#it’s time to ban both Twitter and influencers btw

[paverics]

cheating on your partner is not funny and I’m not a fan, but the way they’ve actually caused ethical debate, got people discussing geopolitical ramifications and just generally inflicting minus 10 cultural relations….anyway my condolences to the victim. hope you find peace and love x

[aroceu]

some thoughts on leaving a social media website...again

as of 10/16/2024, twitter has announced its intention to implement a new feature into the platform: instead of blocking allowing you to block certain accounts from viewing your profile if it's public, it now just... doesn't do that anymore. it only limits interaction. though this certainly isn't a surprise with musk's twitter rollouts since 2021—when i first saw people start to trickle out—this, in particular, breaks a lot of users boundaries and has prompted many to private their accounts and move to bluesky.

i'm in support of this, btw—the ceo of bsky is strongly opposed to ever running any sort of ads on the site ("won't enshittify the network with ads"), doesn't use any blockchain technology, and has a culture where supplying alt text on images is the norm. your main timeline is in reverse-chronological order (like intended), but there are other separate options to create a custom algorithmic feed for certain types of content, only if you wish to. though bsky is a work in progress, i have high hopes for what it can be in the future: that is, usable, practical, and more reminiscent of what it was like when twitter first started, than how twitter currently is.

but despite my love for bluesky, i won't spend too much time glazing yet another microblogging platform. instead, i'm here to ponder the concept of social media: why we have it, why we use it, and why these moves happen in the first place. people have been trickling in and out of twitter ever since the richest and evilest man in the world took possession of it; especially in a fandom sense, there's been a back and forth between twitter and tumblr due to tumblr's former porn ban, as well. we all have principles and morals that guide the decisions we make, including what websites we decide to use. they speak to a pattern of not only our culture as people at any given time—but how these platforms have the power to implement these changes whenever they want. and we, as individuals, must make decisions both based on those principles, but also our desires to fit in.

i'll start off by saying this—eventually i'm going to start talking about what social media means for creatives. but there is in fact an extremely well-written article about this already that goes into more detail. if you're more interested in that, let me direct you there first: R U AN ARTIST ON SOCIAL MEDIA??? by omoulo

with that out of the way, let's talk about me, shall we?

i got onto the internet through geocities—crazy sentence to say now after all these years. of course, i played neopets and flash games like many other kids, but that was mostly through knowing those websites and urls existed, and preserving them in my mind so i could return to them for some mindless minutes of entertainment later. geocities was my first introduction to the creative, user-designed web, so to speak. instead of being a number to interact with a thing that someone else has made—a flash game, a youtube video, a website where you can collect fictional pets—the idea of geocities to me at the time was this idea of participating on the internet. being a part of it. writing whatever i wanted and posting it. sharing the link with others. having others find it and read it too—a part of me, my method of creative self-expression, whatever i desired to write and post on the less than permanent internet.

my best friend at the time was the one who needled me into creating accounts—first an email address, then an AIM, then a myspace, then an IMVU, so on and so forth. i wasn't going out looking for these, and though i'd heard of them before or seen ads of some of these sites, i wasn't interested in actually being on these platforms and making these accounts until my friend told me that i should. call me a people pleaser or easily influenced or whatever; i was 12. but it was through this link sharing, this naivety and ignorance of the vastness of the internet, that allowed me to be fascinated with the world wide web in the first place.

i usually cite quizilla as my first "fandom" website, because it was—but it wasn't because i found it by accident. it wasn't that i googled it or looked for a personality test and stumbled upon it. no, it's because i was chatting with a friend on AIM, and she had found some crazy chain letter story and shared it to me for how absurd it was, and sent me the link. it was on quizilla.

literally the moment i clicked that link changed my life forever. even though i read the crazy story, i also clicked on the username of the person who posted it, out of curiosity. that person had jonas brothers fanfics on their quizilla profile, of all things, which led me into an obsession with the jonas brothers in the 2 years that followed. through that link—that account—that platform—i got a lot more interested in writing, webdesign, and what it meant to be on the internet, not just as a numbered participant, but also as someone with an imagination, who finds fulfillment in creative expression. i wrote the longest thing i'd ever written in that time (30k of a self-insert, but we won't go into that), began to experiment with css and website design, and participated, sharing stuff that i thought was interesting or fun, worth 5 minutes of anyone's time.

the internet wasn't just about being a place where my presence didn't matter anymore—it became a medium of self-expression. more than that, it became a place where i could meet and socialize with people, especially as i developed avpd in my high school years.

the internet wasn't always like this. right now, when we talk about the internet, we don't talk about the random websites we find, the links we stumble upon. (i have an entire website dedicated to those for me, though.) the games we spend hours playing, by ourselves, without interacting with others. random personality tests, or just simply the news. we talk about google, but in the same way we talk about facebook, or even twitter. it's a verb; it's omnipresent; it exists within the context of our internet culture, but becomes meaningless outside of it. it's not to say it doesn't have meaning—but that the language we use represents our relationship with it, this assumed normalcy. this assumed dependence.

