#So me telling people to not treat AU content like it's official isn't me telling people to not enjoy the AU

[soreiya]

If you have an irrational fear of criticism. Perhaps it would be in your best interests to actively avoid it for your own mental health? I’ve recently witnessed some individuals become so defensive that they tried to project their own negative emotions onto others. In which case, they are only making themselves more miserable by sending condescending anon messages, obsessively scouring fandom tags/other people’s pages, and comment responses looking for something to be upset about. Getting angry enough to do things like this makes it apparent that this is very much a ‘you’ problem and not a fandom issue.

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Criticism is not anti behavior. I’m going to try my best to explain the difference. Hopefully this will clear things up a bit.

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A critic will elaborate and break down their opinions in an attempt to get other people to understand their point of view. This is usually done on their individual page and will be tagged to the appropriate fandom/s in question. If a criticism post has been tagged incorrectly, kindly inform the author about the issue. Block the new criticism tag, or the author in question if you don’t want to be exposed to anything more.

Criticism might be annoying to see sometimes, but it can also give you an opportunity to learn something new or view things from a different perspective.

People who genuinely enjoy something are not going to stop doing so just because of some random stranger’s thoughts on the subject. More often than not fandom decline comes from someone simply losing interest and moving on to another fandom. Thinking otherwise might be a bit delusional.

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Anti behavior is invasive. These people will go out of their way to express their hatred for something by directly commenting on other people’s posts/fanworks. They act entitled as if it’s justified to want the content gone. They will try to harass people in an attempt to get them to leave the community. If that doesn’t work, they may go as far as attempting to socially cancel you with lies, or other ignorant statements. When writing their own posts, antis will condemn others for liking content that they do not. They will insult people, or label them as something inappropriate in order to give them a sense of superiority as if they are taking the moral high ground by being mean to other fans.

Keep in mind that most people are afraid to voice their opinions because of people who act like this.

Anti behavior absolutely should not be tolerated under any circumstances. Don’t allow such people to ruin your fandom experience. Block on sight and move on.