#also tumblr is doing a weird thing where it's deleting my comments from peoples' posts

[metallicassassin]

"Yes, I do often wonder if I should go out and search for answers..." Rowan responded, eyes on his tea as he mindlessly swirled the porcelain cup around. He wasn't particularly fond of these memories, but Nik had caught him going through old photos and began asking questions. "But also, part of me just wants to be left alone. They've already found me once, and that was in a small town where they could've easily walked around without worry."

"I'm just sayin', dude. We should come up with a plan of some sorts if they do decide to go after you again. I mean, I've read up on that stuff and it seems like they're afraid of dhampirs for the sole reason that you're way too badass for them."

'That's putting it lightly....'

"I've done my research, Nik, many times." Rowan reminded him before taking a sip of the hot drink, savoring the bitter flavor of the tea leaves. "I'm quite aware. I see where you're coming from but... If we could avoid them altogether however... I'd much rather do that. I don't even know quite exactly what we'd be up against. They know how to keep their secrets, and I wish to not have to learn any of them the hard way."

[bropunzeling]

15 & 49 for the writing meme if you haven’t gotten those!

15. How do you write smut scenes? Do you get very visual or detailed? How important is it to be realistic?

lmao oh boy. i think like, big top line thing is figuring out what i want from the scene -- sometimes just "hey this [physical act/kink/5 second interaction i had imagined in my head] is hot" and sometimes it's the "this porn is about being abandoned by god" meme. then like. idk. i often just kinda get into the zone when writing sex scenes? like i know where i wanna go and i just. go. no editing no looking back no brakes. just power through until it's done. big things i always highlight are touch/sensation/physicality (more so than what people are seeing?) bc like. idk. going at it through how does this feel does so much of the descriptive work for you, and also neatly ties into emotional states and where you want their hearts to get to! and as far as realism goes -- it's romance fiction. if things go nicer than they would irl or people come at the same time who cares??? that said i DO love a lil bit of sex comedy, like limbs going the wrong places or having to adjust or saying mean things until it all syncs up lol. most of the time i want sex scenes to have big feelings and that includes joyful ridiculousness :)

49. Do you ever get rude reviews and how do you deal with them?

people are nice to me 99.9% of the time which is so great but i DID have one person make a super unhinged comment on the fic i posted on my wedding day essentially saying (a) the fic contained cheating (which i would dispute) and (b) that it was weird for me to post a fic of that nature on my wedding day and ngl my finger was QUICK on the delete button trigger. but again 99.9% of the time people are really lovely and generous!!! (i do have some Thoughts about how fandom in the last couple years has resulted in the normalization of behaving rudely to strangers because they make something you like and you feel entitled to it but that is for. NOT tumblr lol)

[13tinysocks]

hey dude! What's up :)) been just a little since l've said something

Initially, this is me saying thank you and goodbye

This isn't supposed to be a weird pity story, so l'm so unbelievably sorry if it comes off that way, lol.

When I began reading your work, I was enamoured with fiction because of personal issues (as many usually are, honestly, I know I'm one of god knows how many people trying to run away from life for just a second with fanfics or media in general). I don't know if I will ever be able to communicate this properly, hell, this will even be unbelievable funny or dramatic but I need to get this across because it's coming from a genuine place. Your stories and work thus far has brought me comfort, immense heaps of it, and even still when I deal with things that feel out of reach or too much to actually face head on I find myself wandering back to syg or just your blog in general

I mean this, from my entire heart, thank you and thank Bee. A million times thank you, for making that one silly silly stupid piece of fanfiction, because oh my god it got me through some major stressful hardships within my life for the past 3 years.

I am leaving tumblr, however I’m aware I have submitted asks with my actual accounts before, so you'll likely be able to see they're still gonna be up. I'm just deleting tumblr the app instead of my account, but for other social platforms they will be deleted properly (such as quotev) so I won’t be indulging in much reading anymore when it comes to fanfics and such lol

I don't know if I'll come back, if I do I likely will not be back for long or to be as active as l've been because of the toll social media’s taken. So even as ridiculous as this feels, to tell someone I’m simply a fan of and barely truly know, that their fanfic of murderers and their love story with my self insert kept me pushing through a lot of tough days, I genuinely just had to.

I needed to thank both you and your partner for the work you've both put out. I still have that smiley pin I’d made, and I will cherish what you made quotev have been for me ( I literally found out about the website during early or late 2020 I can barely remember, then later found your fic, I was DEEP DIVING into that shit LMAO )

I hope whatever happens for you and bee in the future is only good, and I only will wish nothing but the best of luck with everything man.

feel free to post this (idk what it’s called but when you publicly reply lol) or not, as long as you read this it’ll mean lots to me !! >:))

your coolest weirdest ticci toby fan whose also named toby, 🐚 annon

I always struggle to convey gratefulness for messages like this and readership- especially repeated readership. My life would be different if it were not for comments and messages egging us on to keep writing from syg to ho1c. While it's easy to say that writing is solely out of passion for the craft there is also the drive to share something with others. Hearing those others loud or quiet as a favorite- does push us forward when we have no motivation or desire to work. That drive has made us closer as a couple, better thinkers, and a halfway decent writing team. I thank you and all the others who send us stuff even if it's shit post asks I never answer because I like having them in my inbox like a personal horde of platonic Valentine's. I like keeping the pieces you give me to myself sometimes. I know it may seem like I'm ignoring you but I find genuine comfort in these messages. That there are so many. That they are so varied. That we have reached beyond our shut-in existence to touch the lives of others.

I find myself wondering where an anon has gone when I do not hear from them in awhile. I wish them well. I wish them better standards than us.

Maybe we'll meet again someday space cowboy. If you're ever back in town feel free to shoot me (a message).

Thank you for reaching out. Thank you for reading. I wish you peace and love and good books.

[ki-yomii]

is there a reason that you’re ceasing to write? wishing support and success for you of course but you will be missed on here :(

There’s a couple different factors that’ve gone into my decision, and the fandom is a big one unfortunately :/

Some of you are absolutely lovely! Honestly some of the kindest, nicest people I’ve had the pleasure of interacting with.

And then others… in all my years of being on tumblr, writing fic, and being in fandoms, they are some of the most toxic I’ve ever encountered.

I’ve received more hate mail on this blog in a few months than I have in the entire 17+ years I’ve been writing fanfic on the internet. I’ve had posts flagged because someone reported it. All things I’ve never had to deal with until joining the BTS fandom.

Plus it always seems like some new drama is stirred up every few weeks. Not only am I too old to entertain that, it goes against everything the boys promote imo.

Another reason is how… weird some of the fandom is about the boys in general. I love them, I support them, but they’re also regular dudes with their own lives and some people are too comfortable with encroaching upon that.

And lastly, the interaction.

I’m so so thankful for all the support and love I have received from everyone. Honestly it’s why I kept writing for them as long as I did.

Though for me personally it boils down to this: I don’t care about notes, I don’t care about the amount of followers I have. What I do care about is the sense of community and belonging, of having conversations and sharing with others.

It’s what I thrive off of creatively - I’d take 100 note posts with asks/comments/replies over 10,000 notes of likes and empty reblogs any day.

That said I know I’m not entitled to engagement. I’m not entitled to asks or comments or messages. It’s their prerogative 100% to not interact. But it’s starting to feel too much like a popularity contest for my liking.

And after taking a break to write for a different fandom where I am getting my creative needs met, I realized that the BTS fandom just might not be the place for me - and that’s okay.

I’ll keep my love and support for the boys to irl. I’ll keep watching their DVDs and YouTube videos and listening to their music - I just won’t be active in regards to them online.

And if I do get the desire and inspiration to write for them again, I’ll post it to AO3 exclusively. I thought about deleting this blog as a whole because I don’t know when/if I’ll begin reblogging gifs etc again.

I ultimately decided against it as I didn’t want to do that to anyone who likes my account/doesn’t have any other way to read my fics.

I’m sorry this got so long winded, I just wanted to be transparent and honest.

Thank you for the support and well wishes 💛

[advertingpizza]

You were informed about Cyareclones scamming, ( they also bully artists, they were called out for having a discord server where they mocked, laughed and bullied SW artists) and you allow to get attacked by them

Odd, considering that you were didn’t support them anymore (now deleted, I wonder) but go off ig. Just shows that the SW community accepts and supports problematic and harmful creators because of their art/large platform. Good day 👋🏿

first thing's first, please stop stalking my accounts.

i felt extremely pressured into posting it in the beginning out of the fear of being harassed if i didn't (point very proven lol), so i deleted a few mornings ago in the middle of the night because i couldn't sleep and felt so icky about it. i have a very strict moral code and genuinely just don't like being involved in internet controversy so i deleted it :/ if that boundary is enough for you to be upset with me, idk what to tell you.

more below

i don't like that you're actively stalking my socials just because of this, it makes me genuinely uncomfortable and this is my formal request for you to stop. if you're trying to convince others that someone is bad, you probably shouldn't stoop down to their level. blackmailing and fear-mongering are both horrible things to use to manipulate others.

just so we're clear, here's the original!

i deleted this long before anything even happened with cyareclones quite honestly because i looked into it and didn't want to be involved. i watched both videos linked in the instagram channel as well as going through the tumblr and various other sites i could find (da posts, reddit posts, comment sections) and i genuinely just do not want to be a part of it, and that's the truth! me stating that i want no part in what's going on shouldn't be a reason for you to religiously refresh my page to make sure i'm 'staying in line' with what you want from me. that's just weird and obsessive.

i appreciate that you're taking the time out of your day to do this and bring attention to this problem, but harassing random people because they don't continuously push your platform is NOT the way to do it. if me deleting my post really has you this upset, i hope you find it in yourself to forgive me and move on, because that's exactly what i am doing :p

[vampstel]

Hi! Welcome to my blog ໒꒰ ˃ ᵕ ˂ ꒱১ ₊˚⊹ ☆

Warning!! This pinned post is extremely lengthy but important to read if you’re specific about DNI and BYF lists. I heavily suggest reading everything before you freely interact with this page. Thank you in advance!

♡ About Me ♡

My name’s Nikolai and I have a variety of nicknames you can call me. The most common ones being:

Nick

Niko

V

Kai

I go by He/They pronouns and you can use one set to refer to me or use both interchangeably. I don’t mind either way! I prefer masculine and androgynous terms and am strictly against most feminine labels and sexual/romantic descriptors.

If you’d like the specifics, I have a pronouns page that lists all the words I’m comfy/uncomfy with. I also have a linkt.ree with all my social media accounts.

I am a Filipino-British artist, writer, and content creator that (currently) lives in the UK! I am chronically ill and have AuDHD as well as general anxiety, making it hard for me to post or do things consistently.

I’m constelic, meaning I (unintentionally) hoard identities and heavily relate with/identify with certain things such as bunnies, dolls, plushies, and vampires!! ໒꒰ྀི˶ᵔ ᗜ ᵔ˶ ꒱ྀི১ ˖⁺‧₊˚

These are all the flags I use to represent my identity:

♡ Loves ♡

My OCs, dolls, plushies, Bendy and the Ink Machine, indie horror in general, Cookie Run, anime, HermitCraft, and more ໒꒰ྀི ˃ ᵕ ˂ ꒱ྀི১

If you ever wanna ask me about my interests or talk to me about them, feel free to do so in my inbox! I love talking about things I’m passionate about and I also enjoy hearing people talk about their interests

♡ Hates ♡

Small talk, flashing lights, loud and sudden noises, being interrupted, and tons of food and fabric textures ໒꒰ྀི˃ ⌑ ˂ഃ ꒱ྀི১

(Also most of the people listed below in my DNI criteria but shhhh we don’t talk about that. Kinda…)

♡ Before You Follow ♡

I post very sporadically and I don’t have an upload schedule; sometimes I just disappear for months or spam my socials

There are times where I don’t respond to Tumblr asks or comments. I’m super sorry about that!

