#WHICH JUST

[ao3commentoftheday]

why does ao3 has hit counts?

i feel like it's a little irrelevant metric to keep track of for an archive and on top of that i see sadly a lot of readers taking it too seriously and not reading fics with too many hits but not proportionally high kudos count.

i know there skins exist that hide it and personally i don't have issues with them, it's just sad to see something so small weaponized by readers and use it as indication of fics quality.

I wasn't around in fandom during AO3's inception, but according to the news post when hit counters were released, it was by popular suggestion at the time. I'm old enough to remember a time when people thought hit counts were a cool thing to track. Maybe that was it? 🤷‍♀️

At least, that might be why it's displayed to users. Site administrators have other reasons for tracking web traffic, but I do not meddle in the affairs of sysadmins*.

Readers are people and people need to find some way to sort through information. Is hits the best way to find a fic you'll love? No. But then, neither are kudos and lots of people sort by those too. They tend to do that more when they're new to a fandom and new to AO3, though rather than as a standard method of searching.

No matter which stat a reader decides to organize their search by, it won't actually contribute to their enjoyment of the work. It's the story that determines that. Finding a story that you're actually going to like means reading tags and summaries instead of numbers. Give them enough time, and they'll figure that out.

[starreo]

listening to cigarettes after sex on a cold morning, tucked in your bed, hot cocoa in your hands as you stare out the window is truly a moment i cherish.

[thenookienostradamus]

"but according to canon..."

friend you are here on the Willful Disregard of Canon site, hawk your boring-ass objections elsewhere

[thelaurenshippen]

so was anyone going to tell me that the mandolorian takes place over the course of THREE YEARS or did I have to figure that out myself by looking up star wars timeline articles!!?

[grimbluesins]

tangent time: secrets

hi! if you’re seeing this post it means you got stuck with ME and my insane ramblings!

——

today’s tangent is about character secrets, typically involving something important to the character and story. one such example is superman and clark kent being the same guy.

so i was watching ‘my adventures with superman’ and noticed the shit going down in episodes 5 and 6 about lois (and technically jimmy) learning clark’s secret. between jimmy and lois, there was a BIG difference in how they approached it.

jimmy was the approach everyone should take. he still knew shit was up with clark but figured clark would tell him when he was ready. he was patient. he was understandably upset about lois being told first (which was not clark’s fault and clark should have explained the situation better), but he was still understanding. he didn’t push. we should all strive to be jimmy.

however, lois made me unreasonably angry. she was impatient and pushy and nosey, and she was making clark visibly uncomfortable with her superman investigation. she didn’t seem to notice or care that clark was uncomfortable and hesitant.

what’s more, when first learning about superman, lois declared she would spill all his secrets to the world and clark was rightfully terrified of that. she didn’t even clarify that she WOULDN’T do that even after figuring out clark is superman. she just kept pushing and pushing and even forced clark to out himself by JUMPING OFF A BUILDING.

clark had perfectly valid and understandable reasons for keeping his identity secret from everyone. he should never have been forced to share anything with anyone ever. he should have been able to reasonably tell them on his own time, but lois fucked that up and i am actually so upset at her.

on top of everything, clark apologized for being scared to share the secret. he apologized for not being open. and to some degree, i can understand him. he probably just needed a bit of a nudge, a bit of encouragement, but not a forced outing of his identity.

this is a problem i’ve noticed within a lot of media, especially tv shows and movies.

character A has a secret vital to the story and choose to keep it, usually for entirely good reasons. character B figured it out and is angry at char. A for withholding information and not trusting B. instead of losing trust for B, A instead apologizes for the shit that B did. it doesn’t affect their relationship very much after that.

this just… doesn’t happen irl! and it makes me so angry whenever i see this trope! imo this needs to die…

alright, off you go. you’re free.

[listen-to-the-inner-walrus]

i get what people mean when they say stuff "i dont think i need to explain to you why science is good" but dear fuck do sentences like these make me break out in hives.

i could probably write a 10,000 word essay on it if i sat down to do it. its just so frustrating and yet difficult to articulate because theyre not gonna listen when you explain that theyve just theologised science.

they treat the general concept of science as a religion, overlook any glaring issues within scientific disciplines, trust scientists whose conclusions fit with their existing beliefs while rejecting those that dont, and cherry-pick concepts from "science" as if its their holy book.

like mate, youve just created a religion from the thing you seem to believe to be the absolute opposite to religion.

[thetimelordbatgirl]

I swear to the gods, no one actually gave a shit about JJ Oliver or TomKat even having a kid until The Return was announced to be in an alternate universe with Tomberly and their daughter, now they suddenly care about JJ Oliver.

[fallenfawnn]

my brain is acting insane this morning so that’s fun -.-

[inkykeiji]

we went to the my hero panel 🥺 jason said COME DANCE WITH YOUR SON IN HELLLLL in dabi’s voice 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺

[omegaverse-anesthesiologist]

why is ao3 is blocked on the hospital wifi????

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Knowledge Revenge.

[butchfalin]

the funniest meltdown ive ever had was in college when i got so overstimulated that i could Not speak, including over text. one of my friends was trying to talk me through it but i was solely using emojis because they were easier than trying to come up with words so he started using primarily emojis as well just to make things feel balanced. this was not the Most effective strategy... until. he tried to ask me "you okay?" but the way he chose to do that was by sending "👉🏼👌🏼❓" and i was so shocked by suddenly being asked if i was dtf that i was like WHAT???? WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY TO ME?????????? and thus was verbal again

[notbecauseofvictories]

A customer contacted our team with questions, and then finished their email with: "I am daunted by the complexities and unknowns." I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since.

[whaledocboi]

ai generated images make me increasingly sad and tired the more i see them in more and more casual contexts. i dont know how to explain, but it just fills the world with a bunch of nothing. no matter how visually stunning the pictures might be, there's nothing behind it for me. no dedication, no emotions, no feelings, no hard work or creativity, nothing i can truly think about, admire or enjoy. i dont think thats how art is supposed to be

[cuntstable]

i hate when people call marcille a girlfailure btw like SHE ISNT. and shes not a ”girlboss” either. this is a neurotic and Permanently On The Edge of a Breakdown overachiever late 20s virgin just out of her phd program with permanently shaky hands from an addiction to overly sugary coffee and a deep desire to be crushed to death under falins giant jugs no matter the cost. the only thing shes ever ”failed” at is going to theraphy

[taylorftparamore]

actually for fusies, let’s make it a poll

original post for context: