This is going to sound like a cranky ole fogey's message. But it's on my mind anyway. Some years ago when I still a member of the Chicago Dave and Buster's meetup
http://www.meetup.com/Chicago-sf-org/ a visitor came to the D&B event and while there they commented to several others that the group seemed to be the
SF TV and movie meetup and there seemed to be noone there really interested in books. After that comment myself and Jason Robertson
http://pyropyga.livejournal.com ,along with one or two others started the group's 'closed reading group' and it turned out to be whole lots of fun, but never attracted a large following but had a very loyal group of readers who showed up to each session. Regarding the D&B visitor's comment, it made its way around the community and the collective reaction was the lady had a lot of gall and nerve to say what she did, without knowing the community better than just visiting. IOW, one might say many of the D&B regulars took some issue with the comment and were not pleased it had been made.
Now it's February 2012 and there's a large
Dr. Who convention in L.A. We come upon a community that eschews, actively denigrates, is collectively hostile and diminishes any heritage that has existed and continues to exist in common with more known fen. Additionally, one might want to argue the position that media fandoms (Whedonist, Browncoats, Trekkers, film geeks, gamers, otaku, Whovians, Colonials, etc.) have only marginal heritages with conventional fandom; however, I'd offer Fred Patten's
Reading Manga, Watching Anime as some counter evidence.
I don't think this message can be reduced to those crazy kids just don't read enough books anymore. But that might be true.
A second point that might have some relevance to the topic at hand. in the Fall of 2010 I went to a well known meetup in Orange County, called O.C. Geekdom. A few days before I had suggested LosCON as potentially relevant and related event for their meetup. When I met myself with the group's organizer, she asked me (and I did not know) why the convention's website as so messed up; IME, messed up websites are fairly common for convention websites? My short answer was sort of, 'I don't know, and are websites what conventions and fandom are about?' A longer answer is her question presumes some things I know might not be necessarily true; examples, the ConCom member in charge of the website knows anything about computers or websites, owns a computer or has interweb access. There remains a a contingent in fandom that still goes around as if printed and mailed fanzines and APAs will be making a comeback of popularity, and that this internet is a temporary fad that all the kids will grow out of real soon now.
Maybe I'm an ole fogey, too! YMMV