CHORF is an acronym coined by Brad R. Torgersen to describe the worst sort of fans. The term actually stands for Cliquish, Holier-than-thou, Obnoxious, Reactionary, Fanatics. Unlike terms such as SMOF there is no good side to being labeled with this term.
A person who is a CHORF is specifically trying to prevent others from enjoying the topic that they profess to enjoy. Their group of friends and accepted acquaintances/allies are the only true fans. They often administer 'tests' that are designed to force someone to prove that they're a real fan (think of the kid who confronts you at a comic convention demanding that you answer them when they ask, "What happened in issue 12 of Green Lantern, volume 1, page 7, panel 4?"). They express a superiority over others for their self-perceived superior knowledge on the subject. When confronted by any change or imagined threat to their favorite subject they react with volatility (think of the kids who drop rape and death threats because you suggested that maybe a comic book cover shouldn't pose the women in sexually suggestive ways when it's specifically targeted at little girls).
A CHORF is a complete jerk and is unwelcome anywhere they go.
So...almost everyone who posts at PC Gamer's forums then ;-)
ReplyDeleteI guess? I've never checked out the site.
DeleteNow let's use these acronyms in a sentence.
ReplyDeleteThe CHORF used a classic DARVO tactic against the SMOF, by calling the SMOF a "SNIOP" after the SMOF called out the CHORF's BS about Superman's heat vision being two LASERs.
Oh, that made my head hurt!
DeleteObviously you aren't a true fan, or you'd KNOW it's "Superman's HV" and not, sniff, "Superman's heat vision."
ReplyDeleteRolls eyes...
The. Best.
DeleteI'm dumber for having read this. : /
ReplyDeleteEh, I've gotten worse comments about things I've written.
DeleteI find it interesting that this is coming from Torgerson, an author who's successfully gamed the Hugo Awards to ensure only works approved of by a community of his conservative fans are on the ballot this year.
ReplyDeleteI don't normally talk about such things but in researching the term I ran into the controversy surrounding the Hugo Awards and one thing became clear: he wasn't the first to game the system. Now clearly they are easily the most visible but as I was researching it became clear that there are voting blocks (something that is true in all political situations) and that they were pushing their own agendas (John Scalzi, former Hugo Award winner was actually where I got confirmation of that information). Doesn't make it right when any group did it, but it's within the rules.
DeleteWhich is about as much as I want to say about that.
Slate did an entire piece in this today, and put it in an amazingly different context. Amazingly different.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I can't say as I care much about the Hugo's, but it sounds like they've got some problems. I'd be curious to know how much winning an award correlates with sales.
Ask @scalzi on twitter. He's won a bunch of them over the years.
DeleteAnd now I'm off to check out this Slate article.
the sad thing is that CHORF is also the name of a cancer charity, the Christopher Hardman Osteosarcoma Research Fund.
ReplyDeleteCHORF started off as a fannish term (Hal's Emerald Attack Team is arguably one of the earliest CHORF groups I can remember, but there are others). However it's metastasised from fandoms and into general use, frequently overlapping with various clans of Social Justice Warriors.
ReplyDeleteThe head of the NAACP recently got CHORFed for not being sufficiently black.