I cuss a lot and sometimes make sexual or unsavory jokes. I suggest only 16+ folks follow me

I use queer labels that can be considered problematic(?) by some. Such as bara, bear, twink, femboy, etc. If that makes you uncomfortable, don’t interact with me and don’t make a fuss about it because I won’t stop using them

My art has heavy queer themes and I often draw gender-nonconforming people that may cause dysphoria for some

I sometimes draw lingerie or artistic nudity that some people may find suggestive. I also draw revealing outfits that can be suggestive as well. Thus, I once again suggest only 16+ folks follow me (or people who aren’t sensitive to such media in general, since I know adults can be uncomfy as well)

There are times where I vent and rant, but I don’t overshare too much and I usually delete these posts after I’m fine

I sometimes use unicode symbols and kaomojis that are oftentimes incompatible with screen readers. I’m super sorry about that!

If you complain about any of the above, you’ll get an instant block from me. Curate your experience online and mute/block people you dislike. Don’t come into peoples spaces whining for them to change especially here on Tumblr. Thank you!

That being said: I will be tagging anything suggestive with #cw: suggestive just to make things easier!!

♡ Do Not Follow/Interact If ♡

You’re a bigot (racist, queerphobic, ableist, etc. this one should be obvious)

You’re a truscum/transmed and don’t support MOGAI identities

You endorse cringe culture, cancel culture, and ‘art lore’ (aka harassing artists for doing literally nothing but draw how they want to draw)

You fakeclaim other people and are against self-diagnosis

You think alterhuman, otherkin, or otherhearted identities aren’t valid or think they’re ‘weird’

You’re very discourse heavy and purposely pick fights with the intention to tear people down rather than help them improve

You support the Dream Team (I heavily dislike them and I don’t want to associate with their fans)

You support Astro Renaissance or are heavily tied to the Royale High community (both fandoms make me uncomfortable due to the treatment I’ve received from them in the past)

You dislike my content, my interests, or anything that has to do with me (AKA: do yourself a favor and block me if you detest me)

P.S: LGBT related discourse makes me uncomfortable, especially the exclusionary kind. Please do not rope me into those discussions or I’ll be forced to block you. I support any and all identities so long as they’re in good faith. This is a safe space and I won’t judge if your identity is complicated.

If you make man hating comments or are proud of being a man hater (whether seriously or not), I will most likely avoid you and block you. Those jokes make me extremely uncomfortable as a trans guy and I’ve had terrible experiences with people who’ve made such jokes.

I do not have any strong opinions on proship discourse. I am neither an ‘anti’ or a ‘proshipper’ but I do find lots (but not all) dead dove content to be extremely uncomfortable so I may block those who create such things. Please do not rope me into this discussion either or I’ll block you. Don’t try and label me as some sort of freak for this because I’m not. If you harass anyone over this discussion, I’ll also block you no matter what side you’re on.

My specific fandom DNI criterias can’t be changed. If you support anything I’m uncomfortable with, I have to block you for my own sake. I mean no harm and don’t want to cause any offense so please take this lightheartedly. However, Royale High specifically can be flexible and I do find a few of their players alright so long as they aren’t overly negative or bring up drama about the game to me.

Overall, just be chill. Respect my boundaries and I’ll respect yours ૮꒰ྀི⊃´ ꒳ `⊂ྀི꒱ა

♡ Blog Navigation ♡

#꒰ v’s art ꒱ → features all my finished art

#꒰ v’s wips ꒱ → features works in progress as well as unfinished sketches and doodles

#꒰ v’s rambling ꒱ → general talk tag where I discuss anything

#꒰ v’s answered asks ꒱ → where all my answered asks are

I have other minor tags indicating what topics and characters I’m talking about. There’s a lot of them though so it’s hard to list them down. I also have an exclusive tag for fanart!! You can check that and my main tags out below

[wr1t3w1tm3]

So... I fucked up.

TLDR: I made a post that sounded creepy, people were concerned, I deleted post and clarified that I was not, in fact, writing RPFics of minors. Thank you commentors.

Timeline: On Sunday I got the idea to write a Hermitcraft AU where the Hermits with kids did a "take your kid to work day" thing and let them play on Hermitcraft. There was gonna be an egg hunt, and chaos was gonna ensue. It would take place in a Minecraft is IRL AU as well where the server served as a sort of military/research base or something. Like the Antarctic research base IRL.

However, as evident by the first screen shot, I very poorly worded it and several people commented on the original posts telling me not to write about the Hermits children.

IDK what else to say except that I never intended to do that. I worded that very poorly. Like, very, very poorly. I deleted the posts after taking these screenshots on mobile because they do come off as weird at best and creepy at worst. I reached out to the people who commented telling me not to write about the Hermits kids and clarified the situation with them prior to deletion.

The only reason I didn't get around to deleting the posts earlier was because by the time I realized how creepy it was on Monday I was traveling back to my Uni after break, and I had no time. Tuesday, I had two labs and had to begin studying for two exams on Friday, and I had work as well. Today is the first day I've had time to sit down and actually do stuff that isn't school/work related.

So, what was I attempting to do? I was trying to figure out which Hermits had kids and about how old said kids were (like if they were grade/middle/high school/adult was what I was going for), so I could come up with characters (either from my own OC backlog or create a new character) who would be their kids in the AU and then write the AU from there.

Prior to asking this question I did already know that a couple of the Hermits (Tango, Bdubs, and Skizz) had kids. I also knew that Skizz specifically had a college age daughter because of his Hermitcraft video that came out around the time I made the post. I, however, am one person and there was no way I was gonna be able to go through and eliminate every Hermit on my own, so I decided to ask Tumblr.

Another reason I deleted the original post was because someone gave me some very specific ages for some of the Hermit kids and I honestly do not know how they got that information but after realizing how weird my post came off and seeing that, I didn't feel 100 percent comfortable keeping it up. Obviously, that information is somewhere on the internet, so it's more likely whichever Hermit revealed that info was okay with it going public, but since I don't have time to verify, I don't wanna risk it being leaked.

I want it to be known now that I do not and will NEVER EVER write RPF. As a genre I think it's interesting, but only when done in a historical context. Or a parody context, because fuck politics. I have never and will never write RPF outside of maybe including real presidents, politicians, world leaders, and celebrities in realistic fiction, if you'd consider that RPF. If I continue work on the Hermitcraft IRL AU thing, which currently is not likely due to time constraints coming up, I will let everyone know. Thank you to everyone who did help me with research and who brough my original posts oddness to the forefront. Love ya'll.

[olderthannetfic]

Having more fandom friends around my age/mindset (context: late 30s, rare fandoms, reads some nsfw but not the type to post about it a lot in my main account) might be nice. I ignored the fandom part of myself a long time due to my RL friends being shitty about it (I dumped the worst of them) and I'm trying to enjoy it more.

But I keep leaving comments on fic and art and don't get any reply, let alone a conversation or follow. When I do get a response, the person stops posting fic in that fandom shortly afterwards. In an earlier more active fandom, I would send requests to people (clearly open for requests!) and 99% of the time I'd be ignored, or they'd draw the request at a level clearly before their usual stuff then delete it because they didn't like it (their words).

I'm not writing anything inappropriate or critical? I try to make my comments more interesting than 'i love this write more thx', maybe they get too confusing and off-putting to read? It certainly isn't because my ship is too weird because even non-shippers ship my current OTP lmao

I am trying to be realistic about it, maybe they aren't replying because they don't have the energy, or they have a life and they can't reply to the comment immediately and forget to, or they moved on, or they think I'm a tit which is totally fine?

The issue is it keeps happening, it's depressing, and the follows I do get are people in the same fandom who only like the parts I'm not invested in at all, have really tired takes and are significantly younger to the point I'm concerned about looking like a creep if I interact with them at 100% of my full power. It feels very much like I'm wishing on a monkey paw.

I have a very small number of friends I can talk to about fandom stuff I will cling onto with both hands. I just wish there were more. This is mainly me venting but if anyone has any suggestions feel free.

--

Hmm... Well, I share your suspicion that if you're the common factor, you're at least somewhat contributing to this situation. It may not be that you're offputting but that you inherently like things most other fans don't like—not just rare ships but also rarer tropes.

Or it may not be rarity exactly but prompt style: while tons of people love found family and slice of life, a lot of prompts for those are so generic and boring that they inspire exactly zero new plotbunnies. Meanwhile filthy kink is not for everyone but often has the seeds of a specific fic in a prompt, so if you do like it, those prompts are super inspiring.

A lot of people are pretty terrible at responding to comments. I'm extremely hit or miss on AO3 myself. I'll respond to a zillion things on tumblr before I remember to actually answer comments on AO3. Partly, it's that I get said comments in my email inbox, not on AO3 itself, so I read them and appreciate them but am not in the space where I'd respond right at that moment.

Sadly, people making one fanwork and moving on just comes with the territory when you're in rare fandoms. It's much easier to make friends who like to vid Asian dramas or who are learning a language for fandomy reasons or who are doing fandom historical preservation than friends who share your exact current taste in blorbos and who will continue to do so.

In my case, I love rare things, but I also love to move from fandom to fandom rapidly, and I find it really stressful to have friends who end up resenting that.

I tend to befriend fans whose overall vibe I find compatible more than people I share ships with: people who will probably be in fandom for life, people who are loud and proud about it, people who are interested in fandom history and pan-fandom meta. I also tend to be drawn to accounts that are not only horny on main but horny for kinky shit that draws haters. It does a wonderful job of weeding out the whiny children and finding me fans with a spine. Hilariously, one of my closest offline fandom friends with whom I share the most character opinions doesn't even like sex scenes. But that's not somebody I'd have gotten to know online.

It's going to vary for the people you're approaching, but that may be one reason they're not as enticed by the sight of another fan of their current rare fandom: they may have totally different types of criteria for fandom friends.

It's hard to know how much of the problem is you without examining your internet presence more, but I get why going "here's my account, plz critique" is not attractive. This ask seems fine. No particular writing style red flags jump out at me.

I've definitely known people who were dicks about my tumblr popularity and wanted to know why I didn't reblog them... but it turns out they interacted with me only once every six months so I don't remember them or their tumblr is entirely shitposts or their writing style is incoherent or they sound angry all the time.

One problem you may be running into is that findable fans in their 30s and 40s are self-selected for Fandom For Life types who already have a bunch of close fandom friends. They're likely doing a lot of socializing in private with people they've known for ages. I like to think of it as people with very full dance cards. They tend to be the most attractive because they're living happy, fulfilling lives, but that same quality makes them too busy. Meanwhile, people who are sad and alone and desperate for friends are often less visible and less compelling. If someone figured out how to connect with them, they'd be a great friend, but fewer people are trying.

It's not that every compatible late 30s fan is too busy for new friends. It's that the fans who are visible enough that you know they exist and know their approximate age are a very specific slice of overall fandom.

As fans age, some of their fandom friends leave fandom or die, so there can be periods where people are going "Shit, I need new friends!" later on, not just in college and such. But I'd say late 30s is a tough-ish period. A lot of people are busy with young kids and/or haven't lost their inner circles from younger years yet.

