#but for real i've seen people take memes/posts i've seen on here and post them on reddit with what seems like no credit or like

[unknownteapot]

no no i am dONE. DONE u hear me?? i see u smosh redditors who lurk on here and put our posts on r/smosh to discuss!!!! i SEE you, how about u join tumblr?? how about u make posts of ur own?? how about we become moots?? do it. do it are u scared. you're scared aren't u. c'mon be moots with me. join the smoshblr community. i dare u.

[azaharinflames]

Thankyou for making that post about not making assumptions about the cast. I wish fandom stopped parasocialling with them so much, it's so weird. Not only the Oliver stuff but that Lou is this poor little heartbroken uwu baby and how the whole cast were awful for not defending him (I've seen alot of "and no one stood up for him!!" posts too).

None of us know these people! What someone puts (or doesn't put) on their public instagram is worlds away from what they may (or may not) say or communicate in private.

And it's kind of depressing to assume the worst of them (any of the cast) rather than just that they're professionals doing their jobs.

Fandom in the last few days has been so much fun with the plot speculation, fics, memes and stuff. I find the criticism of the plots and the writing (and Tim to an extent in his role as showrunner) satisfying, but not to take that to the actors. For me, it's much more enjoyable (and better for my mental health) to have fun with our blorbos in our sandpit and keep the characters and actors separate.

Thanks for letting me vent!

Hi, Nonnie! Thank you for venting in my inbox!

Happy to let you vent, and sorry it took me this long to answer. I kinda promised myself I was going to have a small break from Tumblr this weekend after my last post, and only let myself reblog some. Back here again though!

Yeah, I think it's very important to draw a line and keep it there. If we need a permanent marker, so be it. I come from the Marvel and Glee fandom, and especially in the latter I saw a lot of wild shit. Including Darren Criss's wife having to go private across all social media because of the insane stuff she was unfairly accused of. Hell, when (spoiler) Blaine and Kurt broke up for a while, Darren had to post a goddamn letter to apologise, because he feared the worst. Like. Insane.

And I've been seeing the crazy here as well from the B*ddie fandom, and I stopped checking that hashtag (can't check it even for their friendship) because of how wild it was. We are nowhere near what they do, don't get me wrong. But just because of that, and because this has been, hands down, the nicest fandom I've ever been on, I don't want us crossing lines in a moment of anger or disappointment.

And it's hard to know when to say something, too, because I do feel like the feelings we were dealing with were entirely justified. But as you said, it's better if we keep focused on the show and the, frankly, bad writing they are doing this season.

And yeah, I'm annoyed at the behavior of some actors, but I understand your point. I won't lie and say I liked how no one said a thing about the harassment Lou received, but I also know better and I know it is quite possible they talked about it in real life, and it is very much none of our business.

At the end of the day, Lou has expressed multiple times he was very happy to be in the 911 set, and even in his latest interviews he doesn't contradict this. He's a grown man who deserved to see all the love that we have for him after endless months of harassments, yes. But I also think he's a grown man who knows what he's doing and what he wants.

Anyway. This was long, sorry haha.

If anyone wants to vent, rant, or express their opinions, my inbox is open❣️

[astoldbysteph]

after i posted my essay about issues in the rpc, i've been checking the reblogs from time to time to read the thoughts people have shared because i think it's interesting and people have made some great additions so i'm gonna take the liberty to compile them and post them because i think this is an important thing to discuss, especially after seeing other folks in the tags having similar convos about stuff that harms the rpc and our experience in it as a whole.

everything will be under a read more for easier browsing/reading original post here

OO1.

what this user says here about not doing stuff but expecting other people to do it for you is so, so important. treat others the way you want to be treated! if you try to engage with people, most people will react positively and be more open to writing/plotting/whatever. also the thing about posting something you want then another person posting about wanting the same thing is so real, LOL. i've seen this happen a lot on tumblr and other rp sites. engage with people! they're nice! if you really want a certain plot, you're more likely to get it by asking the person that YOU KNOW wants the same thing over continuing doing your own thing and letting other people come to you.

OO2.

OO3.

OO4.

OO5.

in my original post i didn't wanna mention what this user points out because i was gonna end up writing even a longer wall of text... but yeah! this individualistic approach to not only rp and tumblr, but how we engage in other online spaces is a symptom of late-stage capitalism. even in non-rp spaces you will see people talking about the lack of engagement, how people used to talk to people on the dash or reblog stuff more. the anxiety excuse is also a good point that other people brought up in the tags. we all have anxiety, the world we live in is hell so it's expected and it's normal and it's fine! but i've noticed people use it as an excuse or a shield and that is not okay.

OO6.

people spend time and effort on memes and starters! show a lil appreciation instead of flat out ignoring them.

we also have to take into account that this site is broken as shit so it makes connecting even harder. we can't fix tumblr, but we can change how we do things in a small way.

OO7.

another super important point. threads fizzle out! sometimes our writing doesn't match the other parties! it happens!!! this is super common and i don't think any of us should feel overwhelmed by expectations. on most of people's rules i've seen that people will not say anything but kindly soft-block someone if they don't see themselves writing with someone and i think that's great. i personally don't think that we need to let the other person know we are dropping a thread UNLESS it's something that involved a lil more time and effort. like say, you plotted something out and agreed to write it out versus randomly replying to something on the tags where both people are going in blind. like the user above says, if it's something that has been plotted out, hitting up your partner is ideal, IMO! and yeah NEVER EVER EVER feel sorry about taking time to write stuff!! if someone or something makes you feel bad because you are not pumping out fast replies, RUN! that is a red flag. taking a few weeks to reply to stuff, especially multi-para threads, is normal because we are all busy people or we get sick or tired or just don't feel like writing.

OO8.

OO9.

O1O.

straight to the point. perfect.

[sevdrag]

Fun learnings about Discord Part 2!

Well, a couple of you messaged me a few weeks ago to say thanks for #1 - especially about the blocking!! - and I've been approached today with another question, so. Names redacted because -- I have been told I'm not a part of the drama, and I do not want to BE part of the drama, I am here to be informative and help Discord dramas NOT happen. So for today's question:

So let's all gain a better understanding of some Discord moderation functions, what they can be used for, and the best (and worst) ways to use them in a community in 2025!

tl;dr: they kind of suck, and let's be real about that, but it's also because Discord is making basic assumptions about what you're doing as a mod that most people aren't.

So! Discord has three naturally built-in functions: Timeouts, Kick, and Ban. I put them in red cause they're kind of naughty, right? Timeouts stop you from posting. Being Kicked removes you from the Discord but lets you rejoin if you have an active invite. Banning removes you from the Discord and prevents you from returning unless the mods take you off of the Ban list.

In all three cases, Discord lets you input a "reason" this action is being taken. In all three cases, this reason is internal to the mod team only. It is saved into the "Audit" function of each Discord. Nothing is translated to that user. Discord don't tell that guy shit.

In fact, on the first level - the one you should use first when starting to take corrective action against your members - it's pretty clearly stated.

As previously discussed, a Timeout stops the member from posting or reacting to messages for a set period of time. To that member, the timeout simply happens. No reason is expressed; they can see the timer, but unless they have been contacted by a mod in DMs, no reason is shared.

It says it, right there in the box.

Like it or not, it's literally spelled right out in the first step of their moderation options.

Maybe if you are unfamiliar with the Timeout option you haven't seen this before now! But as the Timeout is the first step in the Discord corrective process, and you want to get used to being a mod, I encourage you to get comfortable with it. Timeout your buddy. It'll be fun.

Let me rephrase what it says in the comment box tho:

The member gets no message. Unless you DM them - which should be outside the discord so that they can reply in a decent fashion - they're not seeing what you wrote as a reason.

