#op if you want me to delete this i will

[night-lie]

ekelleydesign’s absolutely adorably amazing doodles, drawn by her, on photos taken by her!

[nostalgia-tblr]

okay, so the thing with wishing we could kudos every chapter of a fic.

i get it, we all want to hit the little like button more than once, it's the easiest way to express our approval/enjoyment/gratitude. i am going to address this to a generic 'you' (hello Y/N!) and assume that 'you' has either never posted fic to ao3 or hasn't posted both oneshots and multichapter works.

hits, kudos, comments, bookmarks. every marker of popularity (which many will interpret as quality) on ao3 is inadvertantly weighted in favour of works with more chapters. no, not longer necessarily, but with more chapters. go and sort a few fandoms by any of those stats and you'll probably be able to spot this trend in action right away.

oneshots are only at the top of a tag (by the default date sorting) once, and even if you re-read it you can only leave one kudos on it.

a multichapter can stay near the top of the update-sorted results for months if you time your chapter drops right, and of course every time someone comes back for the next chapter that's another hit, and being seen more it is more likely to end up with more kudos. you can still only leave one per work, though, which limits the effects to some extent. multichapter works still tend to overall outperform oneshots on stats, and the longer they are the more likely that becomes, but you'll still usually see a couple of oneshots on the first page if you sort that list by kudos.

and a lot of people (percentage unknown) do sort by kudos (or some other stat) and works at the top of 'by kudos' will thus attract more readers and more kudos. so there's an incentive to get as many kudos as you can on your fic, and if cutting it up into 250 chapters will help... well it already does, and that's had an effect whether writers will admit to dragging fics out a bit on purpose or not, but imagine if that effect were to become orders of magnitude more intense.

even if you personally prefer longer fics cut into fairly short chapters, you probably don't want to get your 150k epic in chapters of only a 100-300 words, do you? you don't want the oneshot writers to just give up when every page, no matter how they're sorted, is full of 5000-chapter works to the point that readers now riot when asked to read a whole 2000 words in one go. your fave author is now feeling insecure because chapter 12 didn't get as many kudos as the last one did.

and this is why ao3 will never let you leave kudos on every chapter. they're aware that the site already incentivises chaptering works and doing that more than you otherwise might. so you're just going to have to learn to put an emoji heart in the comment box.

[teddybeartoji]

o wait before i start posting any pics.. i was thinking that maybe.. you guys could help me liquify this gender some more by switching up what you call me.... DON'T GET ME WRONG I LOVE . LOVE LOVE LOVE WHEN YOU USE HE/HIM AND JUST OVERALL LIKE MORE MASC STUFF THAT'S SOOO MMMMMMMMMSO FUCKING GOOD like i don't get to feel that irl at all so it really does make me so happy but i've just been thinking abt TRYING to switch it up more yk? does this even make sense...... . hhhh anyway i might won't even like it and i'll want to just go back to hehim but i wanna try... JUST TO SWITCH IT UP.

[mieczyhale]

"The descendants of those forced to leave their homeland have just as strong a claim to it as those who managed to remain."

- @new-california-veteran on this post

[oddlittlestories]

I don’t tend to do this because it can spiral but I have thoughts and a migraine. If this spirals I absolutely will delete/whatever else I can do on this hellsite.

But anon and OP have Nuance so I’ll take the risk. And I want everyone to know that if you feel personally attacked by this, all I want is more friends to discuss the rich inner life of Lisa Cuddy. Maybe that could be you!

Characterization for Cuddy tends to get split into two camps

1. Cuddy did House wrong, it’s bullshit [often extending into she’s a bitch who’s always getting in his way]

2. Cuddy is a beautiful, sweet person [maybe you get some “she made a mistake,” or, more often, “she deserved better than House”] and she’s a mature woman out here girlbossing and doing her best. Often with a side of “Cuddy hot, she should be with me instead of [whoever]” (there’s a lot of value here don’t get me wrong! It’s just missing some of the nuance I crave)

Sometimes, I see

3. House and Cuddy were perfect for each other, if only [the writers wanted them to be / the timing was right / insert reason here]

But.

Whenever I want to posit that Cuddy was a flawed human being whose flaws pinged off of House/others in both positive and negative ways—dissect her fucked up motivations the way we do EVERY OTHER character in this fandom, I basically don’t get any good from engagement!

