#i don't even have a xitter

[wowowwild]

Heard you were looking for an excuse to post hot takes...

(rules)

Apollo doesn't like Phoenix and might straight up hate his ass send tweet.

At the start of aa4 Apollo tolerates this man at best. I don't necessarily defer to aa5 and aa6 canon bc the new writers came in and decided to wreck the place (yes there are things I like about them, no I do not think they are so horrible that I will never play them or that no one should ever play them, yes I am very upset they took everything aa4 set up and threw it out the window), however I do believe that Apollo could grow to understand what happened and become work friendly. This is ONLY if Phoenix apologizes well and actually walks him through it, but they both have 'I don't talk about myself or my feelings' disease so... Good luck. Oh, and if Phoenix actually did wait that long to tell him and Trucy they were siblings idk if their relationship could ever be repaired. Also I said work friendly bc let's be honest, the only reason he likes Trucy (and Athena if you're forcing me) is bc they are so outgoing they make up for his chronically introverted persona. (Of course after a certain point he's been through it with both of them and that creates a bond, but they wouldn't have gone through it together if Apollo was the one in charge of that.)

That being said I don't think he wants anything bad to happen to Phoenix. We see pretty quickly that Apollo is actually very sensitive to what is happening to other people. For example: when Trucy fake kidnaps herself he is whole ass bawling even though he pretty much doesn't know her. Not just an, oh man, this is awful, he is feeling and living and expressing those emotions with his whole self. Other example: He feels soooo bad that these people in Klavier's life suck. He devotes himself to 'pulling the darkness' out of a guy that by all accounts he doesn't really know or personally like (I think we have evidence that Apollo respects Klavier's ethics, even if his personality is a little glimmerous.) So I think if anything happened to Phoenix or it seemed like something was going to happen to him, Apollo would do everything he could about it. That doesn't mean he likes the guy.

And like, I work retail. I work with a ton of people that in any other situation I would never speak to, and yet I can still get excited for them and strike up in depth conversations with them while still going home and thinking 'Wow, that lady sucks'. Apollo is not going to be openly hostile or anything, he's just not going to give a whole lot in terms of a personal relationship.

Also I think Phoenix genuinely likes Apollo and I think he knows he likes Apollo a lot more than Apollo likes him. I think this would make him sad but he wouldn't try to force anything. And I think Phoenix genuinely feels bad and if there had been any other way forward he would have taken it but there wasn't and he didn't and he has accepted that this is part of the consequences of that.

[embracing-the-ineffable]

Beware clickbait accusations

Hi fandom, here's what happened yesterday: A reporter named Rachel Johnson, who is the sister to Boris Johnson and a big terfy supporter of JK Rowling, released a 4-part true crime podcast featuring two women accusing Neil Gaiman of SA. Yesterday. The day before the UK elections. This post explores the possible political links in more detail.

CW: this post is free of graphic details, but if you follow these links, there may be explicit descriptions of sex, kink, and bdsm, plus mentions of mental illness and suicidal thoughts.

I want to believe and support survivors, and I also want to base my thoughts and actions on facts. I thought the xitter livestream commentary from Not Becky for all 4 episodes was very insightful. There's also a first episode transcript without extra commentary. (Edit: released after I wrote this post: the full audio plus transcripts for all four episodes of the podcast are now available to download here, or you can read all four transcripts in your browser.) I have since concluded (pending more time to think and read and learn, or any new information, of course):

This seems like the worst kind of clickbait, an unjustified mess that will hurt everyone involved (except possibly a few politicians who might benefit somehow, we'll see). The evidence the "reporters" present directly contradicts their accusations. They're counting on people reading headlines and not digging any deeper.

They tried to make something sinister where there was apparently consent and a caring relationship. Have they exploited one or both of these women? S, in particular, is described as vulnerable and with a history of unspecified mental illness. They have all of the message history between S and Neil, and her messages make the sexy stuff between the two of them sound enthusiastically consensual. There are even messages (multiple!) where she specifically says everything was consensual. Here's one:

They're playing horror music in the background to try to make us feel horrified, even as S reassures us that things were consensual. It's emotional manipulation by the reporters.

The times S sounds upset during the interview are the times she talks about Neil leaving her behind or not paying attention to her. Not the times she talks about consent violations. Her stories during the interview are inconsistent, and they contradict her messages with Neil and with others. Maybe we'll get better information from a more reputable news source, or maybe not, I don't know. I also don't know why anyone who cares about her would have advised her to do this interview.

Then they tracked down lots of other women who know/have dated Neil and they all had glowing things to say, except one other lover from 20 years ago, K. She described some bad sex, and then pointed to a time in their 2-year relationship when she felt something wasn't consensual and he thought it was. And after their breakup, they continued to text and flirt, for decades.

This podcast "exposé" feels like explosive clickbait with political ramifications. The evidence here doesn't support a pattern of poor conduct so much as establish Neil as a fellow well-meaning human with imperfect judgement. That doesn't mean the accusations are all made up; intimate partner violence is complicated, and the responsibility for checking in and getting regular enthusiastic consent from partners is very real, especially when kink or bdsm are involved.

I don't know what the right balance is here between supporting survivors, thinking critically, assuming good intentions, and waiting for better information, but I feel confident that this podcast alone is not enough to condemn anyone aside from the irresponsible journalists who inflicted it on the rest of us.

PS/edit: I'm tagging my relevant posts (mostly reblogs) with #ineffable grief, and you can see all of them here.

[innerchildabortionclinic]

btw careful what you comment on reddit rn because they're going a bit overboard with bans for "promoting violence" after the uhc shooting. like you don't even have to say anything explicitly violent for this to happen. they're trying to quiet the topic down in general on the site. really funny era for reddit. I mean i'm at least glad they're fixated on this right now instead of like, new campaigns harassing women and minorities over video games. well xitter has that covered I guess

[the-wip-project]

40k in 42 days. How does it work?

Hello writerly friends!

Let me answer a few FAQs regarding this project:

When does it start?

The first Sunday of August. For 2024 that's:

Start: 4th of August

End: 14th of September

I want to make this a yearly event.

Do I have to write 40k?

No. You don't have to do anything like that. I'm a strong supporter of individual, personal goals, and if your goal is higher or lower than 40k, that's totally fine.

Do I have to work on one thing the whole time?

No. You can switch projects however your inspiration guides you and just add up all the words for your daily wordcount. (Psst, I do this all the time!)

Do you have a website where we get pretty graphs as we count our words?

Well, I don't have one (maybe by next year I can get something to work, but my coding days are quite long ago and websites cost money...) but I suggest we use https://www.mywriteclub.com/ for now. It's been in beta for the last 10 years but it works. Create a project with September the 14th as the deadline and add me (barbex) as your friend, then we can see each other's progress.

Do we get some community?

I hope so. This is difficult but I'm trying my best to draw you all together. Mywriteclub will help with seeing how other people write, we also have a discord server with a check-in channel to post daily wordcounts and do some chatting. I'm also posting on Instagram (very screaming into the void there), Xitter (not sure if anybody sees posts there at all), and bluesky (the voidest of voids), but I feel the most comfortable here on tumblr. So here is where I will post the most with tips, advice, and motivational shenanigans (with the help of some friends, maybe).

A community needs action from everyone, so I would love to see (mention me) posts about your WIP, how you plan to write, what your mywriteclub name is so that other people can friend you there. I will also try to make daily posts from my writing blog, maybe even make some videos (???) and talk about my work(s) in progress.

40k in 42 days

Start: 4th of August

End: 14th of September

Let's write.

[chaifootsteps]

saw a discussion on xitter that was about how people sympathize with Striker too much and someone claimed the issue was just Stolas being "patronizing" that people took issue with

and then said Striker's speech didn't work because "His brutality caused Stolas to double down on his close-mindedness by comparing Blitzo's complaints to his. Maybe it's just suggesting that inflicting extreme violence on the oppressor class doesn't get them to change for the better?"

which is kind of so indicative of the liberal perspective at play here. who cares if the oppressor class changes for the better? Striker wasn't lecturing Stolas to try and get him to treat imps like actual people with feelings, he was venting his frustrations at his mistreatment and intended to kill him. that's the whole thing he was there for!

the issue isn't getting the oppressor class to change for the better in their own good time. it's about deposing them by whatever means necessary.

there's also a real pervasive sense that Stolas is 'one of the good ones' so he ought to be educated nicely about why the class system is wrong. um, first off it's Stolas' responsibility to see imps as equals, not something he should have to be taught (and not something Striker should be blamed for if he doubles down on his ignorance; if he doesn't want to be the victim of assassination attempts maybe he should think about why him having unearned power makes him a target for the underclasses? or about why they hate him so much?)

and also Stolas is not one of the good ones. he used his butler like a stress toy and didn't even notice his distress. he's an abusive asshole to his servants and a coercive monster (monster being his own adjective in a rare moment of self reflection) to Blitz

naturally one of the replies was like 'yes it's wrong of Stolas to compare Blitz to Striker, but he was tortured by a random stranger who put all the problems royals have onto him and blamed whim, which is ridiculous so I don't blame Stolas'

at least they acknowledge the comparison is wrong, but as for the rest of it - why shouldn't Striker hold Stolas to account? as mentioned, he abuses his imp servants, he hoards wealth and power and he sexually abused Blitz. Stolas is everything wrong with the royal system and as good a representative as any as to why all of them should be deposed. and again, instead of empathizing with imps or noticing why they might be motivated to do what they do, he instead just uses Striker as a proxy to get at Blitz - basically as an excuse not to consider that he has looked down on Blitz and the rejection he's getting is entirely his fault.

