(no subject)

[melannen]

Hi all! I am working on a Fanlore entry (I figured it was past time), and am running into the fact that terms that I thought were established don't seem to give Google results for anyone but, um, me. Pretty much.

So, I thought I'd try a poll. :D

Poll #4330 On terminology

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 74

View Respondents

When I am talking about the novels, animated series, comics, web extras, role-playing games, audio dramas, and so on that are authorized by a particular fandom's owners but are not part of main canon, I call them:

View Answers

extracanonical
11 (14.9%)

paracanon/paracanonical
11 (14.9%)

secondary canon
25 (33.8%)

"tie-ins", duh
51 (68.9%)

semi-canon
11 (14.9%)

S-canon
0 (0.0%)

just plain non-canonical
9 (12.2%)

Better than canon, usually
5 (6.8%)

Expanded Universe/Extended Universe/EU
37 (50.0%)

gray canon
4 (5.4%)

authorized fanfic, or something else involving the word 'fan'
14 (18.9%)

Different terms in different fandoms, and I'll go into detail below
12 (16.2%)

I don't.
6 (8.1%)

Other
7 (9.5%)

I am going to talk about this in a comment.
6 (8.1%)

This concept needs a fanlore entry of its own.

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Yes
59 (100.0%)

No
0 (0.0%)

If there's a fannish term I use a lot, and a few of my friends do, and I really find it useful, but hardly anybody else uses it, I should:

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Try to avoid using it on Fanlore and similar places
4 (7.5%)

Use it on fanlore, and hope somebody else decides to make an entry for it eventually
9 (17.0%)

Make an entry for it (or add it to the relevant entry) in hopes that it will become more widespread
40 (75.5%)

ETA: I am also interested in whether people include things like interview canon and behind-the-scenes extras, drafts and outlines and subtitles, things someone involved with the production once said informally, prop canon, and merchandise packaging under the same umbrella as authorized media tie-ins, or consider them a different level of canon, and whether different terms include different things to them. But I couldn't figure out how to phrase it as a poll question in a way that wasn't overcomplicated.

People are invited to add comments expanding on this!