I don't see how not having a culture of shamefulness around fanfiction removes it from its fandom context.

sure, they have their things and we have our things - i'm not saying that fandom should become mainstream, but that it shouldn't have to be hidden or hushed or felt guilty/ashamed about.

And I think the convention setting is where the 'their stuff' and 'our stuff' collide, anyway - people were asking questions about 'their stuff' at the panel - like continuity, technical aspects of shooting, etc etc etc... things that don't necessarily concern us unless we want to dig around for them. I think it works the same the other way.