vs Fanatic | Golden Skate

Fan vs Fanatic

Frenchie

I'm gonna customize the CRAP out of this title!
Medalist
Joined
May 4, 2013
I just felt like I could do with a nice "happy feeling" moment and decided to treat myself with watching Akiko Suzuki's recent Nationals FS on youtube again. Yup, that makes me smile.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVgLvbzDQsM
The mood I was hoping for didn't settle in because I unfortunately noticed the "like / dislike" count. Currently, it's 703 like and 697 dislike.
Not only did I not get my happy smile, I actually feel a lump in my throat now at the notion that fragile little Akiko might learn of that. :frown: (insert "I wanna throw up" smilie here)
I noticed over the past years of the Mao vs Yu-Na rivalry how there were (imo disgusting) people who made it their hobby / borderline full-time job to post youtube videos, not to show how great their idol is, but to smear the opponent. Say she's ugly, has no talent, is overrated, nobody likes her, she eats little children for breakfast (I haven't come across this one, but I'm sure there is somewhere), etc.
Really disgusting stuff.
It felt so wrong to me, and just plain alien to what "being a fan" means to me, that I couldn't really process this and kind of moved on to other things.

I'm aware that my notion of "being a fan" doesn't have to apply to everybody else.
I'm aware that some fans become really fanatic about supporting their idol.
I'm aware of the hostile past between Japan and Korea.
I can - to a certain degree - understand the frustration of feeling one's idol not being recognized enough, like saying: "my idol has the best spins." It's another thing to say "look at his/her opponent's spin, it's so ugly and got too many points". I can understand saying this on a forum like this one.
But how does all that other stuff happen? The extreme stuff?

I don't even want to suspect or fingerpoint at any particular fanbase for now having found a new target in Akiko, but I guess having 700 dislikes for that performance doesn't come from 700 people disliking that performance, but rather them prefering another one, or - let's face it - trying to get to her.
Yeah, let's hit on her knee with a steel pole! Sorry, but to me, if some fanbase actively decided to do that, then it's just as malicious.

Any comments? Explanations?
Maybe one of the 697 who clicked on "dislike" and would like to open a line of communication?
 

sky_fly20

Match Penalty
Joined
Nov 20, 2011
you can bet most of those are from Korea and vice versa
this isn't new though, some of Mao Asada's videos have no commentaries/is blocked so no one can rate her videos
same for Yuna's, her mistake ridden programs are usually in no commentary mode
 

Ven

Match Penalty
Joined
Mar 17, 2013
I'm a huge Yuna fan, and I've occasionally liked a Mao program or two, but man, you can't say anything critical about either of them without lunatics going insane.

Guess what, they're human beings, they aren't perfect. If they fall or give a bad program, big deal, it doesn't make them any less great than they were before. Get over it "fanatics". :)
 

karne

in Emergency Backup Mode
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 1, 2013
Country
Australia
There are various reasons. Jason Brown and Joshua Farris' videos from Junior Worlds got a bunch of dislikes and homophobic comments - simply because they happened to be young, attractive male figure skaters.
 

brightphoton

Medalist
Joined
Jan 23, 2009
You know, I would say a fanatic is someone who equates negative internet ratings with knee whacks and attributes malicious intent of people "trying to get to" "fragile little Akiko" :rolleye: The most likely explanation is that people have a favorite skater and they're upset for whatever reason, and express their dissatisfaction on Youtube comment pages and its rating system.

Sometimes well-liked skaters with poor performances get a lot of dislikes, not because people dislike the skater, but because the skate was not up to par and people express that via a dislike.

Once Yuna retires, we'll lose the entire country of Korea as a fanbase. They don't like figure skating in general, not really, just the personality/celebrity of Yuna Kim. Maybe I'll be proved wrong.
 

Frenchie

I'm gonna customize the CRAP out of this title!
Medalist
Joined
May 4, 2013
You know, I would say a fanatic is someone who equates negative internet ratings with knee whacks and attributes malicious intent of people "trying to get to" "fragile little Akiko" :rolleye:

wow. not the answer I was expecting.
 

brightphoton

Medalist
Joined
Jan 23, 2009
I know that's not what you were expecting.

However, I would say on the nice <---------> mean scale, someone disliking a video is somewhat less mean than accusing that same person with "trying to get to" someone or whacking knees.

