1: Fans, Flouncers, Fundamentalists: Understanding Online Archers Fan Cultures

The internet age, and social media in particular, provides fans with a variety of platforms and means of discussing The Archers, as well as ways to connect with each other and with people involved in the programme itself (see also, Bailey, this volume). As a listener and fan, who comments on The Archers on the DumTeeDum podcast, on Twitter and in various Facebook groups, I noticed I was making choices about where and how I commented on storylines, characters and action in Ambridge. I was interested in how others use online fan spaces and why they value the spaces they use to connect to each other and talk about the programme. In addition, there were clearly different norms and differences in language between different online fan spaces. I wanted to find out more about these differences, how they manifested and how subcultures grow amongst a broader fanbase; this chapter relays my findings.