i will say, the worst thing that happened in fandom was when shipping just became “i ship this bc it’s gonna be real” and not just “i ship this bc i think it’s a fun dynamic to explore idc what the writers are doing that’s not my business”
“i ship it because it would be funny, like c’mon lets see how long it takes before they either kill each other or everyone else”
In case you don't know, there are different terms for different ship types. (These terms also work on more general ground but let's not stray too far.)
Canon - it's the real thing from the show
Headcanon - a ship that would totally make sense to YOU and has the potential to be canon
Broships - these ships are platonic only. They refer to characters that are or would be great friends (like siblings) in your mind.
Bromance - is a little like Broship only that their dynamic ventures into romanticism and blurrs the lines a lot.
Crackship - these ships tend to make very little sense whatsover, are often underrepresented and often, the characters never/rarely even met in canon. They are super fun though.
Crossover ships - these characters have very little chances of meeting in canon because they are from different sources. Like, for example, Elsa x Jack Frost used to be a relatively popular ship. They can still meet, e.g. Marvel. But originally it was for characters who wouldn't.
X-reader ships - where people ship characters with themselves.
OTP - Stands for one true pairing. It's your personal favorite ship. Or ships. We're lenient with the term.
OT3 - ventures into polymory. The number indicates how many people are involved in the ship
Slash ships x/y - these are romantic/sexual when you go on ao3
& ships x&y - these are platonic when on ao3
There might be more, these are just the ones I encounter the most.
Some of them are connectable, like for example broships can be canon, you can crack up the canon ship, or insert yourself into a crossover. Everything is game because fanfic has no rules. If it did, it wouldn't be fun.
Some are interchangable like broship and &- ships. Although &-ships are broader in nature. They can for example refer to parent & child relationships. Broships are typically two men around the same age.
Honorable mentions:
Genderbend - here, the ship members, or one of them is genderbend from canon. This is more a trope for within writing than it is it's own ship dynamic, that's why it's here. But in gender heavy storylines, this might be a dealbreaker. ... Somehow.
