#again...sorry. I try to avoid too much fandom negativity

[lynxgriffin]

Umm, unfortunately I feel like my answers to most of these might be kinda mean, and I feel bad about that even if it's my honest thoughts, so I'm going to put them under a cut. Sorry guys. :[

You're not the only one to have this idea; I've seen it out and about quite a bit. And I'm sorry, but to be completely honest, I really dislike it (even moreso than Kris Knight), and I'm honestly kind of baffled that it's as popular as it is. We're supposed to be building this tension of the primary antagonist in the game...their actions could destroy the world! What are their motives? Can they be stopped?? And then just turning around and going "actually a central antagonist doesn't exist and it's just a bunch of random people who all happen to be doing the same actions for different reasons" just completely kills any tension the idea has. It feels like it just drastically lowers the stakes here. Who made the first two fountains? Well, if they're not making more and their actions aren't going to develop further, why would it matter? Again, plenty of people out there seem to be really into this idea! I am just definitely not one of them.

It's bad. Maybe it's just a joke one, but if so, the joke's going over my head. Honestly I'm of a mind that (at least in the normal route), no one is going to die, or has been dead the whole time. I'm even skeptical of Rudy dying!

Whoof. I definitely don't want to police what other people are doing in the fandom to have fun, because having fun is what it's all about! But just for myself, I had to stop watching his videos, because I reached a breaking point of "oh this guy does NOT know what he's talking about and I'm not enjoying these any more." It's really kind of a shame, because I think he's really good at gathering lots of bits of evidence that might be forgotten and extrapolating from it! But his understanding of DR's characterization and themes is, in contrast, so off-base, and the staunch belief that Deltarune is just Undertale's story told over again causes problems for all of his over-arching theories. The craziest thing is, one of his biggest ones, Oberon Smog...I actually agree with!!! I think there's good evidence that Gerson Knight is possible and would fit both logistically and thematically! But one of the reasons why I went ahead and made Mightier Than The Sword was because I wanted to present some kind of alternative take on Gerson Knight from Oberon Smog. The concept as he presents it gets tripped up, again, on mischaracterization, and the assumption that this is just Undertale again. But it could work!! Anyways...yeah I guess my thoughts are complicated.

Uhhh...is it that popular?? I would not really have expected that, since it is a crack theory! The evidence for it is scant, I just thought it would be a neat story beat! I don't know if I've really heard folks talk about it much outside of the comics I did for it, but maybe I'm not paying close enough attention.

[myfandomrealitea]

okay, so- this is coming from someone who really hasn't engaged in fandom discourse, especially regarding shipping and such. I dearly hope this doesn't come across as bait or troll, I'm genuinely curious and want to learn. apologies for the possibly-dumb question, but I really just need to ask-

what is proshipping? and what are 'antis'?

you know how it is, when you ask around you always get a biased answer one way or another. "proshippers are pedos" "proshippers all condone incest" "proship Bad and if you interact You Are Bad" (i think these are 'anti' points of view? am i using that term right? that's the rhetoric ive mainly heard). but despite all of that, i don't know if ive ever actually gotten a straight answer as to just.. what it factually is. because it doesn't feel like the sort of thing that you can boil down to insults or accusations or whatnot. it's all just very confusing to me, especially because i come from a place that essentially just told me to avoid like the plague and never look back. sorry, this became a bit of a ramble, lol. thank you so much in advance, i hope i'm not being a bother or insulting with this ^^;

The modern term; 'proship' (s.a; 'proshipping' and 'profiction') is an evolution of an earlier fandom acronym known as: 'SALS.'

Ship And Let Ship

SALS was one of the earliest fandom adoptions and interpretations of the concept of not bullying others for what they shipped or their fandom interests, and not trying to control or dictate what was "allowed" to be shipped or enjoyed. The most notable origin of SALS was during the early years of accessible fandom via Star Trek, and the present homophobia and misogyny in a largely male-dominated community.

As woman became more involved in fandom spaces, the presence of 'other' ships and pairings began to increase. M/M, F/F that wasn't purely for sexual gratification, and M/O and F/O (where 'O' is Other) pairings were popular amongst women, much as they still are today.

Not only did the presence of women in a "male space" receive a not insignificantly negative reaction, so too did them filling the fandom space with their shipping content. Now; sexism and misogyny and homophobia were not entirely to blame. Again as is still very much present today, people simply Did Not Like Certain Ships or Characters. And as they still do today, they'd spread hate about them and to the people who did enjoy them.

Thus: the birth of SALS.

(In other words: I like what I like and it has fuck all to do with you. Shut up and move on.)

Back then, SALS was mostly contained to just that. Ships and characters. Since back in that era 'taboo topics' and 'sexual content' were still pretty covert, people weren't exactly arguing the merits of incest in public forums and at conventions.

However, as all things do, the internet evolved. Society evolved. Media evolved. And so too did 'SALS' evolve in keeping with the new culture and subjects present in fandom spaces.

Suddenly it wasn't just ships and characters to be advocated for. It was themes. Subjects. Kinks. Plots. The more things people found to enjoy, so too did the more things people found to hate.

'Proship' is actually grammatically pro-ship. As in; in support of shipping. This is why I always state that the modern conceptions of proshipping would more accurately be coined profiction. It is no longer just about ships, but fiction as a whole.

However; the core value and sole inherent point of being proship, SALS, profiction and so forth remains exactly the same:

[I/We] believe you have no right to harm others over the [ship/content] they create or consume and [I/we] do not have the right to dictate what is or is not allowed in fandom spaces.

That's it. Don't harass people for what they enjoy fictionally. Don't try to force them into not enjoying or being able to enjoy it.

Of course, the modern adaption varies wildly in terms of 'additional values' thanks to the evolution of the term and what it can encompass. However, there is certainly no obligation to:

Create or consume content you are uncomfortable with.

Create or consume content regarded as 'taboo' or 'triggering.' Such as incest.

Be involved with any aforementioned content beyond turning a blind eye if its not your thing.

Inherently, anyone who says they're 'neutral' on the matter but firmly believes in minding their own business is just a proshipper refusing to use the label if you're taking the term solely at its core value.

In terms of 'antis' they're just the antithesis of the above. Antis are people who generally believe that fiction is irrevocably tied in with who you are, what you believe/condone, and that real-life limitations and values should also apply to fiction.

Although, its is heavy debated and it wildly varies per individual to the degree this is taken.

(E.g: some 'antis' believe you should only write rape fic if you are a victim using it as catharsis or education. Other 'antis' believe there's absolutely no excuse or reason to write rape fic at all.)

Antis typically believe that enjoyment or being invested in content which is regarded as harmful or illegal in real life is morally unsound and reflects that you're a bad or morally unsound person.

Although I disagree, I can honestly say in some aspects I do understand this reasoning. I don't agree, but I do understand why people may come to that conclusion.

As with proshippers, antis vary from people who simply ignore and block content they don't agree with to radicals.

'Anti' is again a prefix. Although modern adoption of the term uses it as a singular signifier, it would grammatically be anti-[fandom], anti-[character], ect. As was commonly used in the past.

The rhetoric that all proshippers are pedophiles or support incest is common-spread and effective 'anti' propaganda. Similar to how so many people believe 'proship' inherently signifies that you must create and/or consume taboo or darker content.

It doesn't.

¹ Proship may also be accurately termed as simply: 'anti-harassment.' ² Its important to note the 'definition' of these terms may vary wildly depending on the individual. However, detailed above is the most historical use and evolution of the terms and their definitions.

[lemotmo]

Hey, firstly let me say a huge thank you for getting me through the past year and keeping me sane in the whirlwind of BT bs. Its greatly appreciated.

Now, I wanted to say, the anon to Ali about spiralling being normal was kind of right, it is normal. Especially when we've been queerbaited in the past. HOWEVER, that doesn't mean you have to rain on everyone else's parade. I am a bit of a doomer, I can't help it. I have a lot of MH stuff tied to previous failed ships that has made it difficult to fully believe. But you know what I don't do? I don't go running to blogs every time I have a spiral doom attack. I don't post in the tag about how the fandom is setting themselves up for a fall. The way I see it, my dooming is a me issue, not an everyone issue. But also, it doesn't actually stop me enjoying the general excitement happening right now. Hell, I occasionally let the hope in and take part.

I think anon and others need to leave the rest of the Buddie fandom to their fate, and maybe even quitting the show all together. They can come back when it's all over. And if they don't want to leave, then fine, stay. But for everyone's sanity, (including mine because I'm tired of seeing the dooming posts as much as everyone else) keep it off the main and stop running to blogs for some kind of reassurance. You won't get it, because deep down, you don't want it. You can't, for whatever reason, let the hope in (which again, I totally understand because I'm right there) But please, just leave people to their happiness. And if you must doom, got to twitter or create a community where you can all doom together.

That's it, rants done. Sorry.

Again, thank you so much for everything and I hope all your dreams come true. 🧡

Thank you for the lovely compliment. I'm just here to provide some positivity, because this fandom desperately needs it. 😋

I agree. There is nothing inherently wrong with being anxious or even a little afraid what is going to happen on a TV-show. It's fine.

