#I WANT TO HAVE A CIVIL CONVERSATION WITH YOU

[mumms-the-word]

I know I’m screaming into the void here but do not witch hunt people with AI accusations

As someone whose job for the last two years involved me reading and rereading essays and creative fiction written by my students (a group of writers notorious for using AI despite being told not to because they worry about their grades more than their skills) let me tell you straight up that detecting AI in any written work isn’t straightforward

AI detection softwares are bullshit. Even Turnitin, which is supposedly the best, has an error rate that is slowly increasing over time. They’re not reliable. The free ones online are even worse, trust me

“Oh but it’s so obvious!” Sure. If you’re trained to notice patterns and predictive repetitions in the language, sure. I can spot a ChatGPT student essay from a mile away. But only if they haven’t edited it themselves, or used a bunch of methods (Grammarly, other AIs, their friends, a “humanizer” software, etc) to obscure the ChatGPT patterns. And it’s easier with formulaic essays—with creative fiction it’s much harder.

Why?

Well because good creative fiction is a) difficult to write well and b) extremely subjective. ChatGPT does have notable patterns for creative writing. But it’s been trained on the writing that is immensely popular, writing that has been produced by humans. Purple prose, odd descriptions, sixteen paragraphs of setting where one or two could be fine, all of that is stylistic choices that people have intentionally made in their writing that ChatGPT is capable of predicting and producing.

What I’m saying is, people just write like that normally. There are stylistic things I do in to writing that other people swear up and down is an AI indicator. But it’s just me writing words from my head

So can we, should we, start witch hunts over AI use in fanfic when we notice these patterns? My answer is no because that’s dangerous.

Listen. I hate AI. I hate the idea of someone stealing my work and feeding it into a machine that will then “improve itself” based on work I put my heart and soul into. If I notice what I think is AI in a work I��ve casually encountered online, I make a face and I stop reading. It’s as simple as that. I don’t drag their name out into the public to start a tomato throwing session because I don’t know their story (hell they might even be a bot) and because one accusation can suddenly become a deluge

Or a witch hunt, if you will

Because accusing one person of AI and starting a whole ass witch hunt is just begging people to start badly analyzing the content they’re reading out of fear that they’ve been duped. People don’t want to feel the sting or embarrassment of having been tricked. So they’ll start reading more closely. Too closely. They’ll start finding evidence that isn’t really evidence. “This phrase has been used three times in the last ten paragraphs. It must be AI.”

Or, it could be that I just don’t have enough words in my brain that day and didn’t notice the repetition when I was editing.

There’s a term you may be familiar with called a “false positive.” In science or medicine, it’s when something seems to have met the conditions you’re looking for, but in reality isn’t true or real or accurate. Like when you test for the flu and get a positive result when you didn’t have the flu. Or, in this case, when you notice someone writing sentences that appear suspiciously like a ChatGPT constructed sentence and go “oh, yes that must mean it’s ChatGPT then”

(This type of argumentation/conclusion also just uses a whole series of logical fallacies I won’t get into here except to say that if you want to have a civil conversation about AI use in fandom you cannot devolve into hasty generalizations based on bits and parts)

I’m not saying this to protect the people using AI. In an ideal world, people would stop using it and return back to the hard work of making art and literature and so on. But we don’t live in that world right now, and AI is prevalent everywhere. Which means we have to be careful with our accusations and any “evidence” we think we see.

And if we do find AI in fandom spaces, we must be careful with how we handle or approach that, otherwise we will start accusing writers who have never touched AI a day in their life of having used it. We will create a culture of fear around writing and creating that stops creatives from making anything at all. People will become too scared to share their work out of fear they’ll be accused of AI and run off.

I don’t have solutions except to say that in my experience, outright accusing people of AI tends to create an environment of mistrust that isn’t productive for creatives or fans/readers. If you start looking for AI evidence everywhere, you will find it everywhere. Next thing you know, you’re miserable because you feel like you can’t read or enjoy anything.

If you notice what you think is AI in a work, clock it, maybe start a discussion about it, but keep that conversation open to multiple answers or outcomes. You’re not going to stop people from using AI by pointing fingers at them. But you might be able to inspire them to try writing or creating for themselves if you keep the conversation open, friendly, and encourage them to try creating for themselves, without the help of AI

[h0neybane]

doign this for evelyuu!! 1. Does your OC have parents or family in the AU? If not, what is their current living situation?

"My mom keeps insisting I go out more..."

Evelyn lives with her parents and her little brother in a neighborhood around the school.

2. What are their thoughts on Quartz?

"I hope she suceeds."

Prior to learning Quartz's motivations, Evelyn is mostly neutral about her, acknowledging her as a fellow loner and going on with her day. However, if she does know what Quartz is attempting, she will be slightly wary of her but still be supportive of her actions. She can be persuaded into assisting Quartz if some specific actions are taken.

3. What is their thoughts and relationship with Azul? How did they meet Azul?

"... Obnoxious."

Evelyn deeply resents Azul because she sees him as a better version of herself, which causes her to be supportive of Quartz's mission. With Evelyn being supplemental assistance to the Student Council, she is in constant range of him, allowing her to pick up on a lot of his habits. She tries to remain mostly civil to him, as she isn't one to stir trouble, but she finds his voice to be grating.

4. What are their relationships with other characters/OCs? *i will do OCs in a separate post!!

Leona: "That quiet assistant... I catch her staring sometimes. Don't think she knows that I know."

As stated in Evelyn's introduction post, she is incredibly infatuated with Leona to the point of a Yandere, though she currently lies dormant. Unbeknownst to her, Leona has already picked up on her stalkerish behavior. Though, he has decided to not take action as he is curious about what Evelyn plans to do. He enjoys teasing her every once in a while. It makes her heart skip a beat.

Deuce: "Oh, Evelyn! She's super nice!"

Deuce is regularly tutored by Evelyn in the school library. She views him as sort of a little brother, so she brings him lots of snacks.

Riddle: "Evelyn? She's very helpful to the council."

Riddle and Evelyn are acquaintances teetering on the edge of friends. He's the council member that she actually speaks to the most, and they've made pleasant conversation many times as Evelyn helps with the Student Council.

Ruggie: "Oh, that quiet girl? She's nice, I guess. Shared her food with me once or twice... A little creepy though."

Similarly to Leona, he feels something a bit off about her, but is willing to ignore it as she is willing to share food with him. He isn't aware of it as much as Leona is though.

Rook: "Ah, oui, Reine du Silence! So quiet but so intense... I could almost call her a hunter like myself."

Knows almost exactly what Evelyn's goals are. He finds it amusing and is cheering her on a bit.

5. What grade/year is your OC?

"Just one more year..."

Evelyn is a third year and is 18 years old.

6. What is your OCs goal for the school year or in life?

"I want him to be mine."

Evelyn has the normal basic goals of getting perfect grades and suceeding in her school life, which she is already suceeding at. However, her ultimate and most important goal is to ensure that Leona and her end up together.

7. Your OC is being framed for murder of another student by Quartz, how does your OC react to that? Does your OC know it's Quartz?

"You...!"

Evelyn feels betrayed, even if they aren't allies at the moment. She would've been entirely willing to support Quartz's cause. She will do everything in her power to make Quartz's life harder after this.

8. Your OC notices Quartz carrying a weapon in her skirt pocket. That's strange since the female school uniforms don't have skirt pockets. Does your OC report this?

"Oh. I want those."

Though it is strange, Evelyn is more interested in getting HERSELF skirt pockets than being concerned with the actual weapon. After all... snitches get stitches.

9. Where is your OC usually with or at during school? Classes? With Azul? Skipping class? Where do they eat lunch?

"I hate being late."

Evelyn is always 7 minutes early to class at minimum, with the usual time being 10 minutes. She likes to sit in the classroom and mess around on her phone before class begins. She never skips class.

"Where do I put these papers?"

Evelyn interacts the most with Azul when she is helping with council work. She prefers not to speak with him, but is willing to cooperate.

"..." (she's eating LMFAO)

Evelyn eats lunch in the art room most of the time, sitting on the floor. She's okay with sitting with other people there and sometimes will come eat lunch with others if invited, but if she really wants to be alone, she will sit behind a tree around the exterior of the school.

"Ha..."

If you're lucky enough to catch her, you can find her staring down Leona wherever he is. In her freetime, she will be inside the art room, hunched over her sketchbooks drawing him over and over and over.

10. How are your OC's grades?

"Good enough."

Straight A's.

(No Yan Sim AU) Questions for OCs! + Quartz and other characters' lore

You don't have to do these if you don't want to! You can write and answer how ever you want (3rd person or as the OC)

These answers are just examples and they also give lore to other TWST characters in the AU

1. Does your OC have parents or family in the AU? If not, what is their current living situation?

Riddle currently lives with his mother. Because of her influence, he is the strictest in the student council (which consists of the dormleaders.)

2. What are their thoughts on Quartz?

[You can yap about it here since I already used Quartz as an example in the fourth question]

3. What is their thoughts and relationship with Azul? How did they meet Azul?

Jade is Azul's right hand man. He assists Azul with a lot of student council work and is mostly by his side with Floyd. They are friends from their middle school days and up to their highschool days (although the three of them won't admit it).

Jade found Azul's hardwork and scheming nature very exciting so he and his brother always stayed by Azul's side to see what fun events would happen.

4. What are their relationships with other characters/OCs?

[They are speaking about Quartz as example]

Floyd: "Who again?"

Floyd doesn't really acknowledge Quartz since she's so quick out of his sights. Genuinely believes there isn't a person named that but is suspicious.

Jade: "Oh, that shy girl? She's a little funny."

Definitely suspicious of Quartz but they don't interact much so he has no other information about her. He probably needs to be more skillful when studying her.

Riddle: "Quartz?.. Uh.. I-I don't recall who that is."

Quartz rarely interacts with Riddle.

Ace: "Ah? You mean that girl who's always so weird? I've seen her watch Azul. Pffftt! Do you think she likes him?"

He notices her sometimes because he thinks her appearance is a little flashy.

Idia: "I-Isn't she one of Azul's admirers?... She's the shy type right? She's a little strange though.. Sometimes she takes photos of me! W-Wait.. Maybe she's into me instead?! EEEKK!! H-HOW SCARY!!"

Completely misunderstands Quartz's actions but he's quick to know how weird her actions are. He stays away from her if Azul isn't present.

5. What grade/year is your OC?

Azul, Jade, and Floyd are all 2nd years (17).

Leona has been held back so he is still 20.

6. What is your OCs goal for the school year or in life?

Quartz wishes to kill Azul 🙏

7. Your OC is being framed for murder of another student by Quartz, how does your OC react to that? Does your OC know it's Quartz?

Floyd is jumping her.

8. Your OC notices Quartz carrying a weapon in her skirt pocket. That's strange since the female school uniforms don't have skirt pockets. Does your OC report this?

Riddle is absolutely reporting that! He's calling the cops and everything 🫡🫡🫡

9. Where is your OC usually with or at during school? Classes? With Azul? Skipping class? Where do they eat lunch?

Quartz is always in class but she'll come right before the bell rings since she was.. busy. She doesn't have a particular place she goes to all the time. She's never in one spot.

Quartz's lunch spot varies because she's always spying but her usual spot is in the courtyard.

Riddle is assigned being a hall monitor so he usually watches the halls when he is able to. He usually eats lunch with Trey and Cater.

Leona is always found napping under trees and skipping his classes. Ruggie manages to find him and give him his lunch from the cafeteria.

Rook is watching you.

10. How are your OC's grades?

Deuce tries, ok. (Awful)

[nantokanarusaa]

Ao no Flag (SERIES FINALE SPOILERS!!)

Seriously, don’t read this if you are planning to read Ao no Flag. That being said, go read the manga now!!

Finally finished reading Ao no Flag and I have so many feelings. Non-coherent, rambly, messy feelings. I was looking at reactions online and what mainly boggles me about the reactions to the final 2 chapters is people being “how is Taichi suddenly gay??” My friend living on this big planet he never was (he’s bi). He most likely just realized it later in life. Did the events of his 3rd HS year help him figure it out? Heck yes. Is he suddenly bi? No.

Not all queer people pop out into this world and instantly know they are queer. Heck, it took me 23 years to figure that out. It’s not like Taichi instantly realized he likes Touma and started dating him. He knew Touma mattered to him somehow, but it took him multiple years to realize how, as evident by him maybe starting his relationship with Touma after 5 years when Touma contacted them all. He gained life experience and grew.

People go through a lot of learning, unlearning and growing. Especially if you are outside of societal expectations and norms. Taichi grew up learning to and wanting to blend in with society. “Be normal, don’t stand out too much”. Add to that low self-confidence and you feel stuck. Feel like there is only black and white. only one right answer to life. It can be very difficult to look out of this dark box, trust me, I had a tough time and sometimes still do. But it feels like Taichi thought and thought and pondered even back in high school and came to the decisions that he did.

And isn’t that what the series is about? growing as a person, making mistakes, learning, allowing yourself to be visible and vulnerable, and eventually, making choices, even if they don’t make sense to anyone else, and continuing to do so?

These two pages really hit me hard and I was wondering why. And then it hit me. This is possibly the happiest I’ve seen Taichi be since his childhood. Like genuinely happy. He’s reached max happiness points and is sharing those with Touma. He’s made his choices, and he’s happy. You can and are allowed to choose what or who makes you happy.

That’s all that matters.

[olenvasynyt]

I genuinely hate this fanbase. You guys enjoy not listening to others, declaring you have the moral high ground and now I have heard that a person has been DMing a few of my mutuals and trying to spread rumors and talk shit.

I have lost respect for so many people, including those I thought were my friends. This fanbase is pathetic and brings out the worst in people. I don’t know what to say besides fuck you.

[cerealbishh]

"As excited as I am to have everyone see Kathy Bates deliver another incredible performance, I'm excited for people to be introduced- who don't already know how incredible Skye is." (x)

"I am having the time of my life and Jason Ritter keeps me laughing more than any human being on the planet." (x)

[cosmicredcadet]

I hate those posts like "this is about aromanticism, don't tag as ace or aroace!" as if aroaces aren't aro enough because of our asexuality, and non-SAM aces relating to aros is somehow a bad thing. Also some of the aroallo accounts are so quick to regurgitate ace discourse talking points because they think aces are erasing and oppressing aros, I hate that so much

Yeah, to an extent I can completely understand where people are coming from when asking this. I have similar issues with people tagging autism posts as ADHD because they show up in my feed because of the ADHD tag even though the post only mentions Autism. It can be frustrating to be looking for posts and get something completely different. But on the other hand...it feels like some people are taking the idea of these tags way too seriously. Tagging is a minimal issue in the grand scheme of things. Tagging does not actually derail a post as much as people act like it does. Tagging a post you reblogged does not make that post show up in the main tags. I understand that AroAllos do not want to have their personal experiences conflated as Asexuality because it can feel like erasure when you write a personal experience about you identity only to have it tagged as something that is not you identity. But also I don't think people realize how much overlap a lot of aromantic and asexual experiences have. Acting like they are so incredibly different and can't have any overlap is willful ignorance at best and malicious separatism at worse. And it's incredibly disheartening as an AroAce to see how many Aro people seem to have gotten comfortable and even feel justified in the low-key bigoted things they've said against aces and aroaces.

Some of the absolutely wild takes I've seen can range from "AroAces shouldn't post in the aromantic tag" to "Don't tag your post as aromantic if it doesn't mention aromanticism [aka doesn't mention an experience in which the viewer deems as an aromantic experience]" to literal straight up acephobia or aroacephobia and it's absolutely wild because as someone who exists in both tags I've seen this happening basically solely in aromantic tags.

It's genuinely wild to me how we even got to this point in the aspec community where people are arguing over tagging to the point of trying to exclude certain aros from the aro tag completely because they feel less seen as compared to others and act like it's the fault of those other aspecs that they are being oppressed.

I was someone who was around when the Aro and Ace communities were mostly a united force. Because when the entire world was against us we at least had each others back. half the problems people mentioned when it came to the reason to split the community so drastically were not problems I ever actually saw. Hell they still aren't problems I see. I'm not saying that it doesn't happen but I personally have not seen anyone assuming or saying that if you're aro you must also be ace, which makes me thing it's not actually as big of an issue as people seem to think it is. the aro and ace communities being united didn't mean that aromantic was a subsection of asexual, though I believe it'd be lying to ignore the split attractions model in the creation of the aromantic identity and how both the Aro and Ace identities as we know them today kind of emerged from that model.

As I said not too long ago: the separation of the aro and ace communities has done more harm than it's done help. We are making it easier for people to target us by splitting up the way we have. By making enemies out of fellow aspec people you give aphobes the space and comfort they need to start pushing us out again.

We are literally in the same boat. if that makes you upset then you can get on your own raft but you can't then demand everyone else get on their own rafts too or try to sink the ship that everyone else is on.

the tag discourse is stupid. there are more pressing issues to be upset about rather than tumblrs shit tagging system. This helps no one. If aroaces posting in the GENERAL AROMANTIC TAG upsets you THAT MUCH then you can literally go into the aroallo tag to find the content you want to see or better yet MAKE THE CONTENT YOU WANT TO SEE. If an asexual tagging a post they relate too with ace bugs you that much then fucking block them. it's not erasure when someone of a different sexuality feels represented by your post. If an aroace tagging a post as aromantic when you feel it is only about asexuality makes you that mad then you can literally block them. You cannot decide how someone should tag their posts because you personally do not know their experience. Grow the fuck up.

I'm rose repulsed. there are barely any spaces and posts about rose repulsed people in the main aspec tags. You want to know what I did? I made my own fucking space. i went to the romance and sex repulsed tags and posted there. I made posts about being repulsed. I have a fucking blog and a discord server centered around repulsed people. Yes it sucks when other people don't make content you like but that's when you have to accept you need to make it your damn self and not throw a fit over tags on tumblr dot com.

apologies for a long rant, If this ask was bait then congrats you got a rant out of me but also I think if people really want to block me over this instead of having a conversation like adults then so be it. Those who think this sort of exclusion is justified and correct are not people i want to be interacting with in the community. they are not people I want following me. I support AroAllos. I support all aromantic people. I understand where they are coming from in their pain. I do agree that they deserve more recognition because they often moralized to be morally bad for their existence and as a repulsed person NO IDENTITY should be viewed as inherently bad. I have no ill will towards AroAllos making posts about ther experience, they deserve to have their experience shared. But the way some people have been acting in the aromantic community is not acceptable and should be called out because at this rate some people are really toeing the line of the ace discourse that happened in like 2016 and as someone who went through that I REALLY don't want to see it repeat itself.

[yunmeng-jiang]

I'm trying really hard to like NMJ and sympathize with his character recently... I've had a fairly hostile view of him since pretty much the beginning, so it's difficult to turn that around, but I don't want to fall into the trap that I keep getting annoyed at other people in the fandom for falling into (stubbornly sticking to their initial interpretation of a character to the extent where they're not actually paying attention to the text, they're just blindly hating because they don't bother to dig any deeper than surface-level This Character Was Mean To My Blorbo)

[pigeonclaw]

I find it interesting how mothers are something of a theme in this arc. And especially how Nightheart and Frostpaw's relationships with their mothers have more or less flipped by the end of Thunder. Nightheart started out thinking that Sparkpelt couldn't love him properly because she was more concerned with what she wanted him to be, and is now slowly understanding that she does love him and wants what's best for him. Meanwhile Frostpaw started out thinking Curlfeather adored her and would always put her first, when it turns out that all along Curlfeather was primarily concerned with how she could manipulate and use Frostpaw to her own advantage. Sunbeam is caught somewhere in the middle, fully aware now of how hateful and devious Berryheart can be and, while opposing her, still loves and pities her. Her feelings are complicated. (And I like how they manage to portray how hard it is to have a parent you love but still must stand against.)

[cameoutstruggling93]

🤪😵‍💫😤😡🤬☠️

[stonesandswords]

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[wavesoutbeingtossed]

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[straykats]

sometimes i entertain the thought of like. everything ending up okay and then i get even more scared and anxious and idk why

[i-luvsang]

in the light of the recent situation or whatever you want to call it with mingi and that anime, i'm pausing my writing for him for at least a little bit. i understand a lot of people think his name has been "cleared" on this topic, but after doing my own research and trying to understand the fancall myself, i'm deciding to air on the side of caution. unless you have helpful and creditable information or want to have a civil/productive convo about it, let's not talk about it because i don't have the emotional space for anything that's not civil and willing to come to an understanding of my point of view (as i want to be civil and am willing to understand other people's points of view). some more detail in the tags :)

[sonippep-hohu]

To the people actually threatening the artist and saying shit like death threats: you are the fucking reason no one takes us seriously when we talk about issues. Stop acting like telling someone to kill themselves is the absolute last resort. Oh my god, I am so embarrassed of the people on the internet!! Thanks to you, I get compared to "twitter people who like to whine about everything that's a couple pixels on a screen!" Oh my fucking God!!

[lestbian]

and not to make this about race but like literally HOW can you be person of color in america, especially being a black man, and not sympathize with the plight of palestinians like brother we are fighting the same fight!!! ohhh b-but but we need to talk about hamas rockets wahh :( OKAY WELL FIND SOURCES AND PUT IT IN THERE YOURSELF AND STOP BITCHING ABOUT HOW THE REST OF US ARE SYMPATHIZING WITH VICTIMS OF GENOCIDE

[kinnbig]

jsyk i’m not responding to anons about the build situation. i’m not talking about something like this with anyone who isn’t willing to put their name to what they’re saying.