#this isn’t even really about my own stuff because I know I’m niche and I’m having fun with the people who care so whatever

[woundlingus]

Being a bitch on main and I’m sorry but if you collect likes and never reblog, and especially those who take the extra steps of even then hiding the likes too so they have an entirely dead blog then you’re not even in the fandom you’re passive floating by the community. You need to reblog things. You need to reblog that art, that fic, that stupid text post joke. “I don’t even have any followers” because you’re boring and you refuse to engage with the community, maybe you could try reblogging (with comment too sometimes) and maybe people might want to engage with you too. You do. You need to reblog. You need to follow people. 90% of the population here doesn’t use the for you page, there is actually a culture here and the “me me me” attitude of Twitter and tiktok doesn’t carry here and the entitlement of acting like it should is making you a pariah instead of a member. You have to interact with the community. Reblog my post, boy.

[highlordofkrypton]

ACOTAR FANDOM ANALYSIS

…because apparently I miss academics?

PART 1 - CONTEXT & FACTORS TO CONSIDER

This was originally supposed to be an addition to @praetorqueenreyna’s post, but it started to get long and I didn’t wanna clutter your post. If you haven’t seen her essay on ACOTAR fandom culture, please do check it out because she made amazing and very valid points that I’m just gonna ramble on top of.

OKAY, APPARENTLY, THIS IS GONNA HAVE MULTIPLE PARTS. AFTER I WROTE THIS I REALIZE THERE’S SO MUCH.

I do want to disclaim that this isn’t targeted to any one part of the fandom, merely observations from someone who is relatively new to the ACOTAR fandom (around April-ish). I’m also way too lazy to get sources and stuff. I’m also missing a lot of fandom history.

ABOUT FANDOM CULTURE

At its core, fandom culture is niche. It’s strange, it’s not cool in a popular way, it’s geeky, it’s awkward, it’s community-oriented and a place detached from the mainstream. Hobbies, interests and discussions that you couldn’t really have these conversations with anyone in your day to day because they needed to engage with the piece of media and even then, they needed to care about it enough to create, deconstruct, reconstruct, and contribute to the fandom.

Fandom comes with a sense of belonging. It’s about liking the media, yes, but it’s about liking the media enough that you want to immerse yourself in it. You want more than just the book, the show, the song, etc.

With fandom, especially on Tumblr, there are subcultures within fandom, based on a character, a ship, a spinoff, etc. Fans can find (or create) a community to connect with on specific parts of a media, and that’s a beautiful thing. While fandom is not perfect, and it has its dark, embarrassing, painful moments, over the years it’s developed its own unspoken rules. Most of the ‘subcultures’ stay among them, and even with drama, the overlap isn’t as constant as ACOTAR. Usually, it comes in waves, and evens out eventually.

Most importantly, fandom is a place where you can just be yourself. You can shake off the weight of the outside world, and just do your thing! There are so many politics at play and rules in your day-to-day life, why not get a little weird? Fandom is a place where you find your other weirdos, and the judgmental people are usually a minority.  It can also be really small and you know everyone in the fandom—shoutout to my other 4 Orm Marius homies!!

POST-PANDEMIC CONTEXT AND THIRD PLACES

When the pandemic hit, in places that were locked down, habits needed to change and there was nowhere to go. You couldn’t really escape, so online was the best place. You had people returning to old hobbies, such as crafts, gaming, reading, etc. You also had people searching for new things to partake in. Either boredom, coping with the new way of the world or just finding people to talk to, those are valid reasons.

I’d like to introduce the notion of third places. Third place is considered to be a place that is not home, work or school. It is a place where you can get out of your routine and decompress. Libraries, coffee shops, going to the bar, or anywhere else where you can just step away from the grind and the routine. These are social spots that help alleviate the weight of your daily pressures. For some, their third place was strictly an in-person event.

With the arrival of the pandemic, these third places became inaccessible and even after lockdown was lifted, some of these places were irrevocably changed—either they closed permanently or the hours changed in such a way that they were not accessible. For example, I used to spend a lot of time in my favourite bookstore because it would open at 8AM and close at 10PM. After the pandemic, it opens at 10AM and closes at 5PM. For someone who works, I can no longer use this as my ‘third place’.

For many fandom members, their third place was online. They already know the rules of etiquette from observing, and joining out of their own curiosity. Time spent in fandom teaches you the unspoken tenets of interaction. ‘Don’t like, don’t read,’ is one example. Additionally, being part of a small fandom, but loving something so much that you want to connect with someone, anyone, teaches you to be a lot more respectful of the space you’re entering. You may not like everyone all the time, but ultimately, your enjoyment of your fandom should precede everything else.

Joining a fandom on your own, or with a small group, is completely different from joining en masse. Now, you have many people seeking a place to ‘connect’ coming in with their preconceived notions learned from other places. Maybe a different subculture that isn’t fandom. Maybe an assumption of how fandom should be. 

BOOKTOK VS. FANDOM - CLIQUES VS. COMMUNITIES

I’ve heard the argument that the ‘popular kids’ joining fandom is ruining fandom. I’ve been thinking about this for a while now, trying to look at the demographics of BookTok and the patterns of behaviour that are associated with BookTok vs. fandom. I’m on BookTok, but I look for smaller communities, but I see all the drama, all the time.

Here are a few of my assessments:

All social media platforms allow you to cater your page and feed to what YOU want, but not all social media is community based. It is geared for content to consume, and feeds the algorithm to keep you on the platform, so that companies can pay the platform for advertising.

Most other social media encourage you to use parts if not your entire identity (photos, video, name, etc.) and I believe that creates a direct correlation to a person’s sense of validation when receiving likes, comments, engagement. Tumblr, on the other hand, rarely focuses on the identity of the person behind the screen, but rather you build your identity through what you share, the posts you make or reblog. It has shifted to be more similar to other social media (for moniessssss) but it wasn’t like this years ago. Over a decade ago, Tumblr used to be the only place where I could get fandom stuff and Deviantart.

Other social media platforms emphasize that you are the product. With the success of influencers, many people try to replicate the same success by using themselves, their talent and most importantly, their opinions on social media. BookTok is essentially an online book club, which means that it’s mostly sharing thoughts, and less about creation.

Content on social media, put out by influencers is created not with the intention for interaction, but rather, reach. People aren't used to the pushback and continuous discourse that happens on Tumblr where many people can chime in at once.

The desire to belong compounded with the impact of influencers on social media naturally sets people into two categories: creators and consumers. Content creators who have achieved success are placed on the same pedestal our modern society places celebrities on. Due to their following, some people might believe their opinions are more valid because there is a large number of people following them. Some people might be influenced by the ‘majority’ they see following an influencer, which is part of the course. That’s why they’re called influencers.

As a former marketing specialist, I’d like to assert that there are so many more factors in play than a valid take. Aesthetics are a big part of it, and charisma. Both of which fall under the same attributes as the ‘popular’ kids in school. As someone with a lot of charisma in person, I know for a fact that if you package something prettily enough, you can get away with anything.

The problem is: fandom doesn’t work like that.

Fandom is a place where unpopular opinions and niche things thrive. It’s the place where no one cares if you’re cool, and the pretty things come in forms of art (crafts, visual art, writing, etc.). It’s also a place for discourse for those who enjoy that, digging deeper into themes and what not.

The problem is: you have a subculture that is largely an echo chamber and largely one-sided 'community' entering a space with an established dynamic with a lot of back and forth. Sometimes, the rule in fandom is that the rules don’t apply. 

I believe that this isn’t the root of the toxicity, but elements to consider when speaking of the ACOTAR fandom which, like Reyna said, feels like an amplification of the worst elements of fandom.

It's super late here, so I'll come back to actually start saying something LMAO CAUSE THIS FEELS LIKE A WHOLE LOT OF NOTHING.