It goes-

Me: Cuddy has this characterization [possibly a flaw] and here’s evidence and here’s how it impacts her

Someone: No! Cuddy doesn’t have that flaw, xyz action is justified and/or someone else’s fault!

Someone else: No! Cuddy doesn’t have that flaw, she just did that thing because she’s selfish / tyrannical / stupid / cruel!

No one: hell yes! Here’s some meta expanding on how her fucked up childhood / parental situation / view on achievement or self worth feeds into that flaw! Here’s a deeper read on that flaw that expands and enriches her motivations and successes!

No one: Actually, based on the evidence, Cuddy doesn’t have that characterization. She has this characterization, which implies this wildly different thing. And in fact, the behaviors you cite enrich it in a totally different way and here’s how!

And I’m so hungry for it.

We talk about how Wilson will shatter his own autonomy and sense of self just to serve the people around him, how he’ll carve away pieces of himself to “do the right thing.”

We talk about how House pushes people away, in equal measure because he thinks he’s a tainting influence and because he fears he’s unlovable but afraid to find out and because he can’t stand to be failed again.

I just want to dig into the rich inner life of Lisa Cuddy. WHY did a successful woman who is extremely accomplished and attractive decide to date and addict, knowing full well relapse is on the table, only to dump him when he relapsed?

Why does she dump her kind, attentive boyfriend AFTER they move in together to get together with her old flame? If it’s because he sucks (define suck please) or she doesn’t like him, then why did she date him for so long and let it go so far?

Why does she work so so much harder than anyone in her position? Why doesn’t she allow other people to help her more?

Why does she seem to be genuinely frustrated with House and yet also enjoy his antics? Wilson has a push and pull with that (Guilt and Propriety vs. Prank Drive). Clearly Cuddy has a push and pull, too, what drives it?

Join me. Take my hand. We can do deep dives on the mom-coded character just like we do for everyone else. I believe in us.

I don’t get the hate for Cuddy at all like. I big L LOVE her and yeah what he did to House was unfair and maybe she should’ve considered the fact that she chose to enter a relationship with a former addict—hence the risk of relapse—but she’s kind and amazing at her job and effective at managing House’s shenanigans and just a badass. Her banter with House is iconic. Idk I love my mom

Yeah, big same. But she's a woman, and she rejected House — justifiably or not, right or wrong — and she 'gets in the way' of Hilson, so, you know. (Mostly the woman thing.)

[delicatepointofview]

“Pat the dog, you screw the lightbulb and you just go crazy!”

second clip from @alphalouis here

[rhythmmortis]

character nominations are open until feb 16th 3pm EST for @transxionn's #kh trans swag bracket 2024

[aftg-heritage-posts]

aftg heritage post

@iserenademefan

@smalliinsaneone

@thepalmettofoxes

[softness-and-shattering]

You know its really easy to [not do a bigotry]. Here are some tips:

[A list that on its own mostly sounds nuanced and sensical, a couple orange flags but nothing outright terrible.

Except that its vagueing recent discourse and painting nuanced issues and reactions and conversations into a neat little "Im right and theyre wrong and bigoted towards me" package with zero recognition of "and I mightve been bigoted towards them" because thats the black-and-white smoothing over at work, "They just need to recognise when theyre being bigoted, eg when theyre telling me maybe I did an oopsie doopsie because actually its bigoted to suggest I could ever hurt someone. But lets leave this between the lines so people without context will all agree and make me feel good and the people Im calling bigoted will feel small. This is a normal reaction to a complex intracommunity dynamic. Remember nuance folks!]

And then its reblogged "this all seems correct to me, always remember nuance"

And you sit there like, is the reblogger clueless or are they engaging in the erasing of serious discussion and conflict that needs curiosity and thoughtful resolving into "dont be a meanie because thats bigotry, think with your nuance goggles.on!".

And you sit there like. Not wanting to engage. Wondering if you should unfollow or.block the person putting it in front of your eyeballs or are they clueless. Tired of the disingenuinty because this happens in some variation every week. Sometimes you know what its referring to, sometimes.you just see [nkt being bigoted is really simple, hereas a reasonable sounding list] and youre just like, what didnt I see and what actually are the perspectives other than this one.

