(hope you don't mind a belated comment - if you'd rather just keep the book shut on this issue, please just ignore me!)
I actually am pretty used to comments along those lines - when I wrote gen in anime, I used to get a lot of, "Well, I liked this story, though you really should've slashed X/Y." And then, when I did write yaoi, I'd get "ewww, yaoi, but great story otherwise!" in ff.net reviews. Anime fandom - you can't win!
I think one reason it's more pronounced in SGA fandom in regards to the McKeller because almost all the people who write McKeller were writing either gen or some other pairing; almost no one has come fresh to the fandom shipping McKeller right off the bat. So all the writers who do write McKeller have a history of other ships. A lot of fanfolk are OTPers, myself included; the only reason I'll read something outside my OTP is if I really like the author. So, for an OTP fan to read outside their pairing, because they like the author so much - that's a high compliment to the author. And I have a hunch that some of the folks who leave those "I hate this pairing but liked this story" comments are actually trying to be complimentary - in a totally clueless way, of course.
And yeah, they probably are trying to discourage, too - because another pairing can be threatening, if your favorite author has switched from writing what you like to what you don't like, if your friends are enjoying what you don't enjoy.
Ironically, I suspect the other reason for the open disparagement of McKeller is because it's canon. If the pairing had never become canon, people wouldn't have any more antipathy to it than they would toward another 'ship. Right now, if you don't like McShep, you're hating on other fans - but if you don't like McKeller, you're hating on TPTB, and that's more socially acceptable in fannish circles. The anti-McKeller fans are not anti-shippers - they've got nothing against McKeller fans, since they're still reading their fic and looking at their art - but anti-show. But it's hard for a McKeller fan not to take it personally.
no subject
I actually am pretty used to comments along those lines - when I wrote gen in anime, I used to get a lot of, "Well, I liked this story, though you really should've slashed X/Y." And then, when I did write yaoi, I'd get "ewww, yaoi, but great story otherwise!" in ff.net reviews. Anime fandom - you can't win!
I think one reason it's more pronounced in SGA fandom in regards to the McKeller because almost all the people who write McKeller were writing either gen or some other pairing; almost no one has come fresh to the fandom shipping McKeller right off the bat. So all the writers who do write McKeller have a history of other ships. A lot of fanfolk are OTPers, myself included; the only reason I'll read something outside my OTP is if I really like the author. So, for an OTP fan to read outside their pairing, because they like the author so much - that's a high compliment to the author. And I have a hunch that some of the folks who leave those "I hate this pairing but liked this story" comments are actually trying to be complimentary - in a totally clueless way, of course.
And yeah, they probably are trying to discourage, too - because another pairing can be threatening, if your favorite author has switched from writing what you like to what you don't like, if your friends are enjoying what you don't enjoy.
Ironically, I suspect the other reason for the open disparagement of McKeller is because it's canon. If the pairing had never become canon, people wouldn't have any more antipathy to it than they would toward another 'ship. Right now, if you don't like McShep, you're hating on other fans - but if you don't like McKeller, you're hating on TPTB, and that's more socially acceptable in fannish circles. The anti-McKeller fans are not anti-shippers - they've got nothing against McKeller fans, since they're still reading their fic and looking at their art - but anti-show. But it's hard for a McKeller fan not to take it personally.