#rpc's trash

[bi0mancy]

i guess tumblr is back to hating women ocs again.

[hegrowth]

I just remembered I saw a Trilla cosplayer at di/sney world for St/ar War/s day and I'm so upset I didn't get a picture :c anyway. my SW experience is largely just me clutching my collectibles / fav characters to my chest while people talk about canon lore and stuff that I have no knowledge of. like. I bought Fallen Order because I thought it looked neat and really enjoyed playing it. I collect SW things because I think they're cool. idk does that make me a bad / fake fan ?

[anunkindncss]

LONG-ASS, BAT-SWINGIN’ PSA FROM YOUR FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD TRASH DAD (YES YOU MAY REBLOG ME):

i swear to the gods above and the internet demons below, if i have to see one more round of the same tired, petty, high school drama energy in the rpc i am going to start throwing metaphorical furniture. or a bat. maybe a literal bat. someone get me a bat.

we’re gonna talk about a few things i do not understand and am rapidly losing patience for in this little roleplay community of ours. sit down. hydrate. bring a snack. or don’t. i’m not your mom. but i am pissed.

1. BLOCKING PEOPLE BEFORE YOU EVEN KNOW THEM. what are you doing. no, seriously—what are you doing. look. blocking is valid. it’s important. it’s necessary in many cases. but if you are blocking people for… following you? reblogging your promo? writing the same muse? because “they gave me weird vibes” after doing absolutely nothing to you? i’ve got news: you’re not setting boundaries, you’re playing judge, jury, and executioner of vibes you made up in your head. you do not need to block someone just because they exist in the same space as you. curiosity is not a crime. following someone because you share muse interests is not a threat. no one’s out to steal your thunder. we’re all just feral writers clinging to shared hyperfixations like they’re life rafts.

2. THE GREAT REBLOG WAR OF 202X. i promise you, reblogging a post from the person you saw it from is not a personal attack. yes, i agree: try to reblog from the source when you can. it keeps things clean. it helps with credit. we love that. but if someone reblogs from the person who popped up on their dash? that’s not theft. that’s how this damn website works. you’re not losing notes. you’re not being disrespected. you’re seeing a feature function the way it was designed. if it truly matters to you, say it nicely in the post itself. don’t vaguepost. don’t softblock. don’t act like someone pissed on your fic just because they hit reblog from a mutual. some of you treat content circulation like a sacred ritual and lose your minds if the incense is lit out of order. breathe.

3. DNI LISTS THAT ARE LONGER THAN MY WILL TO LIVE. listen. i get it. truly. safety and boundaries are critical. you do not have to interact with everyone. you do not have to let everyone into your space. that’s not what this is about. this is about the weaponized, condescending, high-horse energy of DNI lists that start with “no minors” and end with “people who write canon characters with feelings i disagree with.” what happened to just… blacklisting tags? scrolling? having a spine and a filter? you don’t need to turn your blog into a digital moat. you can just curate your experience quietly. because let me tell you, no one is reading your DNI list like a legal document. they’re reading it and thinking, “damn, this person seems exhausting.”

4. SHITTING ON OTHER WRITERS FOR WRITING THE SAME MUSE DIFFERENTLY. you are not the official licensed owner of your muse. you are not the final word on interpretation. people write characters differently. that’s the beauty of it. that’s literally why roleplay is compelling. because it’s your take. your lens. your experience. if someone writes a softer version of your muse, or a darker one, or a more chaotic one—you can just… not follow them. you don’t need to snark in the tags. you don’t need to start drama in discords. and for the love of god, you don’t need to talk shit behind their back like we’re in some HBO drama. this is tumblr. it’s a hellsite for niche gremlin creativity and emotional trauma bonding. act like it.

IN CONCLUSION, BEFORE I GRAB THE BAT: this place could be so good. so freeing. so collaborative. As a matter of fact... it actually USED TO BE. but y’all keep trying to turn it into a gated community with HOA rules, secret vendettas, and self-appointed sheriff energy. let people exist. let them write. let them breathe. drink water. block quietly. tag your triggers. let go of the need to control every facet of your dash and your mutuals. and for the love of everything sacred and unholy, stop making people feel like they’re one wrong FC or meme reblog away from exile. we're here to write weird little stories and explore weird little feelings through the faces we like and the words we care about.

stop making that feel like a crime.

-Trash (overthepettyandunreasonablebullshit) Dad.

