#i just dont think the last two posts captured ops original thing

[dem-bones]

I feel like some metaphors got mixed up. Like the original point I feel wasn’t “you should only make cakes for people and they owe you validation” As a writer nothing will stop me from creating and writing, I have often written self indulgent things that will never see AO3 or anyone else’s eyes. Yet when I post on AO3 I want engagement.

I think any hobby needs a community of a sort. Like I think it’s less about validation and more about engaging with a community and expecting it to engage back. Of course you should create for yourself, and when you share with the relevant community you should also get some engagement. Maybe the original string of posts didn’t quite capture it.

It’s like you throw a party for a group of people who are very into cake and have talked about wanting more cake and publicly encourage people to make new interesting cakes for them to try and THEN OPs first couple of posts happen.

current fan creation landscape is kinda like if you went to a party with a homemade cake and everyone takes a slice and silently thumbs up at you with no attempt to start a conversation except for occasionally some guy sits in the corner with a tape recorder critiquing the cake as though he was a restaurant critic and another guy is handing the cake to an uber driver like "yeah i need you to find a restaurant that makes cake like this so i can have more of it" and the only person that's talked to you in 30 minutes is a very sweet little guy who was like "hey i liked your cake" and then ran away apologizing for bothering you the moment you said thank you.