Its so fucking condescensing to. "If these silly people just realised theyre being bigoted towards me and stopped asking me to examine myself at all, they would realise theyre obviously wrong amd bigoted and I have never done anything wrong in my entire life ans youre especially a bigot if you disagree".

It reminds me of the first time someone told me that by me confronting them about the fact that they were bullying me, it really triggered them so it really wasnt a conversation they could have, I was triggering them! Deny, accuse, reverse victim and offender, DARVO, right? I didnt know how to react then but that was a long time ago.

This is using therapy-progressive-leftist speak to be manipulative, and it isnt less manipulative or shitty behaviour because you belong to a marginalised identity and are using therapy-speak. Its not bigotry every time youre uncomfortable, its not bigotry when people try hold you accountable for hurt or harm you have caused, its not bigotry to criticise you. Your identity and your trauma are not a free pass to be a piece of shit. If you cannot concieve of healthy conflict you need to remove yourself from public spaces until you can behave like a healthy adult, because passive agressively calling everyone who disagrees with you a bigot is not acceptable behaviour. If you cannot handle criticism or reslonsibility, remove yourself from environments where its required until you can handle yourself. Go to therapy, meditate, find some kind of healing practice that works for you. You are not allowed to just be an asshole on main whoever you are. No ones fooled.

[macchiatosdumptruck]

.

[miss-rarity-stimming]

sometimes im tempted to list the credits on post where they don't credit their gifs

[slug-demon]

look. proship vs anti-ship is another one of those debates that is treated too black and white for my tastes. i do not consider myself proship and a lot of people who choose to describe themselves as proship make content that makes me deeply uncomfortable and conflicts with my personal moral perception of the world. however i am STRONGLY anti-censorship and i feel like a lot of anti-ship people really do not understand the implications of the stuff they seem to want. like i hate to say it but i like ao3 because you can host just about anything there. you never have to worry about 'sensitive' topics being banned unjustly. and like, you can't really ban a topic all together in most situations because it blocks productive portrayal and discussion around real-life topics which is important. i would rather have uncomfortable and weird fanfic on the site i use than have to worry about the website being bought out or changing management or some shit and starting censoring any mention of 'distasteful' or 'inappropriate' topics. sometimes writing contains rape, incest and other uncomfortable topics in a non-glorifying or productive light and censoring those works would be unfair. also the idea of all art needing to have a purpose or a sort of productivity to it comes from capitalistic ideals about art as a product and not as expression, so i also don't think the gross underage incest rape fic should be censored either. if you start censoring, where will the line be drawn? how will you maintain the line? what will you do if societal and/or popular opinion of what should be allowed changes? it's all deeply rooted in capitalism and exclusion and othering/'i'm better than you' ways of thinking. so i'm not proship or anti ship i'm anti censorship and pro minding my damn business when something unrelated to me makes me uncomfortable. ao3 has tagging. block the tags from your searches. it is that easy.

[thecherrygod]

Man they really need to let you block specific posts as a function of this site

[crucefix]

hey i think op of the ‘World renowned actress vs. her male co-star.’ is a terf / has some weird ass ideas and opinions lol (it’s a fair post but yeah)

thanks for letting me know bc i know some people are picky about that but idrc, the post was in my explore tab and i agreed with it so.. i'm not one of the people who thinks it's wrong to reblog a post from a blog you don't even follow based on the rest of the blogs content when it's irrelevant to the post (provided it's just weird opinions as you said and not things that are physically harmful ofc). i guess i just don't see the issue with it personally and it doesn't bother me when any of the blogs i follow do the same bc i let their own words and actions speak for themselves, deleting a post doesn't accomplish anything

[stemroses]

When you update a bookmark on ao3 i really fucking hope the writer doesn’t get a notification.

[shortnotsweet]

I got a kind of upsetting ask the other day about my Rhaenicent art. It wasn’t malicious, but it was phrased (non-verbatim) like: “you draw Rhaenyra much prettier than she is in the show. I enjoy your art, though!” and although I knew they meant well and I was glad they could appreciate what I made, my first instinctive reaction was to feel indignant, followed by rage and then sadness, and eventually a more contemplative state.

