It is a truth universally acknowledged that Trekkies were the first fandom. But universal acknowledgment does not make a truth true. In fact, Adrianne Wadewitz, a feminist scholar of 18th-century literature, set Wikipedia straight on this point over a decade ago, when she identified the first fandom subculture as the Janeites, the network of Jane Austen stans who found their prime directive, Austen idolatry, around 1870. Star Trek: TOS didn't air until 1966. ■ But what does this matter, except for purposes of quarrels about trivia? Here's just one reason: Janeites are known for having organized their networks in an almost magically prescient way that didn't just prefigure Star Trek fan culture, it prefigured the... internet.
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