i bring up my own history because as young as i feel compared to many of my older internet friends, and how late to the game i always felt—i was there. i was there on the internet before twitter (since 2009), tumblr (since 2010), facebook (i lied about my age), bluesky now, and whatever will come in the future. i was there when people were saying that the internet was still being written; when websites were made with tables (eugh); when email was the primary way to connect with others, because irc was for nerds and nothing else had been invented yet.

i'm a big advocate for not looking at the past with rose colored glasses and getting caught up in nostalgia and greener grass. i believe that technology is not inherently harmful or bad—it creates more options for accessibility, especially for those who are disabled. and even outside of that, it allows us to learn about more people, communicate with others with a few keystrokes, and form relationships that we otherwise would never get to have. i don't want this to seem like i'm saying "man remember how good the internet used to be?" because i'm not—i believe that as things change, there are benefits as much as there are hindrances.

of course, it bears saying that the primary hindrance—of current twitter, of many platforms over the years, and the internet with increasing recency—is corporations. big money interests. capitalism.

it's why we get so tired of ads—it's why ads exist in the first place. it's why these social media platforms that used to feel like they were made by the same people who would use them (livejournal, youtube, twitter) have suddenly become these soulless impersonal websites. it becomes more obvious that they want you to use them more because they sell you on exclusivity and visual minimalism, rather than because that's where your friends are, and you have this unique way to express yourself.

in fact, i'll say this: the first time i learned about facebook when i was too young to use it, i was not impressed. i had a myspace at the time that i had dolled up to make pretty with sparkly gifs and obnoxious colors and weird fonts. when i saw how boring and samey everyone's facebook profile page was, i was like, what's the point? sure i could talk to my classmates and random other people in my life that i didn't really care about, but what about making myself different from others? what about my creative expression? what about having an account that makes me look unique, instead of blending in with everyone else?

and so here i am nearly two decades later pondering about the use of social media, our individuality as well as our collective interests, and how the internet has changed so much, both in itself and how it affects us, in that time.

i'm here because i want to talk to my friends and meet new people with common interests and get excited about them. i don't want to feel left out, but that's a normal experience—outside of fomo, it is in our core to connect with others. it's the whole meaning of everything. it's why i even made an email in the first place, in my basement with my best friend, secretly setting up a yahoo account because she wanted another way to talk to me, and i wanted another way to talk to her. it's why people have been leaving twitter little by little for another site—the same site as many others, because that's where all their friends are. whether it's bsky or mastodon or misskey or just back here on tumblr, we're here not just because of our desire for community, but even as simple as our desire for a bond, a relationship with another human being. to me, that is how "social media" is defined—a medium through which we socialize because of this innate desire.

and yet, of course the enshittification and corporatification makes this more difficult for us, in ways more than one. because the fact is that as we (as people) became better at using the internet, finished writing it, and understood it—psychologically and sociologically—so did the corporations. or advertisers, you take your pick. we, the everypeople who use the internet as means to fulfill our social and other self-indulgent desires, are not the only people here. as with many things else in the world, the internet turned from an unpredictable but fun mess of us figuring shit out as we went along, into a product designed to keep us using it and engaging with it more, so some rich people can put even more money into their pockets. it's why twitter is the way it is now; even why tumblr is the way it is. why social media has become about "content creation" and "small businesses." why it feels like, every day, we see more ads and AI generated bullshit, as a little bit of the original soul of the internet gets sucked away day by day.

but even there, i don't want to come across as cynical or world-weary. though i believe this to be true, i don't think it says anything about our lack of agency, or our lack of innate humanity. instead, i believe that this means, at least on the individual level, that we should think more about not only what we're doing on the internet, but why we're doing it. how we're doing it. are we here because we're addicted? or is there something we're getting out of it? sure, many websites now have more addictive UI and algorithms that tell the receptors of our brain to return to them because we were getting so much dopamine from them earlier. but i also wouldn't necessarily argue that the only solution to this is to, then, go offline.

i have many friends who've elected to depart social media but stay online—friends who i met through website building, to be fair, but that's one of my main points. i already wrote a manifesto on my love letter to the personal website; but the tl;dr is this:

the internet is not evil, it is not good, it is just a form. if we desire to express ourselves and socialize with others in this space, it does not have to be just about social media, and creating a new account on a new website every time people move. instead, we have personhood—we have individuality, we have agency. we have the ability to build our own websites, no matter how shitty or times new roman comic sansy or color clashy or sometimes inaccessible they can be. regardless of all these seeming impractical setbacks though, it does not absolve us of that ability to do whatever we want on the internet. and it also bears saying that websites, both the personal and impersonal, can change over time, for better or worse.

