#yeah i know twitter is a cesspool etc etc but also fuck everything

[the-kipsabian]

what the fuck is this gross ass headline tho

like. wrestling "journalism" is already a fucking joke but this? THIS???

and i mean both pieces of this "headline". the one in the picture was about a tweet of him jokingly replying to will about a bullshit headline he was commenting on about (how will is "taking a sabbatical" when he was just home for one week like wowie) and they pulled it as him being frustrated (i mean i wouldnt blame kip whatsoever if he was, we know i sure as hell am but hes a professional about it so like. if he is complaining its not online like this lmao)

also the second part, "do you think he deserves to be booked". what in the fuck do you mean do you think he deserves?? hes fucking contracted by them fuck yes he deserves to be there doing the job he was hired to do is this a fucking joke??? and then theres rancid as fuck people flocking to this god awful "news site"s posts like this saying he should be fired and im just

like this. this is one of my biggest problems when it comes to companies not letting obviously talented people step into the ring and showing what they are capable of doing. im using kip as a huge example yes but this is a much wider issue, especially in aew. but like.. fucking hell all of this just. its so fucking much. i dont understand people who post shit like this, let alone the people who rally behind the thought that someone (who has done nothing wrong) should get fired. idk are they just so fucking tilted about someone getting a paycheck despite not getting to do their job?? cause i can promise you no professional wrestler sits home willingly no matter the size of the contract. let alone someone like kip whos putting in the work outside the ring like crazy cause they arent putting him on like wow as if him having a paying contract but not being actively used is his fault

jfc i hate these people

[thejudgingtrash]

Last but not least: PJO hot takes part IV!

Alright my dudes. I think we’re still in this game for one final round. Anyway here’s wonderwall. And Part 1//Part 2//Part 3!

Percy had actually knowledge about the Greek myths. He didn’t waddle in blindly. Where did y’all even get that?

The new possible Irish myth saga will be PJO 3.0 aka Magnus Chase 2.0 aka The Kane Chronicles 1.2.

Riordan already got the names of gods of that possible saga wrong

Riordan‘s Asian characters only know bitch or bland mode, huh

Stop babying Annabeth for fucks sake. Seriously

How the fuck did Sally afford several private schools for Percy when they were poor as fuck? I guess Gabe had to have a some somewhat decent job but then again playing poker/being a gambler and stealing from your stepson ain’t a cute move

Hazel should’ve been Thanatos‘ kid. To break the classic 12 Olympian mold (yeah Hades/Pluto technically isn’t one but he’s still team major gods) and also to throw the damned Hitler/Pluto aesthetics away

Did any of the kids break their limps or get permanently disabled at some point? Or do they just... die (and mostly stay dead)? I forgot

Where can the kids at Camp Half-Blood actually sneak off to fuck? Percy is legit the only one to claim his own shit as his love bunker. The rest is just fucked I guess or has first hand traumatic pre-college experiences

”Percy cursed“. Literally why, Riordan. Let the kid say fuck. He has earned the rights to do so a long time ago

Did I mention that people lack of basic reading skills in earlier takes? Anyway. Here’s another reminder!

Tbh the gods are egotistical fucks and have killed people for the fuck of it. I don’t see Poseidon being even close to okay with Sally marrying Gabe or Paul

I still don’t understand why Frazel is a thing

Most of you don’t understand how movie production works but that’s okay. Just know that everything inside your head will never be realized and there will be drastic cuts and additions to the books (again)

The electronics not working thing doesn’t even make any goddamn sense? Hermes is the god of the Internet. Does this mean that demigods can use the web just fine but simply can’t call each other? This really came back to bite Riordan in the ass now did it? Wouldn’t it make more sense to use old means of communication once you’re trying to reach more important/godly people or electronics fail in an accute situation?

