Hi! OP here. Just wanted to come back to this post and make it abundantly clear that when I say I don’t care who other people ship, I mean I also don’t care if other people ship:
siblings
underage
age gap
“unhealthy” ships
abusive ships
ships that make my skin crawl
Ship whatever the hell you want to ship. I don’t care. I don’t have to read it if I don’t want to. Have fun! Go all out! Write to your heart’s content! Enjoy the everloving heck out of your ships and have fun doing it.
Shipping something or writing fic for it or reading fic for it says nothing at all about you or your beliefs or your personal moral standing or character. It just means that you ship it.
a ship doesnt have to be romantic either
a ship literally means a relationship of some sort, that might be friendship, mortal enemies, siblings, they might work together or work for rival companies but share a job description or location
basically any situation that has at least two people share time or space is a ship
it can be an all time love but it doesnt have to be, it can be sexual but it doesnt have to be
how you ship is up to you - you choose how you interact with fandom
if other people have a problem with how you ship - it’s a them problem not a you problem
One of the fucked up side effects of purity culture that I’ve seen in fandom is people bending over backwards to morally justify a character’s actions instead of just admitting that a character they like did some fucked up things and accepting it’s okay to like them anyway.
Well-written characters, like people, are flawed. Sometimes they fuck up. Sometimes they’re problematic. This doesn’t make them unforgivable or unlovable. You can fully disagree with and disapprove of stuff a character has done and still be a fan of that character because you find them compelling and interesting and in many ways relatable.
But because of this warped purity culture bullshit telling kids that they’re TERRIBLE PEOPLE for liking X character because X character is problematic, they will do bugfuck insane mental gymnastics to argue that no, X character is a perfect pure cinnamon roll and everyone else is terrible and so mean to them and “protect X character at all costs!!!”
Because of this, you have fans who have now completely lost the capacity to acknowledge any of a character’s flaws, instead arguing in favor of some really atrocious stuff by trying to justify it. I’ve watched people argue in favor of torture, in favor of internment, in favor of genocide, in favor of terrorism, and in favor of murder, all because they were stanning for their fav and felt backed into a corner where they couldn’t admit that a character they liked was flawed, lest that somehow cast them as morally tainted in the eyes of this hellsite’s black and white ethical absolutism.
For fuck’s sake. Let people like problematic things. Let people like problematic characters. Let people enjoy things without telling them they’re horrible people and forcing them to defend everything they like to the death.
Because they will defend it, and we’ll wind up in a worse place than we started in.
OP here, and I want to make very fucking clear: This is not a “YOU HAVE TO ADMIT YOUR FAV IS BAD”post.
This is a STOP FUCKING TELLING PEOPLE THEY CAN’T HAVE ASSHOLE FAVS AND THEY’RE BAD PEOPLE FOR WHO THEY LIKE IN FICTION post. Stop fucking putting people in a position where they feel like they have to be this defensive just to enjoy a made-up character. Stop making people morally justify what they like in goddamn imaginary stories.
look, I know that everyone brings their own baggage to their responses to fiction and fictional characters, but sometimes I wish people would own that a little more. like, sometimes you can say “I don’t like this character because they remind me of people I had bad experiences with” and not pretend that you have some kind of objective understanding of the true meaning of the work and what the character is reallyabout
Hot take but if ur going into a fandom/space that was specifically made for kids you actually do have a responsibility as an adult to make sure minors don’t see ur gross nsfw velma feet pics while scrolling through the Scooby Doo tag. I think this whole anti/proshipper thing is dumb as hell but seeing self identified adult proshippers be like “I don’t have a responsibility to make the internet child friendly xoxo they should curate their own” and then immediately post my little pony gore like are you actually that brain dead 13 years olds shouldn’t have to curate their experiences in fandoms around kid shows because adults are actively making that space hostile
Hard disagree. We’re using a site that’s aimed at adults – not children. Therefore, there is no such thing as a “fandom specifically made for kids” on sites like Tumblr and DeviantArt.
Scooby-Doo and My Little Pony’s target audiences shouldn’t even be allowed on sites not meant for them. It would be ideal if they were banned from our spaces until they’re old enough to responsibly conduct themselves online in general.
“I don’t have a responsibility to make the internet child-friendly. They should curate their own.”