[solsays]

okay guys hello hi so a (more serious) post before we’re back to the sillies but like I’ve seen a bit of this in the QSMP community recently and I feel like it needs to be addressed

you’re free to dislike a creator/cc’s fanbase, but don’t lump them all together. Every fanbase has its different parts, and that means that not everybody is the same. I’ve seen this most with Wilbur and Phil mains, how people are like “oh you’re oblivious and don’t care to watch other streamers” or whatever it is, and often they get accused of summing characters/creators up to all they know them as through Phil or Wilbur or their relationships with other characters. This isn’t to say that doesn’t happen, but it’s not nearly as common as many seem to think!

This is coming from someone who has been watching Phil for going on four years now; we know more than you think, and often there are actual reasons for why we don’t watch other ccs. For me, it’s because I can rarely tune in when people are actually live thanks to school and work and such, so I take to watching vods and clips to keep caught up on the events. I am also not fully bilingual (English, and I speak partial Spanish but fast Spanish still confuses me sometimes) which makes it hard to watch people like the Brazilian or French players (I don’t speak either language) outside of clips where they’re playing with the English or Spanish speakers! As a result, my knowledge of many of them (Mike, Bagi, Antoine, etc) is pretty limited. I try my best to keep up with everyone on character stuff, but it can be hard if we’re busy. Another thing is that a large part of (especially) Phil’s fanbase are adults, who have families or college or work and they can’t always keep up with every minute detail or trait of characters, and I know this is true for many other cc’s fanbases as well.

of course, everybody is allowed to have their own opinions, and it’s okay if you aren’t a fan of a cc or their fans! All I’m asking is that we don’t hate on those creators or their fans, especially if it’s because you’ve had not great experiences with some of their fans. Often I think the former DSMP members fans are seen as stupid little kids who are toxic and childish, while in reality most of us are over 16 or even adults. Phil, Foolish, Slime, Quackity, etc were never really the problematic part of the dsmp fanbase, which was kind of split into Techno’s friends and their fans (who were always pretty chill for the most part) and then dream’s friends and their fans (who were and still are pretty problematic a lot of the time). I never was a huge dsmp enjoyer, so I never really watched the lore and preferred to watch their other stuff, but I always disliked the dream team and their little group, they always rubbed me the wrong way.

I only truly watch Phil’s streams, but I’ve taken up watching Cellbit and Fit as well, even if I can’t understand Cellbit sometimes, so remember that we won’t know everything niche about characters because of the language barriers! Don’t be a dick or rude to people who are unaware of certain parts of lore and such because they don’t watch multiple creators, we want to keep the QSMP fandom a chill safe place where people don’t feel hated or excluded just because of which creator(s) they watch, so in summary just be nice to everyone and don’t hate on people just because they don’t do things the same way as you. This community was created with the purpose of bringing people together and breaking barriers, so let’s try and keep that moral in mind while interacting with other fans!

TLDR: you’re free to dislike creators or their fans, just don’t lump them all together and say they’re all clueless or don’t care about any other characters! Let’s keep the point of the QSMP fandom what Quackity intended—breaking language barriers and bringing people together/lifting them up instead of putting them down :)

[sayingyournames]

I LOVE you YWLM and all of your trans marauders fic but it does sort of rub me the wrong way that sirius bottoms in all of them. There’s nothing wrong with being a bottom it’s just disappointing that trans male characters are always defaulted to that. Trans men can top too and it sucks to keep seeing really incredible fics that fall into that stereotype.

i don’t even know where to start with this but like first of all, did you even read ywlm? bc it seems like you missed the part where they talked about switching and both of them were into it.

idk what to tell you - i’m a trans person. this is how i’ve chosen to write trans characters so far bc it’s a direct reflection of my own preferences and experience. it’s what feels affirming and comfortable for me right now, and maybe that’ll change and i’ll write a 50K fic where they switch every single time they fuck but i don’t have to, and just because i haven’t doesn’t mean i’m not supportive of it or into it.

something i can’t stand about this fandom is how many people just assume ill-intent of writers and artists. how y’all treat us like we’re supposed to just cater to every single person’s exact preferences like that isn’t an insane set of standards to shove onto people who do this for free and for fun.

do you have any idea how exhausting it is to get constant criticism for everything you do in a fandom space? it feels like i can’t post any work without someone popping in to tell me what’s wrong with it, or ask me to write them like this or whatever and like it’s not fun. this isn’t fun for me.

either write the kind of fic you want to see or go find it somewhere else because i promise you it exists, and instead of being fucking weird and rude in my ask box you could be talking to those writers and making friends who like the same stuff as you do. find your niche and hang out there and be happy instead of making me miserable xx

[poppitron360]

tbh i find you annoying but thats just my opinion. you're allowed to do whatever the fuck you want. good for you. my own opinion - based on petty standards and prejudice and a bit of jealousy - is not a reflection of reality and should not affect you. keep having fun.

also please don't block me because you're posting about something i like and it's not very well known and i just needed to get this out because id explode

… Okay?

This ask is fascinating to me and I have SO MANY QUESTIONS. Imma disect your comment like a lil bug real quick, if that’s okay with you?

If it doesn’t affect me why did you tell me? Like what was the purpose of telling me that you find me annoying? What validation does that give you?

Like you took all that time and effort to 1) seek out my blog 2) read enough of my posts to come up with a REALLY REALLY GOOD BURN LIKE WOW THAT IS SO CLEVER 3) Click on the ask button 4) write this comment 5) CHANGE THE FREAKING FONT- Like you went through the whole process of highlighting that line of text, clicking the “minimise” AND the “strikethrough” buttons and THEN 6) pressing send and you didn’t stop to think ONCE “hey… why the hell am I doing this?”

It always baffles me when people tell me these things like they think I’m not already painfully aware of it. Like I know that I’m annoying to some people THAT’S WHY I’M HERE!!! I have found the one community of people that find what I’m saying interesting!

I’m not posting for YOU I’m posting for THEM. You think I give a shit what you think about me? Are you THAT self-centred? Maybe my posts aren’t tailored to you, and that’s fine! Not everyone is making content specifically for your consumption, and might just be marketing to a different audience. If you’re not pickin’ up what I’m puttin’ down, that’s okay. Maybe I’m just not putting it down for your specific needs.

You know, before I joined Tumblr, a comment like this would have sent me SPIRALLING. But now I’ve realised that there is actually a place and a people to whom I am entertaining. I just gotta find the right audience.

One of my favourite inspirational quotes ever is by Einstein and it’s that “everyone is a genius, but if you judge a fish by it’s ability to climb a tree, it would think itself an idiot” or words to that effect. Yeah- my talent for spinning Leo Valdez round my brain like a candy-floss machine until it eventually turns into content isn’t necessarily “fun at parties” or useful for getting a job or good for… y’know… anything applicable to the Real World™️ but here I’ve found where I CAN put it to good use! And a year ago I didn’t have that.

Before Tumblr, my lil fishy body was struggling ‘er way up that tree. Here, I’ve found my ocean!

Not sure where this metaphor is going in relation to the topic of you finding me annoying… I guess fish me doesn’t feel like such an “idiot” now that I’ve found where I belong? Like I know that my talents are niche but SOMEONE likes ‘em. Actually quite a lot of people like ‘em, judging by my follower count. And I didn’t get this far by just having a cute cat pic as my pfp, but by actually building my skill and working hard! And I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished. SO FUCK YOU!!! HUZZAH!!!

I’m aware of how much of an asshole I sound like, but honestly? I am proud of myself. And my girl deserves her moment.

I feel a little bad responding guns-ablaze bc your hate comment was legitimately kinda nice and considerate?

