Mel Stanfill
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melstanfill.bsky.social
Mel Stanfill
@melstanfill.bsky.social
2.1K followers 49 following 540 posts
Associate Professor, UCF T&T and English. Opinions mine. Bringing Foucault to fandom since 2006.
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melstanfill.bsky.social
there are few words in the English language i cannot spell. there are a great many i cannot type accurately at speed. and the removal of the squiggly underlines in Outlook are doing me in.
screenshot of email that says "We will begin review in the new yar"
November 20, 2025 at 1:29 PM
melstanfill.bsky.social
image from Monty Python and the Holy Grail that reads: We apologise again for the fault in the subtitles. Those responsible for sacking the people who have just been sacked, have been sacked.
September 19, 2025 at 11:23 AM
melstanfill.bsky.social
i guess this got announced today . . . Fandom Is Ugly won the National Communication Association Diamond Anniversary Book Award www.natcom.org/nca-awards/2...
award announcement text: Fandom Is Ugly: Networked Harassment in Participatory Culture by Dr. Mel Stanfill is recognized with the Diamond Anniversary Book Award for its incisive and timely analysis of the hidden costs of participatory culture. Drawing on vivid case studies from video games, television, film, and politics, Stanfill demonstrates how fan networks that foster creativity and connection can also perpetuate harassment, sexism, racism, and exclusion. By exposing these dynamics with clarity and rigor, this book reshapes how scholars and the public understand the cultural and political stakes of fandom, making a profound contribution to the study of communication, community, and power.
September 18, 2025 at 7:12 PM
melstanfill.bsky.social
well, apropos of recent news stories about how professors are objects of interpretation and negative feels . . . Professor Superstar now has a cover. press.umich.edu/Books/P/Prof...
Hollywood Walk of Fame style star, but colored blue like a photo negative from a scandal, with book title Professor Superstar: Fandom and Anti-fandom of Academia and author Mel Stanfill Table of Contents Chapter 1 Fans of Aca- Fans: FanStudies Scholars as Celebrities Chapter 2 From Lecture Notes to Likes: Academics as Social Media Microcelebrities Chapter 3 Haters Gonna Tweet: Academia as an Object of (Anti- )Fandom on Social Media Chapter 4 Make the Ivory Tower Exclusive Again: Frustrated Fandom of Academia at the University of Austin Chapter 5 Red, White, and Antischool: The University as Conservative Anti- Fan Object
September 10, 2025 at 2:49 PM
melstanfill.bsky.social
is Qualtrics confused about what is gender and what is sexuality? or do its autopopulated answers take a radical approach to sexuality in terms of object choice?
a survey question "Which of these options best describes your sexuality?" which has autopopulated with the answer choices Male, Female, Non-binary/third gender, and Prefer not to say
August 31, 2025 at 8:17 PM
melstanfill.bsky.social
in which i have become a person whose book indexes include multiple references to death threats
August 27, 2025 at 10:55 AM
melstanfill.bsky.social
the syllabus policy part
August 12, 2025 at 9:37 PM
melstanfill.bsky.social
the writing part:
August 12, 2025 at 9:36 PM
melstanfill.bsky.social
the reading part:
August 12, 2025 at 9:36 PM
melstanfill.bsky.social
me: a bunch of us are Leos, let's have a pope-themed joint birthday
me, writing the invitation, googling "what is the most catholic font"

ok i walked right into that one
Google search result for Baptismal font
August 7, 2025 at 10:41 AM
melstanfill.bsky.social
it's exciting to be digging into the proofs of Professor Superstar