I used to have those moments too. In the 911 fandom, but also in other fandoms I have been a part of. Even though I admit that ever since the back half of 7 and especially 8a? The little fears I had just crumbled into dust. I am simply THAT sure Buddie is happening this time. 🤷‍♀️

But that doesn't mean that other people have to do the same. Everyone follows their own path and has their own thoughts about this show and that's more than fine. And yeah, if dooming is your thing, you do you! 🤗

It's just that there are times when my inbox gets filled with negativity, while I'm hopping around all happy, positive and satisfied with how an episode went. It's a lot sometimes and I admit I try to avoid the biggest doom posts. I often delete them from my inbox, because I don't want the negativity on my blog. I do answer some of them from time to time, hoping to instill some hope and positivity in the Nonny who sent it and the people reading it on my blog.

So no, there is nothing inherently wrong with doomposts. It's just that I'm so fucking happy with how the show is going right now. I'm loving all the episodes and I'm having a blast talking about them with my mutuals and followers.

I can't deal with constant negativity about it. I simply refuse to feel down about a show that I love this much, just because some people in my inbox tell me that I should. You know?

It's nothing personal, but yeah... Twitter is fraught with doom posters, so if that's the kind of thing some people vibe with, they should check it out. They might like it there.

Thank you for your lovely ask. I wish you all the best and I most certainly wish you peace of mind when it comes to 911 and Buddie. It'll all be fine. I guarantee it. 😋

[copperbadge]

I know that it’s been a Very Long Time but do you ever get terribly nostalgic for old/less active fandoms? I confess I recently came back to tumblr and saw that I followed you. I was like, of course Sam storyteller, the Bucky guy. But then I got a hankering for my older and dearer by far love Ianto Jones and went back to reread some of the greatest hits and I remembered. You are not the Loki guy. You are the Ianto guy, to me, and I can’t believe I forgot that. I miss that fandom so much it was so fucking. Toxic. The Gwen bashing, I simply cannot romanticize it in good conscience. But the fic quality and diversity was, dare I say it, nearly unparalleled (in my heart). Like when it hit it really hit you know? A golden age of trashy sci fi indeed. I miss my dead welsh son. Sorry to ramble in your ask box about the dubious old days

Anon, I am so sorry, a bunch of my asks got pushed way down in the inbox and then I forgot they were there, so apologies this is MONTHS late in getting posted.

I, eh, I don't really get nostalgic for old fandoms. Usually I leave them for a reason, but even if I just drift away, my experience of a fandom is pretty fundamentally different from most because of my higher profile. There are things I can't do or say in a fandom that other people could, and there are things that happen to me outside of my control. They're not even necessarily bad things, just stuff like...I'll write a fic in a new fandom, and people from my previous fandom will start engaging with the canon because I did. So often, rather than just falling away from a fandom, I'll leave a fandom and drag a bunch of people with me. They might not even leave the older fandom, but they come along to the new one too.

And often the wanks that pull people in without their consent simply don't touch me because there's a portion of fandom that is either scared of me (or my readers) or just doesn't want anything to do with me. I can't determine which.

Torchwood's a pretty good case in point -- the Gwen bashing was extreme. I wasn't a fan of Gwen but what I saw from the antigwenallies was really, really gross. Still, even though I wrote fic about Gwen and engaged in meta around her presence in the show, I avoided them and thus had exactly one interaction with them ever, which was when they posted up a fic of mine as "anti-Gwen" and I asked them to remove it and never recc anything of mine again. They did, and that was the end of that. Nobody ever came to my posts to attack her or me. Likewise, there was one really, really aggressive anti-Ianto wanker, but she never engaged with me or even as far as I know talked about me, despite the fact I was a huge Ianto fan and wrote a lot of fic about him. I really hated the shit she said, but I also didn't see any value in arguing, so I left her alone and she left me alone. (I won't name her because I checked up on her a few years ago and it turns out she was struggling with serious mental health issues that she'd gotten a lot of help for, and felt really terrible about the things she'd done, so I'm actually quite proud of her. But if you know you know.)

I also just...have a bad memory, so I often don't remember what happened in a fandom, or even sometimes that I was in a fandom. Most of the memories I do have are either vaguely warm and friendly, or "avoid this fandom/person at all costs" based in a negative interaction (which I sometimes don't remember the details of).

So yeah...I mean, Torchwood ended pretty terribly so I don't miss it in part because I try not to think about it. Generally if I have a good time in a fandom and then leave it, it's because I simply said all I had to say there. But I'm usually looking forward, not back, just because the past is a bit of a fog bank for me, most of the time.

[bonesandthebees]

Hi,

You probably don't remember me, but I'm an anon that more than one year ago after moving to tumblr, sent you an ask telling you how much I appreciated your writing. You were having a rough time with twitter negativity at the time like me and you answered saying that my ask cheered you up. It was one of my fondest moments in the fandom

I'm really struggling rn with the situation, I can't even get angry, I'm just heartbroken. I found so much comfort in his streams and more importantly this community, like nothing I've ever felt in any fandom. The entire reason I entered the fandom was because of the fanworks that the fanbase created, they were so good. I loved sbi and cwilbur. When I think of past videos or streams my brain physically can't wrap around everything that's come out.

I feel like an idiot, but I'm so grateful that you and a lot of other writers don't wish to delete your works for the fandom, and I wish for you to know just how much comfort you brought me and other people with your writing, and I want to be able to read it again in the future. It hurts so much that people probably won't be writing sbi again, probably more then anyhting else, but at least we won't lose what was already there.

Thank you for for being my favorite writer and for giving a space for people to talk about their feelings, sorry if this was too much, I hope for the best in your future, take care of yourself

Oh anon <33 I'm so sorry you're struggling so much. I get it, I'm completely heartbroken too. this sense of community is something I've never experienced so intensely in any other fandom before. I've never had an audience like this in any fandom before. It's such a special place for me and having it ripped away so quickly hurts.

It's like there's a millisecond delay in my brain. If I think of sbi, I get almost happy for a moment. then I remember. and it fucking sucks.

I never like deleting my old writing and try to avoid it at all costs. if I really didn't want a work associated with me anymore, I'd orphan it. I have old stories in my google drive from 2014 still. and even if I wasn't nostalgic for my own past writing, I know my writing brings so many people comfort and I'd never take that away.

I'm just glad I can be a space for people to work through their feelings. it makes me feel a bit better about this whole situation if just talking through some of this stuff with you guys helps you feel better. This wasn't too much at all, don't worry. make sure to take care of yourself anon <3

[hetalia-club]

Finally i don't feel alone in thinking the fandom is toxic, because I had to deal with a horrible amount of ableism (for literal disabilities I have and apparently someone thought I was incontinent and basically compared incontinent people to diaperfuckers) and even still I have to hide behind anon due to the fact the fandom also has a problem with stalking too, since i have been stalked by people who made private accounts around me and screenshotting everything I said to the point I had to actually talk to someone from the Trevor Project because I genuinely did not feel safe

apologies for the rambling, this fandom isn't normal about disabled people

Honey I'm so sorry :(. Yes people are mean and something about this fandom normalizes it. Idk what it is exactly. People say it's 'always been this way' and while that's true it HAS gotten WORSE. mainly because the fandom is smaller and the assholes just sort of all form a cult together and thrive off each others negativity. They say the people with the worse opinions are the loudest and that couldn't be more true within this fandom.

Also the ability to go fully anonymous on this sight is both a blessing and a plague. I do feel that there SHOULD be a way to find out who the anon was. I myself have been consistently harassed by a Spain kin for almost 5 years. It used to really get to me and it doesn't anymore. I truly just no longer give a shit. I went on Hiatus for 2 years and they CAME BACK! Like they were waiting in the shadows and like a bond vilian just turned in their chair and were like "well well well...". It's just kind of funny if you think about it I live rent free in their dome and they don't even know me. An I can't block them because they are always on anon. So I just delete it and carry on with my life. Last year my therapist diagnosed me with Avoidant Personality Disorder and it answered a lot of questions I've always had about myself. Which means I am an extremely shy person chronically so. I take things to heart even if I shouldn't. I feel things very deeply for myself and for other people and animals. My therapist taught me some tools to try and help me deal and I got an increase in my meds. One of those was to not watch the news or actively sought out negative events because those destroy me. I just can't take it. It's a huge trigger for me and I wish it wasn't I don't like the idea that I make it about me' in some way. It doesn't really do much but it numbs me a bit and makes me care less. It still affects me sure but I feel too unbothered to care. My AI covers have been a HUGE stress relief for me and a good distraction from my feelings. But again it's just a distraction. They are little boosts of serotonin to make and it makes me happy and it makes me even happier when someone enjoys it.

The reason I tell you this is to help you understand that no one really gives a shit. That sounds harsh but please let me elaborate on that. I mean I have straight told people "I am legit too shy to function and I do not like to talk about certain things because it gives me major embarrassment that can last actual days. Can we find a new topic or maybe pivot." but they don't actually listen to me about it. And I understand that it's hard to remember everyone's little quirks but to constantly have to remind people and for them to just "Oh yeah sorry... anyway like I was saying" really stings. Because of my disorder you can imagine I have an extremely hard time speaking my mind and standing up for myself. I want everyone to like me I don't want anyone to dislike me to a fault. I will ignore my own feelings and emotions to let others speak about what makes them happy even if sometimes it does sting. So I actually very much do know exactly where you are coming from with that. Just please remember that these are strangers online. Yes they can say hurtful things but the second you close teh app they disappear. They don't actually matter. And YES I am fully aware that this is easier said than done please believe me on that.

