Kind of reminds me of when I checked out the Pokémon community.

Shipping. Everywhere.

The obsessive crazy shipper fangirl is, sadly, a phenomenon of pretty much every single prominent fandom. It's a constant.

Of course, the only thing worse than obsessive shipper fangirls are the irrevocably stupid kawaii yaoi desu fangirls. Which the HP fandom also has... like, again, everything else.

Actually it's probably a good idea to ignore most of the vocal fandom of anything, since it's most likely shock full of retarded. Fangirls and whatnot. The only time shipping is even remotely entertaining is when it's played for laughs.

If they're not killing each other, I'm usually cool with it. (Like, the whole obsessed craziness deal, just without the violence and ragesmash).

But knowing how some people do take shipping...

(I don't understand crazy shippers myself, I like doing it, but not in any great expectation of "this is the only way"

well except with Alexander and Hephaestion, ever since I saw that movie

oh look at me, shipping historical figures as if they're fictional characters </3)

At least they're not bronies am I right?

I think part of the problem with the HP fandom is that the shipping is the work's most consistently active aspect. In the Pokemon fandom, for instance, you have shipping, but it's tempered by discussion of many aspects of the games and TCG, in addition to discussion of the Pokemon themselves (which usually only involves shipping in,,, certain circles). In the My Little Pony fandom, the shipping is tempered by many other discussions on the near-continuous stream of content, both official and fan-generated. But Harry Potter isn't releasing much new material. The books are done, the movies are done. and like what has happened to some extent with the BIONICLE fandom, a lack of content has left discussion to stagnate. But one of the last things in a fandom to die is usually the shipping wars. I've never been happier with BIONICLE's no-romance policy than I am after having seen shipping completely take over many other dormant franchises.