but also

what an interesting ("interesting") time to be working on the topics discussed in Professor Superstar
title page: Professor Superstar Fandom and anti-Fandom oF academia Mel Stanfill University of Michigan Press Ann Arbor Table of Contents Chapter 1 Fans of Aca- Fans: FanStudies Scholars as Celebrities Chapter 2 From Lecture Notes to Likes: Academics as Social Media Microcelebrities Chapter 3 Haters Gonna Tweet: Academia as an Object of (Anti- )Fandom on Social Media Chapter 4 Make the Ivory Tower Exclusive Again: Frustrated Fandom of Academia at the University of Austin Chapter 5 Red, White, and Antischool: The University as Conservative Anti- Fan Object
August 3, 2025 at 6:17 PM
melstanfill.bsky.social
who are definitely not the same character.
July 16, 2025 at 7:29 PM
melstanfill.bsky.social
This is such a fascinating framing coming from the WSJ. I would not have expected them to equate Israeli and Russian military actions.
June 16, 2025 at 12:52 PM
melstanfill.bsky.social
wondering about all the hype over "white genocide in South Africa"? my new paper with Rachel Marks, "Don’t catch the woke mind virus: Social justice terminology as meme in the right-wing Twitter ecosystem," is for you: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
May 21, 2025 at 10:46 AM
melstanfill.bsky.social
Excited to find my contributor copy of Participatory Culture Wars in my mailbox this morning!
May 10, 2025 at 11:42 AM
melstanfill.bsky.social
To go along with “the entire NEH office you have applied to is fired” email, I got my notice of post-tenure review yesterday. Weee
April 10, 2025 at 5:50 PM
melstanfill.bsky.social
And it’s pretty exciting to still be front and center with Exploiting Fandom after all these years.
April 4, 2025 at 5:03 PM
melstanfill.bsky.social
And then Rock this Way from @uofmpress.bsky.social
April 4, 2025 at 5:02 PM
melstanfill.bsky.social
Always exciting to see my books in the wild in the #scms25 book room.

I made it onto the NYU promo sign with Fandom is Ugly. (In some GREAT company)
April 4, 2025 at 4:58 PM
melstanfill.bsky.social
things that i would have missed by using deck.blue instead of the direct app
April 1, 2025 at 1:30 PM
melstanfill.bsky.social
My copy of the second edition of the Routledge Companion to Fandom has arrived! My chapter talks about how the monetization of fan fiction has changed with things like Wattpad and AI.
March 31, 2025 at 6:28 PM
melstanfill.bsky.social
officially sent the next book, Professor Superstar: Fandom and Anti-fandom of Academia, to the press! here's a preview of the TOC
a screenshot of a table of contents showing chapter titles: Chapter 1 Fans of Aca-Fans: Fan Studies Scholars as Celebrities; Chapter 2 From Lecture Notes to Likes: Academics as Social Media Microcelebrities; Chapter 3 Haters Gonna Tweet: Academia as an Object of (Anti-)Fandom on Social Media; Chapter 4 Make the Ivory Tower Exclusive Again: Frustrated Fandom of Academia at the University of Austin; Chapter 5 Red, White, and Anti-School: The University as Conservative Anti-fan Object
March 3, 2025 at 12:01 PM
melstanfill.bsky.social
February 15, 2025 at 12:56 PM
melstanfill.bsky.social
so the ACM is doing better at meeting the moment than most other academic organizations and universities. the ACM. make it make sense.
screenshot of email from ACM that reads: ACM Reaffirms Its Commitment to Our Mission and Core Values in All Our Scientific and Educational Activities ACM is aware that many in our community are concerned about potential negative effects of recent Executive Orders by the new US Administration on our work in both the US and globally. This includes concerns about possible consequences for ACM publishing, conferences, education, and practitioner efforts, as well as concerns about possible harms to our work on inclusion for a strong and diverse technology workforce. ACM reaffirms its commitment to our mission and core values in all our scientific and educational activities. This includes global scientific and educational efforts dedicated to advancing the art, science, engineering, and application of computing. We will continue to serve both professional and public interests by fostering the open exchange of information and by promoting the highest professional and ethical standards. ACM’s commitment to its mission, guided by its core values, is unchanged. We will work with members of the community to understand how new Executive Orders may affect their work as it relates to scientific, educational, and community development efforts.
February 12, 2025 at 12:56 PM
melstanfill.bsky.social
January 5, 2025 at 8:06 PM