[damnfandomproblems]

Fandom Problem #8729:

A couple days ago on reddit, I read an eloquently-written post about how author self-deprecation can be off-putting for readers when they open a fic. OP explained how, while they understand authors' desires to temper expectations before someone reads their fics, it primes the readers to expect lower quality. One person also commented how if the author thinks their fic is bad, then readers are going to naturally trust their opinion as a basic litmus test for if it's worth reading at all. If the author loudly declares it's not worth reading, they'll be more prone to skip it. Excessive self-reproach is also unappealing, and not something people like to see in general. Nobody likes being around someone where all they do is share negative self-talk and this goes the same for constantly running into those words online. Anyways, the OP called this "self-sabotage".

My own opinion was similar, with the added notion that insisting one's writing is horrible puts unnecessary pressure and burden on commenters to not only comment on the fic, but also address the self-deprecation specifically. A lot of people aren't equipped for this, and they feel awkward if they think they need to provide a confidence boost beyond simply saying "this fic is great". So again, people will be prone to leaving - or if they do read the fic, reading but not commenting.

This goes double if the author makes implications about the people liking the fic, such as, "this isn't worth the kudos or likes, why are you commenting, it's trash...". Because that implies the people who liked or kudos'd the fic have bad judgment and made a mistake.

Fast forward to this morning. I stumbled upon a person on tumblr who saw this post and boy, they went on a long spiel about how the post offended them, how "it's writing culture to be self-deprecating", and they missed the point entirely. Writers doubt their work a lot and are often never satisfied with it, especially if they're fervent writers who like to self-improve. But in a social context, it's simply not very appealing to constantly put yourself down. It puts pressure on other people to go above what they otherwise would have commented. It can also feel like "compliment fishing", ie. manipulative. And lacking confidence in your work isn't grounds to imply other people are idiots for liking your work, which unfortunately a lot of people do.

In a way, that person's response post reminded me a lot about the tumblr RPC. In the RPC, back when I was participating in it (thank god I no longer am), it was completely normalized (and I mean that word when I say it) to self-deprecate and put yourself down, and to also extend this to everyone. It wasn't just considered good form to say "you were a loser at your keyboard pretending to be a character" (which frankly, even the "pretending" part isn't correct, we're all just writing, we're not LARPING, I've written for 20 years and never once considered it to be "pretending"). No, you had to go beyond that and say, "we're all just dumb losers at our keyboards pretending to be fictional characters."

You can see what the problem is. And in the RPC, there are many people who post almost daily about how they suck, and how their writing is awful, and nobody likes them, which elicits lots of kind comments. The interesting part is, these comments never come from the same blogs more than a week or two in a row. They always rotate out because people get tired of propping them up over and over again. This translates to AO3 where instead of a single person self-deprecating, it's a bunch of different ones. And readers often browse lots of fics at a time, so that self-deprecation can add up to a lot of pressure, very fast. It's no wonder people made a post like the OOP did on reddit. And people like the tumblr OP? They really need to get a bit of perspective.

[mskwtz]

THANK YOU - thanksgiving is a few days away & i've really genuinely been in my feelings so hard of late when it comes to our little corner of the rpc. this fandom has been amazing since i joined it in 2022, and i am very very thankful for it and all of you every day. i have met some of my very best friends because of this show and this trash site that has us all in a chokehold despite its many flaws (there's a reason we call it dumblr). it has been an incredibly trying year, and not just for me. many people have been feeling the weight of life and this month especially has been incredibly stressful, sad & rage inducing given the pol.itical climate. my dashboard has been a welcome reprieve from all of it, and getting to talk with all of you more has been such a delight and i wanted to say thank you.

thank you for being you, for your kindness, for you acceptance of new people in this rpc, for being so open to ocs when that is not always the case in the rpc. i just adore all of you and wanted to fully write and show my thanks. it's hard to do much over the internet, but i wanted to list off those of you in this community whether you're a single muse, multi muse, canon character, oc, have ck verses. i just think everyone should be aware of how wonderful this section of the rpc is.

this goes out to everyone in this fandom, not just my mutuals !

if you're in the ck fandom or like the show or have verses for it or just want to write with some really great people, here are my wonderful moots in this fandom in no particular order:

@moonlitkata / @queencvbra / @valleyschamp / @venustrape / @defenseonly / @offenseonly / @amreality / @pierprincess / @senstrike / @taughtdefense / @cobraes / @mecwmellc / @himbohotel / @webheadedhero / @legacytaught / @taughtpain / @opponentcompel / @ncmcrcy / @taughtcobra / @karatetaught / @taughtmercy / @freezegirl / @bonsaibadass / @frxncaise / @sarcaasmic / @nancewheelr / @dvarapala / @prophecey / @valleykarate / @teachesdiscipline / @karatestar / @princecvbra / @karatetime / @taughtranquility / @taughtdamage / @taughtartist / @duquete / @taughtintegrity / @cobrascores / @katascores / @queenkarate / @allvalley / @adreamfully / @misterkeene / @crazytough / @cancelkarates / @ironstrike / @bonsaistrike / @valleyflorist / @alcrescendo / @liacabrera05

i just adore you all. and you can find me here and @valleykids for all the feelings.

