#re: creator’s boundaries

[sleepingdeath-light]

Hi hi. i hope you're doing well! can i please request some wally darling smut alphabets please? BTW: i'm 18 yrs old

Hi anon, thank you for the request. Unfortunately I am not accepting any nsfw requests for Welcome Home because the creator has stated that he’s currently not okay with that kind of content being created.

I’m happy to write a Fluff alphabet instead, but please don’t send in any smut requests for this fandom unless Clown updates their boundaries regarding that kind of content.

[untitledgoosegay]

re last reblog I do see fanfic culture pushing/replicating a certain model of "what trauma looks like," "how trauma works"

this is a problem across all areas of society obviously, but transformative works are, well, transformative. they're about crafting and modifying narratives where the fan-creator sees a flaw or a lack -- often for the better! don't get me wrong, I've done my fair share of "I take a hammer and I fix the canon," it's the main thing that gets my creative gears spinning -- but what happens when that "flaw" is simply a narrative not conforming to popular expectations?

some people just don't get PTSD from events that sound obviously traumatic. they're not masking, and they're not coping; they just straight-up didn't get the permanently-locked stress-response that defines PTSD. they walk away from a horrible experience going "well, that sucked, but it's over now." some people do get PTSD from events most people wouldn't find traumatic. we don't really know why some people get PTSD and others don't. but fandom has an idea of events that must be traumatizing, of a "correct" way to portray trauma. you see the problems with this lack of understanding in e.g. fans pressuring the devs of Baldur's Gate 3 to add dialogue where the player character badgers Halsin about his own feelings on his abuse -- because he must be traumatized, and his trauma must fit a certain mold and presentation of sexual trauma, under the mistaken impression that anything outside that narrow window is somehow "wrong" and disrespectful or even harmful to survivors.

take, for another example, the very common trope of a traumatized character who hates touch or sex "learning" to like touch or sex as a part of their healing process. certainly that can be healing for some people; other people will never like, or want, touch or sex, because of trauma or because they just don't. the assumption that someone who doesn't want sex or doesn't like to be touched must be traumatized, must be suffering from this perceived lack, is seriously harmful -- to asexual people, to people with sensory issues around touch, and to people for whom healing from trauma means freedom to refuse sex or touch.

and there's a secondary trope, one that's slightly more thoughtful but ultimately repeats the problem -- that once someone has learned that their boundaries will be respected, they'll feel it's safe to soften those boundaries. once they feel safe refusing touch or sex, they'll feel comfortable allowing it on their own terms. but many people don't, and many people won't! many people will simply never want to be touched, and never want sex, and they are not suffering or broken or lacking because of it. the idea that proving you'll respect someone's boundaries entitles you to test those boundaries -- the paradox is obvious, and yet this is something i've seen hurt (re-traumatize) people i care for.

people are imperfect victims. people don't heal in the ways you expect. many people have positive memories of their abuse, of their abusers. many people hurt others in the course of their trauma, in ways that can't easily be unpacked in a 5k oneshot. very few narratives of trauma and recovery actually fit the ones put forward by popular children's media and romance novels -- which are the ones I most see replicated in fandom spaces, because they provide the clearest narrative and easiest catharsis, and so they're easy and soothing to reach for.

that's not necessarily a bad thing! i am not immune to goopy romance tropes. i am not immune to teary catharsis. not every fic has to grapple with ugly realities. but there's a problem when these narratives become predominant, when people think they're accurate and realistic depictions of trauma, when the truth of trauma is unpleasant and uncomfortable, and doesn't fit any single narrative, let alone one of comforting catharsis

[etoilesbienne]

re: boundaries

I've made many posts previously on this subject already, so people are already aware of my stance regarding disliking the way "boundaries" as a concept are used by the mcyt fandom, however I want to have a brief meditation on why this is the case, and a look at common arguments about them.

however i do want to make clear that i don't mind boundaries as a concept, actual boundaries. as in "if you do x, i will respond with y" kinds of boundaries. I think cc are completely fair and understandable in this kind of perspective. if someone makes a kind of content they dislike, they're free to block that fan or express discomfort over it. That's normal.

my critical eye is turned toward the fandom's perception of "boundaries" as a sort of fandom ruleset, either you follow them with the in-group, or you're thrown in the out-group and labelled all sorts of insults, anywhere from a criminal offender to just having people be plain nasty toward you. this in my opinion, really feeds into the fandom habit of having "cliques" as fandoms are social networks that are voluntarily joined. i find it juvenile at best.

at worst, on the other hand, is the concept of mcyt having mixed in kpop stan culture around 2019 with smplive (great server. horrific fandom at the time it was run. all of the smplive fans still left are veterans worthy of respect for surviving that.), which caused a very explosive mixture.

kpop fandom has this outlook and parasociality toward idols because these idols are borderline unreachable. even in smaller groups, companies generally (not always.) discourage idols from talking one-on-one selectively with fans. there deserves to be a more thorough examination of kpop fandom with stan culture, that i believe i am not fully qualified for. my point is that kpop idols are a hell of a lot harder to reach for english fans, whether through language barrier or through professionality done by companies.

the explosive mixture is bringing this same mentality - the mentality that these people you look toward as the main source of the fandom as being untouchable, perfect people. it's dehumanizing in its own right, but aside from that, it creates a dangerous fandom situation. as best shown using smplive with CallMeCarson from before.

CMC is the origin point of boundaries within the MCYT fandom, having held a live in fall of 2019 talking about how a popular danganronpa themed wattpad smplive fanfiction was upsetting for him to read. CMC had an intense fanbase that could and would look up to him no matter what. of course the fanbase would go after and harass this author off of the internet and deleting their work (which remained lost media until this January of 2024. Almost half a decade.) after this situation, only months later it comes out that CMC had in fact been manipulating women aged 17 to early 20s, into sexual dms and sending him explicit photos of themselves for around a year. i am of the opinion CMC would have done this behavior regardless, however, the fact he had access to so many women who put him on a pedestal without considering he could exploit them was exacerbated by the stan culture mentality of mcyt's fandom at the time. this is not a criticism of the women, it is a criticism of the fandom culture of the time for failing to treat carson as a human being who had every capability to treat people like this.

no cc is exempt from that mentality by the fandom. carson knowingly used his position within the fandom to make the choice to do that to those girls. no cc should be exempt from the real possibility of the consideration that they can fuck up, not always in the way that they necessarily need to be cancelled or deplatformed, carson is an extreme example that is absolutely not representative of cc as a whole, but there needs to be a healthy level of doubt and separation between creators and fans.

to reiterate: cc are not your friends. cc do not need you to speak for them. you do not know these people personally. to present your defense of them and their personal opinions like you spoke to them directly and are close friends is dangerous, both for yourself, and for other fans in the community.

everything i have listed is why i always will be critical toward any fan group or clique that presents themselves as being pillars of the community, and why i am critical of any page or resource that tries to list "boundaries" as hard fast rules to be self policed by the fandom. not only is that punitive mentality, it's careless and poor understanding of how communities at large work.

i don't think a "boundaries" list is necessarily a bad idea in the long run either, if these lists were, like, compilations of streamers' twitch chat rules, that'd be cool! but generally these lists lack any nuance of why and where some boundaries may apply. like a ton of streamers hate ships being spammed in chat, but could give less of a fuck about people making ship fanart. or like wouldn't care as long as the ship art isn't put in their main tag.

as well as the general ignoring of regular boundaries, we all remember the horror show of people dono-ing to cc in 2020-22 asking for their boundaries right? like just so we're explicitly clear, walking up to someone and asking what someone's opinion of making adult content of them is very much sexual harassment. that's objectively something fans should not be asking to cc. if they want to say something, they can speak up on their own. they do not need your prompting. if you wouldn't ask it to your boss in an office, don't ask cc it. tangentially related is the ignoring of boundaries based on disliking fans harassing each other or other cc. those boundaries never get to be prioritized for a reason, as those behaviors feed into the stan culture mentality of pitting sources against each other in fan wars.

parasociality and stan culture turn mcyt fandom into a power vacuum where fans who like to self-police to a dangerous extent try to take charge. this makes the fandom worse.

[mare--noctis]

Series Concept

Old rivalries ignite new friendships as the boundaries between past and present blur. Love and loyalty are tested when the stakes soar higher than ever before. Who will navigate the turbulence of duty and desire, forging unbreakable bonds that transcend time? The end of one journey is just the beginning of another. Legends will rise. Hearts will soar. A legacy will live on.

Top Gun: Legacy is an anthology following the lives of 16 naval aviators over 40 years.

Top Gun: Danger Zone follows the friendship of LTJG Nick "Goose" Bradshaw and LT Pete "Maverick" Mitchell

Top Gun: Horizon follows the rise of the VFA-313 "Daggers" Squadron

Top Gun: Crosswind follows the uncharted waters between VADM Beau "Cyclone" Simpson and RADM Pete "Maverick" Mitchell

Top Gun: Hard Deck follows the history of LT Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw and LT Jake "Hangman" Seresin

Top Gun: Afterburn follows the rise and fall of the relationship between ADM Tom "Iceman" Kazansky and CAPT Pete "Maverick" Mitchell

Creator Notes: I will get around to writing these one day. I hope.

Yes, I had to re-create the Top Gun logo from scratch to get it to work like this.

I took inspiration from the layouts of the 1986 movie posters.

This is one of my absolute favourite pieces of work I've ever done

Until next time,

Mare Noctis Studios

(K. E. Birch)

[kanmom51]

JK live 23 September 2023 (NYC)

20:11 or 8:11 pm EST

cr./to the creators of the media used in this post.

or

24 September 2023 9:11 am KST.

Coincidence? Starting the live at 8:11? I think not.

And not the first time he goes live at that time either.

So yeah, JK came live at 8:11 and ended the live at 13:23 minutes.

13 again? Coincidence again? Given that he said his goodbyes at around the 12 minute mark and then waited (?) for it to reach 13? Maybe. Fact is it did.

OMG, he opens up the live like this:

He's so damn adorable.

And it's a Bratz lip gloss, lol.

How can you not love him?

Anyway, JK starts the live saying long time no see and with talk about 3D coming out on the 29th. He tells us how it was his idea to add the clip at the end of the GCF performance, but someone ruined the surprise by running it during the rehearsals, which they obviously weren't supposed to. Oopsy. Spoiler king was spoilered. Lol.

He is a little fidgety, feels like he's doing the live cause he needs to, rather than really wants to... just a feeling I had.

JK says that as much as he was busy he actually did have time to come to us live, but, and this is where JK has decided to place the boundaries that he himself kind of tore down just a little while ago - he talks about there having to be a push and pull, but I guess he realised, perhaps with some help from others, that tearing down those walls between himself and us has also created an expectation from some fans for more, too much. Also, there needs to be some mystery (he was probably told) and leave the fans with a want for more...

I don't think this is the end of the JK we came to know and love the past few months, but I do think that he is trying to re-assess and set some boundaries between the artist that he is and us as fans.

And truthfully, let's be real here for a sec. Us, the fans, we were kind of a filler in. When the real thing is there, and the time to enlistment is getting shorter and shorter, and there is a choice between the two, who do you think he will choose? A 3 hour live with us or a sleepover with JM? I really don't think the choice is such a difficult one. Do you?

JK asks how the performance was. Hasn't monitored it yet (oh, and believe me when he does he's going to be hard on himself). And yet, even though he heard from fans they liked it, he feels he did better at rehearsal. Says it's a jynx. On the day of the performance his throat got dried up. It's called anxiety or nerves JK. If only there was someone there with him to calm those nerves...

And before you come at me, yes. I do feel he was anxious. He was a little closed up and distant as well. The enormity of it. The having to speak English. The being there ALONE. There were these little moments of disconnect during the performance. Maybe if he would have started his set with the more lively songs it would have helped, but if only there was someone there to support him and calm him, that dryness in the throat he talks about... yeah, non existent. My opinion. Fight me.

Then Jin shows up in the comment.

I mentioned that it felt like he did the live because he had to (after the performance and the 3D teasers dropping). Jin showing up in the comments, his reaction, felt like relief in a sense. He was really happy.

He saw one of the members commented, went in to see who it was and was really happy to see him.

The whole interaction between them was so older and younger brother, lol.

Jin with the "stop touching your hair", the whole call me convo (JK saying the times aren't lining up him being overseas and Jin answering with him texting Jhope 300 messages a day, as in "you ass, you can always send me a message instead", lol).

Watch the interaction here:

What did I take from the interaction with Jin?

First of all, that JK was really happy to see him. Not JM level happy, of course, but really happy. Do I say what I'm thinking? About members showing up in his comments and his reaction to them? Nah. In this instance I will take the fifth.

Second, we get it straight out of the horses mouth: JK is enlisting soon. Not like we didn't know it already. Like seriously. But there are those, solos mainly, that seem to still think that JK won't be enlisting with the others. Well, JK made it abundantly clear in that conversation that he's definitely enlisting and it's happening soon. It's the "I'll be joining that party soon" (as in the Jin and Jhope army party) and it's in the "you'll be out while we're still in so take care of Army until we're done" whole convo as well.

Anyway, you gotta love Jin.

Moving on.

JK tells us that 3D is different from Seven - and to look forward to it.

Wanted to thank army that came to the concert, thank K army for taking the time and supporting him.