The internet is not child-friendly nor for kids. What’s more, these children are the responsibility of their parents. The onus isn’t on me to childproof Little Timmy’s internet experience in their stead. Like, I think people should tag their fetishes as a common courtesy (I don’t enjoy feet pics either, not my thing) — most people tag said content so you’re able to filter it away — but it’s also fine if they don’t. They posted their adult-oriented content to a site that’s meant for other adults. As such, their kinky stuff isn’t out of place here. If something squicks you out, it’s on you to curate your fandom experience and block your squicks/the kink posters. Don’t expect people to give into your unreasonable demands.
If you can’t do any of that, you’re not old enough to be on here.
Note: The thread clarifies that volunteers for the OTW are not being SWATted at this time. The reason to get in touch with your local police about your risk of being SWATted is that someone malicious has obtained a list of OTW volunteer emails and is sending illegal content (CSAM) to them. A person who will do that is more likely to SWAT you, or give your email to someone who will, than most people, so contacting your local police now means that if it happens you’re prepared in advance. It’s a low-effort way to increase your safety, but is a good move to make if your risk of getting SWATted ticks up above normal as it has for these people.
(CSAM = child sexual assault material. SWAT/SWATted = having a fake bomb or gun threat phoned in naming your address, causing a SWAT team to attack your house, damaging your place of living and risking injuring or killing you and people you live with.)
Additionally, if you’re an OTW volunteer, look up “[your email client] disable image loading”. The steps are specific to whichever programs and services you use, but this will reduce your risk of getting exposed to graphic & illegal images if you’re sent them. It may not catch everything (because that’s more intensive and starts to affect the client’s functioning) but it’s better than nothing and it’s another preemptive step you can take.
Christ, what monsters.
the fact that they are sending csam should hit it home for everyone that these aren’t and never have been people who actually care about “the children.” fuck them.
volunteers, on the other hand? thank you. you don’t deserve this. if you end up exposed to this content, it is not your fault and you are not a bad person for being fucked around with by morally bankrupt fuckfaces. we stand with you. please take steps to keep yourself safe.
“watch this show, it’s the best! you’ll love it!” people are always saying, as if I had the emotional space available to watch the best show ever. that would pretty much guaranteed be the rest of my year gone in a haze of adoration and infodumping.
what I need is the okayest show ever. a show that is about a 7/10 if you skip the last season or two. a show that i will enjoy but not rearrange my entire life around. a show that has a minimal amount of fics on ao3, i assume but don’t know for certain because i don’t care enough to check.
girl did you really kill cringe culture or did you just replace it with the need to prove the media you dislike to be morally wrong and bigoted so that you have a reason to bully its fans again
very hard to think villains are sexy and reblog posts about it because while i may agree with the sentiment of ‘so what if they killed people. it turns me on xx’ i never know if they posted it thinking of kylo ren which automatically makes them wrong. always a gamble
“I’m not like other fans. I actually engage with the text’s themes instead of making memes or shipping characters. Only I truly understand the author’s intent.” girl you can do both
So yet again, someone decided a fun thing to do on Twitter would be to invite people to give their “cancelable” opinions about fanfic and how so many things are terrible or overrated or not well-written or whatever (not gonna lie, a loooot of the criticisms have real big not-like-other-girls energy).
An author saw it, leading to them removing all of their fics from AO3.
The pushback to this author being upset has been along the lines of, don’t put your work out on the internet if you don’t want feedback.
I’ve been trying to understand why that response just falls flat for me, and here’s what I’m thinking. That feels very much like a capitalist consumer viewpoint. “Fic is a thing I consume and as a consumer, my opinion is IMPORTANT because you are marketing a PRODUCT to me. This is a transaction.”
And I realized, that’s not how I experience fic or fandom. For me, fic isn’t a thing that I buy and consume, it’s a gift given to me.
This is the example I keep thinking of. When I got married, we were given a wedding gift by one of my IL’s friends, a hand-painted bone china pitcher (think Spode or Wedgewood). Beautiful. Classic. Elegant. Like, entirely not us at all. You know what we did? We wrote a heartfelt thank you letter, expressing our appreciation of the gift, the thoughtfulness, etc. What we didn’t do, have never done, is tell them that it didn’t work for us. Because that’s just rude.
Engaging with fic, for me anyway, comes from this emotional space in my heart. So the connection between writer and reader for me, is much more a relationship, even if the relationship is simply that we’re both engaging in a fandom around something we love. It’s not a transaction.
Of course not all fic is for me; I doubt there’s any fic that every single person without exception has adored! And obviously I know my fics aren’t for everyone either! And that’s okay! Fic is such a gorgeous, lush, rich and realized landscape where so many different things flourish together, and I think that’s really beautiful. There’s something for everyone and there’s room for everyone at the table.