[fea-resources]

Managing Your Drafts/Ask Count: A Roleplayer Guide

"I have so many drafts / asks right now. I'm feeling overwhelmed!"

Does this sound familiar? If it's not you personally, you probably know at least a good dozen roleplayers on your dash who have said some variation of this.

Overload and draft/ask stress is a pretty common problem in the RPC. I've seen some accounts that go well over 1,000 drafts! More than on one occasion. Yikes. That's super stressful!

So how do you manage that? And manage it in a way that keeps your followers / mutuals happy? Here's a few easy tips! From someone who has never let their draft count go over 50.

Set A Draft / Ask Limit For Yourself

The first and easiest step is to impose limits on how many drafts and asks you accumulate in the first place!

If you start feeling overwhelmed with answering things once you hit 30 drafts/asks, don't just keep pressing for more interactions until you start hitting double or even triple digits! Figure out where your comfort zone is and stick to that.

If you go a tiny bit past that (you set your limit to 30 drafts, but you have 31), that's okay! Just be careful about not using leniency as an excuse to move your own goal posts. If your limit is 30, allow yourself to go to 31, but don't start moving to 40 drafts, then 50, then 100. This is how you get yourself dug into a hole you can't get out of!

Set A Time Limit On Everything Before It Gets Deleted / Dropped

Yes, it sucks not having Asks answered and threads dropped, but it happens. Sometimes the muse just isn't musing for something, and that's totally fine!

If its an actual dedicated thread or a very special tailored custom Ask or Starter, I would recommend communicating it with your partners before yeeting it into the void, but if its just a random ask from a meme list, especially if you've already got 20 other things going with the person who sent it, you're probably safe to throw it away without much fuss. Chances are your partners won't even remember half the Asks they sent, especially if they're repeat customers who send you a lot of things.

The fact of the matter is, if something is clearly never going to be answered, there's no problem just dropping it. Otherwise its just going to be another number in an ever-increasing pile of things you're never going to answer stressing you out!

Set general time limits, like if it hasn't been answered in 2 months, it gets thrown away (unless its just one particular super ultra special ask/thread you DEFINITELY want to answer, you just haven't been able to yet ; everything else goes in the trash).

Set A Thread / Ask Limit Per Partner

Maybe you have that one person that has 50 unfinished threads with you, but lo and behold, they want to start another one! While you're still struggling to keep up with the 50 that you have with them.

If you want to give more people an equal chance, a simple solution is to divide up that everyone gets X amount of time and effort from you.

Feel free to set limits with your partners, such as "I will only do 2 threads with each person at a time". If that person wants another thread, they will have to either complete the ones you already have, or drop some.

Likewise, you might have a rule that someone can send you 10 Asks, but you will only answer up to 2 of them that you receive. The rest get deleted.

The same goes in reverse. If you already have whatever number of interactions you want with a particular person, you don't have to send them more interactions yourself until activity has dropped off enough that you want to create extra engagement to fill the void of whatever other interactions you had that used to be there.

If you're really determined to give all your partners an equal chance at interaction, this is a good route to consider going with.

Curate Your Mutuals List / How Many People You Follow And Interact With

Another one of the easy ways to deal with Draft / Ask stress: Don't follow too many people to begin with!

If someone follows you, you don't have to automatically follow them back, especially if they have a muse or universe you're unfamiliar with or not particularly interested in.

Setting yourself up to interact with muses or universes which barely hold your attention or that you struggle to figure out how to interact with is just setting yourself up to have a lot of unanswered stuff that never goes anywhere.

This is as frustrating for you as its going to become for the other person.

Likewise, only follow back and interact with the people you actually have the time and energy for. Mind you, there are ways to still effectively manage your blog if you're low energy, but that should come after you've found a comfortable number of people to keep up with, not after you're already overwhelmed!

Otherwise, you're bound to frustrate yourself with too many people you can't possibly interact with, and frustrate the people who follow you who aren't getting the engagement they're looking for.

Be Upfront About Playing Favorites (If You Do)

Nothing is more frustrating for both people in a writing partnership when two people who clearly aren't each others' mutual favorites try to interact.

What I mean specifically is that you have one person who tries really hard to engage, and another who barely puts in any effort unless its only for specific people.

Truth of the matter is, everyone has favorites. Some play favorites harder than others. Don't lie to people and say you treat everyone in your mutuals list equally if you don't. Lying to people about it is bound to create problems and resentments, and justifiably so! No one likes to be strung along.

