Fan Versus Pro: Fight?

[kevin_standlee]

In the ongoing discussions about Fan Writer versus Pro Writer, I've repeatedly made the point (as have others) that "fan" and "pro" are not mutually exclusive states. You can be any of the four possible combinations. (If you're neither fan nor pro, you're not in the field at all, but it's a valid combination.)

I got to thinking about this, and this distinction is true in other areas as well, such as sports. One can be a baseball fan. A few people can be professional baseball players. But a pro can be a fan of the game, too. Some pro baseball players are not fans. Once they end their playing career, they pack away their gear, store it away, and never look at it again. Other former pro players are unabashedly fans of the game, too. Just look at the San Francisco Giants TV broadcasters Mike Krukow & Duane Kuiper. Both of them are former players, and today work as professional baseball broadcasters. But they are both clearly fans of baseball. Everything about they way they carry themselves and talk about baseball screams "fan" to me. And that's not a bad thing.

Update, 18:30: Corrected missing word "not" spotted in comments.

Comments

[bovil.livejournal.com]

Nope. In a field one can be an amateur or a pro, but not both simultaneously. They're opposite ends of a scale (in most cases, the only points on that scale, but that's neither here nor there).

"Fan" isn't on that scale, at least not in this case. It's kind of like a question on the ICG list a few weeks ago: "Is costuming a hobby or an art to you?" The question is invalid; it assumes an exclusive relationship that doesn't exist. It can be a hobby and an art simultaneously.

Some of the confusion probably comes from fanzine, semi-prozine and prozine. Semantically, they're all really fanzines, it's just that a "fanzine" is specifically an amateur or non-commercial fanzine.

[shsilver.livejournal.com]

I think yourbob was referring to this sentence:
(If you're neither fan nor pro, you're in the field at all, but it's a valid combination.)

which should probably read:

(If you're neither fan nor pro, you're not in the field at all, but it's a valid combination.)

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

Right, got it. Fixed.

[bovil.livejournal.com]

That would be Kevin's typo, not mine.

[yourbob.livejournal.com]

Nope. Bovil got me dead to rights and was correct in correcting me. But I like your spin on my words!!