But Also- how weird is this as a hate comment? Like you’re being insulting but you’re also saying you like my stuff? Geez, it says a lot about you that you can’t even send anon hate correctly.

If you wanna keep reading my stuff, go ahead! You just either gotta power through whatever weird complex you have about me, or just don’t read it. I don’t really see what good sending me this ask will do. Whatever gripe you have, put it aside. Like how I put aside your lack of capital letters in that comment, knowing that my stupid obsessive thing with Grammar shouldn’t affect how I treat other people, and that that is my OWN problem to deal with.

I’m being silly here. I’ve just never had the confidence to roast my haters before. I’ve never had haters to roast (online, anyway) so forgive my overzealousness. If you couldn’t tell- I was a theatre kid and still am…

In all seriousness, I like how self-aware you are that you’re being prejudiced and jealous. And I’m kinda curious as to what specifically you’re jealous of? But that’s just to boost my own ego.

I’m aware that I can be a little intimidating sometimes, particularly in a written form of socialisation. I like grammar, okay? I like rules and guidelines and careful, creative choices to show emotion and how you can break the rules in certain ways to give depth and nuance to the character and find the pattern of letters and characters to communicate what you’re feeling over a written format and-

If you couldn’t tell by all the fanfics I write- I also have a passion for writing.

Also, what specific prejudices? I’m genuinely intrigued. Is it specifically based off of one of the protective characteristics (under the 2011 Equality Act)? Or is it more just the way I behave? Or is it something I said? Like don’t be shy I don’t want vague I want DETAILS!!

And I realise that me writing a whole freaking dissertation on your comment just PROVES your point that I’m annoying but I. Don’t. Care. I’m having fun. I can’t help that I have a lot of Thoughts And Feelings about things. It’s just how my brain works. Also, it is currently 1:23am where I live, so brain go brrr. If you made it this far, anon, I salute you! Thank you for taking the time to hear me out even though you think I’m annoying. That’s honestly a good quality to have. Here, have a sweet 🍬

And I know that that was… intense, to say the least. Oh BOY do I know that I can be intense. But genuinely- GENUINELY- I’d love to sit down and have a discussion with you on this because it truly fascinates me how other people perceive me. And, if you’re comfortable coming out of anon (if not, that’s fine) I’d like to learn more about why you think these things. Not necessarily so that I can change- but it’d be a great opportunity to see what I can learn about myself through what you think at me. I know it seems like I’m mad- I’m really not! I’m just captivated by the world and how others look at me.

Anyway, thanks for hearing me out, and I hope to have good conversations with legitimate constructive criticism in many posts to come! Never stop being passionate. Just maybe direct your passion to something more positive. Thank you so much for the ask, this was a really good thought experiment for me.

[bubblyernie]

I’m going to say something so outta nowhere but the one line that’s prevailed in making me a more accepting person to myself and others came from a teen titans episode I watched when I was like. 10. Maybe 9? Where Raven says (to BB) “I respect the fact that you don’t eat meat. Please respect the fact I don’t eat /fake/ meat.” (Yknow cuz he’s a vegetarian)

And to put it in context as someone who’s aromantic but allosexual in a lot of niche kink circles and a very queer friendly place IRL (the school and city I’m living in) it really helped me to come to terms with 1. YKINMK ATOK as well as 2. getting over the “sex = impurity” culture that I grew up with. Like I hung around a lot of people who were also aro or ace or both around very, for lack of a better term, horny communities which had allo people too, and that’s all cool for them but then pretending Im “above” attraction or that it’s like ‘alt’ to not be into sex to be part of this inner circle was smth I had to get over. And it wasn’t anyone else’s fault but my own, and ofc we were all like fresh adults and stuff and having to learn this stuff of course comes with bumps in the road.

To reel it back to my point, it made me learn to be comfortable as someone who wants to be intimate by saying like “I respect the fact that you don’t want to have sex. Please respect the fact that I do”. Like to me this was a way I could avoid being dismissive or disrespectful, because that’s not what I want, what I wanted was to say like I’m not comfortable with this kinda tone, I’m going to excuse myself if that’s the case, but I still respect you speaking about your relationship with your identity

This is all personal experience ofc, I was raised religious too so that was a part of it. And this isn’t to compare myself to others who are aro/ace/both or put them down, and I’m especially not saying (to make this abundantly clear) that asexual/aromanticism and religious/purity/chastity ideologies are the same, that sort of thing can affect ANYBODY. Me overcoming purity culture was not a result of stepping over others.

As a side, most of the kinkiest circles I’m in are made up of ace spec people with the brightest personalities ever and even if you aren’t into kink that’s 100% cool!! again, personal experience, this is the only lens I’ve connected through which is why I bring it up, not bc it’s the only community for queerness. Im still learning, trying to get out there and that means not knowing everything. and I can’t speak for everyone in one post either ofc

ALL THAT TO SAY every time this comes up and I think about accidentally offending people I care about by establishing my comfort and boundaries, I think of “I respect that you don’t do (thing), please respect the fact that I do” from teen titans and it’s really helped as a way to frame what I’m trying to say

ANYWAY I was going to post this during pride month but I forgot so I’m saying it now bc every month that I’m queer is pride month lmao happy July 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈 there’s parts I forgot to explain bc this is all stream of consciousness but I hope my point is clear.

Ps If you misinterpret this as a way to bash ace OR allo people, then I’ll literally saw off your teeth

[queenimmadolla]

ooh, we are social this week, which i’m digging! please note this isn’t an attack on anyone, this is just me adding to the conversation. so on the status of the fandom being dead. it is. (and this is a lot, cause i can’t shut up when i get going)

we can like sugar coat it all we want and say people don’t venture out to read or maybe they’ve lost interest in writing, but fandoms usually go dead—and this term doesn’t necessarily mean like absolutely NO FICS—it just means it wasn’t as hype as it was when the last season dropped, and that’s a literal fact. it’s been two years lol. summer of ‘22, i could refresh the eddie munson x reader tag and like 16 new fics and blurbs and posts would load every time, there was just so much fucking content—it was glorious and positive because there was so many people, way too many for people to start whatever bullshit ended up happening (that occurred during the first phase of people losing interest).

now if i refresh when i dare venture out to the tags (and we’ll get to that next), it’s not as frequent. plain and simple. it’ll pick back up when the next season drops, it’ll be all hype, and then it’ll die down again as the years go by. hell, even the supernatural fandom isn’t as wild as it used to be, and they were around for YEARS.

this is coming from someone who’s been here and read (and when i was just a reader, i lived in those tags) a specific steve fic for like 5 years because there wasn’t a ton of stuff being produced, yes some, but not even to the amount that’s coming out now. and that’s again because of the YEARS long gap. and the proof of that is in stonathan. we all know the gay ships are some of the most popular amongst fandoms, and while stonathan was replaced with steddie essentially, it’s been a hot minute since stonathan owned the stranger things fandom because again, it died down. people moved onto other ships from other shows or outgrew fanfiction for the fandom. that ship was like the stranger things equivalent to destiel at one point and now it’s a literal ghost, proof that this fandom does die down and that’s fine. it’ll pick back up one last time, it’s not the end of the world.

now onto the tags, a lot of people here—i’ve noticed more so sexually explicit writers (and i love your work, thank you for your service) just think people are like lazy or something. but really? it’s because a lot of people don’t tag their fics correctly.

some people have dark kinks, some people have more niche kinks, more innocent, etc., that’s inevitable, people have their own tastes. but they won’t tag it. and that’s when people get vocal about kinks and not letting people post what they want and stuff. do you, just make sure you do your due diligence, because when you intentionally don’t, people are gonna speak up. you and i know very well all tumblr users have opinions.

