How My Poor Heart Aches

So, really. Where do you draw the line between fandom and stalking? And is there any chance that, in place of a line, there could be some sort of grey area where you're teetering on the razor's edge of that line, but not quite falling over to the other side?

I suppose Lawyer Mama is trying to answer that question for us all.

LM is a fan of Wil's, much like myself and thousands of others. Let's face it: man can spin a yarn, and spin it well. And oh yeah, there's that whole actor thing, Star Trek, something or other, I don't know. In a nutshell, yes, he's quite worthy of having good, loyal fans.

Poor LM, though, she's in the grey area. While the rest of us revel in Wil's blog posts and the occasional reply to an email with a question about the site or whatever (I myself got one once, which was cool), LM took the step into the not-black-but-not-white-either are of fandom and is now attempting a small feat of stalkery: Trying to get Wil to pop one comment on her blog.

Yeah, you'll want to scroll to the bottom of that post for the Wheaton info, unless you're up on the topic of breastfeeding in America. I just wanted to link to her most recent post...

Yep, grey area. I don't see where this is harmful. After all, she's not at his house or off tailing Wil's oldest at college, and she's not really all that obsessed the way you'd think your garden-variety stalker would be. She's just a fan who'd like that one moment of semi-contact. Kindof like meeting your favorite actor or writer at a convention: That 30 seconds of time can mean the world to someone.

For LM, her 30 seconds would be Wil posting a quick comment on her blog. And honestly, I think it'd be a bit of alright if he did. I'm not saying he absolutely should, mind you, just saying that it'd be cool of him. And what's halfway decent is, Wil is, within certain boundaries, a "celebrity" who's fairly accessible to his fanbase.

So, I'm going to wish Lawyer Mama the best of luck. As a blogger who's had that 30 seconds with Wil and several other "famous" folk over the years, I can attest to the joy you get when you meet/communicate with those you admire for one reason or another. So, to inspire her on her quest, here's a picture of me with one of my all time favorite musicians, Sascha K. of KMFDM, from back in October, 2004.


Good luck, Mama!