In general, a lot of my closer fandom friends aren't actually looking for new friends and haven't been in quite a while. Some don't even post publicly anymore. I'm something of an exception because I'm both extremely friendly and always on the lookout for minions to convince to go to Escapade con or take up the banner of fandom preservation yadda yadda. I have a vested interest in remaining open to new people.

Thoughts, everyone? Have you gone through friend-seeking and full dance card phases?

[mystical-growth]

Hello, I’m really sorry about this. I know this is kinda personal and probably really weird, so I apologize. But Tumblr has become a place where I can freely speak about what’s on my mind, especially things I have trouble saying in person. I spent the past evening thinking and crying over a stupid argument I had. I was told I’m too quiet and don’t talk about my feelings enough. That I’m a difficult person to be around, but when I do talk it’s very annoying. It’s just so frustrating being a anxious over-thinker. Thinking about how every word is being used or not said, how every movement or gesture is done or not expressed, how any emotion displayed may affect the current situation or future one. Then trying to figure out what is the best way to reply or how to react. It’s kinda silly, but it’s like trying to be a mind reader! Although you’re mostly thinking about all the worst case scenarios for nearly everything, while also occasionally thinking way to long where people think you aren’t listening, not paying attention to them or simply don’t care. Which makes it worse, because I feel like obviously do! But now I feel even more pressure to response and it’s difficult enough as is because I already doubt myself at everything. I’m sorry I’m rambling but my heart still feels broken and my head hurts from crying and thinking all night.

I apologize if your still reading this far, I just needed to get this off my chest and out of my head. Also I’m sorry for deleting everyones nice and wonderful comments on my post earlier. It turned into a really hard day and it was just to difficult not to doubt all your compliments. I’m truly sorry, but still, thank you. I promise I’ll try be better.

[finnlongman]

Genuinely on the verge of deleting my Twitter account and I'm really sad about it. I've been on that site since 2009 (longer than I've been on Tumblr!); I remember when you couldn't retweet except manually and pictures had to be uploaded to TweetPic rather than directly. It remains my main connection to the academic world, and although many writers I'm friends with are active on Instagram as well, I find that a far less accessible platform, so it's my main connection to the book world too.

Mostly, though, I'm frustrated at the idea of having to scrub 14 years of my posts because a pathetic manchild has decided they're his to do what he likes with, and despite all my settings revoking consent for third-party use, I am in fact unable to stop him using them to train AI if he wants to (among other things). I don't want to delete all my weird nerdy threads and random An Táin Bot commentary; screenshots just aren't the same. But I'm also not down with my work and my words being used without credit or compensation, and I feel like I've hit the point where I don't want to stay there anymore.

I know it's popular on Tumblr to hate Twitter. But I am going to really miss it. I am going to miss the friends I've made there, and I'm going to miss the professional opportunities I've gained from there (I found my agent on Twitter! I found my mentor on Twitter! I was on Motherfoclóir because of Twitter! I've heard about conferences and calls for papers via Twitter!).

And there isn't an easy alternative. The writing community seems to have fled to BlueSky and Threads; the academic community to Mastodon. I can't maintain a presence across three platforms even if I wanted to, because I don't have the energy, but whatever I choose means I'll be losing connections to people I would have preferred to stay connected to. I know I'm not joining Threads, and I don't have a BlueSky invite, so I guess that leaves Mastodon...

This whole thing sucks, to be honest. The centralised internet was great for bringing people together... but only as long as it lasted, and centralisation means total loss when it goes down.

I'll probably make one of my periodic returns to my blog, when I have more time and spoons, but that feels one-way these days, not like a conversation the way it was back in 2010-2014. Maybe people will start commenting again, or maybe nobody will find my posts at all because they used to spread primarily through Twitter. I don't know. I'm sad. I'm gonna try Mastodon to see if I can at least find/maintain some academic community there. I'll probably try and post a bit more regularly on Instagram because it's the only platform I've got left where I can Be An Author, really (I try and do it here, but it doesn't work very well).

Twitter was deeply flawed, but that doesn't mean the loss of it isn't a loss. And I'm really feeling that loss at the moment.

[iamanartichoke]

I posted this as a comment on a Reddit thread earlier thread but decided to delete it and make a post bc it's tl;dr for a comment. Then it became tl;dr for a Reddit post, too, so I'm bringing it to my tumblr. Disclaimer that these are just my thoughts as a fan and an observer re: Watcher's shift to streaming.

So I've long thought that YouTube isn't the right platform for Watcher, bc their biggest problem is that they don't function the way that "modern" YouTube requires. Back in the day, it was easier to turn a profit on YouTube but these days, to be successful, you have to utilize the tools YouTube gives you to make money, which are channel memberships, livestreams, and sponsored ads. Watcher doesn't do any of those things which hurts them as those are huge opportunities for revenue that are just being ignored. Their video game series is perfect content to be held via livestream, for example; so are the debriefs. Even if they did a monthly livestream with Superchats and memberships, they'd rake in so much money. I don't know why they don't.

But on top of that, Watcher doesn't work with The Algorithm, which - I don't like The Algorithm, but it's a fact that content creators have to lean into it in order to build their audience. YouTubers who are successful now not only do the memberships et al. but they also upload consistently, usually once or twice a week. Videos come out pretty quickly after they're filmed, and they're usually centered around a specific thing. The variety of Watcher is a big draw bc it pulls in a lot of people who are there for different things, but it works against them too, bc they only post weekly when they're in an active season of a show, and so the audience that only tunes in for 8 weeks of Mystery Files, for example, may not visit the channel again for another year or six months whenever the next season comes out. It's hard to keep a consistent audience to provide the numbers needed when the content appeals to all kinds of people and their model of "seasons" that are shot in advance and go through a long post-production process works against them.