i am a huge proponent for people making their own personal websites. it makes me so so happy that neocities is gaining popularity, mostly because i love seeing people try their own hand at making a website for themselves, a new form of self-expression. i won't go into too much detail on this because i've already said everything i want to say about it (see above), but if you take away anything from this post, let it be this: consider making a personal website, a corner of the internet, for yourself, by yourself. not just because you want people to engage with it, or because you want to curate to an algorithm or an artistic/fannish trend. not because you want the things you make to gain traction, to get bigger numbers without considering the people behind those numbers, as soon as possible.

do it because you want to. because you have to. because you think it's cool, and because it's you. people may find it and judge it; but they may like it as well. the more unique and authentic and weird we are with each other, the more we are able to appreciate each other for who we really are. the internet is one of many places we can do this.

i don't really see these forms of self-expression separate from social media, but i do see social media separate from it. to me, social media is a vehicle to strengthen those connections, those relationships, much like DMs and IRCs; but it is not the be-all, end all of the internet. it's only a small part of it. not everything is permanent on the internet; but everything that ever has been online is a microcosm of the human experience, whether it's an old cloudflare site or twitter dot com in 2010.

our experiences on the internet are not about corporate interests. it's about using limewire to download pirate music, sharing random links we find, building a design that may not be practical or universally appealing but still represents a form of individuality. when i think of how the internet has grown, i don't think about what it means for companies or advertisers or what meetings must go on to get people like me to keep using it—i think about remembering the difference between addicting games dot com and addicted games dot com, clicking links on websites to find even more websites, sitting at the family computer and deciding if i wanted to spend hours on neopets or that one willy wonka flash game i grinded like several hours on one night when i was 7. i think about what it's always meant to me, because the internet was not always a centralized place where i was going on the same website every day. the rise of internet centralization to the point that it's become expected, the norm, the primary way any of us to be online, is not inherently a bad thing—but i wouldn't say it's a universal good, either, when the internet is a wide and vast space, and can be so much more than that.

because the one thing that remains throughout the years is our agency and choice. we still have the ability to make the internet what we want it to be, or at least a corner of it, something separate from the corporations, the enshittification, economically researched user interfaces and experiences, the advertisements, the "like and share so the algorithm boosts me more." there's still a point to it all without the money, and without twitter. and it's both our desire for creativity and self-expression, as well as our intrinsic bonds with each other. despite it all, it's about our humanity.

as the internet continues to grow, so do we. nevertheless, the importance of our humanity, and retaining it, will remain. oftentimes it is up to us to remind ourselves of that.

-

links here, for access:

Bluesky CEO Jay Graber Says She Won’t ‘Enshittify the Network With Ads’

R U AN ARTIST ON SOCIAL MEDIA??? by omoulo

links @ kingdra.net (my links, like bookmarks)

A manifesto of sorts; or, my love letter to the personal website by me

[kimyoonmiauthor]

I heard there is a Myka Stauffer Documentary...

and I'm sure someone took credit for the work I did with my friends and network in the documentary because they didn't contact me. But I do want to loosely remind people that they are not helpless when you see a disgusting practice in your midst.

To jog your memory, Myka Stauffer decided to "rehome" her autistic child. I was in the middle of math hell, so I swore I wouldn't do anything about it because covid+math hell were not good things. (Math hell is calculus, BTW.)

But for a week people were reporting what "Without a Crystal Ball" was reporting without a resolution. And I looked into it and I could not sit still. Here was an ND Asian kid who was effectively missing and who didn't have a spot of government oversight. Holt didn't know where he was (the agency who was in charge of him, having taken over his previous agency that placed him), and no one knew if he was safe.

I was angry once I had time to investigate it. This influencer was milking that plight of this little boy for likes and views without presenting any solutions. In fact ALL of Youtube was doing so. Some of them were using his real name and his likeness to milk him for money. And I hated all of them for it. I thought in all of that time I'd seen the news at least ONE of them would come up with a FUCKING SOLUTION that involved the safety of the little boy in question.

People were asking people to collapse Myka Stauffer's Youtube channel and her husbands, but not one influencer was asking after the safety of the child. I knew that children can end up in sex trafficking rings when there isn't proper dissolution, etc. Since there was no social worker involved, no law enforcement and the law had not stepped in despite the public case. I looked up the local police department, found their twitter and then found the mayor and governor and started in my free time asking everyone, absolutely everyone I knew to write a letter to the sherrif and mayor about this case. I looked up the law for the state she lived in and me and an adoptive mother friend of mine launched a letter writing campaign together.

I say this, not because I want credit, but because I'm am making damned sure those influencers don't get credit for their shit behavior. I went on every one of their videos and posted the letter that me and my friend composed together to ask after the boy with the twitter account, and contacted every adoptee with any kind of sway with the letter and we as an adoptive collective worked together to make sure and get the sheriff to investigate if the boy was in fact safe and in proper hands.

Because I should iterate yet again: INFLUENCERS DID NOT GIVE A SHIT ABOUT THE BOY IN QUESTION. THEY ONLY CARED TO MILK IT FOR CLICKS AND LIKES.

