When Fandom Was a Nerdy Subculture: An Ode to Outpost Daria




With my ADHD medication evaluation coming up, I had to fill out some paperwork that would expedite the process. I laugh-snorted at one of the questions about memory. I went through it with a friend who also has ADHD, and I sardonically noted, “Please. I can remember entire plots of fanfiction I read on Outpost Daria and Lawndale After Dark over 20 years ago, but I can’t remember where the hell I left my keys.” Then in true ADHD fashion, I found myself thinking about Outpost Daria and how I stumbled upon it in the first place around 2001 or so. This essay actually isn’t about the show, though I could totally write a separate Fanfare piece about Daria and the wildly different media landscape of the 2020s. It’s amusingly ironic because Daria was one of those shows I wanted to watch in depth so badly, but my household didn’t have cable. I made do with a few taped episodes from friends who had MTV and constantly watched the two movie specials more readily available for rental, Is It Fall Yet? and Is It College Yet?

So don’t worry if you’ve never watched Daria, this is really about the fans and how the concept of fandom and superfans has radically changed since Outpost Daria’s heyday. The perception of fandoms is so much different, and it ties in with how Internet usage and culture evolved since Daria was in its prime. I started writing this from memory, then stumbled upon truly wild things after doing a little research that made me even more excited to discuss it! It also made me ponder, and ask you the reader, about fandom, Internet culture as a whole, and the preservation of sites and content from the Web 1.0 and 2.0 eras.