What ends up happening is that you have one person putting in all kinds of effort to get nothing in return, and another person who keeps getting flooded with attempts at interaction they don't really want, adding to their pile of Things That Will Never Be Answered, adding to your stress with a high draft count.

The simple solution is be honest so your partners know what to expect. If there's only three people you ever care to answer and everyone else is a Once In A Blue Moon interaction, just tell people! They're bound to be far more forgiving about it if you set their expectations of you realistically. At worst, the person will quietly move along to interact with other people who actually put in the effort.

Delete Things That Just Don't Work For You

It happens. Sometimes we get an ask that no matter how we think about it, we can't think of how we want to answer it or a good situation we can turn it into.

Or sometimes we just get a bad ask.

You reblog that meme that has 100 options, and that one person you haven't agreed to Ship with sends the only 2 that involve something Shippy, like kissing.

Or they send the one Ask that would be completely out of character for anything your character would be involved with, like you've got a mustache-twirling villain who likes to kick kittens, and someone sent you a meme insinuating your character is catsitting out of the goodness of their heart.

If something just plain doesn't work no matter how you try to turn it around, delete it!

Alternatively, you can reach out to your partners and discuss how to turn the Ask into something. Maybe your partner had something specific in mind when they sent that particular ask, and its just not coming to you, but once you find out the vision of the sender, it'll be much easier to reply to!

Likewise, feel free to delete a few things that don't work for you if someone sends you a lot of Asks. Maybe someone sends you 10 different Asks. You don't have to answer every single one. Pick the ones that are easy to work with and delete the rest. If you answered 3 out of 10, you still answered 3, and that's good!

Stop Reblogging / Asking For More Memes

I'm not saying everyone should do this. Memes are great! They're good, easy interaction starters! Especially when you don't have a lot of interactions going already or you're stuck waiting in limbo for other people to reply back to you!

But if you're just using memes to run away from your ever-growing pile of unanswered things, stop yourself.

Chances are, at least half of your problem with being overwhelmed is that you're chronically reblogging memes when you don't actually need to be, further compounding your problem of having too many drafts and being even more overwhelmed as a result.

I get it. The instant gratification of getting something in your inbox is nice. Its a real dopamine rush that makes you feel good! At first. But its going to come back to bite you later.

Its also a good, quick way to ruin your relationship with people who want to interact with you. If someone is already waiting on you to answer a bunch of things they sent in, and you post "Wow, I'm feeling so overwhelmed right now because I have too many things I still need to answer! But send me more things!", that's bound to put a sour taste in peoples' mouths.

That tells your partners that you have an impulse problem and that they're bound to keep sending you things that will never be answered, which defeats the purpose of following another RP blog.

At worst, people will get tired of it and unfollow, ending all chance of interaction from ever happening at all.

Some people think the answer to solving this problem is to simply purge their inbox of everything or remake blogs "fresh". While these steps can help in some cases, if you never solve the underlying problem of actually managing your draft count moving forward, eventually you will just find yourself back to square one.

I've seen this happen plenty of times, where people purge or remake a good two, five, ten different times to make a fresh slate, only to go back to the same problem given a little bit of time, because they never took any other steps to stop from ending up in the same situation. They got rid of their draft pile, but never addressed the habits that got them there in the first place.

A good, easy first step in that is to stop endlessly reblogging memes when you already have a pile of them just sitting unanswered.

Instead of letting everything pile up to unmanageable levels and keep asking for more, prioritize going through what you already have first. Answer whatever you're able to, talk to your partners about Asks or threads you're unsure of, delete anything that you know for a fact won't go anywhere.

Then, once you've dealt with the things you already have, then you can reward yourself by reblogging more Memes and Starters and whatever else you want!

Don't Lie To Your Mutuals (Or Yourself) About Guarantees To Answer EVERYTHING

I've seen this a few times before. Someone talks about how they have over a thousand drafts, but they swear up and down to their dashboard that they answer EVERYTHING they receive, so keep sending in more!

Don't do this.

The moment I see someone saying something like this is usually the moment they instantly earn an unfollow / soft block from me, because I know they're completely full of it.

These are the people who chronically never answer anything and end up blog-hopping because they let it get so out of control that the only way forward was to purge or completely remake their blog fresh, often multiple times.

This kind of rhetoric will also establish you as a liar in the eyes of your mutuals, especially your mutuals who never get any engagement while they watch you reply only to the same five people and everyone else is just a number to brag about collecting.

There's nothing wrong with acknowledging the fact that you simply cannot and won't answer every tiny thing you receive. That kind of unrealistic expectation placed upon yourself is just going to end up creating problems for both you and your mutuals.

Learn to let some interactions and Asks go unanswered, and be honest with people that that is the case! You're a human being with finite time, not a writing machine, and your partners are more than just a number for you to collect and ignore.