the show is so bad at showing the emotional toll on Stolas nearly dying to Striker takes that it just comes across as pettiness and outright racism on his part.

sorry, rant over. it's just takes like this that show the sheer gulf between the remaining fans and everyone else because so much of it revolves around painting Stolas as better than he is or acting like the ones who are directly perpetuating an unfair class system cannot be held to account. Stolas isn't just some moderately wealthy demon or a noble. He is a prince. There's a world of difference there

And I say again what I point out every time someone says Stolas suffered under the class system too: what was stopping him from abdicating his throne at any time? or running away? on some level he had to have been holding on to the power and wealth he had if he never even considered it

I think that the people who make these kinds of arguments, the ones on that side of the fandom divide, are too far gone. They're the ones who can look directly at a pic of Stolas physically abusing his butler and they'll still make excuses. They're like flat earthers, detached from reality.

If it were just limited to Stolas's behavior within the show, that would be one thing I guess, but nine times out of ten, these are the same people who say that Spindlehorse employees should be grateful for whatever scraps they're given, that whistleblowers deserve jail, and that boycotting Amazon is morally wrong. And then they'll retweet every leftist post about worker's rights they can find, because the cognitive dissonance and cult mentality is that strong.

[writergeekrhw]

There's a Reddit screenshot going around (including here on Tumblr, Wil Wheaton reblogged a post about it) where a Trump supporter got whiny that at the Vegas convention this year, a couple of the Voyager actors were asked about their political beliefs by a fan, and they answered by praising Kamala Harris and condemning Trump and Trump supporters. This person on Reddit (not the same person who asked the politics question at the con) was upset because they felt they and their friends "learned that 7 of 9 hates them" and they were roundly made fun of for expecting that a Star Trek convention wouldn't contain anything that contradicts their MAGA beliefs given that, you know, it's such a progressive show where the future is LITERALLY luxury space communism, and where it has always spoken in favor of diversity.

This led to a bigger discussion about the place of politics in fandom spaces. I personally would understand not talking about electoral politics if we were in a normal election, like Obama vs. Romney, even though the Republicans even then advocated a lot of things that I think is at odds with what Star Trek says. But I don't think people who voted for them were necessarily hateful. I don't think they are people I can't share fandom with, you know? We can be friends. But I think with Trump people are hateful, or at the very least they're okay with hate, given how often he spews it and encourages it in his supporters. I'm a lesbian and I absolutely do feel less safe around people who wear MAGA hats in a way I just didn't around Romney or McCain or Bush supporters. My opinion personally is that it's probably a mistake and what got us to where we are today (sending this in late September 2024, where Harris is slightly up in the polls but it's still very close and Republicans are trying to ratfuck the vote in a bunch of swing states - maybe by the time you answer, the election will be over and we'll know?) that we didn't do enough to recognize that Trump support is either bigotry, or support for bigotry, in a way that should be socially unacceptable and treated as such. That we should have deployed more social shaming over it, especially in places that should be understood to be safe spaces for diverse groups of people, like the fandom of a series like Star Trek.

I was wondering what you thought about this topic. Personally, while I don't think American electoral politics need to be in every aspect of a convention, finding out that actors who played characters I like, writers who wrote shows I love, etc. are supportive of my basic civil rights, not just in broad platitudes but also in how they vote, is really heartening and makes me feel more "welcomed" in fandom. It makes me feel safer there. And the fact that Trump supporters feel excluded also makes it a safer space IMO, because I don't feel safe around those people. I have Republican friends - but none of them who have voted for Trump.

I commented on that while I was still on Xitter. I honestly worry Trump may pose an existential threat to our democracy. I think others feel similarly. I suspect Jeri Ryan, who's seen the rot inside the GOP firsthand, has particularly strong feelings about that as well. So it's no surprise she chose to speak out before the election. And it's certainly her right.

I think it's a bit silly for fans of a franchise that has a strong progressive POV to feel alienated when the artists involved in said franchise embrace its philosophy and choose to take a stand for it.

I worry for us all over the next four years, but the voters have spoken. We'll see how it goes.

[iviarelleblr]

I just feel like this is something that ought to be shared. For WOT in particular but for a lot of other stories as well.

I know my feelings are still very chaotic about the whole thing in 3x08. A lot of people, myself included, have entirely valid trauma (and no I'm not exaggerating by using that word!) related to multiple things that came up in that episode. You can't help what your triggers are, you can only control how you act in response.

I will say, most of the counterpoints I've seen here aren't trying to invalidate the feelings of people who are upset about certain things in the episode, but some of them feel invalidating anyway. It feels like you're saying, "why are you even upset, there's [mitigating factors]".

