#probably won't do their research no matter how many times you reblog posts like that

[biolizardboils]

Sorry to do this so suddenly, but I'm putting all my blogs on hold until further notice. I might log in to like or private-reblog some posts for reference, but that'll be it.

The short reason is that I wanna work on myself. Mostly personally, but with a side of visual art skills.

The long version is under the cut. Content Warnings: current geopolitical events, mental health.

So I'm writing this part for two reasons: so I can send it to friends and others when they ask what I'm doing; and to remind myself why I'm doing it, in case I'm compelled to come back too early. This is gonna be a ramble; I'm writing this after midnight, cus I'll forget or lose the nerve in the morning.

You likely already know what this is about from the emoji tag. You'll also notice that I won't mention any proper names in this post. That's one of the issues I'm stepping away to work on.

I've been quiet about it ever since it started, for a few reasons. Unfamiliarity with the history behind it, fear of spreading misinfo or propaganda, doomscrolling tendencies. For months, I've done the daily click and left it at that.

(Speaking of, last month I found out that the site doesn't track cookies or whatever its called? TL;DR: you can click as many times as devices you have. That's 3 for me.)

But anyway, this week it stopped feeling like enough. From this post's date and what I usually post about, you can probably guess what broke the camel's back.

And... I feel guilty that this is what broke it. And I feel guilty that I feel guilty. It's not my struggle; I'm a bystander. But I chose to be, and I can't tell how much of it was for my own mental health, and how much was denial, selfishness, misplaced optimism.

I want to believe people aren't so cartoonishly cruel. I want to believe people do their research before acting on or speaking about these things. I want to believe people can treat these things with the delicate nuance they deserve. I want to believe that one side destroying innocents on the other is inexcusable, no matter the historical context, and that the rest of the world's powers will act to stop it.

I'm scared of how much I still want to believe it, despite reality. I'm scared of how long it took me to feel the appropriate horror. I've had intrusive thoughts and pits in my stomach all week, and it's compounded by the guilt that I'm only having them now.

I still want to believe some things were misguided, or made before the situation, or will be fixed later. And I can't tell anymore what's a coping mechanism, and what's just a selfish hope that it'll all be fine.

So... I'm gonna get better coping mechanisms.

I'm looking for therapists. Not just for this, but some other things that happened to stack up this week. It doesn't take much to throw off my daily functioning, and I've been holding off addressing that. Again, it's horrible that it took something like this to make me realize that.

To fill up the spare time, I'm gonna put more work into my art skills. I can finally afford better tools, so it's time I practice more professional techniques.

So, yeah. I'm leaving because I feel I can't address things like an adult, and I hope to learn how before I come back.

Thanks for reading, and goodbye for now.

[myimaginarywonderland]

This is going to be different than my usual posts but it has to be said especially now that I am coming up on 500 followers (can't believe that so many of you guys would willingly listen to my takes lol.)

I am not big. In the grand scheme of F1 or even motorsport content creators, hell even Tumblr blogs I doubt I would be anywhere close to the top 1000.

But I have people that do follow me and that listen.

And so has anyone who has even just 10 followers.

Your voice matters.

Someone hears what you are saying.

Someone might be helped by you even reblogging something without any tags or more in depth research.

Motorsport is growing , becoming more mainstream like every week. Content creators for it are growing.

However what has sadly not evolved yet is the mindset of silence that surrounds it. F1 has sadly made 0 progress when it actually comes to standing up as a sport. Every act that could be seen as activism gets immediately shut down. I know that there are individuals that are trying to move us forward, that are trying to lend their voices but the number is so small and the actions often sadly the bare minimum.

But because of how F1 is becoming more involved in social Media and how fans are being more accepted, we now have to lend our voices. We can not continue to stay silent in an environment that is already silencing most small actions.

It is on us as fans now to make sure that if the drivers will not speak up, if the organisation will not make a stance, that if no one is taking action, that we do.

We have to be better and not let that blanket of silence fall on us too.

We life in an age of digitalisation. We life in a time where any of us can check information, can confirm via multiple sources or can form our own opinions.

We life in a world that still hasn't learned from history. We live in a time period where the consequences of capitalism, racism etc. are now more open to see than ever before.