This fandom does have a serious issue with ignoring and disrespecting others disabilities. Especially some that are not really heard about/normalized much like yours or mine. I 100% know everyone thinks I'm lying about my personality disorder being a real thing If they don't want to understand me I can't make them, which sucks but I have no control over that. I wish it were not that way but we can't change other people and the way they think/ act but we can work on ourselves and how we process harassment. I wish you luck anon, you're never alone on this bitch of an earth, love you <3

[kim-ruzek]

did you see new episode was leaked? i watched it. only 2 burzek scenes ☹️ at home and in locker room. at home she was leaving to go and he and mack said good luck to her. in the locker room he asked if shes okay what happened. she tells him shes fine and touches him arm to calm him down. thats all.

Hi, I'm so glad it's finally Thursday so I can ask you sincerely; WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK. Why the hell would you send me this?

I'm sorry to everyone else, I know I said I'd make posts about the actual episode and I will, I have SO MANY thoughts, but on top of life circumstances which has me occupied I first need to spend my energy answering this because this has PISSED me the fuck of for a week.

What in the world would EVER possess you to send something like this to me? To anyone? You NEVER send unwanted spoilers and usually that would be enough to upset me but TO DO IT ABOUT THIS EPISODE????

An episode I've been personally waiting WEEKS for? And that's just about this specific episode. I've been waiting MONTHS for a Kim centric one AND FUCKING YEARS FOR ONE ABOUT KIM BEING A DETECTIVE. that's YEARS fucking years of anticipation and strife and you ruined what should be the most exciting week of my life.

And look some people may think I'm being fucking dramatic but listen here. I'm a FAST reader. My eyes skip forward. And finally, my brain OBSESSES. it clings and repeats it over and over again so once I've read it THAT'S IT. I'm fucked. And I can TRY to forget it but that involves having to stop myself thinking about the trigger AKA CPD entirely which meant on the week I was meant to be ALL ABOUT FUCKING CPD AND KIM I had to try to shut my brain off.

How fucking dare you? Do you even think about anyone but yourself you drama loving fucking arsehole? You've been bothering our fandom for YEARS now and I've been patiently deleting every ask you put in my inbox trying not to get annoyed bc I have enough shit going on in my life rn and I've been doing really fucking well.

But this bloody broke me. It doesn't matter it was a relatively light spoiler. It literally broke me. I've been avoiding all possible spoilers because I've wanted to go in blind and excited to the bloody max in anticipation. And that's been hard for me. But it was going to be worth it. And then you fucking ruined it for me.

So thank you very much you fucking psychotic prick. Seriously, get some fucking mental health help, you seriously fucking need it. Or at the very least, detox from online life and touch some fucking grass.

Especially as the burzek scenes were fucking delicious and actually the right amount of it so fuck off with that. But what REALLY gets me is guess what? I didn't even really care too much about having any, or rather just a miniscule amount, of burzek BECAUSE THIS WAS KIM'S TIME TO SHINE. all I cared about was my girl being badass and succeeding AND THAT'S WHAT WE GOT.

Although in one sense maybe I should thank you for only spoiling the one thing I didn't really care too much about and being so negative about it that you actually understated it anyway.

But yeah. Never fucking do that again. And get some fucking help.

[room-surprise]

Absolutely no pressure, but would it be maybe possible if you tagged negativity in the fandom in some way? It's just that I try to avoid it at all cost, and before your post I didn't even know there was Mithrun hate in the fandom at all :( Again, no pressure whatsoever, I just wanted to ask! <3 I love your blog!

I'm so sorry anon! I'll do my best, forgive me if I sometimes forget to tag, or if some negative stuff slips through because I don't realize it's negative... I'll try to just use #negativity since that's simple and easy for me to remember.

Sometimes there might be negativity in #analysis and #PSA posts too, since I use those to try and spread awareness, so beware of those if that's too much for you, as well.

Happy that you love my blog though :) I try to keep positive when I can. Sometimes when the fandom gets to be too much I take a step back and focus on doing something that makes me happy.

[my-castles-crumbling]

hey, cas

so, i kind of wanted to rant a bit, but theres a few things in here i know could get people riled up so honestly im a little nervous sharing this. i also want to preface it by saying that i am NOT hating on any fics i name here, they are just well-known examples and fics that the fandom hold close

as a fic writer myself, i love adding my own little headcanons to characters. sometimes theyre hcs ive seen from someone else and loved, and other times ive thought of them myself. in the latter case, ill often then see that someone else thought of it too, which is really cool!

but then there comes the hcs that people see and think "oh! thats from x fic!" for example, if you bring up dyslexic remus to most marauders fans, theyre gonna talk about atyd. ive never read the fic myself, its not my taste, but ive heard a lot of things about it and it does honestly sound like a great fic so genuinely no hate towards it. but i hc remus as dyslexic and i did so before learning that atyd has dyslexic remus, and any time i consider putting that hc into one of my fics all i can think about is that people will see it and talk about atyd. maybe theyll say i was copying or stole the idea. maybe theyll compare the two and decide the way i depict it isnt as good. maybe ill end up accidentally using a similar or the same thing for remus to have aiding him, for example a spell or something one of his friends do, and ill be told im plagiarising, and i absolutely hate that.

another example is best friends brother. its such a well known fic in the fandom that anyone who writes anything similar is going to be compared to it. or crimson rivers; anyone who writes a hunger games au (even if its not even remotely similar to cr) is going to be told theyre trying to copy. i love both bfb and cr but i wish people could accept that two writers can have the same idea without copying or trying to recreate/steal it

one of my current ongoing fics has the same central trope as another big fic in the fandom (i dont want to reveal which, because i dont want to risk being de-anoned) and i went out of my way to avoid reading the big fandom fic until ive finished writing my own because im so terrified that if theres even a single vague similarity i might get called out and told im copying

i want to say im just being paranoid, but i cant. i hate that the fandom has come to the point where authors have to bring something out that absolutely noone has ever done before ever just so that they dont get told theyve taken the idea from someone else. even if they had, its perfectly normal and fine to be inspired by an idea to make it your own! obviously actual plagiarism is not okay and should be called out, but theres a difference between plagiarism and just having a similar idea or hc

going back to my original point (because this was where my frustrations with this started) i hate that dyslexic remus will always be seen as an atyd thing, when it isnt. again, no hate to the fic or the author, this isnt an attack on them at all, its just unfortunate that the fandom has kind of taken it so much as canon that anything will always be compared to it, if that makes sense?

tldr: let me have dyslexic remus without telling me im copying atyd! let me have him use magic or have his friends do little things to help him without telling me i stole it from atyd!

sorry about that cas haha, i realise its a bit long. it just really really frustrates me to no end, yknow?

Hi!

Yes, I can definitely see what you're saying. I think if something is inspired by another fic (i.e. you read CR and then you're like...oh, I wanna write a Hunger Games AU) it's good to give credit where it's due by saying "inspired by x." But in a fandom with thousands of fics, the same ideas are bound to come up even without having read other fics. If people accuse you of copying and you genuinely haven't, I would just let them yell. People are always going to have negative things to say, you know?

[struggle-but-its-all-ocean-floor]

I'm sorry I left this bitter ask earlier on. I didn't mean to rain on your parade. I'm just trying to work through my feelings and I really wish I could go back to enjoy a comeback. BTS really was my comfort place and I need it with everything going on my IRL. I miss them so much, I fear I'm never getting that feeling again, even when they comeback. I already have been pushed away from the fandom because I couldn't express how uncomfortable I felt with Seven and now I feel so lonely. I'm trying to just enjoy the older music, but letting go of keeping up to date and being 100% invested is hard. Really hard.

I'm happy for you that you can enjoy this comeback, but he lost me for good. "These are love songs, to comfort ARMY" and then he goes on to perform 3D Jack Harlow version. What's comforting in being compared to a dead body? Before release maybe he didn't get it, but we know he monitors fandom reaction, and there is an alternate version. He just wants to be cool and edgy but banks on ARMY blindly supporting him no matter what. I feel betrayed, not because he went explicit, I was fully expecting it, but because he's doubled faced. Comforting ARMY my @ss. Just admit you wanted the fuck boy image. He's so talented, but he just throws BTS legacy out the window. Namjoon sit next to the SK president and explained how he consulted scholars to avoid misogynist lyrics ffs. And 3D isn't the only song I have a problem with, just the worst. "It's just lyrics and images" and what are BTS songs? It just feels like a slap in the face.

I think he performed the Jack Harlow version because the alternate version is not in Golden, which he was promoting - it's the feature that opens the album. I also doubt he saw fans objecting to the lyrics, unless the Koreans fans were complaining as well, and a lot of them probably don't speak English well enough to be as bothered by the lyrics as the international fandom as a whole was. Although a lot of Armys didn't like Jack Harlow, the song still did well, and tons of people did the TikTok challenge. Jungkook probably concluded that, while Seven was better received, people still enjoyed the song. BTS may monitor what Armys say but there is ton of stuff they miss, or ignore...

Jungkook isn't doubled face. "Comforting Armys" doesn't mean lyrics like Spring Day. He brings comfort to Army by delivering cool songs, performances, and content which distract Army from their daily lives, providing them with comfort and entertainment. Also, Seven is chill and relaxing - just hearing his voice in the track is comforting. There are three ballads in Golden as well, and all songs except for SNTY and 3D are rather chill and comforting. Jungkook's voice is comforting to me regardless of the lyrics or genre. He wasn't lying when he said he wants to comfort Army. Giving back the love we give him is one of his biggest motivations. He wasn't fully sure that he wanted to release an album, but I think Army was a huge factor in him doing so.