And it's true that not a single one of the issues happened to a tokenized character, nobody is the only person who looks like them, who loves like them, in the show. There are other women of colour, there are other *queer* women of colour even, right there.

But when you've seen a pattern play out a dozen times, when the very same writer was a writer on the show that may have even given you that initial trauma,* and was hailed by the showrunner of this show as the premiere writer for these two particular characters especially... People who remember all that, consciously or just in their bones, were always going to be upset, even if we weren't just here for the Siuaraine of it all.

I'm not threatening to quit the show or anything over this. I'm not suggesting anyone else should or shouldn't keep watching. It's something every individual will have to decide for themselves: they've got other queer characters and ships to sail, but there have been an awful lot of dead beloved characters of colour this season. Colorism isn't an automatic argument-winning word the way some people on Xitter treated it last week, but it is a problem the show has struggled with.

I'm just asking for a little compassion for those of us who are working through a lot, y'know? Like, this is where a lot of us are coming from. It may very well lead to a better story, I've seen plenty of very convincing arguments, but that doesn't stop my heart from hurting in an echo back along all the queer characters I've lost along the way so that their partners could go on being main characters. It doesn't stop me from feeling how similar this could be to those, even if it doesn't end up being the same at all. I think all sides of these discussions could use a little more nuance and thought and a little less reflexive responding (hence my posting this the day after, to make sure I'm not jumping the gun or making an ass of myself), but that goes for everything, always.

Bonus * note: The 100 wasn't my first buried gay, but not only was JJG writing on it in the very season the Clexa controversy went down (though not the same episode), that show's showrunner had also been overpromoting the queer relationship between Clarke and Lexa, had been hyping them up in interviews and promotional stuff, all season leading up to Lexa's tragic pointless death so the actress could go work on another show. I WAS THERE, GANDALF! I don't think it's overblown or exaggerating to say a lot of people are having extremely large feelings right now over this, especially if they were in that fandom in 2016, especially if they're a little younger than I am and were that little bit more impressionable at the time. We are feeling a lot of parallels and it fucking sucks, to put it lightly.

[polygonal-trees]

Welcome new Transformers fans!

You might have seen this Don't Make Me Tap The Sign meme floating around. Transformers One has been out for a little while now so I want to expand on it as well as some other TF fandom things.

What does "Transformers doesn't have a set canon" actually mean?

Essentially, every new Transformers story is a reboot. They might draw from or expand on concepts from previous iterations but canonically each continuity family is separate. This means all lore is extremely flexible - origin stories, relationships, even personalities can change wildly between iterations and while some may be better or worse than others, they are all equally canon.

For example: Orion Pax was a dock worker in G1, an archivist in Prime, and a miner in TF One. None of these contradict each other.

Continuities also tend to share ideas without being directly connected. For example Transformers One draws from Transformers Prime in multiple ways (e.g. it features Airachnid) but it is not a prequel to Prime and in fact directly contradicts it. Yes I know there's a guy on xitter claiming tfone is a prequel to the Bay movies but he's wrong.

What is a continuity family?

Most storylines include tie-in novels, comics, video games, and other shows that all share the same canon.

The Aligned Continuity is the most well known. It consists of Transformers Prime, Rescue Bots, Rescue Bots Academy, Robots in Disguise 2015, multiple video games, and some tie-in novels and comics. They are all ostensibly set in the same canon... except the Aligned Continuity is inconsistent so even its lore is loose :')

My point is that while every continuity is separate, some shows are connected.

(Sorry if this is confusing. It is confusing. You get used to it)

What about fanon?

The Transformers franchise is old enough that a lot of fanon has become so pervasive it exists in a sort of nebulous space where it feels like it could be canon or at least become canon once enough fans are working for Hasbro but essentially: oh boy is there a lot of fanon

For example: seeker trines, doorwing speak, the Unicron Singularity and all forms of robot sex (sorry) are fanon, but they appear so often in fanworks that it's easy to get confused (I know I do!)

It's safest to assume something isn't canon unless you've seen it in a show (and even then, it may only be canon to that particular show)

Can I mix-and-match in my own fanworks?

Absolutely! It's very common for creators to set a story in one continuity but transplant a character from another, or use a different backstory, or borrow whole plot points from different canons. Chop up that lore and make a delicious continuity soup.

So why is this important?

It is very, very, very, very, very frustrating to be "corrected" about something that isn't relevant, or to see someone critisize a show based on lore that doesn't apply, or to have a character be called OOC when they're not, etc. I think a lot of fandom slapfights could be avoided if more people understood how loose Transformers canon actually is. Do what you want with your own creations but please be mindful when it comes to interacting with other people's.

This is A Lot

You don't have to know everything about Transformers to be in the fandom and have a good time - if you're only interested in TF One that is perfectly alright, you don't need to watch every show and read every comic and play every game to be considered a fan of something.