And FUCK ALL OF YOU. I'm saying this as an adoptee, especially those who were adoptive parents. FUCK ALL OF YOU for not giving a damn about the outcome of that boy that you didn't inquire about his safety.

I kept on the sheriff department for weeks on end, I coordinated at the risk of failing my class. People yelled at me that it would be no use, that they were helpless and couldn't send a simple letter. People yelled at me about Myka Stauffer. I tried my best to put it out there.

And while I was at it, I leveraged that information to finally pass protections in my own state, have people write Holt about this mess and ask for protections, ask people to write to adoption agencies both domestically and abroad to ask for better protections against rehoming. Because good activism isn't just the case in front of you, it is future cases too.

So I ask you if you watch that documentary to remember any influencers that show up on that doc did not give two shits about rehoming as a core issue. The adoptive parent influencers. Myka Stauffer. And I would beg, beg influencers to use your influence to actually do the full gamut of good.

It was not my complete intention, but soon after ALL adoption agencies banned influencers from adopting for likes and clicks. To which I say GOOD RIDDANCE. Because you never reached out to adoptee advocates to see what they thought or cared to change the issue. None of you proved you were one of the good ones. It was a popular issue so resolving it wasn't your intention.

In the end, Without a Crystal Ball tried to take credit for the work that me and my friends did together. Our collation of birth parents, adoptive parents and adoptees. Because advocacy cannot be done alone. And I told her via twitter that was *our work together* and none of hers because she didn't give two shits about the boy's safety and never organized to ask after him. She only wanted likes and views and to milk it which didn't make her better than Myka herself. Because a resolution would end all of the attention she was getting. And she blocked me because she didn't want to own the truth.

So I'm saying use power and advocacy well, you can change laws, you can speak out, you should not be passive when you have the power to make change. And that's what I want you to remember when you're watching that documentary. You have power if you're willing to wield it for good and please use it well.

[vesemirsexual]

#vilgefortz: 'we sorcerers don't waste time trying to

figure out what nature is' I rience: 'yuh' #vilgefortz:

"we know what it is, right. because we are nature

ourselves: I rience: 'yuh' #vilgefortz: "it's like jan

bekker-take jan bekker as an example. he forced the

water from the rock' | rience: "yuh' #vilgefortz: 'he

SUBDUED nature. he made it OBEDIENT: | rience:

yuh' #vilgefortz: "so it's just like that but with

women' | rience: 'yes fù!!' #vilgefortz: 'YOU have to

be in CONTROL. I rience: 'you're so right master'

#vilgefortz: "that's the question. can obedience be

forced upon women' #vilgefortz: "but see REAL

sorcerers. REAL men listening. Will say

unequivocally: yes!' that's what a real sorcerer does.

he controls. #rience: "yuh…. nodding as if he had

just said something profound] #i can't wait for

stefan skellen's spinoff youtube channel about how

sigma males (him & other nobility) are better than

alpha males (emhyr) #leo bonhart would think the

podcast is cringey. he doesn't use social media #the

grim reaper does not have tiktok. #also i'm sorry to

say but keira/triss would have a podcast and they'd

name it some portmanteau of words related to magic

I feminine #this is in the same universe as regis

having an asmr/artistic homemaking vlog channel

btw #also same universe as angoulème having a

pranks/clickbait channel #im inclined to say ciri

doesn't use/'get' social media (though i think she

would use tumblr) #(she has "weird girl' swag and is

traumatized enough) #man. bonhart and ciri would

be living a social media free life away from all the

noise #'it's just me. you, and the six bloody glassy-

eyed severed heads of your former friends' #also

dandelion is an IG influencer and livestreams geralt

on contract to get donations for the both of them to

eat dinner. thanks

this is SUCH an inspirational addition i love it!! more thoughts:

• emhyr posts subtle thirst traps. man has been cancelled on twitter 5 times and counting but is unfortunately unstoppable. insanely loyal fanbase, if you criticise him, he will have them swat you

• angoulême gremlin gamer WHEN!!! i would die to see her with the light up cat ears and a g-fuel sponsorship (sometimes she manages to get cahir to game with her and he like, doesn’t get it at all but the chat goes insane so)

• milva doesn’t really “get” popular social media, but she posts shitty quality videos of her archery on tiktok and gets a decent following because the girls and gays go insane for her upper arms

• i feel like if ciri ever did get online, she quickly racked up bans arguing with people and is offline again

• bonhart thankfully is not online, but would be like, a 4chan user. dude has a nokia brick and 4 mp3 files on it that don’t have names, just numbers

• yes i love the Regis concept!! i can also see him foraging and showing off his herb garden, explaining common uses (one day angoulême shows up in the background of one of his videos and the crossover event trends wildly)

• avallach also has a manosphere account but his examples get so weirdly specific and targeted that he’s a well-known meme

lots of men in the witcher i personally think would have a cringe podcast in a modern au

[weaselbeaselpants]

Weird week behind me weird week ahead of me but I’ve done a lot of self reflection and came to the weirdest epiphany. The older I get the more I realize all my ‘problems’ with VivziePop - her thoughts on criticism;  the choices she makes in story telling; some of the people she’s worked with (not that any of that’s my business; I’m not her mom) really aren’t about Viv, but more about her fandom.

