#now they don't interact on social media like they used to and it's very disheartening

[selfproclaimedunicorn]

Fusion Dance: Send me a possible fusion (coffeeshop, Hogwarts, zombie apocalpyse, etc.) and I’ll translate at least one scene of [that fic] into such a ‘verse - Modern!AU Aldreda/Alicent with coffee shop vibes

Alicent was not sure what she had expected when Aegon finally told her he had a real head of security and would stop “bumming Criston off of Tower PR's security desk,” but it wasn't this. He'd gone through legitimate channels this time, astounding given his fame was half “king's son who abdicated” and half “social media,” and still he managed to find someone who barely looked like a fit for the job.

The table where she sat overlooked the couch where Aegon had situated himself, sprawled out and taking up the whole thing as he typed away on his phone, far enough to give him some privacy but still close enough to get to him quickly if needed. That was one point in her favor, at the very least; but her even being a woman almost immediately negated the singular point. Her oldest son had found a steady girlfriend, had been dating her for years without incident, but Alicent could not forget how he'd been before the relationship.

She took a deep breath as her thumb gently picked at the spot where the paper for the coffee cup's sleeve was glued together, and finally walked to the table. It was nothing. Aegon was better now, he had agreed to let her vet this new security–and it wasn't like this woman was his type anyway.

“Miss Farwynd.”

She sat up straight at that, no longer leaning almost completely over the table. An easy smile, so charming that it made Alicent inhale a bit harder than necessary, pulled up the corners of her lips as her eyes lazily trailed up to her face. They were big and black, and Alicent dug her thumb nail into the seam of the paper sleeve.

“You can just call me Aldreda”, her island brogue was unexpectedly lilting, “no need to be formal when I'm the employee.”

“That is precisely the need for it.” She sat down before the other woman even had a chance to respond.

“Oh, come on now, not even Aegon calls me that.” Miss Farwynd's eyes darted briefly over her head to look at her son. It was all at once another point in her favor, a relief, and frustratingly disheartening. Alicent pressed her lips together, finally tearing the corner of the seam from the strip of glue to keep from humming in annoyance. The only thing she needed to concern herself with was seeing if Miss Farwynd was a good fit for the entourage her son surrounded himself with, if she seemed like she could keep him safe when he wasn't under her own or Yorick’s watchful eyes, not how being the focus of her attention felt. Even if this brief interaction did make it easy to understand what Aegon said she did to his comment section. She'd apparently drowned out the death threats and assorted vitriol from his “antis” by “summoning a flock of lesbians with her presence in the background.”

Alicent swallowed before she continued. “Aegon is Aegon, and I am not where he got that from.”

“Still though, I prefer it.”

“Miss Farwynd–” Alicent cut herself off as the other woman stretched in her seat, shoulders rolling as her back slightly arched and her large eyes squinted shut. She dug her nail into the already partially pried apart seam and started pushing, neatly tearing apart the sleeve so it stayed in one long piece. If she focused on that, she wouldn't focus on how attractive her son's security detail was.

“I get it, Lady Alicent, I do. Mainland customs and titles and formality and decorum-I don't give a shit. You were married to the king, you're not stupid. There's as much weight to my name as yours, especially back home. I come to the mainland though, I get to be…just some guy they let work security for an obnoxious influencer half the country doesn't like,” she gestured vaguely towards the couch where Aegon was sprawled with his coffee and his phone, “call me Aldreda.”

“If you're just using this job to run from something, I don't know how comfortable I am with you protecting my son. Aegon needs to be your priority.”

“Aegon being my priority helps run from things,” she leaned back in her seat now, one arm resting on the back of her chair as she took her coffee and brought it closer to her face, “that's all you need to know on that though. Can't go revealing tragic backstories to people I just met, especially when you don't get the fuckin’ Kracken Daily on the mainland spilling the worst versions of it.”

She stifled a laugh into her fist. It wasn't funny, or at least that's what she told herself. When Aldreda lowered her coffee from her lips, the easy, charming smile was back and it radiated as much self-satisfaction as Rhaenyra's smile ever had. The edge of the coffee cup sleeve was now fully free from the glue, the sheet awkwardly trying to unfurl while Alicent still held the cup. She did not have a type, and it was not this specific.

Silently, Aldreda got up from the table and walked back over to the counter. She was at least as tall as Criston, and the black slacks her pullover was tucked into hugged her ass a nearly infuriating amount. Heat flooded Alicent’s cheeks as she forced herself to look back down at her coffee and her hands. She didn't know what she had expected, except maybe better of herself. There wasn't any time for this in her life, she was a mother and a public figure and she was trying to get her ex-husband to update the will he hadn't touched since Helaena was born because the cancer was getting worse; further, this was her son's employee. Checking her out was nearly as unethical as the king doing as much to the daughter of the royal family's PR manager.

A second paper sleeve dropped in front of her, and Alicent looked up to see Aldreda leaned casually against the table. Her expression seemed even more self-satisfied than before, her lips parted in the smile this time and her black eyes lidded.

“Try not to destroy this one.” It was gentle, almost teasing, but the air of commandingness in her tone was still there. Alicent felt herself flush again, and she once more looked down at her coffee as she busied herself with replacing the sleeve she'd carefully deconstructed with this new one.

“Thank you, Miss Far–um, Aldreda.”

“That's much better,” she sat back down as she spoke, “we're familiar already.”

Alicent watched as she leaned forward again, propping her elbows on the table instead of draping her arms across the whole surface and lacing her fingers together to rest her chin atop them. The same expression from when she'd come back from the counter never left Aldreda's face. It was almost overwhelming being the sole recipient of that black gaze, but if she looked away Alicent would probably be disappointed.

“So, what did you want to talk to me about, Lady Alicent?”

“Just Alicent will do. All things being equal.” She tacked the second part on quickly, and in lieu of picking at the glued seam of the sleeve, she simply started drinking her coffee a little faster than was usual. She could control that at least.

[bluebrush09arts]

It seems like your art presence on social media has been causing you a lot of stress lately :( could it be wise to take a little break?

I'm not all that stressed by it in all honesty, I don't really even care that much if I have tons of followers or get hundreds of likes...

What I do care about is feeling like my content matters once in a while. Like people still give a damn about what I do so my efforts actually feel worth it. I cannot even begin to describe how utterly disheartening and discouraging it is to share art these days, how everywhere you turn they're trying to kill the thing you love to do and feeling like people don't care.

Art in any form is a medium that requires sharing to be seen, but nobody shares anymore, nobody comments or interacts anymore. It really and truly makes you wonder why you even bother. We put hours of our lives into creation, put a lot of passion and energy into it, to get nothing in return to make it feel fully satisfying. It honestly kinda hurts. But we keep trying and keep putting ourselves out there because we want to share what we do. Drawing for yourself is important, do what you do because it's fulfilling to you 100%, but again, art is for sharing, and a little positivity in return goes a long way. Especially with the whole of the internet actively trying to destroy your craft or steal your content.

Now none of this is a plea or a grab for attention, but I will say that a simple 'this looks great' can make or break some young artists whole day, it can inspire them for a whole week to continue to create. Even if you aren't necessarily interested in the content itself. It makes them feel seen and feel like people want to see more and see them grow. If a child shows you a drawing they did do you brush them off, or do you tell them they did a good job and put it where it can be seen? Feedback and encouragement are so incredibly important for growth and artists get none of it anymore, or very little from the same circle.

"Well is that a bad thing? It's better than nothing."

True. But we always want to reach out to more people, to pull them into a new thing that maybe they didn't know existed. They might end up finding their new favourite art styles or artists, you never know. We love to share and interact with people and gush about what we are doing, that's what art is, but our reach only goes so far, that's why we are basically forced to rely on the collective, because every algorithm and every website is hiding us from you. And day by day the collective drifts farther and farther into the "free content/mindless scrolling" mindset. Obviously there are those of you who don't, and we appreciate the hell out of you who do stick around or do leave a small comment. But is it wrong to wish for a little more? To feel like you are being seen and that your time and effort matters? To feel appreciated? Personally I don't think so. Comments can be hard, but we aren't asking for a deep analysis, just a simple 'good job' and maybe a share.

We want to continue to create and share, but we need those seemingly insignificant crumbs to keep the fire going.

[irisbleufic]

Hello! I've followed you for a while and if I'm brave enough, one of these days I'll ask for an invite to your server. I am too socially anxious to do it right now.

But I wanted to say that the current fandom environment (not only in the Good Omens fandom but at least what I've seen almost everywhere) is a bit scary because apparently not liking something and saying it openly is seen as some kind of unforgivable offense.

I'm a bit sad bc I was a bit involved in some fandom projects for S1 and had a lot of fun with people I thought was very reasonable and open but this season has made those same people act so weird if someone dares say they didn't like it.

I wasn't kicked out of servers, I left them voluntarily because it felt uncomfortable seeing this almost cult-like reactions. I really don't know if fandom has always been like this or I was lucky before.

I'm more or less old but I am not what some people would call a fandom old since I discovered fandom (the interaction with group of people that like the same stuff as me) somehow late and didn't experience LJ, for example, so I am curious to know if people acted like this before too.

Anyway, I hope you have a nice day/afternoon/evening.

Good morning, anon! I’m sleepless and happened to see this come in. Please rest assured that the server will still be there if and when you decide to request the invite link. It’s honestly shaping up to be where all of the book devotees and other misfits not welcome in the TV crowd for various reasons are seeking refuge, if you want to know the truth. We welcome you.

The environment in fandom right now is disheartening. I feel like dissent and criticism surrounding media used to be a normal part of fandom interactions. Somehow, fandom has forgotten how to let it co-exist with positive sentiments. I’m as taken aback as you are.

Whether you were kicked out of servers or left them due to discomfort, I just…wow, I’m tired and sad to keep hearing this story from folks right now. It’s why I feel keeping the Ritz around is so important. It was founded in 2017 and used to be the largest, busiest GO server. As soon as the show hit, new folks coming in expected the (as you say) cult-like devotion to the show…and mostly left because they did not find it. I’m heartened to see it coming back to life, though, with newcomers. I’m one of the only founding mods left; the co-mod who created the server is now less active since transferring ownership of it to me a few years ago.

You’re asking if GO fandom has always been like it is now, and the answer is a resounding no. It was so much more diverse before as far as opinions that were socially “permitted.” The expectation of homogeneity that the show has brought about is frankly unprecedented.

You’re not alone in not quite being old/a fandom elder, either. I’ve been in GO fandom for 19 years, but I’m only 41. I started writing them a lot younger than some of the first writers the fandom ever had (those writers were my mentors and many remain my friends). TL;DR I’m young relative to how long I’ve been in the fandom, and I agree that it places a person in the weird position of being an elder, but not precisely being old.

I hope that this perspective helps. You truly aren’t alone in how you’re feeling, and your observations are valid 💙

[divinecomedyproductions]

"Disengage the fandom and curate your interaction!" - It's not that simple.

One thing I've told about my woes about fandom is "disengage from the fandom" and not to "hyperbolize" or not "open floodgates", and be "rational" and just accept not being "serious storytelling" or else it comes of as "fragility" or I guess would be "breaking from fragility"and being "defensive" and "not touching grass"

And I know this comes from a good place and I know these people mean well...

The problem is that advice doesn't work when it comes to certain fandoms who use these labels and also hyperbolize and "floodgate", the escalation of interaction, and the "consequences" of that. At least in my past experience

The problem is when you try to "disengage with the fandom" requires you to drop social media entirely. And when it comes to pop culture and creativity and start with projects, most of that stuff now requires social media and the internet.

If you "disengage" your often just left with people you know at work who might have no idea what you're talking about and can't help you in any way.

Michael of RetroBlasting of YouTube his Unplugged Video about " 'Ignoring it' and doing nothing"

It isn't the analogue world anymore, you don't just leave a comic book shop full of jackasses and go to another one and continue your business. And toxic fandoms know this too.

In fact this video explains this kind of stuff best

And what toxic fandoms do, is they set you up into a conundrum.

In the game of The Toxic Fandom, if whatever your doing that takes elements of what you liked of safe franchise, especially out of disagreement and disappointment gets big enough, they invade your space and harass you and often resort to their own brand hyperbolizing and "floodgating" first and assume the worst reasons of what makes you happy and what you want.

If you stay composed and rational and use milder words like "disheartened" and "bummed out", accept your ideas being labeled as "not seriously storytelling", and "disengage" from where if your you put stuff out and find another platform.

They see you as a wimp and keep pushing you back because "oh he's just disheartened guys, he'll get over it, so we can keep pushing him around. What's he gonna do? Be Mildly annoyed? LOL!"

and use the fact stayed "this label" instead of changing to "that label" to screw you over because "we need to make room for real storytelling, thats the consequences sorry!" for whatever reason

And if you do anything aggressive or assertive back;

which might involve hyperbolizing and flooding gates, or at the very least get more aggressive with your tone

If you defend yourself from labels and explain why you wanted what you wanted and why it makes you happy, which is not necessarily being 'defensive'

If you do anything that isn't passive...

You "Broke" from "fragility" your being "defensive", your "not being the bigger person" and "not accepting reality"

and you need to "touch grass"

So the fandoms won't let you win

So in this context, you keep being passive and keep on "disengaging" and keep accepting these labels, the fandom will become more bold and invasive and even actively sabotage you by slandering you such as LilithFairen, KnightOfBalance, or Canonseeker does with AUs and ReWrites of RWBY and they might even falsely report too.

