#because newsflash

[bluestjayy]

This feels like an appropriate time to remind folk: before blindly accusing authors of using AI based on an arbitrary list of 'obvious AI tells' remember that non-native speakers of a language often display these tells too. That autistic folk often display these tells too. That new writers who picked up a pen for the first time only a few months ago display these tells too. Writers going through transitional periods in their life and style often display those tells too. Creators trying a new medium or style just for the sake of experimentation often display those tells too.

It takes no effort at all to practice empathy and kindness, and to simply avoid any works you don't enjoy, or think may be AI, without publicly making a false claim that many authors would struggle to disprove.

Voting with your feet (or clicks) is always going to prove more effective at combating actual AI than just being outright mean on a social media platform. If you think it's AI, don't click on it. It's really that simple. Without the clicks, what incentive do AI authors have?

But if you just go to a different site and scream into a main tag in a vague and accusatory way? You know what's going to happen?

A fanfic author decides that maybe writing fic isn't worth it if they're going to have every other word scrutinised against a standard that shouldn't apply to them. Other readers start picking apart every fic they come across based on a set of rather unspecific (and in some lights, discriminatory) bullet points that 'make it easy to spot AI' and then it turns into unsubstantial finger pointing.

Fandoms lose more genuine fic authors this way than we would ever gain in AI writers. Just saying.

The epitome of this is just... be nice. For god's sake. Just be fucking nice. It's fandom. It's supposed to be the nice place.

Don't turn it into a battlefield.

[bixels]

In the past, people in the Animal Crossing community would make fun of Tom Nook as a sleazy landlord. Since then, he's really rehabilitated his image as this 'heart of gold' businessman (he's the one who puts bells and furniture in trees for you to find! he adopted orphans! he donates to charity!), but New Horizons genuinely paints the most devious version of him.

He's successfully privatized settler colonialism: you pay HIM to move to a "deserted island" (which apparently the oceans in the AC world are just full of) and start a colony that he is directly invested in. At best he's running a weird vacation package scam (you arrive on the island with no money and in debt for "using his services"). At worst, he's using you to set up company towns. For god's sake, he literally has his own fake currency that he forces you to use to pay off your debt. But don't worry, he's repackaged it in a way that definitely doesn't sound like an MLM scam: the Nook Mileage Program!

You're no longer just his tenant or his temporary part-timer, you're his business lackey. The entire tutorial section of the game has you spending actual weeks running around completing tasks and doing hard labor to set up his colony. You're even tasked with preparing his properties and finding buyers for them. No, you aren't a tenant anymore. You work for the landlord. You are directly responsible for finding tenants for him. And he doesn't even fucking pay you. Not for setting up town hall and museum, or his nephew's shop –– which is the ONLY store on the entire island that sells necessities –– or bringing KK Slider to town, or helping populate his town. Not a single cent. No, actually, you have to pay HIM to BUY infrastructure like bridges and stairs and park benches. And all the while, he's telling you're the "resident representative"; you get to call the shots! That the reward is the community's progress. That what you're doing is in everyone's best interest (but most importantly, his).

Since NH's release, people have done a lot of legwork to say that Tom Nook isn't a capitalist while the game shows him at his very worst. He owns the only general store in town. You're forced to use a phone that he modified and branded as his own. Buy Nook-branded furniture and merchandise at the self-serve kiosk in the town hall, a governmental building! There's no conflict of interest here!

But hey, if you're tired of being the landlord/business mogul's goon, you can also find work as a deluxe resort home designer for a company that also pays you in their special company currency that can only be used to buy their products instead of a real salary! Because that's what the Animal Crossing franchise needs! More vacation homes!!!

[australet789]

"Alastor is a villain because he chained poor Husk 🥺"

I think you all forget THIS is the Husk that made the deal with Alastor:

The Husk that was so careless and selfish that was gambling SOULS, to the point he gambled his own soul away to save his powers.

[yourbestbuddie]

Everytime I remember that Eddie motherfucking Diaz decided to make this guy who he’s known for less than two years the LEGAL GUARDIAN TO HIS CHILD, and THEN doesn’t say a word to him about it for another year, and only does when said guy says it should’ve been him who was shot in Eddie’s place, and has been entirely reckless ever since Eddie was shot repeatedly risking his life so he doesn’t lose the people he cares about, JUST SO THAT HE MAKES SURE THE GUY DOESNT DO SOMETHING STUPID AND RECKLESS AGAIN … well I’m entirely normal about that.

“No one will ever fight for my son as hard as you.” OKAY OKAY OKAY OKAY

[renarin-spren]

you know while I'm at it!! I'm sick of people not letting Rlain stand on his own as a character. of course his whole thing in WaT (and to a certain extend RoW) is that he's finally found acceptance and a place he fits in with Renarin, and I love that! I love rlainarin as much as the next person!! but it's driving me up the walls bonkers how the majority of the fan made media I see about him is solely in the context of their relationship. like can we please get more love and appreciation for him as a character? or does everyone else just love him because He's Gay ??

