Not distinguishing between fandom and non-fandom is also something I experienced in my earlier days in fandom. I started out as a lurker (because of internet safety talks and also fear that people wouldn't like me) on a Pokemon fansite's forums, and it was much the same as I had boen doing in non-fannish rp forums on creature designing/breeding sites like Wajas. So to me it didn't seem like a very different experience, it was just people were talking about a specific interest of mine that was Pokemon instead of something like wolves or dragons.
Discovering fanfiction through that site, and later through a specific user discovering FFN and kind of LiveJournal (I followed their blog but couldn't figure out the interface to find anything else I liked) and then later AO3 wasn't very distinct from my other experiences online. I think the only difference was that I was more comfortable with fanfiction, having read it for a number of years, and thus commented and was more open to talking about fannish things in relation to it. But I don't think I've ever had one true fannish home. Maybe AO3, since I'm always on it and looking for fics, but while it'd be a gigantic loss to me if it disappeared, most of my actual fannish community interaction happens elsewhere in chats on Slack or Discord or irl or on the forum Sufficient Velocity (which you may be interested in checking out, it's a multitopic forum with a bent towards sci-fi/some anime and has a strong fannish presence, including fanworks and interactive fiction (Quests)).
I'm not a lurker now as I do participate in things, but maybe it's my heritage as a lurker and the fact that I don't put out a ton of content (or at least am specific about who I put out my content to) that means I've never really had a fandom home? Idk, it's interesting to think about.
no subject
Discovering fanfiction through that site, and later through a specific user discovering FFN and kind of LiveJournal (I followed their blog but couldn't figure out the interface to find anything else I liked) and then later AO3 wasn't very distinct from my other experiences online. I think the only difference was that I was more comfortable with fanfiction, having read it for a number of years, and thus commented and was more open to talking about fannish things in relation to it. But I don't think I've ever had one true fannish home. Maybe AO3, since I'm always on it and looking for fics, but while it'd be a gigantic loss to me if it disappeared, most of my actual fannish community interaction happens elsewhere in chats on Slack or Discord or irl or on the forum Sufficient Velocity (which you may be interested in checking out, it's a multitopic forum with a bent towards sci-fi/some anime and has a strong fannish presence, including fanworks and interactive fiction (Quests)).
I'm not a lurker now as I do participate in things, but maybe it's my heritage as a lurker and the fact that I don't put out a ton of content (or at least am specific about who I put out my content to) that means I've never really had a fandom home? Idk, it's interesting to think about.