So instead of things getting hypothetically better in the long run, the damage gets exponentially worse

Now of course the argument can be made "well there's always gonna be haters no matter what." Of course there will be, so you might as well fight back to stop the unnecessary bleeding.

Now of course there's cases where it is the case where the person is overreacting and need to step back, but the problem is in my experience there's outsiders who don't bother to take the time time and figure out what's going on before making their judgement call because they think they can just assess the situation by just looking at it and make an assumption because they know so much.

Because the think they’re doing this

when in reality their doing this is getting in the way

Another example I can think off is the success of Kamen America which is an active disagreement with what was done with the idea of Captain Marvel, combined with other elements of course so its not a blatant rip off.

Once it got big enough, Captain Marvel fanatics began shrieking its nothing but a "Porn Captain Marvel Rip-Off" and try to reputation assassinate it, which ComicsGate tried to jump in because the "leader" has a personal beef with the creators

And these are the same people who cheer on evil superman clones like Omni-Man and Homelander or cheer on "His Dark Materials Trilogy" which was made by an author who had a big beef with The Chronicles of Narnia and CS Lewis

Because supervision/inversion is awesome when it subverts/inverts things they don't like I guess

So once again, the fans like myself had to step in and say something and fight back so those out of the loop knew what was actually going on.

Once Fandoms become invasive and are policing social media and creativity to a certain magnitude and try to throw what makes us happy to the dogs when the opportunity hits, being passive and rational might not be an option.

Sometimes it is. But sometimes it's not.

[johnsbleu]

Hi! it's quite some time since I have send you a message, last week saw your poll but I did not really think much of it, I don't really see your profile much on my feed until today I search for it and saw some of your previous post about the lack of engagement with your story, I'm truly sorry you are going through this, I can not imagine how hard it is to pour your time and part of your life into this and not really receive much feedback, for that I do want to apologize in my end, I'm really sorry, I love your story, I truly think is one of the best things I have read on the internet and you are a very talented writer, I'm sorry I have not really show my love for it. I'm a very shy person and english is not my first language, I have had some not really nice encounters on social media so I do not interact much outside of the likes, but I can assure you that I'll interact more with your page and comment more in the chapters to show you my interest and love for the story.

Also, I hope you are feeling better! ☺️

you are so incredibly kind thank you for this message! i know that i don't ever pop up on people's feeds and i don't even show up in the tags apparently, which is really disheartening. i want people to read my fic and it seems like it's just getting blocked at every moment lmao but i'm so incredibly grateful for the readers that i do have, and i didn't realize how many people still read it! it does suck not really getting any sort of recognition other than likes, but i totally get where you're coming from about people being mean. i used to talk about hmh a lot on twitter but someone was like...openly bullying me with their group of friends about it and it really hurt. i talk about it more now because they're not really in the keanu fandom anymore or they just aren't on twitter but it sucks when people do that kind of stuff. idk why people can't just be nice lmao

i appreciate you saying that you'll show more love, it means a lot! i already appreciate you so much just for sending this message in the first place and i know you've been a long time reader too, so thank you! 🤍🤍🤍

[cookinguptales]

I found you through AO3 bc your nandermo fics devastated me and really helped kick off my newest special interest and I enjoy your metas a lot. I was sad when I saw your post about being disheartened by lack of interaction. I really struggle to communicate, especially online and especially when going through things, but I wanted to say that I really like what you write and your insight and thank you for creating. I wish I could interact more often and more specifically than leaving kudos. I had a moment of social energy and I wanted to use it to send this since I’ve been thinking about your post for awhile. Sorry for rambling awkwardly, just thanks.

I really appreciate that you put the effort into sending me this message, especially because it sounds like it's not something that's necessarily easy for you to do. That was really kind. Thank you.

I was mostly talking about wider fandom trends and my experiences in other fandoms; like I mentioned in the post, wwdits fandom has actually been one of the best experiences I've had in fandom in years. (Uh. Certain anons aside. lmao.) I get more interaction here than I have in a long time, and it's one reason why I keep writing fic and meta.

I will say that it's still... frustrating, I guess, the way that social media is kind of where fic goes to die these days, even in wwdits fandom. I do still think it's largely because you have to click off the "social" site to read the fic, and AO3 in and of itself was not meant for extensive social interaction. So you do still lose out on the kinds of social interaction that other kinds of fanwork (including meta, for that matter) seem to enjoy.

I would say that the way my meta is received vs. the way my fic is received is drastically different, and I really didn't start making as many friends on tumblr until I started posting it. The fic was definitely not enough, no matter how many people enjoyed it. Again, they might list me as an author that they enjoyed, but not an actual fellow fan that they liked to interact with. I guess that's the part that's a bummer. There is a more collaborative feel to certain kinds of fanwork, and fanfic used to have that feel.

