Battlestar Wiki:Fanwanking
Fanwanking (or fanwankery) is an attempt to explain plot holes or errors in a fictional universe like Battlestar Galactica. It makes used of contrived and convoluted ideas often using numerous references from the history of the fictional universe itself. Often, fanwanking is the result of confronting critics of work of fiction by “explaining” problems.
Battlestar Wiki and fanwanking[edit]
For an encyclopedic project, fanwanking is an insidious form of fan fiction. It is often obscured with facts, and has the appearance of the "truth," especially to the casual fan. Since Battlestar Wiki strives to a factual repository for Battlstar Galactica, fanwanking is frowned upon and generally considered to be contrary to our Citation Jihad.
More responsible fans realize that errors do occur and should be accepted as such. Plot holes are often the result of the limited scope of a television show, such as Battlestar Galactica and should be expected.
What is not fanwanking[edit]
Retroactive continuity[edit]
Retroactive continuity (retcons) is a decision by the "official" authors, producers, or owners of a serial work of fiction to make changes to the "history" of the work or established facts. The main difference between retcons and fanwankery is the the source is the creators of the work, not the fans or audience of a work.
Derived Content[edit]
In the Citation Jihad project, there is a extensive information on derived content. Because any work of fiction cannot fully explained everything within its own universe, contributions to Battlestar Wiki can be made based on plausible speculation and logical deduction.
Examples of fanwanking[edit]
- In the Miniseries, the number of ships is given as 41, but in 33 the number is enlarged to 63 with no aired reason. Instead of assuming this was a simple retcon, a fanwank would be stating that apparently other ships joined the fleet after the jump from Ragnar Anchorage.