Online fan communities suck the fun out of Star Trek

I often argue with my brother over the logistics of the socialist lifestyle Star Trek touts. "People can't live without some kind of compensation for work," he says, ignoring Captain Jean-Luc Picard's insistence on how, by the 24th century, we've instead opted to "better ourselves" (Star Trek: First Contact). It is perhaps the reality of our society today, stuck in the endless pre-World-War-3-era Earth, that our circumstances make it difficult to see past the bridge of our own noses.

My point is my endless frustration with Star Trek fan communities. I don't say that lightly, given I was part of StarBase 118 for the better part of fourteen years--not a record by any stretch, but it certainly meant I grew up with them. This is also true of Star Trek subreddits. Star Trek "fans" on Instagram and X. I'm always left disappointed.

There is no such thing as satisfaction in an online space.

When I was part of StarBase 118, most in the Captains Council (one of two governing bodies for the game--the captains, and then the Executive Council) were adamant they were interested in ignoring Star Trek: Picard. At the time, I didn't really blame them--we'd just gone through season one, and if you'd read my previous post about how how Icheb was killed off, you'd hardly blame me, either. But we fundamentally missed the point.

Before the discussion truly kicked off, they acknowledged that Picard had caused one of the biggest recruitment booms in recent memory! Didn't matter, though; they needed a committee to look through season one and see what could be kept for their game's purpose, if they wanted.

My parents enjoyed Star Trek before it became Paramount+'s almost-flagship show. Mum subscribed to the Star Trek magazines, we have Fact Files--massive folders of Trek-related infodumps on every possible topic in the franchise up til Nemesis. However, they don't have any connection to online fan clubs. Meanwhile, I'm very logical when it comes to Star Trek, and I've been molded by StarBase 118, Reddit, Instagram, to have certain opinions of Trek.

'I'm right, you're wrong, fall in line' is the real problem with online Trek communities

As subreddits and Twitter threads argued over whether Picard was a return to form, game groups were forming investigative committees to come to that conclusion for them. The report in question? A single individual derailed the entire thing, posted their own thoughts, misconstrued assumptions about the show, and basically informed the Council "don't do it, I don't like it". Months of internal conversations within this committee whittled down to a single guy's opinion. More months went by, and a consensus was ultimately (from memory) not really reached. The Council instead decided to merely, maybe, kind of remove canon elements if they don't fit, but also kind of ignore it? There was a vote and some technical jujitsu that framed the decision as "all Star Trek is canon", whether the majority liked it or not. None of it meant anything to the average player of the game. But people raged about it for months.

What was even the point? Nobody really cared, and nobody cares now.

Starfleet Academy had its first clip come out, and I remember being pissed. I'd been encouraged to be aggravated by the online communities over Picard, Section 31 (which I still haven't watched), and the latest Strange New Worlds, that I had fallen into the trap: "this looks like shit, why do they bother." My brother and I watched the preview clip twice, picking it apart. My primary issue is the whole holographic communications--why let your enemy walk around the bridge?

So naturally, as I was watching with my parents (and thoroughly enjoying Academy), that when the clip finally turned up in the episode, I cringed and explained why I had an issue with it. "Why are you taking the fun out of it?" Dad asked, "You're reading too much into it."

This man was an accomplice to naming his kids after Star Trek characters. The disregard he had for the science, the religion of the franchise! It was abhorrent... right?

The power of possibility

I'd spent so much time in a community so intensely aware of a franchise I used to love that anything even remotely incorrect, be it the wrong genre, the wrong use of 'science', the wrong relationship between characters--I was being encouraged by bad actors, by an echochamber, to disregard, dislike, and automatically hate a show.

Not to mention, the hierarchy of StarBase 118 became so toxic within itself that it kicked out my uber-Trek-fiend friend and then me. Fourteen years well spent! Of course, there's context you don't know about. Power struggles: the haves and have-nots. Cults of personality run Star Trek community spaces--the nay-sayers are generally so loud, mods so powerful, that the average fan cannot enjoy an inch of what they want without scrutiny. It's a farce, to encourage the negotiation and democracy of Trek when in fact, a step in the other direction results in an immediate put-down.

The episode What Is Starfleet's message is not explicitly "online fan communities suck." But there is certainly a representation of a faceless entity spouting nonsense when you're in the room with the thing they're talking about. Subreddits, RPG communities, who yell into the Void of the internet for the good of the franchise, because they're the ones that know everything, and want everything to go their way.

So when I watched Strange New Worlds, where Ortegez' brother makes that documentary, and Uhura says that "people make Starfleet," I came to a stunning realisation: people do make Starfleet. But these are people who are there, in-person. Pike gets commands from a faceless entity: Starfleet Command, who believe they're the ones that know everything, who want everything to go their way, "for the good of the Federation," I imagine. Meanwhile, the entire crew is pushed up against this abrasive force--they all dislike it, they're all uncomfortable. It's only when these people, who are face-to-face with each other, solve their problem with themselves, that they are free from the restraints.

So we quit the subreddits. I washed my hands of 118 and its gallery of wardens. I actively ignore the comment sections on official material. I encourage you to do the same.

The FediVerse is nice this time of year, and Tumblr is always up for some sharing of gifsets and fanart without too much argument.

Don't fall into the pit of online "community"--it's the complete opposite of what you're looking for. Enjoy your Star Trek sitting in your living room, with your friends and family beside you.