#unsurprising but annoying

[destinationtoast]

I've been getting a new wave of spam comments recently on AO3 that are easy for me to spot because they are responding to my fandom stats meta as if it were fiction:

[redacted]* left the following comment on [Fandom stats] Ted Lasso S3 on AO3: fandom response to Season 3:

I love how you explored the unexplored aspects of the original story. It adds a whole new layer of depth.

[redacted]* left the following comment on [Fandom stats tutorial] How to gather fandom data & do fandom stats:

Your fanfic is an emotional rollercoaster. I laughed, I cried, and I couldn't get enough. Fantastic work!

[redacted]* left the following comment on [Fandom stats tutorial] How to gather fandom data & do fandom stats:

Your writing has a lyrical quality to it. The prose is poetic, and it added an extra layer of beauty to the story.

[redacted]* left the following comment on [Fandom stats tutorial] How to gather fandom data & do fandom stats:

I can't get enough of your writing. It's addictive.

I believe I've only been getting these on my most recently updated three works (and mostly on the oldest of those three, which is also the most popular, the only WIP, and the only one with multiple chapters). But it's also possible I got some comments on older works that were fiction, and I didn't recognize them as spam.

Has anyone else been noticing a similar influx?

*Edit to add: redacted because at least some of the names the bots are using are real usernames, appropriated for spam. (But if the name in a comment is not linked, it's not the actual user leaving the comment.) If you see such comments yourself, don't blame the real users for the spam bots' actions!

[tacticalgrandma]

I will say it’s interesting seeing people claim that Wyll gets overlooked by fandom because he has less content than the other characters, and now see Lucanis being the fandom darling when his romance is very notably underbaked.

[realtapiocafan]

daily reminder to always check your sources!

this is NOT a post about whether or not i agree with the eagles going to the white house (i don’t agree btw). it’s about how misinformation and untrustworthy sources.

i saw this post a few days ago making the rounds and was considering posting it, but then i saw the source:

the sun is infamously NOT a reliable source. it is a tabloid, not a reputable newsletter. it’s not even sports or politics centered!

also if you actually read the article, the words “anonymous insider” are almost always a red flag, especially since we’re talking about the sun. “anonymous insider” is a very vague phrase -what is considered an insider? how close is this source? is it an a friend of an intern who was gossiping on a night off? or is it an assistant coach?

so given how much this statement blew up online, it’s not surprising that articles (by far more reputable companies) have quickly gone up refuting this claim. so before believing someone: always always make sure to consider the website. cbs, forbes, and cnn are all known news stations. they’re quoting players like lane johnson to back their statements. even when using anonymous sources, they specifically state ‘white house official’ so we know that it isn’t the family member of a friend of a friend.

even if you do get your news from twitter, STILL make sure that they’re from a reputable source. both ari and adam are not “anonymous insiders” and have a fairly long history of reliable news reporting

[hyacinthsdiamonds]

Sky Sports: Charles winning Monaco isn't as big as Lando winning Miami

Also Sky Sports, who spent the entire race begging for pitstops to make the race more interesting: MAX HOW CAN YOU SAY IT WAS A BORING RACE FOR YOU PERSONALLY TODAY BECAUSE ITS DIFFICULT TO OVERTAKE ON THE TRACK, WHEN CHARLES WON?

[kumakuma-circus]

sorry for not posting beary much one of my moms started playing p4 so i've been watching her play it. surreal sentence tbh-

[thirteens-earring]

I need to make it out to another pup brunch expeditiously

[katabay]

Do you have specific fiction authors that you like to read? What aspects of a story make you want to really dig your fingers in it? Is it horror?

I’ve got a couple! Keigo Higashino for sure. anything Naoki Urasawa does: I will be reading it. Priest (Guardian and Mo Du are all time favorites). also KJ Charles and Andrew A Smith!

ngl I don’t really have a concrete list of favorite fiction writers, I spent several days thinking about this one: like, I have favorite books for sure, but I don’t often find myself considering an author to be a favorite just because their book blew my mind. I’ve only read three of Andrew A Smith’s works, but he’s here because he gave an interview years that changed my entire approach to storytelling, and I still revisit it whenever I start editing a story.

honestly the big thing is that I like character!! I like compelling characters (extremely varied definition of compelling, it doesn’t have to be much, but it does have to have something) I like it when something goes full throttle into whatever it wants to be. I’ll watch a slow paced slice of life romance with the same amount of enthusiasm that I had for Devil Judge, and the 1vs10 beat down in Ipman takes up just as much space in my brain as the ‘let’s not see each other from now on,’ breakup in the Heirs (but for extremely different reasons lmao)

however. if I have to pick something more thematically specific: I like seeing people in power get what they have coming to them, I like explorations and confrontations of political and social injustices. kingdom is one of my favorite shows, and the horror is great, but it was the political-class-power aspect of it that solidified it as a memorable watch to me. kamen rider build did something fundamental to the circuitry of my brain. etc.

[faaun]

going over the results of our study is just actually infuriating it's the same fucking thing every time WHY IS THIS COUNTRY SO FUCKING TRANSPHOBIC MY GOD GET A FUCKING GRIP!!!! I NEED THIS GOVERNMENT TO GET A FUCKING GRIP ! I NEED ALL THE SYSTEMS THAT TRAIN OUR MEDICS OUR EMBRYOLOGISTS OUR NURSES TO GET A FUCKING GRIP !

[warriorprincesstramp]

"I caught wes and nate together last night" "screwing?" the way he doesn't even sound surprised... girl that would be insane

[infizero]

rlly funny to me how rem has been rendered as this eerily beautiful ghostly looking woman with a draping white gown and long hair and ryuk is just some guy in black with crazy makeup

[tristanrambles]

Me through clenched teeth with a white-knuckled grip on my pen: My Art has Value, the Only One who has to Like it is Me, My Art has Value---

[sunflowermp4]

.

[moistvonlipwig]

not loving the fearmongering around harm reduction in this ep i must say !

[comradecowplant]

I hope Ash never has contact with Gaiman again, holy fuck what a horrible despicable creature that man is..........

[the-rollerchloster]

ngl fam, not okay rn

[change-the-rules]

latching on to fictional [hc] lesbians for serotonin is truly the stupidest way my deficient brain could've decided to seek out it's boost