Part of it is hanging out in different places. (I have yet to see a fandom where looking past the surface didn't just make me roll my eyes at best, so I mostly have the shared-fandom things like F!S, hated_character, metafandom, fanficrants, etc., and people I know, and trailing their comments back to sources, etc. My nerves can't handle the mass fandom. From what I can tell,though, you dive right in to fandom.) But another thing is that, in general you (universal) seem to notice what "the other side" says more than what "your side" says. (And I really hate that it has to be "sides.")
Really, I don't care for most of the "canon canon canon" that I see elsewhere myself, because it interprets can as "my pairing of choice" as opposed to the text as a whole. (Most Katara/Aang fen comments about Zuko/Katara I've seen, for example, focus on the fact that it isn't Katara/Aang, instead of the larger picture involving her loyalties, how she would deal with a seemingly-patriarchal society, his biases[I'm specifically thinking of the "peasant" comment here] his goals and responsibilities [I don't think it's ever been a question that he would eventually be a Fire Lord] the fact that the entire "Gaang" needs her, not just Aang, etc. I'm not talking about any problems with Zuko/Katara here, but the fact that there's a lot more canon involved than who she'd be making out with.)
If it makes sense, I fail to see the difference between shipping the canon pairing because it's the canon pairing, and shipping a fanon pairing. (Which might be hypocritical of me, as I have trouble getting into things where there's an Official Pairing if I can't support it, but I don't always ship them. Like, I liked Sam/Jack in SG-1 from the start, but didn't ship it until around season 4-5. And it's almost impossible for me to ship in romance-centric things, for whatever reason, even if I really like the pairing/story.)
ETA: Just realized I worded part of that very badly. (It's 3 am, please forgive me.) What I mean by "I fail to see the difference between shipping the canon pairing because it's the canon pairing, and shipping a fanon pairing" is that both, as near as I can tell, revolve around wanting an OTP. If you ship Katara/Aang (to stick with Avatar) because you want an OTP and it's what's in front of you, how is it different from shipping Zuko/Katara because you want an OTP, and like the characters? (Or Katara/Mai or Zuko/Aang?)
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timeasmymeasure
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Really, I don't care for most of the "canon canon canon" that I see elsewhere myself, because it interprets can as "my pairing of choice" as opposed to the text as a whole. (Most Katara/Aang fen comments about Zuko/Katara I've seen, for example, focus on the fact that it isn't Katara/Aang, instead of the larger picture involving her loyalties, how she would deal with a seemingly-patriarchal society, his biases[I'm specifically thinking of the "peasant" comment here] his goals and responsibilities [I don't think it's ever been a question that he would eventually be a Fire Lord] the fact that the entire "Gaang" needs her, not just Aang, etc. I'm not talking about any problems with Zuko/Katara here, but the fact that there's a lot more canon involved than who she'd be making out with.)
If it makes sense, I fail to see the difference between shipping the canon pairing because it's the canon pairing, and shipping a fanon pairing. (Which might be hypocritical of me, as I have trouble getting into things where there's an Official Pairing if I can't support it, but I don't always ship them. Like, I liked Sam/Jack in SG-1 from the start, but didn't ship it until around season 4-5. And it's almost impossible for me to ship in romance-centric things, for whatever reason, even if I really like the pairing/story.)
ETA: Just realized I worded part of that very badly. (It's 3 am, please forgive me.) What I mean by "I fail to see the difference between shipping the canon pairing because it's the canon pairing, and shipping a fanon pairing" is that both, as near as I can tell, revolve around wanting an OTP. If you ship Katara/Aang (to stick with Avatar) because you want an OTP and it's what's in front of you, how is it different from shipping Zuko/Katara because you want an OTP, and like the characters? (Or Katara/Mai or Zuko/Aang?)