Thoughts on parasocial freaks amongst the fandom obsessed with prying into Joseph Anderson's personal life?
I've only recently gotten into watching Joseph Anderson's videos thru Umineko, but I've noticed some people posting quite invasive comments relating to his marriage/divorce with Mouse or Lili and fishing for rumors or speculation on his detailed whereabouts as if entitled to such information, which speaks to a broader pathology of Internet culture. As more of our social lives become mediated through digital vessels, people increasingly import a caricaturized version of norms from genuine interpersonal relationships into fundamentally one-sided ones as well as a profound invesment previosuly reserved for personal matters into an obsession with a simualcra that replaces them.
I've seen people argue that because they've invested hundreds of hours into Joe's content, they either deserve overt 'transparency' about the circumstances that lead him into taking a break or feel as if perusing amongts the community for gossip is a worthwhile endeavour. Which is not merely mistaken but rests on a profoundly unhealthy understanding of what the relationship between creator and audience actually is, a creator choosing to not further disclose on certain private matters should not turn conjecture about them socially acceptable, much less when he's clearly stated he may explain it all in due time and wishes for us to not pry on it.
The healthiest creator-audience relationship is one where both sides remember what it actually is: appreciation for someone's work, not ownership over the person who made it. And the healthiest relationship with such work is one were the appreciation remains as it should: fulfilling enough, not an totem to suplant real life with.