But if you want to find out more I recommend checking out the TFWiki - it isn't perfect but it gives a good rundown of most general lore as well as details about specific shows.

That's it from me. I hope this is helpful! It's the sort of thing I would have liked to read when I first joined the fandom haha

[txttletale]

Hey Healed this is honest to g-d a good faith question, but I wanted to ask why amongst the numeral tumblr alternatives, why are you moving/having presence (even if temporal) on Xitter?

Like don't get me wrong, fuck Matt and everything he's done to Avewy and any other transfem on tumblr. But like, Muskrat has not only openly showcased his extreme transphobia (he publicly misgenders one of his own children on media) to the point of slowly turning twitter in a perfect safe place and easy platform for ultra vile and potentially violent bigotry profiles like ValidLs or LibsofTiktok. But despite his fortune and Twitter being a sinking ship,, like, twitter *still* has massive cultural effect and he's *still* a well known billionaire and both of those things can do potentially greater harm to trans people than tumblr of matt could ever in a near future.

Swear I don't want to acuse you of hipocrisy nor bring the "99% hitler" shit now onto something like social media sites. But I honestly just would like some clarification because of the cognitive dissonance

i guess the answer to this is that i'm not plugging my other social media accounts out of moral outrage at photograph matthew's treatment of avery. like, obviously that's fucking horrible -- but i think that looking for an Unproblematic social media site is kind of a quixotic endeavour and not something i'm interested in doing. the reason i'm plugging my cohost/bsky/twitter is because i value the people i've met on this site and want to have ways to keep in contact with them in case something happens to my blog, which the recent debacle has made me acutely aware is a possiblity i should be prepared for.

[brothermoth]

Some of y'all are grown ass fucking adults who didn't pay attention in English class and make it OUR problem now. No, somebody is not a bad person for liking a villain character. Human morality is not black and white like that, and all you are doing is stripping writers of our chance to make you think for once in your goddamn life. Antagonists play a role more than antagonizing. They're meant to tell you something about yourself, about the world, about relationships.

Just because I think a character is interesting will never ever mean I condone or agree with the things they do. It's fiction, in real life I would despise them, but because they're not real I can toy with them in Google docs like a little puppet. This is not the 1600s anymore where you're terrified to make one wrong move lest you be sent straight to hell do not pass go do not collect 200 dollars.

If you're going to be an avid consumer of media, at least learn how to analyze it. Don't be reactionary xitter users, please?

--this is about red dead redemption I'm sorry--

BUT Micah is a bad person. We all agree. We shan't defend the things he does or believes because despite being unfortunately average opinions of the time, his actions do little but hurt the people around him.

YET he's just some guy, at the end of the day. He's a reflection of Arthur, of who he could potentially have been if his father hadn't been hanged and had kept him around. Arthur has the same potential to be Micah as Micah has to be Arthur. Hell, his brother left and started a family, he could've done so as well. The game is about choice. It's about actively choosing to do the right thing, even if the right thing is a bit questionable sometimes. You cannot in good faith aim your staunch moral opinions toward this game. You miss so much nuance and important conversation that the writers wanted you to have. Arthur isn't some golden retriever good boy, he's done terrible things and acknowledges that. He beat a man with a terminal illness to death over like thirty bucks, and he thought nothing of it until he got sick himself. Arthur had his chances to leave too, but he dug his heels in the same as Micah did, he refused to take that opportunity and resigned himself to being a violent arm of the gang.

Kill the puritan worms in your brains guys. Please. Use the thinking meat, that's what it's there for.

[gensational]

Not naming names. Hell, not even saying how I know this has been said. But if you think it's even remotely okay to speculate on someone's menstrual cycle because you see them as 'unreasonable', genuinely. check your priorities. I'm not saying this on xitter bc i know for a fact the people who this is about would see it on there, maybe they'll see it on here! i don't know! But I need to say something. Because I have been. struggling. hard. with what's been happening lately. I feel violated. and paranoid. and unmotivated. Respect. People's. boundaries.

[e-rated-beardo]

All right fuck it, fandom brain help me out yeah?

I need your recs for places to host images and other files.

What I absolutely need; non-negotiable:

Allows hotlinking. Otherwise there's literally no point. I want to show things on AO3.

Allows NSFW and does not hide porns behind login walls, age restrictions or any such rubbish. Again, I want to show things on AO3. I sometimes make porn.

Stable permalinks. I don't want to go back and change out every link in a year's time.

Not too tiny size limits. That said, I rarely upload images larger than a few hundred kB apiece. Sound is a different beast, though.

What I want, ideally not negotiable but if I run out of options maybe (ugh) fine:

A reasonable amount of trust that the service will stay online for a long time. I don't want to go back and change out every link in a year's time.

The ability to collect my files in one place, like albums or a personal account, so I can easily find them without keeping a list of URLs somewhere.

