#not apologizing

[meedoo1809]

I do believe that it's important to have healthy masculine friendships that portray both emotional complexity and vulnerability in popular media without having to romanticize or sexualize them.

Not for Mr Charles Xavier and Eric Lehnsherr tho.

Those tragic gays are getting shipped.

[geeky-nightphilosopher]

🦇Batfamily Conversations pt.3🦇

*At a Christmas party*

Young!Jason: Hey, did you know that I asked Santa for a gernade for Christmas?

Socialite: *shocked, panicked* Y-You did?

Jason: And I will know that Santa Claus isn't real if he doesn't give me one!

Dick: *panicking, and stuttering* Santa won't give out gernades!

Jason: *huffs, crossing arms and ignoring the socialite* Yeah, huh! Because if he doesn't then he isn't real!

[wethades]

Me when- me when- me when- when- M-monsters!?

[moondancer1234]

Not sure who originally made this meme (pls let me know if it was you!), but several kind folks on twitter sent it to me this week in solidarity ✊

[meandhisjohn]

Chatted with another fan today and got a lecture on how much ships and other shows I let pass by.

" Concentrating on Sherlock only is stupid"

Ok....let's do this like in the support groups I always detested to attend:

I'm Sabrina I'm 43 years old and I only ship Sherlock and John.

No other ship! No other series!

No actors!

Because I love Sherlock and John and I'm perfectly happy and content with it.

These boys saved my life and brought happiness back into it.

And I will definitely not starting to apologise for it!

Thank you.

* patient sighs and sits down again *

[letraspal]

I saved some of my notes when I first read AWTWB and I decided to share it with you in this random day.

[distortedclouds]

Armin, exactly 42 minutes and 26 seconds after inheriting Bertholdt's memories:

[carrtoonfreak]

In Brainy Jack, they mention getting matching sweaters or something and I believe that they would definitely get sweaters like this

[elialys]

hey. as a fellow writer from niche fandoms and unpopular ships, can i just say i really appreciate you being upfront about how much lack of engagement sucks. really thank you. especially because it comes from someone like you who has a fair amount of engagement, but you know what? you’re right being pissed. i know i am. i come from fandoms where people are constantly yapping about lack of content yet none of them engage w/ each other. i ended up leaving bc i felt like i was screaming to a wall. and you know what? i haven’t stopped writing, just posting. bc why bother? so yeah, i AM writing for myself, and also keeping it from myself. idc if that’s petty honestly, like no, it doesn’t make me feel any better if someone out there might end up liking it one day if they’re being completely silent about it. fandoms aren’t supposed to be one-sided. i’m fine w people not reading my stuff cause they don’t like it. you can straight up tell me you hate my ship and i will be like. cool 👍 but when people do read and like your stuff and yet never say anything, that’s something that i don’t like

anyway sorry for rambling, know that you’re much appreciated. i remember you from my doctor who days and i wish i were in your fandoms so i could keep reading your stuff. ❤️

For the longest time I didn’t say anything because I realize that in a lot of cases, I’ve had what you’d call great engagement, and I’ve always been so thankful for the love my stories have received throughout various fandoms. But the decline is STEEP these days, and I have the hindsight of having been writing/sharing fics online for two decades, so I have a lot of 'data' to compare these days’ numbers to.

That’s the thing that has always gotten to me. NUMBERS. Being so, so aware of how many people click on our fics, and how few of them actually engage with a comment. Even at my most “popular”, I didn’t get more than 5% of my readers interacting with me; it felt like a lot because I had a lot of readers, so it meant more comments, but it still was only 5%.

Like you said, it’s this knowing that people are reading, that they are coming back chapter after chapter, yet they don’t bother engaging with us, even when most of us basically BEG in author notes for them to comment and make us feel less like word spewing machines and more like creative members of their online community. What really got to me this last month was updating my fic for The Last of Us, a chapter that got 1,000 hits in two weeks, and I got 10 comments for it. I was just…how the fuck are 1,000 people reading and only 10 of them bothering? Especially since that fic had averaged 3 times that amount of comments for months on previous chapters.

Every time I get disheartened by the increasingly shitty reader engagement, I tell myself that’s it, I’m done writing fics. But then I always go back to it a few days later because I actually LOVE writing fics. Like, fuck yeah, I do write for myself and actually enjoy it for myself (in a love-hate kind of writing relationship obviously 🤣). I do it because I am in love with the characters I’m writing about, and fascinated by their dynamics and relationships, so it’s genuinely a THRILL, and my biggest passion.