Jungkook doesn't want to be "cool and edgy". I mean, yes, in a way, but he isn't counting on Armys blindly supporting him. He trusts we will support him because we have so far, and he's also confident in the songs he's putting out because he's making music he'd like to listen to, and expects Army to be big fans of pop - kpop is pop after all... He's not interested in lyrics or a message, so he doesn't get that fans might be. Is he supposed to live in fear? Is it not his career and his life, his choice? Armys for the most part have liked his solo career. There was only a somewhat negative response to 3D. Obviously, Seven divided a few Armys, but the reaction was generally positive. Same for Golden - even on Reddit it's mostly positive. Plus, like I said, he is much more aware of K-Armys' response to his music, and, from what I've seen, they are even more positive than international Armys.

Jungkook is not RM, and I'd say you're giving RM too much credit. BTS have performed Boy in Luv and Danger in recent years, despite acknowledging how sexist their early music was. Girl of My Dreams has some disturbing lyrics from Juice Wrld yet Suga is on it. Jimin was in a song with a rapist. Bad Decisions featured Snoop Dog who defended Bill Cosby. There are plenty of examples of BTS, including BTS, collabing with, or expressing admiration for, very problematic artists. MJ, for example, was a pedophile, yet Jungkook and Jhope in particular are big fans, as are the rest of BTS (and the world...).

I don't understand how Jungkook is throwing out BTS's legacy. He built that legacy too. Sure, the "fuck boy" image that he pushed a bit with Seven and 3D, but not really with SNTY or Golden as a whole, contrasts a little with BTS's image, but it doesn't contradict it. The sexist lyrics in 3D were not his. RM and the rest of BTS get along with Bang Si-hyuk and support New Jeans and are okay with MHJ despite both being objectively terrible people. They also support brands that are unethical (they support consumerism, aren't environmentally conscious, and the brands they endorse are corrupt and built on labor rights abuse and the inhumane treatment of workers). BTS's legacy is a mixed bag and always will be. It's build on fans mass buying albums and merch, and spending their money recklessly just so a bunch of millionaires can top the charts. Also, if we're talking about meaningless love lyrics, V didn't write his own lyrics either, and BTS didn't write the English trilogy.

I feel like you're romanticizing BTS too much, even if I understand that a big part of BTS's selling point, and what I love about them as well, is them writing their own lyrics. But that was mostly always RM, and the rap line, and BTS could only give their input on concepts that the company wanted and never had the freedom to freely pick the songs on their group albums. A lot of BTS's songs are just "lyrics" and "images". Their early music, for example, had a lot of romantic lyrics that RM wrote because Bang PD wanted them to have a softer concept that appealed to fans (eg., I Need U).

Anyway, thank you for the follow-up ask. I've been harsh about BTS, and particularly Jungkook, before too. I understand that when you're upset everything seems worse than it is, and I understand that it can be really isolating in the fandom because everyone's aggressively positive all the time. I had to unfollow tons of people after Seven because I was so disappointed in the song but kept seeing everyone praise it. On Friday I also blocked out the fandom because I couldn't relate to their reaction to Golden. I also struggle with wanting to be up to date with everything BTS do and not having enough time or even interest. This is especially worse with Jungkook (that pressure).

I could tell you that it's okay to let go of BTS, but it's a bit like giving up on a huge part of you - like losing a limb. I get it, that's what it means to be Army, it's sad sometimes too. If you feel lonely you can talk to me. If not for my anons, I'd feel really lonely in the fandom as well, which I don't even consider myself to be a real part of. I'm Army but I'm not in the fandom, if that makes sense.

It might take time, but perhaps after they've all enlisted, you, and I, will have time to reconnect with BTS without the pressure of keeping up with them. The constant releases and content fatigue me too - it can be overwhelming. When BTS reunite, it won't be the same, but hopefully we'll all come together again, even if for the last time...

Thanks for the ask!

[dani-luminae]

For Lia and Ayesha!

What fan-material would exist for your character in fandom?

What is the quote between your character and their love interest/whoever they might be shipped with that their fans would latch onto?

Be honest. What song is playing over an AMV/tiktok of scenes between your character and their love interest?

What headcanons/theories do you believe fandom would invent about your character

What corners of fandom would consider your character blorbo material?

HEY sorry it took me like a week to get to this!!! I legitimately forgot about it until you answered my ask and I was like "hey didn't I have something to answer???" anyways -

FOR LIA: assuming this is main canon Lia,

What fan-material would exist for your character in fandom?

Fanfics, fanart (they better not lightwash/whitewash her though), just like general fandom stuff properly.

What is the quote between your character and their love interest/whoever they might be shipped with that their fans would latch onto?

Well there's the Big Reveal part of Chapter 68 in RTS:

"Of course I am [in love with Lia]! How could I not be? I'm madly in love with her, because she's one of the most compassionate and kind people I've ever met!  She's been nothing but supportive, to me, to everyone! She doesn't jump at a chance to fight people or brag about how much more powerful she is. [...] Are you happy now? I'm in love with Lia Hawkins!"

And just. Tell me you can't imagine all the ficlets and gifsets revolving about Lia's boundless love for everyone around her, and this love that makes Ben love her so deeply so quickly. Just look at it!

(And maybe just Mal's betrayed face at the end of it for good measure)

Be honest. What song is playing over an AMV/tiktok of scenes between your character and their love interest?

"Rewrite the Stars", duh. And probably "Never Enough", too. Heck, we can add "A Million Dreams" to that. Yes I was totally in a Greatest Showman phase, why do you ask

What headcanons/theories do you believe fandom would invent about your character

Honestly they can take it away with theories about Lia's upbringing as it took place on Montressor, because I realize in hindsight I've really lacked fleshing that out... along with a lot of Lia's backstory.

What corners of fandom would consider your character blorbo material?