I’m speaking of the preHazbin era Viv here and as someone who’s only watch horny fish jump at the surface rather than jump straight into the Hazbin-fandom, but given my ‘noncritical’ fellow fans have told me that the Vivziefandom now is also terrible - I guess I’ll go over my experience and make the most out of what I do know.

I followed Viv in 2009 and fell off in 2013 cause I kinda just lost interest and found myself wrapped up in other fandoms. I’ve always felt amicable about her content; I could give or take designs or the way in which she wrote characters -- ((Zech represent!!!)) but it’s honestly surreal and really fun seeing this person I recognize make it big and improve so much. Like I’ve said before I am very happy and very impressed with Viv doing all she’s done in the span of TWO YEARS. wow gurl.

Trouble is, there was the particular breed of fan who really made me...uncomfortable. They felt almost possessive of Viv’s attention. They sang praises about her work in a way that just made me want nothing to do with it because I was worried if I drew those characters these people would be like ‘hey, I’M Viv’s fav artist, not you!”. They would  unironically write Viv messages like:

“you are a GOD” -- “I’m so not worthy compared to you” --“I wish I was as talented as you” -- “YOU ARE EVERYTHING AND CAN’T DO WRONG VIV”.

The kind of messages which were meant to sound flattering but, intentional or not, came off as gaslighting, like they were guilt tripping Viv about being better than them. This behavior, treating your favorite artist/internet personality like your superior and groveling like Starscream, it strikes a nerve with me; partly because I was this way with my favorite artists and influences back in the day,  but also because once I got a taste of that treatment myself I realized just how bad it could be:

There was once a girl on dA who was jealous of me because of the attention I got on my art instead of her. I told her that I wasn’t gonna stop drawing but also that there was nothing wrong with her art and she’d find her place. It was weird being put in that position where someone is very clearly upset at you but also looking for your approval.

The second was some scumball who I blocked in 2016. He wouldn’t speak to me, only write condescending, backhanded comments on my art; check on my profile daily; call me a bootlicker (cuz I took commissions) behind my back; redrew my art and would talk about me in his personal artist notes about how I ‘probably wouldn’t see this’ - oh yeah all the while he did fan art of my characters but again never spoke to me when I replied. When I finally messaged him about his behavior he said he thought I was “really overrated” and “bad for the fandom” cuz I took money and kept him from getting the love he deserved. It took messaging another person within our fandom, one I had been in spats with online before, to finally realize I shouldn't put up with that bs....

That guy who was stalking me btw did so while I was well under 1.K watchers and am still pretty obscure. Anyway, I had one guy unhealthily watching me for the wrong reasons. Just one. This is why when Viv says she “hates creeps” I 150% believe this woman and am not about to call her a liar who just can’t take criticism. Like, if you really think that, I’m sorry but you don’t know what Viv’s gone through from both her critics AND fans.

Of course, a lot of people will be like “I bet you’re just jealous and really just want that kind of attention yourself so you’re preaching to the choir”, but like...no. I am envious of just about any creator who’s the social butterfly I’m not, but, like, if I'm jealous of an artist none of that is that artists’ fault. Ever. It’s my own issues with being comfortable with myself are at stake. If I criticize Viv’s work it’s not because I see her as competition or my Squilliam Fancyson; it’s because I’m a critical fan of animation and cartoons and have my own thoughts to share on the cartoons of an artist I’m familiar with.  Jealousy/envy/mixed-admiration/godIwishthatwereme.jpeg feels are totally natural and valid emotions when you’re a creator. Envy becomes a problem when you internalize, weaponize, and scrutinize people on the basis of them being what you aren’t which -yes - some people do in the name of criticism. ((Although, I would hardly say some of the nastiest AntiViv folk are jealous as much as they are angry that this project they think is harmful is getting attention and using that as justification for some really shitty behavior of their own, which no, this post is not a part of by virtue of coming from a critical fan.))

Critique can come from either a good place or bad place; good critique can be used to bad ends and bad critique can come from a well-meaning place, and vice versa.   It’s the difference between many a criticalfan having a sour taste in their mouth regarding the Viv’s base but persisting in a critique+admiration separate of that, and this asswipemonster trying to weasel his way into Spindlehorse while also bashing Viv on a public forum for clearly vitriolic reasons. He was a creep.

So yeah um please stop insisting that every Hazbin critic is just jealous’ because a) there are people who have a past with Viv’s base and that clouds their judgement, but in a lot of cases that doesn’t invalidate their feelings or thoughts on her work separate from that, and b) I’ve seen what clingy gaslighting jealous fans are. Spoiler: they’re not so much Annie Wilkes as much as they are Tommy Wiseaus. You don’t want Tommy Wiseau following you.