You can not say you didn't know. You can't say you aren't informed enough.

You are lazy. If you can not spend a few minutes, even seconds just reading up on some of the things that are happening you are staying willfully ignorant.

I know how hard it is to try to talk about everything that is going on in the world or to even know about it. I know how difficult it can be to unlearn a western perspective on some things, to realise how much out media here still is biased. I know how draining it can be to see all the suffering.

I know.

But that is never an excuse.

It is never an excuse to not put in effort, to at least even try, to lend your platform to just one voice that deserves to be heard. It is not an excuse when you can just turn off your electronic devices and have silence while the people in Palestine, Sudan, Kongo etc. can't because it is their life, their reality.

I am not perfect. There are many conflicts I am not fully educated about and probably never will be. There are many conflicts that I am just learning about because anything about them gets immediately shut down or black listed etc. I am for from a good source of information.

But I am big enough that my posts will reach people. Even if it's just one person.

I am big enough that people have reached out. I will never stay silent, I will never let a voice go unheard.

I will always need to do better.

But at least I won't rest in the knowledge that I haven't tried. And neither should you.

[thechaseofspades]

Longposting about having a post pop off

Recently, I posted a fun little poll (that you can still vote on!) asking people how they pronounce the term "aro". It's been a question that has stuck in my mind for a long time, since I tend to hear people say it differently from how I do. Thus, the poll.

Fast forward a couple days, and that post has more than 450 notes and counting, with more than 1,500 people voting in the poll itself. I'm fairly certain that's the most people I've ever had view anything I've ever done, let alone interact. At the very least, it's the most that I'm aware of.

At first, it was pretty neat to see the numbers go up. It was even more neat to see how each individual person answered the question in the tags or replies. I had intended to comment back on each of them, but by the time I thought to do that it was already way too much to even try.

More under the cut....

...

Still there? Cool.

I'll start by saying that I appreciate everybody's feedback, one way or the other. It does seem that I didn't optimize the poll very well, and could have worded it much more carefully, but I also didn't expect more than like 10 votes from my usual circle anyway.

Anyway, it's been a few days, and the notes just keep coming. The votes also keep on coming. Every time I open the app, I'm met by dozens of notes, many of which saying pretty similar stuff. After all, how many different ways could you pronounce "aro"? Was I expecting much out of left field?

And while that's still something I like about the post -- seeing everyone's viewpoint and how they approach saying a word -- it's really starting to grind on me in a not fun way.

Like I said, I'll see dozens of notes, about half of which being reblogs, every single time I open up the app. It's no longer about seeing how individuals think about stuff. It's just piles of avatars saying the same sort of thing over and over and over.

Which brings me to the least fun part about the whole experience. While most of the reblogs and replies are friendly and innocent, there's enough that come off as passive aggressive and even insulting that it makes me sad. I don't like being sad.

Two of the most common threads are my usage of the "eh" sound to express how I pronounce "arrow", and just general commentary on my accent (y'all have literally never heard me talk before ever). Sometimes it's just general observations, but other times it feels almost accusatory. Like how dare I try to explain what sounds sound like to me. How dare I claim that "aero" and "arrow" sound very similar to me. How dare I grow up with a hybrid midwestern-southern accent that dictates how I hear and say words.

(yes I am probably being dramatic but shhhh)

To be clear, this is probably a small minority of notes among the literal hundreds of people just answering the question they were posed. But like I said, I see these notes in bunches, so even if it's just like 5%, that still means I'm statistically likely to see at least one of them every single time I check on the post.

I don't want to sound like I'm grouchy about a post spreading like I literally asked for it to in the text. It's cool to see the post continue to grow, as more and more people chip into the discussion. But the comments I mentioned, no matter the intention behind them, just make me feel not great about the whole thing.

You know what? Yes. I should have been more careful of my wording, and more considerate of my and other people's accents, and researched on a more effective way to communicate the pronunciation of things, and maybe even just provided examples of what I meant so people knew what I was trying to get across. But it's way, way too late for all of that, isn't it?

(I should know. I went to edit the poll pretty shortly after posting, but for obvious reasons it won't let you do that.)