Here's the key to the Timeout: Users can see Discord activity, but can't respond. And for better or worse, that's the point; a Timeout is designed based on an early chat room principle called lurk moar; the definition linked reads like a meme, but is a very genuine feeling for well-established communities. The use of the Timeout gives a new member a chance to observe the community and lurk, hopefully to learn. That's the reason to choose a Timeout rather than a Kick or Ban; to give someone the opportunity to Lurk and Learn.

The point is: Once the Timeout ends, IDEALLY the situation has been calmed and the member has had a chance to see normal conversations. The mod team then keeps an eye on them after the Timeout lifts to see whether they've learnt the community feel. Ideally, everybody moves forward. If no learning has been applied, the mod team has a decision to make, but a chance was given.

What's after a Timeout? Depends on the server.

Small Server: Kick

Big Server: Ban

The next step is a Discord Kick. A kick is a ban, where the member is removed from the server -- but would be able to rejoin the server in the future given an active invite. It looks like this, when I tried to kick my Work Wife:

The "reason for kick" area is left blank -- which I will say, to Discord, is super confusing. But, I'm repeating: I don't like it, but I recognize that it Works That Way. ALSO: If you've been using regular Discord moderation protocols to move up from a Timeout into a Kick, you should at least know that this will happen and get to deal with it.

Also I kicked Atro three times today, which was fun for me and confirmation for YOU our fans that no message is sent, and that nothing has changed since the last time I tested it years ago. Atro hated every minute of it and I loved it.

For the record -- a Kick is more appropriate in a private Discord space, where invitations are scarce. A Kick says, you're not ready right now, but we might invite you back in the future.

This should be obvious to mods who have stepped up Discord actions as designed, but if you've skipped steps and are unsure now: nothing gets sent to the member. Only to your own archives. You can also learn this through Google.

The final step is a Discord Ban.

The difference between a kick and a ban is that someone kicked can then rejoin the Discord if sent a live invite. Kicks are used more in private discords where invites are rare. In a public discord where invites stay live for a long time and sometimes indefinitely, kicks mean little. A ban keeps members out of the Discord community. The mod team should decide what methods they're going to be using.

Here's the first screen you get when asking to ban an account.

And here's the second, where you can put in a reason, IF you select "Other."

So, No. It does not say "This message will be sent to the Member." it also does not say "This message is not sent to the Member and will only be preserved in the Server's Audit Section." Yeah. I agree that it sucks. I do think Discord needs to do better. I wish it did.

But. BUT! HEY IM SAYING BUTT

But I also posit

If you've done the Timeouts - which Discord makes to be your first step with a somewhat troublesome participant - it very literally tells you there that the message isn't going anywhere except your own records. If you've taken this procedural step, you've read that. You think they're suddenly gonna adjust that? Start looking around.

If you're banning people and you've never done it before -- ? What? How the hell do you know how it works? How do you know what people see, what messages they get, who they're exposed to during the process? If you're a new mod, that's a bit irresponsible, don't you think? Pressing that button, not knowing what it does or what it tells someone? Is this a 2020s thing? Cause I never would have done that in the 2000s without knowing what the process looked like. Don't be afraid to do research! Go through the whole process with a co-mod so that you're aware of each and every step, and then shape both the ban and the outside communications process to reflect your space. I literally redid this today after asked these questions. I have done these processes dozens of times, but also -- DIscord changes its operations. SO, every six months, practice banning and being banned. The few of my mods (in all fandoms -- I've nuked Murder Husband a good number of times) know it helps people see how the rules work. And also, like... prepare to get nuked yourself. A fun exercise on many levels.

Thanks for the general talk Sev, but other shit is happening.

Legit, Yep, let me do a bit of research and we'll come out with part two of this post..

What's a temp ban?

The thing about a ban is that -- the ban remains there in the Discord's records. The phrase temp ban doesn't have a clear-cut meaning in Discord right now. Because Discord's three mod tools are:

Timeouts, which let you read the server while you wait out a timer to be able to interact again;

Kicks, where you are removed from the server but can join again given an active invite; and

Bans, where you are removed on the server and put on a list that keeps you from ever joining the server again unless a mod physically removes you from said list.

So, Sev, what's a temp ban when this is what happened to me?

There is no formal Temp Ban. However, bots and procedures can give you a "temp ban" of sorts given the way the mod team has decided to act.

"Temp Ban" can mean the mods put you on a Timeout and used the wrong terminology. Fair! But if that's the case, access should be restored when the Timeout expires.

"Temp Ban" could mean that, well. You've been added to the Permanent Ban List. But it's temporary in the light of ... maybe the mods will take you off of it. Which, I guess, counts as temporary, and one I've seen before. But not the most open one.

"Temp Ban" can also use a combination of access roles, controlled by bots or otherwise, so limit access to a server while on a Timeout in ways beyond Discord's core functions. That's a bit disingenuous, but I've seen it before, with roles or bots, so we'll dive into that... in the next reblog.

ANYWAY SORRY LONG POST TL;DR

Discord ain't perfect but the admin steps are clear so like sorry if u dont read or if ur admins dont read

"Temp Ban" is such a mixed term it need its own post but my fucking mom having a hip replacement tomorrow (YELL AT SEVMOM THANKS) -- but i hope i sorted out most of it now

like the small 12 year old part of me wants the drama but on god im so old and i dont want to be dragged into things just like. please take my advice and prosper i love you fandom

byeeeeeeee

[moodymisty]

Anon that talked about Fulgrim here. The same thing is happening to Yvraine. Also this a rant sorry

She's such a cool character. I'll say that I haven't read any books on her, I only watched some yt videos and read her wiki page. But from what I gathered, she's a total badass who'll do anything for her people. Then why she's just left as "Guilliman's eldar gf"? Because the people who say those sorts of things don't know how to see female characters. The elf being paired with the humans is essentially an ancient thing now and it also comes from this. But, at it's core (and in the case of Warhammer), it's fetishization.

Let's take a closer look at this: Guilliman is, obviously, the golden boy of the Imperium. He's an hard-working and logical man, in many of the main he is the main character or an incredibly important character. Of course, somebody will relate to him, they'll say: "he's just like me". Then comes Yvraine. She's from a different cultures, she looks much different and she, and her kind, are considered barbarians. She and Guilliman develop an "partnership" on a bases of a treaty but they still hate eachother. They tolerate one another for the good of their people. These people, who previously related to Guilliman, will toy with plot so Guilliman, basically them in this context, will get the xeno big titty gf and live happily ever after. They do this because they fetishize how different Yvraine is. They want the main lead to get the girl, essentially.

I've seen on Reddit (god forbid) people actually ask if this relationship is canon. They depict Yvraine as an hungry whore for the human dick. This went to the other Primarchs too. They make a list of which xeno races would be most compatible with each primach. Fir example, I've seen a lot of art showing the Khan and Lelith Hesperax together. My brother in Christ, that woman hates with all her heart pregnancy and pregnant women. I seriously think she's a lesbian (if it isn't canon already). Poor Khan is stuck in the Warp, probably wanting to go back to his sons. He'll not look at an Drukhari and say: "I'll smash that" 💀. Lelith won't fall at her knees begging for his cock, she'll already either have fought him or is fighting him.

Sexualization is completely fine. Hell, I fantasize about the Primarchs or other characters from any piece of fiction all day long. But when this fanon headcanons become canon to some people, I think we should tone it down. I laughed at the Guilliman x Yvraine jokes in the beginning, but these jokes should just stop, they're unfunny now 😕

The Yvraine x Guilliman is totally canon guys posts are always so insane to me because, they've literally spoken twice. Shortly after guilliman woke up, and before Yvraine left. And Guilliman was very firm in saying 'thanks for bringing me back, but that's it. please leave.'

