#we're getting niche people

[rinksrats]

hockey screencap 1/???

[aroaceleovaldez]

i mean it when i say we've gotta bring back askblogs. bring back making character chat posts with poor choice text colors over random backgrounds. bring back blogs dedicated to what outfits you think characters would wear.

fandom is an ecosystem, not a numbers game. these types of blogs/posts/etc still exist in concept, because people still want to make them and they're a great way to get your thoughts of an idea out in a simple format, but most people make them on like tiktok or instagram reels and that's where the problem lies. Those videos don't go anywhere. The format doesn't allow for the discussion to spread through the community and they're less likely to be engaged with in general. And to make them most people have to either show their face or figure out editing software, so the barrier to entry is higher (editing) and/or they have to forfeit an amount of privacy.

those types of posts/blogs are the first rung of the ecosystem. they're the perfect environment for younger members of the fandom to begin safely interacting with the larger community and putting their own thoughts and ideas out there. roleplay is the other major spot for that and those communities are diminishing as well, honestly (if you know of an rp forum board site, cherish it. and if you can make one, make one). they allow younger fans to begin engaging with the source material on a different/deeper level, but still at a very low barrier to entry, and begin conversations with other fans, which also helps them build skills which in turn may encourage them to pursue other avenues within the fandom (fic writing, other formats of askblog - which itself usually leads to art, cosplay, also fic writing, etc). Without those places to build those skills, they might feel discouraged from trying to begin when surrounded by curated people who have built their skills up for years.

And those conversations they foster also in turn help the community, by offering ideas to artists or fic writers to extrapolate on or building community jokes. And that text/blog format specifically is extremely beneficial, because it allows younger members of the fandom to remain anonymous and keep their privacy without concerning themselves with having any platform or having anything attached to them (very important for young fans figuring themselves out and navigating online community spaces for the first time, since they can remove themselves from spaces easily if they decide they don't like it and they're protected, rather than PUTTING THEIR FACE ON THE INTERNET). And those posts they make will spread a lot more into the community since they're in a significantly easier format to be reposted (few people are gonna be reposting tons of random short-form videos versus spamming their instagrams with reposts of 10 random fandom images yoinked from tumblr, or reposting to pinterest or something). Like, don't repost art, at the VERY least don't repost without credit, but also I am not ignorant to the fact that my art is not just the first google image result for "pjo pride" and related searches, but also the 4th, the 6th, the 9th, the 10th, the 11th, etc etc., and pops up in the search results before the official ReadRiordan does simply because people reposted my work more (most with credit, thankfully).

For fandom to be a community, it needs to perpetuate itself. There needs to be engagement with one another and conversation. If that bottom rung is cut off, then new fans won't be able to grow into the other niches of the fandom, and the fandom will be solely reliant on the source material and die out extremely quickly, and there won't be a community. There's no conversation! There's no reason to stay beyond the original material! But if you don't have points of entry for new fans, they won't have any way to build the skills needed to move into those niches, or engage with the community in a healthy way.

tl;dr: Bring back askblogs and character-based text post blogs. They are vital to fandom ecosystem.

[victorianpining]

Life gets so much better when you realize the solution to the stories you enjoy not matching what you wanted them to be is to start making your own stuff

[victorluvsalice]

Hello everyone -- I bring you the next chapter of "Start At The Beginning...Sort Of!" Chapter Two by my count, Chapter Three by AO3's. :p This is a meatier chapter than the previous two, covering the gang's arrival at the Mangled Mermaid, Victor explaining what's going on with him, and Emily arriving on the scene. I hope you all enjoy!

Oh, and just so you're aware, I've gone through and updated the author's notes on both the Prologue and Chapter One with some more information about the setting and the Smiler-related stuff, in hopes that it might clear up any confusion people might be having. So yeah -- fingers crossed that lowers a few barriers to entry!

[kennys-parka-jacket]

Only time yall will ever see me post about AI on this blog:

I'm glad that most people aren't treating Character.ai the same as something like Stable Diffusion. Online writers are way less protective of their work than digital artists. Maybe in individual cases there are exceptions, but by and large it is not the same at all.

With that said though, it always struck me as weird that fanfiction writers legally can not make money off their work, yet it *is* legal to use fics to train chat bots and then charge a fee to use those bots. Just incredibly weird.

[anendoandfriendo]

"Fuck your online discourse" actually, no, we do think the halloween DID flag shouldn't be used but it's not because of some bullshit like "waah it's just a recolor" it's because the system that created that flag is a huge fucking racist and ableist last we checked, and we never saw ant kind of apology for being racist and ableist to endogenic systems. We never saw them stop being anti-endogenic or anti-Black (because let's be honest, Black endogenic systems specifically would be the ones most affected and hurt by this).

Like, we know people have forgotten by now, but we were THERE just before TPA became a thing, when systems like The Entropy System were fully mask-off in their bigotry (we call anti-endogenics facsists because of the personal experience of having the not-pleasure of seeing shit like the above link lmao), and such other things. We used to be very visible on Twitter as an endogenic system who's seen this shit but it was kind of taking over 99% of our focus when we were working retail instead of working at home, so we ended up tapering it away.