29th September is Choseok. JK says the reason the song is released that day is he thinks we will like it more. Ok, yeah. Not the tight schedule and looming enlistment. Well, he does hint about it. Starting up about the reason it's hurried, and why he's been in a hurry, but leaves it up to our imagination. I guess we know, right? If they want to be back by mid 2025 enlistment needs to happen by at the latest start of 2024. And in the little time left he has the single and an album to release. And my guess is there is more too. Some set for before enlistment, some set to land while they are away. JM and him.

He asks "what's after this? what is it?" laughingly answering "your curious, right?"

"What is it? I am really looking forward to it." he says cheekily.

Then he says he's working hard in preparing something for us.

And then he looks down and finds the exact comment he wants to answer:

The Weverse translation is a little different.

The gist is the same.

We have JK recognizing a JM comment and answering it specifically. And I say specifically because there were PLENTY of Tae comments in his live. Layover, Tae, Slow dance, screaming at him to just say a god damn thing about Tae's album or releases. But our man, he stood fast, lol.

And don't get me wrong, I don't think he doesn't support Tae or want him to succeed. He's his bandmate and friend. But you know what he ain't, is his boyfriend. That is the one and only Mr. Park Jimin. So, it's not that JK doesn't care, it's that Tae just ain't on his mind. Wasn't it Tae that used to say, repeatedly, that JK just ignores him? Lol. But even if Tae isn't on his mind, the comments, they can definitley serve as a fucking annoying reminder. Which JK chooses very loudly to ignore. And making a statement of sorts while doing so, by reacting, out of all of those comments, to the one relating to JM.

That's what I call a big ass JK FUCK YOU to the cult.

Anyway, we were talking about JK's reaction. And when you talk about reactions you look not only at the verbal but also the body language.

The way he leans in to read the comment once he recognizes it's about JM.

The way he does that head tilt when talking about JM's dancing.

The neck crack.

The hand gesture.

Let's talk about the hand gesture for a second here.

Man knows the choreography. That hand gesture was him doing part of the choreo. Muscle memory. And his eyes and facial expression.

Also, have a look at this:

Ok, so it is funny how JK knew JM posted to IG and watched it as well... You know, considering the man told us he not only deleted his own IG account but deleted the app from his phone all together...

Thing is man monitors SM. We know that!! You think he wouldn't have seen it on Twitter? Or TikTok? JM's dance is all over the place. So yeah, my initial thought was: hey, how did he see it without an IG account? But then, you know, when common sense took over, I realised he could have seen it ANYWHERE. We know he monitors. We assume he monitors JM and Jikook accounts. He would have seen it either way.

But in any case, as I mentioned, this wouldn't have been the first and only time he has seen this choreo or dance.

JK continues to tell us he's going out for diner with staff. A good reason indeed to end the live (that like I said, he wasn't in the feels for).

And continues telling us to be curious.

Didn't someone tell him curiosity killed the cat?

At the end of the live JK makes us know he's monitoring SM (like I said before, something we already knew). He knows what fans are saying. He talks about the good. And he is thankful for those kind words.

But he also sees the bad. We know it!!

Ooh, btw, do we talk about that ring JK was wearing?

This is the second time around we have him wearing this kind of ring.

Interesting.

So to sum it up:

In those 13 minutes and a bit of his live, he mostly spoke about the performance, 3D coming out, talked to Jin in the comments and answered the comment that happened to be about JM.

I guess that wraps it up.

[mcytblraufest]

Holiday Exchange: General Rules and FAQ

TIMELINE:  Sign-ups open, Discord Opens: 18 October Sign-ups close, everyone must have joined the Discord: 15 November Assignments sent out: 23 November - 26 November Check-in: 9 December - 10 December  Posting Week: Sunday 24th December through Monday 1 January.

RULES FOR PARTICIPATING:  - Must join our Discord for communication - Must tag your recipient in the eventual post  - Must tag this blog in your post so we can keep track of gifts - DM a mod ASAP if you don’t think you’ll get your gift out on time or at all, or you want to withdraw - Must check in at the half-way mark to make sure everything is on-track. -Must request and offer to create around a minimum of three characters. -Any under-18 persons found requesting or offering NSFW content will be banned from this and all future iterations of the exchange. -Because of Tumblr, Ao3 and Discord TOS, you must be 13 to participate.

RULES FOR CREATING:  - Make a good-faith effort to respect creator boundaries - Your gift doesn’t have to contain only requested characters, but it does have to centre on at least one requested character.  - Any shipping must be kept to PG-13 levels or below unless your recipient specifically requested NSFW. Any non-requested NSFW is grounds for a ban from this and all future iterations of the exchange.  -Respect your giftee's DNW. Any gift found to be in violation of a reasonable DNW is grounds for a ban from future iterations of the exchange. - Dark or Violent themes must be tagged appropriately -No AI-created content.

DISCORD LINK - Discord: [here]

CREATING RESOURCES:  - How to add your fic to an Ao3 Collection. [link]  - The Ao3 Collection. [link]  - How to image-describe your art. [link1] [link2]

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS:  - Art (1 drawing, created to a standard you would normally post as “finished”)  - Writing (1k+ words)  - Playlist (2 hour-long playlists)  - Moodboard (2 boards, at least 9 elements each, for a total of at minimum 18 elements between both boards. Speak to mods if that really doesn't work for your designs)  - Web Weaving (1 board of at least 10 elements)

MISC:  - Tag this blog as well, so we can reblog you!  - You will not necessarily be matched with someone who matches your ‘willing to create about’ exactly. The goal is to have multiple matches, but in cases of more obscure requests you might be matched with someone who only has one commonality between your ‘willing to create’ and their wish list. In that case at least you know what to make your gift around pretty quickly. :D  - Please send asks if you need information. If it is something you do not feel comfortable sending in an ask, you can message the head mod at @antimony-medusa​ - If you ask us a question about something that has been already outlined in this post we will not answer!

FAQ:

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-I'm only a fan of a small server, can I sign up? You are very welcome to sign up even if your fandom doesn't have the most active tag, this is a broad MCYT exchange. We will do our best to match you with someone else who also likes your block people. If your fandom has less than a thousand fics on the archive, we recommend that you try and recruit friends into the exchange too, so you know that there are people who like the same characters as you in the matching pool. We can't absolutely promise to match on smaller characters, but we have run this exchange twice and we haven't had anyone be entirely unmatchable yet, so fingers crossed that continues.

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-Is shipping allowed? Yes. For the comfort of the greatest number of participants, we ask that participants make a good-faith effort to ensure that any shipping is boundary-respecting, but because there is no broad fandom-wide consensus about how that is defined in specific cases (whether it's okay to write beeduo as /r or /p is an obvious case) or between specific fandoms (lifesteal approach to shipping is different from HBG is different from DSMP), the mods will not be policing any specific understanding of boundaries across the event. The event will operate on Don't Like Don't Read, in that everyone will have the chance to opt in for themselves as to if they are comfortable with shipping or NSFW for each specific character they want to work with, and mods will match based on that.