Like there was no UWU THANK YOU YVRAINE~ and no OOOOO~ MON'KEIGH ~

Like i don't mind the shitposting to be clear. If people want to ship it or meme about it thats fine i don't fucking care, what's frustrating is now that it's been a few years since that event happened, people are coming into the fandom thinking that this stuff is like, actually real. And they have some political secret romance going on and Yvraine is going around getting that primarch dick on the reg. And yeah the fact that she's one of the few female characters i'm sure doesn't help matters.

I just wish the memeing wouldn't blend into people's actual interpretation of the lore, like it has with a lot of fans. Brain melting literally.

[the-indigo-symphony]

Got a hate ask on my other blog (funnier-as-a-system) today. I'm not gonna respond to it directly, but I'm gonna go over it fully just as an example of why I don't take anti-endos or sysmeds seriously and find them to be just bullying assholes who don't know what they're talking about. Apologies for the rare discourse post, but I felt it would be useful to have a personal example I can point to if I ever get any more asks than I already have about why I block anti-endos and sysmeds and don't want them on my blogs.

[ID: A screenshot of an anonymous ask, which reads: ""Systems" aren't real. Please stop being ableist against people with DID and our struggles. Pretending to be one of us while simultaneously mocking us makes you look like a piece of shit. Also, DID isn't fucking funny, you're just cruel and ableist. Go see a psychiatrist, get your personality disorders and Munchausens taken care of, and stop pretending to have DID when you don't. We don't need you, our community is better off without teenagers faking DID as a meme. To be honest, I wish you and literally everyone like you were more likely to kill yourself as someone with a real mental illness, because you don't deserve to be alive if this is what you're doing with your life. You're just a delusional bully and neo-nazi" ./ end ID]

Starting from the top, apparently anyone with DID who's ever described themselves as a system is faking now. Nevermind that it's been a term in psychology and the community for decades now! All systems are fake!

I have DID. I've said as much many times. Not that I think this person would consider this a counterargument, but I feel it deserves restating considering a fair amount of my posts are specifically about my DID and managing the symptoms of it.

If I want to find humor in my own disorder, I'm going to. I'm not going to resign myself to misery and self-hate just to please some randos on the Internet. I crawled my way out of the pit of self-hate and am not just gonna jump in there again just to avoid a couple asks and assholes. And I'd make a point here about systems that don't come from trauma or aren't disordered, but what's the point of that when they think literally all systems are fake?

Ohoho! Disableism towards other mental disorders! Isn't the irony sweet?

Not to toot my own horn, but I just love the lack of awareness when it comes to "we don't need you." No, I guess you don't need me... but you'll be going without the work I've done both online and offline to teach people about dissociation and plurality. Not to mention the terms I've coined that make people feel seen, the experiences I've talked about that make people feel less alone, the building of spaces to let others talk about their own problems and experiences, and the general promotion I've done of plural representation in media. No, you don't need me, but I've been doing work to assist the DID and wider plural communities for years now. And what have you been doing? Sending hate asks to people with DID for being too happy?

I'm an adult. I've mentioned before that I go to university and have a job. Seems like even online, I can't escape the assumption that I'm a teenager, smh. Also, I'm much more worried about the teenagers you might be sending this to than any kind of unquantifiable harm a couple teenagers faking DID could do, considering how clearly you wish to do harm with your words. Especially considering the next few sentences...

Oh, so we're just moving onto blatant suicide baiting and admitting you want systems to die. Got it. Totally not a bigot, right.

Wait... "Real mental illnesses"? Didn't you just accuse me of having several earlier? Or do personality disorders and Munchausen Syndrome not count? (Also, do they think being suicidal is a requirement to be mentally ill? They know not all disorders or presentations of disorders involve suicidality, right?)

Well, you got the delusional part right (which, side note, do you think it's impossible for people to have both DID and psychosis? Big yikes even if no, but that's what these asks always seem to imply), but I think this post might be the closest anyone can call "bullying", considering I'm not giving you an opportunity to respond as I tear down your argument. But maybe the definition of peer abuse changed to *checks notes* running a blog talking about plurality in a positive manner since I last checked.

These people do know what a Neo-Nazi is, right? They know what a Nazi is? Because it feels like people just use it as a stand-in for "general asshole" when it means a specific sort of ideology and bigotry. Ironic that they'd be so pissed about "mockery" and treating serious topics "as a meme", but then they go and misuse a term for a very dangerous kind of ideology and person.

Alright, I think I got that out of my system. Please be careful out there, guys! It feels like the number of hate asks I've seen people get has been going up. I'm in a stable enough place to make a demonstration out of this, but don't push yourself to have a snappy comeback or write essays responding to these assholes if you don't think you're up for it. Hell, I rarely write things like this myself, I just chose this ask to respond to because it was such a clear example of how hypocritical and foolish this particular brand of assholes is that I couldn't pass up the opportunity to break it down.

[suckmybearings]

ooc —

Thank you to all of my current mutuals who've reached out through my interest checker (and the little discord call), and I continue to welcome those who haven't done so, but someday may want to! Something came up not that long ago, when I inadvertently tripped a mutual's RSD (god, I'm still very sorry for it). More than ever, I feel that I need to give a little bit of IRL info.

I am, first and foremost, a workaholic. Please, please, please understand this. I work 3rd Shift (graveyard shift hours). I get up at 8:20PM, clock in at 10:30PM, and then clock out at 6:30AM, five days a week. This schedule, though, is new. Before this, for two months, I was straddling 3rd Shift (4:00AM) and 1st Shift (12:00PM) to help cover for another coworker while she was out for maternity leave. Even though I was supposed to leave at 12PM, I wouldn't actually clock out until 4-6PM every day for two months, because there's just so much to do. On top of this, I'm cross-trained in different departments; I keep all four departments in my room, across all three shifts, on the same page of communication involving management, the quality team, and other departments not in the room; I'm available when someone has a question or needs direction; I am in a consistent state of training someone into my primary department. (And when my factory manager is feeling extra generous, he'll 'volunteer' me for company-paid business courses when they crop up, so I have to split my time away from factory production to be in those classes.) It is only because I've taken on the responsibility, two weeks ago, of picking up a coworker and then dropping her off after work that I've been able to clock out on time (because I have no choice now lol). And even though I am working strictly 8hrs now, I feel more exhausted than ever. Maybe my body is trying to catch up on all the lost sleep and stress? I don't know. When I get home, I have about a 10-20min window before I'm nodding off at the computer. My only real free time is on the weekend (if I'm not volunteering to work a Saturday), but I still have responsibilities. I have a wonderful, patient, and (all things considered) forgiving man who takes care of me, our cat, and our apartment, and I try to spend time with him as much as I can. I also have my 10-year-long friend and writing partner, Katie, over at in @deceitfulcharmer. We've been developing, plotting, writing a massive original scifi/romance story together for years, and we've only really started roleplaying them this year(?), so that story will always take priority for me; it's our baby. <3 And then to top it all off: I am deeply introverted and private, and so my batteries for interacting directly with people are usually depleted before I ever get back from work. With that all being said— I'm here and I want to be here. I want to interact and roleplay Wheeljack, a muse that I've been in love with since I first watched TFP in 2012. (Factoid, it was TFP that even introduced me to the Tumblr roleplaying scene itself. And even though I loved Wheeljack, I came into the community as Megatronus/Megatron.) I explained to Katie that I have never played such a dauntingly sociable, go-getter muse like this, lol. Even when I'm exhausted and stressed, it doesn't influence him or his moods. He's literally just, "You done over there? Good. Let's go." 'Cause he's got people to see, people to talk to; he's not going to be held up by my shit. TL;DR Did you send Wheeljack an ask or prompt for a meme? Did you message me in Tumblr DM? Have you been dropping messages in our Discord? Did you create a starter for Wheeljack because I liked your starter call? Have you been seeing me active through Wheeljack or posting music/wreckerisms? Does it show me online in Discord? But no response from me to you? I promise that I've seen it; I promise that I have it drafted. ;-; I'm just an overworked, exhausted scumbag who has never had such an outgoing muse that has simultaneously attracted so many people to him. It's just going to be slow. So damn slow. But I will get to you. <3

