#discourse that literally only exists on Tumblr/tiktok

[mimimirukyu]

Anti jirai girlies when they come to Japan and realize that no one uses the term "dark girly"

[thessalian]

Only Tumblr could see a mistranslated bit of Russian on a shoe about a nonexistent Scorcese movie, proceed to make almost every bit of evidence that the movie exists, and then engage in convincing cinema discourse about it to the exclusion of almost everything other than “Man, those Christmas movies on the Hallmark channel do the City Guy dirty”.

No one will ever make an actual algorithm work on this site, because the list of things that we will hype without so much as a nod to The New Hotness existing so far goes:

Sea Shanties

Old Edgar Allen Poe stories

Pre-serum Steve Rogers cooking weird old recipes on TikTok

Loony Tunes Gender Discourse (like, literally gender analysis of Bugs Bunny)

Unsung Historially Important Women

Some guy selling shitty copper in 1750 BCE

A movie almost no one went to see

Hallmark Christmas specials in general (seasonal)

And now we’ve added:

A movie that literally does not exist.

An algorithm wouldn’t stand a chance here. Any attempts at coding one would puke radioactive on first contact with this weird, wonderful website.

[neverwritewhatyouknow]

I’ve been wanting to make this post for a while now, but I decided to make it my last RWRB related post. It’s clear the production will never give a statement about why they changed Nora’s character from Jewish to not, and there’s other shows and movies and productions I need to focus on. But before I switch gears, this needs to be said.

I was wrong about something and I need to just make it very clear how sorry I am to Rachel Hilson for involving her in the discourse around the movie to the degree that I did.

When I first started this blog the day the cast was revealed (over a year ago), I had no more information than anyone else. The only thing I knew about Nora that she was a Jewish character (along with everything else obvi) (book) and that Rachel was rumored to be Jewish (TikTok). In my quest to point out the antisemitism in Hollywood (a very true thing), I allowed logical thinking to guide me down an incorrect path.

That path was thinking that since Nora was Jewish in the book that of course she had to be in the movie too. It wasn’t an insane assumption, since the two options were A: A non-Jewish actress playing a Jewish role, or B: totally erasing Nora’s ethnicity. For some reason, the second option felt impossible for the longest time because to me Nora being Jewish was a part of who she was and for a good chunk of time I didn’t consider that they could separate it, plus the first happens literally sooooo much (especially on Amazon) that I was certain it was happening again.

But I was wrong. Nora’s canon Jewishness was erased very early on in the adaption and Rachel was at fault for none of it. She did an amazing job (like I knew she would), but I need to apologize for what I’ve posted. In my attempt to call out Hollywood for once again casting a non-Jewish actress for a Jewish role, as they do all the time, Rachel got caught in the cross fire and that’s not fair to her. It’s the fault of the movie’s creative team, not her. I always knew that, but I’m human, I make mistakes, and I own up to them when I do. I let the emotional impact of seeing Jewish roles played by non-Jewish actors again and again influence my posting here, and while nothing I said was incorrect regarding Hollywood’s constant erasure of Jews and even the erasure of Nora’s own Jewishness, I was wrong to loop Rachel into that the way I did. I wanted to settle the rumors that she was Jewish, and I did that, but I wish I had known that Nora was just not going to be Jewish period from the start. I should’ve focused more on option B for this movie and not A, but how was I to know when it all started? Regardless, I’m going to be going through my account this weekend and deleting anything that’s directly tied to Rachel, but it’ll take a few days.

So, to Rachel: I doubt you have tumblr, you’re an extremely busy actress and this place is a time wasting hellhole, but I know you or your team knows this account exists. If you see this or hear about this, I want you to know that I really am sorry. You don’t have to forgive me, but you deserve an apology. To anyone connected to Rachel who also feels as though they were caught up in this too, I also apologize to any and all of you.