and when they do tag their work, it’s usually after it’s caused a stir or several hours after its been up (this is a tactic for engagement purposes, it’s not tagged for a couple of hours and then magically it appears hours after people have seen it and spread it and it happens pretty routinely). this is also applies to REBLOGS. i’m not sure if people think that because the original was tagged, it’ll be the same when they reblog, but it’s not! in fact, a lot of people just slap the eddie x reader tag on it and send it out again.

i get it, whatever it is may be your thing, my thing, but that’s just irresponsible and it sucks the joy out of whatever moment people were in when they went into the general tag. i don’t think it may have triggered them to the point of a mental breakdown, though i guess that could happen, but it definitely could put them in a man, fuck this shit i’m gonna go do something else or read something else from some other fandom, blah blah blah, and that’s valid, too. running into something you filtered out through the tags because someone didn’t want to tag their work so they could get more engagement kills vibes.

it’s happened a ton of times with me and so now i don’t go searching, because i’ve encountered waaaaaaaay too many dead doves with no proper tags other than “smut”.

i don’t ever really leave the three tab thingies on tumblr mobile home screen, so now i just get whatever i see my mutuals reblog, or something with a tag i follow (another neat feature to utilize), but again, because some people dont care to tag their stuff appropriately, it’s not always something i can read or something i feel mentally safe reading.

i doubt, like i seriously doubt, people only want to read their mutuals’ stuff. like me, i will support my mutuals and i appreciate them dearly but like….its not enough lol, i LOVE to read and i’m not tryna use them to farm a bunch of writing i can read for myself, that’s just fucked so i’m always looking (as best as i can while trying to avoid other people’s hidden landmines so to speak, because if i happen to like someone’s fic to read, i go back and check to see the blog is now just ‘???’ for me 💀) for new stuff from new writers, writers i don’t know, etc. that fits what i want to read (please, no more white character sibling!reader recs for me, i think you guys are so sweet for tryna plug me with something you think i’ll like but that immediately takes me out of the reader insert, like i can’t imagine myself or someone that looks like me)

yes, you can say there are cliques here who only support each other, and we haven’t been blind to drama and whatever, but people can say the same about you and your group of friends here. it’s all viewpoint. everyone is a part of a clique or group unless they literally don’t talk to anyone.

that aside, i dont know how many times ive gotten on here and like begged for recs and have been desperate enough to jump back into the general x reader tag to search for something to read only to encounter those dead doves. i hate not being able to venture out of my little cave, but it’s what i have to limit myself to. after this last dead dove with no warning, its gonna be a hot damn minute til i try again but i guess the whole point of this is

PLEASE TAG YOUR STUFF APPROPRIATELY AT THE TIME OF POSTING IF YOU ALREADY KNOW BETTER.

[greentrickster]

One of the things I find interesting about Maxwell as a character, especially as we find out more about him, is, as someone with a decent background in theatre, how real he seems to me. Not as some great, grand villain, but as a performer who wanted and who got in over his head as a result.

A little explanation: when I say, “I have a background in theatre,” I don’t mean anything big or grand - I’ve only been paid for I think three of the jobs I’ve done, the majority of it was lessons and volunteer work for more niche stuff. Which is important, because that’s the level of stage William seems to have been at originally. I’ve actually met a lot of Williams in the course of my acting experiences - you’d be surprised how many of them there are. And, I cannot stress this enough, they are not bad people.

You’ll hear people say that the performance industry is cut-throat, and it is, but that means it’s also shockingly rough on the performers in it. There’s a lot of performing in school gyms, having to provide pieces of your own costume even if it’s not a school activity or a lesson, hours like you wouldn’t believe in regards to both practice and performance, and pay such that there’s a reason it’s a trope for actors to have side jobs. And that’s once you’re already in, and getting there is hard enough. Moving up is even more work, and often requires you to be skilled in multiple areas. Injuries happen, and you don’t work? You don’t get paid. Heck, I’ve stopped acting, just because I came to the conclusion that I didn’t want it enough to put up with the conditions getting to do it put me through.

Thing is? There are people out there who do want it that much, who’ll go through a performance with a taped-up leg or a head cold that’s making it hard to think. People who heard the phrase ‘the show must go on’ and took it to heart. People who are constantly looking for some new edge, some way to stand out from the crowd of other skilled, talented people they’re in because they want to be the one on the stage, in the spotlight, getting those applause from the crowd. And, as often as not, it’s easy to get an ego on you once you get there, and also to become incredibly jealous of your place in the spotlight, wary of anyone else taking what you’ve worked so hard to gain.

And all of that feels like it applies so well to William Carter. The man who left his home and family to try and make it as a stage magician in another country. Who was working hard to make it in a tough industry but couldn’t quite find that spark he needed to make it. Who finally found the edge that gave him the leg-up he needed to finally step into the spotlight he’d been seeking for so long. Who guarded the edge he’d gotten jealously, for the same reasons all magicians and many performers guard the secrets of their trade so carefully. Who presumably realized a little too late that he’d gotten in over his head, and didn’t know how to stop.

Now, replace the Codex Umbra with drugs, alcohol, medications, or any number of other things, and William’s isn’t a new story at all - it’s one we’ve seen play out over and over in the performance industry, and I’m sure we can all name at least one star we’ve seen rise and fall in our own lifetimes. It’s not new, strange, surprising, or even unusual. It’s just a case of bad luck that the edge William found cost him in such a strange, horrific manner.

And that’s why Maxwell, once William, is so interesting to me. Because he’s turning out not to have been some great, grand figure, a powerful schemer or clever conman. Heck, as Wes’s story showed us, he’s not even that great at getting back at his enemies. He was just a guy, a really average, normal guy, who really wanted to be a performer. Because, no matter what he became as the King, he doesn’t seem to have started out bad, and the worst he seems to have become in the regular world was something of an egomaniac. Which, again, extremely normal in performers. That’s where the thrill comes from. He was a regular, unassuming guy who got handed the key to his dreams... and didn’t realize the true cost until much too late.

Because I’ve seen how much many performers are willing to pay and put up with for that moment in the spotlight, how much more they’re willing to pay and put up with to make that moment last... and I can’t help but wonder how many of them, if offered the same chance, would make the same choices as William, and also not realize it until much too late.

[disabledfurry]

John Lee Clark:

"Since then, though, protest has remained the primary mode. Perhaps it’s because Deaf people’s cultures and languages continue to be marginalized. Protest is a worthy, logical response, but it can also be limiting. Instead of the full range of our realities and imaginations, we get drawn into arguments we did not choose for ourselves. For example, “visual music” and “ASL is beautiful” are the two most common tropes in Deaf poetry, working to counter audist notions of deafness and muteness; meanwhile, in real life, Deaf people are busy cooking, videochatting, texting, dating, raising families, and making transactions, not all of them legal. I realized that I needed to write beyond these arguments, not to leave behind our causes or obscure my identity, but to claim more and more space in which we can just be."

Jim Ferris:

"We. I presume, I claim an “us,” even though there are myriad ways of embodying (and denying) disability, and no two disabled people’s experiences are the same. Disabled people are well schooled, whether impairment is acquired early or late, to identify with and aspire to be as much like nondisabled people as possible.

But if we don’t claim our difference, if we don’t write disability, the normies will keep doing it for us. It is crucial that we don’t keep leaving the field to them, even when we love them. Even when they tell us it’s for our own good."

Jillian Weise: "I like John’s point: “We get drawn into arguments we did not choose for ourselves.” Sometimes I feel like I would rather talk about Kathy Acker. But what does the word “disability” mean? Is it useful to me? Can I get some heat from it? I am reminded of what Borges said to his nephew, “If you behave, I’ll give you permission to think of a bear.” Most often, I think about disability when I am asked to think about it. Then I feel an obligation to behave.

[...]