[poisonousquinzel]

sorry but if you actually think Cancel Culture ™ is a thing then you're kinda a dumb fuck. Cancel culture isn't real, holding people accountable for their actions is a thing, but this whole narrative around Canceling that's evolved over the past few years isn't real. It's never been an actual thing. Its just a fear mongering tactic to further vilify the groups who were being harmed in the first place and victimize the person who did something wrong.

Your fav being called out for playing an antisemitic video game that directly gives profits to a hugely influential TERF, who's said openly she sees getting profits / royalty cheques from her franchise as endorsements for her bigotry, is not "cancel culture". It's called the consequences for your actions.

You have every right to do and play whatever the fuck you want, but that goes both ways. If you go out of your way to build up and financially support these people who're openly advocating to take away trans people's rights, then you get to deal with people not trusting you because of it. You get to deal with trans and Jewish folks not feeling safe around you, not wanting to be around you or not wanting to talk to you. Because you have shown that you care more about nostalgia and temporary personal emotional gratification over the wellbeing and safety of those communities in the real world.

People have explained why supporting HL is wrong, people have explained why it's harmful, people have explained in detail the issues with this situation. You. Just. Don't. Care. You don't listen, or read, because in the end, you can't be bothered enough to put in the effort of having 1 moment of critical thinking.

It's not that folks don't have arguments or evidence, it's that it clearly does not matter to you. It's that the value of an antisemitic game full of one horrific thing after another is worth more to you than the real, living breathing people who are going to be, and have been, affected by this.

You come across as a bad person. Not because some person on Twitter determined you must be, but because your actions speak far louder. And they're screaming red flags.

I'm not going to argue with you over your own bad decisions and life choices. You've made your bed and are mad that people are telling you to lie in it.

[schnuffel-danny]

whenever I see talk/discourse of how heavy brutal angst of kid's shows is the absolute peak of fan work, the deepest, most honest, look into the harsh realities of this show for babies... I always, somehow, end up thinking about that Smurf torture nursery guy on that one Smurf fan forum, who was genuinely just trying to write heartbreaking hurt/comfort about abused baby smurfs, and it was pretty well received on the site. But then outsiders found out about it, and now there's a ton of youtube videos talking about this guy like he's the world's Most Deranged murder sicko who's definitely too weird in the head to live a normal human life.

are we all just the Smurf abuse guy to someone else?

[thebleedingeffect]

Tbh its gonna be really funny to me that I bet after a couple months the increase of people using tumblr live will either go up a nearly miniscule amount or nothing at all. I hope that they look at that and get almighty amounts of pissed over it cause they couldn't make any money and sacrificed even more user trust over this bs

[bunnyb34r]

I love when mods start vague posting like "we're gonna start banning yall if you keep acting like this" and "this" is CLEARLY the actions of one or two specific people but they can't/won't just outright say "hey UserXYZ knock it the fuck off"

Live for this petty shit

[tiercel]

Tumblr talking about making its site the same algorithmic slop pile as every other social media bc the users migrating here are too soft brained to curate their own feeds

[themidnightcircusshow]

I think the most worrying thing about 1899′s cancellation is that it firmly proves our worst fears about the state of streaming now that we’re going into 2023. 

There were many concerns about The Sandman not getting renewed. It all seemed so ridiculous-- it was the biggest show in the world. How could it not get renewed? Ah yes, it was the biggest show in the world, but that might not be enough. Then, of course, it got renewed. Why wouldn’t it? It was the biggest show in the world. 

1899 was not the biggest show in the world. But it seemed to be a successful show. There were people watching it. Interestingly, it was the show that I heard the most buzz about in the wild-- a lot of popular shows you only hear about in fandom, but this was the first time in a while that just random people in the street were mentioning a new show. It reminded me a lot of Ozark in that way, because even though the show seemed very quiet in its internet presence, it had a lot of viewers. 

A lot of people are comparing 1899 to the first season of Dark to explain why it failed to get renewed. But what they’re failing to take into account is that Dark came out in a very different media landscape. So did the first season of Ozark. And the first season of many shows that fit this ‘silent viewership’. And that is why-- based on observation only, because Netflix never has and probably never will release viewer metrics-- I believe that if 1899 had come out a few years earlier, there would have been no question about it being renewed. 

Because the streaming world of 2022 is profoundly different to that of 2017. Rings of Power had to make more than $1 billion to break even. Avatar and it’s sequels have a similar unfathomably lofty goal in order to make back their budget. And let’s not get into the shows on HBO Max. It’s a conflation of an increasingly bloated film industry with a television industry that is back to only being interested in short term gains and not long term investment. It’s 2014 again, and we’re watching the streaming equivalent of shows being cancelled because their viewership isn’t in the coveted Nielson Bracket. It’s not that they aren’t making money-- it’s that they’re not making enough money.

For shows to be renewed in 2022, they have to be the biggest shows in the world. 

And unfortunately, while it was successful, 1899 was not the biggest show in the world. 

[icewindandboringhorror]

oh my god.. a job for me.. historical pierrot beach performer lol

[maggotwithanf]

.

[gingersnapcookie89]

Correction: I'll ask my somewhat-friendly-when-she's-appropriately-caffeinated, ace, neighborhood cryptid who currently resides in the midwest but may, in fact, have originated in deep-space or the deep-sea @kitsunekage88

[jaythelay]

With SH2 RE being a half-exception at most, the top modern-ish horror games all had hardware recommendations that your flip-phone could match with artistry still unmatched.