So I can see why they want to move away from YouTube. They don't want to be just another cookie-cutter channel, and I feel like they especially want to distance themselves from the oversaturated (and frankly cringe) YouTube ghost-hunting genre that's exploded recently (Ryan keeps throwing shade at probably Sam and Colby, plus while I enjoyed the last season of GF, I also found it uncomfortable to watch at times bc Shane's disdain for all of it was just hard to sit through, for me; it wasn't fun). But they don't seem to realize that, in creating their niche, they've really painted themselves into a corner where their content doesn't work anywhere but YouTube.

So instead of trying to launch a whole new streaming service, they need to be willing to change up their model to make it more adaptable to YouTube. A more flexible "upload model" - with memberships, livestreams, and ad sponsors - would give them the revenue they're looking for, but that would also require them to dial back the production value and lose some employees, and their unwillingness to do that is what's going to ultimately make them fail. And it's weird bc their audience doesn't even care about production value! GF would be a lot better if they changed up the format and didn't bring 10 people on location, so it's like - clearly they're the ones who want the better production value, not us. It's not for us but they want us to pay for it? Bruh???

I feel like it's really such a shame, and as much as I love Watcher, I don't want to pay for another streaming service and I'm so goddamn sick of paywalls on literally the entire internet that I just cannot. I'm tired of not being able to use a website or even browse without having to make an account, I'm tired of having to make an account and then only being able to use one or two features if I don't also pay, or getting slammed by ads that essentially make the website unusable bc there's ads all over it, I'm tired of websites that pop up with that godawful "you're using an adblocker, please disable to proceed to our website!" message. I'm tired of things being locked up and inaccessible and while I understand that people should be paid for their work, there are ways Watcher can make money and get paid that don't involve trying to hustle their audience to pay for a streaming service to access like 12 episodes of content a year. Just ugh.

[mswhich]

20 questions for fic writers

Tagged by the marvelous, magical @elder-flower! Exactly the thing I needed to keep procrastinating on my WIP! edited to add I just noticed that Tumblr turned all of the numbers into the number 1. IDK, I'm not gonna fix it, just roll with it.

How many works do you have on AO3?

56.

What's your total AO3 word count?

675,992

What fandoms do you write for?

Lots and lots. Lately, 2001: a Space Odyssey. But also a lot of original works, plus Formula 1 RPF, Harry Potter, Teen Wolf, occasionally some Taskmaster RPF.

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Unforced Error (Harry Potter), 3798 Forged in Flames (Harry Potter), 3722 (my first fanfic!) No Secrets (Teen Wolf), 2738 Bondmate (Original Work), 1326 The Frontier Spirit (Original Work), 1280

Do you respond to comments?

God, I try, but I'm so bad at it. I always feel so awkward about comment replies. I wish I could just click like on them and leave an emoji or something. I do try to get to as many as I can, though.

What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I dunno if you'd call it angst exactly, but I've written a fair amount of noncon where the "bad guys" win. Probably Experiment XB-20, which ends with someone finding out they've been getting repeatedly memory wiped and then nonconned, shortly before getting memory wiped again.

What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

I write a lot of happy endings, tbh. Let's just say that the large majority of my fics end reasonably happily for most participants involved. (With a few notable exceptions.)

Do you get hate on fics?

You would think I would. I write a lot of unrepentant noncon, often with underage characters. I write RPF. I write incest. But apart from the occasional "wtf" comment, I've so far managed to avoid attracting significant hate. If I did get a hate comment, I would just delete it. I am too old for drama.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Fuck yes. All kinds! I have been writing smut since I first started writing fiction. Stephen King once said, in response to a question about why he wrote horror fiction, that if he and Louis L'Amour both visited a lake, Louis would write about cowboys herding cattle near the lake, whereas King would write about a creepy lake monster; that's just how their brains work. Well, I would write about people having weird, power dynamic-y, kinky sex near the lake. That's how MY brain works.

Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Not really, but wouldn't rule it out.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I have occasionally had people report to me that my fics were stolen and nameswapped. AO3 has been pretty good about taking them down quickly though.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Many times, yes. I hope the translations are good! I have no real way of knowing.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I have not, and have no real plans to do so.

What’s your all time favourite ship?

Ugh, I ship so much. SO MUCH. Honestly, probably Peter Hale/Stiles Stilinski. It just works for me. Age gap, characters who are smart as fuck and morally gray, power dynamics, and werewolf powers. It has everything.

What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I have most of a novel-length fic written in the Harry Potter fandom. It's post-War and Snape comes to stay at Grimmauld Place while they're rebuilding Hogwarts. Ginny Weasley is the only person there at first, and they kind of circle each other warily at first and then come to a cautious detente, which turns into a bit of a friendship. There's something weird going on with the portraits in the house, though, and when Snape notices it, there's an action sequence that ends with him getting them the fuck out of Dodge and going on the run. I actually love this story, it's entirely drafted and 80% written, and I just had to work out a couple plot issues at the end. And then the HP fandom kind of blew up and the creator turned out to be one of the literal worst people in the world, and I just don't know if I can ever bring myself to finish it. We'll see.

What are your writing strengths?

Uh. I....don't know? People seem to like my fics for the most part, but I'm not sure I could nail down exactly why.

What are your writing weaknesses?

I repeat myself too much. I say the same things repeatedly, over and over again, reiterating on a theme. But joking aside, I swear I spend half of my time in editing removing stuff like this.

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I'm fine with it, if it fits the characters and it works. I prefer it if there are either a lot of English cognates so you can kind of work out what they're saying, or if the author translates it in the author's note.

First fandom you wrote for?

Harry Potter. I found a shitload of Hermione/Snape fic, read as much of it as I could find, and then thought, you know, I think I could do at least as well as some of these? So I tried my hand at it and have never really quit writing fic since.

Favourite fic you’ve written?