I want to make it very clear that I am not mad at anybody or blaming anyone for this. Maybe a little disappointed. But not mad. I'm aware that the post has strayed far outside the target audience, and I'll have to deal with the consequences of that. But maybe the next time you see a post from a random bozo like me, maybe think before just tossing out passive aggressive remarks or obnoxiously correcting them. Maybe check to see if they have gotten several of that exact same observation before you make that comment. Maybe, just answer the dang question.

Idk. I've had a tough two weeks completely separate from whatever petty tumblr drama I could possibly conjure up. I'm very tired. But yeah. Don't make popular posts. Or at least be ready for random people to tell you that your accent seems kinda wack.

[calliecat93]

Hi folks!

So first, no my hiatus is not over. I’m not returning fully until, as I said before, probably in the Fall. It all depends on how much the world hasn’t pissed me off and I need to keep off to not worsen my anxiety/exacerbate the negative. However, a big benefit in the break is I’ve had more time to focus and plan out actual content I want to make. Some I’ve wanted to do for years now and just... never did.

So I have a multitude of projects I want to do, some being my usual stuff, some I’ve discussed before, and some that are all new. As always, this can always change, but I want the second half of my 2020 to have SOME positive benefit to compensate for the first half, so focusing on these I think will do that.

So here are my plans:

RvB Season 18/RWBY Volume 8 Reviews: These are 100% certain. I’ve taken a break from RT content lately, but these two I absolutely plan to watch and continue my reviews. As far as I know RvB’s airdate is still up in the air, but I’m aware of some of the recent info (certain cast and crew members, new characters, etc) and I’m excited! Not sure if RWBY8 has had any new developments or how COVID will affect it’s release, but I’ll accept it for the end of the year. The format I used for the RWBY7 reviews will be used for both, and hopefully with continued improvements. So even if all my other plans go down the drain, these are locked in.

RWBY Character Review/Analysis: The big thing I was planning prior to the hiatus. I have been working on them, and I feel I’m ready to start writing the posts. For now, I am keeping the focus on Team RWBY and depending on how those go, I may do more characters down the line. Still deciding on the order, but this will be something I hope to get underway weekly in July. Which I hope to soon be able to follow with...

RWBY Volume 1-4 Reviews (and MAYBE 5): I mentioned considering it before, and I think I’m ready to take it. I began reviewing when V5 was airing, and my interest in RWBY was mostly casual until about V4. So the first four volumes I never reviewed, so let's change that. The format would be slightly different as I’d bunch the episodes into arcs instead of going episode by episode (though V4’s will be different due to that season’s style). Also I may or may not do V5, which would follow the same arc structure, as a redo of my old reviews and I never made an overall review due to the negativity towards it at the time killing my interest. Regardless, 1-4 will happen and will too be on a weekly basis. I’ll assess V5 once I finish the other volumes and see how I feel about it. Pretty happy with my Volume 6 and 7 reviews still, so those are being left alone.

RvB Fanfiction: I haven’t forgotten about Griferella or my BTHB prompts. I actually have one BTHB prompt plotted out, and I am going to attempt to write/post it soon. That will hopefully reignite the motivation to resume writing. I have no real excuse for not doing it aside from dwindeling motivation due to... well, everything. But that’s no excuse, and this will be a top priority no matter if I hate the final result or not.

Now we get to the one's I’m not for sure about, but will probably do at some point:

RvB Likes/Dislikes Posts/Reviews/Character Analysis: In other words, all my RvB content aside from the main reviews and fanfic stuff. So the Likes/Dislikes posts stopped after S2 for a multitude of reasons, and right now IDK when I’ll resume. I really need to get back into a certain mindset for them. And reviews of past seasons and character stuff like I’m doing with RWBY I’ll likely cover when RWBY stuff is done to not overwhelm myself.

Disney Princess Reviews/Analysis: Yep, I still want to do this. And since I have Disney+ and access to all the films, I have no excuse to not do so. The biggest thing is these will require a LOT of research, especially the Classic Three since I need to research feminism/history stuff during the time those came out. As such, these would be on most likely, a monthly release schedule. But I’m growing more and more willing to attempt this, so you never know...

