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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

fancruft en · NOUN

Pronunciation

  • /ˈfænˌkrʌft/
  • (General-American) audio

Etymology

From fan + cruft.

Meanings

  1. (derogatory, taxonomic:Wikimedia jargon, uncountable) Trivial or excessively detailed information on a work of fiction added by fans to a general-interest wiki.
    • Although the term ["cruft"] is almost always intended negatively, it is also associated with a certain obsessive attraction, most obviously in the case of "fancruft," those excessively detailed wiki entries about extremely minor elements of some niche subculture. 2017, David Letzler, The Cruft of Fiction: Mega-Novels and the Science of Paying Attention, U of Nebraska Press, →ISBN, page 5:
    • Editors are the folks who detect and remove original research and fancruft. 2014, Michael Restivo, Why Wiki Works: Peer Production and Making Knowledge the Wiki Way (dissertation), Stony Brook University, page 1:
    • This contrast shows how dedicated Star Wars fans use the niche Wookieepedia to create and value content with a vast amount of detail and precision, even if the same content is viewed as fancruft within the more general Wikipedia community. 2012, Jason Mittell, “Wikis and Participatory Fandom”, in Aaron Delwiche, Jennifer Jacobs Henderson, editors, The Participatory Cultures Handbook, Routledge, →ISBN, page 39:
    • Fancruft (sometimes shortened to just cruft) is a derogatory term for these types of articles, which are sometimes just barely tolerated. [2008, Phoebe Ayers, Charles Matthews, Ben Yates, How Wikipedia Works: And how You Can be a Part of it, No Starch Press, →ISBN, page 225:
  2. (derogatory, slang, uncommon, uncountable) Low-quality material (especially literature) produced by fans of a performer, group, author etc.
    • Here, Talking Dead forwards its own subtle policing strategy, celebrating the moment of canonical coupling in which Richonne is elevated from feminine “fancruft” to a legitimate topic of conversation, simultaneously reveling in and poking fun at Brown's deep emotional investment in coupling. 2019, Suzanne Scott, Fake Geek Girls: Fandom, Gender, and the Convergence Culture Industry, NYU Press, →ISBN, page 137: