#I am just tired of having to block all the discourse on twitter that keeps coming up about it

[kingtycoon13]

I’m so over the Dragon Age vs BG3 discourse they are two different games and people can have a preference without there needing to be immensely shitting on one over the other

[bonefall]

God I am so tired of Bramble fans who refuse to use critical thinking and believe that brambleclaw and squilf are equally bad. Many also hate on moonkitti's video which they most likely haven't even watched or misconstrued points in it. You can like a character without defending all their actions please I'm begging you

And people will sometimes jump to their defense, saying that people just dogpiled them for liking a character the fandom doesn't like, and while that can happen, sometimes people are actually dogpiling them for ignoring abuse and insulting creators with different opinions

(Some discourse happened on Twitter recently about this but it's something I've seen happen before, I'm not specifically talking about anyone)

I'm going to be honest and drop my feelings.

Never have I ever actually SEEN a Bramblefan "get dogpiled" for liking Bramble.

I come out here on my massive soapbox every couple of weeks and drop whole essays on this guy, I chat casually about how important he is to me as a character, both as someone who was abused in a way similar to Squirrelflight AND as someone who can relate to Bramblestar's situation, and before BB got so large and my attention was easier to divide I even ran an AU called Sweet Nothings which had a "big brother" Bramble take in it.

There is no shortage of Bramblestar-related posts around here, yet, I have never, NEVER gotten shit for when I talk positively about Bramble.

In fact, he's commonly cited as one of the favorite cats to see on this blog from my audience. I get praise for addressing him with nuance, explaining how his actions are abuse while also keeping him human, talking about how his life is a painful cycle of self-doubt that makes him double down on his worst decisions. Every time I post about him, I get an influx of comments centered around how my takes on him are appreciated.

What I DO see is people who make art where they try to bothsides him and Squirrelflight, or say something completely false about his behavior, or straightup post DARVO tactics to defend their fav's honor. When someone makes a comment that goes "uhmm? Bit strange innit?" they call it "harassment." Or when people block them, they call that "receiving hate."

OR when someone makes a vaguepost like "Heyyy, DARVO is an abuse denial tactic where the abuser or their apologists Deny the abuse took place, Attack the accuser, and then Reverse Victim and Offender to claim they were actually the person harmed. Bramblestans are playing this out, step for step, and that's bad!" they call THAT dogpiling.

Meanwhile Moonkitti got death threats and was actually harassed for posting Bramblestar Is Worse. To the point where she is hesitant to ever make another video on the topic.

So y'know what? Hot take? The stans don't actually like Bramblestar. They like the vague idea of a sadboy character who broke free from his dad's legacy so they slurp up the framing of the notorious abuse apologist writers, and they get mad when people who have critically engaged with the books don't see what they desperately crave.

How can you really LIKE a character if you can't engage with their actions? If you need to surround yourself in an unpoppable bubble and can't accept anything he's done in the 20+ years he's been active? How can you truly love a man without all his mistakes?

It's sooo hard to be me, Tumblr User Bonefall, the ONLY one who likes Bramblestar correctly. It's rough out here.

[crazylittlejester]

Hey, I'm going to be a tad bit ranty, and this by no means is targeting anybody but-

I am getting tired of some Zelink shippers on the internet man.

Like, I get it. It's a pretty darn cute ship and in some cases I love it to peices (Skyward Sword and Spirit Tracks Zelink my beloveds), but I swear some of us are straight up insane.

They go out of their way to beat down anybody who doesn't only ship Zelink or completely despise other female characters because it gets in the way of the "correct ship". Seriously I cant be the only one to notice the pure hate Ilia gets because she's another one of Link's love interests. Like, I get it, seeing ships you don't like is annoying, but to harp about how only one is right and above the rest is plan stupid. In some cases it doesn't even make sense, like for TP, but if you dare mention it it's as if you insulted their mother 🙄.

And don't even get me started on the homophobia. They act as if Link kissing a man or Zelda kissing a woman will send them into a coma.

I really like this community, but the shipping discourse is atrocious and trying to find somebody who also likes Zelink but isn't insane is difficult and if I mention I like it people are afraid I'm one of the crazy ones too. It's disheartening and is the reason why I don't even dare go onto Zelda Twitter anymore despite the amazing artist.

Sorry about the rant, but I really had to get this off my chest because I had the misfortune of stumbling upon somebody here doing the exact thing that ran me off of Twitter 🤦‍♀️.

I’m sorry you’ve had a bad online experience with that, I luckily haven’t had too much of that happen around me

I understand why people ship Link and Zelda in all the games, and while I personally don’t, I don’t disagree with people who do. I think it’s a bit insane (/pos) of nintendo to not really confirm anything and leave everything up to the player’s interpretation, and the best part about that is that we don’t have to ship Link and Zelda in every game. There are so many other great ships in the games! And yeah, homophobia is really disheartening and I hate to see it happen in fandoms I care so much about as a queer person myself. Personally every single version of Link gives me queer vibes in some way, and seeing people being so outright homophobic makes me sad.

Keep shipping who you like, as long as it isn’t problematic 🫶🫶🫶 The best advice I can give it to try not to let others ruin a fandom you enjoy, I just block homophobes when I see them

[astarab1aze]

rping/rpc petpeeves for munday? 💀

i can think of a couple.

anon hate, as if we're not all adults here, to name one. the complete and utter lack of respect some people show toward other writers is just ??? it's nuts. another thing is activism within the rpc and the advent of twitter-esque dog-piling when someone doesn't get their way - most i've found either have good intentions and just get it wrong (sokay, we all learn) or are sort of using x cause as an excuse to bully and isolate people as if that's ever been okay or appropriate (bad faith; the 'cause' is a smokescreen that makes the person getting harassed look bad for defending themselves, which i don't and never have vibed with; i spent a lot of time in discourse circles and people who do this don't actually have any convictions, they're just being dicks because they know they can be and get asspats after). people who take things too personally too, because at the end of the day, this is a hobby and we're all human. we can't all talk to each other all day every day, it's just not feasible, and if it takes a week or more for someone to get back to you, it's most likely the exact opposite of intentional. i forget everything all the time, my notifications don't always work on tumblr or discord, there isn't enough time in the day in the first place, and like some i have children and am married, i'm severely time blind (i thought it was still februrary until last week) or otherwise have 800 different things to do at any given time. a lack of communication, at least from me, isn't ever personal, and i'd wager it's about the same for other folks too. sometimes i need to be reminded or nudged and i don't mind that as long as its respectful. yaddayadda.

also it's weird to me that just a couple of days or a couple of weeks of not talking or writing is enough for some people to unfollow, break off/drop roleplays, or whathaveyou. it's just...weird, to me. it shows an unwillingness to understand that someone else's life doesn't revolve around roleplay, and also impatience. i would understand maybe a month or so, but not anything before. my rp besties and i regularly take a few days, sometimes a few weeks to respond to each other's messages and there's no bad blood there. on this front, this is exactly why i'm as laid back as i am - take as long as you need to, i'm not going anywhere.

i have some probably unpopular opinions too, not just pet peeves, but i'll save those for another day. like if someone writes, idk, noncon, i'm probably not going to jump down their throat because a) i don't know them, b) i don't know why they're writing it, c) i probably never will, and d) i'm probably not seeing it on dash anyway since i block and filter tags. when i said this is a judgment free zone, i really meant it. it's not my place and i don't care anyway. write whatever you want? be it to cope or explore something difficult so you can understand it or something else so you can have fun. because i will, even if that's really just complicated romance with a fantasy backdrop. write whatever wish fulfillment and escapist nonsense you wanna write too, while we're here, because genuinely i'm tired of that being seen as a bad thing also. we've all written something someone hates for one reason or another, whether it be unrealistic or 'disgusting', so really all you can do is keep truckin' cos you can't please everyone and it's pointless to even try.

[seaweed-s0up]

I don’t really know how to preface this but;

I had recently discovered your art on Twitter when it saw a mutual of mine bought some stuff from your shop and I instantly also had to buy a bunch of tachioda stuff you had!

And before I could really post a thank you on Twitter I had noticed that you had blocked me and I was so shocked and a little upset because I don’t really interact with the rgg fandom and I was very confused until I discovered that the reason I had been blocked was because I had a “proship dni” in my bio which kind of shocked me even more. I don’t really want to start a whole proship vs ‘antis’ argument because it’s tired and overdone but I will say that the main reason I personally had that in my bio is because I’m anti pedophile and anti incest.

I obviously know that I am not entitled to view your work or to keep viewing your work even if I paid you previously but the whole situation left a bad taste in my mouth. Especially because I believe the whole ship discourse is more nuanced and not all black and white. I will always stand against pedophilia and incest even if fictional; and to see a ship that’s near and dear to my heart be put on the same pedestal as that stuff was horrible, especially by someone who also loves said ship.

I’m sorry you have a vendetta against these hypocrites you talked about in your tweet but not everyone who is an “”anti”” are like those people you talked about.

I guess what I was trying to get at here is that I was hurt to see an artist I really liked and supported seemingly blocked me without reason or explanation as would any person. And then to find out what the ‘reason’ was was somehow more upsetting. This ended up being more of a vent to myself than anything but oh well, you don’t have to respond at all, I was just letting my frustrations be known, c'est la vie, etc etc

this is a wildly inappropriate message to send to someone in response to them setting a boundary

[bees-tornado]

about me/blog info

introduction, before you follow, fandom stuff, etc. below the cut!

(star dividers courtesy of saradika)

hi everyone, i'm bees! here's some info about me/my blog:

i usually go by bees (he/him). please feel free to call me by name or whatever silly little nicknames you can think of.

if you know me irl no you don't. this is my happy little cringe fandom habitat <3

i love video games (mostly Nintendo and especially Pokemon/Fire Emblem) and anime (mostly Shounen and Shoujo), and most of the things i reblog are fanart and posts i think are funny

Fire Emblem: Three Houses is my favorite game of all time, and i post about it incessantly (more about this later)

Bernadetta von Varley is my favorite character of all time and i love her dearly and also she is my wife 💜

you can learn more about my favorite things here!

it is very difficult for me to come out of my shell and be myself (even in a space like this), but i returned to tumblr because i want to try to have fun and be cringe and be free, and i'm trying my best every day <3

PLEEEAAASE feel free to send asks/tag me/etc., especially if we're mutuals, and especially about my favorite things! i am far too anxious to initiate anything but i like interacting with people :)

on that note please be patient with me sometimes it takes me a long time to respond to things but I INTEND TO I PROMISE

i don't post art much but when i do you can find it under #my art

taken <3

before you follow (it's not too long i promise)

please don't follow me if you're a minor. i'm hesitant to mark this blog explicitly as 18+ because i don't really post nfsw stuff here besides joke text posts, but i don't want minors here regardless, sorry!

this is a 🏳️‍⚧️ trans friendly blog 🏳️‍⚧️

i don't do DNI's, but i do block/softblock/unfollow/blacklist/filter freely

i tend to avoid fandom discourse, including proship/anti/etc. discourse. my policy is that if i'm uncomfortable with a particular type of fandom content, i will fall back on my previous bullet point as necessary. the same goes for when i see people engaging in bullying and harassment over fandom stuff

this is not a spoiler-free blog, especially for FE3H and Naruto. i will occasionally tag spoilers (usually for jjba and xenoblade), but not consistently

FE3H-specific stuff

please please PLEASE talk to me about Fire Emblem: Three Houses for the Nintendo Switch you're not bothering me i promise

Bernie and Sylvain are my favorite guys i think they're neat

i'm too old and tired for fe3h lord discourse. i have my own favorites and opinions, but i tend to avoid following blogs that post aggressive or uncharitable takes about the main lords

i came from twitter where Bernadetta would only really trend for negative reasons, so please understand that i'm sensitive about the way people talk about her and her fans. no hard feelings if you don't like her, and i actually agree with a lot of criticism about her writing, but i try to keep anything too mean out of sight

That's it for now! Thanks for reading/skimming/whatever you just did, and I hope you'll stick around!

[unluckyuncle]

Hello everyone! I realize how this post might sound, so I'll keep it as brief as I am able. But after some time in thought, I cannot stay silent about this any more.

I will be leaving the Isola Radiale community for good.

It is with a heavy heart that I make this decision, but I cannot say that I feel safe or comfortable with the philosophies behind recent decisions and acts of bullying on Twitter/anons that have been made in regard to other former members of this community.

I would go into the details, but I have come to realize that it just doesn't matter what I say. There is no defense or explanation that I can offer that won't be used as a way to defame my character despite any history that I might have with anyone.

But regardless, I would like a chance to explain my concerns.

I beg that changes be made to the codes of conduct of the Isola Radiale group. There is no safety for anyone as long as there is:

no safe space to engage in discourse

no three-strike system on the public rules page

no definitions as a unifying standard

no criteria for major or minor infractions

no appeal system whatsoever

no publicly detailed investigation process

no communication made to accused (which is illegal irl)

no accountability standard for the leadership

and a mindset that says: "shoot now and ask questions later."

I do understand the reasoning behind why certain things are the way that they are, specifically the zero-tolerance policy. There is a place for that, but it should never be the default for every single case.

There needs to be a list of specific and detailed criteria for the rare occurrence where a zero-tolerance ban must be made into effect, and the accused MUST be made in the know with no exceptions.

I have a huge amount of respect for how much time and effort goes into the maintenance of a group such as this. It is no easy feat to take time out of the day and dedicate it to others, especially when it is not a paying job. I would never discredit the hard work that is put into this community.

But that does not mean that there are no flaws in how things are.

Communities are made by people as much as they are made by leaders, who are also people themselves. The nature of roleplay is meant to be a cooperative environment, where we all agree we just want to have fun writing our favorite characters.

But there is fear. Fear of coming forward to point out problems that exist in order to help better the community, not harm it. The fear of being cut off from those you thought were friends is very real. At this time, I don't trust the leaders to come privately with my concerns, and I have little reason to believe that I matter in any capacity.

The simple truth is, I'm tired of being afraid.

I make this post only to notify those who I have been writing with and to make a marker of this blog's activity. I truly enjoyed writing in this space, and it was a wonderful place for me to dip my toes in the world of Tumblr roleplay.

I encourage those who remain to simply consider the bigger picture; You should be able to feel comfortable calling attention to legitimate issues without getting bullied on Twitter or being banned for it. And you have a right to be able to defend yourself and be considered seriously when being accused of something you're not.

Your voice does matter. Your safety and comfort matter. And your actions and character matter.

If you believe that because of my decision, I support morally repulsive content then you might as well ban or block me too. If you would so brazenly assume the worst in me with no evidence of such a claim, then go right on ahead.

For the record, I do not condone, engage with, or support content of a repulsive nature, nor will I ever do so. But like I said earlier, my words don't matter. I just hope the history of my actions would.

You might disagree with me entirely, and that is okay. I respect your right to do as you see fit.

I will return to this blog someday - in a few months most likely. I may continue answering indie interactions but I haven't decided on that just yet (I need some space from these events). I won't be abandoning my muse any time soon ^^

Thank you all for your time, and I wish you the very best.

[ohwell-itsme]

note that points 21 & 22 are usually the root points behind ace-exclusionism [belief that asexual men are lying, most likely to conceal predatory intentions; and asexual women are just traumatized; the sentiments won't always be expressed in a gendered way, especially since they might be parroted by people who have no idea it started with radfems]

and a lot of those points, esp 12 (all the way to 19), 23 (and to some extent the following points as well) have been used extensively in the discourse around non-binary identities back in the day when I still paid attention to it and tried to argue, none of those were even subtle, I am talking: 2020/21, angry people yelling over each other on twitter, transmeds and terfs hand in hand, arguing with people until they tire them out or get blocked, that kind of fun past-time;

actually, to be fair, I got accused of "trying to escape patriarchy" here on tumblr, by a detransitioner terfy, and she was trying to debate me in DMs to try to save me since I am clearly an uneducated dumb girly since I have a poor vocabulary [she insisted that reading Marx would help me see her way, but had no idea how her patronizing attitude helped me connect the dots and understand in that very moment that she's being misogynistic to me, that at the end of the day her goal, the reason she's talking me is to ensure oppression of women for the sake of the misery that makes them feel secure in their identity, it's like womanhood being painful is their rock, the only thing stable in their lives and they can't let trans joy take it away from them, it is a form of a Christian self-flagellation, a desire for martyrdom that they have, because Christian martyrdom absolves them of all guilt, victimhood is their salvation, it tells them that they'll go to heaven, and they don't even have to be a religious Christian, the morality based off Christian ideas exists subconsciously everywhere in the western world and colonized.

So, when I started seeing people talking about TERFs being buddy-buddy with fascists, probably within months of this interaction, I went !!! I was right, it's all connected. They work is against peace & unity in the community, they cause infighting, so the community can't focus on fighting the oppression and they can keep their beloved victimhood. Preventing unity is fascist. Their methods and their goals are fascist.

It's all been simple to me since then, anyone who starts discourse, pits identities against each other, seeks to compare types of oppression and create a hierarchy, tries to blame one group for the whole community not being accepted, insists on being more of a victim than another group... people like that don't want a united queer community. So there's no reason for me to discuss queer matters with them. And I've been literally just chilling since then, btw.

It is deeply, deeply beneficial to TERFs if the only characteristic of TERF ideology you will recognize as wrong, harmful, or problematic is "they hate trans women".

TERF ideology is an expansive network of extremely toxic ideas, and the more of them we accept and normalize, the easier it becomes for them to fly under the radar and recruit new TERFs. The closer they get to turning the tide against all trans people, trans women included.

Case in point: In 2014-2015, I fell headlong into radical feminism. I did not know it was called radical feminism at the time, but I also didn't know what was wrong with radical feminism in the first place. I didn't see a problem with it.

I was a year deep into this shit when people I had been following, listening to, and looking up to finally said they didn't think trans women were women. It was only then that I unfollowed those people, specifically; but I continued to follow other TERFs-who-didn't-say-they-were-TERFs. I continued ingesting and spreading their ideas- for years after.

If TERFs "only target trans women" and "only want trans women gone", if that's the one and only problem with their ideology and if that's the only way we'll define them, we will inevitably miss a vast majority of the quiet beliefs that support their much louder hatred of trans women.

As another example: the trans community stood relatively united when TERFs and conservatives targeted our right to use the correct restroom, citing the "dangers" of trans women sharing space with cis women. But when they began targeting Lost Little Girls and Confused Lesbians and trotting detransitioners out to raise a panic about trans men, virtually the only people speaking up about it were other transmascs. Now we see a rash of anti-trans healthcare bills being passed in the US, and they're hurting every single one of us.

When you refuse to call a TERF a TERF just because they didn't specifically say they hate trans women, when you refuse to think critically about a TERF belief just because it's not directly related to trans women, you are actively helping TERFs spread their influence and build credibility.

[cuntylittlesalmon]

so, this post is coming from a place of love and a place of exhaustion. i’ve been privy to conversations surrounding the accessibility of writeblr with nd and disabled friends of mine and well...

writeblr is not a very accessible place.

i don’t know if y’all have noticed that. there’s a very heavy assumption that writers are in perfect health, both physically and mentally, when writing advice posts. and it needs to stop. this is not meant to be an attack on anyone who has shared this advice before, it’s meant to be eye-opening. it’s intended to be benefit people writing advice posts / talking about writing by making sure they keep nd and disabled people in mind.

DISLCAIMER: i am one single person, and this is mostly my own opinion, so read the rest of this post with that in mind. not everything stated is going to fit every single person. i don’t want this to fall into discourse, i want this to make people aware of how some advice can feel nd & disabled people. let this spark a conversation that uplifts nd & disabled voices.

without further ado, here’s a list of things that simply do not work for everyone:

writing every day / sticking to a schedule

i don’t know how to say this except that some people just can’t. whether it’s because of health or mental blocks or anything else, this is extremely difficult for some, and nearly impossible for others. if you can do this, im happy for you, genuinely, but please stop spreading this as the “best way to finish your wip”. 

just sit down and write

again, in the same vein as the last piece of advice, this can just be impossible. i’m speaking from experience when i say sometimes my brain literally doesn’t work when i try to do something, and pushing it to do that thing can make it even worse. 

outlining is the only way

i’m simply tired of black-and-white advice. saying that things are the “only way” is tired, and exclusionary, and makes people who can’t do those things feel like they aren’t allowed to write. i know that this isn’t as big a thing on writeblr as it is on places like youtube, but i think it needs saying. 

writers block isn’t real

alongside this comes the idea that being unable to write is because you’re lazy, or not trying hard enough, and that’s wrong. writer’s block is something quite literally blocking you from being able to write, be it burn-out, neurodivergence, or health issues. it’s not a personal failing, it’s just something that happens (and it can happen to anyone, regardless of their health), and we as a community need to be spreading that taking breaks is okay. 

every interaction online is for self-promotion

this is simply exhausting. my existence online is not for the sole purpose of promoting myself. not to mention, this is mentally taxing, and can lead to some extremely nasty burn-out. people should be able to exist online, sharing their art, without it having to tie back to self-promotion.

these next couple aren’t really about advice but:

publishing as the only goal

i know plenty of writers on tumblr who simply don’t want to publish. the publishing industry itself is highly inaccessible (i mean, just see the current conversations on twitter surrounding literary agents dropping neurodivergent writers because they don’t want to “deal” with them!), and i don’t want to see everything writing-related also be publishing-related. writing is art, and art does not have to be commodified and sold.

lack of image descriptions / using fancy text

please stop this. this is something i see talked about a lot, but i still see it happening all the time. image descriptions help everyone but are explicitly necessary for people who use screen readers. using fancy / different fonts makes it both difficult for people not using screen readers and people who do (i saw a post today using a fancy gothic script font, and i could barely read it myself). and keep your image descriptions out of a readmore, too.

[mcmoth]

Dream SMP fandom etiquette

So. This post is probably too little, too late, considering the fandom and the issues I'm about to talk about have existed for so long now, and a lot of the people who need to hear this probably aren't on tumblr anyways, but I just wanted to dedicate a quick post to talk about fandom etiquette. Mostly pertaining to discourse, and interactions with people outside of our circle. These are just going to be my own personal thoughts, of course, but I felt it could be good to bring some of this to attention. So without further introduction:

Where to (not) talk about discourse:

Don't go into other streamer's vods to only focus about a different character. If you want to analyse, for example, c!Techno, do it in Techno's stream. Don't go into unrelated streams, like Tommy's, Tubbo's etc. to do it, even if they were a part of the event in question. This is, of course, with the exception if the character in question didn't stream their own pov. But otherwise, stay in your own space. This is to prevent cluttering a streamer's comments about unrelated discussion. To give further example: Tubbo's vod comments should primarily focus on Tubbo's character. Not Tommy's, Ranboo's, Techno's or whoever else's.

Don't start discourse in the comments of animatics. Seriously, stop that. Animatics aren't discussion boards. The comments are there to analyse and appreciate the video presented, not argue. It's especially rude if you pick a small detail, that wasn't even the focus of the animatic, or even a completely unrelated issue to rant out your frustrations about. To give examples: starting disc discourse in an animatic of Tommy talking to Wilbur, or rambling about how tragic Techno's character is in an animatic focused on clingy duo, etc.

This applies to fan songs as well.

Video essays are the exception to these rules. I think it's safe to say they're the place to bring your hot takes, if you really feel so inclined to argue in youtube comment sections (Though I'd personally advise to still keep the topic relevant).

Keep negativity out of fanfic comments. This isn't nearly as big of an issue as the last points, but I've seen it happen a couple times, so I'm deciding to mention it. Fanfics are written for fun. Even if you disagree with the characterisation or something else, unless the author is clear in accepting critique, keep criticism to yourself. And definitely don't rant about how you dislike a character unrelated to the fanfic. Sharing your thoughts on the fanfic itself is of course fine and welcomed, but when it turns from discussing the author's story to talking about how you dislike a character in canon, that's when it crosses a line. Example: comment talking about what you don't like about c!Tommy on a Bench Trio fanfiction.

When commenting on art, keep the feedback positive. Even if you dislike any presented character, keep that to yourself. Example: Don't say things like "I hate x character, but this art is good". You might think the author would feel honoured, but it's actually just hurtful.

How to deal with discourse:

This is gonna be a shorter section, because I think we all chose to do it in different ways, and that's valid. Also, it's just that I, myself, am still learning how to do this well, but I thought it could be good to try to lay it out anyways.

Try to scroll past takes you disagree with instead of arguing if you don't think you'd be able to keep your cool. Noone likes a random person yelling at them through a screen, and if you rant, you'll get an equally frustrated reply back, and noone will be happy. Either explain your point in a calm manner, or scroll past/ unfollow/block.

On the keeping cool thing, remember to just step away. Take a deep breath and calm yourself down before proceeding. To minimize the frustration you feel on a daily basis, filter tags, block people, avoid videos and youtube comment sections that you know will upset you, and leave certain internet spaces if you find yourself unable to escape negativity even with all those steps. Remember: in the end, it's all a game played by friends, a story, and your enjoyment of it lies in what you take from it. Abandon what makes you unhappy. Marie Kondo your fandom experience.

Also, here's your reminder, to whom this is relevant, to take care of yourself. Hydrate, eat, sleep, clean up, get fresh air, remember the things outside of all this. There's plenty to do outside of this fandom, and what you can do here can wait. There is no pressure, or obligation. Not for the content you create, not for the discussions you bring, not for responding to discourse, not for anything. Fandom is meant purely for fun, so take care <3

Interacting with people outside of the fandom:

This is something that I've seen a bit of talk about, and I thought I'd drop in my own thoughts on this as well. No matter the differences, we're all just trying to vibe, and I think these are important things to keep in mind to leave both sides better off:

Don't interact with hate posts. Just don't. You don't want to see them, they don't want to see you. Even if your response is lighthearted, their animosity is not. They will feel frustrated regardless, and the grudge will only grow. And if they're being agressive, calm discussion most likely won't happen even if you're being polite. Just leave it, please.

Correct misinformation calmly. I completely get how it can be frustrating to see blatant lies and all, but with our reputation, people will not listen if you're being antagonistic. Provide sources, explain, and leave it at that.

Don't be hateful, send death threats, or assume privilege or whatever else. That's stepping into the same shoes of the people you hate. Misunderstandings go both ways, and the fact of the matter is, I think most people who dislike DSMP, even the ones who are agressive about it, don't have their stance rooted in maliciousness. To expand on why the situation became what it is today, taken from a discussion on discord:

I think it's just a combination of Dream growing so insanely quickly + how internet spaces have changed over the years. When ccs like jackstepticeye or pewdiepie etc. grew popular, activism wasn't as prevalent and held to such importance. Now it's thankfully more talked about, but that also leads to Dream being more scrutinized in comparision. Add twitter trends and the general prevalence of the fandom, and you've got everyone feeling tired and frustrated and paranoid. People also tend not to fact check stuff, especially when it comes to celebrities and stuff they're not really interested in, so rumors spread fast.

And actually, I think there's absolutely valid reasons to be made uncomfortable by Dream SMP, either in it's creators, content or fandom, and there is, of course, stuff to criticise in general. The problem is the hate and misinformation and overexposure, but we are not going to solve any of that by being aggressive in return.

(This is, by the way, not talking about more serious cases. Like doxxing, or leaving gore images in hashtags, or similar instances. That's a whole different complicated issue that I don't feel qualified to tackle.)

And finally, don't overwhelm outsiders who merely mention the Dream SMP. Don't send asks asking them to watch it, don't write paragraphs explaining the lore, don't confuse them with inside jokes, just... Don't jump on people like that. Unless they're explicitly clear in wanting interaction and getting into the fandom, that kind of thing will just drive them away. This is in no way exclusive to the Dream SMP fandom, pretty much every fandom has people enthiastic to have more people involved, but since there are so unbelievably many of us, it's especially easy to go overboard with this stuff. Just... be polite, and don't pressure anyone. Be nice, please.

So.... ya! This would be it for this one, I think. Sorry that it's kinda long, thank you if you read it at all. Hope y'all have pleasant days ^^

[everchased]

Hey, sorry if this seems random (feel free not to answer) but I was wondering how to get over my paranoia of posting content on here? You seem really chill and confident in what you do so I was wondering if you had any advice for that. I’m a pretty nervous person and tend to stay away from discourse but I always see people getting harassed by random teenagers who think pansexuality is transphobic is a personality and am always afraid about that happening to me or a friend.

aw, thank you! i think a lot of my "chill" and confidence has to do with the fact that i'm very reserved and content in my privacy but! i can try to offer some like. working tips.

i think the biggest thing that's helped is i have an extremely low tolerance for bullshit and utilize the 3 (give or take LOL) strike system for unfollowing/blocking people. even if it's small, if someone i follow does or says something i find hurtful or just annoying i make a note to either give them another chance or be done and unfollow. because this website doesn't fucking matter. i don't argue with people online, and i don't reply to instigators in my inbox. i'm generous with the block button and i stay out of large fandom discords.

most of my close friends either aren't interested in the fandoms i dabble in or are VERY casual about it, and i make a very strong point to keep what's going on on tumblr or twitter from affecting my real life. that's the most important part. keeping the distance. i have to be able to set my phone down or close my laptop and walk away from any trash that people are throwing around online because if i don't, my anxiety will eat me from the inside out.

the thing to remember if people come to you spewing hatred is that they're bored and looking for a reaction. they're looking for something to fuel their nonsense and justify their cruelty because they have nothing else to do and nowhere else to turn their frustrations than random strangers online. don't give that to them. the best thing you can do is shove the negativity out of the way without any acknowledgement and continue visibly enjoying yourself. you'll never please everyone with what you make or who you are, so just keep check on yourself that you're not hurting anyone (because yes there's a difference between creating things people don't like and creating things that are harmful) and you'll be fine.

i hope that all makes sense, i'm very tired but trying to be thorough ghffhgghghhhhgh

TL;DR: block people like it's going out of style and go outside sometimes. the people who yell the loudest in fandom spaces are rarely the majority.

[homestuckexamination]

A Statement on Kate Mitchell

Hoo boy, starting the day with discourse huh. But this is something that needs some serious addressing.

Over the past few months, I have received various messages asking about my opinion on Kate, which I have lightly sidestepped and shown myself neutral towards for a variety of reasons. Part of it was uncertainty, lack of information, and part of it was not wanting to engage in discourse, and some personal biases. But I hate being Neutral and one can only be uninformed and clueless for so long. Specially because the Kate Hatred ramped up yesterday for some reason.

So let me begin saying, I don’t really... Agree with some of Kate’s takes? I used to follow her, then I stopped following her over some specific take that I didn’t necessarily like, but it wasn’t like, volatile or angry. That worked as a bias for me, when people began to mention about Kate attacking people on Twitter or whatever, I felt a bias against her because of our differing opinions, so I tried to stay out of the drama because I didn’t want to fan the flames, and didn’t do my research.

However accusations have escalated, and so has my understanding of the situation at large, and honestly, I feel all the hatred is honestly ridiculous at best, and actively malicious at worst.

I’ve heard rumors, about ‘people emboldened by Kate to attack others for their opinions’, about her ‘sway on the WP team’, and a lot of it just seems... Not just demonizing, but actively insulting of the rest of the WhatPumpkin Team and their agency? I know for a fact they’re still getting threats, and accusations of being problematic, and all sorts of offensive shit. So first of all, a member of this team being tired of dealing with the bullshit and being more aggressive about defending herself just makes total sense, but on top of that, in this hostile climate, looking for a ‘scapegoat’ is just so convenient, isn’t it? And so suddenly the rumors and accusations are very easy to recontextualize.

Her ‘sway’ on the Team would make her uniquely exclusive of a lot of the bullshit in the Epilogues. Her bold attitude makes her an easy target on Twitter, because she doesn’t hold back the punches, making her an easily ‘hate-able’ person that can be showcased around the rest of the Fandom. Exaggeration comes in, and a Witch Hunt starts. We’re not having another V scenario here. I fucking refuse.

It was today when a friend of mine I trust actually went through her Tweets and relayed how none of it wasn’t even a deal in the slightest that it clicked for me how much of this is bullshit, and the messages I’ve gotten about Kate, most of which were already accusatory in the sense of starting the conversation like “Wow, I can’t believe Kate is doing this”, weren’t meant at all to inform me of what’s going on, but trying to use me in order to broadcast more hatred out towards her.

And honestly considering that a lot of this hatred comes from, and I also have confirmation on this, transmisogynistic bullshit, as an autistic trans woman myself I cannot just afford to stay ‘neutral’ and let this keep going while some assholes send me messages about how you ‘wish that Kate and all of her entourage got Coronavirus’, and offensive messages sexualizing and demeaning her, and literally posting a petition on a petition website to kick Kate out to the point Hussie had to fucking step up.

I don’t care if Kate is actually coarse or mean, and I am certain that there are some genuine criticisms going around the mess of Twitter. But that doesn’t make someone ‘problematic’ or give anyone the right to just group in hordes to attack and demean them, and when a great deal of those takes are just insulting the Team and making bad assumptions and straight up bigotry, what I’m seeing is a creator that doesn’t hold back their tongue even if their opinion is unpopular, and a trans woman that doesn’t back down or allows herself to just take it.

And now it’s not wonder there’s so much bullshit going around the situation huh.

Knowing the asks this is gonna spawn, I am going to be very block-happy today, so be warned if you plan to send some passive-aggressive retort. People don’t have to be well-spoken and nice to make their point valid, thinking as such is a fallacy and often used to demean and shut down people genuinely invested in an issue, but there’s a difference between not being well-spoken, and being a god damn asshole, and I reserve the right to not have the patience or spoons to deal with you.

[bellatrixobsessed1]

On Azula Fans vs...The Rest Of The Fandom???

 So I was talking with several people (@wingsfreedom, @wish-i-was-fiction, and @iabsentmindeddreamer--though I didn’t actually reply to them, just read their post) on this post (https://wish-i-was-fiction.tumblr.com/) and I wanted to write my own desperate post as I have been kind of thinking about for a while but have been hesitant to post because Idk how it would be received/I don’t want to start anything. But it looks like a thing has already started so I might as well.

I’ll start by saying that this isn’t a Bryke, Yang, or any part of the fandom hate post.

The thing I’ve been wanting to talk about is that I feel like Azula fans (and Zutara fans) are kind of being ostracized by the fandom and I feel like the creators kind of help that happen.

I can’t say when I started feeling this, I think that it might have been around the whole Azula vs Katara debate. That whole ordeal made me feel like Azula fans just aren’t taken seriously/aren’t respected even in in civil discussion. Like I ended up pulling out of that debate because I felt as though people were becoming dismissive and/or aggressive. I’m not saying it was everyone, not at all. But there were a handful. And yes, I am aware that it came from both sides. But that debate has since died down, which I’m glad for. 

The point is, things like this seem to keep happening. I also think that there’s a certain user who keeps targeting specific portions of the fandom and says things in the fan tags that come off to me as very instigating and antagonizing. These posts tend to lead to a whole bunch of people coming along to completely drag Azula’s character through the mud and eventually her fans as they try to defend her character and justify liking it. I’ve since blocked that user, because (though they’ve always been rather civil with me) I just got tired of seeing hate towards a fandom I’m in and I started to worry that I wouldn’t be able to keep conversation civil. I say this because I want everyone to know that, though I’ve mentioned this person, I don’t particularly have bad blood with them or whatever. Those two things I mentioned were kind of the catalyst in me thinking that Azula fans are kind of isolated from the rest of the fandom. 

And if this is beginning to sound familiar; I turn everyone to Zutara. The very first part of the fandom to be cast out of the fandom in a sense. Now I never shipped Zutara, in fact I hate it very much. And I used to think that the Zutara fans were ‘bitter’ and ‘hostile’. Now I kind of sympathize with them. I feel like that bitterness comes from not only not being able to see their ship on screen, but also because they’re kind of the black sheep of the fandom. To the point where even the creators seem to shit all over them and make fun of them and this is NOT okay. Because when creators start making fun of sections of the fandom, even in jest, it basically gives the fandom a green light to do the same. Like, ‘oh the creators do it, so its fine if we do’. It creates for a very bad and unfriendly atmosphere. 

I feel as though the same thing is starting to happen with Azula fans. With Yang calling them a cult (even if this was a joke I feel like it is in very poor taste) and Hicks saying that they are scary. Etc. 

There are two things that I think happen here (and it is the same stuff that happened with Zutarians).

1. Anti’s post hate in Azula’s tag (and the Zutara one) and fans get ont he defensive

2a. Some vocal people--seemingly on twitter--send hate to creators and the creators react creating a chain. 

2b. Some fans started 

I’ll discuss point 1 first because this happened first. I feel like one of the biggest problems is that a handful of people have begun to post Azula hate in her fan tags. Once upon a time people kept hate out of the fan tags with the exception of one or two posts every now and again. Then it started happening. And I have never seen an instance where massive amounts of hate in a fan tag was met with a positive response. The hate was posted and there was a reaction. Some fans were more kind in their responses and others got more aggressive. The amount of aggression increased as the volume of hate increased. And this I understand why Azula fans and Zutara fans get so irritated. We just want to enjoy our tag and see love for Azula and Zutara. But people keep knocking them. And so it puts fans on the defensive and starts a chain; hate is posted, fans argue back, anti’s now feel justified in their hate (and fans feel justified in their outrage), and more fighting happens. 

All the while a second chain was being created. Unfortunately I do think that this one was started by the Azula and Zutara fandoms (mostly on twitter). I’ve noticed and have been bothered by this. I’ve been rather quite on this one because I like the people in this fandom and I love talking to them. But there are a few people who I feel like are being rather unfair or harsh. I feel like this fandom has become a bit of an echochamber for shitting on the comics and on other characters (mostly Iroh, Zuko, and Ursa) and I can see how that would be off putting. Like people started woobifying Azula and using other characters to prop her up I feel like this actually drove several people away. Granted I feel like this was actually a bit reactory as well--people kept using Azula and hating on her to prop Zuko up and so the opposite began to happen. But I digress; I’ve started to notice that people started taking an almost ‘Azula did nothing wrong/is the victim mentality’. And I strongly disagree with that. I won’t get into that now because that’s not the discussion. But it began to get off putting for me personally. But I like the character and fans of her enough to stay.

Between the above and that crazy Sokkla vs Tyzula ship war, we lost a lot of really fun people who used to shitpost, make fanart, and write fics. And so the bulk of our tag has disintegrated into discourse and arguing instead of having fun like back in the day.

And then the hate began to stray from discourse to, actually sending hate to the creators; Yang in particular. Again I think that this was more of a twitter thing (hence why I don’t use twitter, I think that it’s a nightmare of a site tbh and a breeding ground for bad behavior). A good vocal few kept complaining about how the comics and show were/was being written and after receiving so many harsh comments the creators began to react. I’m gonna just say it; I don’t think that Bryke (in the above link) was in the wrong here. I feel like they were pretty tactful and respectful in their wording. And as a fic writer I 100% agree with them that it is their story and so they should write it as they see fit, even if I don’t like xyz plotline. And as someone who has had someone try to strong arm me into writing my fic their way, I understand their frustration.  My issue lies with Yang mostly. His ‘the Azula fandom is kind of a cult’ left a really bad taste in my mouth. Joke or not, this kind of grants people permission to judge the entire fandom. And we already saw it a bit in the very clip. This girl asked an innocent question, that response was her answer, and the crowd actually laughed. I feel like that was probably very uncomfortable for her. This was followed up by Hicks saying “I got a scary email from an Azula fan...please be nice to me guys”. Again, I’m not gonna knock Hicks too much because I feel like she’s still new (at least to Avatar) and that hate-mail can be quite rattling. 

The point I’m trying to make is that a second chain has been created. Once Yang made his cult remark that cued a lot of outrage in the Azula fandom and it was a green light for them to openly hate on him and his work. Which is something that was already happening. In this regard I am kind of on Yang’s side. I’ve noticed that the fandom began to religiously knock Yang for everything he did with the comics in the same way that Zutarians started knocking Bryke for everything Kataang. Again I found myself off put by all the hate because I actually kind of enjoyed the comics. Discussion of the comics always seemed to lead to more debating over whether they were good or not. I do feel like Yang didn’t like Azula’s character from the start, but people sending hate and him seeing this probably didn’t help. 

Eventually he reacted with his cult remark and so the fans felt justified in being more spiteful to the man. They started posting more hate. And so Yang probably feels more justified in thinking that her fan base is scary. And so the people who haven’t been posting hate and sending mean tweets his way are viewed as scary and mean too. 

Where I disagree with Yang is that he made that remark at all. While I understand being frustrated, I really hated that generalization. As mentioned above, even the fans who liked the comics are now associated with unkindness and hate. I really enjoyed the comics, though that enjoyment is kind of shadowed by a feeling of being unwelcomed. And with his generalization I think that it kind of puts a bit of the stigma around the fandom in the exact way that Zutarians have a stigma of being hostile. 

And when such a stigma is created it starts to become true because the fans feel like, ‘well they already see us this way, might as well be this way’. It starts to become true because others go into the tags to knock fans for being aggressive to the creators and so more people get defensive and the cycle just continues. 

Now with Azula’s fandom, this is only just starting, but I can see it getting to Zutara levels pretty quickly. And that’s a shame because this fandom is something I have enjoyed for a while and I like being able to react with other parts of the fandom. But personally I haven’t been venturing outside of the Azula tag much because I feel like I’m only going to see hate and arguing if I do. 

Idk, I hope that this didn’t come off as antagonizing to anyone because I’m not trying to blame any one group of people. Tbh I think that everyone has kind of played their part in this hot mess. I just really wanted to get this off of my chest. Mostly because I want people to tell me that I’m wrong lol and that the Azula fandom isn’t becoming a black sheep fandom and that I’m seeing something that isn’t actually there lmao.

I hope that I was able to explain things clearly, fairly, and kindly. Feel free to discuss in the comments and stuff. 

[uchiharunos]

Well hello 👋

I dislike getting involved in Tumblr drama these days because this place just gets more tiring day by day and it’s been a long while since I have shifted to Twitter. However as it is, since the root of the discourse seems to be here, I thought I would give a piece of my mind here too as I have been sharing it on Twitter.

I consider myself a consumer and a minor producer. Yes, a producer because if readers/supporters can be reduced to mere consumers of “fan creators” then these so called people are the producers. It’s the only right thing to say in my opinion. That said, if people are bent on making fandom, a space where fans of an original work join and create/enjoy being together because fandom is supposed to be a place to enjoy, a getaway from reality, an escape where you make friends with people who genuinely share the same interests and enthusiasm as you and not some fucking business transaction where consumers are merely described as “people sucking off content creators” then fuck them.

While I do support the idea of leaving fan-authors reviews(I honestly LOVE getting even one review on my work) I do not support the idea of guilt tripping and shaming people to do so. As a girl who comes from a non English speaking country, I can tell you not everyone learns English and grammar from proper sources ( it’s mostly the tv shows, movies some books here and there because believe me it’s hard to even get classic best selling books here which are readily available in other countries) and the confidence to speak/write a second or third language. It doesn’t come naturally. It hard to not doubt your grammar, your use of words while communicating with a person who you don’t know personally or have never talked with one on one. It’s hard.

So no I don’t blame readers for not always leaving me reviews because I understand. Reviews for me are an added gift. A gift I don’t even think I always deserve because I do not think I am perfect, I do not think I deserve to be placed upon such a high pedestal by people who admire me because I have written some words on the internet (which I am sure have a thousand grammatical mistakes) I don’t know how anyone else takes this, but please, please know kudos/subscribe or favorite/follow means a lot too. You are NOT trash if you do those. I understand, because I have been there once too. I understand how you can have issues, I understand how you might find me intimidating, I understand my fanfiction not being you cup of coffee, I understand. I do not believe in give and take, in fact, I thank people who have even spared a little of their time to enjoy my art/edits and fanfiction. I may not know how happy my fic made you but the feeling you felt while reading my fic? That’s something important to me. Knowing something always doesn’t make it better.

Now, don’t ever feel sad that a fanfic author left fandom because that one time you didn’t review. That one time you didn’t appreciate them. No. Every creator starts off small, and I believe when they do start creating its because they need an outlet to share their love for their ship with other people. I personally write for sasusaku, and not anyone else. I love it when you enjoy, but to me, my readers are secondary to my love and need to write/draw sasusaku and to explore them in different settings/universes. So it’s a gift to me if you enjoy what I enjoy doing. THAT MEANS A LOT BELIEVE ME.

The fandom is NOT dying. Don’t take these tumblr randoms make you believe something it isn’t. Yes it is inactive on Tumblr (I think so because that’s what my mutuals on Twitter have been telling me and from what I see) but on Twitter? It’s active as ever. Not 2014 active, because lets be honest, when a series ends most people move onto different fandoms because they get different interests and it’s been roughly 6 years. That was bound to happen.

Thankfully, Sasuke Retsuden revived most of the fandom again. I would like to believe since then many people have shifted to Twitter (because I have been making lot of new friends lately haha who told me they shifted because this place sucks!) and all in all, if you know how to block those antis on Twitter, it’s a really neat place [I can say that people on Twitter have more brains than here] I would think that we are still the most active part of the Naruto fandom there, along with Japanese artists/fans. So if you are ever considering to shift there, (there’s so much more engagement for arts/fics there too) please do so?!

Also ( I forgot to add this before) but FANDOM ISNT A ONE PERSON THING. ALL OF YOU AND ME, SILENT READER OR NOT, CONTENT CREATOR OR NOT, REGARDLESS OF YOUR FANBASE/ FOLLOWER COUNT AND POPULAR CIRCLE OF FRIENDS KEEP THIS FANDOM ALIVE.

Anyways, this has to be the longest post on my tumblr that was posted by me. Lastly, I would say the thing which I have always wanted to, review from your heart, review something that actually made you feel and support only if you want to. Everyone is in a bad place somehow,not everyone’s life is all sunshine and rainbows. Don’t review because you would be shamed if you didn’t do so, not because your conscience would keep nagging you how bad of a person you are if you didn’t leave a review. It’s not the pity I need, it’s the love I would prefer. Always remember kudos/likes are enough too.❤️

[projectemmatyler]

The damn diacritics on AO3 (aka What’s Your Effing Problem Jennie)

(disclaimer here: Jennie is a placeholder name that I for some reason don’t like. No offense to any Jennies meant.)

First few things I’d like to clarify here before I really light into this.

I am, as of March 2020, a member of OTW (Organization for Transformative Works), parent organization of Archive of Our Own, better known as Ao3. I am also a volunteer attached to Tag Wrangling committee, which means I get to see all your dumb shit you write in tags, try to make sense of it and link it to the canonical tags and/or make new ones if enough of you guys write the same thing in the tags. That’s my job that I do without any pay, for no real obligatory amount of time per week, with pleasure because I’m a fan, doing this for fans, to make their life on Ao3 happier and easier to navigate.

I also don’t speak for the OTW as organization, or AO3 as project, or any of the committees there - I speak as me, myself and I. And boy do I have shit to say here.

I am, surprise surprise, a fan of MXTX works. I’m also one of more than a dozen wranglers who’re currently panting as they try to keep our wrangling to-dos in all MXTX fandoms (including Módào Zǔshī, Untamed, Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System, and Tiān Guān Cì Fú). Yes, over a dozen wranglers. You heard me right. Not everyone there is willing out themselves (for some it may even be dangerous to out themselves as parts of OTW!), but I am willing, and I’m not going to shy away from calling several people, some of which include former wranglers who I have to admit have never met, on their BS.

So, the whole shebang was brought to me when a Twitter user decided that they can speak for Ao3, OTW and Tag Wrangling volunteers - that are about 400 in total right now - and say that one single person, who must be straight, white cisgender American (because why the eff not, this is something Cool Kids Say With No Repercussions Or Second Thoughts), decided to unilaterally decide that all Chinese fandoms, MDZS and Guardian in particular (we’ll come back to that later!), would be using pinyin tone markers. Instead of framing this as ‘this makes everyone’s life difficult, can we talk about this?’, this person decided it’d rather attack the organization; more specifically, a part of organization in whose purview the decision of making standards for canon fandom tags, and the smallest subsection of that part - us.

Yes, you attacked us. Thanks for that. What a nice thank you we get for dealing with your tags (and also, we have to use pinyin too!)

But moving on from my salty feelings.

The discourse that went on from there assumed three things:

One - there’s one MXTX wrangler.

Two - we’re all white American folk.

Three - we do this to spite Guardian and MDZS fandoms.

First one I already disputed (also, we get over 100 tags daily from MXTX fandoms at minimum, and when there are fan events, the numbers can climb up to 200 - do you really think one person could do it and stay sane?). Third one I can also dispute by the fact that I wrangle Liàn Yǔ Zhì Zuò Rén | Mr. Love: Queen's Choice and follow same rules. The rules for diacritics are also not even unique only to Chinese fandoms: Star Wars’ Padmé Amidala tag also has diacritics to name the most well known one, as do Polish-named and Spanish-named characters!

And yet, somehow, it’s only Guardian and MDZS that are being attacked. Why?

Because of the assumption number 2: we’re all darn racist white folk that come from good ole’ US of A.

As someone who’s decidedly not an American citizen (heck, my native language is not even English!) and find it quite offensive to be called that, I’m incensed. I’m incensed on the behalf of all Chinese-descent, Chinese-immigrant and China-inhabiting members that I work with as a MDZS wrangler, wrangler in general and fellow OTW volunteer. I’m incensed on the assumption that the English-speaking fandom, who is primarily based in US, is arbitrarily attacking Ao3, and this time me specifically as MDZS wrangler, on their goddamn entitlement, and claiming that the most international community I’ve ever had the pleasure to be part of as a fan is not taking their opinion into consideration, so therefore I have to be racist.

In not so polite words, go get that stick out of your ass, you special little snowflake.

I literally don’t give a shit if you’re PoC when you’re behaving like a stereotypical Karen on the block. I don’t care how much you wave your ‘I’m a protected group‘ card; if you’re an entitled piece of shit, you’re an entitled piece of shit and I’ll say it.

OTW, and Ao3 as its biggest and most well known project, is not perfect, as I’ve found out quickly after joining - we are a decentralized group of 800+ volunteers from all walks of life and all across the world, who are divided into groups that had to make rules that’ll accommodate an international fandom, and not just US-centric, English speaking one. Tag Wrangling rules have been subject to change before, and they are still subject to change - if the wrangling staff, volunteers and Board all manage to agree on something that’ll be inclusive to everyone, the change can be made, and we wranglers will gladly comply. However, framing this as your goddamn social justice crusade against Ao3, and only using two biggest Chinese-media fandoms in US specifically, stinks of typical entitlement I’ve been dealing since I was thirteen and naively stumbled into Fanfiction dot net, where I discovered fanfic.

I am sick and tired of fractions of US-based fandom refusing to even try to engage into a constructive conversation about fandoms, insisting that the entire international fandom has to accept their frame of mind, while at the same time not bothering to even try and understand our own frames (yes, I’m talking about all the ‘oh, you’re of X ethnicity, you must be an Y nationality’ shitstick I see all the time). I’m sick and tired of issues only being raised once US fandom learns about it, and preferably not even research the background for those things before starting a crusade while they’re at it.

In short, I’m tired of entitled, special snowflake Jennies who think waving their PoC, non-heterosexual, non-cisgender cards gets them a get out of jail card for their shitty-ass behavior. You’re not being crusaders for justice, you’re just being shitty-ass people, and please stop while you’re still ahead.

Talk with us constructively if you want to change, and piss off if you don’t.

This is me fuming at nearly 12 AM, because I can no longer ignore this shit. I repeat again for contrary idjits who didn’t read my disclaimer: I speak as me, myself and I, wrangler of MDZS, TGCF and SVSSS, and also MCQL, and not as spokeperson for either OTW, Ao3 or Tag Wrangling Committee.

[qqueenofhades]

I love the term militant idealism from your last post. I wonder how you think about the ongoing removal of names on buildings and statues as Americans become woke about eugenics, systemic racism and sexism, and other fuck ups across white American history?

A couple years ago in August 2017, at the height of the furor over removing Confederate statues/imagery from public places, and after the Charlottesville white supremacist riots, I wrote this post in response to a similar question. It outlined extensively what the rationale for the “we should preserve history and keep those statues up!!!” defense is (i.e. racism and systematic amnesia). My position hasn’t changed much, and I think it demonstrates the depths of white fragility in this country and the utter inability of white Americans to think about what their history really consists of and what the construction of this geopolity has entailed, apart from all the fuzzy feel-good stuff and giant flags and slogans about Freedum!! and so forth. We… we realize that we live in a hyper-capitalist fasciso-patriotic militarized nightmare land, right? The giant flags and flyovers and the fact that the entire month of November in the National Football League is now “Salute to Service,” after they couldn’t stand one black man taking a knee for the national anthem? Where coaches wear camo on the sidelines and everyone acts like they actually give a crap about veterans aside from their use as convenient propaganda? We… we know this isn’t normal, right?

See, I do think there is a useful application and a genuine need for militant idealism. It just isn’t in throwing slogans or personal attacks at each other on the Twitter echo chamber, or any argument at all on social media about politics, culture, entertainment, fictional ships, etc. Most people picking fights on social media really aren’t doing a whole fuck of a lot of anything useful in the real world. The internet has brought a lot of use into our lives, and indeed we cannot function without it, which is a little terrifying (turn off the internet for 24 hours across the entire world and welp, nice knowing you civilization). But it’s also morphed into a giant, ravenous beast that you really, really have to approach with caution in a whole different way from the “oh no you might meet a pedophile” panics of the 90s. (And I mean, there are still trash men everywhere, so it’s just with extra Terrible now. Winning?) You are not going to change this overwhelming, violent, omnipresent system by holding hands, playing nice, and singing Kumbaya. Sometimes, a little violence and militancy is needed in return. You need to stand up and play hard and not back down. And since the general liberal ethos is that “violence is always bad!!!/if you use violence you’re Just As Bad As Them!!!”, that is cut off and stigmatized in the name of social order.

The thing is, this is the first time in American history that there has been even any kind of visible and sustained public debate on whether these things that we’ve just all gone with for so long are actually acceptable. That’s why we have “OK Boomer” and similar movements, because young people are taking a long hard look at what they’ve been left with and are understandably being like are you fucking kidding me. But as I have also been discussing, a certain subset of young people are also extremely insistent on having the Right Opinion and Only The Right Opinion, and that demonstrating any uncertainty or looking like they’re not sufficiently Woke is Unacceptable. This is why I can never get students to talk in class. They have been raised in a culture where they will be mercilessly punished for being Wrong, and it’s hard to conceptualize a space, i.e. a university classroom, where you’re allowed to start at zero and work your way up with dialogue and engagement. That just isn’t how it works anymore, and frankly, we have to blame social media for a lot of it. Especially when combined with CEOs (why yes, I am looking at you, Twitter not banning Nazis and just all of Mark Zuckerberg) who are more willing to cater to the alt-right in the name of “freedom” than to enforce any kind of standards for public discourse or try to tell 21st-century Americans that they can’t have something they want. Our society is built on the maxim that All Consumption Is Good Consumption, Consume More Now. And… that’s a problem.

I feel like I may be getting away from the point of what exactly you asked, but these things are all interconnected. If someone is going to actually translate internet outrage to real-world action, and actually put some skin in the game and fight against the terrifying normalization of these narratives: please. We need more people to do that. But real life is scary in a way that the internet isn’t. You might face immediate consequences for something. You might have someone tell you that you’re wrong and you can’t just block or mute them. How do you change someone’s mind without the two of you just yelling pithy, polarized slogans at each other? It’s fuckin’ hard work. So it’s easier to just retweet someone that you agree with, to other people who agree with you. And so the cycle goes.

Obviously, I 100% support any and all efforts to bring to the collective American conscience just how fucked up American history actually is. But I sometimes worry that the shortcomings in the methods used to do so make it easier for the tired old class of establishment bigots to dismiss as “snowflakes.” After all, I’ve just been ripping into the self-righteous infighting and tendency to rigid ideological purity and insularism in the left, and… what do we do about that? I don’t know. We can’t just immediately remove people from the entire contextualising framework in which they’ve grown up and made meaning and understood themselves. We can try to educate them, but presenting people who have already made up their minds with conflicting information really does not do much. It usually makes them double down on the positions they already hold, because they can feel unfairly victimized by the people who Just Don’t Get It. It can oftentimes feel hopeless, but we have to do it anyway.

So yes. We should take down statues of Confederate generals. This goes without saying. The “we shouldn’t pretend it never happened” defense is functional only to a point. As I said in the other post, Confederate statues can go into storage. They don’t have to be destroyed, if it’s really so vital that we keep them. But their enforced presence in public life is an act of white supremacist violence, and their defenders know it. Besides, how about, uh, we try goddamn being able to talk about what the Confederacy really stood for first, instead of clinging to it as a token that is specifically intended to deflect public debate or constructive discourse on the issue?

This also reminds me of the recent backlash happening on historic plantations in the South. These are often beautiful manor houses with grounds, and they are tourist attractions. They are also, brace yourself for grossness, popular locations for weddings. (I don’t know why, but White People.) The tour guides at these places have finally been empowered to talk somewhat more honestly about how all this beauty was built by slave labor, and white tourists hate it. They tie themselves into knots about how slavery wasn’t that bad or how the Civil War was about “states’ rights” or why are you bringing this up now, that was Just What Our Bad Ancestors Did. This… this is the level we are still at. It’s bad. The white tourists seem to feel that they can go to, again, a plantation in the South and just enjoy the beauty and not to be “forced” to hear about slavery. It spoils the illusion. They want to keep living this way, so they throw fits, and why shouldn’t they? The entire establishment of this country thus far has supported them. It threatens their whole identity. It must be destroyed. And I just… sigh.

Anyway. This has gotten away from me, and I’m still not sure if I answered your question. Sorry. But there you have it.