Sailor Moon Reviews: During my hiatus, I finally took the time watch the Viz dub of Sailor Moon (except Stars cause they haven’t posted it onto streaming yet, UGH!). I loved it! But... Well now that I’m an adult and not a little kid who just watched to see Sailor Moon kill the villain, I have a LOT more critical opinions about both the 90’s anime and Crystal. So much so that I want to do a new series reviewing both animes. The main issue is figuring out a format since... well, 90’s Moon is 200 episodes long. Many of which are filler. So IDK if I want to just go ahead and do them all one by one, or group a certain amount together and review it that way. I’ll have to ponder on it. Sailor Moon is a HUGE part of my childhood, one of my biggest influences, and is pretty much my gateway into both anime and into fandom life. If I do this, I want to do it well. Release schedule will depend on the format I go with. It will be reviewing the Viz dub, NOT the original Japanese not the old Dic/Cloverway dub. I want to do the movies too, R especially... but they aren’t available for streaming, so I’ll have to figure that out.

So yeah, a lot of plans! As I said though, these will all likely fall onto a weekly basis. As I’m not off hiatus, my usual reblog sprees won't be as frequent, but when I come on to queue the reviews, I may go through some tags and queue some stuff up so it’s not 100% dead. Ask Box is still closed for now, but I’ll probably turn it back on for a day or two when I post something. I’m hoping that these projects will keep the blog active even when I’m not around. Again, thank you all for your patience with me, and I hope that you will enjoy whatever I bring forth soon~

And again to make up for things, here’s a doggie~ love you all~!

[longlivefeedback]

hey! so, i'm sure this is something that's been discussed, but i can't find any discourse on your blog. i'm a fic writer and NOTHING annoys me more than the "don't say anything negative" attitude toward fanfiction. if someone leaves a comment that says "i loved your fic but i'm curious as to why character didn't do [x] since it seems a little inconsistent..." or "loved it! just wanted to point out a couple small inaccuracies that most people won't notice but since i work in this field..." (1/?)

it shows me that the commentor was paying attention and thinking about my writing, and isn’t that the ENTIRE point of posting your writing online? i’ve run across quite a few writers who will criticise any criticism or less-than-effusive comments, and it just really, really annoys me. the main reason i think is bc i legitimately LOVE fanfiction—it’s my preferred thing to write/read over original fiction bc it allows me to focus on just exploring the characters since people are already(2/?)

familiar with them/the canon verse. it’s why i hate that it isn’t taken as seriously as original fic, and i really think this culture of “don’t engage unless you only have good things to say” is one of the reasons it just isn’t taken seriously. ofc, not saying that you should just point out all the flaws, but some polite, helpful concrit or probing questions in addition to praise?? makes me really happy tbh. idk maybe i just take it too seriously but (¾)

it REALLY bothers me, and so i wanted to read some debate on this matter from both sides — not just writers, not just readers. this my extremely long-winded way of asking: do you guys have any posts like this?? (4/4)

LLF response: Hi Anon! We do have some posts about commenting culture and a brief guide to supporting authors, as well as reblogs on a guide to reviews and an overview of fandom commenting. Assuming you’ve looked through those posts, the reason why you cannot find anything that addresses your specific concern (i.e. questions in comments bringing up inconsistencies or trying to understand why a character appears to be acting OOC) is probably because LLF has been primarily concerned with broad structural changes and feedback initiatives thus far and the topic you raise, while valid and important to feedback culture, is a bit too nuanced for the current focus of this blog.That being said, I think that your ask brings up some interesting assumptions and perceptions that are critical for fandom health and which I can give my personal opinion on under the jump.

Full disclaimer, the following is my (mod dragonling’s) personal opinion and interpretation of the ask.

1. i’m a fic writer and NOTHING annoys me more than the “don’t say anything negative” attitude toward fanfiction.

This to me is indicative of differing expectations for fandom. Let’s say that instead of fic writing, we’re all chefs (or people who make food) here. We each make a dish and now we want to share it with the world. Do you (A) take it to your friend’s house where they are holding a potluck celebration; (B) set up a stall at the state fair; or © enter it into a cooking/baking competition ala Chopped where 5 star judges and food critics will sample your food? Depending on where you take you food, you would expect very different reactions.