I'm saying two. One is Crown of Neon Lights, because I love the characters and story so much. And the other is Bondmate, same reason. But really I love most of my fics. They are like my precious babies and I adore them all. tagging (pls feel free to ignore) @whimsicalmeerkat @jammerific

[misrepresentedmorallygrey]

The last ask you received on Edelgard is bullshit and probably come from a group of Edelgard haters notorious on Tumblr. Anon deeply misrepresent the fanfic mentioned ( which has for most of its fanbase sapphic women by the way ) in the exact particular way said group does... Group that harassed the author on multiple social media to the point of him deleting one of his account and restricting comment, despite him kindly asking them multiple time to stop. Furthermore, anon talking point previous to the fanfic are the same that said group rely.

For context the group I'm talking about gets really bad. Like, the post about cleaning

- They post at least weekly on Edelgard ( I have them blocked so it might have changed, but it lasted years ) despite obliviously hating her and even somehow expressing numerous time their dislike of the game?

- Edelgard is implied in the game to have PTSD, the author of the fanfic mentioned did a very nice essay regarding that while comparing to his own experience with the disorder. He had to delete it due to the harassment. The group does post about how Edelgard doesn't have PTSD, because they can't stand Edelgard having anything that they can't relate to being evil. They have a weird grip with Edelgard not suffering as much for trauma and being over it, some of do on the other hand make unbased claim of narcissism, megalomania, even psychopathy.

- There's a big Edelgard fan server, they constantly share screenshot of what is said there ( despite being banned ) to mock it and they even made a ransom asking to ban a member or else they'll continue

- There's multiple case of them making fake account ( on Tumblr, Reddit, Discord, etc ) to talk to people who blocked them or access place where they were banned, or stir things up with false "concerned" post in Edelgard fan space

- There was at some point the idea to make an Edelgard critical fanzine. Litteraly.

- The followers of the group can be really wild. They sent death threat, they even include people like the one who made a whole post on Edelgard abuser breaking her mind being good because it "cleanse her soul" ( trust me, it even worst once you read the post )

I'm not going to go on since it's already getting long but please, be careful about ask like those :(

I don't want to give name to stir the fire, so if you need any direct evidence of my claim I'll send it to you ( Tumblr accounts, tags, discord screenshot, etc ). Also sorry, you probably don't want to be involved in all this...

Wow uh...okay

[whore-crusher]

WAIT OKAY RECAP FOR ME, SOMEONE WHO LITERALLY JUST GOT HERE: i saw you second post, peaked in to find the first, and was like 'huh, weird to ask someone to not use a name, you don't own it', then did a lil hunting of my own cause i Did Not know who you were talking about but i'm Nosy

and i saw the post that pup made and was like 'damn, sad they're not around anymore, but i got my own problems with the hlvrai fandom, have fun getting better ig' and i scrolled a bit on pup's blog and was like 'oh okay, you wanted a distinction between Your gordie, and other gordies, sure, you went about it weird but ig i understand. big ol miscommunication' and MOVED ON

and then. hours later. i'm scrolling. people are jumping down your throat ?? because APPARENTLY that big old giant long post was made Because of you being like 'that was fucking weird to ask me not to use a NAME' and ?? pup got SO FUCKING UPSET that they just LEFT THE INTERNET

i'm so confused. what the fuck.

THEY LEFT??? Anon, I'll be so honest, I made my posts as a one-off "hey isn't this kind of weird and funny" thing for my friends and the like 2 followers I have. I woke up today, sick as all hell, opened Tumblr and had hundreds of notifications from people either dming me like "Hey sorry you're being harassed" or sending me anon asks calling me insults for daring to have an opinion on Tumblr. I haven't checked pups account since I made the og post + have ignored most notifications I've gotten since I prefer to have discussions instead of being yelled at. I only knew that they left discord, not THE INTERNET. OVER ONE POST.

It only shocks me how chronically online someone has to be that a single post, where they went completely unnamed, got them so upset they had to LEAVE the INTERNET. And make a post that has made me be actually harassed by random people (most of whom that I can't block if I wanted to since they're sending anon asks) when my post was not harassment by any means and did not tell people to harass her.

Also since it WAS just a miscommunication she could've just... literally DMed me. "Hey Simon, saw your post, here's what I meant: [blah blah blah]" and I would've DELETED IT..???? They could've stopped this whole thing by replying to me on AO3 with an explanation instead of just deleting the original comment those months ago.

Anyways Thanks for being Just As Confused as this whole thing is making me. And for not calling me 6 bajillion slurs like most people in my asks see fit to do right now!

[junkissed]

hihi im starting a writing blog for svt but im relatively new to tumblr and its mechanics and all the etiquette and things like that. also im a jun biased and im weird in the way where i don't usually have inspo for other members? if that makes sense? so like idk is there anything i need to know or is it relatively acceptable to mostly only write for one or two members?

also sidenote but i really love some of your writings ahaha match of the season is my favourite :D thank you so much if you ever reply!

no that totally makes sense! i would say most authors on here will write for ot13 but they definitely write more for their bias than any other member. i feel the same way, for me it's easier to write for jun than for other members (and also i love him lol) so my writing ends up being like 90% jun and 10% other members. which is completely fine! at the end of the day it's your blog and your writing, and you should write for whoever you feel comfortable writing for and whoever gives you the most motivation. there are hundreds of writers on this site so if one writer only writes for a couple of members, it doesn't mean the other members won't get written :) nobody says you're required to write certain things or for certain members!

if you intentionally leave out one member but write for all the rest (i've seen writers who write ot12 and exclude jun because they aren't attracted to him), you might get some side eyes but again that is your choice. i personally wouldn't say a hard no to any members and i'll give them all my best shot, but that's my blog, and your blog is up to you.

as for things you'd need to know, i'd say the number one thing is interact with people! the best way to get interaction on your own work is to reblog and comment on other fics. as i'm sure you've heard me say before, reblogs are the most important feature on this site! it basically boils down to, treat others how you would want to be treated by reblogging their works and leaving feedback, even if it's just a simple "i really loved this!!!". it makes you stand out in our notifs and if you're also a writer it might even get you a new mutual.

