Tag Archives: wentworth fans

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Pros and Cons of being in a community that’s a TV Show…

  By samanthabeniacbrooks • May 4, 2016

OK so, as the final few days arise and the due date for this community assessment comes into sight, I wanted to address some of the pros and cons of using a TV show community as my assessment piece.

Before I begin, I must make it clear that Wentworth does not commence until May 10th, 1 day after the assessment is due.

Pros:

  • Part of the cast last night joined various audience members for a special Q&A shown on SoHo AU at 8:30pm. Various questions were asked and answered to all members of the cast, giving the fans of this wonderful community even more to talk about!
  • https://www.facebook.com/BeaSmith/videos/1230778160280723/
  • Here I was thinking, the show won’t even start again until the assessment is over, why have I chosen to become more involved within this community. Little did I think about the fact that whilst the show isn’t on, there are always events on whether that be awards shows or Q&A sessions with the cast. The Logies are this Sunday the 8th of May (which is also Mother’s Day so get prepping kiddies), and Wentworth cast members, Celia Ireland and Pamela Rabe are both up for awards on the evening. There is quite a lot of hype around the fact that either of the actors could win an award, which would be incredibly exciting for the whole cast.

  • Logies Nominations

    Screenshot of SoHoTVAU Facebook Post regarding Logies Nominations for Wentworth cast and creatives.

  • And of course with the regular trailers being released, especially the more in depth trailer shown at the end of the Q&A show on Tuesday evening, there are always questions/comments being raised about what everyone wants/thinks will happen in the new season.

    Discussion with members of the Wentworth Community (including my comment below).

    Discussion with members of the Wentworth Community (including my comment below).

Cons:

  • So as stated earlier, the show doesn’t commence until May 10th and so the whole community is only hyping around short 1 minute trailers released every couple of weeks. This means that if you aren’t the ‘first’ to see trailers/images etc., you most certainly will not be able to get much of a following around what you post. I have attempted to comment on various posts with no reply.
  • Because I have always followed the show from a different aspect to the way in which I am for this assessment, I am finding it very difficult to break into the community. I have always been fascinated by the actors and have always wanted to support all of their works, not just the work they do on Wentworth. This means that trying to spark conversation with new people so soon can be difficult as there is definitely a sense of hierarchy within the community. Both groups have around 10,000+ members, yet I would say about 1000 are probably active avid fans.
  • I have also joined groups that I probably wouldn’t have joined if it weren’t for this assessment. I tend to steer clear of large fanbases as from past experience, sometimes other people can get in the way from the enjoyment of the person/thing you are a fan of. For example, I have always really loved Jessie J and followed her very closely. However I find that often there are a lot of horrible comments/posts between fans about other fans or even Jessie and sometimes that can be hard to deal with. Twitter has always been my ‘go to’ as I enjoy being part of a community space where the talent is actually able to interact as well. With these Facebook groups, it is purely just the fans, so getting comments from the actors/writers etc. is not possible.
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Moderation in moderation

  By samanthabeniacbrooks • May 1, 2016

In reference to my last post, I would like to raise the issue surrounding Online Privacy in regards to my community. As stated in my last post, I mentioned the fact that Facebook groups were the main space I used to interact with fellow Wentworth Fans.

The Facebook group has a few admins, meaning that a lot of what is posted is moderated. This also means that if you want to get into the group, you must be accepted by one of these further up the hierarchy people.  It’s interesting to think about the way in which communities are an attempt to create a space where everyone who has similar interests/likes the same things are welcome, yet there is a need for ‘acceptance’ into a group.

“I declare that I am an avid Wentworth fan”.

I think it’s important that there is an aspect of moderation as it can stop arguments/comments arising that may not be wanted. However I think it’s also important that we allow some sort of ‘freedom of speech’ within these groups. I know that there are characters in Wentworth that I don’t particularly agree with, but I feel that if I were to raise this, I would most likely cause some sort of prison-like riot, whether online or in real life.

In one of the groups that I am a part of for Wentworth, one moderator recently had a go at all the viewers from the United Kingdom, who seem to flood the group with queries regarding when Season 4 will be released over there. I can understand why the moderators would be angry as the group seems to be flooded with these queries, however I don’t like that there are people who think they can tell people what to do in such a large community, as it makes them seem as if they are better than everyone else… #justathought #newsflashtheyaren’t.