Generally speaking, you would probably want your friends at the potluck to thank you for bringing something and compliment you for how delicious your dish is. If you were still fine tuning your recipe, you could let them know and maybe they would be able to say one or two things they liked or didn’t like about it which you would file away for the evening, to be looked at for the next time you made something.

However, if you were at a state fair, even getting your dish looked at by the crowds of people milling around would be an achievement. If someone bought some of your food, that would be fantastic! If they bought it, took a bite, and then told you how tasty it was, even better! Those people that bought your food, went away, and then came back to tell you how much they enjoyed it or came back to buy some more and brought all their friends with them are heaven sent angels. You probably wouldn’t expect anyone to say anything negative about your food because even if you were still fine tuning the recipe, a state fair is neither the time or place where any sort of meaningful culinary discussion can really take place on a consistent basis.

The situation would be different if you were at a cooking competition. There, you would expect these food experts to pick apart your food. Maybe not steamroll and chew you out ala Gordon Ramsey, but even then if that’s what you were expecting and the kind of feedback you respond best to, then sign up for a competition he is judging at. Perhaps you don’t want to just be yelled at, but would actually like to be coached, then maybe enter a competition with more of a mentoring element versus cutthroat competition.

This all really boils down to knowing who your audience is and your expectations for them. I would say that posting to ao3 is closest to the state fair, and is why the “don’t say anything negative” attitude is perfectly acceptable and even encouraged. The fact that this annoys you indicates that there is some disconnect between what you really want and where you’re going in order to get it. I think that we can all agree that going to the state fair and expecting Gordon Ramsey to show up and tell you why your dish sucks is just…not going to happen. Even more, it’s something that shouldn’t happen. What if you were at the state fair to raise money for charity? No well meaning person is going to tell you that your food sucks and that you should do better and if they do, they don’t mean you well.

So, rather than get hung up on the “don’t say anything negative” attitude in fandom (which, I may add, is there and has been cultivated for a reason), take another look at your audience and your expectations. If you want criticism that is helpful and of good quality, go to an editor or join a writing group. If you want to give criticism, find someone to beta for where you can cultivate a relationship that is mutually beneficial. Don’t be a Gordon Ramsey walking around at the charity fair of home baked goods giving tips to the local families trying to raise funds to repair their schools. Be conscious of the fact that people write for different reasons, and that while some may be okay with great advice being shouted at them, for others, it is a nightmare. Be kind and don’t show up at the wrong party.

2. “i loved your fic but i’m curious as to why character didn’t do [x] since it seems a little inconsistent…” or “loved it! just wanted to point out a couple small inaccuracies that most people won’t notice but since i work in this field…”

I understand where you’re coming from, Anon, and the two examples you mentioned evoke an important point of why it is so difficult to give criticism online. Your questions attempt to illustrate how one might leave a comment that shows that the reader was paying attention and thinking about your writing, and from your ask, I can only assume that you would be thrilled to personally receive either of those comments. To assume that others would be similarly thrilled, however, is fallacious and a dangerous assumption. What works for you, may be hurtful to others. You pointing out “a couple [of] small inaccuracies” may be you being genuinely helpful, but to the author, it may come off as a reader assuming that they didn’t do their research, a reader being a know-it-all, or a reader missing the forest for the trees, especially if this is your one and only comment in a long multi-chaptered work.

Of course, things get even more nuanced when we consider context. Your comment about inaccuracies may be the best thing ever if the author specifically asked for guidance on this matter, or if you have a long standing relationship with this author and somehow commenting in ao3 is the way you beta for each other, or maybe this small inaccuracy is actually a big inaccuracy and you’re just trying to be super tactful about it… I could go on an on and on about it, but how you say things is often just as important as what you say, and in writing, where we do not have the benefit of verbal and visual cues, expressing what you mean becomes even more complicated.

Which is another reason why “don’t say anything negative” is the default. It’s harder to ruin someone’s day with only positive statements, especially when you don’t have the time or platform to really explain yourself and have a meaningful conversation with the author. This Anon’s view on concrit is worth pondering. If you don’t understand or agree with this sentiment, then the conversation we should be having is not “why doesn’t anyone leave concrit” but rather “what is concrit?” 

3. i’ve run across quite a few writers who will criticise any criticism or less-than-effusive comments, and it just really, really annoys me.