The ability to delete (permanently) any of my files whenever I like.

The ability to upload things that aren't images. I have smutty podfics too.

Nice-to-haves:

Delivers files decently fast

Not owned by a gross or untrustworthy company (like Xitter or Meta, say)

Acceptable UI?

This post brought to you by apparently the Internet Archive doesn't actually like smut on their servers, despite not making that clear anywhere in their terms (don't worry, I fucking checked), and what they do when they find smut on their servers is they mark the whole "item" (a bucket of related files) as "adult" and "logged in only" and now every piece of art in Scorn and the Saint-Maker past chapter 18 is an empty box because there also isn't an appeals procedure even if you remove the explicit files from the bucket.

I've been thinking of getting a paid web hotel for my personal sites that's got better terms than my current, and if I get a secondary domain I could host there without doxing myself. But I emphatically do not want to make those decisions under time pressure, and it might be nicer to avoid it entirely. So. Here we are.

[damnfandomproblems]

Posting a compilation of replies to Fandom Problem #5796.

Anon:

"Don't you think that minors would be more polite if..." No. No I don't. I was a minor in fandom. I also grew up at the dawn of the internet age and had internet safety pounded into my head from the age of 10 onward. If I interacted online at all outside of viewing and reading, I knew better than to be an asshole, because the internet has always been an adult sphere. I saw other minors get well deserved internet smackdowns for acting stupid online. If the kids are in actual kids spaces, then fine, leave them alone, that's their space. If they're on Xitter or Tumblr.com or A03 and acting the fool? No. You're in an adult space, interacting with adults, and those adults aren't there to cater to or coddle you. Which media the adult in question happens to like is irrelevant. You came into our spaces and started throwing a shit fit because you, a minor, didn't like what you, a minor, saw in our, adults, adult spaces. Most of the time we don't care if you're being cringe and having fun. Go, have fun, be cringe be free all that. Some kids are great and here to learn and have fun and are able to actually read the fandom room and know how to act like a respectable human while also having a good time. But if you're being antagonistic and hateful because you literally just are not mature enough to handle/comprehend what's going on in the space, then you don't need to be in the space at worst. At best, sit down, hush, and learn rather than running at the mouth about how you hate x y z thing because eww icky or you think it's problematic to your current pet social issue that doesn't even have anything to do with it. Kids are some of the biggest natural bullies out there. Kids being assholes to each other isn't just a trope, it's why secondary school/highschool was hell for so many people. Adults aren't all assholes, we're just better at calling kids out on their bullshit and don't have the patience for the "but I'm a minor" nonsense. Being a minor doesn't mean you're free from consequences, but some of y'alls parents clearly never taught you that. They aren't puritans, they're being idiots because they literally have no concept of fandom history and are just parroting nonsense that's been spoon-fed to them by other idiots. And rather than question things like anyone with critical thinking skills should be doing they take it all at face value and believe their own poor understanding or lack thereof is gospel, and everyone suffers for it, including other minors who also don't know better.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Anon:

Fandom isn't just for minors though. Adults are allowed to be in fandoms even if it is uncomfy to minors. Adults are allowed to make NSFW of fictional characters in fandom if they want to. If minors don't like it, they can just ignore it. If minors want to be respected, they should also respect adults in fandom spaces. Complaints like "adults shouldn't be here" or "you are an adult, go get a job instead!" does not make you any better.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Anon:

I agree with this tbh. Like adults are the ones making things unsafe for minors in fandom spaces. YOU are the ones who approach minors unprompted. Minors are just minding their own business in fandom, then you all come along and bother everyone.

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Anon:

I agree with this post, cause like... the ones doing the most harassing are adults. I am a minor, and it makes me feel unsafe in fandom spaces. Especially when I see adults drawing nsfw of characters who are MINORS! aging them up does not excuse that gross and creepy behavior. Just stop and give us a space where we don't get pushed into a corner and called annoying. Leave our fandom spaces!

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Anon:

When I was 17 so technically a technically still a minor I would have to keep my age off of all my blogs and accounts because so many other minors have ruined being younger in a fandom space. Literally just having my age up affected my numbers and how seriously I was taken. Y’all are not innocent though stop playing victim there are valid reasons why people don’t like you. Tons of younger kids these days are entitled overly sensitive and somehow both pretentiously “woke” and super disrespectful at the same time. So yea saying this as someone with pretty recent memories of being a minor online so many of you are actually insane and people not feeling comfortable around you is completely valid especially when you’re typing stuff like this up as your best defense. Especially with darker or NSFW stuff you don’t have to look we aren’t shoving down your throat you chose to be here just look away.