I'm not sure. I mean I would hope a majority of the fandom, but Lia is also dark-skinned and sadly fandoms don't have a good track with dark-skinned characters and especially dark-skinned women. I would hope that fans of color would really like her and appreciate her! I've tried to do my research and put a lot of respectful thought into her character, really trying to avoid the negative tropes about WOC (there were some missteps earlier in her portrayal, but I'm always learning.)

~~~

FOR AYESHA: again, assuming main canon

What fan-material would exist for your character in fandom?

Treading carefully to avoid grand spoilers for the prequel: the fandom is welcome to piece together the fateful final voyage of Captain Sigalu, and what exactly went down there. I'm sure there'd be a fanfic or two about that.

What is the quote between your character and their love interest/whoever they might be shipped with that their fans would latch onto?

"Jim spent so much effort trying to impress everyone, and it was to no avail.

Ayesha saw him as he truly was, and she had from the start."

Be honest. What song is playing over an AMV/tiktok of scenes between your character and their love interest?

Okay, frankly I have no clue for these two. I have yet to find a song that encompasses them.

What headcanons/theories do you believe fandom would invent about your character

Well I've left the identity/fate of Ayesha's father very very... well, nonexistent in her stories. I'm sure some of the fandom would be all over that, trying to figure him out and ideas about Ayesha as a result.

What corners of fandom would consider your character blorbo material?

Genuinely the same answer as Lia, above.

.

Thanks for the ask!

[divergentexarchickeyblade]

I never really post on here. I'm just a fandom account, really, and I tend to dodge the news like the plague, as it has a habit of negatively affecting my mental health. But I just need somewhere to shout into the void, about what's happening in the UK. This might be a long read, so I'll add a read more. If you just want some advice, it's after the TLDR.

Also, trigger warnings: racism, riots, current news. I know it's too much for some people, especially today.

Right now, in the UK, there are far-right groups doing scheduled marches, touting some anti-immigration shit. It's stupid. It's infuriating. It's scary. There's one down the road from where we live.

None of them actually give a shit about migration, or the socio-political-economic side of migrating vs. living nationally. This is all about racism (and a dash of classism). How do I know that?

Both me and my partner's grandfathers are not from the UK, or have a family background outside of the UK. They would only hate one of us. They'd think I'm one of them, because I'm paper white, and my grandfather is Southern Irish. My partner's grandfather was Romani, and my partner is (as they themselves say) 'not entirely white'. Both of us were born in the UK. Both of us have English parents.

And yet, they'd absolutely hate my partner, but be fine with me. Because I'm painfully white.

Maybe to some people I'm stating the obvious. Of course these riots are about racism. Racism, from a country that notoriously conquered half the world, had an empire, and were surprised that the people of those nations came to the UK. From a country with a high amount of ex-pats. From a country with entire cities built from multiculturalism and diversity. From a country that, in academia, encourages us to look at sources from a variety of locations across the world.

Yet, here are the riots. Here are the racists. Some places in the UK have had to EVACUATE their workers, like it's a bomb threat, such as Sunderland University. People living in the cities have been told to avoid the centres and find alternate travel measures. Town centres are being plastered with stickers, covered in racist remarks.

I'm reminded of the Nottinghill violence. If you don't know what that was, please read about it. It was a horrific event, and the victims of that violence should never be forgotten.

We are a nation that says 'never again' when we see WW2, but are happy to be just as vile to others who don't fit into our little idea of 'UK'. We are a nation that prides itself on the quality of our degrees, and their popularity across the world, yet reject non-nationals. We are a nation built of years and years of fighting for freedom and rights, yet snatch them away when it's convenient for us. We are a nation that is about the people and collective, when we are threatened from exterior forces, but when that dies down, we attack each other.

It's brain-dead. It's terrifying. It's the stuff of nightmares. And I'm not even the demographic being fucking targeted. I can't imagine how much worse they feel.

TLDR: Fuck racists. Fuck your 'protests'. Go read a fucking book. It's not 1960, anymore - the web has so much free information you can access, like archives, documentaries, etc. Fucking use them. Then, grow up.

As for people like me, who are worried for their families, spouses, friends, etc. Please, check on them. Text them, call them, anything. Even if they've just been hanging out at home, make sure they're okay.

To the people who are being targeted, I'm so sorry. This is such a BS situation, and my heart really goes out to you. The only thing I can do is offer the following advice:

- Avoid city centres and areas with large crowds. Try not to use public transport that links cities, too. Rioters will likely be taking these routes.

- Please, stay home, make sure all of your windows/doors/gates are locked, even if you're in the house (moreso at night). Considering how hot it is, close your blinds/curtains to block out sunlight. You can, also, use fans or dehumidifiers to keep your house cool.

- Make sure you have a torch/flashlight/candles/etc., just in case the power goes out. People like that tend to be looters, or looters hide in the crowds to go unnoticed, and will steal copper wiring out of electrical pylons and stuff.

- If you're still outside, make sure to keep your phone on you, and record ANYTHING that happens. If anyone attacks you, physically or verbally, record it all, and hand it to the police. Chances are, you won't be the only one, reporting that person.

- Take longer, quieter routes home.

- If your public transport breaks down, get yourself a taxi. It'll suck, but your life and safety are worth more than money. Uber works in the UK, and local areas have their own taxi services.

- Keep cars in a garage, or somewhere quiet/difficult for other people to get to.

- Try not to travel alone.

- Please, above all, STAY SAFE.

- Keep pets indoors.

- If you have nice neighbours, let them know where you are. Try to stick together, and keep each other safe. Their company can, also, do wonders. Maybe do go round for that cup of tea you both keep putting off.

- If your home has CCTV, security alarms etc., keep them on. Even if you live in the nicest neighbourhood, keep it on for now.

- Try and keep your kids at home. They will target children, too. A lot of people have pointed at the Southport murder as evidence of this.

- If you, or someone you know, is homeless, or needs somewhere safe to stay, the charity SHELTER is a great place to start. On top of that, each area has local charities that might be able to help. Sometimes hotels will, also, offer a safe room for situations like this, but it is hotel dependent.

- It might sound obvious to state, but the number for emergency services in the UK is 999. You can call this number, even with bad signal. You'll be asked if you want police, fire fighters, or an ambulance. If it's a medical issue, but not urgent, call 111. This number directs you to an NHS health department, that can advise you, or escalate the problem to Accident and Emergency, if they feel it's appropriate. These numbers are FREE, even from mobile phones. 111 has seriously saved my ass with medical problems, so don't be afraid to contact them. They just wanna help.

- If all of this is getting to you, and you take a crash in your mental health, you can contact the Samaritans charity, or MIND charity. They're not long-term, but can help you in times of crisis. Much like the hotels thing, some areas have their own charities that deal with this sort of thing, and they can help you.

- If you're ordering a prescription, you can ask for it to be delivered to your address. Even if it's just a temporary measure. They'll understand. I'm not sure if you have to pay for the delivery, so be mindful of that.

[totaldramafan-lauri]

It’s hard to believe that.....i-it’s coming up on one year since I met you.....

And.....it hurts to think of how.....at the time, I had thought that....we clicked right away....I-I really believed that I’d found a new, strong bond that would last a long time.....I’d found people that were on the same page as me, that I could talk to, have long conversations with, and simp together with....

In such a short time, I got attached.....I looked up to you guys....You inspired me to keep writing.....More than one of my fics wouldn’t exist without you.....You all helped me....feel....c-confident....in my writing.....so much that I kept doing it.....And I can’t thank you enough, for being the reason that I can go back and read the fics I wrote, that I.....feel.....g-genuinely proud of......

We had so many fun times, simping, trading ideas, rambling about our OCs and OC x Canon ships without being embarrassed.....m-making things together.....even just hanging out.....

To think that I’d be here a year later, by myself again.....

With so much to say, yet....not being able to.....

I felt so comfy around you......I felt accepted.....and that was wrong of me.....

I didn’t know what I was and wasn’t allowed to do, and....I-I really have no excuse for that.....I-I did things that other friend groups let me get away with, and....got too negative.....I-I got too into venting about fandom stuff I didn’t like.....I can’t even be mad that my words were misinterpreted as attacks, cuz I shouldn’t have said them in the first place....I could go on and on about things I should’ve known, or should’ve done, yadda yadda, but.....n-no matter what, it’s all over. It’s done. And.....lessons were learned.

September through the first half of December last year were the most miserable I’d ever been in years. Not only due to the guilt, and emotional trauma, but also.....being scared of myself. Of saying anything.....literally anything that could be negative at all....

But, again, lessons were learned. Misery builds character, and.....And now, I feel like I’m a better person after having gone through that. I know more about what not to do, and I’ve been avoiding it all since then.

Everything’s fine now, but.....

I-it still hurts.....it still feels like a part of me hasn’t moved on.

Cuz.....I know, that the talk I was promised, will probably never happen. I....w-was probably lied to. And that’s fine, cuz you never owed me anything.....I-I’ll never truly know just how hurt you were......I would never try to initiate that kinda thing with you. It’s your choice whether or not to contact me.

I-I just....REALLY wanted to talk.....an actual talk....a calm, rational talk......for us all to explain ourselves.....and for me to give an actual level-headed apology straight to you all. And....e-even if I wasn’t forgiven, at least I would’ve tried to lay out the facts.....That I never wanted to hurt anyone. I wanted to be believed, that’s all.....

What if I’d been given that chance? What if we’d tried to talk things out....? I’ll never know....

I can’t contact the two of you I looked up to the most, and that stings....Knowing I’ll never be able to make nice with you.....but, I hope wherever you are, that good things come your way, because you’re both such nice people and such talented writers.....

To the one who recently gave me kudos: You cannot imagine how happy that made me! Like, seriously! To see that, even if you don’t wanna talk, that you’re still around......and you don’t hate me enough to not let me know that.....Ugh, I was so happy that day....

I-I’m sorry I’m rambling, but.....y’know, that’s nothing new with me...My point is....

Thank you. Thank you all....I-I know we didn’t know each other for that long, but you really made me happy while I was there.....thank you for inspiring me, and thank you for the lessons you taught me. And, while I wish I could talk to you still, the memories we shared and the gifts you gave to me are still enough. I’m so, so, so sorry about everything I did that annoyed you....and I hope your lives are better without me. ^^

[egg-emperor]