Turning everyone heteroflexible creates the image that you’re simply liking a character for the fact that they are LGBTQ and not the character itself, just saying. More representation sure, but that itself isn’t a personality trait and shouldn’t be the main focus of a character unless it’s really defining in the story line (Nico‘s arc partially for example)

Tbh, HOO should’ve been aged up mentor Percabeth protecting CHB, with the rest of the gang fucking up Greece with aged Reyna + Nico perhaps. I might post an outline on that AU someday (someone should remind me about that tho)

On one hand you have in depth discussions and people diving into the matter and talking about every nook and cranny and on the other hand people are more then just fine with stereotyping and deflecting. Whut. Okay

Why are people shipping the lie that is Jasper/Jasiper

Stop romanticizing the gods

Dark!Percy is just a cheap way for you to turn Percy into an overpowered asshole and that’s that tea

Being in a relationship isn’t a personality trait, my dear shippers

Riordan‘s timeline is off because the coke rush didn’t last that long

The wasted potential of everything past PJO makes me want to cry

Percy’s fatal flaw isn’t stupid, Riordan just didn’t flesh it out properly which is why there were no real repercussions. A fatal flaw is supposed to be hindering you and not a compliment

The fact that adult people still can’t take jokes about their favorite characters is fucking insane part II

Why the fuck did the Stolls get tossed aside? Bruh. The potential? The stigma as a Hermes kid? They trying to redeem their cabins honor? Imagine one of them as a prophecy kid in HOO (and they’d switch and swap to confuse everyone)? Yes??

Every single one of you that essentially is team poc!Percy because he had a rough upbringing deserves to get slapped. Poverty, abuse, a single parent, etc. doesn’t equate to being poc?!?!? Smells racist just saying

Turning Hazel into Nico‘s sister was cheap af

Stop romanticizing and down playing the myth aspect. Tragedy is essential and will haunt demigods. Thank you, next

Also stop babying Percy

Let’s be honest none of those fuckers make it to college

Annabeth Chase is fucking WHITE part II. She’s not biracial, she’s not ”exotic“, she’s certainly not fucking black. She’s white with a little hint of a tan. That still makes her white. Do you really want to turn her into Ariana Grande 2.0? A fucking botched orange? This is your Annabeth aesthetic? Artists get it fucking right unless you state that you portray her as [spraytan headcanon] which is still fucking cheap let’s be real. Orange Annabeth isn’t part of the kulture

Regardless of the reception of the PJO movies, I’ll never forgive you people for letting Logan Lerman aka the OG white boy™ flop. Throw Tom “lipless but okay booty“ Holland and Timothée ”I missed a few meals“ Chalamet the fuck away!

Tbh a less romanticized version of the camps would’ve been more interesting. I’m still put off by CJ (and also the fact that CHB is a summer camp), but had there been more fights and actual deaths that had happened around the camps due to training, etc. you would’ve understood immediately why demigods dipped before the age of 18. The antithetical nature of sweet summer camp and people dying left and right would’ve been amplified

Did Reyna at some point in time even have the time to breath with all of the shit that went down? Her life is simply 24/7 stressful. I get that she wanted to bounce and no longer be in a tiring and demanding position but the hunters ain’t it sis

It’s okay to admit that fanon artwork or fanfics don’t deserve the webspace they are wasting. But phrase that probably in a nicer way

PJO Calypso wasn’t annoying. HOO & TOA Calypso on the other hand...

Alex Pettyfer would’ve been a better Luke Castellan but Jake Abel did an okay job

Percy isn’t an idiot. You are one for believing so

Riordan corrected the stance that Muslims don’t shower during Ramadan (literally how in the fuck did he come up with that in the first place?!) in upcoming MC books. Can he use the same energy to rewrite HOO tho??

Luke’s portrayals in SoM and TTC were straight up trash

Historically accurate PJO would’ve been everything

Monsters can detect demigods by smell. Camo wouldn’t do jack shit ffs

Jason is still bland and making jokes/pointing that out is more than okay

Omfg accept the fact that characters can have multiple facets all good and bad. Reducing them to one specific trait makes them boring and bland. Also it stereotypes

Getting mad over the fact that Clarisse has a boyfriend is still fucking insane

Not everyone needs to be a fanfic writer or an artist, a theorist or someone that analyzes everything phrase by phrase. As long as you’re in the fandom to enjoy works & discussions and remain on the saner side of the spectrum you’re good. You’re valid. Don’t forget that.

Not wanting to stay in a fandom and merely enjoying some of the fruits/benefits as in art/fics/headcanons is also super valid

PJO Reddit, Tumblr, IG and Twitter are a cesspool of chaotic mess and straight up trash but Tumblr > Reddit >>>>>> IG >>>>>> Twitter

Tbh: just try to enjoy a decent book series. It’s all not that deep

[aroceu]

The Five Laws of (New) Fandom

Hey guys, what’s up, it’s me with capital letters and fresh discourse. I want to make this easy to read while getting my point across but within a very nuanced topic, so I’m going to break this down into key bulletpoints.

