The latter has just happened.
hestia posted a link to a community for someone else, but I checked it out, since I noted it was for icon contests (no, not to get involved, just curious...I like to see the competition!). Turns out that this community is strictly for non-animated icons (*yawn*), based on weekly provided screen captures from a single film. Talk about a niche community! It seems fairly bizarre, but people do get obsessed with things...OK, looking over the community info, I see 4 'sister communities' listed, all with the same concept, just a different movie each. To make sure this was the case, I clicked one...and it's info page lists 24 of these 'sister communities', for movies, TV shows, and even single people. There's even a separate community set up, just for the mods of all these communities...well, curiosity got the better of me, I had to see how deep the hole went.23 tv shows, 9 movies, 28 celebrities, 9 tv show characters, 4 bands, and 7 other random communities, all with this one idea: each week, three screen captures of the subjects, to be made into static (non-animated) icons, judged by the community.
Whoa. Obsession is an ugly thing. And, as Oscar Wilde once said, "Consistency is the last resort of the unimaginative." Sad to see such mediocrity not only spread but condoned and promoted...but I can't say I'm surprised. It's just another symptom of the general state of humanity.