-Is NSFW allowed? Yes, NSFW is permitted as long as it respects creator boundaries, and both sides of the gift exchange are 18+. People will only be matched to others who specifically requested NSFW work. For the comfort of the greatest number of people in the exchange and the mod team, nothing that would warrant the tags Underage, Rape/Noncon, Dubcon, Adult/Minor, or Incest is permitted.

-My person requested characters I don't want to write, and one of them is a ship I don't like. What do I do? You are only expected to create a gift for the characters you matched on. If you offered to create for Grian (shipping allowed), Good times with Scar (shipping allowed) and Docm77 (only gen), and you matched to someone requesting Grian (shipping allowed), Docm77 (shipping allowed) and Keralis (only gen), you are only expected to make a gift with the characters and relationships you matched on, in this case, Grian. If you are entirely uncomfortable with your match, you can tell a mod, and we can take it off your hands and get it pinch-hit. You will still receive a gift.

-If noncon isn't permitted, is non-consentual touching (platonic) allowed? As technically a punch in the face counts as non-consensual touching, and pvp is a classic part of most MCYT canons, we find banning all nonconsensual contact to be unnecessarily restrictive. As long as nonconsensual contact is not sexual in nature, it is permitted, however, it must be tagged for adequately along with any other potentially triggering content.

-Do you allow dark or violent content? Yes. The lore of many mcyt servers includes death games, abuse, cannibalism, murder-for-hire, and other dark or violent themes. However, all potentially triggering content must be tagged for so readers and giftees can make an informed choice to get infolved or not. We would recommend that you not include particularly dark topics unless requested to by your giftee.

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I have a question not answered here? Send us an ask on tumblr, contact @antimony-medusa on tumblr or discord!

[dropoutconfessions]

Hey dropconfessions? Right back at you. Are you making assumptions about black women in order to vilify her? We only have what we see on the surface and taking Plaido’s word here to work off of because yeah Aabria hasn’t spoken on it. Don’t assume Plaidos is guilty but also stop assuming Aabria is guilty.

Plaidos has a pattern of racism prior to this re homestuck. She doubled down when asked to check her white privilege and still appears to refuse to accept that she can be racist, and really talks about it like calling white women out on racism is inherently a dog whistle. (I’m not saying if can’t be, or even that it wasn’t for some of the people going after her.) Does that mean she should be called slurs by white trans mascs or run off the internet? No. Does that mean I wouldn’t be shocked if popular BIPOC creators have more boundaries around her? Yeah.

Plaidos kinda sucking doesn’t mean that more trans women aren’t needed on dropout or that the dozens of other trans fem voices speaking on this should be ignored. This is about a lot more than just her. It has to be.

I never said Aabria was guilty of shit, and neither did plaidos. Please actually cite your sources, y'all keep making fools of yourselves and I find a source from the blog you're criticizing within 5 minutes of looking, it's not hard, I will just start deleting asks that do not cite sources and just say shit about real life people.

If you want to talk about prior instances of alleged racism, cite your sources. I'm not going back for years through a person's blog to prove your point. You can do that yourself.

I'm not going to face value believe anything negative about a trans woman because of people's insistence to just, make shit up about them. If you want to be taken seriously by me, cite your sources. If I'm wrong I'm wrong, but once again, we do not do witch hunts here.

Also, speaking as someone in a relatively conservative POC family (as in if the Republican party wasn't racist against us, my relatives would join up immediately), accusations of racism are an extremely common dog-whistle used against all discussions of oppression. Every thanksgiving I get to hear it used to defend transphobia, homophobia, racism, xenophobia, classism, etc etc. It's not just racism either, it is very common for people to respond to accusations of bigotry with "I'm oppressed in X way so I can't be a bigot"

And no, Aabria is not doing this, once again, she hasn't commented on this discussion. But people are definitely jumping towards the "white transfems hate POCs" way fast ignoring the fact that transfems of color are arguing for it too.

If you send me an actual source where she said smth racist and never addressed it for its racism, my opinions will change, but in the meantime, i need something more than "she's racist cause i said so"

[haggishlyhagging]

The concept of technological neutrality is outdated and must be re-examined. The idea that technology can exist in a vacuum, free from the bias and intent of its creator, is becoming irrelevant as the boundaries between technology and society disappear. The more technology blends with our personal lives, the less the distinction matters; artificial intelligence and streaming pornography are not the equivalent of technology that is, say, a spoon, or a book. We continue to lump many human creations under this term while technology becomes more interactive and enables profound human rights abuses. Moreover, abusive behavior that takes place online is intertwined with notions of "free speech," meaning that the existence of the medium placed between the perpetrator and victim transforms abuse into the self-expression of the abuser. Digital sexual abuse and projected rape then become classified as "free speech" simply because they are published online, and the theft of women's images to profit from their dehumanization becomes a protected right in the eyes of the law.

It is important to consider how many of our modern technologies we take for granted were advanced by men seeking to sexually exploit women, including streaming video, deepfake technology, and certain aspects of the internet. Therefore, it should not be surprising that men eagerly use these tools to further their subjugation of women and children and profit from their rape, both physical and mental. As Andrea Dworkin explained:

When your rape is entertainment, your worthlessness is absolute. You have reached the nadir of social worthlessness. The civil impact of pornography on women is staggering. One lives inside a nightmare of sexual abuse that is both actual and potential, and you have the great joy of knowing that your nightmare is someone else's freedom and someone else's fun.

It will not be enough to continue to challenge emerging technologies as each human rights violation against women emerges. If we assume that approach, we will always be on the defensive, and we can't possibly keep up. We must 1) challenge the long-held idea of the neutrality of technology and 2) continue to work within our circles to change minds about the nature of women's reality and resist the commodification of women wherever we see it. We have truth on our side, whereas the images in pornography and shared elsewhere online are based in lies.

The men who are spreading these lies, profiting from digital sexual abuse, encouraging and participating in rape as a form of entertainment, are not separate from the technology they wield to do so: men are wielding emerging media to terrorize women. That such technology is considered to have a fundamental right to exist, whereas women do not have a fundamental right to safety, dignity, or bodily integrity is a violation and a hypocrisy that must be confronted.

-Genevieve Gluck, “Creative Control: Woman as Intellectual Property” in Spinning And Weaving: Radical Feminism for the 21st Century

[cozzzynook]

Bringing some spice Ft: Random ships

Tonight was the night where they would be allowed to party on their own without the worry of their creators venting down their necks at every turn. Hot Rod's spoiler fluttered as he gazed up at the club's neon sign, his spark thrummed in excitement as he turned to check on his friends who were staggering behind.