Yes, announcing you're going to be dropping or deleting things may lose you followers, especially the ones who keep going unanswered, but it shouldn't really bother you if you weren't going to be giving those people proper engagement anyway.

Plot With People If Interactions Aren't Happening Organically

Everyone has their own style of RP and how heavily they want to plot things. Some people need things heavily plotted, others just like to wing it. Sometimes the heavy plotter ends up with the wing-it roleplayer.

Regardless, sometimes an answer to an Ask or Thread just won't come to you. Maybe your partner had something in mind already or a direction they want to take things, while you're just scratching your head with nothing.

Sometimes, getting to answering things is as simple as reaching out to discuss it with your partners!

Of course, there are times where this goes nowhere. Maybe both of you are stumped or didn't really think very far ahead. Maybe its just not vibing with either of you. Maybe you or your partner suck at communication and brainstorming. That's fine! But at least if you reach out, you can say you tried before dropping something!

And it gives you a chance to discuss doing something else that does work instead of such is the case!

Create Side-Blogs For Organization and Bookmark Purposes

The great thing about tumblr is you can basically create however many blogs and side-blogs you want to!

Let's say you're scrolling the dash and you see some neat stuff you want to save, but not reblog. Maybe its a PSA post. Maybe its a gifset. Maybe its a funny canon information/fanon post you saw and want to look back on.

Don't save "other" things in the same place as your Drafts and Asks go!

When you start mixing in "other" posts with your Drafts, your drafts are going to look even bigger and more daunting than they already are! Chances are you're not keeping a mental count all the time about those 50 other "drafts" you have mixed in with your real drafts.

Make a side-blog (or a Personal) for saving all those other completely unrelated things on! This will help keep your actual draft and Ask count in perspective, otherwise you might be stressing about having so many drafts when you actually have a lot less of them than you thought!

Use The Queue

If you find a lot of your problem comes down to having too many things at once, or your partners reply to your threads too fast so you can never make a dent in them, then you can always Queue up your posts to spread them out!

You can even customize how often and at what time frames your Queue posts things to the dash, which will slow down how fast you receive replies and allow you to get through things at a more comfortable pace.

You can always alternate using it as much as you want, such as using the Queue when you have a high volume of things to answer or return activity, and then publish things in real time or push things through the Queue faster as you like when things are going slow!

Prioritize Easiest / Favorite Drafts First (But Don't Do Them Exclusively)

This one is fairly easy, and I think most people already do this intuitively. The problem is, a lot of people do this, and then that's where they stop. They end up doing their favorites exclusively, instead of only doing them first, while letting everything else just rot in their drafts, never actually touching them.

But there's a good reason to prioritize easy and favorite threads first, especially when paired with the queue or other partners who are slower to reply. It's the easiest and fastest way to reduce your draft count and make it less daunting to deal with, without deleting and dropping things entirely.

Then you can focus on the other unanswered things that aren't speaking as easily to you, and get through those.

This step works, but only if you actually commit to answering the other stuff that you have to actually think about next. If you just answer your favorite things, and then do something like, say... immediately run to tell people to send you more memes and starters instead, you are falling back into the trap of overwhelming yourself with things you're never actually going to answer.

Instead, try to knuckle down and work on what you already have, whenever possible.

Prioritize Oldest Drafts First

Okay, so you've already gone through and answered the easiest stuff first! (Or maybe you didn't). Great!

Now what?

While this one isn't strictly an issue having to do with Draft Count, I find some people have insecurity about answering things simply because they're old.

While this inevitably happens to everyone at some point, as some threads or Asks may not be speaking to you until much later, I find that one thing that helps with this is to prioritize the oldest replies / first come first serve as much as possible!

Go to the oldest things you have, sit on them for a few minutes. Try to think of something, and work on that reply. If you try to work on it and its still not coming to you, then go on to the next second-oldest thing you have. Rinse and repeat.

Personally, I rarely have things sitting super old unless I just end up in a straight up writer's slump/block, because I prioritize oldest things first whenever possible, which helps to never have super old stuff just sitting there forever, taunting me.

This way, you're avoiding thoughts like "oh god, but they sent that thing 5 months ago. Should I really answer it at this point? Do they even want it anymore??".

Instead, you're replacing it with "Oh, they only sent that 3 days ago. That's not too bad."

Doing it like this means that my turn-around time is seldom ever so slow that I stress about how long its been.

Don't Be Afraid To Sit On Something For A While

Yes, we've talked a lot about deleting things if you just can't think of anything. And sometimes that is the correct and obvious answer! Likewise, sometimes we get something we need to set aside (but not forget about).