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Anon:

I see people getting mad about Fandom Problem #5796, but that kind of is just proving the point? You all act like the minors are the biggest problem in fandom, but you are the ones constantly inserting yourselves and making it about you. I see adults say things like: - "Fandom wouldn't exist without adults." - "Who do you think created fandom? Not minors!" - "Minors wouldn't have content if it weren't for adults." All are ignorant of the idea that minors are the foundation to fandom. Fandom would not exist if it wasn't for minors being interested in it and starting groups for people to join. Often times, the best artists and writers in the fandoms are THE MINORS. Adults make the space uncomfortable by inserting themselves and putting NSFW fics and art of minor characters. Then they get pissy when a minor points out it makes them uncomfortable and go "stop invading our space!" You are the ones trying to push minors out when we just want to have fun! Just leave us alone! -A minor

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Anon:

Of course, 5796 has a corollary: "To the minors who constantly complain about adults in fandom being mean to them: don't you think adults would be more polite to minors if said minors didn't make fun of them, didn't treat them like shit everywhere they went, didn't blame them for all the problems on the internet, didn't publicly shame them for minor social faux pas, didn't call them "pedophiles" for anything from liking an icky ship to saying two words to a minor in passing to just existing peacefully in a space where a child might theoretically be present, and didn't try to gatekeep them out of fandom spaces that were literally made by and for them?? And don't give me that "well we just want to be safe! 🥺" Bs. Because if that were in any way true, then y'all would be listening to the safety tips that the adults are giving you, not using them as a scapegoat for anything bad happening in fandom and generalizing them as these eeeevil predators who just hate children." It doesn't matter what your age is; if you refuse to behave in a given space, then you won't be welcome in that space.

[scarefox]

The way I see the most ridiculous poohpavel edits in my feet because Pavel reposts them himself on his accounts. You don't even have to go in the tags on tiktok or xitter, just check this mans account and find gems like this:

[literaticat]

Just curious because of the drama currently happening in the Romance community, what happens financially if an author does something that turns public opinion against them and the publisher decides to cancel their next book? Does the author still get paid the full amount? Just what they've already been given, and no more? Do they have to repay everything?

I have not heard of any drama in the romance community, what did I miss? (I don't go on xitter anymore thank goodness, and my life is better because of it, but that means I do miss out on some dramz!)

As for your question, that depends what's in the author's contract.

VERY generally speaking, if the author just kinda got unpopular -- because of some internet beef, because of lies somebody told, just general dogpiling, but they didn't actually do anything WRONG per se, the publisher might not care and just release the book anyway -- like, internet drama usually affects a VERY SMALL part of the potential audience, even if it feels huge from where you are standing, the reality is, people outside the bubble of social media or whatever often have no clue what is happening. (See the fact that I, a pretty well connected person who is IN the book industry and loves gossip, have zero idea what gossip you are talking about! IF I don't know, I promise you, most readers won't know either!)

BUT, if the dogpile really is quite awful and the publisher (or even the author AND the publisher) are just feeling like releasing a book into this climate would make everything worse -- they probably would be able to keep what they had already been paid and the book would be delayed. Maybe it would be released at a later date, or replaced with a different book at a later date if/when the storm blows over, or just delayed indefinitely / cancelled quietly.

If the author actually did something TERRIBLE -- like was credibly accused of something illegal/horrible, or admitted to doing something illegal/horrible, or was convicted of a crime -- basically if the author's deeds have totally changed their reputation and the way they would be perceived by the audience -- (like hey, we signed up a TEACHER, but turns out you are a MOLESTER) -- then yes, they would probably have to repay everything they had been paid for unreleased books (again, depending what it says in the contract).

But important to say, this doesn't count if the publisher knew about bad shit going in. Like, if they signed up a contract with some rock star who is known for being outspoken/offensive and doing drugs -- and then suddenly it comes out that he has... gotten high and done something outspoken/offensive? Too bad, publisher, YOU KNEW what you were signing up, and presumably you signed him up BECAUSE he was "wild"/"outspoken" -- his reputation with the public hasn't changed since you signed him up -- so you can cancel the book if you want, obvs you don't HAVE to publish anything -- but no, he probably will NOT have to repay you.

[warsamongthestars]

Y'know, I read something to day. About how Consumers in Fandom Spaces.

And I gotta say...

I fucking Hate "Content Consumerism". Consumerism is half of why TBB went down hill so bad. Its half of why a lot of shows are so bad from the outset.

It isn't just the incompetence of the writers, though I can and will poke and shriek at their failures--whether they were incompetent or not. They put it in public, their name is on it, I don't know what else they were expecting.

The Executives need a short sharp lesson too, as well as the Marketing Team. Thems behind the scenes.

In fact, them more than anything, because as Advertisers, they create the culture that kills the Art.

