Back in the day, fandom was a hobby about publishing and writing letters of comment. There had been conventions as far back as 1939, but few fans were able to attend one unless they lived in a big, big city. But the 1960s, that had already begun to change, and even small cities were apt to have a convention. There was also fan clubs to empower fans to meet each other in person. But it wasn't really until the end of the 1970s when the scale was tipped toward most fans experiencing fandom as a convention phenomenon. Even then, there was still a thriving community of fans that mainly pursued their interest by publishing, writing for and writing letters of comment on fanzines. It was still the case well into the turn of the 21st. century, but... the signs are clear that the fanzine community is aging fast, and showing signs of senescence. But in 1980, Saara Mar was still sending her letters of comment anonymously from near Earth orbit.