Besides, what does Akiko care? She's the reigning Japanese champ, and one of the favorites to medal in Sochi. I think you're being a little silly to think she'd be fazed by what someone on Youtube says.
 

cooper

Medalist
Joined
Mar 23, 2010
hmm.. so..making assumption that the rabid fanbase is coming from korea.. by the way i'm not even a korean but the generalization that i get from some posters here that all negativity are directly pointing to the entire country of south korea.. is just ridiculous.. :rolleye:

some of you never consider that maybe those trolls are only handful of people in the internet??????? with different alternicks etc..
 

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Country
United-States
People like to be liked (and I'm not referring to youtube here, but in general), even celebrities. Heck, especially celebrities & performers of all sorts. While one or two dislikes are easy to ignore, I imagine it would not be pleasant to see that almost half the people who watched you don't like you, for whatever reason.

In fact, there are many scenes in movies or TV where actors and actresses are waiting for/reading/moaning about negative reviews of their performances. Performers care what the audience thinks.

Akiko had a great performance. I'm not a particular fan of hers, or of any of the ladies'. I don't see any sane reason for hitting the dislike key.

I would advise anyone putting up a youtube video to disable comments. People are nuts.
 

Frenchie

I'm gonna customize the CRAP out of this title!
Medalist
Joined
May 4, 2013
I know that's not what you were expecting.

However, I would say on the nice <---------> mean scale, someone disliking a video is somewhat less mean than accusing that same person with "trying to get to" someone or whacking knees.

Besides, what does Akiko care? She's the reigning Japanese champ, and one of the favorites to medal in Sochi. I think you're being a little silly to think she'd be fazed by what someone on Youtube says.

You're right. I got carried away.
I assumed that everybody wants to be liked. Suzuki had 703/697 when Asada got 19/10 and Murakami 25/3. I just randomly clicked on 3 different Suzuki videos on youtube, and the like/dislike were 43/5 ; 39/6 and 77/11. So I assumed it wasn't just 693 "individuals" who individually saw Suzuki's LP and objectively decided to click on "dislike".
I was just emotional for picturing Akiko sitting at home, smiling while reminiscing of her personal best performance, and then someone tells her "guess what! there are just as many people who dislike it as who like it". I didn't picture her as cold-blooded in that regard.
I thought it was a new phenomenon, like a group of "fans" saying "ok, let's all do this" since I'm not aware of any of her past performances having gotten such a strong reaction. But that was just me assuming. :eek:hwell:
 

brightphoton

Medalist
Joined
Jan 23, 2009
There are a few scenarios in which YT videos get bad ratings. One of them is if a skater skaters horrifically badly at a major competition, like Czisny at 2012 Worlds, Kostner at 2008 Worlds, 2009 Worlds, 2010 Worlds and Olympics, Patrick Chan in any of his World wins. If fans suspect backdoor political shenanigans, the ratings are worse.

Like I said, it's not like people are out there trying to make Czisny, Kostner, or Chan personally feel bad, but it's normal people like who are unhappy for some reason and use the dislike button to show it. Some said Czisny was unfairly favored over other skaters at Nationals, some say Chan is unduly propped up for his non-jump elements, and Kostner -- :slink: she just had a bad run for a long time.

The nice thing is that with time, the negative ratings decrease as people forget the context of the performance and judge the skate alone. Lipinski's 1998 Olympic LP, Oksana's questionable Lillihammer win, even Sarah Hughe's LP videos get high ratings.
 

cosmos

On the Ice
Joined
Oct 2, 2007
you can bet most of those are from Korea and vice versa
this isn't new though, some of Mao Asada's videos have no commentaries/is blocked so no one can rate her videos
same for Yuna's, her mistake ridden programs are usually in no commentary mode

Nonsense and ridiculous. In general, Koreans are not interested in Akikko. Why would Koreans hate her?
 

aftertherain

Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 15, 2010
You're right. I got carried away.
I assumed that everybody wants to be liked. Suzuki had 703/697 when Asada got 19/10 and Murakami 25/3.

Well, there are 697 angry and spiteful people out there (probably) and I pity them because they have no idea what they are missing out on.

But I don't think it only applies to the skaters caught in the Japan-Korea tensions (I think some people in Japan itself don't like Akiko because she's Mao's fellow competitor, actually).

Also, I once watched a beautiful Rudy Galindo performance that had 65% dislikes and 35% likes and could not figure out why. Some people just feel prideful in doing something trollish and that is a shame.
 

sky_fly20

Match Penalty
Joined
Nov 20, 2011
Nonsense and ridiculous. In general, Koreans are not interested in Akikko. Why would Koreans hate her?