other tips off the top of my head:

have a masterlist post (helps people find all your fics in one place) and have a guidelines post (makes it clear what you're comfy with)

DO NOT PLAGIARIZE AND DO NOT STEAL ANYONE ELSE'S WRITING (this one is in caps bc super super important!!! you can take ideas or inspiration from someone else but you cannot take their words or their writing. you'd think this one would be obvious but plagiarism happens a lot more than you'd think)

if you're inspired by someone else, tag them in your fic! it shows respect to the original author, and you should tag them whether it was from a fic you read or if they helped you brainstorm ideas. it doesn't have to be a super long thing, just a little "inspired by @onlyhuis's fic!!" is more than enough, but it goes a long way :)

like i said, you can write for whoever you want, whenever you want! when ppl start interacting you it's gonna be stressful because you want to make them happy and put out new fics often, but just remember that it's your blog and you get the final say on everything. don't put pressure on yourself to write constantly because you will get burned out and i promise it will not be fun!

if people send things that make you uncomfy, don't be afraid to delete (or block) them. it's your blog and your boundaries so don't feel guilty for standing up for yourself. also, ignore answer hate asks because they're just looking for attention so don't give it to them

trigger things properly! this is the little section before the fic that says "warnings". don't censor any words (using punctuation like bl00d or d3ath instead of typing blood or death) because it defeats the purpose of ppl who have those keywords filtered, so type out the whole word uncensored. this is a courtesy for people so they can choose to avoid content that may be harmful to them. (this also counts towards visual works, a lot of ppl use tags like "tw flashing" on gifsets)

speaking of tags, when you post be sure to put tags on it! it's the section at the bottom of your post with all the #'s. if you click on any of my fics you can see that i use tags like "jun smut", "seventeen scenarios", etc. these tags help people find what they want to read (but only tag relevant things; don't put "mingyu smut" on a jeonghan fic unless mingyu is actually in the fic). if you aren't sure which tags to use or how to format things, feel free to look at other fics for examples. if you read a lot of fics you might see there's a pretty standard way of doing it

the tags i use like "june.txt" and "june writes" are organizational tags. when you click on, for example, my "june writes" tag, the results are only my fics that have that tag. it basically organizes things into categories (which imo is the best part of tumblr) and it makes it easier to find different types of posts. it also allows people to filter those tags so posts with that tag don't show up (for example, i require minors on my blog to block the tag "minors dni" so that nothing nsfw is shown to them)

again like i said, don't be shy! make friends, join networks, send asks to people, reblog fics, etc etc. interacting with others is the #1 way to make writer friends :)

just a general tumblr tip: no one can see how many followers you have except you, so don't try to make it a competition of who has the most. it's what makes tumblr different from tw*tter and insta and it makes the social media experience a lot more casual because there's no influencers here. it's like a diary where you scream into the void and sometimes ppl scream back. a lot of writers do milestone events (i recently had one for hitting 1k followers) but you aren't required to do those either

if you have any questions about tags, filtering keywords, and other tumblr stuff like that, don't be afraid to ask! any tumblr veteran is more than willing to help break down our weird system to new bloggers

be proud of your work! even if it doesn't get many notes or feedback it doesn't mean you're a bad writer. writing should be fun and something you can enjoy doing, so don't make it seem like a chore by focusing too hard on numbers

i can't think of any more but here's my tag for important posts & info for new tumblrs users that you can look thru for more! i hope this helps :) and when you start your blog send me another ask!! i would love to be your first follower <3

[rielzero]

I feel different about Twitter than I do about Tumblr

There’s something about twitter that just makes it feel- more violent and unsafe. I really enjoy my time on tumblr so far. No negativity, no people being rude. I really like blogging and posts that are just, like a diary y’know? Something about twitter makes me want to clean out old tweets just to be safe. And some of those tweets I really like.. So Maybe I should save some tweets and post them here instead, where I feel much safer and happier.

Screenshots I mean, also- as always. Posts are time relevant, coincidences are a thing. I’d never post about something in vague reference to something offensive intentionally- if anything I can be dumb and ignorant like any person. That’s part of being human. Here’s an example of a tweet I’ll delete off my alt twitter, but I do like the tweet cuz its about an IRL life achievement.

The reason I’m deleting it off twitter is- Something about twitter makes you think- when is someone going to comment on this and be rude about how the food looks- or What if someone is offended because there’s no vegetables? (to quickly explain veggies- I unfortunately have food trauma which makes it difficult for me to eat or cook veggies without having panic attacks or becoming sick. I don’t want to elaborate on it further, its a work in progress.) Like, you can’t keep an active history of tweets on twitter without fearing some hate-mob will one day find it, take it out of context, and use it as a way to hurt you. It’s literally an innocent tweet about me trying to cook something new for myself, because I don’t know that many recipes and I want to explore the topic on my own. The whole paranoia around cancel culture makes it feel like the most innocent tweet like this, a genuine happy moment that I posted about- will one day be used against me for something really dumb to try and accuse me of being terrible. The anxiety for that part of twitter is real. I am still practicing cooking different types of chicken dishes. It’s sounds really dumb to be anxious about a post like this being somehow a threat in the future just because someone can take it out of context or draw some context that does not exist from it and make up some story. It’s just noodles, chicken, and kroepoek (I don’t know the english name for the chips, I’m sorry!) So maybe I’ll just post here some tweets that I like- ones that made me happy. Like, a memorybook, and explain the context behind them. Idk, I just feel safer when they’re not up on twitter after a while. Is that weird? I’ve seen too much drama over really oddly normal things spiral on twitter, maybe its just the people that use that platform that hold a lot of social power? IDK. Anyway, wooh chicken tastes great!!