Fictional Fans

Huh. Interesting, because I am polyfannish and love many characters and pairings, but to me "X/everyone" is not a ship. It just means that you're a fan of that character who also likes romance or porn or whatever. If "X/everyone" counts as a ship, then any fannish consumption or production of any kind is a ship, and the term has lost all meaning.

For me, "shipping" something (be it a pairing or a threesome or moresome) means you are specifically invested in that relationship. Not just one character and whoever they happen to be with, but both/all characters in that relationship and the dynamic between them.

I dunno, maybe it's from coming up in fandom during the ship wars of the early 2000s when you had your One True Pairing and that was shipping. I mean, I never had an OTP because I'm polyfannish and love lots of pairings, but shipping to me is definitely about the relationSHIP. Using a character as a little black dress (they go with everything!) is awesome, but not the same thing.

But, obviously from the results of the survey, there are a lot of people who are closer to your opinion than mine, and that for me was really interesting.