You're very right in the tags of that one post. Toxic positivity is just as bad as toxic negativity, sometimes worse due to the handling of constructive criticism because of can-do-no-wrong attitude that stifles growth and creativity.

That ever-growing toxicity combined with this weird form of puritanism that has people harassing and dogpiling on others if they dare have an independent thought outside the hivemind is what's forcing me away from the Sonic fandom and never returning again, despite how much I love Eggman. I've already stopped reblogging Sonic art on my main blog and interacting with the fandom at large outside of a close circle of trusted friends across social media, they're the only thing even keeping that dying flame for this series stoked. I'm almost ready to delete it all and revamp my main blog theme to distance myself further. It hurts to know I'm no longer welcome in something that has been a major part of my life since I started gaming, something I've seen grow from literally nothing as I grew.

I still enjoy so many things about this series, and I had so much fun with everything up until this point, but being pushed out and treated like you're worse than trash for disagreeing with one thing feels like a knife being twisted in my heart. I don't want to go, but at this point I feel I have no choice to leave it all behind.

I'm sorry to sound whiny with this all, but I guess I just needed somewhere to vent. Should I consider this my goodbye letter to the Sonic series? Maybe so.

Thanks, Julian. Again, sorry for the vent.

Nah don't apologize, that's exactly how I've been feeling too. There's a big problem with both toxic positivity and negativity in this fandom and I'd say the former has been a much bigger one lately. I wouldn't say any of my criticisms of the latest media I'm not a fan of has been that harsh, aside from the occasional rants where I've been especially worked up and upset.

Most of the time it was just calm criticism that I was being asked to talk about in my inbox, it's not like I was going onto other people's posts and inboxes trying to be negative. But it's just blown up out of proportion because people take offense merely being something they don't want to see, because I see it as anything less than perfect and amazing. And that's where the toxic positivity comes in.

What I do always comes from a place of deep passion and my boldness in expressing true feelings is dismissed as nothing but hatred. Just because again, it's not highly positive endless praise without question or criticism. There's a lot of toxic positivity and also puritanism especially when it comes to my views and creations of Eggman compared to what people would prefer I think and do instead.

I've stepped away from fandom massively too because there isn't much out there that appeals to me anymore. It's a hivemind where you're not allowed to voice different opinions or even state facts as it's immediately taken as an attack. It's full of high praise of everything and intolerance towards people that don't feel the same, they accuse me of being horrible and hateful and trying to attack specific people with things I make on my own blog.

I don't think I'm ever really going to come back either beyond interaction with the small amount of people I still follow that aren't with that crowd and their mindset and either feel the same or accept I feel differently, like I can with them as long as they respect me too. I don't seek out content from anywhere else aside from heavily filtered Tumblr search. I'll never search Eggman on Twitter again for the sake of my sanity lol

While it does help me feel better to not surround myself with things that make me uncomfortable and avoid it as well as I can, it does hurt to leave almost everything behind and not feel welcome amongst the masses just because we can't agree on everything and are open with criticism, no matter how sensible and calm we are about it. I'm going to miss out on the small amount of stuff out there I would like as a result which is sad too.

But then when I'm at my worst after all recent events, I've contemplated deleting everything and leaving because even though there are a few reasons I have to stick around and it's not all bad, it still feels like I don't belong and do everything wrong in some people's eyes and am hated by many and it just makes me miserable with all the constant reminders. It hurts that something that's been so special and important to me almost all my life is now attached to this pain.

It was fun up until this point for me too but now I feel pushed out because of how many places I've been kicked out of and how many I've been blocked by. It really does hurt a lot, how it feels like everything can go wrong just for being yourself and being open and honest about how you feel. It does stifle growth and creativity a lot when different perspectives and ideas are immediately shunned and looked down upon and responded to aggressively.

I don't really want to go either but I've accepted I need to take a step back, as big of a part of my life it was for so long. And I've been considering that I might have to leave official media behind soon as it just feels like there might not be anything for me anymore. Even before shit really hit the fan fandom wise, I started pondering it. Leaving that will hurt even more but I'm trying not to hold on to what hurts or discomforts me and just doesn't bring me the happiness it did before.

If I do have to leave both fandom and official media behind entirely, it will hurt a lot but I still appreciate for the people I still follow, old official content, and sharing my analysis, headcanons, fics, gushing, etc. I'm still passionate as ever about Eggman and love to create from it and share it, that's why I care so much and have such strong opinions and bold ways of expressing it in the first place. It's sad that it had to come to this but I appreciate the good times and memories and I won't let all this stop me from doing what I love.

But yeah you're not alone in this, I feel exactly the same way and I'm saying my goodbye to most of the fandom too and possibly the entire series itself soon with the way things might be going from here.

You're welcome and no need to be sorry 💜

[gentil-minou]

So umm...Hey! Sorry if this seems to be a bit of a rant.

For some reason whatever tag I go into which is related to miraculous, I keep finding salt. Too much of it. About how miraculous gas extremely bad writing and character salt. Needless to say, It upsets me so much?

My blocklist is almost endless now. I keep blocking people who I encounter who are basically really salty, and I don't understand if it is wrong tho? Like I just block people even if there is a hint of salt in their blog. And then there are people who are really, popular (??) In this fandom who, again, are salty and I block them, but kind of feel like I am the one who is too sensitive?

Thing is this is the first fandom I have ever joined (been here since June). Miraculous is literally the first show I have seen with such an interesting and relatable story and romance and everything. So maybe my standards are low?? I gush over miraculous when every new episode comes out and seeing salt and negativity triggers me a lot? I have considered taking a break from the fandom but then, I love parts of the fandom which is not salty. I love being able to theorise with people. I don't want to go on breaks, but it gets too complicated with putting salt in the mix:((

Sorry if this is out of nowhere, but I am really upset and confused and I don't know if what I am doing is right to wrong or how to stop it and- You get the idea:(

Hi friend!!! Never feel sorry for expressing your feelings, they are always valid!!

I completely understand how you feel, negativity can be fun for some folks but sometimes it just makes a person feel worse. I completely understand how much it sucks for someone to salt or criticize something you really care about, especially when it's important to you and you're looking for a safe space to have fun and enjoy with others.

My advice to you, my darling, is avoid the tags and stick with the blogs you know that spread positivity and joy in your life. The ones that make you feel good about the stuff you enjoy. We can't change the salters, and it really isn't even worth trying. What we can do is find other people who enjoy what we love.

Here is a list of blogs I follow who love the show and have fun as much as I do, with minimal salt.

@coccinelle-et-chaton, @thesquipproject, @sketchy-panda, @pegasus-anarchy, @a-drienette, @dandelionrumpancake, @sparklylovegiver, @plagglovescheese, @sugarcube-stinkysock, @ladyofthenoodle, @emsylcatac,@syeko, @coccinelledemoiselle, @galahadwilder, @ozzo-the-wozzo (basically everyone in the @gamma-squad heh)

Some of my other favorite ML blogs that, while I don't know them personally or talk to them much, I find to be fun and genuinely enjoy their posts and content: @carpisuns, @aerequets, @marinettas, @15megapixels-mlb, @lnc2, @yeet-noir, @gabriel-agreste-has-no-rights, @rosekasa, @art-the-f-up, @ouiladybug (and I will stop here cause maybe this is too much already ahfjrkgkakfk)

Anyways the point of this is to spread positivity and joy wherever you can, but mostly to surround yourself with what makes YOU happy 😊

[mittensmorgul]

For anyone interested in long-term residence in the supernatural fandom, please have some observations I’ve made over the decade I’ve been here. Take it or leave it as you will, but I’ve found all of this info useful over the years I’ve been here.

I wrote this yesterday, and it achieved its mission of identifying the sort of folks who would react negatively to it (i.e. a lot of block lists have been updated), so now that it’s been edited for content, it’s going under a cut (because that is how we do things on tumblr in general, unless we have a deliberate purpose for annoying readers with excessively long text posts) for the sake of people who actually do care about the fandom and its history. If that’s not you or your reason for being here, then keep on keeping on with your own thing, I guess. For those who are interested, there’s a lot of fandom resources some of us have been building for years that you might enjoy knowing about.

First off, I’ve been informed by a few friends who’ve read through this for coherency’s sake that it sort of reads like a *shakes cane from porch* fandom grandma complaint, but honestly... I earned this rocking chair and goshdangit imma rock now. So apologies for any “back in my day” vibes or faint aroma of tiger balm this post might give off. Then again, it’s loosely based on a similar post from 2012 so like... time is a flat circle anyway I guess.

1. There is no such thing as “tumblr famous,” unless you’re referring to the hilarious and delightful fic of the same name (please go read it, you will cackle). Posting Hot Takes for imaginary Clout™ on this site is kind of pointless in the long run. Sure you can post solely for the sake of stirring shit and getting notes, but the majority of the folks who do aren’t long term residents of the fandom. They’re just tourists moving through our little beach town for spring break. If you’re actually intent on moving to this corner of the fandom for an extended stay, please bother to really feel out the permanent residents and understand the culture and general mood of the neighborhood. It bears no resemblance to whatever’s going on across town where all the bars and beach parities are happening, and those loud, drunken revelers are, again, gonna disappear back to their regular lives or on to the next party eventually. That doesn’t mean the fandom is dying, it’s just evolving.

(funny how I had several comments implying that I’m just trying to keep the fandom from evolving with this post, because I sincerely do want the fandom to continue on for years to come, and that is impossible without evolution. We can evolve without self-immolating, though. mostly i included point 1 for an excuse to push ancient but hilarious fanfic on you.)

2. Once you post something here, it’s been unleashed to the fandom winds. You never know where it will end up, or who will comment on it or add to it. Remember that time Misha tweeted the link to the Epic Cockles Love Story post? No? It was wild. That was 2012. They all know we’re here, and how to find us if they want to. Please don’t take it to their doorsteps.