Yes, there is ableism. One able-bodied writer said to me, “Jillian, do you know why we use disabled speakers?” Do tell, Grandmaster. “Because all writers are outsiders and disabled speakers are the most outsider.” Noted. But I also hear this kind of thing: another writer once wrote to me, “I wish your book was not so dominated by disability poems.” And there’s the trap of ableism: disability is for able-bodied writers to write, because it’s easy for them, and they don’t have to think too hard about it, but disabled writers should stay out of it altogether."

John Lee Clark: "I agree with Jillian. Editors really need to start rejecting that kind of bad poetry. But I’m more concerned about what they do reject as “too niche,” “not a fit,” or simply “not poetic material.” Isn’t that funny? They are happy to publish poems with made-up disabled speakers, but these are mainly by poets who aren’t disabled, or, which is sometimes worse, by poets who are disabled but follow the “script.” You get a very good idea of what’s expected of you when editors ask you, “Why don’t you include something about how hard it is to be deaf?” or, “Why don’t you write about the things you miss seeing?” I get tired of explaining that it isn’t hard to be deaf or that I don’t regret becoming blind."

John Lee Clark:

"There’s something amiss — and missing — in publishing. Thirty million Americans are Deaf or hard of hearing. Add to that twenty-two million for the blind slice of the pie, and millions more for other groups — physical disabilities, different kinds of intelligences, and the rest — and what do we have? Nearly a quarter of the total population? Thanks to the capitalist interests driving the medical industries, that number is always growing, as more and more things are targeted as “abnormal” and in need of treatment. Disability is a major, major realm. But you wouldn’t know it from reading literary magazines or any of the “name” anthologies."

Jim Ferris: "How to change that bias? My best answer is to write the poems that you want and need to read, and keep sending stuff out there. (I’m speaking to myself as much as anyone else here.) Because there are editors and publishers and most importantly readers who are open to our work, who want our work, whether they know it before they see it or not. One of my poems is in part about rejecting messages that disabled people get about changing or at least hiding their nonconforming bodies. I have been repeatedly surprised at how powerfully that poem speaks to others who have heard such messages, particularly breast cancer survivors. I had no idea. What a robust reminder that my job is to make these little paper airplanes as well and as beautifully as I can and then sail them out into the breeze. How far they fly, where they land, what happens after they land — this is none of my business, except as it helps me to make the next airplanes better. My work is to make them and sail them — and then make more."

Jillian Weise: "May I talk about a different swindle? I was told there are speakers of poems and I believed it. When I invented disabled speakers I was told, “Those aren’t speakers. That’s you.” With minority writing, then, you don’t get the privilege of yourself. Self is constructed elsewhere. You are expected to be the speaker and represent the minority. Though, as Jim mentions, we’re not recognized as a minority yet. You are expected to be moral and teach. I think this is why Amiri Baraka wrote “Fuck poems / and they are useful.” Or what Laura Hershey meant by “Everything you say will prove something about / their god, or their economic system.”

I think there are certain kinds of disabled poems that some publishers want: the speaker overcomes disability; the speaker’s friend/relative is disabled or diagnosed; the speaker notices a disabled person on the side of the road. I avoid those poems at all costs."

Jennifer Bartlett: "Editors also may fear the considerations of “disability poetry”; real truths about prejudices and studies on the difficulties of the corporeal. No one wants to read that! It’s too scary. What people want to read in terms of disability is the aspect of how awful and difficult it can be. This leads readers to develop empathy (or her naughty sister pity), which is something they can connect with.

I have a current manuscript that questions and pushes the issue of ableism in a direct way. I’ve had a really hard time getting it published. I often am slow to publish, but sometimes I wonder whether the manuscript has been in limbo for so long due to its content. I try to imagine an able-bodied publisher who will publish a book directly challenging ableism. I do not have an answer."

from the article "disability and poetry", an interview with Jennifer Bartlett, John Lee Clark, Jim Ferris, and The Cyborg Jillian Weise, here: x

[junowritings]

Hi! I heard your requests are open and I know you don’t know me very well but I thought I’d send an ask 💛 my first ever 🤭

I’m a 24 year old woman, 5’3, brown hair to my shoulders, brown eyes and glasses. I can be a little introverted at times but when I’m comfortable with someone I tend to come out of my shell. I’m an only child 😔 I love all things creative and I have a love for all things supernatural and nerdy (80s vibes)

For my ideal partner I’m not very specific really I’ve got a vague idea.

My first ideal partner would be someone who’s always willing to challenge me and humour my constant ramblings, taking in even the smallest detail and adding their own spin on what I have to say. An animal lover for sure who can do their own thing but would come home at the end of the day and just sit together and exist. Someone I wouldn’t mind spending the rest of my life with even if he isn’t over his crusty dusty musty ex who’s got something in common with drake (and it’s not rap)

My other ideal partner is a little vague so please forgive me.

Male, 6’1 Half-Elf paladin who has a tumultuous relationship with being alive. Grey hair, beard, fuelled by grief - possible dead family. Slight homicidal tendencies (I can fix him) previous dalliances in governance. Girth 15cm, length 16cm, Tip #c88d94

Thank you can’t wait to hear your thoughts your stuff is amazing!! 🥰🤭💛

The way I immediately knew who this is I SWEAR-

I had to go a lot off my own knowledge for this one (also I need to brush up on BG3 a bit bc I think I need a better grasp on the characters.) so hopefully this is a fun to read as it was to write lmao

You know what ask and ye shall receive you joked about him but y'know who I'm gonna match you with...

Let’s just start this off with the obvious. It’s a miracle in itself that you’re still alive after an initial interaction with Ketheric. Anyone who remains in the tower are either prisoners, loyal worshippers of the absolute, or whatever poor souls have somehow managed to survive the shadow lands just to get here. And then there’s you, who exists as what is essentially the weird third party in this whole scenario. 

It’s not as though you intended to be here (or maybe you had who knows), but here you are,   Perhaps those first hours of quiet was what kept you out of sight, keeping to yourself and merely watching as each of the cogs in this plan moved and shifted as though little more than puppets. But once Ketheric takes notice of you he watches. You stand out like a sore thumb afterwards, if only because of how noticeably alive you are compared to everyone around you. Yes there are many there who are alive in a sense (unlike him), but you’ve got a gung-ho way about you that feels like you’d be better suited to be literally anywhere else than here.

Ketheric is heavily involved, as the general of the absolute’s army it is an unspoken must. When he’s not at Moonrise’s peak he is working across every inch of the tower, ever present as the time to strike grows ever closer. Because of this there are plenty of times where you cross paths, with you always throwing an over dramatic abbreviation of his name in greeting as you dart off to hells knows where before he can decide if today is the day he’s had enough. 

You always somehow manage to toe the line of the wrong word at the wrong time, but if that line exists none of the out of pocket commentary have pushed past it yet. Were it anyone else, it’s unlikely that Ketheric would have humored them long enough to finish a joke before making an example of them for anyone foolish enough to get the same idea. And yet you seem to walk away unscathed all the time, whether it’s rattling off a niche fun fact about something so out of the blue, or being straight up sat on his desk or on the floor beside his throne picking apart his war strategies with an eyeroll worthy pun at the end of each one.

You’re a walking anomaly - no one at the tower knows how you showed up or when, and any attempts that his followers have made to ascertain your origins only returns little to nothing that gives a definitive answer. Not to mention the few times that followers wishing to prove themselves have make an example of you somehow seem to always end up the fool. 

In regards to your penchant for any and all things supernatural, it’s safe to say that an undead general, dwelling within the shadowlands where a single wrong misstep out of the tower’s perimeter could lead to your unfortunate end, counts as something that’s right up your alley. There’s not a single inch that he hasn’t caught you hemming or hawing at. With undead creatures roaming the halls, anyone within their right mind would feel but a shred of terror; and yet all he sees upon your face is awe, watching you trail after ghouls where others would deign to keep fair distance.