Now, though, it can be very isolating and I do see a tendency to separate author from fanwork. That can feel weirdly like erasure, like people don't want you to exist, only the work you can give them. I've even seen people complain that author's notes exist because they don't want anything to "distract" from the fic. Like an artist existing distracts from the art...? That's frustrating.

I do think it's related to greater trends re: nonconsensual commodification of art, pressure to commodify hobbies, monetization of fandom, art as "content/product" and art enjoyers as "consumer/customer", etc. It does remind me in some ways of the way that people do feel... entitled, I guess? To various artists' output as separated from the artist. (See: misuse of art for AI.)

It does feel extra frustrating to see this forced upon fanfic, though, considering that it's one of the few types of fanwork that still exists in a real legal gray area re: monetization. It's like we get saddled with all of the downsides of commercialization with none of the benefits. I feel like we should be able to opt out of all this commercialization bullshit if we're not even getting paid to deal with the shitty dehumanizing parts. lmao

Ah, I'm getting distracted again.

I guess it's nice to just actually see people talk about something you've created and interact with it. Not just leave a comment to you personally, but show it to their friends, put stuff in the tags, ask questions, start discussions about it, etc. You know, the kind of stuff that happens with other kinds of art on social media. (Meta very much included!) Things that make it feel more like you exist in a community rather than just... idk, putting down something you've made and watching it get consumed absent your presence.

I guess... to extend the metaphor, I may be the cook but I still want a place at the table. The difference between making dinner for your family vs. making dinner for a customer at a restaurant, y'know? I wanna sit down and talk, not just perform. There's a lack of community these days that I really miss.

I guess all this is mostly just nostalgia for an older form of fandom. Fic did used to feel a bit more like an interactive art form back in the LJ days. (And before, I guess.) A conversation, if you will. Sometimes that could be irritating (remember back when reviewers could be put in the fics and such on ff.net? lmao) but sometimes it was really nice.

I SOUND REALLY OLD NOW... There are some things about modern fandom and AO3 in general that I really like, especially the ability to search and filter in ways that really weren't possible ~back in the day~. But... yeah, I do feel like we've lost something, too, by making fanfic almost too easy to "consume" outside of the rest of the social fandom space.

I guess I'll go take my cane and sit down now lmao.

[the1975attheirverybest]

"One thing about Matty is that he knows that we as fans love him." This is actually something I've been thinking about all year and I hope I won't be offending anybody (this isn't meant to attack you or any of your lovely followers/ anons) And this might just be me projecting/ being way too parasocial myself so apologies if this is too negative. I really don't mean to make anybody feel bad but I really wonder if Matty didn't experience some sort of disconnect with the fans this year. Fan culture/ concert etiquette has changed a lot. We already know that going viral on TikTok and thus becoming more famous has been hard on him. He's expressed nonstop that it bothers him that so many fans film during their entire gigs - AND keep trying to provoke some kind of reaction out of him so they can go viral. People have been following the band around and stalking him personally, he's even been doxxed. Then ofc he got this extreme amount of backlash when he went on the podcast and people screaming for him to apologize/ apologize the way they personally seemed best (not saying people's feelings and criticisms weren't valid but I think we can all agree that it was very intense and lacked nuance), then we got very extreme reactions to him dating TS. And while our fans were much kinder/ more supportive, there was a loud majority complaining that we would "lose him" now cause he surely wouldn't be allowed to behave a certain way/ a loud majority trying to trivailize what happened ("Oh well, they were never gonna last, they're too different"/ "Let's be real, it was just sex. They can't have possibly been in love") and I feel that's pretty patronizing? We actually don't know what he felt for her/ hoped for or how it affected him to be dropped so publicly/ unceremoniously. Next we had a lot of fans immediately side w/ Rina when she shamed him in front of his whole industry at a festival he's been hoping to headline his whole life, fueling the same discussions/ outcries for him to apologize (same disclamer as above), Malaysia after-math, fans constantly begging for more social media posts but then getting offended/ finding fault in his posts (same disclamer as above) and even accusing him of predatory behavior because he possibly interacted with underage fans... Fans making up all sorts of rumors about him on twitter "for fun", believing Deuxmoi, accusing him of being in a PR/ fake relationship, complaining about ticketing/ tour dates, getting all anxious and worked up before the start of SATVB, expressing dread instead of excitement for the new show and begging him to "shut up, stop your bits and just sing" (same disclamer as above) fans being rude/ talking over him while he's doing his speeches/ performance art (and I also think he's pretty disappointed that people aren't really "getting it"), fans being so weird and grabby that he decided he doesn't feel comfortable taking off his shirt any longer, constant complaining about his hair/ facial hair, constant complaining about how much he interacts with the audiences, fans having the audacity to complain that he was sick/ tired/ emotional during certain performances... the list goes on and on. Again, sorry if this is all very negative and probably too parasocial (and way too long) but I felt really disheartened at all the negativity and entitlement this year. It was a very hard year for him and whenever I go through a hard time I am much more sensitive/ tend to feel unloved if criticised (however justified). I really hope he still feels loved and like we're "getting him".