Obviously if someone is being a dick on your posts, please feel free to block them, but the whole entire point of this site is to engage people with your posts. Being big mad that someone reblogged your post with comments or supporting evidence, or happy headcanons or “HECK THIS IS GREAT BECAUSE (insert personal story about their experience or whatever else made them Feel Things about your post)” is frankly ridiculous. If your goal is to avoid any sort of engagement with your posts, then maybe try instagram instead. From what I understand, there is a SPN fandom presence there, and nobody can tarnish your original posts with unwanted commentary. But the ability to reblog with additional commentary is a FEATURE of tumblr that builds community through conversation. Otherwise we’re all just talking to ourselves in a vacuum, and that’s what actually kills fandoms.

(and for the folks who just want to blog how they want to blog and don’t want people to engage on their posts at all, please feel free to block anyone you want, as well... nobody wants to step on your toes, but most of us also don’t want to walk on eggshells wondering if this post is one of the “do not add comments for any reason” sorts of posts, either. This is a huge fandom and most people can’t even begin to keep track of every creator and their url du jour, and what their personal rules might be regarding interaction with their content. Including a “please don’t add comments” note at the bottom of your posts-- and not in your tags that won’t even show up on reblogs, but in the actual body of the post-- would sincerely help avoid any awkward or unwanted interactions, too. At the end of the day, you are in control of your own fandom experience and the block button exists.

For the record, I block zero fandom blogs (which is why I posted this, I wanted it to reach a wide scope... refer to the opening paragraphs as to why).

3. Since this post was partly inspired by a tag I left on that post going around about how “previous tags” mean fuckall on this site (which you can read here), just a reminder that if you like someone’s tags or feel they add value to the post, part of the Peer Review structure of tumblr encourages you to PASTE THEM INTO A REBLOG. If you do this, then at least credit the person who actually wrote the tags! Don’t just copy someone else’s tags into your tags on your reblog of the post without credit either. They were not YOUR tags. (I have had this happen to tag rambles I wrote and someone else got credited with them on a subsequent reblog and it is FRUSTRATING). Just... don’t even bother to write “previous tags” because WHAT PREVIOUS TAGS?! Nobody is gonna bother to chase back the chain of reblogs trying to find where the mystery tags came from, friendos. That way lies madness.

(for the record, since some folks seemed to focus on this point solely, writing “previous tags” on a post isn’t inherently a BAD thing, but for anyone who actually is here for more than one-off shitposting, then it’s sort of a pointless thing in the long run. This wasn’t intended to suggest people who ARE here for one-off shitposting are bad or “doing it wrong,” but for people who might actually want to preserve that hilarious joke or insightful comment. People delete posts and entire blogs all the time around here. Links break. I get that the upcoming generation just shrugs at that and moves on with their lives, but heck... you don’t have to accept that all entertainment is disposable if you don’t want to. There’s a bizarre sort of nihilism plaguing us all about the impermanence of pretty much everything that feels like something we should be fighting against rather than buying into wholesale, even in our escapist entertainment. I’m just exhausted by the complete loss of joy in community.

*shouts from the peanut gallery* IT AIN’T THAT DEEP, JUST GET SOME FRESH AIR AND LOOK AT A PUPPY OR SOMETHING

Yes... yes it isn’t really that deep, but bigger picture in the state of reality we’re all entirely disillusioned with, are we supposed to just give up on everything, including the things we cling to because they bring us a tiny spark of hope that we’re not all just trapped in this dystopian nightmare and things might actually be worth living for?

*peanut gallery clinging to burnt husks of peanuts in a barren peanut field* but this is how we have chosen to cope

Okay... you do you... I feel bad for you but if that’s the case then this post is NOT FOR YOU. AND THAT’S FINE. I honestly do not care if you don’t care! I mean, I’m sorry anyone has to live in a world that drives them to that mindset, but I understand. This post is for anyone who might look at their lives and their choices and think “no wait, I unironically enjoy this and want more from the experience of that enjoyment than I’m currently feeling.” Everyone else can continue with their lives as usual.)

4. CONTENT THEFT IS NEVER OKAY. PERIOD. Things like “credit to the artist” or tagging gifs or images you found on pinterest as “not mine” isn’t actually credit. If you can’t source an image or gif set, DO NOT POST IT! We don’t REPOST (i.e. save an image and then create a new post with it as if it was our own creation). We REBLOG (click the little square arrows and reblog from the actual creator). That goes for gif sets, fanvids, screencaps, meta, fic... everything.

(hopefully everyone here already understands this one, but I felt compelled to include some “these are stupidly obvious” reminders anyway, since this is ostensibly some sort of advice column. This is the equivalent of the warning label on your toaster reminding you not to use it in the bath. Like... duh...)

5. Close kin of item 4 is SOURCE YOUR SHIT. 

(for 100% disclosure purposes, I specifically discussed this one in this specific way because of an influx of anon ask messages I received in the wake of the finale. Literally the inciting incident for creating this entire post was what I can only assume was a joking ask about a comment Misha made at a con years ago. Someone actually bothered to take the time to type out those sentences to me. I have no idea what they were expecting in reply, or what could possibly motivate them to send this comment about something so entirely random from, again, several years ago. Just a joke? No idea, but whatever... it got me thinking that there might actually be people who are new to the fandom who MIGHT actually care about the fandom history, and maybe they just don’t know where to go for that info, or how to even begin searching through 16 years of history for things they might actually find enjoyment in, rather than just hauling random out of context garbage out on main and pointing and laughing about it now. People are actually allowed to care about things. It’s not cringeworthy to actually care about things, and you are not alone in actually caring, and there’s this whole big room over here full of people who are thrilled to share in that with you. This post is intended FOR THOSE PEOPLE SPECIFICALLY, so if that is not you, please just continue walking by.)

Yes, I know lots of y’all are new around here right now, but dredging up stuff from years ago that fandom has completely debunked and presenting it as TRU FAX again is just exhausting. We’re not trying to be party poopers, but seriously, we have seen it all and are mostly done with extinguishing bags of flaming dog poop on our front porches for the umpteenth year in a row. I’ve seen a lot of posts that have the same tone as “I saw Goody Proctor dancing with the devil” or “I heard kylo ren has an eight pack” and just... the information is there for anyone who cares enough to find it.

This goes double for “why is nobody talking about this thing I just discovered while watching the show for the first time?!” And, oh hon, we have talked it all into the ground over the last fifteen years. We’re happy you’re discovering it again, but I promise we talked about it plenty when the episodes originally aired. We have such a rich meta history that lots of us have worked really hard to preserve. I encourage you to seek it out, if nothing else than as historical artifacts. The way we have discussed the show has been a 16-year evolution. People have written literal doctoral dissertations on this show. Your shitposts are fun! We love reliving our own experience through fresh eyes, and seeing your wonder at experiencing it all again for the first time! But y’all didn’t invent this fandom in the last six months, either.

Meta Sources and Minerals provided by our friendly neighborhood fandom archivist, @lets-steal-an-archive

Academic books and articles about SPN 

A collection of Meta Essays going back to s1 and organized by topic (all of this has happened before, all of it will happen again)

SPN Heavy Meta Archive (s1-3)

Mel’s Dreamwidth archive of meta (s1-12)

Oranges8hands Dreamwidth archive of meta (s1-15, with many similar entries to Mel’s... though ymmv on viewpoint in a lot of these too)

Anyone remember Fandom Wank? Not the concept but the actual LJ... No? Okay have a link to SPN topics that ended up there. Through 2013. We have seen so much... including several fandom containment breaches.

for all your art sourcing needs, please see @theroadsofararchive, the repository for so much fandom art.

need to find a gif of something? canonspngifs is a vast repository of gifsets of the entire series. If the gif you want to use in your post happens to be the first gif in the gifset, in the tumblr gif finder thingy just paste the permalink to that post from canonspngifs (which is easily searchable by episode, character, location, situation, quotes, and sometimes even color and clothing items the actors are wearing... it’s really well organized, especially for tumblr >.>) and the first gif will be automatically linked with credit to the gif creator attached. It makes life easy that way. It’s also convenient when trying to remember something specific but can’t remember what episode it’s from. I’ve used the site to jog my memory before going to the superwiki armed with more specific search results to find episode quotes and references. Or sometimes I just scroll through all the nice gifs for fun, too.

Need a screencap of something and know exactly which episode it’s from? Try Home of the Nutty. You might not find the exact screencap you’re looking for, but they have a complete set of caps of every episode, and it’s an incredibly useful resource for quick reference checks and the like. Just give pages a chance to fully load before clicking on the next one. The site is easily overloaded, but it’s still free to use (and again, with credit... Pretty much every screencap on my entire blog is from HotN unless otherwise credited).

As you can see, this is a fandom built on preserving our history. You absolutely are not required to engage with any of this if that’s not of interest to you, but I can only assume that there are people who would be interested in it if only they knew it existed and how to find it. Well, now they do.

6. A few more notes on tags, and how they work on tumblr. The first 20 tags on your ORIGINAL posts are searchable sitewide, so if you want to be able to find something again, tag that thing first before going on general tag rambles. The only place tags on reblogs are searchable is on your own blog. So you don’t have to put 50 tags trying to get a post seen if it’s a reblog. You’re just spitting into the wind at that point. If you have a filing system for finding things again, then by all means add those tags (again, in the first 20, so they’re searchable), but you don’t need to tag a reblog “destiel” and “deancas” and “dean” and “cas” and “dean x cas” or whatever. Pick one for your personal blog’s filing system, that’s all you need.

(this was only added because tagging and searching on this site is so very broken... I get that a lot of folks don’t care about ever searching their own blogs again for anything, so this one only really applies if you do often find yourself trying to find old posts. If not, then it’s not really relevant.  It took me years to work out a decent tagging system, and at the beginning of my time here I never thought I’d end up camping out here for a decade and falling this deep into the fandom, and I regretted my lack of consistent tags only years later when I realized I actually wanted to be able to go back and find specific old posts again. So... for anyone who wants to err on the side of caution, working out a sensible tagging system really helps if you’re here for the long term. I personally tag content by episode, because some of my other general tags are so large as to be practically useless as a search term. But whatever system you choose to file stuff on your own blog, it really only has to make sense to you. And again, if this is pointless advice for someone who has no intention of settling here for the long term. Please feel free to ignore it. I just wish someone had explained it this way to me ten years ago and saved me the hassle of retroactively tagging something like 30k posts... especially now that using the mass tag replacer is the fastest way to get your entire blog deleted... oops? so yeah, don’t use the mass tag replacer either >.>)