"Come on slow pokes!" He whined waving one servo at Blurr and Springer. "The longer you take all the best drinks run out!"

"We're coming Roddy!" Springer huffed as he just strolled up wanting to save his energy for the dance floor.

"Oooh, nice choice Roddy" Blurr whistled as he wrapped one arm around the red mech. "You truly know how to pick the best clubs, are you sure you didn't sneak out to go clubbing before?" The blue speedster teased as he gave a playful jab to Hot Rod's side.

"Nope, Percy would kill me if he ever caught me sneaking out" Hot Rod chuckled as he returned the playful jab with his own. "Come on, the night is young and so are we!"

-----

As the night went on and the glasses piled up it became harder to keep track where their pedes started and ended. In his tipsy state Hot Rod had manged to find a dark corner allowing some space for him to vent, his plating was misty and steaming while his legs felt like were medical jelly. Leaning on the cool wall Hot Rod scanned the club to see where his friends had wandered off too, he spotted Springer sitting in a booth between two tall and sleek femmes while sharing a glass of engex between them. Lucky mech. Meanwhile Blurr was at the bar flirting with the bar tender, the mini bot looked like completely star struck to the point he was struggling to keep their optics off the blue mech and tend to their customers. He was almost jealous.

Letting out a sigh Hot Rod stretched flexing his stiffing joints as he prepared himself to re join the dance floor, who knows maybe he will find someone tonight. Just before he stepped onto the floor a servo tapped him on the shoulder, turning and giving his best flirty smile Hot Rod greeted the stranger only for his optics to widen when he only saw someone's chest in his face.

"Up here, sweet spark" The owner of the broad chest spoke in a deep smooth tone.

Craning his neck Hot Rod lifted his gaze. He chuckled when he saw two bright gold optics looking down at him. "Well, hello there handsome" Biting his lip Hot Rod scanned the mech's frame more closely. The mech was a deep shade of smokey grey with small specks of sliver and yellow accents, on his arms were small scars likely caused from heavy duty work. Hot Rod didn't see any badge nor did that matter at this moment, this mech was a neutral on very handsome neutral. "You're a big mech, do you think you can take someone like me for a spin?" Hot Rod teased as he dragged one digit down the mech's chest.

"Hmm, that depends" The mech's voice rumbled as he wrapped one giant servo around Hot Rod's waist. "Do you think you can handle my spike, sweet thing?"

Hot Rod's engine revved as his optics darkened with lust. Oh if Percy ever found out he had a one night stand he was going to blow a gasket. "Don't know, shall we find out?~"

------

When the morning sun rolled around Hot Rod gave a groan as he buried his face into the crook of his arm hoping to avoid the blinding light. He almost jumped out of his plating when he felt another servo carefully pet his spoiler stirring him awake. "Morning..." Hot grumbled as he lifted his gaze to look at his berth partner.

"Morning to you too, here I got you some pain killers for that hang over" The large mech softly smiled as he handed over a mug of energon and a packet of pain killers. "Hope I'm not crossing any boundaries, you can of course just leave if you want. I don't mind"

Hot Rod snorted as he quickly gulped down the smooth energon and medicine. "You kidding right? You fragged me to Primus and back and now think you're crossing boundaries?" Shaking his helm Hot Rod just sighed before giving a soft smile. "That was the best night of my life, you have nothing to worry about"

The mech chuckled as he slowly got up from the berth already cleaning the room from their coupling. "Glad you enjoyed yourself, I was worried I might have been a little much last night. Not many speedster go for a mech like me for their first"

"Well, maybe I just like big bots with even bigger spikes" Hot Rod teased again only to wince when he felt a twinge of soreness from his valve, he wasn't getting round 2 it seems.

The mech rumbled a laugh as he helped Hot Rod to his pedes before wrapping a towel around the red mech. "I'm flattered, the shower is down the hall and on your left"

"Thanks, will I see you around sometime?" Hot Rod's face flushed a little, this mech was so sweet he wouldn't mind a proper date or another round it would be a shame not to get to know him a little more.

"Maybe who knows, I wouldn't mind seeing you again" The mech smiled again before he returned to his pervious task.

------

"And that's what happened, what about you two any action or comms?" Hot Rod purred as he shuffled closer to Blurr and Springer's side with a wide giddy smile.

"Does a free drink count?" Blurr leaned back in his chair with a smug look. "I might have not been able to convince them to take off work early but they do know how to make some great engex"

"Not sure, but I did get a kiss and maybe a spike job..." Springer's face turned a beat red as he tucked his chin closer to his chest.

"What do mean by 'maybe?' " Blurr narrowed his optics as he gave an unconvinced hum. "Did you zone out or was it that good you overloaded so hard you forgot about it?"

Hot Rod gave a chuckle as he watched Springer turn a even darker shade of red.

"Eh....both?"

"Primus Springs, you're a mess. Try to remember next time big guy otherwise you might accidently break a poor bots spark" The blue speedster teased as he gave a playful nudge.

"I'll try but I keep no promises..." With a huff the green mech leaned backwards on the wall before crossing his arms. "So, Roddy planning on seeing that other mech any time soon?"

"I'm seeing him this weekend" Hot Rod gleefully flapped his spoiler as he flashed a toothy grin. "Wish me luck, he promised to take me somewhere nice"

"We will, maybe if you're lucky he might even become your mech-friend" Blurr smirked. "That or he'll become your sugar daddy, that'll boil Percry's energon won't it?"

"Ha! As if Roddy needs any more pampering" Springer rolled his optics. "You just anyone your puppy eyes and they come crawling, you practically have every wrapped around your servo by now"

"No I don't!" With a laugh Hot Rod lunged for Springer trying to wrestle the larger mech to the floor. Meanwhile Blurr just laughed already recording the scuffle as he watched his close friends wrestle from the comfort of his seat as he wasn't going to risk scuffing his paint not when he just got it perfect again.

(Who are these random bots? Idk. Anyway hope you enjoyed this random spicey drabble) (*^▽^*)

[just-a-carrot]

Hi carrot! So I'm thinking about doing a re-telling of Our wonderland but in Orlams p.o.v but I need to know if its okay bc if it isint I wont do it.

that's fine??? I never mind what ppl want to do with the chars on their own. I have my own preferences and discomforts when it comes to my chars but those are just personal boundaries asking ppl not to involve me in stuff (like NSFW especially) but I have zero problems with ppl doing whatever they want away from me and would never dictate what ppl can and can't create!! I realize that it probably feels weird if I don't like something because I'm the creator and it's such a small fandom but I promise if it's something I don't prefer I'll just ignore it so don't feel like you ever can't post something (this is more of a general statement not necessarily directed at you and this fic idea). I only even speak up about stuff I don't like if ppl directly ask me about it (so I don't really have a choice) 🤣

so no I have zero qualms about you writing this and it sounds very nice!