The more you manage the rest of your draft count, the easier this is to do without getting overwhelmed about it!

You don't have to just delete everything that doesn't immediately spring out at you. You can set some things aside however long you want to, just be careful not to use "I'll answer it later" to feed your bad habit of Draft Collection.

If you managed to answer 25 other threads and Asks, but those last 5 are just giving you a lot of trouble, that's totally fine! Even the best of us get hit with that sometimes. It doesn't always mean its time to delete them. Sometimes you sit scratching your head for a month, and then one day, the answer to that thread just comes to you!

But be honest with yourself about it. Are you really going to answer that thread, after you have some time to think on it? Are you really really going to answer it? Or are you lying to yourself and your partners? If not, there's no shame in dropping it.

Close Your Inbox

So let's say you're personally taking all the right steps you need to to manage your workload, but people are still trying to send you more things than you can handle to your Ask box.

You always have the option to simply close your inbox from receiving any new activity! Whether you just turn off Anon (not because of receiving hate, that's another topic altogether, just regular activity) or the entire Ask box, you can limit or entirely halt inbox activity from receiving anything new for a while until you have what you currently already owe into a comfortable and easy to manage state!

Yes, this means people won't be able to send you more, new things, and if they want to message you, they will have to do so through a different avenue (such as IMs or discord), but if you're already too overwhelmed with what you have, you don't need more activity.

Don't Keep People Around Who Make Your Dash Uncomfortable

And finally, though a bit of a sad truth, some people just make the tumblr dash a very uncomfortable place to be.

Maybe they stir up drama. Maybe they don't tag triggers (or they use stupid fancy tags that can't be filtered). Maybe they write too much of a topic or fandom you don't like to see. Maybe they write nothing but OOC and treat their RP blog as their personal blog. Maybe you're not even following that person, but they interact with someone you DO interact with and don't want to see them around.

Whatever the case, chances are good that if someone's presence makes your dash uncomfortable, its going to affect how well you're able to write.

Luckily, there are options available.

You can unfollow / block people.

You can filter tags and key words through tumblr.

You can use the mute function from the xKit extension.

Whether you make it public or private, you can have a DNI (Do Not Interact) saying who is and is not allowed to interact with you based on whatever criteria you set.

If people are sending you unsolicited Anons that you don't like, you can turn Anon off.

If people send you things you don't like with real or burner accounts, you can block those accounts or turn your Ask box and IMs off.

Ultimately, your tumblr blog is your space to curate, and you shouldn't let anyone else tell you otherwise. Having boundaries and expectations for how people act on your blog is your right and their privilege, not the other way around.

If other people aren't going to behave appropriately within and/or invade your yard space, you always have a right to lock people out of it by any means necessary until they either behave or leave.

Don't be afraid to do so, no matter who its coming from, even from so-called "friends" or "good people", because the only people who have a problem with you exercising your right to making your blog a good place to be for you are unsafe people who feel entitled to crossing your boundaries.

[flamesignite]

//I'll be so real with you I do not and will not consider myself a popular blog but people have called me one and tried to use me and those around me to get to me because I am well known in the rpc and I will not tolerate it.

I am not someone that will stand for anyone trying to harm those that mean a lot to me to get to me. If you ever use any of my mutuals to get to me I will block you so fast. Like I hate saying this, but it needs to be said.

This is the reason why I am selective because some people are creeps and try to harm those to get to me. Like, how is that remotely okay?

This isn't a who's most popular contest, we're here to write and enjoy our favorite characters and create stories together. We're not here to be used until you're satisfied and throw us away like trash.

Yeah, this is the last post I am making on the matter, but yeah the person in question deactivated and I am hoping for good because the way people were treated wasn't okay and I don't care if I look like an asshole for standing up for my friends.

Calling out peoples behavior isn't bullying, but trying to silence people who actually went through some awful things is. Especially if you're not even owning up to your mistakes you keep saying there's two sides then where's yours?

I am not personally a victim but I feel disgusted and at fault because someone got used to get to me. I know it's not my fault, but that is why I feel like I had to say something either way because this stuff needs to be called out not swept under the rug.

[silvertiefling]

&&. okay but genuinely since it's about 40 minutes until the new year here... this has been the nicest, most accepting RP communities i've ever been apart of on tumblr... i used to rp a lot here on tumbles but the communities were always so trash/picky/clique-y but its been so nice here and everyone actually gives a shit about the people behind the characters and treats them like humans... and enjoys the chaos that that brings sometimes (sorry LOL).... i've just been having a wonderful experience here and i'm so happy i decided to join this RPC, even if i was quite late to it - you've all been, and continue to be, absolute gems so thank you so much <3

~ Ivy.