That fascination extends to Ketheric. He’s already aware that you know of his undead disposition - the tales themselves paint a pretty picture of the dead man walking before you every day - but the true invincibility is new to you. The first time you experienced it firsthand, Ketheric had taken an arrow or two to the jugular from fools wasting what little remained of their lives. Where others' faces were grim at the sight and others horrified, Kethric still remembers the distinctive “HOLY SHIT!” you so eloquently shouted as he’d plucked the arrows from his throat like splinters. After that it’s a miracle if he doesn’t hear you ask about it. Ketheric waves off any attempts of concern for these injuries - they’re but mottles on dead flesh that will knit back together with time. But if you express fascination? That’s…new, and he won’t outright refuse to indulge your curiosity. Feel free to rattle off questions about the limits of his invincibility - just don’t ask how he does it, for your own safety and sanity.

Your habit to lurk and wander doesn’t go unnoticed - not even locked doors can stop that curious nature from getting the better of you and more than once Ketheric has caught wind of his followers’ latest gossip of your whereabouts. He sees it for himself firsthand, even when you haven’t actively been caught red handed. He’s seen you slide through corridors with armfuls of books and blood still dripping from your clothes after an unfortunate slip in Balthazar’s room; has seen the occasional ball roll out from the doorway to his old chambers from your attempts to coax squire into a game of fetch. And he has seen how you worm your way out of trouble you’ve caused - whether it’s being chased from the kitchens for trying to pet the gnolls or somehow convincing the traders for freebies whenever new wares come in. All the while laughing as you do so, grinning as though these foolish little acts mean such a great deal to you.

When had Ketheric last heard the ring of such laughter in the tower’s halls? A century at least. It almost feels out of place here, within the old bones of a place that holds so many memories for such a vengeful man. It should be nipped in the bud; should not be tolerated from a man who’s every waking moment is consumed by his loyalty for the one thing able to bring the only things he had cared for back from death itself. And yet he never stops you, never once cuts that laughter and smile short. Instead he pauses, for but a moment, and listens to you as you disappear into the safety of the chaos on the lower floors for a place to hide away and savor your spoils. It’s only until you’re from sight that he continues on as though nothing occurred, but even after your laughter has died down it persists, nagging in the corner of his mind at fond memories.

For whatever reason you seem content to exist within this abysmal place, and should you prove yourself competent enough to not hinder the big three’s goal with the netherbrain, Ketheric decides that having you here around him till that time comes isn’t the worst thing in the world.

[ijichi-nijika]

i just find it really fucking annoying when people can’t have media literacy and presume so much about something due to just its fanbase and their past experiences and it makes them say stuff that likens something i really enjoy and love to being their version of “bad” like seriously it’s so annoying. also it’s really fucking annoying that i somehow always like popular things that are popular because they are good and then somehow all my friends enter it late and come out of the woodwork just hating on it and it feels like it happens everytime with anything popular. like sorry i don’t enjoy random niche game series or anime #7; i gave it a shot but it wasn’t for me, is fine, but to completely devoid yourself of giving something a chance simply because “oh it could be like something that made me upset” without even giving it a chance is so backwards to me. i just don’t get it

like if you watch or read or play or anything something, and you don’t like it, sure more power to you. if you watch something and you have to turn it off early because you learn that it’s gonna cause you to be upset, also fucking valid. but give the fucking thing a chance to prove itself instead of just not! like i thought one piece was the dumbest shit for so long and thought i would hate it, but i started it and it’s really good, because i gave it a chance. if a friend likes something i am more than willing to give it a chance, regardless of my own feelings and priorities, because a friend will understand if i’m the middle of it i say “yeah this ain’t my thing” or “sorry this is causing bad feelings i need to stop” (maybe i’m just an idiot but i am making it clear that i do not mean “put up with things for your friends” or “clearly watch something that you KNOW has content you won’t enjoy/can’t watch”, just ask fricking questions instead of presuming like, “is it like this specific scenario?”)

and like being contrarian isn’t fun just enjoy whimsy and learn to just say “yeah i read it, and it was good!” instead of “yeah i read it, and i don’t get how everyone goes insane over this, like it was good but like calm down”. what’s even the point of that, when a person talking about it clearly enjoys it a lot! it does nothing but make them go from :3 to “oh…”

[archduke-enver-gortash]

Hey- I sometimes see you on my dash and I see you express that patches are gonna make you have to change stuff about your fic. I don't know you and it's not my business, but I think it would be a shame if you did that. Stranger's opinion, but if you've been working on this before whatever hypothetical content was patched in, then it seems like your thing is like. Super canon valid because it's based in what was canon at the time a lot of the work was planned, right? Like, people write fic predicting the future of serial works all the time, and if Larian is going to fiddle like this, you deserve to give yourself the grace possessed by an ff.net writer going absolutely fucking ham predicting the end of Naruto. Cringe example but like. You know what I mean? Your thing is valid and fun and meaningful to you and even if it branches from canon in the future nothing ever can adhere perfectly anyway, that's just the nature of transformative works, that they transform. I mean this as super gently as possible, but I think you kinda got that BG3 fan thing where you're scared if Larian doesn't sign off on your fan work it's not valid and you have to trash it, and like. That's not a thought that's good for anyone. You deserve to treat yourself better than that. I know it's hard with niche works but you gotta murder the creator approval guy in your head with hammers and stuff. I will psychically murder that guy for you as best as I can too. Anyway wishing you the best and hope you can find a way to take the edge off the anxiety and stuff 💕💕💕

i super appreciate this!! but i don’t really need larian to sign off on my fan work (in fact i would hate my story becoming canon just as vehemently as i do this.), what i need is for my interpretation (key word here) to just. make sense within the lore/story/plot/canon presented, y’know? it has to plausible, believable. i don’t need larian’s or anyone’s stamp of approval (except my own of course) but i do want people to look at my work & be able to go ‘i see where your interpretation is coming from’ basically. which is obviously not possible if that ship were to become canon in some way. but again, i super appreciate the kind words anon, and those from everyone that are similar, but the kind of person i am cannot enjoy creating fanwork if it derives from canon that much. like enaza is genuinely my absolute limit—they were only created so i didn’t have to change zeke’s character to be more charismatic and all, their role in the grand scheme of things is still tiny but squashed into the plot in a way that every event in canon can still perfectly occur, and it still irks me a lot every day since i made them. even if it was at one point making sense and isn’t anymore, it’s the now that’s most important in the end. i’m sorry! that’s simply the kind of person i am.

[noxexistant]

I'd be so interested to know what it's really like to live in a group youth home. Do you feel any kind of way when you read people's fic that gets it wildly wrong?

i’m honoured i got such a big response from people expressing interest in me actually making the list :’) i have started work on it!

honestly, i’m usually very understanding of people totally misrepresenting or misinterpreting the whole experience of, y’know, being parentless, living in a group setting with other kids, navigating trauma in that setting, etc etc. it’s a niche experience, and even beyond the fact that it’s pretty difficult to research it because it’s so experience-based and also varies wildly, it’s one of those things that you just honestly cannot understand unless you experienced it firsthand. the broad strokes of it are easy enough, but the specific nature of living in a home populated with traumatised and volatile teenagers is. a lot.

at worst, i just get kind of frustrated seeing how much people can miss the mark, which of course isn’t their fault, but it’s just this feeling of disconnect being exacerbated once again. a major thing is just the type of expectations people have for how hopeful or generally positive the whole situation can be, particularly for how well-adjusted and kind people who are in these scenarios would be. i hate to give a specific example, but it’s one i think about a lot - i read a lil piece about davey expressing his feelings about his place in his own family to the newsies, who were all very concerned and sympathetic, and it was like davey’s problems kind of became the centre of their universe once he expressed them. and that is just. not how it ever goes down.