[wortsandall]

jason isnt even angry at bruce for the way that he died, hes mad at bruce for everything after his death. so saying that jason's anger at bruce is misdirected anger at sheila is just wrong on so many fronts. because first of all-jason was never mad at sheila. yes she sold him out to the joker and got him and herself killed and jason knows that and tried to save her anyway. i think hes aware of where the blame falls but that again leads into the second thing wrong with saying that. jason is not mad about the circumstances of his death-hes mad at the lack of change his death caused. because if bruce had died, jason would've done whatever he could to avenge that. that's a part of jason's love language. so to have bruce basically do nothing and let joker continue to hurt others grates on jason. im not even mentioning the massive victim blaming that bruce does as well. but its the aftermath that jason has a problem with not the before.

so no, jason's anger towards bruce is NOT misdirected anger at sheila. again because jason's anger has nothing to do with the circumstances around his death but everything following it. which sheila had no part in due to y'know. also being dead.

[mamawasatesttube]

this might be mean but. it really ticks me off when people respond to authors and artists wishing for actual community and engagement with their works by saying "oh but you see im just so anxious i cannot offer you any kind words." with the optional "but do please keep making things for me anyway!" because like...

a) do you understand how anxiety-inducing it can be to pour a little piece of your soul into a work of art and share it publicly? i feel like you don't see the people creating these things as people like you and that is an issue. we are people who just really love a thing and want to talk about it with other people who also love that thing.

but moreover, and this is the part that might be mean, b) damn why doesn't your anxiety prevent you from making excuses to us then? i wish it did! like if you're SO anxious about a fic author blocking you for saying something nice, why are you not anxious about getting blocked for telling that author "okay but i don't want to comment on your works though"??? because i can tell you which of these two things is way more likely to piss me off and it isn't the comment.

like. idk man. if you really don't want to comment on and engage with people's creative works, no one can force you to. but also consider maybe not commenting on and engaging with those people's posts just to explain that you don't want to comment on/engage with their works. if you are so committed to staying quiet and being a passive consumer then commit to the bit and stop asking creative people who put way more of themselves out there than you are to pat you on the back and reassure you that you'll still keep getting free content even if you can't do so much as drop a "this was really good!" in the comments.

[unlimitedbutchworks]

wild as fuck how trans men on here can openly and flippantly accuse random innocent trans women of being pedos to drum up moral outrage against them quickly, and when people start to point out that hey, that’s insane, she’s never done or said anything like that, these shithead dudes are like “well she said something racist too or is into incest or raceplay or something else that’ll stick despite not being on any of her blogs so it’s like whatever” and then their audiences are just like ohhh ok and everybody forgets and forgives the blatant pedojacketing while keeping the fury of it after being mollified by whatever progressive sounding idpol they shit out. disgusting!

[can-of-w0rmz]

THOSE Frankenstein fans when both Victor and the Creature have positive and negative qualities, and the story is a tragedy where both characters involved are flawed and it’s not a morality battle between who’s the innocent one and who’s the Bad Guy™️ (and then get pissed at anyone likes one of those characters and labels them as problematic like we’re in the fucking 2020 Danganronpa fandom):

Just while we’re at it, Frankenstein is not a weak whiny bitch and the Creature doesn’t have no moral compass and didn’t emerge from the operating table murderous

Frankenstein IS vastly immature and incapable of communicating his emotions and considering the consequences of his actions bar a few instances and the Creature is basically an incel serial killer

Now shut the fuck up with the “who’s the victim, Victor or the Creature?” bullshit arguments and agree they’re both pathetic morally flawed babygirls and collectively up the fan content for our best girl who deserved so much better Elizabeth Lavenza my beloved wife

[princessefemmelesbian]

Transandrophobia truthers are so damn racist and white oh my fucking god y'all actually piss me the fuck off every time you tokenize Black and brown men for your stupid as fuck "mra but make it trans-inclusive" ideology created by a creepy guy with a corrective rape fetish(something I'll never let up on for as long as I live, btw). If I ever see another one of y'all say "Black and brown men face discrimination because they're seen as overly masculine and that's why masculinity in men is oppressed in this society" I will literally kill myself. Stop using Black and brown men as brownie points for your bullshit arguments about misandry being real when you don't have the slightest idea how racialized oppression works. White boys are so annoying and dumb istfg.

@punkeropercyjackson @punknicodiangelo @pinkpinkstarlet

[insomnya777]

joel etho single dads au .........