Another bad vibe I really picked up on that I can kinda confirm is still probably the case now: people think that they know Viv and the Spindlehorse crew and have the right to send them shit they don’t need or WANT to be seeing.

Like, I talked with Viv once ages ago. I don’t remember what I said other than we were talking about Frankenweenie, I think. She was nice. Outside of that she said “thank you” to my comments on her deviations but that’s it. I DO NOT KNOW THIS WOMAN AND unless you’ve worked with or are a legit friend/mutual of hers, NEITHER DO YOU. But I don’t think every Vivzie stan/critic knows this. Whether it be people assuming she MUST think they’re headcanon is now canon-canon cuz she liked a comment they made; or some critic thinking they must have seriously hurt her pride because they’ve been blocked by her on twitter (or you know, maybe she and the rest of Spindlehorse is tired of getting @s and don’t have to time to read through your analysis so they’re gonna just block and move on cuz they’re busy).

Just because the creators talk with fans doesn’t mean fans are literally their best friends and have a part in the show’s direction. And yes, critics and reviewers fit that bill as well. Know your damn boundaries people.

If you find/make some kind of contribution as a viewer that’s awesome but you should never expect nor DEMAND the creator see it. The most obvious horror stories involving this and Helluva/Hazbin have been the Instagrams made by the crew being harassed by incestpedo enthusiasts, but it applies even to just @ing creators as well.

I’ve seriously had someone tell me to just take my criticisms directly to Viv and like...no. Why would I do that?

I respect Viv and the artists working with her enough to know that they’re working their asses off on an animated series and should not be bothered. I don’t want them to stop all they’re doing and reply to me. I want them to keep working. Also, that kind of logic makes me wonder how many critics Viv’s found because she found it on her own or if some obsessed fan told her about it - which is really messed up cuz if it IS just good critique you’re, again, just pestering her, and if it wasn’t critique but full on harassment WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU MESSAGE HER ABOUT THAT ANYWAY? I’m sure she doesn’t need to be reminded that people drew and said really awful shit about her on Tapatalk. My point being I’m sure what people think they’re doing is

“OOOoh Viv lookitwut this person is doing in our fandom we need to ban together against this toxic behavior”

but what they’re actually doing, and sounding like, is -

“Hey Viv I know you are working so hard on the show and you’re trying to figure out where to go from here but LOOKITWHUTTHISHATERSAID. LOOKATIT! VALIDATE ME VIV AND PUT’EM IN THEIR PLAAAAAACE!”

TL;DR Viv’s fanbase back in the day consisted of everyman artists and interests but there was this one breed of fan -who I hope was just a vocal minority- that ruined it for everything else.

Call it stanning or ‘simping’ or as it’s classically known, ‘white knighting’, whatever it was it really soured a lot of people on her because of those fans.

That’s why the DollCreep drama got so bad from what I can tell. Doll and Viv had a falling out and then called out eachother online where people who took it upon themselves to speak for them starting throwing mud.

Back in the day I remember Viv used to get mad at artists for ‘stealing’ her style. I think this attitude from Viv directly has vanished but I remember it happening because one of the people she thought was stealing her style did art for me at some point and they were basically shamed/chased off deviantART by a gaggle of these really nasty Vivfans.

inb4> “VIV WAS AWARE AND STILL WEAPONIZES HER FANS THO”

I don’t know that. And honestly, where I’m inclined to believe she’d do something like that then I think Viv is really different and has improved her business and public image from her college days. I’d be very disappointed in her if she was pulling a Butch Hartman or Derek Savage, but I just don’t think she is one, k?

Viv is more self critical and aware than any of these uber protective-gatekeeping fans give her credit for. She said on the Pizzapartypodcast that she knows the Hazbin pilot wasn’t perfect; she’s been able to identify the problems with old Zoophobia; this woman knows that criticism of all kinds need to exist and from what I see she sounds like she’s trying to get used to that. It’s just, you know, when you have nasty antis badgering you, stalkers, obsessive yes-mam’ fans, opinionated shit posters, r34 artists, entitled shippers and the NDAs of a company alongside your own branded image - all that negativity, even the constructive bits, tend to clump together and you just want to scream at it so you can finish the damn cartoon already!!!!

TL;DR: PART TWO

VivziePop/mind is basically indie Tim Burton.  Her work is fun, shallow and made with love but is marketed as being for everyone when it’s really not. Parts of it I love to watch; parts of it drives me crazy cuz of reasonswhatev this isn’t a review.

BUT any fanbase where people tell me I should just “expect what’s coming to me” when I’m trying to argue against dragging creators into fandrama is troubling. People have a parasocial bond with fandoms and their creators and they need to learn when to back off.

