The classes are rated by levels. If you read a level lower than what you are in a subject, you'll be bored. If you read one higher you may be totally lost. The examples here are given as my experience with FF7, because that is the only subject I have gone through most of the stages of learning, and almost everyone knows about FF7. Classes are rated thus:

IGNORAMUS: totally new to subject, know nothing. We've all been this, and I know few people who still are. An ignoramus to FF7 would hear "Cloud Strife" and think "What the hell...?" Yes, I remember those days well...
BEGINNER: know a little. You know the basic outline of the subject, who everyone is, what the story is sorta about. Such as: You know Cloud is a spiky-haired dude with a big sword, and FF7 is about a company that ownes everything and is destroying the world. You don't know much about personality or in-depth of the story. Fanfiction generally confuses you.
INTERMEDIATE: knows more about the story or subject, much can be learned. Basically, you know what you still have to learn, and know enough about background and such to make a halfway intelligent conversation. Such as: I knew all the spoilers for FF7, much about gameplay, but knew there was a lot about the characters and insights into the storyline I didn't know. I was obsessive about fanfiction, and soaked up everything I could find.
ADVANCED: well-versed in area, can make intelligent, new ideas. You've been around a while, know what you think is everything about the subject. Such as: I could cite all the vital stats of all the characters, and run off a great timeline for FF7. I also knew the more popular fan ideas, of why this and that, and had read a great quantity of fanfiction. Very few fics bored me.
JADED: know almost everything. You know more than most, and fanfiction begins to sound a bit tired. There's little that you can learn, but you benefit most from the fics of other jaded writers or others who are jaded in the subject. I almost made a FF7 page at this stage, but I simply didn't know enough about HTML to do so.
EXPERT: you could probably make money with what you know. You know everything there is to know on the subject. Very few fanfics sound fresh and new. The owners of the Aestheticism website are experts in yaoi. You're a good judge of what's good and what's not. You benefit most from discussing the topic with others. Late in my FF7 obsession, right before I became a Gundam Wing and yaoi lover, all the FF7 fanfics sounded the same, and I knew as much as I could possibly ever know about all the ins and outs of the characters and storyline.
FLUENT: you know EVERYTHING about the subject, including all the tiny things about how it came to be about. Basically, you're a God, and most likely helped in the creation of the subject. Yeah, I mean Sanami Matouh, manganaka of FAKE, SquareSoft, and all the people involved in the creation of Gundam Wing. Personally, I think you have to be pro and making money to be fluent, cause there's no way a normal unpaid fan can reach this level. Notice I said NORMAL.

Well, that's my system for the classes. You will never see a Fluent level on any subject for me, unless it's about stocking the media section at Meijer's. Even then... I still have much to learn, not that I really want to. O.o


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