7. Tags on Tumblr DO NOT WORK LIKE TAGS ON TWITTER. If you @ someone in the body of the post, it will show up in their notifications (if they’re the sort of person who even checks their notifications... not all of us do. For the record, I generally don’t...), but putting actor or ship names in the tags on a tumblr post does absolutely nothing. It’s not the same as tagging the actor’s twitter account in a tweet. Nobody’s getting notifications about you tagging a post about Jensen here as “Jensen Ackles.” There is a difference. Please learn it. (and don’t take headcanons and ESPECIALLY RPF or otherwise explicit art or fic from tumblr to twitter and tag the actors in it. That’s just... not okay.)

(I have seen the pearl clutchers getting all in a huff about the mere existence of RPF or even explicit content of fictional characters if it doesn’t meet their purity standards, but tagging those things allows people who don’t want to see it to actively avoid that content here. Nobody has a right to tell people their fictional content shouldn’t exist at all, or that creators of that fictional content somehow deserve harassment or threats for having dared to create such “immoral” content, won’t somebody PLEASE think of the children... and no... you do not do that here. Don’t be the problematic behavior you wish to ban from the world. Learn to use tags to protect yourself from, as i have attempted to emphasize here, fictional content you are personally upset by. That’s a you problem, not a problem for the creators of potentially upsetting content that they tag appropriately for.)

8. General formatting stuff: If you’re writing long text posts, visually break them up so people aren’t faced with one long wall of text. The enter key is your friend. Also, if you put long text posts under a Read More break and send people to your blog to finish reading, please ensure that your blog is actually visually accessible (tiny text, or light grey text on a dark grey background, or a visually busy background might be aesthetically pleasing to you but nobody can actually read it. Loads of folks won’t even try. Which is great if you don’t actually care whether people are able to appreciate your content or not, but something to at least consider if you *do* actively want to encourage engagement with your work. Confirm how your blog looks on both mobile and desktop and make sure it’s actually functional in both, too).

And since I mentioned that most of my experience on fandom tumblr has been in the SPN fandom, here’s a bit of a reminder for folks who are new around here. With the reminder that I have been here more than a decade and still feel like a newbie myself sometimes...

This is an OLD FANDOM. There are many, many people who have been at this longer than some of you have been alive. The average age for creators in this fandom is older than you think (I think of my friends in their 30′s as young’ins okay? okay). With that understood, you are responsible for the content you consume and are exposed to. Curate your experience. Ship and let ship. YKINMKATOK. Don’t deliberately expose yourself to content you find upsetting for whatever reason. Tags and warnings are your friends, not targets for you to attack in some sort of purity war. People will ship things you do not like (or in specific ways you do not like), will say things you do not agree with, and will find their happiness in things you abhor. That is not your concern. Find what you do like, and support and engage with it, and ignore (or block, or unfollow) the rest. Tumblr has a feature that lets you blacklist tags so the content you’re trying to avoid won’t appear on your dash.

Remember the paradox of tolerance.

It is not your job in fandom to police how other people enjoy the fandom. It’s not *my* job to police how *you* enjoy the fandom, UNLESS your enjoyment is in actively harming other real human beings in the fandom. If you don’t like their take on the character or the show or the plotlines or their ships or anything else, you don’t need to engage with their posts at all! The necessary corollary to this is that clarifying misunderstandings or correcting factual misinformation is not “policing.” 

(this is where the peanut gallery reminds me it ain’t that deep, and I plead with them to put down the social media and find just one (1) thing to actually believe in in this godforsaken life, find something other than disdain and cynicism and spite to live for. If those things motivate you to find a larger cause for yourself, then great, use them to your advantage, but use them to find something that makes you a better person or brings you a modicum of joy and connection to your fellow human beings despite living in a dystopian hellscape of a world)

I have seen a lot of posts lately that are founded on the sort of authority that comes with “I watched through tumblr for a few months and then watched the last three episodes of the series” and as such are just... missing the larger context of the entire show, and are unfounded entirely in canon. I 100% appreciate the new enthusiasm for the fandom that we’ve been living in here for years, and it’s wonderful to see new people enjoying the thing we love. Your headcanons are valid, you are valid, but recognize that your headcanons aren’t canon. All of us finale denialists have accepted this in some measure, so we feel you. We truly, truly feel you. But regarding actual canon, we have a resource for that: the Superwiki. Learn it, live it, love it, as Metatron would say.

(which you could discover he said in 10.17 Inside Man, thanks to the superwiki! accept no substitutes!)

(and again, there have been people who have been involved in fandom for years who haven’t engaged with canon in years, either! You can play in this universe however you choose, BUT FOR PEOPLE WHO ACTUALLY CARE ABOUT CANON AT ALL, WHICH I AM AGAIN POINTEDLY SAYING MIGHT NOT BE YOU, READER, AND I’M NOT SUGGESTING YOU ARE WRONG FOR NOT WANTING TO ACTUALLY ENGAGE WITH CANON, but if you DO want to engage with canon, please have some useful resources. Why do people feel personally attacked by being presented a list of helpful resources? Absolutely baffling.)

(also: words have definitions. “Canon” is a specific thing, meaning in this case “the finished media product that aired on television.” Anything beyond those limits is secondary canon (think: john’s journal, which is not canon but canon adjacent at best...), word of god (i.e stuff said by the writers and showrunners), or headcanon (which includes actor commentary-- they may have helped create the show with their acting choices and whatever, but they are not in control of the story overall). If there’s something you dislike about actual canon, you can reject it and supplement it with your own theories or preferred outcomes-- that’s basically what fanfic is-- but that doesn’t make your theories canon (much to all our dismay, that’s just not how any of this works. This is not to invalidate how anyone engages with the show or the fandom, just trying to clarify what seems to have been a source of unintentional misunderstandings. Your theories do not have to be “canon” to be legitimate interpretations.)

***I am setting this section apart, and did make a separate post of just this following information, because this is where we go from being relatively chill about different parts of fandom choosing to interact in different ways and you do you and blog however you want, to “hey can everybody please understand that the way you are interacting with this specific material might be harmful for specific legal reasons, and stating that you do not care about the consequences of your actions does actively make you the asshole here...” Okay, now that we have that understood:

The spnscripthunt collective has been steadily acquiring new scripts (which are posted in full on the superwiki for everyone to enjoy, for free). The language around how some folks are talking about these scripts is... concerning. For very real legal reasons, actually, and not because we’re feeling precious about the collection and don’t wike it when meanies use them in shitposts.

-First off, these scripts are not “leaks.” They are all verified and legally purchased (or gifted, in some cases, but still acquired entirely above board. we didn’t whack anyone over the head in a back alley for these scripts, or swipe them out of someone’s trailer on set).

(in case anyone was unaware, these scripts are the copywritten protected property of Warner Brothers. So yes, how we use them and share them with the fandom could have legal repercussions. We present them as a collected resource of fandom history which SHOULD fall under Fair Use doctrine, but this is untested legal water. Insinuating that the scripts are somehow not entirely legally obtained, or that posting them for public access involved less than 100% transparent and entirely legal transactions is incredibly concerning.

Once again for the peanut gallery, if you don’t care about any of that and are just having a good time with it, at least be mindful of the work and expense a large group of people have gone through to acquire and present the content you’re all too eager to exploit for cheap thrills. Some of us do actually care and are not exactly comfortable with the fact that others don’t seem to care about burning it all to the ground. We can’t force you to listen or behave as we’d hope you might, but at least be aware of the potential consequences of your actions. All we’re asking is for you to not be the douchebag who sets the whole neighborhood on fire with your illegal fireworks display. Is that too much to ask for? more on that in a second, first... a psa)

-If you see a script for sale and are unsure if it’s legit (or believe it might already be freely available in our collection), please feel free to ask us for advice. Our goal is to make as much of our fandom history available to the entire fandom, and we absolutely do not want anyone shelling out money for stuff you can already find for free.

(seriously, we’ve seen a bunch of resellers cropping up selling printed versions of the scripts we bought and uploaded for everyone to enjoy free of charge, or scripts that are otherwise of dubious origin. We’ve been at this for years now and know what’s actually out there. We don’t want anyone to fall for a scam if we can help it)

-Also, the usual reminder that the scripts we acquire ARE NOT NECESSARILY THE FINAL SHOOTING DRAFTS. In fact, the majority of scripts in our collection are NOT. Changes are made daily to scripts, even during filming. Comparing a Production Draft (white pages, effectively the first “final draft” of what usually becomes a series of drafts before filming wraps) to a much later revision (say... green or goldenrod revisions, several of which we DO have in our collection for comparison) and how those earlier drafts often differ wildly from the aired version versus how similar a much later green draft is to the aired version, for example, can teach you a lot about the television writing process. The link above to the superwiki scripts page has a nice little explainer about how this process works.

Differences between our posted scripts (many of which are white drafts, aka FIRST complete drafts, which will likely go through multiple rounds of revisions before filming even begins) and the aired version of the show are not all “acting choices” or a director or editor just cutting whole scenes on a whim. It’s insulting to everyone involved in production to suggest that’s the case.

(and yeah, fine... whatever, make any sort of posts you like regarding how those changes came about, but at the very least understand that it’s not actually the truth about how any of this works. Don’t care that that’s not the truth and want to make the posts anyway because shitposting is fun and that’s the extent of your sense of humor? FINE! You’re entitled to do that! But at least you DO know the truth now, and hopefully so do the people who engage with your posts. Deliberate ignorance isn’t cute, smooth lions notwithstanding)

There’s probably a whole other post to be made on fandom tagging etiquette, but again I don’t really use the tags enough to know what’s going on with that whole situation. I’ve also probably left a lot of stuff out, so please feel free to add things I’ve overlooked.

Thanks also to @trisscar368 and @thayerkerbasy for help compiling this, too. They were kind enough to escort me through the park to feed these pigeons. Now I need to take them out for ice cream. :’D

So I guess welcome to the neighborhood. Make yourself at home, but like... try not to trash the place while you’re here. Some of us live here by choice, lol.