I started sketching Rhaenyra because I thought she was beautiful. She has sort of bone structure that is both strong and delicate, aristocratic, and has a very fine nose, the kind that makes for a sharp profile. I started drawing Rhaenicent admittedly because I wanted an excuse to sketch her in all kinds of armor—full suits, armored dresses, etc. and the scenario I imagined at first was one in which she donned armor and presented Alicent with a crown of flowers in a tourney.

I think the term “pretty” is subjective, obviously, and incredibly personal, but often very telling nonetheless. It irked me slightly first because oftentimes there’s a lot of focus both by editorial photoshoots and official promotional content to emphasize Olivia Cooke’s beauty in comparison to and sometimes to undermine Emma D’Arcy’s, and we know why: it’s not about objective attractiveness but rather conventional feminine presentation. This is also reflective, I think, in fan consumption. That’s not to say that Olivia Cooke is not gorgeous—she definitely is, and I think she has one of the strongest performances in the show. BUT it pisses me off instinctively when comments about Emma being less attractive crop up, because they genuinely ARE attractive, they just are not as feminine presenting. Fans or anti’s or whoever often bring this up in a competitive sort of way, either in an IRL context or in the actual show. So it feels more like a projection of “they are less feminine and therefore less beautiful”, which is ridiculous, and extends to Rhaenyra the character, who is female. The showrunner’s themselves made a lot of…questionable decisions, I think, given hair and wardrobe and characterization, to align the idea of a less feminine character automatically being less comfortable in their own clothes and therefore being given less-than-flattering and uncharacteristically non-ornate clothing as a result, as if their idea of non gender-confirming suggests frumpiness, or lack of confidence. That’s the thing about pretty, I think, that set me off. People suffer for pretty. People are happy because of pretty, or apathetic. People die and kill themselves for pretty. Pretty means things, like not ugly, not-not good enough, my standards, your standards, acceptable bodies, things like that.

The text has a lot to say about female beauty and presentation and identity and what the public projects onto young women on the basis of femininity and vulnerability, and the narrative even includes smear campaigns alleging Alicent’s supposed beauty and thinness over Rhaenyra’s waning youth, due to having children in rapid succession. The text largely grapples with the bloody transition from girlhood to womanhood and the question how women should or shouldn’t behave, and the consequences for doing either. Our own society and the society of the text align physical beauty with moral righteousness, and of course the ideal of physical beauty is heavily based on our own patriarchal, in this case Western standard of femininity. All’s that to say, I remember rereading the ask and thinking: “Less pretty? What does that mean?”

I’m not insinuating that they were trying to necessarily compliment or insult the actors, or that they were trying to belittle my own ability. It just felt strange to me, and disheartening: incredible effect, for only being about two sentences. Perhaps they meant “less accurate” in which case there could be an argument made, but still, it was a rude and backhanded way to phrase it, perhaps. I could just be overthinking it. Maybe it was just my ego that was bruised, that could be it.

The universe that I usually draw Alicent and Rhaenyra in, as stated in the tags, is a show-to-book hybrid, with a substantive age gap and different plot points. Both women are considered conventionally beautiful by their society’s standards. The Rhaenyra usually being drawn is usually a teen, sometimes a young adult, somewhere between Millie and Emma’s portrayal, and while I use references for both, the in-between is not a fixed face, and there is no definitive reference for her older and younger self. Perhaps that makes her “less accurate” which I wouldn’t argue with, but to me, accuracy is not the point when I draw from that universe and it discourages me that it has to be stated. I don’t want to draw Rhaenicent if the reaction is that I am not drawing them to an acceptable or comparable standard of pretty.

Similarly, while Alicent is loosely based off of Olivia Cooke largely bc she’s got great expressions and because the show’s visuals still play a part, half the time she is simply drawn as a woman with a round face and large eyes. Occasionally I draw and picture her with black or dark brown hair instead of red. There is no fixed face for her; she is an amalgamation. Maybe she is as ‘pretty’ as her onscreen counterpart, maybe not. It’s subjective, again.

I enjoy asks immensely. It makes me happy when people ask me questions, when they let me know what they’re thinking, when they make me think. I don’t want people to stop, and the vast majority have been wonderful to receive. This one made me think, definitely. It made me reflect. It also made my stomach twist and my drawing hand (that’s my left) twitch. I like drawing pretty things. I curate my Instagram and Tumblr based on pretty things. I like to look at pretty people. If I’m not pretty, I want to die. God, I should be sick of it.