[dhaaruni]

Ok re VP Harris i feel like she's going to have a hard hill to climb whether she does everything PERFECTLY or not, right? This article and a few others I've been reading are not super optimistic about her ~~chances~~ bc she's been given the real shit jobs so far (immigration, crime, etc) which are all R hammering points. But I feel like that could actually be freeing? Im obsessed w the concept of the valley of political death where a politician can make a bold, morally superior move that initially craters them but after a couple of months ppl end up having a higher opinion of them?? NOT to use AOC as a model bc she like squanders her goodwill ALL THE TIME but i feel like if i were VP i'd be like. K, im already a woc in power and Rs are going to try and nail me 2 the cross on immigration and crime, their biggest throwback hits - might as well become their biggest nightmare? Like i think people are spoiling for a less tepid dem response and in lieu of getting that response from the senate she can kind of ride on that?? Like if she just starts hammering back abt cruelty 2 children and capitalize a little bit on immigration as a childrens wellfare thing she can keep up pressure in the suburbs. they dont want to vote for a woman or poc BUT WE DO LOVE a maverick in this country still!! THIS IS NOT me saying she should go full Bernie btw

Oh thank you for your long response!

I think that wrt Kamala Harris, her biggest issue is our country's polarization in addition to the fact that while she knows California politics down cold and I'm not diminishing her accomplishments as DA, attorney general, and senator, that isn't representative of the rest of the country. Don't get me wrong, if she's the presidential nominee, I'm campaigning for her as much as possible whether professionally or as a volunteer, but the fact remains, a large part of the country, including people that pulled the trigger for Biden, won't vote for a Black/Asian woman, especially those who voted Republican down ballot (Biden-Collins voters in Maine, I'm staring directly @ you).

Plus, the Biden administration is sealed tight (which is infuriating the DC press corps) and Kamala's corner always leaks like a sieve, which has been an issue she's had since the presidential primary. Also, Kamala quite frankly let her family play too much of a role in her presidential campaign like Maya and Meena Harris should not be employed by the campaign and Meena shouldn't be using her aunt's image to boost her clout as an influencer while also tweeting about defunding the police, which both Kamala and Biden have loudly disavowed. If you noticed, while Jill Biden and Michelle Obama and Bill/Hillary Clinton (depending on who was running) all campaigned for their spouses and did events, but none of them were employed by the campaign and none of them contradicted the nominee! And I don't trust Meena to do the same thing based on her Twitter persona.

I also think crime and immigration are Democrats' biggest red spots as a party simply because we keep letting our most liberal members on MSNBC every single night to yell about abolishing and defunding things so nothing Biden and Harris or any other elected Democrat says counteracts that. Max Rose, who repped Staten Island where all the NYC cops lived, got clobbered with defund the police despite the fact he's about as pro-cop as you can get for a Democrat. Again, we need to run a tighter ship in terms of messaging as a party and that's my bottom line. If that means banning certain people from being on cable news, so be it.

I talked about it before but I really think that Kamala needs to shore up support in the Blue Wall, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. Her being on the ticket actually helped with our Latino support although it still cratered from 2016 to 2020, but quite bluntly, we need to make sure she wins enough white men in swing states. That means putting a Midwestern Democrat on the ticket as VP (Pete Buttigieg, Gretchen Whitmer, Amy Klobuchar, Conor Lamb if he gets elected to the Senate), and that means parking herself down in the upper Midwest from the moment the primary is over until the general election. Honestly, I don't think a white and more moderate seeming female VP from the Midwest really hurts Kamala electorally given she herself is a progressive woman of color from California, but who knows, I may be wrong.

All that makes sense right? I'm not an expert but I've learned a lot about how conservative America is in the last year and it'd do people better to learn that sooner rather than later.

[marcinthelotus]

On PewDieGate

I just need to get this out and I swear it’s going to be my last post. And it’s going to be hella long so I don’t care if no one reads it tbh.

But I am really irritated about hypocrisy going on (especially concerning jacksepticeye’s video) with all the reactions, support, condemnation, outrage, and general discourse.

Like summarizing the far “sides” of the scandal:

There’s the for lack of a better term anti-Pewdiepie side calling for accountability, apologies, consequences.

And there’s the pro-Pewdiepie side talking about protecting comedy, freedom of speech, and condemning misframing/unethical practices in the media.

And some in between.

So, the issue with what Felix (Pewdiepie) did was make the antisemitic jokes. (the “Death To All Jews” sign, “Hitler did nothing wrong” commissions (which I’m still unclear if he actually commissioned), the “it’s a little bit ironic that Jews somehow found another way to fuck over Jesus” comment about fiverr Jesus getting banned. etc.) And his subsequent defenses, half apologies, etc. before his full apology video. And then him having a history with making insensitive jokes.

The outrage towards the mainstream media, mainly The Wall Street journal, was some context issues, misattribution, misframing, twisting words, some lies, and the process the WSJ went about with investigating/reporting the story. And this is something that gets brought up every time a public figure gets bad press over something controversial they do. I can’t reference much since I can’t get to the WSJ article anymore but I saw a bit of this, not as much as some have been saying, but enough that when I was initially reading it that I was cringing.