[minijenn]

Weird/Dumb UF Comments from Across the Years

Feeling spicy and nostalgic for some of the bullshit I've had to put up with both in the old UF era and the new so I figured I'd compile some of the most insane and pathetic comments I've gotten on the fic (and on other fics about UF because people are really that dumb) and share them with you because some of these you really can't make up. These people speak for themselves in the way they act about a goddamn fanfiction of all things, so have a whole bunch of them (some with context, some without) for your enjoyment. Mind you these are primarily from across FF.net, AO3, tumblr asks, and DeviantArt, most of them are anon comments because Cowardice, and all of them are 100% fucking real things I've gotten in the past and had to look at with my own eyes so now you do too. So with that said, Let's go:

Let's start with some relatively recent stuff, like this DeviantArt comment I got the other day:

Chat is it homophobic to tell a bisexual that their comfort ship is a fetish?

I... ok. (I'm very tired)

Ok this is a really stupid take when you consider Connie wasn't even in over half of Steven Universe episodes but go off I guess (dude parrots this point constantly like jesus you're so boring get some new material bro)

That feel when you reboot your fanfic and people are still mad about it

Now, let's throw it back to old UF and that time someone threatened to kill my cats (no really) on top of hitting on me??? Bruh

Oh we just straight up out here being polyphobic ok

I don't even know what to say about this one its just... bonkers

This one's just become a straight up meme over on my discord and you can probs tell why

Meltdown on main ig (heads up there's a slur in this one)

And ya'll wondered why I stopped writing old UF like...???

Again. Literal fucking temper tantrum

The way people put UF up on this goddamn pedistal like christ my guy its just a silly fanfic oy

There are three types of UF fans...

When you leave aimless nonsense comments on all three of an author's fics but in the end you still are basically screaming into the void

This one was on Keys and I... (raises hand) you know what? (puts hand down) Not worth it.

Chat is it weird to simp over a random fanfic writer you never met to an unhealthy degree

Man I guess this dude has never seen the metric fuckton billion GF AU fics out there also wow ok

Chat is it queerbaiting to slow burn to a ship that is eventually gonna be canon

Actual mysogynist moment (these people really had no shame)

Jesus (again slur warning)

Fucking big pharma??? huh??? DRAFTED???? BRUH

Yeah idk if I can top that level of crazy so that's all I got for now but hey maybe I'll revisit this post in the future. or not, idk fuck it fuck all this Im gonna go take a nap

[rebel-wrath]

In The Anatomy of Satire, which is so far the best book about satire I've read, and which I absolutely recommend if you want a deeper understanding of satire than a few blog posts can convey, Gilbert Highet proposes certain things a satire must have. If you want to know if something is satire, check to see if it has at least one of the following.

A generic definition by the author i.e. “this is satire” - does the author state, perhaps in a foreword, that the book is a satire? It is common to include a "this is a work of fiction" disclaimer in books and some websites. Sometimes such a disclaimer will include a statement that the work is a satire, as on the Pipet Monkey blog.

Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental or is intended purely as satire, parody or spoof of such persons and is not intended to communicate any true or factual information about that person.

Pipet Monkey blog

Pedigree, or a line of descent from classic satires - does the author acknowledge or credit the influence of previous satirists on their work.

Theme and method used by earlier satirists - as an example, my novel Noun of Noun and Adjective, which is being serialised on here, is set on a disc-shaped world that has a galactic-sized world tree growing through its centre. This is obviously inspired by Terry Pratchett's Discworld, and can be seen as a satire simply because the location is so similar to the work of a previous satirist.

Quoting the words of a distinguished satirist - many satires open with a direct quote from a previous satire.

Describe a painful or absurd situation or foolish or wicked person or group as vividly as possible and make people see the truth they habitually ignore - this is, after all, the primary purpose of satire. This is the why of satire, and without it can a work really be called satire at all?

Uses uncompromisingly clear language to describe unpleasant people to shock readers by compelling them to look at a sight they had missed or shunned, making them at first realise the truth and then protest against it - this really builds upon the previous point.

Does it try to invoke amusement and contempt in readers - again, the why of satire. Many novels seek to make people think, but satire seeks to make people angry. The purpose of comedy is to amuse, but the purpose of satire is to make people act. It's not enough to make readers see the world in a new way, or laugh at some silly joke, satire aims to make people angry at the world, at the unfairness of it, and to take action. By ridiculing the powerful, satire takes away some of their power, and by making people angry, satire aims the focus of that anger at injustice. Even if the action is only to change the way the reader behaves, that's often enough, if enough readers change their behaviour. The satirist aims to be the pebble that starts the avalanche.

My own contribution, based on the last point is, does it punch up? Anyone can ridicule the weak and the powerless, anyone can be a Dave Chapelle or Ricky Gervais, and talk about trans people, but unless you believe in some ridiculous conspiracy theories, this isn't ridiculing the powerful. The mainstream media and governments in a lot of countries do enough to make people angry at whatever ethnic, religious, or gender scapegoat they've painted a target on, the satirist takes aim at the powerful.

All satires have some element of the above (it's how we know they are satire) but also include many other things. These are listed below, for those who want to know how to write a satire.

THE HOW

Real people - as shown in the disclaimer above, satires often include fictionalised versions of real people. These are often written about in lurid colours with unforgettable clarity, exaggerated to extremes but somehow true to what we recognise about the person.

Real people can also be satirised in meme form, but because memes are so short, essentially just a snapshot, there's much less opportunity to describe a person's failings. Rather than go into detail, a meme satirises a single moment, something that person is well-known for, for example Boris Johnson hiding in a fridge, as on the cover of Attack of the 50 ft Trans Woman.

Brisk comic dialogue - if there's going to be an example of brisk comic dialogue, it's going to be from Terry Pratchett's Discworld, which has the best comic dialogue. Here's a short conversation between Vimes and Death in The Fifth Elephant.

Vimes: “Are you Death?” IT'S THE SCYTHE, ISN'T IT? PEOPLE ALWAYS NOTICE THE SCYTHE. Vimes: “I’m going to die?” POSSIBLY. Vimes: “Possibly? You turn up when people are possibly going to die?” OH YES. IT'S QUITE THE NEW THING. IT'S BECAUSE OF THE UNCERTAINTY PRINCIPLE. Vimes: "What’s that?” I'M NOT SURE. Vimes: “That’s very helpful.” I THINK IT MEANS PEOPLE MAY OR MAY NOT DIE. I HAVE TO SAY IT'S PLAYING HOB WITH MY SCHEDULE, BUT I TRY TO KEEP UP WITH MODERN THOUGH.

Uses bold vivid language of its own time – Most satires contain cruel and dirty words, and all of them (except memes) contain trivial and comic words, nearly all contain slang, and nearly all use accurate descriptive words that also startle or dismay. Brutally direct phrases, taboo expressions, nauseating imagery, and callous and crude language are often used, too. Memes are exceptions because many contain so few words at all, so the normal rules don't apply.