[roleplayhonestybox]

No as a european the USamerican thing is very real. It’s not an attack or meant to be rude and is of course not every, not even the majority, of USamericans, but there’s a lot of y’all here (naturally considering how big the us is lol). 8/10 partners I find are american. 9.999 times out of 10 there’s no issue. But because there’s so many and cuz so much media is american and set there, obviously things get very america-centric. I’ve had more than one experience where some partners are so used to it themselves they know, but don’t really process ig, that I’m not american too. So many people expect you to know the ins and outs and every little detail of life in america like it’s common sense, or they just don’t understand that you wouldn’t know that. I’ve had partners be like, legitimately confused if I don’t use american spelling or slang, or make incorrect references to how things work over there, etc. When everyone ooc is american, and so many rps are set in america with american characters, some of them just literally don’t comprehend that I do not have that same knowledge and experience lol. Of course I do my research for plots but some people nit pick the tiniest thing and act like I’m speaking a different language or plain dumb if I use my terms for the same thing or name a plan that grows in X state but not Y state. Naturally it’s these same people that won’t try to explain things or use a little bit of effort to realise what I mean, just worded slightly wrong, and they would never do a fraction of the effort to understand things over here for a rp or for me as a partner.

Stating again, this is only a small amount of annoying people in the rpc, not every american, there’s just always gonna be some annoying people in the rpc. But as a non american, sometimes i get tired of feeling like I have to study every single detail or have to deal with someone utterly confused I don’t know the ins and outs of college frat houses or us public transport XD that’s just my experiences anyway. Not a personal thing or things to do with politics or ooc stuff. Just the rp/approach to rp. Think if you only ever wrote with europeans and when you say trash, they look at you like you’re making up words, or if you make the mistake of assuming a tiny local chain shop is a supermarket and they passive aggressively act like you’re dumb for not knowing:3

.

[hegrowth]

me, whenever I read / hear about people who feel entitled to daily content / engagement from their mutuals:

[malka-lisitsa]

Well look at that it's 2024, and my new years resolution is to stay an unbothered icon queen, and hope the hater's die mad. But I also thought I'd take a second to shout out to the people who make the shit show of a year 2023 bearable, and even enjoyable in some cases.

As trash as the rpc has a tendency to be there are still a lot of you that make this place more than worth it. I clearly cant shout out to all 900 something followers but I can highlight some of you. If you're not listed don't worry I still appreciate you immensely for being here, these are just the people that have really impacted my time here so far.

@hybrid-royalty-main Damon you piece of shit, I hate you the absolute most, and I'm so glad youre here with all the boys tbh. You bring such a unique quality to each one of them. Especially were-jer, it has been an absolute HOOT watching you take on the challenges of a teenaged were pup.

@baby-royalty My sired child with loyalty so unwavering you make the sire bond in the show look tame lmfao. The universe pulled us together the second I stepped foot into this hellsite again and I have enjoyed watching you grow into the person and writer that you are now. I'm proud of you.

@klaeus Kiki I adore you sm, you and your knock off brand doppelganger and scruffy mutt hybrid (affectionate) I love talking about the show and dynamics and honestly just about everything with you. You try, and thats more than most people do for me. Plus your grafics are just chefs kiss.

@multi-royalty Maddie this is like 3 years we've been besties, the caroline to my Elena. I've loved watching you branch out into new circles of friends and grow as a writer. You're absolutely killing it.

@ofcrossrcads Cribby, my darling I adore you. You are simply the sweetest, and keeping you here aggressively as my friend was one of the best things ive done in my life. I am always right here if you need me for anything &lt;3

@petrovawitch Kenz, Katherine says fuck you for bringing her pain in the ass sister back- but im really glad you did. We adore you both even if we're spicy at times bc you know were brats hehe

@havvkinsqueen / @stanfordprepped My fellow digidestins, I am so happy to have met you. Both of you are just pure goodness spun into a little ball of sunshine. Honestly the most supportive people ever, the RPC needs you desperately. Just please remember that I have your back just as much as you have mine. We digidestin gotta stick together. &lt;3

Ok ok ok I cant shout out to literally everyone individually so these people also are super important to me and have made my experience here this year amazing, thank you for all you do-

@langdhon@ravenskeeper@salvatoraes@sarcasticsnackpack@sithdestined@nexusvcrti@ofvalor@imundus@brokenbrxther@loyaltylanced@spellsigns@ruinedmyself@ravmalakh@touchedbydestiny

[rpcburnbook]

Dear greater RPC: Please stop scaring coders away. You're a bunch of hypocrites who whine about the lack of skins out there, but jump on the bandwagon of harassing, trashing, and running coders out of the RPC. Allow people to get better at coding WHEN THEY ARE CLEARLY WORKING AT GETTING BETTER and making shit more responsive. Constructive and helpful criticism is fine. Your vapid harassment is not. Period.