The thing that has bothered me the most about the discourse over this is how instead of having two separate discussions about Felix’s jokes and offensive humor/dark humor in general and it’s impact and then issues with some bad journalism trends it became reduced down to “Were the jokes bad? or is mainstream media unethical and out to get “new media” “influencers” and public figures.” Thus... the current “sides”. Which... is a pretty common sort of cycle anymore.

So on the anti-Pewdiepie side of things there’s a pretty big spectrum of people saying simply that what he did was ignorant and wrong up to that he’s an actual Nazi and fascist. The latter bit I think is a bit much and I’ve already explained why in other posts.

There have been a lot of calls for accountability and content over him losing big contracts with Disney and YouTube. The calls for accountability to call him out and condemn his actions extended to his friends and fellow YTers including Markiplier, Jacksepticeye, Cinnamontoastken, Lordminion777, and others who tweeted Felix support after his latest apology video. (this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwk1DogcPmU)

On the other “side” there’s a bunch of folks, headed by mainly YouTubers, decrying the media and it’s use of “strong labels” like racist and antisemite as well as condemning media for twisting words and being a bit of an echochamber without checking Felix’s videos to see what was referenced in context to check validity. And then there’s the “anything can be joked about” debate and the “it’s just a joke, there are more pressing issues in the world.” comments.

So seeing as I’m a jacksepticeye stan, I’m going to use his video and the backlash and ill support for it to illustrate what is going so god damned wrong.

First off the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLE_za2YWsQ

Seán’s pretty firm in condemning Felix’s jokes and criticizes the way he handled apologizing. But he says he still supports his friend. He states that he’s adding onto what others have said and he didn’t want to focus on the media issues (though he does lightly criticize the WSJ). He focuses instead on what was wrong with the jokes in or out of context, how they have impact, and why they’re especially bad in the current climate with rising antisemitism.

At first he got quite a bit of support from his fans. I personally found it to be by far the best video I had seen on the subject, though I didn’t think it was perfect.

Then twitter exploded with outrage from KEEMSTAR, Andy Milonakis and others about how Seán was a backstabber and supported the mainstream media and was threatening comedy. Response videos (headed by keemstar) started popping up about how his video was made to cover his own ass and for attention, how he was horrible for “betraying” his friend who “made him”, how he was selfish and was only mad that YouTube cancelled Felix’s show which he was part of but wasn’t mad at Disney, etc. etc.

Anyways this has gone on for 2 days now. Here’s some “jacksepticeye” search results from youtube I pulled from earlier today:

The “secretly evil persona one” isn’t part of it, it just fell in between others in the screencap.

So he posted an addendum on tumblr http://therealjacksepticeye.tumblr.com/post/157418913013/a-follow-up

As this is going on there is only a trickle of support that comes in from other YouTubers. A trickle. And mostly the next morning after he tweeted this:

So what I find... really frustrating. Is that almost the entire argument on the anti mainstream media side of this is the mainstream media twists words, tells lies, pressures people to apologize over things “they shouldn’t apologize for”, repeat each other uncritically, use unnecessary strong labels, don’t respect free speech/opinions, and make targeted malicious “hits”.

Yet... it’s ok to do this to “your own”? So many “new media” content creators jumped in right away to support Felix and defend him from the WSJ when he makes bad antisemitic jokes, but barely anyone jumps in to defend Seán when the onslaught of sensationalism and “hits” is coming from within YouTube and Twitter (which are also media btw). Didn’t even see a comment from Felix until later today in which he states that he found things in Seán’s video unnecessary but they’re friends and can disagree and are cool with each other so people needed to stop defending him. And that comment is buried somewhere on Seán’s video and not on twitter where the outrage built up from.

And I’m not letting my “side” on this off so easily either. People called out strongly for accountability from Felix’s friends. Seán and Ken (cinnamontoastken) delivered. They may not have been 100% perfect but they both firmly condemned the jokes, recognized that the whole media debate was obscuring the core issue of antisemitism and it’s impact on the Jewish community, and agreed that Felix’s consequences were expected and made sense.

Yet the only post I’ve seen referencing their videos is this one:

It’s been deleted but is still crossing my dashboard. Not a big fan of Ken’s thumbnail but anyways...

If we call for accountability why are we not supporting people who make gutsy videos condemning actions of their friends and condemning the harmful trends in their community? Because we’re just that sure that no one ever will? I’m not saying that neither of them can be criticized, I still criticized some of the stuff in both of their videos. I’m not saying they need to be endlessly praised either.

But calling for them to be accountable and then either passing this around without watching the videos or discrediting the good parts because they weren’t perfect is really not helpful.

And now Seán’s apparently bowing out of social media for a bit. He’s usually very active and on Tumblr and Twitter a lot. And worse, he’s been commenting on those outrage videos apologizing. He thinks he really messed up and is doubting most everything he said in it. Which... really troubles me because it was one of the most balanced and well thought out videos/thoughts I’ve seen on it.

I’m glad a lot of fans in his community are showing support but the lack of public support I’ve seen from outside his fanbase is really disappointing.