It is only among nerds that enthusiasm for something corresponds to learning more and more about it. That's the core element here. Non-nerds who like something do not feel any need to read up on it, to know more and more.
Of course, the producers of content notice when their audience are nerds, and they start to produce content built more for those who obsessively learn every detail. Comics can start "rewarding" readers for noticing some obscure thing. A game series can have an elaborate continuity, or a zillion details to memorize. Content that either "leans into the fandom" or simply naturally has too much for non-nerds to easily pick up, can rapidly become nerd-only, thus solidifying boundaries. And sure, there are the personality correlations, attributes most nerds also have, including being STEM-y and lacking social skills. Combined, a nerd ended up being an unpopular thing to be.
Mainstream culture shifted to accommodate nerd interests after computers launched a lot of nerds into the ranks of the world's richest and most influential people, and we got popular movie series based around Marvel and Lord of the Rings, and video games becoming more mainstream, and so on. This made the borders more ambiguous than they were before, but we still obviously have nerds.
It is only among nerds that enthusiasm for something corresponds to learning more and more about it. That's the core element here. Non-nerds who like something do not feel any need to read up on it, to know more and more.
Of course, the producers of content notice when their audience are nerds, and they start to produce content built more for those who obsessively learn every detail. Comics can start "rewarding" readers for noticing some obscure thing. A game series can have an elaborate continuity, or a zillion details to memorize. Content that either "leans into the fandom" or simply naturally has too much for non-nerds to easily pick up, can rapidly become nerd-only, thus solidifying boundaries. And sure, there are the personality correlations, attributes most nerds also have, including being STEM-y and lacking social skills. Combined, a nerd ended up being an unpopular thing to be.
Mainstream culture shifted to accommodate nerd interests after computers launched a lot of nerds into the ranks of the world's richest and most influential people, and we got popular movie series based around Marvel and Lord of the Rings, and video games becoming more mainstream, and so on. This made the borders more ambiguous than they were before, but we still obviously have nerds.