This post is about the recent discussion of “fandom rules,” especially when it comes to content policing, accessibility, and the responsibility that differs from adults (or people with more life experience) and kids (or people with less life experience.) Attribute whatever definition you want as you wish, but please note that I’m not separating adults based on a strict definition of adulthood as I’ve learned it, but in general subjective interaction with either other adults, or people that the adult would perceive to be children relative to themselves.

For ease, and quick sharing, here are the five main points. Click under the cut to read my explanation of each.

Fandom culture on Tumblr and Twitter is a completely new culture that did not comparably exist beforehand.

In order for people to look for a certain type of content, they have to know that this type of content exists.

Creators are responsible for their content - not just what they make, but where they post it and how accessible the content is.

If the site has no censorship rules, then censorship is not occurring - and neither is it the answer.

If you’re an advocate of social justice; if you’re a feminist; if you create LGBT content; if you care about POC representation - then be consistent. Don’t be a hypocrite.

1. Fandom culture on Tumblr and Twitter is a completely new culture that did not comparably exist beforehand.

As someone who entered fandom in, let’s say 2006, I started on sites that were specifically geared towards people my age. (I was a kid at the time.) Quizilla. Fanfiction.net. Neopets. GaiaOnline. These spaces specifically had kids as their target audience, and, well, as a kid, I was on them.

Many of you probably heard, and probably were even there when the Fanfiction.net purge happened. While it was upsetting, as it essentially removed material without much warning for the creators at first, it was because FFn was a site specifically geared towards children, and adult content was prohibited. There are a lot of general issues I have with FFn (the “no script” policy, the elitism about grammar and spelling directly in the uploading page...) but generally this act of censorship was to protect the kids that frequented the site as much as adults.

This can be said for the other sites I listed. But even with LJ fandom - yes, I was there too - though there were kids and adults alike, LJ fandom specifically centered around communities, where there could be hard no under 18 rules. Even then, in order for you to look for an LJ comm, you’d have to look for it. If you’re a kid who never heard of Harry Potter/Teddy Lupin as a ship, there is an extremely slim chance of you actually encountering it in the first place otherwise because that type of dynamic is not something kids typically consider. Additionally, LJ as it existed was a very user-focused platform, as in the space you interact with is yours and yours alone; if you traversed into other waters, you were now entering someone else’s space, or a space for a group that you could possibly be a part of. But there was still that space that was individually yours, that no one would ever accidentally find unless they were looking for or already knew you already.

Twitter and Tumblr are much different to this. With the culture of reblogging and retweeting and huge site-wide tags that are either dysfunctional (Tumblr) or just seeing everything someone microblogs about, everyone in general is much more prone to exposure. This includes kids. If shit isn’t under lock, kids can see stuff. But if stuff is locked, then people who post things to share it with the world, or at least people who share their similar interests, are limited in their audience. Both sites operate at a fast pace and center around condensed info - and not even just with how the sites work, but with how we as people interact with people on the site. Neither Twitter nor Tumblr are specifically geared toward an age group, unlike FFn/Quizilla/etc. If you post something on Twitter or Tumblr that is geared toward your community, it’s still not necessarily limited to just that community, unlike LJ or Yahoo! Groups. 

We’ve said time and time and again that the internet is a cesspool. But Tumblr and Twitter just make it bigger - and in issues with this fannish discussion, worse.

2. In order for people to look for a certain type of content, they have to know that this type of content exists.

There is a post going around about the “rules of fandom” that discuss things like “your kink is not my kink and that’s okay”; “don’t like don’t read”; “shit and let ship.” And this would be fine if fandom still existed in a space where consuming content was just as passive as sharing content.

But with the nature of Twitter and Tumblr, this is no longer the case. People are not just limited in what they know they like and stay within a subcommunity while avoiding what they don’t like or avoiding criticism. Tumblr and Twitter puts things in your face whether you like it or not. Yes, blacklisting exists, xkit and whatever exist, Twitter now has a muting keyword function - but if you’re on a platform where you may see this type of content for you to blacklist it, you’d need to know that this content is a thing in the first place.

Since there are kids in the internet, they are very limited in their experience and knowledge. I’m not going to discuss parent restrictions about kids being on the internet because that’s a completely different topic, so: given that let’s say a thirteen year old is already on the internet, what websites are they going to use? Who are they going to follow on the website? What may they be exposed to that they didn’t know existed at first?

