Equivalent Exchange

In Japan there's a concept called taika, which expresses the idea that everything has a suitable price. This isn't quite the golden rule of "do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Rather, it conveys the sense that the smooth functioning of human society requires reciprocity. You cannot take too much, but you also cannot give too much. In order for things to balance out, there must be equivalent exchange.

I think this is why I've become so disillusioned regarding fandom. In order for a fandom to function smoothly as a society, people have to give as much as they take. This can be difficult in some cases. A big name fan, for example, can't possibly return all of the notes that they're given. Still, if there isn't a steady flow of mutual promotion and appreciation between the creators of any given fandom, the community won't be able to maintain itself. People who aren't rewarded for their work will drop out, which means that new people won't have anyone to welcome them.

Back in the LiveJournal days of yore, fans tended to support one another because they read each other's personal journals and therefore saw each other as people. On Tumblr, however, you don't have much more to go on regarding a potential mutual's identity other than an infinitely scrolling wall of reblogged memes, and most fandom posts are devoid of the context of their creation to begin with. Why would you care about supporting someone in the community of your fandom on Tumblr? You don't even know who they are. I wish there were a way to work around this somehow...