“a mother and a father? oh, ain’t we the hoi-polloi,” spat as unkindly as race says it in uksies, is honestly one of the realest lines in the show - which, as a whole, really does do a good job of portraying the experience of being parentless and/or homeless, with just the right amount of bitterness and joking about it and not being able to bring yourself to care as anyone who’s in that position in real life feels and experiences. there’s a lot of bitterness and jealousy in it, even for the other kids in the same position, because everyone has or had something that someone else didn’t. we had a few kids that did have both, decent parents - they were the ones who came to us as a sort of day programme, usually for mental health and socialisation - and they learnt not to talk about their parents, because nobody ever wanted to hear it. and on the other side of things, nobody was ever affected by any awful story from anyone because we’d all experienced the same sort of stuff. you know that one atla scene, “my last girlfriend turned into the moon.” “that’s rough, buddy.” that’s the vibe of the absolute most sympathy you could hope for after talking about something terrible.

generally, it’s just a lot…worse than people tend to think. but it’s also human. those are the two extremes i see: people either unintentionally sanitise it to be at most a step away from normality, or they totally fictionalise it into horror. usually, it’s just lonely.

[9w1ft]

ever since the jaylor break up, i've been seeing a lot of swifties become receptive to gaylorism subtly — for instance, they're more willing to accept when songs radiate queer vibes and they're hopping on the "boyfriend taylor" trend even though that's kind of our joke 🤣 as much as it annoys me a little to see swifties act like they're the pioneers of something us gaylors, kaylors, and related sub communities have come up for years now, i would hate to gatekeep it as that'd create an obstacle in their path to actual gaylorism, you know?

oh dear im sorry anon i went on a free-form tangent that i’m pretty sure isn’t aligned with your ask but i’m gonna keep it anyway because i wrote a lot 😆

i know what you mean about the attitudes and i do agree that sometimes it can feel annoying to see people lift things from tumblr, for example, and then these people get credited for the idea by their peers and they don’t correct or cite sources, which can be awkward

and sometimes i will see people reinvent the wheel when the answers are already available and written better here by all of us.. and i want to be like! come here!! there are some incredible things for you to find here!! you know? i know these feelings can often come off as gatekeeping, and, because i don’t really have any big issue with things spreading like folklore because that can become a haze to hide in, i do agree with you that it’s best not to try to micromanage things in general.

here’s the tangent… your ask made me think about how there were similar patterns to this in spring-early summer 2019, as lover promo was rolling out and it (the promo) was markedly optically gayer than rep. i remember seeing an incredible heel turn from some otherwise notoriously hostile swifties, where suddenly they were like yeah maybe taylor is bi, etc. i also remember there being a whole new generation of wide eyed gaylors on tumblr at the time—because taylor was still here—and so many were in my inbox and my friends inboxes asking and researching and it was all good and fun for the most part..

so i will say this from the perspective of someone that has experienced mass onboarding in the past and has seen how it can and cannot work

contemporarily speaking, kaylors can’t really gatekeep gaylorism. because we’re kinda already gatekept from gaylorism by Gaylorism tastemakers. lowercase g gaylorism exists in concept but i think that as it currently stands, it’s actually a pretty on-rails ride that is curated by some that would seek to influence their own worldview onto gaylorism subtly, that positions an onboarding to their benefit. and i don’t think it’s something always done with strategic intentions.. humans tend to want to tell and guide others to what they believe is right, and strive for an environment that works for them as opposed to against them, it’s human nature in a way.. still, Gaylorism presents gaylorism as something objective but, it’s actually done pretty subjectively, imo.

and i haven’t minded standing on the periphery as a kaylor because, one, i think that it’s better in some cases to gatekeep (or keep niche) parts of kaylor because, given it is true, taylor and karlie probably don’t want it going full-on mainstream. at least not right now. so i might see rumors or theories that make up stuff or use incorrect dates or just in general takes that feel so wrong and needing correction but i try to accept it existing as a way for lots of otherwise clever people to be distracted from seeing what kaylors see.

and also, i think it’s best for people interested in kaylor to come to conclusions on the basis of their own research, and at times be incorrect, yes, but for it to be first and foremost something people come to believe of their own volition. because if it’s directed under one tent pole then weird interpersonal dynamics can happen, as is the nature of fandom.. id rather a thousand people have all different slightly incorrect understandings of kaylor but an understanding that is unified by and grounded in love for taylor and karlie, than a thousand people have the same understanding of kaylor but for people’s feelings to be defined by one single source.

and separately, i worry about trying to make kaylor too approachable or to not gatekeep (maybe the word isn’t “not gatekeep” maybe the word is “overshare”) certain ideas because of the sensitivity of the subject matter. if kaylor gets too mainstream then you get a huge wave of people and statistically some of them will inevitably be people that are into kaylor not for the girls but because its the trendy thing to do. that can lead to a disconnect wherein people engage with kaylor as an endeavor for us to analyze and not an idea that is grounded in the lives of real people. and that disconnect can produce frenzied behavior…

sorry i don’t have a good way to tie these feelings together into one conclusion but basically, i don’t think we as kaylors can really gatekeep gaylorism but i think that’s fine and i also think that at times kaylor might benefit from holding back a little and maybe that difference is because of what each thing has as an end game, maybe. if that makes sense.. yeah.

i think what i mean to point out is, i think there has been an influx in people who see gaylorism as a concept without orchestrators, for better or for worse. the word gaylorism didn’t exist even three years ago, and nobody new seems to know why or think about it. for better or for worse.

[beryroll]

the controversy with android and iOS

yes, I’m really going to express an opinion here 💀

DISCLAIMER: I don’t mean to offend, or insult anyone preferring Android or iOS. I am simply expressing my personal opinion on this matter, and use this as a caution in case you do not like what you see. Thank you for reading.

So, we’re finally talking about the biggest debate. Is Android better or iOS?

I hate to be another bummer just like the other reviewers, but it really does depend on the person.

Android has the best features, functionality and customisation. It has a lot of design options (thus appealing to me) and is quite popular too, mostly amongst geeks as well.

To most of the public, iPhone is the one. This is almost always because of its popularity and the symbol it represents.

“You have an iPhone? You’re rich. You’re part of a niche crowd.”

That sort of thing. I hate that motive the most because that means they don’t care about the little details and UI stuff that Apple looks out for. The little emojis. The little functionalities within each app. The little UI things it watches out for in its own apps.

In my opinion, I’d like a hybrid of iOS and Android — iOS bringing its design qualities, and Android bringing its customisation and functionality.

Not all Android buyers are always functionality-focused or geeks, and not all iOS buyers are paying for the status symbol. Sometimes iOS buyers might be looking for the minimalism the product brings, and Android users might be buying it for the variety of apps it offers.

There are plenty of motives and reasons why people buy which product which isn’t always expressed in the demographic, or the graphs, or the surveys.

Honestly, I was the worst indecisive tech geek you would’ve ever seen (still am). Before I got a new phone, I had two, working hand-me-downs: my dad’s Oneplus 3T and my mom’s iPhone SE (1st gen). These were like 2015 vintage antiques, to the bustling, big-phone-loving 2019-2023. I still survived, though.

I would switch between them so fast, it would span within three months to a day (yes). I took my time studying, deciding, and operating an Android and iOS device to reach the conclusion I boast today.

I now have a Samsung, and it’s the best. The temptation of an iPhone has haunted me to this day to (because of its minimalism and UI), so much so that I dug out my old hand-me-down iPhone, just to feel it working again.

Android phones and iOS phones still do have a long way to go, many improvements to inculcate, and a lot to start (especially iOS when we talk about system functionalities*), even if you might think this is the furthest we could go.