An example from my own work, Noun of Noun and Adjective, plays upon the idea that Black people in books (and only Black people) have their skin colour described by food. This is reversed in the novel so that only white people have their skin colour described by food, and although the descriptions are accurate, they also startle, because it is such an uncommon type of description, but it achieves the purpose of making people think.

Such descriptive phrases include gammon, soft-shelled almonds, white skin tanned the sun darkened light brown of freshly cooked pastry or the pale brown of a freshly made milk cookie, the golden tan of a deliciously roasted chicken, and a character with so many freckles that skin which should have seemed like butter beans (...) was closer to the hue of baked ones. The one exception to food descriptions for white characters is a character whose skin is the colour most make up companies like to call Nude as if only white people can be naked.

Realistic, urgent, combative - a question that bounds around a lot lately on the internet is - is satire dead? In the time of Trump, and the aftermath of Brexit, with the real world so often seeming like an exaggerated worst-case fictionalised dystopian version of the real world, can the real world be satirised? To be honest, I wasn't sure, so I decided to ask a panda. Is satire still necessary?

I also wasn't sure why this Panda speaks English, but presumably it is one of the former Edinburgh Zoo pandas.

Okay, now that this pressing question has been firmly pandanswered, let's look at in a little more detail. In 1729 when Swift wrote A Modest Proposal and suggested poor Irish families relieve poverty by selling their children to wealthy landowners as food, there was an apparently serious suggestion going around that the Irish could defeat British subjugation by refusing to have children. No more Irish, no more Irish subjugation.

The world has always had real situations or serious ideas much worse than anything satire can create. Sure, for a while there it seemed like every real news article had been prophesised by The Onion, but that only shows how astute The Onion writers truly are.

The purpose of satire is to make people angry enough to act - in a time when real news seems exaggerated to extremes and people still aren't acting satire is more important than ever. And a panda said so, so you know it must be true.

The Onion's satires were so realistic we've seen them come true - they were a prophetic warning, but people simply laughed and moved on. The failure of The Onion was in making people act, because the worst of what has happened could have been headed off before it occurred.

Satire isn't dead. It's needed more than ever. But it could be more combative.

Minimum of convention, maximum of reality - stories have structure. Structure is a very important part of dramatic convention. There are countless books and blog posts about the structure of storytelling, so many in fact that the 3 act-structure has become such an internalised view of the modern Western mind that readers and viewers consider all fiction under the guise of the 3-act structure. Agents and publishers will often turn away books that don't adhere to this structure.

The three act structure dates back to Aristotle and was used by Shakespeare. Other Western narrative structures fit within the 3 act structure, for example The Hero's Journey and Freytag's Pyramid can fit within the 3 act structure, as does the 5 act structure, which is just the 3 act structure with 2 of the acts further divided.

Reality does not follow a narrative structure and, mirroring reality, satire doesn't have to follow one, either. With most fiction, the story is the point, but with satire the story is just a vehicle, and storytelling methods can be picked up or discarded with ease.

Satire is improvised, structureless, spontaneous, wildly unpredictable, and asymmetrical, which is hard to convey in narratives which are bound by structure. A play has much more versatility here, because each performance can be different if the actors have something of a free reign, but how does a book become improvised? Well, I'll tell you, but not right now. There will be another post on satire coming soon, so follow me if you're interested.

THIS CHAPTER IS CHAPTER FOUR - The Details

NEXT CHAPTER IS CHAPTER FIVE - Lethal Weapon

ALL - Noun of Noun and Adjective

[afrenchwriter]

20 questions for fic writers

I was tagged by @andromeda4004, thank you dear 🥰 Always an interesting game to play, share, and reflect!

How many works do you have on ao3?

17

What's your total ao3 word count?

313,513

What fandoms do you write for?

I launched my AO3 account with a Red Dead Redemption fanfic, and then I discovered Good Omens, and then... well, you know how it goes with this fandom ❤️ That being said, I also had fun exploring the seas during the golden age of piracy (Our Flag Means Death) and the lands of a Norse God (Loki).

Top five fics by kudos:

For His Eyes Only (GO - James Bond AU, M rated, 69K)

Getting Closer (GO - fluffy post-S1 fic, G rated, 3K)

To the End of the Ocean (OFMD - post-S1 fic, M rated, 71K)

Whatever Comes After (RDR - canon divergence AU, M rated, 84K)

Ties & Other Obsessions (Loki - 5+1 fic, T rated, 4K)

Do you respond to comments?

Always! I treasure each and every one of them ❤️ But I have to confess that these past few months have been a bit hard (not much energy, unfortunately), and I'm still trying to catch up on all the lovely comments I've received.

What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Mmh, good question... I'm afraid I don't know how to do that 🙃 Even the last fic I wrote for the GO historical minisode event (Shadow & Light) was supposed to end on an angsty note, and at the last minute, I decided to add a happy epilogue! But if we're talking bittersweet ending, then it would be Sharp Endings & New Beginnings, a post-S2 Loki fic... If you've seen the show, then you know 🌳

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

Hard to say, considering my previous answer 😇 but all the long fics listed above have a very happy ending!

Do you get hate on fics?

I did, once, on my OFMD fic... It was a shock, but also an interesting experience: it pushed me to question my narrative choices (and, in the end, confirm them).

Do you write smut?

I do... And I have a second AO3 account dedicated to it 😎 (I wonder how many people will reach this part of the tag game and find this out, eheh)

Craziest crossover:

None for now... (For His Eyes Only cannot be considered a crossover since Crowley is basically James Bond 😎).

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I don't think so!

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes! @pavel-pedro has started to translate To the End of the Ocean in Russian... and whether it will be one day finished or not (I know how time-consuming such a work can be!), I'll forever be grateful for the gesture ❤️

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I'm currently co-writing a fic, actually, with my lovely friend @sabotage-on-mercury: a GO/Fleabag AU! We're taking our time for all sorts of reasons, but we want to make sure we deliver quality content, considering the source materials!

All time favorite ship?

The Ineffable Partners, of course. How can you beat a relationship between two beings who have known each other for millennia and have gone through all sorts of ups and downs, down here and out there?

Or, as Neil would say: why? Love ❤️

What's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

*insert awkward look monkey puppet meme* I don't know, man... I have too many WIPs piling up lately, and not enough energy to work seriously on any of them... I do hope I'll finish all of my GO WIPs someday. But the one WIP I doubt I'll ever come back to (although it makes me sad because the outline I have for this story is WILD) is the sequel of my long RDR fic, called What We Owe to Each Other.

What are your writing strengths?

I've been told several times that I'm good at capturing a character's voice, and that makes me really happy. I'm a huge cinephile and good dialogues, "natural" dialogues, are so important - I'm glad to be able to consider this as one of my strengths! I would like to say developing a plot, too - I love writing long fics and exploring characters' arcs - but I think I'm still too close to the source material for now to consider it a real strength... Room to grow!

What are your writing weaknesses?

I'm a slow writer; I need to develop my ability to use imagery and metaphors; and I need better organization when it comes to writing drafts and editing the whole thing!

Thoughts on dialogue in another language?

Well... I'm French and I write my stories in English + I work as a translator, so... Yes to dialogues in other languages, always (then translated, of course)!

First fandom you wrote in?

I'm not exactly sure, but it must have been between those three: Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, and Artemis Fowl (ah, teenage years!).

Favorite fic you've written?