No you’re right. Idk I always wonder how he feels because there are moments when he seems to think that things aren’t as serious as they are (like the Twitter backlash) and times when he seems to know very well what the conversation within the fandom is.

I think he gets it. (Tempted to uno reverse his own words and say “he gets us.”) because as much as he’s seen stupid / toxic fan behavior he’s also seen real fandom. Like the Vienna show fans who held up “you are loved” signs and he thanked them for it. And then the fan who asked him “how are you? Like how are you, really??” And he said it was sweet but not to worry. And he always says “we love you guys and we’re still us, we’re still here” etc. and crying cuz he saw a fan cry. I think he experiences both extremes. And it must be a lot and confusing to process because yeah people love you but then there are those who do so for all the wrong reasons and how do you separate those and when do you engage or disengage. Which is why I don’t blame him when he gets a bit defensive or whatever. Bless him.

Not to be weird and start drama but I felt his presence in the room (tell me why I sound like I’m talking about a ghost) at the Baltimore show. Which he said was the best show they’d done. And I genuinely think it’s because we didn’t have that many phones out etc. he and I interacted a couple times so he definitely sees, appreciates, and engages with those fans who are genuinely there for the band and for the live show and not the tiktok discourse. He knows. It’s just a lot to process alongside all the other stuff. Must be hard.

[soraritsuka]

Rant about being an artist on social media

While I haven't really needed more followers or more of a reach over the years, picking my art back up recently has been a bit of an emotional roller coaster. My main social has always been Instagram... But now that I've been posting my art and shop items on there, even with paying to boost my posts, I hardly get any reach and it's really disheartening. I'm grateful for my friends' support, but I only see the same four or five people liking my posts even after boosting them.

I've taken to posting on all the social media that I have, even utilizing things like Twitter which I really never had an intention of using. While I hardly have any followers on twitter, it does get more views and way more of a reach even without promoting it. But little to no interaction. I have paid to boost so many posts these last few months to no avail. It's not going to stop me, but it's really gut-wrenching to know that views and interactions don't happen as naturally as they used to years ago.

The algorithms are very unkind to new creators if they're not willing to pay for it, and I really just don't know what to do. Even after selling at my last convention, it only brought me a handful of new followers. Just feeling really down in the dumps, I suppose. I know beggars can't be choosers but I really refuse to download and use tiktok even though I'm sure it would bring in some new people. I just hate that I have to utilize whatever is forced and trending at the time in order to be seen. If you made it to the end of my rant, bless you friend.

[touchstarvedsam]

So yeah, I have ~thoughts~ about the Padackles dynamic, and Gen & Danneel getting together is a BIG part of those thoughts.

SAME.

I've been thinking about Gen and Danneel as a couple since 2013/2014. Especially when there was that time where they were @-ing each other on Twitter all the time with "my best friend" this and "I love her" that and occasionally calling their outings dates. I freaking miss the hell out of that.

Because I mean they're literally fjdkfjjfkd

And when I think about the fact that there is a picture of Jensen touching Jared's face like that too... like... Jared & Jensen and Gen & Danneel are a thing. The whole dynamic that existed back then was perfect. I love the idea of a padackles OT4 also? Don't judge me. 😫

I mean, Gen and Danneel were always at each other's houses, taking care of each other's kids while J2 were filming. JJ freaking always called Gen "Aunt Mommy" for crying out loud?!

I want Genneel to be r e a l.