I do believe that a creator who posts whatever content - Problematic or Otherwise - in a space that the creator is capable of controlling, allowing certain access or otherwise, a locked Twitter account, a Dreamwidth access list - has a perfect right to do so, and anyone who gets access to that space and then complains about content there when they knew what would be beyond the lock is rather naive, entitled, and in a generalized circumstance in the wrong. Because this person had the chance to go “I don’t want to see that so I’m not going to” but instead they opened a bag that said “character death” on the outside and then they opened the bag and the character death was on the inside. What else did they expect?

But see, Twitter and Tumblr don’t operate like this. (AO3 does, but I’ll be talking about this soon enough.) And beyond that, if someone doesn’t know what to blacklist in the first place, then they have a higher chance of seeing it. And they might not have an established opinion or view of that content - a ship, a trope, whatever - yet, so the exposure naturally normalizes that content for them. We are only as much as our experiences and our exposure, but people with less life experiences are naturally exposed to less, and their initial interactions with certain content shape their view of it as they continue to grow.

3. Creators are responsible for their content - not just what they make, but where they post it and how accessible the content is.

So, yeah, if you have enough experience to evaluate what you think is right and what you think is wrong, on a website that is a psychological cesspool for adults and kids alike, you do have a responsibility to monitor the content you share, who you’re exposing it to, and how you expose it. If you don’t want to share it at all in case of this, then don’t share it. If you want to share it but with people who will appreciate it instead of “calling you out,” then post it in a private/more locked space.

I’ve been hearing a lot that people shouldn’t put the onus on creators, since anyone with autonomy and self-agency is responsible for the sites they venture onto. But see, that would be more relevant for a site that is specifically catered to adults. If you post something that you know can get backlash - or even if you don’t know but the backlash comes from a position you can evaluate as justified - then don’t whine about your hurt feelings. If you share with an audience that is prone not to be appropriate for the content, then it’s not the fault of the inappropriate audience for existing and responding to your content. And especially if a place is filled with varying experiences, ages, and mindsets, and you post something that gets criticism and backlash, I don’t know what you expected. Again, the bag outside/inside analogy. 

Kids have always been in fandom. And, really, kids have always been on the internet. The reason that it’s a matter of discussion now is because kids and adults are in the same fannish spaces (Tumblr/Twitter/AO3), so 16-year olds are now in the pool of people who can see the content of a ship between a 16-year old and a 26-year old as drawn/written/created by let’s say a 25-year old. And this is really the key difference, and where this becomes, yes, the 25-year old’s responsibility, not the 16-year old’s. If you know 16-year olds tread this website - you better get ready for responses from 16-year olds. This is not an LJ community specifically for your ship, especially with Tumblr’s broken tagging system. This is Tumblr. It’s a deep blue space of hell, and people are gonna interpret your art or your fic all they want, and they’re going to reblog it, and then someone’s going to see it whether they like it or not and get upset. This is how Tumblr works. 

(I hate this site, can you tell.)

And this is also how kids work. And how people work. But telling kids they should “get off the internet” or “shouldn’t be in fandom” isn’t the fucking solution, because if you weren’t a kid in fandom you probably don’t realize the impact fandom has on your thinking when you’re under 18 (and I say this as someone who, yes, started fandom under 18); and if you were a kid in fandom you’ve been desensitized to the point where you think everyone is at the same level of maturity and development as you when they’re not. In the real world there’s a reason age-appropriate laws exist - online it’s much more of a personal judgment space - so use your personal judgment and evaluate the person that you want to be in a public space.

In the same way that we (should) hate bronies for how a kid can’t google “My Little Pony” without some fucked up fanart showing up - safesearch on or not, the fact that the content exists on a public forum is far more of an issue - we should also remain aware that we are completely at agency and thus the responsibility for the shit we share on the internet, in a public forum, on private Twitters or Tumblrs, where anyone can see. If a kid knows and is on an adults-only website, that’s one thing; but the internet is unfailingly not adults-only, and neither are Twitter or Tumblr. We’re responsible for what we say and the content we post. Is that such a difficult point to grasp?

4. If the site has no censorship rules, then censorship is not occurring - and neither is it the answer.

AO3 (and Dreamwidth) specifically has a rule about “no censorship” when it comes to creative content. This means that people who are in charge of the content on the website cannot take any works down by means of content creativity alone. Plagiarism, bots, and harassment (which is not to be confused with criticism) are one thing - but even if you post some racist bullshit that isn’t plagiarized and doesn’t encourage harm in anyway, then it can’t be removed.