[simplepotatofarmer]

Ngl I used to be very offended by DNB, but seeing that you ship it I was like, well, if Loyal (#1 and most respectful Techno fan I’ve ever seen, someone I look up to and respect) ships it, then it must not be that big a deal.

And I mean, I lowkey ship c!FWT, so I might as well not be a hypocrite.

i get you!

i think the mcyt sphere has a very... odd relationship with boundaries and creators. because the the creators are more accessible so you can ask these questions but no one every really stops to be like 'hey maybe we shouldn't shove this stuff in their faces'. that also means things get taken out of context (like cc!techno talking about shipping being cringe re: people shipping him, the real person, with one of his mods) and people use this as an excuse to attack others.

like, i came from fandom where you could ship anything and the only real line was like, asking misha collins about destiel and i really do think we should bring back the whole 'stop asking people questions and just use common sense and treat them like people instead of fandom validation machines'.

it's actually a kind of scary thing so like. i don't blame anyone for being like 'no wait'. and it also makes sense to have ships that you just don't really like and don't want to see! i have a couple of those and then i'm just apathetic about the rest.

but yeah. the way i look at it is, i'm not harming anyone. these are fictional characters and both the actors behind them were pretty clear on these being written characters and i really think this fandom would be better served by having a bit of a stronger line between the two!

also like. cc!techno was way more vocal about not liking c!sbi family dynamic so. y'know.

anyway, sorry for rambling. i really do get your point, anon. <3 <3

[o-uncle-newt]

ONE: it creates traditions

Despite not being a Christmas-celebrator myself, I'm really glad that the final episode of this show aired as a Christmas special, because it's equally timely to talk about Molokai.

I wrote extensively about Molokai last year, and my main takeaway is that it celebrates ritual in a way that's really important. And I was thinking about it, and so many of the themes that I elevated in previous posts I've done this year are related to this as well. It's important to how funny the show is, how heartwarming the show is, how good the show is for mental health... so many different things.

I recommend reading the above post for a full breakdown, but what I raised about Molokai was that it's basically about the importance of creating and/or participating in rituals and traditions, things that mark your life and add pizzazz to it. Martin, living a depressing life on his own in an attic, has no reason to like Christmas when it's just another dull day, but enjoys it when he's exposed to and participates in ritual. Arthur, it turns out, creates ritual all the time, whether invoking existing traditions re Christmas or creating rituals around things like Birling Day.

I argue, pushing that further, that CABIN PRESSURE is about creating a kind of comforting ritual, tradition, what have you. Don't get me wrong- the comedy is often sharp and creative, there's story and character development over time... but it's not so much that the shape of the show is familiar as that the expectations are. This is going to be funny, this is going to have interesting people, this is going to let those interesting people be comically nasty to each other but also let them have real relatable emotions, and at the end of the episode GERTI will fly again.

There's also the repetitive element of features like games, particular character mannerisms, etc. One of my favorite sitcoms, the 60s spy spoof Get Smart, was written with the main character, Maxwell Smart (Agent 86) given many catchphrases, and the actor who played him actively encouraged the writers to create more because having those kinds of repetitive and funny elements is a good hook and a comforting element to viewers. They ended up being some of the most iconic parts of the show, not just because the lines are funny but because of the way they're said by Max/Adams and the way the character who says them is written. Plenty of Get Smart fans can be caught saying "missed it by that much" or "sorry about that Chief" or, my favorite that I say all the time, "he should have used his powers for niceness instead of evil."

The characters of Cabin Pressure don't have catchphrases in the same way- or rather, it's limited to things like "brilliant" and "yellow car"- but it contains so many different elements that listeners can count on in an episode. If the whiskey is stolen, obviously Douglas did it and the question (which will be answered creatively) is how. If this is a situation where Douglas can save the day, he will- and if he doesn't, then there will be a satisfying reason why. People won't recognize Martin as captain- and if they do then that's a sign that something is off kilter. JF creates the boundaries of the world that we step into and then plays within and around them in incredibly innovative ways. It's such a good formula for keeping things interesting and comforting.

And here's where I go to praise JF as the creator- because he ended up taking on an interesting form of commitment to create ritual in our own lives, maybe because he saw how much we'd already done it ourselves. Thanks to the show, already as of S4 people were taking traveling lemons to different locations, playing Yellow Car by Arthurian rules... and then, he started posting a variation on Get Dressed Ye Merry Gentlemen every year, and as a decidedly non-Christmas person it's basically the only thing about the holiday that I look forward to. (Incidentally- one of the things that made me want to post about this is my curiosity what he'll do this year when he's no longer on Twitter...)

But the biggest ritual-creating thing he did, of course, is do 26 episodes of Cabin Fever. He posted the episodes on a regular schedule (and warned us in advance when he started spacing them out), he gave us games to try and puzzles to solve, and he gave us something to look forward to that would add some fun and shape to our lives in a time that could be both shapeless and stressful. I myself was still recovering from my very early bout of COVID, isolated in my room, bored and miserable and not at full breathing capacity and still only getting over the feeling that I could have potentially died, when Cabin Fever arrived and gave me something to look forward to. It created ritual, which created meaning, which was one of the most thoughtful things someone could have done for me around then.

So, a tribute to Cabin Pressure, a tribute to the wonderful John Finnemore, a tribute to the idea that we can take our own action and join with others to create ritual that gives us meaning and comfort... and a tribute to all of you who have been doing/following along with Cabin Pressure advent in various forms. This too is a form of ritual, community, and tradition that I look forward to continuing to participate in- as part of a really cool fandom.

In the meanwhile, happy tenth freaking anniversary, Merry Christmas to all the Christmas people, almost-Happy Chanukah to all the (fellow) Chanukah people, and just generally wishing a beautiful year full of things that give your life shape and meaning.