( There are two common things that murders Art in its sleep--and that's Propaganda and Advertisement. Art in its most simplest definition is pushing you to think, to consider, to judge, to interoperate, its going to branch those thoughts in millions of directions. Propaganda and Advertisement removes such things--they drag you to thinking only what a greater mass thinks, to a singular line of thought that is hostile to any interpretation, judgement or consideration outside of its intent. In Propaganda's case, its usually pushing you to Love something thoughtlessly and unconditionally and Hate some other thing just as thoughtlessly and unconditionally. Advertisement calls for Sacrifice by dangling the shiny thing in your face, in exchange for your limited resources, at such great cost of yourself. Both consider that if you do not give yourself your all to them, then you are Adversary. )

( There are plenty of things you can't take an artistic view of--in a situation of survival you have to think in straight lines--but the key word really is "Time and Place", and the secret keyword is "Understanding". If you're not willing to step back and Understand, you can't be trusted to Judge, and you will fall for Everything. )

TBB is filled with Advertisement. You might think Commercialism, like, insert-random-coca cola-here (which Star Wars actually Did Do Once), but I'm talking its built in. The Guest Characters come from another Story, the greater Plot is Elsewhere, the push to drag someone into another show to watch to spend subscription Money, everything is meant to avoid focusing on the main cast, the local intent, the "promised" story, the fact that the writers used Xitter of all places to "correct" things They Publish...

All set behind a subscription cost.

That is an Art Killer. It is a Serial Art Killer that strips the paint, breaks the canvas and censors the words. Its caused by Executive Decision and Culture, trickled down into the hired staff, who adopts the mentality because that's how "culture" or environmental situation (with emphasis on the -mental part) works.

All to turn Star Wars into the "Eternal Shows". The Cash-Cow. The content farm. Only now with extra budget and even less creativity. The Advertisement is built into the concrete. Hook, Line, Phisher.

And worse part, is that bits of the Fandom adopted the same mentality-- as the Consumer. In fact, its in nearly all fandoms. Art, Writing and Music become "Content", and people "Consume Content". When the show stops, they leave like it was a fad. A fashion statement. They wonder afterwards why anyone is still talking about it, it was just "Content", like its a queue-line product to be thrown away once used.

That is what it is, that's the Rot. You cannot call Art, Music, Writing, or any of the creative processes "Content" without suffering the decay yourself. Without breaking the fundamentals that is required when crafting, and recognizing one's self and their thoughts.

And it is far too easy to fall into, when its enviromental. We've all taken that hit.

Don't "Consume" anything, Digest It. Eat by Bits. Relish in it. Understand yourself enough to understand if you like it for something personal, or it just gives you something, but don't just wholesale swallow it mindlessly. It is not Advertisement or Propoganda, do not treat it as such.

I didn't Consume TBB--I digested it. I ate it by bits. I built it into my self and my bones, whether i liked it or not. If you look at my marrow, you'll know that I've watched it in the last 20 years. It was the second cake on the two-three-five cake table, after eating the Clone Wars. And turns out, someone made a cardboard-box replicate of a cake with the center being a melted abomination-ball of skittles and M&Ms, and whole heaping lot of space to shake the ball with.

( I mean someone might like that, but I was expecting a Cake, it didn't have to be a Good Cake--you think anything I've watched is whole-sale perfect? Fuck no. I'd argue that the shittiest of stuff was some of the best stuff. I watch clickbait-content-farm shows on Youtube because some of them are fantastic to me; those are the street-food equivalencies of cake and I would absolutely buy gas station street-food if its hot, ready and available--But when I'm told someone is selling cake, and its a cake in a known and familiar and comfortable style, and its from a baker I know who has done good work in the past, and they're promising it that its the next best cake improved upon from the last cake, I'm generally expecting Cake. If I got it, and it turns out, its not a god damn cake, there's a fucking Problem. )

ADDENDUM:

The use of Statistical Intelligence (That which is called "AI" in advertisement and propaganda) means scalping art. I can't argue for it without leaving room for someone to come in an scalp more art. I can't even say, time or place or understanding, because someone will come in and scalp more art with it. Its like a Gun, it has one purpose and its far too easy to use, and thems who use it are Shooting At Everything leaving Gaping Gods Damn Bullet Holes. At this point, "AI" is the weapon of Propaganda and Advertisement to war on Art and Information. Like the Nuke, no side should have that weapon at all. It's radioactive and toxic, ends the war but kills millions, murdering target and environment where ever it steps. It is the Devil Core, where one flash of blue light sunburns your insides. Everyone who has seen it, has been irrevocably changed, now that we have to acknowledge the possibility and paranoia that something creative might've been auto-generated, might not be authentic at all. That so much information might just be a flat out fantasy, made up and read to serve the shallowest of things, a cognito-hazard by a mindless yesman. Propaganda loves it, because it takes those who are tired of auto-generative elements by giving one a solid thought process... at drastic cost. Advertisement uses it constantly, and doesn't just scalp art--but scalps You in the process.