That doesn’t mean it’s racist. That also doesn’t mean that people can’t tell you it’s racist. The “freedom of speech” rule has been discussed to hell and back; but in the same way that you can create and post whatever you want, people can say whatever they want about it. They can be like “hey, this is fucked up,” or “hey this is seriously Problematic material” or “hey what the fuck is wrong with you.” Although I’m not going to get into the difference between ad hominem criticism versus harassment (though, yes, they are different.)

You can tell people to stop criticizing you, but that doesn’t mean they’re going to stop criticizing you. I can tell people to stop creating content with underage age gaps, but that doesn’t mean people are going to stop doing that. It’s only censorship when you are silenced beyond your ability, in which case there’s usually a reason, like FFn’s purge (aside from the censoring of slash material, like on LJ, since slash material is not inherently “adult content” so it doesn’t have any justification on underage people.)

The whole point of discourse and criticism - why it exists, why people reblog shit, why people get upset at seeing something they like getting criticized - is just about the same as people posting stuff that warrant criticism in the first place. Because it’s expression. Because it’s trying to get you to think. Because it’s sharing a perspective. No, not everyone likes something because it aligns with their morals in some way - they like it because they like it. But then they get offended when they see it come under attack on the basis of morals, which then presumes that yes, they do think they have a “moral right” to enjoy something, rather than a general right.

A moral right is something you evaluate and that no one else can control. If you get offended at something you like being criticized, then maybe you should evaluate why you like it in the first place and self-analyze, instead of immediately jumping to the defense of “but I have the right to like it in the first place!!!” No one is trying to take away your right to like it, or create for it. That would be censorship. If you have an ethical issue with criticism, that’s really your problem - if you think you have a moral justification to create or enjoy something, you better be ready to defend it on that basis than a position of your “ability” to create or enjoy in the first place. 

No one is forcing you to shut up or stop. By all means, continue doing whatever you want to do if the venue allows it. But if it’s in a space that allows as much free speech for you and for others, and it’s something that you know can get criticized - then if you throw a hissy fit over it, objectively, it’s on you.

5. If you’re an advocate of social justice; if you’re a feminist; if you create LGBT content; if you care about POC representation - then be consistent. Don’t be a hypocrite.

This post is getting so long, so I’m ending it at this point.

Okay, a lot of Twitter/Tumblr/AO3 fandom is also slash fandom. I don’t know everyone’s fannish history so I don’t know what everyone knows, but fandom outside of slash - which, really, boils down to being homophobic fandom in one way or another - has existed for just as long as slash fandom, possibly even longer. Within slash fandom, we also push for better LGBT representation, POC representation, and female representation. A lot of us identify as feminists, or even intersectional feminists. (If we can’t agree on this, then you can just skip this post honestly.)

And why? Because mainstream media is shit, and centered around straight white men. A lot of us absolve the “straightness” in slash fandom; a lot of us discuss wanting to center on characters of color, or female characters. This is because we know our reality is much more colorful, more interesting, less straight/cis, less male-focused. Because we know that straight people and white people and men are in positions of oppressive power in the real world, but they are far from being the only people in the world.

And lately, a recent hot take has been that “fiction isn’t reality,” when it comes to discussion of toxic and unhealthy relationships. But this argument holds no fucking water if you want better representation for real life marginalized groups in fictional media (including fanwork!), but when it comes to character dynamics, then suddenly the impact of fiction (including fanwork!) means nothing to reality. Yeah, real life shitty dynamics exist. But they’re shitty and result in real life instances of trauma. In the same way that you might want straight/white/men to be less glorified, less normalized by the media - you should also really want unhealthy/toxic character relationships to also be less glorified or normalized in fiction (including fanwork!) 

You can’t pick and choose to what makes you feel like a good person and what makes you feel like a shitty person. If you really cared about fictional representations of oppressed groups, then you wouldn’t be spewing that “fiction isn’t reality” bullshit - if you really believed that, you wouldn’t care at all.

So reevaluate your priorities, because you’re responsible for all your actions, all your words, what you share on the internet - whether you like it or not. The impact, message, and your content that gets spread is all on you. People are allowed to make mistakes, but we have to own up to them, too.