[danmeichael]

In the vtuber AU, who has the worst fans

oh mo ran by a MILE.

shi mei's fans are pretty normal for streamer fans, they sometimes playfully bully shi mei a little but they're pretty chill. his fans re just there for a good time, aside from a few people who come into the stream because they want the cute femboy to be mean to them. healthy ecosystem with weirdo tourists.

chu wanning is actively antagonistic to parasociality because that's something he haaaaated when he was working for rufeng -- the boyfriend act, the "i love you <3" the petnames and shit. he will ban people who misbehave, he will ban people who have weird vibes, and he will ban people who send any compliments that seem a bit too serious.

but mo ran. mo ran has intentionally cultivated a veeeeery specific audience and a very specific sort of relationship with that audience. his business plan is being hot and making people obsessed with him, and he actively encourages it when his fans objectify/sexualize him or act parasocial. he calls his fans his "kittens", does tons of like asmr boyfriend roleplay videos. you can really tell a lot about the community a creator in those circles has cultivated by looking at their comments and their interaction with the comments. some creators highlight comments talking about their skills, or appreciating the script writing, or talking about the audio design. and some creators like comments that are like "omg ur voice made me pregnant"

mo ran is the latter

it consistently shoots him in the foot when it comes to trying to get closer to cwn.

it also means his fans are kind of intense, massive horndogs, and most importantly do not have boundaries. being a horndog is fine, not having boundaries is the problem. chu wanning can't have a PO box because of antis, mo ran can't have a PO box because people would send him used underwear and homemade cookies they jacked off into.

[anemoiashifts]

permashifting & sv!c!dal ideation & early shiftok.

im so fucking scared to post this. tw.

ive been in the shifting community for four/five years now & most of my time was watching quietly from the sidelines up until last july when i made my shiftok account. i want to preface this by saying these are my experiences & observations & ive always been pretty firm on my stance. ive spoke about this (i think) twice on tiktok & will now give some updated insight. i don’t expect everything to agree with me but please don’t jump down my throat for saying what im going to. i respect you, please respect me. cool? yes? okay !!

there are similarities between sv!c!dal ideation & permashifting & im so so sick of people hardly taking about it. what re-sparked this interest in the topic was i saw someone make a video on their views towards the topic & i do resonate with their points heavily. this was the only video ive ever seen of anyone making a video like this minus myself & it’s been long overdue.

to clarify, im not against permashifting completely im against how permashifting is spoken about & how it’s promoted. it’s wayyy too casual & ive seen a lot of triggering things in my comment sections / confession submissions. i used to get about five of these or so (ppl saying they wanted to unalive themselves) a week when i was actively doing them but they’ve since kinda died down. if, me, an account with (at the time) ~15,000 tiktok followers were seeing this, i cannot imagine the kind of messages those 100,000 followers shiftokers were getting.

another thing that i haven’t spoke about too much is the sv!c!de notes id receive. i got about two or three of them. ignoring the overstepping of boundaries & oversharing, my heart goes out to those who submitted those. i think shifting came at a time when everyone was bored & cooped up inside & shiftokers could’ve unknowingly preyed upon people’s loneliness & vulnerability. i remember people could say things like “im k!11!ng myself tonight so I’ll wake up in my dr” & the fact that was even a thing is so beyond horrific. im gonna put some confessions ive gotten in the past just to show you what i was seeing daily at one point. scroll a ways down if you don’t want to to see. sorry ! idk how to blur it but would if i found out how to.

i wanta take a sec to call out all the adult shifters who neglected to speak about this.

i hear people say “but if they didn’t discover shifting they wouldn’t still be here” or “it buys people more time”. i get it. really, i do & i don’t think that’s a bad thing. what i do think the bad thing really is, is the adult shifting creators who enable the kind of talk & push that shifting is this other option without telling people to take care of themselves in this reality. the mental well-being & safety of people should always be put first, especially with spaces involving a lot of children when most of the information comes from the mouths of adults. shifting was popularized by tiktok at the height of c0v!d & everyone was arguably at their lowest. i think the timing in which shifting was introduced helped shiftok get popular at the time (along with harry potter trending, of course) & a lot of ppl saw it as a trend to latch onto & leech off of to grow a platform. i think some people totally — probably unintentionally — took advantage of peoples desperation for an escape for profit. that’s what I’ve felt with some former / earlier shifting creators, anyways. that’s why shiftokers are seen as these figures that were/are looked up to so heavily because they’ve gotten something that people with destructive situations are so desperate for & i think that’s really diabolical & sad.

this post isn’t to shit on shiftokers completely, not the modern shiftokers anyway. i have some really cool mutuals who genuinely post insightful content. i think tiktok has gotten a little better with some bumps every now & then but it’s not as bad as 2020.

i don’t think shiftokers are doing this intentionally. & who knows ? maybe they’re are afraid their audience will get upset or off put or they’ll lose support but the longer we put the conversation off the more people’s mental health will worsen. whatever the reason may be, keeping numbers up or getting “canceled” isn’t worth it at the risk of lives of children. it’s long overdue.

then the idea of escapism comes in. escapism isn’t bad. arguably, most things we do are escapism; reading, scrolling on tumblr. its how we look & obsess & look at that escapism. that’s when it becomes unhealthy. the consept of shifting as an escape from something like depression can exacerbate those feelings of because people do struggle to actually shift. that state of “waiting” to shift can be extremely difficult if you’re not struggling mentally, so if you’re struggling mentally on top of trying to shift without success? also throwing being a minor onto that.

anyways this post was all over the place because i could talk about this for hours. i have no idea if this will ever have a place on tiktok or if I’ll even end up posting this to tumblr. this was very ramble-y but a very important ramble imo. i tried to organize & keep this short to the best of my ability. feel free to agree, disagree but these are my poorly organized thoughts.

a little reminder to enjoy the journey & process of shifting rather then hyper focusing on “the end” of it. take a break if you find you self only thinking about shifting and not doing stuff you gotta do here or if your making yourself sick over it. it isn’t the end of the world if you don’t shift. i believe everyone is here for a reason & i can promise you everything will work out in the end.

to those who resonate with mental health struggles & shifting, my heart goes out to you & only with you the best. be gentle with yourself — that goes for all of you.

[wwwow-official]

Hello, world!!~

Welcome to the OFFICIAL Wacky William's World Of Weird blog!

Now, you may be asking, what IS Wacky William's World Of Weird? Well, my friend, I'm glad you asked!

Description!!~

Wacky William's World Of Weird, or WWWOW for short, is a work-in-progress indie game/art piece/passion project, with elements of mascot horror, analog horror, bait-and-switch games, puzzle games, and other such things!

-

You play as Y/N [that's right, YOU!], a 20-something year old horror enthusiast, with a love for lost media, and a knack for abandoned building exploration.

After re-discovering an old shirt they don't remember having, they do a bit of research, finding out about the [now abandoned] children's interactive museum of the same name, which resides in their childhood home town, which they and their parents had moved away from, when they were just a kid.

-

Throughout the game, you'll do puzzles and mini-games, complete tasks, explore, discover secrets, and most importantly, meet the [very much ALIVE!] colorful cast of mascots!

Luckily for YOU, a good few of these characters are friendly! Especially the name-sake character himself, Wacky William, who will grant you sanctuary, and give you hints about the lore, if you ask the right questions!~

-

Outside of the game, there's still much to do with this fun little story! It seems like SOMEONE'S been uploading old video archives to Youtube, showing off several different promotional videos, commercials, cartoon episodes, and even stuff from what appears to be an old website?