[bonefall]

I’m rereading Po3 and despite its flaws I really enjoyed the introduction to the three. Jaykit isn’t mentioned to be blind in the first few chapters and instead they chose to show how much MORE capable he is compared to his littermates; until at the end of chapter 3, he brings up his blindness on his own. It makes forcing him to be a medicine cat SO much more frustrating because it really feels like they’re setting him up to be a warrior and choose his own fate (note i haven’t finished the reread this is just my first impression)

I like how you seem to take that path in BB regardless! It makes his arc so much more enjoyable

His arc in canon is super frustrating because he's such an independent character who clearly wants to make his own decisions in life, but then he just gets shoved into the medcat den. I LIKE that he ultimately goes there and that he enjoys it; but it was still really fucked up that they stripped away his autonomy in the process.

Re: they are not real, they are writing choices. Taking away the choices a disabled character can make over their own life, forcing them into a celibate nun role, and then going "awwwww dont worry see? he likes it! This was the best thing for him :)" was fucked up.

And imo it didn't have to be that way! You wouldn't have to go the FULL route I did with big changes, he could just be more involved in the descision to stop being a warrior apprentice and it would be fine. Minor change that would make a world of difference.

I do also have to interject to say though... blindness should really not be an extremely severe impairment for a ThunderClan cat.

I'm dead serious.

Whiskers are built-in sensors that tell you the exact position of everything within several inches of your head, ears swerve to pick up sound, and the jacobson's organ provides a sense of smell so keen that I have an entire Clanmew expansion draft because I needed to make WORDS describing the power of this sense that humans do not have. I cannot stress enough how delicate their other senses are, felines do not rely on their sight like primates do

ThunderClan lives in a mixed-oak woodland, where sight is already often obscured by foliage, objects are close together (for whiskers to feel), and nearly every movement makes noise against the leaf litter. RiverClan and (moor-running) WindClan cats would have a harder time with this disability than Thunder or Shadow.

Cat sight SUCKS to begin with. It sucks BADDD. They don't have color vision, they're significantly nearsighted, and they can't track up-and-down movements well. WC doesn't write realistic cats (more like small fuzzy people really) and I also work with more humanesque eyesight, but the only thing Jay should really lose is an ability to rapidly track a small animal swerving fast. Blind cats are often still excellent hunters in spite of that!

So it's an extra big waste that they railroaded him into a position he didn't choose, saying he couldn't be a warrior. This is the perfect disability to write, if you want to explore how ableism can impact the characters in this society who ARE legitimately still capable of nearly full independence, but still need to find accommodations for what they can't do.

In the same arc they're doing the dumb Cinder Reincarnation Plotline, no less!! Where SHE is also feeling like she has no choice over her "destiny," and gets a conflict over a potentially disabling injury

"Oh nooo if cinderpaw breaks her leg she wont be a warrior!"

"What the f-- Im Jaypaw and im reporting live from the scene where a Category 1 Idiot Moment is taking place. Woman breaks leg, suddenly everyone believes she is a horse, more at 11."

One of these days I should really make "herb guides" just covering how various sensory disabilities impact the lives of Clan cats and some tips for writing them as warriors, especially between Clans. Stuff you wouldn't usually consider, like how much noise deaf cats tend to make, how RiverClan would get a ton of sinus infections and lose their sense of smell, being blind in Sky vs Thunder, etc.

[bixels]

tarpit site.

[elegantwoes]

I love how Alicent and Criston fucking is considered OOC and shit writing, but somehow Alicent choosing Rhaenyra over her own children (even though motherhood is big part of her characterization and a driving force to the choices she makes) is completely fine and considered peak writing because it’s ‘tRaGiC yUrI’.

[pisshandkerchief]

y'all have GOT to get more normal about nonbinary people who don't "look nonbinary"

[marzipanandminutiae]

What Is Vegan Leather Made Of? Many Plant Leathers Are Being Used (greenmatters.com)

Yes, plant leather is a great idea (not better than animal leather, in my personal opinion, but that's down to each individual's thoughts on the matter). But unfortunately much of it just can't replicate many of real leather's beneficial properties- and a lot of plant leathers heavily involve plastic in their production. (source)

Look, ALL clothing production needs to be more sustainable at this point. The chemicals involved in tanning actual leather, unless it's organic leather, aren't good for the environment either. And I will never rag on someone for their choice to avoid real leather- we're all just trying, I hope, to make the best choices according to our values and within the confines of a broken system (as long as we're not hurting anyone else). For me, the massive habitat loss and environmental destruction caused by plastics production and waste is a greater evil than the deaths of individual animals in the production of meat and/or leather. So I choose real leather and try to make each piece last as long as I can, aware that any choice I make will have environmental impacts and is not perfect. Someone else might see it differently, and I really am not in a position to judge their choices.

However.

The term "vegan leather" is blatant greenwashing, and 99% of the time it applies to plastic. If people prefer to wear plastic to avoid real leather, that's fine, but they- and moreover companies -need to be honest about that. Just like synthetic fabrics should be called plastic, so should synthetic leather. Even some of the allegedly "plant-based" stuff, it turns out.

I'm honest that my real leather is animal hide. Time for the faux-green fashion industry to display some honesty of its own.