I didnt say Koreans hated her :rolleye:
maybe they disliked it for the inflated score, you know those dirty JPN money comments :disapp:
you see it all the time in Mao's videos especially gets huge dislikes when she falls on her 3A, some of her bad performances even have no commentaries to block disliking same for Yunas. Well it could also be Mao fans who disliked that Akiko beat Mao

you never know all the reasons
 

YunaBliss

On the Ice
Joined
May 11, 2010
It seems to me that Mao fans are hitting the dislike button, for getting a score that even Mao never got. As said already, Yuna fans have no interest in this.
 

thinspread

On the Ice
Joined
Aug 8, 2013
I'm surprised to learn about the dislike count on that Suzuki video, for one of the finest skates of her career. I seriously doubt the dislikes came from Korea. Actually, Korean fans who were following the Japanese nationals were mostly happy to see Suzuki win her first national title in her final season and get some redemption for what she swallowed at 2012 NHK Trophy. Possibly could it be some Asada fans being unhappy to see her season winning streak interrupted with Suzuki garnering the highest score ever recorded in their nationals?

Once Yuna retires, we'll lose the entire country of Korea as a fanbase. They don't like figure skating in general, not really, just the personality/celebrity of Yuna Kim. Maybe I'll be proved wrong.

No doubt many Koreans with casual interest will stop following the sport after she retires. But that sort of things happen everywhere and in every sport when a big mega star calls it quits, no? It happened in the U.S. and elsewhere before.

I think a substantial figure skating fan base has been established in Korea during Kim's career. So I think your statement that they don't like figure skating is partially incorrect and over-generalizing. Figure skating, its elements and scoring system have become familiar for many Koreans, and there is a substantial number of Korean fans now who follow other elite male and female skaters and pair/dance teams. They will follow the sport, if not as intensely as before. That they do have some promising young single skaters and dance teams, and that Kim will continue hosting her ATS shows, will help too.
 

CarneAsada

Medalist
Joined
Sep 17, 2011
It could be overzealous fans of Asada or Kim, but I doubt it's from fans of the former for the reason that Asada's fans on YouTube can't even keep the number of likes higher than the dislikes on her own videos sometimes :laugh: . Plus Japan has its own version of YouTube, nicovideo, while I am unaware of any Korean equivalent. Kim's fans on the other hand are much better at ensuring there are many more likes than dislikes on her videos. I guess it is also possible that the dislikes are coming from überfans of Kanako Murakami or Miki Ando, who were also beaten by Suzuki.
 

thinspread

On the Ice
Joined
Aug 8, 2013
Why would Korean fans be overzealous about the outcome of Japanese nationals, about Suzuki beating Asada or vice versa? Doesn't make sense to me. As said, most Korean fans were generally moved by Suzuki finally winning her first national title in her final season.
 

Frenchie

I'm gonna customize the CRAP out of this title!
Medalist
Joined
May 4, 2013
OK everyone.
I guess I didn't expect this to turn into a whodunnit. But thanks for the input anyway.
Just to be clear: as I said, "I don't even want to suspect or fingerpoint at any particular fanbase for now having found a new target in Akiko".
I guess I didn't predict the volatile potential of starting such a thread. I'll stick with answering to threads in the future. :slink:
 
Joined
Aug 16, 2009
OK everyone.
I guess I didn't expect this to turn into a whodunnit. But thanks for the input anyway.
Just to be clear: as I said, "I don't even want to suspect or fingerpoint at any particular fanbase for now having found a new target in Akiko".
I guess I didn't predict the volatile potential of starting such a thread. I'll stick with answering to threads in the future. :slink:

I don't think there's anything wrong with the thread you started. It's no surprise by now that people get emotional about skating and about particular skaters, for all sorts of reasons, and what's wrong with discussing that? When one sees the down votes and especially some of the comments, it's hard to keep in mind that we're all just words onscreen and have no power over the skaters themselves. They're kind of busy right now.

I understand your distress. The first time I read a really scathing, vituperative (love that word!) negative comment (not just a "dislike" vote) was under a video of Michelle. I was shocked at the forcefulness of the comment; it called her a name I can't repeat, which I can't imagine applying to any skater, and it basically cursed her entire career. I was unsettled for quite some time. But then I realized that this is not a worthwhile comment even to read. There are a lot of people out there who enjoy the anonymity of the Web and use it to say the most malicious things, whether out of jealousy, a misguided sense of rivalry in support of another skater, or just a wish to shock people who might read their words. Wash their thoughts from your mind. They have nothing to do with skating. If you pin your personal enjoyment on a hope that these people will change, you're giving complete strangers rent-free space in your mind.
 
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