~

[anunkindncss]

Not to sound like a dick but your muses have absolutely no variation in POC

Not gonna lie, anon — you don’t sound like a dick. You sound like someone noticing a gap, and asking me to do better. And you’re right to.

I’ll take that on the chin, because it’s valid. If my muse list isn’t showing real variation in POC representation, then I’ve clearly got blind spots to work on — and I will.

That said, here’s where the Trash Dad steps in:

My muses come from a mix of canon adaptations, personal experience, and longform storytelling, and while I aim for depth, empathy, and nuance with every character I write — if it’s not visibly inclusive or reflective of the real world? That’s on me. And I’m not about to hide behind intention when impact matters more.

So thank you for the call-in, not call-out. I appreciate it more than you know. And I’m holding myself to that standard — not performatively, not defensively, but because inclusivity isn’t just “a nice idea.” It’s a responsibility. Especially in writing spaces.

Also, respectfully? You’ve just earned yourself an honorary clipboard and a say in the next muse brainstorm. If you’ve got POC FCs, character concepts, or cultural lenses you wish were seen more in the RPC — drop them. I’m listening. No sass on that part. Just a whole lot of respect.

(Okay maybe a little sass. I’m still me.)

Trash out.

[damnfandomproblems]

https://www.tumblr.com/damnfandomproblems/762755438698807297/5850-listen-this-is-my-two-cents-worth-both

No. Do not pass go. People in the RPC can be manipulative as fuck, and false requests for writing advice are only the tip of the iceberg.

Reblogging PSAs that say their blog is "hate free", but trash talking fans of certain characters and certain demographics with language like "degenerates" in the next breath? Check.

Saying they lost their threads every other time they post an open starter, even though it was tagged "open rp" as per their own tagging conventions (and still is, so it's very much findable on their own blog)? Check.

Vague posting about how nobody wants to roleplay with them and "nobody would even notice if they deleted" and "maybe they should take a break", every other week? Which gets them positivity anons so the behavior just ramps up more and more? Check.

People sending themselves anon positivity when it's painfully obvious that's the case, because they use unsearchable language you've only ever seen in your discord threads with them, and they don't currently have any other mutuals? Check.

People reblogging memes that ask for writing advice, and acting like anyone who sends them writing advice, no matter how constructively it's given, is somehow out to get them because I guess everyone else was supposed to realize they only wanted yes-men replies, and not even a tiny bit of advice? Check.

The roleplay community is stuffed with these people, it's annoying, and it's even more annoying that you're waltzing in and thinking there's sufficient room to play devil's advocate about some of this stuff. It's not subtle. It's painfully obvious. Don't lecture people on nuance if you aren't familiar with what they're talking about. People do concern-troll, and people do send asks that could be better worded, but who is disagreeing with you?! That's not what people are talking about, they've been saying it ad nauseum in the comments. And many people are, in fact, capable of exercising basic self-awareness and knowing (or not knowing) if their advice will come off badly. Just stop.

Posting as a response to a previous ask.

[asurastro]

🚩 shipping

send me a 🚩 and i'll share my unpopular rpc opinions and hot takes. bonus points if you include a specific topic to talk about, like follower count, softblocking, graphics, etc.

____

To preface: I'm picky about shipping. Was a stretch of time where I had maybe 2 or 3 active romantic ships, most else was platonic. Opened up to some more since then, but still picky. I don't have a hard rule against NSFW but I've been soured on it years ago. But I do like some shipping, especially with some actual chemistry, dynamics emerging over the course of various interactions, stuff like that. I'm open to suggestions and brainstorming.

ANYWAYS.

There's a sort of quiet insistence I don't like, where someone will keep heading in a certain direction despite the bulk of interactions suggesting otherwise and OOC promises not to force anything. Primarily in romantic ships, but one or two platonic instances of this have occurred. Largely where Rex's backstory and whatnot get overlooked in the process and I don't mean in an 'active flaw of the relationship we're exploring' kind of way. That didn't really fly.

SIDENOTE ON THIS BLOG & TEKNAH: Rex is probably the easier to get along with, but that's still a high bar. He has difficulty trusting people after what his old team did to him. But also he can't help but have a sense of wonder, looks for the best in people, and does a fair bit of unspoken pining, despite any trash talk to the contrary. Nero over on teknah is a sitcomesque misanthrope who indulges petty grudges where possible. He can be reminded of his 'career' (pitiful as it is) and dreams to get back to a certain modicum of decency. But afterwards he's so cartoonishly miserable the best one can hope for is a mild friendship. Anyone who pulls off a higher result than that will be rare.