[lovely-oh-so-lovelyyui]

Fandom Struggles

Skip to the final 2 paragraphs cuz that's the main bit

hello anon darling, now i'm not sure if you are the same person or different people but these requests have been piling up for the past couple of months in my asks not only on my main but on my karl rp blog too.

now do not worry my darlings i am aware there are a lot more of these but these seemed like the main issues at hand so i narrowed them down i will talk through or well  explain these to the best of my ability.

to preface this i am obviously not talking about all the blogs when i say this but from my own experience.

now to start:

first off i am going to address the entire notion of me socialising with certain blogs and i will put out context for why it seems that way; i am a pretty extroverted person and i am also a little gremlin that is constantly online however this does not always mean my social battery works. Around quarantine was the first time my self esteem was truly broken, someone who i held dear said many mean things and honestly just slagged off about me behind my back. so whilst i am over it approaching people first is just a little hard for me especially behind a screen as i can never truly tell what their reaction might be. Moreover, I simply am a busy person, i very strongly focus on my academics which is why i have a strange schedule and i'll usually check my mutuals blog check out some cool stuff and leave. it's in my bio that im always free to interact if you just send me your ocs or something that you would like me to check out; because if anything i love about this fandom is the never ending fountain of ingenious ideas. I eat that shit up so quickly.

second off i'm not quite sure what you mean when you are referencing a hierarchy but i am assuming how certain blogs are a lot more popular than other which simply means they get more interaction. To put it into perspective if i am a little bakery that sells to 30 customers with a 10 percent success rate i am selling three items. however if my friend over the street at the jewellery stall has 80 loyal customers with a 10 percent success rate they're selling 8 items.

if that makes sense and obviously loyal customers, reblog which gets more interactions which simply just means your content reaches more people.

don't let this dishearten you at all i promise, literally everyone in this fandom produces such high quality lovely work, the main thing is about actually enjoying what you are doing. many people struggle as an artist whether it be writing or drawing content is something we make for ourselves before anyone else is a mindset that i believe. it has literally saved me so much.

also most people here are darlings, just talking to each other you can feel how supportive they are of u i promise, i think sometimes we put people on pedestals but at the end of the day they're just another person who loves the same media as you.

finally, the most important bit. is that we are a fandom? ironically, we make better content than canon has ever made but i think that always makes us forget we are still fanon. we are allowed to make up different aus, endings, ships and it would still be just as amazing. you do not have to follow a certain someones footsteps because your creativity is not their. you big beautiful brain is yours, and will always be yours.

ask closest friend on here @yui--komori, god i love her and all of her ideas and we scream at each other about different hcs all the time that maybe the other has never even envisioned. however sometimes we will have literally the same ideas, and sometimes the idea is exactly the same but the execution and those little special details are different and that is so valid. Because it is yours it does not have to conform to other peoples ideals

[leqclerc]

take off all the time you need and take care of yourself and your feelings <3 also... i get what you say, with lots of people "moving on", your work can feel unappreciated or even useless, but let me tell you this: you are and always will be a great content creator AND a great person and everthying you did in this community is very much appreciated 💖

Anon that's lovely, thank you 😭💕

Yeah... I mean I always figured there'd come a time when the Sebchal content would start dwindling and people would start warming to Ch*arlos and that it would sort of become the next shipped thing as, well, that's the circle of life. Especially with new fans coming in (I'm sure this will happen when S4 of DTS drops) and sort of not knowing about Sebchal and recognising Charles and Carlos as the Ferrari duo of "their" time and so on.

Admittedly I didn't think Ferrari would go quite this hard with the Ch*arlos content so that's... a bit of a surprise and honestly that in itself is kind of contributing to me being 😐 about Ferrari's social media content. Like logically I get it, they're the current drivers, ofc they're gonna feature prominently across their photos and videos and stuff but also it's so much that for anyone who isn't into it it's just exhausting, at least to me.

And then, like you said, that comes with this very real sense of people "moving on" and wondering if there's any point to what I'm doing here, if "the moment" is done and over and I should just move on too. It's especially disheartening after last weekend where I legit spent a few hours, switching between VPNs, combing through footage across website after website after website, hoping for something, anything, only to turn up nothing at all. Of course they don't "owe" us interactions or anything, that's not what I'm saying, it's just... it makes me feel kind of obsolete and, well, useless, having nothing new to offer to the community. If that makes sense 😭So, idk, call it a burnout or a crisis of faith or a Tumblr identity crisis or what have you but I am going thru it! sjdj 😥

So, genuinely thank you for your kind words! You remind me why I've been doing this for... a little over a year now. I'm glad you found something worthwhile here and enjoyed the content! That honestly means the world to me 🙏🏻🥰

[lesbiancarat]

Book anon here to say today is a happy day because it is dk and vernon day ^0^ the fact they share bdays makes my heart so big like djakdnaks that's the best thing really! (I say this as I don't like celebrating my own birthday lol but that shiz makes me soft) like how can it not get better than sharing a birthday with your fellow bandmate who is also your buddy :'))