*With the addition of a customisable lock screen, iOS fans were on top of the world, with thousands and thousands of reviews popping up each second immediately after its release. Android was the clear winner from the start, just like Android fans said, because (as usual) Android already allowed users to customise their lock screens long before Apple did.

So yeah, today I pick Android.

Who knows what each company may unveil in the future?

[polyamorouspunk]

Punkdate: 2022 Wrap-up into 2023:

Hello and welcome to another punk update.

First of all you’re probably asking why bother doing update posts on this blog? Well, this blog (supposedly) has almost 5k followers! I say that because no matter how many porn bots I block my follower count never goes down O.O

This is a post to talk about my personal goals for next year (probably not of much interest to you) and my goals for this blog for next year (may be of some interest to you).

First of all going forward I want to change the focus of this blog. I’ve made it clear here and there that this isn’t really a polyamory blog anymore because my polyamorous identity just isn’t a big part of who I am right now. I’m single, with no partners, and no real prospect of getting a partner any time soon, and quite honestly seeing people talk about how happy they are in their relationships is getting a little draining with my seasonal depression. I’m also busy with work and school and any free time I have is spent on my own projects (many of which relate to tumblr) or relaxing (taking time AWAY from tumblr).

Speaking of tumblr, I’ve discovered a wonderful community of streamers on tumblr! It’s honestly something I didn’t expect to find at all let alone right away. I think that a niche like this is something that might be good to fill the void I’m feeling right now, so I’m going to put more focus on trying to stream more on my main blog.

You might have noticed I called it “my main blog” vs “Savvy’s blog”. Another thing I’ve mentioned is that over the past year my sense of being plural has really diminished, to the point of being pretty much nonexistent. I’ve always assumed that splitting was due to social isolation I was feeling during Covid, but now that I work and go to school full time I don’t really have that social isolation anymore. The difference between whoever “Savvy” and “Punk” is is pretty much nonexistent right now. There are plenty of queer and non-queer people who use more than one name and more than one set of pronouns for whatever reason. We’ll be taking an approach more like that, focusing less on our systemhood and more on our genderfluid identity. You might see “we” still pop up vs “me” from time to time. It’s hard. But it’s reached the point where treating us like two separate entities is becoming more hassle than it’s worth. I’ll refer to myself as a girl or using she/her pronouns and people assume I’m a different person. We’re not. Etc. Obviously terfs consistently refer to us as she/her to try and “alienate” us which just… doesn’t work I’m literally a girl who uses she/her but okay… but also people will respectfully call us a man and stuff which I’m also not really a fan of… preferred terms are going to be more along the lines of “trans masc” or “masc presenting”…. things like “punk boy” or “punk dude” and less like “a trans punk Man™️”…. we’re a girl no we’re not eyes we are etc. etc. gender is meaningless. Feel free to use he/him or they/them still please here and she/her or they/them over on my main blog, but also don’t assume I’m “someone else” even if it is an alter if I’m using she/her for myself on here etc. is the tl;dr.

I’m going to try and stay out of dRaMa more. Obviously I say some things that kick the hornets nest and literally it’s a crapshoot whether I say something and everyone goes “I’m glad someone else finally said that” or it gets me a wave of angry terfs and trans people in my inbox calling me an assortment of things because if there’s one thing trans people and terfs can agree on it’s that I’m an abomination or something. Look I’m not delusional, I know that having a big blog on here comes with anon hate, but I can also at least make an attempt to minimize it. I’m also not delusional in knowing that I’m going to be scott-free and never post or say anything controversial ever again.

On that, I’ve also said before I don’t even like how much of a personal blog this has become where I just post things because I’m bored, but like, I am bored a LOT and I do not have any close friends to actually talk to on a day-to-day basis. I totally love when people send me asks or messages and say things like “if you ever need someone to talk to I’m here!” but I’m probably never going to put in the effort to seek out you and your blog when I feel like I need someone to talk to unless you message me like at least once a week. There is no one right now that I feel fully comfortable with talking to everyone and everything about and while that sucks and is fine I’m also not really looking for that on here. If you want to be tagged in stuff and get asks from me then totally start talking to me! I do try and tag the people who talk to me regularly but honestly ya’ll’s blogs like never come up when I do the @ thing and I’m like well rip but maybe I’ll try sending you posts then instead

Speaking of honestly like half the punk blogs on here fucking suck and the OPs are jackasses. Like sorry I’m saying that because after tomorrow I’m really going to try and cut out saying shit like that so I got 1 day left to fit it all in but yeah. The elitism here is wild. People really be saying shit like “you can’t ID as punk if the only band you listen to is MCR” meanwhile literally n***s have their own punk subculture and it’s like okay which one is the real issue here 16 y/os who listen to MCR or the literal fucking n***s pick and choose your battles I guess but idk maybe pick some better ones sorry not sorry. Point being I’m saying “fuck it” and I’m going to focus on more bands that I actually listen to. Like let’s be honest I don’t listen to the misfits or the ramones I listen to blink-182 and green day. Who tf cares. I’ll obviously reblog stuff like that for the visual aesthetic but like when I’m driving to work I am listening to FOB, MCR, and P!ATD and shit. I’m listening to INK and MIW and BVB and shit. So we’re going to kind of transition to polyamory and punk to more like. Horror metal and pop punk. I’m going to keep the same url and probably the same theme because I think it would be too confusing to switch my url and theme and I don’t really have a problem with it. But like if you don’t like horror and gore. Maybe unfollow. I know people have asked me to tag horror and also left comments like “ew” on the art I reblog which is like depending on who you are as an artist is either a compliment or really hurtful. If you don’t want to see blood and shit don’t follow. Obviously I will tag anything really over the top.

With that in mind I’m really hoping to start making more of my own content! This is always an ongoing goal of mine but I have a hard time following through. I’m going to really start trying to push out products for the shop I feel like I didn’t have a choice but to have which I’ve now spent more on than I will ever make back in revenue but I’m considering adding an online Etsy to try and balance some of that. The online portion isn’t going to be my focus, there are so many local events around here that you can get a booth at that I would rather do, but basically I jus had too much stuff to throw away after my ex and I decided to disband our shop but not enough to warrant paying $50+ for a booth for, so I’ve been slowly collecting things to work on and sell in person including a button pin maker, so I might sell those and the 100+ bracelets I made for that asshole to fund his transition with online as well. That’s not a guarantee so I’m not going to say “keep an eye out for that”.

What I WILL say “keep an eye out for” is a giveaway for 5k followers and an upcoming playlist! The giveaway will start January 1st and end when I hit 5k followers! Standard rules of being ~16-18+ and needing to be comfortable giving me an address etc. will apply. The playlist will drop at some point. It is being worked on.

So with all that out of the way, what else am I working on in 2023?

Well, I might be inheriting a blog. The person running it is having some issues and I’m the next logical person in line to take over, and I have gotten votes from the team to take over, but I think they are perhaps taking a mental health break or something because everyone went “let’s have [me] take over then!” and then it’s been radio silence since then.

My next fic will be dropping in late spring! I doubt any phannies follow this blog but hey keep an eye out over on my main for my next 50k+ long phannie fic with a serial killer.

Uh. My degree? I should be getting my AA next December.

Work? Uh. We’ll see if I survive another year in this hellhole- IF we even stay open that long.

Travel!!! I’ll be going to (shocking) Florida and CT. Wow who would have guessed. But in July we’re having our family friends from ✨Spain✨ visit!

2023 resolutions are learning how to do makeup and also trying to listen to more bands. Including The Misfits and The Ramones and stuff. And yes Mother Mother too. I’m getting there. I’m just slow.

Finally finishing up my room good god it’s been almost 2 years and it’s still not done.

Anyway, if you have anything you want to see or any suggestions, feel free to drop me an ask any time. Thank you, and have a happy new year!!