Going back to expectations and audiences; remember which party you’re going to. Also, what may seem like just a less-than-effusive comment to you, an outsider who stumbled upon this one comment thread, may actually be a long antagonistic war of words between author and commenter spanning many years, fandoms, and fics. I don’t know. It could happen. Maybe you just have a higher tolerance of trolls and criticism than the rest of us.

It’s certainly happened to me and Rose here on the LLF blog. Either we read the same ask differently or just have different reactions and ways of responding to things that tick us off. Even if we have a shared goal and have known each other for awhile, we’re both different people. It’s not reasonable for me to try to change Rose’s responses to match my own exactly. Just because you care about fanfiction so much doesn’t mean that everyone else does or should as well. If this is something that really truly annoys you and you are trying to see both sides of this issue, I think that you’re on the right track and want to encourage you to keep learning and thinking about it.

4. it isn’t taken as seriously as original fic, i really think this culture of “don’t engage unless you only have good things to say” is one of the reasons it just isn’t taken seriously.

I am not a literary expert, and cannot really opine on how fanfiction is viewed by traditional literature or whether a fantasy AU is better/worse than a published fantasy book or how they relate to the writings of Homer. I also am not sure what you mean by fanfiction not being taken “as seriously as original fic.” Certainly you take it seriously. I take it seriously enough to spend my free time on it, and I take fandom seriously enough that I am spending time I could be using to write fanfiction to help run this blog. If you mean that publishing houses will not pay any attention to a fanfiction story, I would agree because why would they? Fanfiction is, by definition, derived from original fiction. Publishing houses are after new and original content because copyright is a real thing.

Even then, let’s look at Fifty Shades of Grey. It’s Twilight fan fiction. Is it taken more seriously than Twilight? Why or why not? How does it compare to Harry Potter, or Pride or Prejudice? Reading and writing are such personal experiences that I hesitate to say that one piece of writing is inherently better than the other. Hence, I do not think that fan fiction’s audience who “don’t engage unless you only have good things to say” is a problem. To me, that’s like saying “anime isn’t as good as non-anime cartoons because people who watch anime don’t speak English.”

5. not saying that you should just point out all the flaws, but some polite, helpful concrit or probing questions in addition to praise…

Yes, agreed; and if this is what the author has asked for, please go ahead! However, please also remember that not everyone knows how to ask probing questions, give helpful concrit, or even be polite. Sometimes, they aren’t even trying to be rude. It just comes off as such. Maybe the commenter is having a bad day and can’t word right. Maybe the author is having a bad day and can’t read anything without their own personal negative bias clouding their perceptions.

It’s one of the things that we are trying to address at LLF so that these barriers are lower. It’s one of the reasons why some things (native comment templates) just will not work for AO3, because tone is hard to convey, nevermind that your audience probably numbers in the millions, each with their own personal biases and understanding of language. We know that even with giving kudos, people mean different things. Think about how difficult it is to convey sarcasm in writing. AO3 already receives flack for their kudos message, which is the way it is because can you come up with something better that will not tick off anyone? Maybe people want to be polite, maybe they want to be helpful, maybe they just don’t know how. We’re trying to change that and trying to give people the tools to help them comment: LLF Comment Builder, LLF Comment Project, in-line commenting (these tools are mostly focused on how to give positive comments because from the feedback we’ve gotten, people have a hard enough time doing that as is.)

But hey, if you want something for concrit or how to ask probing questions, don’t wait for us. Look up a good guide and reblog it. Encourage your followers to ask you questions about your writing. Write your own guide to commenting. Go. Be the change you want to see.

6. do you guys have any posts like this

So, after all that, LLF may not be the blog for you if you are interested in hearing as many opinions as possible about this topic. However, I would highly encourage you to check out @ao3commentoftheday, which has already hosted quite a few asks about this:

sometimes-i-dont-comment-because-im-a

actually-i-have-a-question-about-commenting

do-writers-like-constructive-criticism-in-reviews

about-the-leaving-only-glowing-praise-comments

about-concrit-i-dont-explicitly-discourage-it

its-not-about-wanting-concrit-its-about-wanting

1-with-concrit-i-think-the-question-is-not

Don’t forget to check the notes on those threads!