Discover bits and pieces of the story, pieces you wouldn't be able to find in the game, and connect the dots the best you can!!~

Now, that's about all I can give in terms of a description, for now! Though, if you're curious about any non-story related details, our ask box is, in fact, open!

This blog is mainly for sneak peeks, dev updates, musings, and other such random things. Though, there may be a few rebloggings, aswell!

To make things less confusing, I have devised a little tagging system!~

TAGS!!~

General:

#wacky williams world of weird! - For all posts related to WWWOW!

#wwwow! - Same as above, just abbreviated!

#important posts! - Posts like this one, with IMPORTANT INFORMATION!!

#asks! - A tag dedicated to answering questions!

#wwwow updates! - A general tag for WWWOW-related updates!

#sneak peeks! - For sneaky little peeks at WIPs!

#dev log! - Just development logs, nothing too special!

#character intro! - Posts that are all about showing off one of our wonderful Wacketeers!

#wacketeer art! - For art of the characters, Canon or not!

#sillies! - For memes/joke posts about the characters/story/etc.!

#fun fact! - Just to spice things up, I'll be posting fun facts about the characters at least once a week!

-

Character-Specific Tags:

#wacky william!

#zany zeno!

#nutty norman!

#aberrant albert!

#curious cornelius!

#bouncy betsy!

#sweet suzanne!

#peppy penny!

#other wacketeers!

-

Off-Topic/Other:

#off topic! - For posts/reblogs that aren't about WWWOW!

#aesthetics! - A tag [mostly] containing aesthetic/stim-worthy pics/gifs/videos that remind me of certain characters!

#polls! - For.. to put it simply, project-related community polls! Kinda speaks for itself, doesn't it?

#reblogs! - Posts that have been reblogged from other accounts!

#support! - To help spread awareness, or just to help out!

-

*This section will be updated every now and then, to include new tags, if needed! ^^

Now that we've gotten all that out of the way, it's time I introduce myself, and put some boundaries down!

You can call me Mod Cryptic, or just Crypt! I'm the owner of this blog, aswell as the creator of WWWOW as a project! You may know me from my main blog, @cryptic-loser , but that's neither here nor there-

As for my boundaries when it comes to this blog, they're pretty simple!

-

1. Please, do not make any strange, NSFW comments about the characters! Simping is mostly fine [I encourage this, actually!], just please nothing inappropriate.

2. Please do not pester. If your ask hasn't been answered, I probably just haven't gotten to it yet, or don't know how to respond!

3. Please be nice!! If you don't like something about the project, or have something to say about anything, please be civil about it! Remember, if you have nothing nice to say, it's better to say nothing at all.

4. If you are a bigot in any fashion [Homophobic, Transphobic, Xenophobic, Racist, Sexist, Ableist, etc.], please leave. This is not the place for you. If you try to interact, you will be blocked.

5. If you are a pro-shipper/p3d0/m@p/z00phile/etc., again, this is not the place for you. Like with the last point, if you interact, you will be blocked.

6. On a lighter note, if you draw anything, or make anything related to this project, please tag me in it! I love seeing it!! ^^

And with that, this post FINALLY comes to a close.

I hope you guys have a splendid time here, and have fun!!~

Goodbye for now!!~

Boarders/Dividers made by @strangergraphics !!

[fandoomrants]

When I re-joined the Marauders fandom around a year ago, I was coming across lots of people complaining how toxic this fandom has become.

I didn't quite understand what they meant back then as I haven't been active in the fandom for a long time (completely missed the ATYD era and most huge changes and things, didn't know how most ships came into existence still don't but I'm afraid to ask plus I'm already on board ig and also too many characters that were barely mentioned when I was in the fandom) so I couldn't decide what made it "toxic".

For the longest time I assumed it was people insisting on their ships and headcanons and throwing hate on people who shipped different things (God forbid people liking Harry's parents as a thing instead of making them both queer and into other people) and I suppose that's truly what most people view as "toxic" to this day but lately I genuinely saw the real toxicity of the fandom.

It's people's approach towards the people that create any content for the fandom. That's the truly toxic thing.

Is it normal that writers have to put a thousand warnings on their fics or even delete them from stop people from binding them and trying to sell them?

Or artists having to constantly report people reposting their works without proper credits?

Or cosplayers having to explain themselves to "fans" accusing them of... cosplaying?? And daring to have a personality and content outside the character(s) they cosplay?

The whole point of the fandom is that things are made from FANS for other FANS. The things people write/draw/edit/cosplay, they do because they genuinely like these characters and this world, and because they know others do too, and would enjoy the way they express their ideas of said things. And they all do it for FREE too.

If people want to support them, they can do it the proper way, spreading the popularity of these creators by sharing their work and giving credits. There is absolutely no reason to spread around someone's work, especially for money, when it's out there and perfectly available for FREE. It's wrong and even if the intentions are good which I doubt, there is this thing called copyright and it can cause harm to those creators because the characters aren't original. (What's worse, when people sell fics, they actually "give credits" and put down the writers' names/urls.)

And if they don't like them for some reason, they're free to just not engage because nobody is shoving it in their faces by force. Blogs, tiktok accounts, tags, etc can be BLOCKED. If you don't enjoy someone's content, just leave them alone and don't go around yapping and throwing hate at them. It's simple as that. (Unless there is a valid reason to cancel someone and there usually isn't any except for people simply not liking them for one reason or another.)

Being in a fandom means that there will be things that you'll be on board with and then some you wouldn't be but don't forget the creators aren't doing it to offend anyone, they're expressing themselves like everyone else does by discussing or creating their own stuff. If it's not your cup of tea, go drink some cold water.

In any case, people shouldn't forget that anyone that creates any type of content:

1) is doing it for free, by their own free will, in their own free time.

2) is a normal human being. They're not the character(s) they create stuff about. They have their own struggles and difficulties they face in their life but still find the time to create these things you enjoy.

3) is not obliged to interact with/do commissions for people just because they're trying to abuse them into it by constantly sending asks and messages.

4) has privacy. Nobody wants people trying to probe into their life just because they are known among some community. Same goes for actual actors/artist, writers. Being famous doesn't erase the right to have something your fans aren't privy to.

5) has boundaries that shouldn't be crossed, and things they are okay/not okay with that should be taken into consideration.

I genuinely find it a bit fascinating how people decided to take away these characters and modify them so much as one big FU to the original author due to her toxic behaviour, yet they manage to create a toxic environment for others too.

P.S.: Please do not engage with this post if you'll be making any claims that any creator that has decided to make their work public is obliged to stand and take hate, mistreatment, etc. There is a not-so-thin line between constructive criticism, and spreading hate and being mean and disrespectful.