Being a "Hater"

[Robb Stark]

But, if that is how someone feels why should they say anything else? You could turn it the other way and say it is discourteous for people who like a certain character to be talking on and on about them with no regard for those that hate the character. That's what I meant about being PC. I don't think any one of us on the board is so delicate that we can't hear dislike expressed about the thing we love. I'm not going to take exception to anyone saying they hate Angel, Buffy or B/A, and I certainly won't find it discourteous.

Now, if someone is doing/saying things to incite another set of fans/group of people, I think that is wrong. But simply stating your distaste in a thread where your opinion (good or bad) is relevant to the discussion is perfectly fine, if not down right expected, with me.

I think we're on the same page. Your last paragraph is pretty much what I meant. Like I said, there's nothing wrong with talking about your hatred of a character. Hell, we have entire threads geared towards just that. What I personally don't like and just makes me roll my eyes is when a thread has nothing to do with a character, and someone goes out of their way to make it about how much they hate that character. It seems to happen most commonly with Angel and Spike. If you want to talk about how much you despise Angel or Spike, that's cool, if it's pertinent to the discussion topic. But I've seen numerous threads railroaded into hate threads about both those characters, even when they have nothing to do with the discussion. I've seen threads about Angel in "Amends" divert weirdly into Spike hating. I've seen threads about Spike's sacrifice in "Chosen" go into ridiculous Angel rants.

If you hate the character and want to express it, that's cool. But I find it discourteous, and honestly a little strange, to bring that up in discussions where that hate isn't even remotely relevant, or is meant purely to be incendiary, as you said.

 

[Aimee]

Remember how Buffy met Riley by accidentally dropping books on his head?
If only that had killed him.

Kate. Hands up who hates Kate?
There was nothing Buffyverse about that character. She belonged in some other show. A show I don't watch.

 

[LindsayH]

Remember how Buffy met Riley by accidentally dropping books on his head?
If only that had killed him.

Kate. Hands up who hates Kate?
There was nothing Buffyverse about that character. She belonged in some other show. A show I don't watch.

I literally just laughed out loud. I wonder what season 4 would have been like without Riley? Probably much better...

And Kate sucked, I agree. She needed to be on another show all together. She just didn't fit. Then again, I don't think we were meant to like her anyways.

 

[zobothehobo]

I think a lot of it depends on which character you say you hate.

If I mention that I hate Willow or Harmony (which I do) people usually shrug their shoulders and move on.

But if I say that I hate Spike (which I do) I'm automatically labelled a 'hater' by some people, labelled an Angel fan (which I'm not really) and a Bangel (again, not really) and I'm told that I'm being unfairly harsh on Spike and I should try to see things from his perspective and learn to have an open mind. I was even once told that I was 'watching the show wrong' and I needed to 'have lessons on how to watch and appreciate the show the way it was supposed to be, and that means loving Spike'.

So, why is it okay for me to hate Willow and Harmony, but it's not okay to hate Spike?

And in saying that, yes, I do hate those three characters, but I'm still fully capable of watching and enjoying the show and these three characters' scenes and I'm fully capable of admitting and pointing out and even loving certain scenes with these characters - they will just never, ever appear in any list of 'favorite characters' that I choose to make. And they'll very rarely show up in any art I make.

I think this is a great point. Being labeled a "hater" and the etiquette that comes with fandom discussion is very dependent on the character being discussed. I don't think it should be, but it is.

Most of my interaction with the fandom code of ethics in terms of character hate and the word "hater" is in the Supernatural fandom. I hate Sam Winchester. Now... when I say "I hate Sam Winchester," I do not mean "Dean and Cas are the best couple!" "Sam comes in between Destiel!" "Destiel is my OTP" "Wincest is gross!" "Jared Padalecki is unattractive" "Jared Padalecki is annoying" "I am incapable of loving a character that is not my favorite character" "Cas is a better character than Sam." None of these have anything to do with it... However, no matter what is said, this is what people hear. People have screamed and yelled and thrown fits... there was a hate rally about me between some prominent Sam fans on tumblr a while ago... People have sent me sincerely confused messages about how I can actually watch the show and dislike Sam so much.... and enjoy the show. One time, I reblogged a post with the tags "#omg sam #pls #you adorable asshole #too precious for this world" and someone sent me a message off anon that was honestly confused because she was so just confused as to how I could hate Sam, but still enjoy something he did enough to call it adorable.

However, I've posted long hate posts about John Winchester, and no one thinks twice. Of course, he's a popularly hated character. A popularly loved character I hate other than Sam is the archangel Michael. I have posted things about how I hate Michael and no one thought twice.

It's really about how the fandom as a whole feels about that character. Sam is a sore spot to hate on because he's the center of quite a bit of controversy even not taking into account possible hate on his character. Same with Spike. What do these two have in common? A ship war. The hate on Spike or Sam is intensified because there is added hate on Spuffy or Wincest. There is controversy involving these characters that extends outside of the debate of that particular character. The more controversial a character is outside of the discussion of just that character, the more the hate will be intensified, even if it's not.

At least, that's my theory.