fanboy baiting

A phrase with two meanings: 1) When the writer(s) of a geek franchise introduce backstory, characters, rules, lists of information, and other continuity details that are intentionally vague, contradictory, and unresolved. The intent is to provoke fan wank and other arguments while always having the carrot of "this issue, we find THIS out!" to dangle in front of fans. Mainstream superhero comics run almost exclusively on this. 2) When a blogger or other editorial writer does an in-depth analysis of a creative work radically counter to the assumptions of its fanbase in order to provoke outrage and fan wank. Usual tactics include "over-analyzing" fantastical elements (e.g. "Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex"), unflattering interpretations of the themes, and otherwise presenting valid arguments why the story does not logically work.