That's a hard one... Whatever Comes After will forever have a special place in my heart since it's the fic that 1/ brought me back to writing 2/ helped me prove to myself that I was able to complete a long story. Senses & Sensitivity was my first fic for the GO fandom, and 1/ it made me feel confident to write more for the Ineffable Partners 2/ I made some great connections thanks to it (hello @hasturswig! ❤️). I don't think I've ever had more fun than when I was writing For His Eyes Only (and the enthusiastic comments along the way really helped! ❤️). But, to finish, I'd like to mention When All Is Said and Done, a GO fanfic in the South Downs that just poured out of me after the S2 finale... It really made me experience the magic of writing again.

If you've reached the end, thank you for reading! Feel free to ask me anything... And to consider yourself tagged if you want to play this game, too! ❤️

[ur-friendly-nbhd-cardassian]

Hello there!

a little "about me" post

my art

♡ My AO3 ♡ My Ko-fi ♡ My Cara ♡ My Pillowfort ♡ My Wattpad ♡

I'm a very long-winded person and when I like doing something, I like doing A LOT of it. I have a lot of fandoms, I like pretty art and cats, I write and muse about stuff - it's all a huge mess if I put it in one place. So that's why I decided to split my obsessions into several neat piles, so people could have an easier time deciding whether to follow, ignore or block my stuff according to their preferences.

Order an OC commission on my Ko-fi ♡

Here are my blogs which you're free to explore and follow as you like:

» ur-friendly-nbhd-cardassian

The main blog where I shout into nothingness. But where I also post lots of Star Trek, mainly about Cardassians (bc I love them). I do not do Garashir, tho, look for that particular bit elsewhere (not bc I don't ship them, but bc I'm severely overfed to the point of having an allergic rection). My focus Cardassian is Damar, followed by Dukat. I'm super open to reblogging your OCs, though. My other favorite fandoms you might come across on this blog (which I don't post enough about to make a separate blog): Mass Effect, Discworld, Tolkien, Detroit: Become Human, Apex Legends, Marvel/DC, Hunger Games. I also ramble, post about writing in general, reblog some fitting memes and pets/animals, share my own photography, reblog art etc.

» pixie-in-a-moonlantern

The initiated already know: Baldur's Gate 3 brainrot blog. I post my OC screenshots, my own and reblogged fanfiction, reblog A LOT of blorbos (Halsin, Gortash, Raphael,..), whether it's art or headcanons. I do not have any VP tools, so my screens are only lightly edited to be prettier, and that's it. I prefer to avoid posting negative stuff, so it's just batshit obsession and thoughts.

» shaved-wampa

Diehard fans surely got the joke: Star Wars brainrot, and that goes for every conceivable piece of the fandom, even the bits you might not agree with - I don't discriminate. My all-time favorites are: Obi-Wan Kenobi, Bode Akuna. Yes, just the two, because I also have a huge pile of characters I love, but don't really focus on: Padmé, Ahsoka, Ventress, Plo Koon, Kit Fisto, Din Djarin, lil Grogu, Cody, infinite number of other Clones, ... soooo many. My top two are just the guys I actually write about. Bode's and Obi-Wan's fics are unfortunately on hold right now (sigh).

» cyber-vianne-77

As the name suggests, this is my Cyberpunk 2077 blog. I used to do a lot of virtual photography in that one - and yes, this time I mean real VP, though still no paid tools, just vanilla and free mods. I love Goro Takemura and ship my fem V with him heavily - wrote a dope fanfiction about them called 'Broken' (and following parts 'Gimme Danger' and 'Last Caress'). I reblog other cp77 vp (especially of Goro) and fanart. I don't currently play the game or shoot photos, but I have a large collection I plan to drizzle over the next few months, until I maybe decide to go back to cp77 for a while again and finally play Phantom Liberty that's been waiting for me for a long time now xD.

» sergeant-sassy

A mix of obsessions with one man in common: John Hopkins, a British actor :). Seen in Midsomer Murders and lately heard in various games as a voice actor. I've fallen for him for the first time 20 years ago - and he returned to me as Erend in Horizon games (Zero Dawn & Forbidden West). I love the games and its characters and take a lot of screenshots, too :). So it's a weird dump of Ereloy, Kotaloy (because Noshir) and Midsomer Murders :3

» goodness-all-around

My "assorted dopeness" reblogs. It's getting 0 attention so I just usually post shit to cardassian or to my private collection to avoid overflowing my main.

I will update the list if I happen to change things or add/remove blogs. Thanks for your attention and see you in the activity notifs! 💛

Bits of trivia: I'm Czech, cis woman (bi & poly and, frankly, hyper), 32, in a relationship, mom to a 5yo boy, a writer struggling to finish and publish her first original novel, drowning her sorrows in fanfic instead :). I got to most of my fandoms quite late in life, because where I live this info only started to properly flow in with the coming of the internet. I'm usually a casual fan, though when I hit a gold vein I can get a bit obsessed. I love writing fanfiction, which is mostly why I'm here on this site. I self-insert a lot (therapy writing) and usually ship us, with the rare occasion of finding a couple where I can identify with one of them (or mold them to my image because I like or even fancy them). I've spent my life believing I was hetero and discovered I'm not only once I (finally) was in a hetero relationship and had a kid, so... my ships are also hetero. It's a habit, not hating, I don't discredit any gay ships (maybe quietly to myself when they don't make any sense to me character-wise, lol). My AO3 account: XindiChick I usually try to write even the most niche of my ships in a way that doesn't require much knowledge of the original, so you're welcome to browse and read to your heart's content if you happen to like my style. I welcome any interactions, especially comments, because I don't get many.

I think it's something everyone should always be aware of, but I've also seen many people ignoring this unsaid rule:

HATERS NEED NOT INTERACT

- lest they get blocked. I'm not here to argue with you about why I like certain characters and why you think I shouldn't. Go simp for your own top picks on your own blogs and leave me alone. Same goes for any of my personal trivia I shared.

Also:

DISCLAIMER: My blogs are a safe space for everyone who doesn't go around hating on everyone else. I will block indiscriminantly assholes of every shape, color, faith, gender, orientation etc., just as I will happily interact with good people of any kind. Idc what your deal is, I just wanna enjoy being on this platform, so if you plan to rain on it, don't expect me to indulge you.

Icons by: @rpschtuff

By the way, a fun fact known only to people aware of my main fanfic novel, The Casualty, the Cardassian in my username was actually born Bajoran, but raised Cardassian, which is why she's a Cardassian in heart and spirit. She's your friendly reminder that not all Cardies are the same and as a nation have the capacity to be much better than how they were presented in the DS9, which is what she's trying to achieve.

[goodluckclove]

On Being Seen

I'll warn you in advance, friends and colleagues - I might not have quite an optimistic take on this one. In advance I'll say that I'm totally all right, there's no need to comfort or fawn or worry. It's just been a pretty crazy couple of days and it's sort of left me in a kind of perturbed state of mind.

I feel as if I've developed a reputation on Writeblr as someone strongly supportive of other writers through their struggles and successes, and I figure it might be useful to see that I speak as someone who has their fair share of doubts. Consider it a show of neurosis that supports me as your steadfast advocate in creative growth and potential.

I'll put it under a read more. It's nothing triggering I don't think, I'm just a little embarrassed to have it fully visible under what I still consider to be a relatively professional space. Or at least a space for me as a professional whose brand involves not being very professional.

Nevertheless.

I debated for a long time self-publishing Blind Trust. I went back and forth every so often for weeks, and my poor wife had to deal with the brunt of my strange excuses not to do it. It really came down to one big question, which was...why?

Why am I publishing this? And for money, no less? That's weird. Why would anybody support that? It wouldn't deter me from writing if I never published any of the Songbird Elegies. I'd still write them. I've been writing stories for almost 20 years that no one has ever read and no one will probably ever read.