But the abysmal engagement these days is just…it makes me feel like shit, there’s no other word for it. Because I spend so much time and energy on those stories (because I want to and I LOVE to write), but as a fic writer, there’s always this part of me that’s excited to be SHARING it with the fandom. Because twenty years of this have gotten me used to at least some decent interaction, and feeling like I'm part of a community. But then the hit count goes up and the comment count stays low or nearly empty, and it’s just gutting. People just consume, consume, consume.

Honestly, GOOD ON YOU for still writing while deciding not to share with your niche fandom at the moment. I’m thinking I might do the same with the rest of my Tess & Ellie AU, because I want to see it through and finish it for ME, but I’m done spoon-feeding an apathetic crowd. I’ll reach out to my most loyal readers and regular commenters when the day comes, and give them a way to read the rest of the story, might even just post the chapters straight on my blog here like I used to do, but not on AO3, not for a goooooood while.

Maybe it is petty, maybe I am just butt hurt. But fuck it, it does hurt my feelings, and I’m the one spending hours of my life writing those things, so I’ll do it my way. And I will continue to call readers out, and ask them to step up. We are human beings, not chatGPT, we just want some appreciation for sharing our art.

[manglednatalia]

I know that to each their own. Yet, if I see a Fyodor stan hate on Sigma, it'll be personal

[lightvixxen]

So I just looked at the bad dragon site and they have monster and tentacle wearables you put your dick in and fuck your partner with it 😭😭😭

Some of them are open or stretch on the end when you bottom out so he can still breed youuuuu ���😩😩

THINKING MANY MANY MANY THOTS

Imagine he bought one after a campaign, it had featured a tentacle creature that - in your opinion, gave wayy too hot of a voice to. And after that you wouldn't stop talking about that character, saying how nice it must feel to be fucked sill with one of the tentacles...cue horny ass Eddie ready to fill any of your desires and curiosity...

He blindfolds you and surprises you with the wearable and stays in character until he fucking breeds you. 🫠🫠

[xtrablak674]

unapologetic [poem]

You said I was too sensitive.

You said don't be a sissy.

You said you're so dark and ugly.

I'm not apologizing for who I am and how I feel.

You said don't throw the ball like that.

You said you're too pretty for a boy.

You said don't swish your hips when you walk.

I'm not apologizing for any aspect of the body I was born with.

You said I need to choose between the Blacks and the gays.

You said I wasn't like the other Black guys.

You said I talk like a white person.

I'm not apologizing for my intersectional identities, cultural upbringings and good education.

You said I need to tone down my personality.

You said I was too visible.

You said I feel too good about myself and I should date someone who will beat me.

I'm not apologizing for how I move through the world or the confidence and self love I have in who I am.

You said my gender presentation was confusing.

You said my hair made you uncomfortable.

You said my nails were much too long.

I'm not apologizing for who I go to bed as or with and how I let my body exist.

You said I need to dim my light.

You said I need to try to fit in.

You said but where are you really from?

I'm not apologizing for letting my spirit soar, my creativity blossom and my Blackness be uncategorizable.

I'm not apologizing for who I am and how I feel.

I'm not apologizing for any aspect of the body I was born with.

I'm not apologizing for my intersectional identities, cultural upbringings and good education.

I'm not apologizing for how I move through the world or the confidence and self love I have in who I am.

I'm not apologizing for who I go to bed as or with and how I let my body exist.

I'm not apologizing for letting my spirit soar, my creativity blossom and my Blackness be uncategorizable.

I will not apologize because you think I should be ashamed of who I am.

I will not apologize because you don't think I deserve to take up space.

I will not apologize because you can't easily slot my identities, sexuality or gender into a category that is socially acceptable.

You do not owe anyone shit!

Don't apologize, ever!

[Photo by Brown Estate]

[snonkerdoodlefizzy221b]

humans are donuts. from the mouth to the anus is one big hole

[mydarlingdahlia]

I feel like if I show y’all some the warnings for my series y’all are gonna question the condition of my sanity lmao

[clear-dapple-dualies]

*taps mic. clears throat*

Ehm. Spyke looks daddy af now.