As promised, today's post is about the return of The Walking Dead and American Horror Story to TV tonight and Wednesday. But, this is also a readers' advisory driven blog, so I will use the return of these shows to talk about a larger resource the fan wiki.
Yes, the librarian is going to ruin all the fun of these creepy, terrifying shows by teaching you something. Sorry, but that is why you read this blog...to learn something.
Anytime there is a popular series, you can expect a fandom to rise up. While it used to be that these intense fans only got together at conferences or expos, the Internet has allowed them to unite 24/7. Over time, the wiki has evolved as the best tool for these fan communities to work together to create, index, and gather everything in the world that is even partially connected to their series.
There is no better place to get information both official and unofficial about a popular series than on a fan wiki.
The other wonderful thing about fans is that they do not stop being fans when a series is over. Take a look at the Buffy fan wiki which is still going strong.
When I am dealing with a reader or viewer who has a favorite series, I always check to see if there is a fan wiki set up. All you need to do is a Google search for the series and then add "wiki." So, for example, "The Walking Dead wiki."
Patrons love to be directed to these pages. I have some patrons who use them to find read and watch alikes, while others have become contributors themselves.
The point here is that you use the fans and their intense focus to your advantage. Don't waste your time searching all over for a patron. Go straight to the knowledge source. It is the same strategy you would use to answer a reference question. If you had a tax question, you would go to irs.gov, obviously. And, in the same vein, if you have a Buffy question, you go to the Buffy wiki.
So for the return of these two popular horror series, I direct you to The Walking Dead wiki and the American Horror Story wiki. If it is even remotely related to either of these series, you will find it here.
Enjoy the season 3 premier of The Walking Dead tonight too.
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