Sure, I have the fantasies of relative cult notoriety. People making fanart of my characters and sharing weird memes about my plot points. Finding comfort in the words and stories I've created to comfort myself. When I was still considered schizoaffective my dad gave me a copy of Flow My Tears the Policeman Said by Philip K. Dick and said that he was "like us". If that happened to someone else with one of my books it would mean the world to me.

Then again, would it? Because in my actual, real, physical life I am terrible at taking praise. It's like trying to catch a ball from the other side of a brick wall. If you ever pass me on the street I'm guaranteed to be wearing soundproof headphones and blasting music to keep anyone from talking to me. You might catch my eye and I'll smile and nod, maybe toss a compliment your way, but if you try to have a conversation and I do not know you I will absolutely just keep walking. I can't do it.

I love people and I'm terrified of people. It's always been this way.

It's easier online. I mean it when I say that I'm open to anyone here just starting a conversation with me about anything. There's already the unspoken assumption that we're all already weird, so I don't have to think too hard about your motivations. But still, large amounts of praise and positive reinforcement make me deeply uncomfortable. I've been trying to work on that for years, but I find most advice on building self-worth deeply unhelpful.

It's not like I'd prefer hate. I think I'm just not used to being noticed either way.

This is the first time I've made an honest effort to put my work, and by proxy myself (all writers are brands now, says the publishing industry as a whole) on display online. And for the most part it's been great! I enjoy the connections I've made here. The promise of making more. There are so many skilled storytellers here that it gives me a lot of hope and excitement for the future of literature.

But it's weird. It's really weird.

Most of the time I see it as another social media client. I stand by the posts I make and do them for fun, but I also do them to maintain a presence and draw in more attention. I studied to do things like this for work before. I picked like three social media management tactics that I thought I could remember when I was 18 and just stuck by them. And then occasionally I go oh wait. This isn't some nonprofit. This isn't a start-up for tech assholes. This is me.

And that's weird.

It's not a massive following I have, but it's more than I've ever had before under my own personal and creative writing. I published short stories and articles, but I never heard anything from them. There are short stories I have on online journals that I genuinely do not know if anyone has read. Here, I see people like things and I'm like huh. I feel like a mummy or a ghoul. I do not understand what people are doing.

One part of my brain takes this information and says that it's probably proof that when I publish Blind Trust, some people will buy it. People have expressed interest already. Which means they're probably interested, I think. I post excerpts of my writing and people seem to enjoy it enough to click a button or leave a comment. That's cool. I don't get why it happens, but it's very cool and it makes me happy.

At the same time there's this undercurrent of paranoia. I don't get it. And I don't think I ever will. That's essentially been my only coping mechanism for publishing at this point - I don't know if it'll work, but I might as well try and if I do something will probably happen.

I know I'm a writer. At this point it would be ridiculous to say I wasn't. I'm a professional, working writer, and experienced enough to know that saying all that doesn't say much in terms of quality.

Am I a good writer? I don't really know what that means. I like Blind Trust. I'm reading it for the fourth time as I edit it again and I genuinely enjoy it. So someone who thinks like me and has similar tastes to myself might feel the same way. I don't really know who that person might be. Statistically I imagine they have to exist somewhere. And that there's at least a handful of them.

Imposter Syndrome is real and I don't think it ever goes away. I'd like to think that it's one of those things where you think about it less and less, and this is just the first night in maybe five months that I'm really thinking about it.

I'm not expecting to make a ton of money off my first book. In fact, I probably will be sick from anxiety with any purchase I get for the first year, because it means that someone spent human money on writing I am happy to just give them for free.

But this is going to be my job. I want this to be my job so I can spend more time doing it. Because I've dedicated so much time to doing all of this, it means I get to spend a lot of my day getting other writers to write even a little bit of their own stories. And that's so important to me.

I don't know. I don't really have a neat end to this. I'm forcing myself to actually follow through with posting it, and then to continue keeping it up even though it feels incredibly vulnerable to be, in my opinion, this self-indulgent and whiny. It's insecure. I'm still insecure. I'm in therapy and on medication and there's more shit I got to do in life.

Still, I'm telling myself that my version of being a Professional Writer is to showcase emotional pitfalls like this. Newer writers might know that you can sometimes have a night where you might not be in despair, per say, but certainly deep confusion, and then come back the next day and keep on working. I stand by what I mean when I say that the craft should not be entirely miserable. It is still maybe 25% inconvenient to me, and I am currently in that less-desirable quarter.

So what am I doing? Wife got us Jersey Mike's, so I had a yummy sandwich. Kafka is sitting on my calves, just behind my laptop monitor. I'm listening to my soul/funk playlist while Wife plays Hell Divers for the first time. Later we're going to play a board game.

But for now, I'm going to keep editing my goddamned novel.

Blind Trust out in June. Get ready people, because I'm not.

[meirimerens]

cleaning out this account of last night's ruckus because posting when sleep-deprived & going along with (even gentle) egging is Not productive and frankly did not do much beyond rallying people to heehee and haha and feel a sense of moral superiority which was not something i meant to & should have fostered by continuing to engage, cos that was not going to give us anything.

i do apologize firmly and fully for last night's mess and noise. i should have cut it short, should have said less, should gotten my ass to bed because I was in no state of mind to attempt cool-headed discussions, and it is my fault for not having had the discipline to sleep on it. it wasn't then, and it is not now, any kind of witch-hunt. i did not name names and i did not show anything on purpose, but i should have said even less, for one of my tags, which did not strike me as potentially too identifying for comfort when sleep-deprived, made them pretty identifiable, and i firmly reiterate my apologies for it should not have happened. people deserve to be left alone to do some reflecting and growing, and i have repeated it as such. this thing should be talked about as a wider problem and not be pinned on individuals, even if it easier. from what i had remembered, the artist/s had already been made aware of how unsavory the depictions were, and had just kept going, but this is something i should have checked for myself. I didn't, and for that I'm sorry.

i do very much stand by the fact that only drawing the one non-white guy like Wreck-it-Ralph when he canonically is profoundly average beyond being tall, while all the white characters get to have normal proportions (if comically smaller than him) is, at the very least, "sus", and worth interrogating even within the context of heavy stylization, because it's not like stylization has never been used to racist extents. this is an opinion i hold and am not particularly inclined to budge on. i do not believe it is conscious, or comes from a will to harm. but i think it's real silly and deserves reflection. this is a trope i've seen spanning fandoms, that every fandom with a white guy x nonwhite guy popular ship has to reckon with at some point, and every time you got people who think it's sus as fuck, nonwhite people who take the time and effort to explain how and why, and people, including nonwhite people themselves, who think it's not a big deal. i have both my own personal opinions on caricature (which are that you can do so while still not falling into racialized depictions) and no power nor desire to change anyone's minds. those two opinions can and do coexist, and even people who will relate to burakh on the same basis will have varying degrees of tolerance for this, and their opinions on the matter. let's just say there's room for everyone.

discussions from indigenous russian &/or central/east asian people on how the fandom treats artemy as the one nonwhite guy in one of the most popular pairings have been going on for years: i was coming across them before i even got here. but my personal experience of 4 years of seeing such depictions and reading them be criticized by people it affects and my personal exasperation towards mischaracterizations bordering on racism developed from seeing a constant stream of them, and them being identified as such, is not the experience of people who just got here, and a discussion spawned from a "woe the hounds be upon ye" imgflip meme does not particularly lend itself to 4 years, tens of posts, tens of threads and more strewn-around discussions of nuance.

