Addendum: I don't consider fandom participation or activity at all by the time we get to "friend" or "RL friend". Everyone has hobbies/interests, and fandom is just another facet of their lives.
For an example of a fandom friend, there are a few people on LJ whose sole interaction with me is always in the context of fandom. Even if we've met, they only want to talk to me as a fellow fan. Change the subject and talk about life, work, whatever, and they either clam up or bring the subject back to fandom. If you run out of fannish things to say, silence falls and all is awkward.
For an example of a RL friend, one of my friends lives, eats, breathes fandom of all sorts. But we hang out, we talk about life, and even though we share a few fandoms (haha, promiscuous) we don't really talk all that much about fandom stuff. One of us could make a joke referring to fandom and we'd both get it, and we occasionally interact in fannish roles, but we're friends outside of fandom too.
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For an example of a fandom friend, there are a few people on LJ whose sole interaction with me is always in the context of fandom. Even if we've met, they only want to talk to me as a fellow fan. Change the subject and talk about life, work, whatever, and they either clam up or bring the subject back to fandom. If you run out of fannish things to say, silence falls and all is awkward.
For an example of a RL friend, one of my friends lives, eats, breathes fandom of all sorts. But we hang out, we talk about life, and even though we share a few fandoms (haha, promiscuous) we don't really talk all that much about fandom stuff. One of us could make a joke referring to fandom and we'd both get it, and we occasionally interact in fannish roles, but we're friends outside of fandom too.