So absolutely, you can put your critical and negative opinions of the gifts others have given you out into public spaces, knowing that the people who have given you those gifts occupy those spaces with you. No one can stop you!
Personally, I’d much rather focus on the joy that fic has given me, and the gratitude I feel for people’s willingness to share their gifts with me and the world.
Writing and participating in fandom would be a lot more enjoyable right now if there was a way to turn off the voice in my head that’s continually telling me that I’m not good enough and/or a way to turn the numbers off AO3 and tumblr
y'all know a character being gay isn’t a genre right
me: so whats this piece of media abt? is it good?
some idiot that judges how good something is based on how many gifs tumblr has of it: it has a gay character
me, bc that tells me absolutely nothing:
but what if, the genre of gay, nonbinary, and autistic characters all in one? Hmmm?
none of those are genres
What if we made a show where one of the characters was a shy pan sexual and the other was a really outgoing asexual and we called it Al
stop that.
“It has queer characters!” Okay, you’ve piqued my interest. Now tell me more. I’m not going to consume media based solely on the queerness of the characters. I can make my own queer content for anything, tell me why I should care about this thing other than I don’t need to tweak canon for queerness.
Legit, saw so much on here about the Locked Tomb “Trilogy” (not complaining about 4 books, please give me more content TazMuir) having lesbians. It wasn’t until the post that said “lesbian space necromancers” that I gave even half of a damn, and that’s not even a full genre, but I like space and I like necromancy, and I’ve never seen them combined before. I don’t have that much free time, I’m not going to invest it in reading something just because the main character is a girl who likes girls.
Had a dream about beauty and the beast and I was a stick of butter but beast was pissed I wasn’t do my job right then threatened to throw me into the fireplace I said ‘if it’ll make you feel butter’ the guy couldn’t have yeeted harder I laughed myself awake
The biggest cliches are actually the least cliche since everyone avoids them like the plague.
Have an idea for your story but it’s too cliche? Nothing is too cliche. Things are cliche because people can’t get enough of that shit. Go and make that bitch the hugest cliche anyone has ever fucking seen and I will fully endorse it.
Came across a lovely fellow on Pinterest who genuinely thinks Alastor paints his nails pink and was wondering why he painted his entire fingertips pink as well.
for real, if you see a fic that seems abandoned but you really want to see if it might be completed
i would genuinely suggest not mentioning the fact its abandoned at all. instead, just leave the most effusive comment you can. tell the author specifically what you liked. if they are in a position they might continue it, you might remind them what they liked about the story, and thus maybe revive it.
that is probably your best bet to get a story finished, much more than asking “hey is this abandoned” or asking for it to be continued.
Why would you use your Twitter to haunt me for 7 days until take off while I get to sit here and wait in agony hoping he doesn’t change even though he is going to change hence the whole point of release for his new design why couldn’t you just rip it off like a bandaid like for Charlie Morningstar we already knew this was coming anyway because you already made it clear we were going to meet the rest of the cast again do not play mind games with the fandom like this I am not freaking out yOu aRE FREAKING OUT IM PERFECTLY CALM OKAY
one of my favorite fucking feelings in the world is when you’re having a discussion with somebody about literature and themes and storytelling and etc or even just like, your feelings, and as you’re rambling on about the interpretation of something-or-the-other you have this lightbulb moment where two ideas connect in your head all of a sudden and you couldn’t have done it without the context of another person there and you both get so excited about this new theory you’re developing
like. collaboration. trust. complexity. awakenings. this shit isn’t just analysis, it’s art.
Hi my dear readers, I would like to thank you sincerely for the kind responses to my stories over the past couple of weeks.✨ Words cannot describe how overjoyed I am. Our enchanting family of lovers of different fandoms is growing and thriving like a meadow in early spring. I never expected so many dear people to enjoy my stories, to be excited and cry over them, and even request a fixed upload scheme.✨ I thank you all from the bottom of my heart and I hope you will enjoy my stories.
Ohhh! I just saw this! Thank you so much for this gift!♥
I`m going to read it right now and after that I will comment on AO3 of course. I`m looking on the the tags right now and I`m intrigued, they looks exactly like what I`d love to read :33
that some people respond to any well-foreshadowed reveal with “ugh that plot twist was so predictable” proves bad faith criticism has rotted their brains to the point they think it’s bad writing if they can correctly identify information the writers were intentionally giving them
like you do realise that the entire point of set up and pay off is that you’re supposed to pick up on the clues the writers give you right? you do understand that plot twists only work when they retroactively make sense bc there were hints building up to the reveal right??