I reiterate my apologies for the noise, the ruckus, and for the pointedness that had no business being here, especially considering how long stuff like that has been going on for; it was uncalled for and callous for it to fall on specific people when it is more productive to talk about it as tropes and a wider fandom problem than to point fingers. I should have had the discipline and the discernment to cut it out and go to bed. i didn't, got way in over my head, and truly and fully fumbled. i apologize for making a circus out of this. thank you for reading, and hope you're well.

[zoobus]

Alec Baldwin, huh.

(in reference to my tags on this post)

I don't agree with the sentiment, I'm just SAYING if you write media analysis like this, you're a moron:

For those of you who can't watch videos, it's the famous speech Alec Baldwin gives in the cinematic masterpiece Glengarry Glenn Ross. Baldwin's character -- whom you assume is the villain -- addresses a room full of dudes and tears them a new asshole As smarter people have pointed out, the genius of that speech is that half of the people who watch it think that the point of the scene is "Wow, what must it be like to have such an asshole boss?" and the other half think, "Fuck yes, let's go out and sell some goddamned real estate!"

Or, as the Last Psychiatrist blog put it: "If you were in that room, some of you would understand this as a work, but feed off the energy of the message anyway, 'this guy is awesome!'; while some of you would take it personally, this guy is a jerk, you have no right to talk to me like that, or -- the standard maneuver when narcissism is confronted with a greater power -- quietly seethe and fantasize about finding information that will out him as a hypocrite.

Here are some quick indicators you can disregard someone's media opinions, whether you've seen whatever they're describing or not

They tell YOU what you'll assume about a character

They tell YOU what the "correct" read of a character is

They think there's two primary reads of the story and they flatten down to "my interpretation is smart and says something good about myself, all other interpretations are superficial and evidence of a pathetic lack of self-awareness"

They talk about award-winning, complex media like a storybook for small children. This guy is actually the villain! This guy is actually the hero!

They're so so so certain that they know exactly how everyone else interpreted the movie

Take American Psycho - when I finally watched it, I *did* find takes I disagreed with, and I *did* find takes that I felt misunderstood certain characters. But very few, if any, disagreements were due to the other person's perception of characters as purely heroic or otherwise. I found takes that I didn't object to exactly, but came from viewpoints I felt too ignorant to fully grasp or comment on. I found gaps in my own understanding, gaps I don't think I'm capable of filling (I don't get music, sorry).

It wasn't 50% dudebros who wished they were/wanted to suck off Patrick Bateman and 50% wise women smartly explaining why the racist misogynist is in fact a bad person. The most annoying, shallowest takes I've found I'm most hostile to are those "you aren't patrick bateman, you don't even wash your face/teen girls with a skincare routine understand American psycho more than any dudebro could" memes. The take with actual effort that I bristled at the most was an essay that seemed oblivious to how severe homophobia was in the 80s.

I haven't watched Glen Glennie Ross, I'm just saying this guy's read of it lends me to believe he's not a reliable source.

[biggie-chcese]

Oooo the positive fandom questions sound fun how about 1, 8, 11 and 13?

list 3 positive things about your current fandom(s)

i did just answer this same question here, but i think ill challenge myself to list 3 new things.

the sheer amount of toxic yaoi and toxic yuri appreciation in the rain code fandom. yall are so fucking real for this

the tgaa fandom's uncanny ability to bring out the most banger character analyses. just, genuinely amazing. whether it's character study fanfiction or essays written out on tumblr, i eat it up because so many are legitimately compelling. this is especially a shoutout to @hikari-kaitou's many posts about translation differences and general analysis that really changed my perspective on some characters, as well as one of my favorites- this novel length kazuma analysis. these things live rent free in my head and i always admire people who are able to articulate so many complex thoughts around stories and characters like this

i've gained some really amazing friends through both of these fandoms. just, people i genuinely enjoy talking to and that in turn makes me enjoy the source material even more

8. you hope more people will come to appreciate ___ (a ship, a trope, an episode, etc)

found family where the roles are really nebulous. don't get me wrong, if people enjoy the classic "these are the parents and these are all the siblings they adopted" that's fine and dandy enjoy your media however you want! i even enjoy it often enough and think it's cute

but. on the rare occasion i see it depicted in a way that's hard to label, it makes me so extremely excited and filled with glee. i'm sorry im gonna ramble for a moment

so for example, yakou and yuma. as much as i also enjoy the yakou fathero headcanon, i've gone insane over the one or two times i've seen them depicted closer to canon's explicit dynamic of "shitty boss and intern who are also roommates and mentor/mentee, except who is the mentor and who is the mentee changes at the drop of a hat and they BOTH fucking suck at it!!! yakou is yuma's savior, and yuma is (unintentionally) yakou's nuclear hazard level threat. the game very subtly implies that these two go out for drinks together, and yuma "millions in debt" kokohead still has to pay often enough for him to be surprised at the idea of yakou offering to do so. yuma respects yakou greatly, but of the NDA, yuma is snippiest with yakou and quickest to call the man out on his bullshit. it takes more time for him to act this way with shinigami than his own fucking boss. there are more things i could say, but they're spoilers so dont worry about it.

yakou is almost the arataka reigen to yuma's mob, but i can't even confidently make that comparison because they feel more equal than that. they feel more casual than that. i struggle to put a label to it and that's what i love about them. i would love to see more of this in general, for both fandoms i'm in, because it's fun as hell whenever i do see it

11. if you're a writer or artist, what fic or piece of art are you proud of making?

you know what, i'm pretty proud of my latest art, because i've finally drawn a background i dont mind looking at! ^w^

13. your favorite type of fandom event (gift exchange, ship week, secret santa, prompt meme, etc)

gotta say ship week, since it's the only one of these listed that i've actively participated in. prompt memes and gift exchanges are amazing too! i think i'd wanna get in on those someday. i dont celebrate christmas so secret santa's out of the cards for me. it'd be cool to see more similar events that aren't themed around holidays.

[shesus-crisp]

something that really pisses me off at times is how many people in leftist spaces, specifically on twitter, seem to dedicate hours of their time each day to reposting bigoted bullshit from some random 25 follower dumbass with a 'gotcha! here's why you're wrong, dumbass' comment attached to it. even worse is when its entire accounts dedicated to that, like transphobes-taking-Ls or The Right Can't Meme. like, i want to interview these people to ask them what merit they think it brings, and i promise you it doesn't bring any. if we're being realistic, there are exactly three things that happen to the dumbass you repost with a snarky gotcha:

they don't understand the gotcha because, as a bigot, they're kinda stupid, and so they think that YOU are the dumb one because they assume your point must be false, since of course they don't know that they don't understand it. you've achieved nothing

they see your repost as an admission that their post "triggered" you, which was their obvious goal (and let's be real here, it did trigger you, otherwise you wouldn't have tried to gotcha them). you've achieved nothing

they get genuinly insulted by your repost, and in turn get defensive about their position and hold even more stubbornly to it, because that is what people do when insulted. you've made things worse!

and, in addition to one or more of those reactions, you also achieve two other things almost 100% of the time: you give a bigot a platform, and you make people who their bigotry targets sad when they see the post. to me and many other trans folks i've seen talk about this on twitter, when you repost a guy telling all trans people to kill themselves with a haha you're stupid comment, all you're doing for us is showing us yet another guy who wants us dead. nothing new, sure, but still sad. you wouldn't go to your friend with someone who you know hates them, let them insult your friend and then insult them back and expect your friend to be better off, right? there's no need to give the guy the space to insult your friend, just do something nice with them instead! same thing here, if you want trans people who see your account to feel good, post something nice about them! i feel like this should make sense. i know these kinds of people are well intentioned but unfortunately that doesn't help at all. i would rather see as few horrible people online as possible. don't give them the time of day, block them and move on. thanks