Back on topic, I am happy that in the fandoms I'm in, update blogs or accounts are well loved so no drama there but I agree on cc peeps, my gosh the decline of them is obvious for the past 2 years =/ I remember 2018 the carat fandom here was HUGE with creators and lots of notes but now...its hard to see more than 200 for some and while numbers don't matter because you should ALWAYS be doing this for fun, its so shocking to see the interaction go so low and its more likes. I do have a theory as to why this is the case and it might be due to nowadays, people on Tumblr find reblogging alot to be "too much" akaspamming. I would know because some told me I do this and I'm like ??? I am simply reblogging content I like and if it means hitting the rbelog limit so be it djajdjw. Legit idk why its seen as bad nowadays when everyone used to reblog alot and no one complained so maybe this could be why? Again a theory but it would make sense and its a shame if this is the case :c I admit I like stuff because I sometimes do reblog it for a color theme but mostly I hit the reblog limit so I want to reblog it later xD

But let's not get into people that take others work as their own -.- now I get giving credit for say icons (I do this for icons and headers I use because its the least I can do. I would link it but idk how to do it on Tumblr lol) but taking someone's say gif and just posting it on twitter to share is like ??? You do know there is a share button that SHARES THE ORIGINAL LINK BACK RIGHT? Smh i can't with people. That's why I try to make sure for icons at least I know its not a repost and try to stay away from pintrest as best as I can (also svt on pintrest? Are they making moodboards or smth? I leave Tumblr for a bit and this is what I come back to lol)

Oof I wrote too much again sjamdna I'm living up to my emoji huh? XD but yes my tooth is better! It hurt again last night but today we are good!

I'm late answering this but yeah the fact that dk and vernon share a Birthday is super sweet! it's fun that they get to do their birthday live together as well ^^

but yeah i joined carat tumblr around late 2017/early 2018 (i made this side blog during oh my era but I'd been reblogging svt stuff on main before then) and I'm p sure most if not all the cc's i originally followed are inactive now :( obviously like you said content creators should make content for fun and bc they want to and not for the notes, but it's understandably disheartening when less people are interacting with it and even the people who do still see your content are (at least seemingly) less enthusiastic about it (ie liking but not reblogging it, less ppl writing things in the tags or replies, etc.)

but that's so wild to me? I've never heard anyone say someone is reblogging too many things like... how do you expect to see posts if people don't reblog stuff?? id welcome that extra content on my dash dhfjfh. i guess you can go in specific tags but like. idk reblogging is the main function of tumblr i don't know why there are people sort of against it/not as willing to use it (i mean... i suspect at least one factor is other social media platforms relying more on algorithms and likes to show people new content and ppl are just more used to that maybe?)

i feel like to some extent people feel entitled to have every or any gif or fanart or fan content on their platform of choice, but like if an artist posts something on tumblr but not on twt or instagram it doesn't HAVE to be on twt or insta. people can make a tumblr (or whatever platform) account if that's the only place a creator is active and they really want to see their content. and if people want to share something cool to another platform it is not hard to just post a link to the original post and tell people to check it out. like i do that every once in a while if there's a translation that doesn't allow reposts, but i still want ppl to know that trans exists if they wouldn't normally. and yeah!! you're gonna get less engagement that way!! but that's when you need to question whether your intention is really to share something cool w people who wouldn't normally see it or if you just want clout from this cool thing for yourself

and obviously not everyone who reposts things wo credit or permission has such innocent intentions as "i want to share this cool thing" but i think in a lot of cases it is something similar to that where ppl see something and they want to use it or share it for whatever reason and they just forget that it's something an actual person took the time to create and chose to share it. fan creations, unless otherwise specified, are not like memes in that they're intended to be shared and edited and copied to hell and back

but yeah pinterest is the worst in terms of reposts. like very little if any of the content on there (at least that's fandom related) is original content. the vast majority is reposts from other platforms without credit. a few weeks ago i saw someone on twt post like an old SVT photo or something and someone asked where it was from and they were like 'idk i saw it on pinterest' and when i tell u my blood boiled dhfkfj like!! ok!! so you're reposting a repost and u have no idea what the original source is... great

but yeah i have no idea what SVT is gonna do with pinterest... guessing it's just gonna be pledis posting official/behind photos that they also post on twt anyway. it really looks like it's something bh made them create given other bhl artists also have pinterests they're all following each other. also pledis didn't even officially announce the new account opening anywhere as far as I've seen so like. i think they really don't care dhfkfj

i really don't know what bh thinks they're gonna gain though like. ik there are active fandom pinterest users but i think most of them also have other social media like twt or insta. like they're not cracking open a huge new market, and LITERALLY NO ONE expects any musician or celeb to have an official Pinterest so. it's just so unnecessary dhfkgj

I'm glad your tooth is feeling better!!!