I don’t use Instagram anymore, but I know Rachel does. If anyone DMs her this apology post, this is the disclaimer that the sender didn’t write this. She’s owed an apology and I just hope she sees it somehow.

Was my calling out of RWRB’s Jew-erasure wrong? No. Was the way I did it wrong? Yeah. I focused on the wrong things based off prior knowledge and assumptions. Truly my only regret is involving Rachel, I wish I hadn’t done that. At the time it all made sense, but even then I should’ve had the restraint and waited until I knew more. So anyway, I’m sorry about that. Hopefully Rachel will someday, somehow, someway hear about my apology and understand that I was upset about the circumstances in this movie and how often it always happens, and that she just honestly was in the wrong place at the wrong time. And for that, I’m immensely sorry.

This is my last RWRB post. Unless something crazy happens. So keep following me if you wanna hear more about antisemitism and Jew-erasure in Hollywood, but I think I’ve exhausted all the things I can say. Thanks to anyone who’s supported me calling out the movie about their erasure, what they did wasn’t okay, but I’m ready to move on unless they say anything else about it.

[lostcauses-noregrets]

Do ship wars ever bother you? I know you probably block people a lot and it makes sense but I sometimes just want to check a tag on tiktok or tumblr and I fall right in the middle of ship wars and they really ruin my fun with weird takes, "Levi doesn't care about anyone other than Erwin he couldn't care less about X's death, he didn't care about the Rumbling he just wanted to avenge his husband" or "Erwin didn't care about Levi or his friends, he was selfish and used Levi for his childish dream and he'd definitely support the Rumbling because he is merciless" lmaoooo it seems like 90% of ship wars always end up with both sides dragging Levi in the mud (or ignoring Erwin's existence), either making him look like a heartless psycho obsessed with Erwin & only cared about him or a dumbass who couldn't even see the fact that Erwin used him and needed to find love somewhere else :( SDgfdsdf I know it's childish probably but they really ruin my fun, I have serious mood swings which also results in me saying "omg this fandom has no respect for Levi dragging him like that to defend their ships for what no one will change their minds" to "literally who cares about what 5 people say on twitter/tiktok" in a day and HAHAAHAH it's so silly but you've been around here for a while now, did you successfully manage to block out all the ship wars and fandom dramas? Is there any hope :') ps I don't mean this against other ships and their fans, I mean this in general, I also hate it when Eruri fans do the same thing, I've seen so many fans on tiktok mocking other ships or levi fangirls, I am not defending their actions or saying our fandom never do that X

Oh god yes. I wouldn't be human if this kind of shit didn't bother me! I just have to be really diligent about keeping this kind of discourse out of my timeline and make a conscious effort not to get sucked into reading posts that I know will just infuriate me. That's easier said than done sometimes! I don't hesitate to block or mute people who cause drama, or whose posts annoy me, and I actively avoid TikTok and Reddit. If all else fails I have several group chats where I can bitch privately to trusted friends about hot takes that bug the shit out of me. Having likeminded friends and private channels to vent is the only way I've managed to stay (arguably) sane in fandom for this long 😅 1000% can recommend 👌

[userkoo]

this site is so sensitive when i mention tae and jk together. like i even saw a tiktok naming their fav pairings and for everyone it was fine but when it was taekook they had to disclaim it was (pLaToNiC) was that not implied by the rest of your list?? ppl are so scared to mention them at all but if he's with another member its fine. its annoying and ppl are so transparent

i actually don't think tumblr is a primary suspect among the list of platforms where people move weird about taekook,.. but i'm speaking as someone in a little bubble of mutuals who are normal people lol. i also have never ventured onto the hellscape that is the bts stan side of tiktok so i can't speak on that either (besides seeing screenshots of people on there calling normal behaviors from jungkook 'red flags'... oof.) most of the bullshit, in my experience, stems from twitter where, like you said, even a simple mention of them hanging out together can end up with people accusing you of being a 'shipper' or a 'diet solo.'

this is going to be rambly so i'm putting it under a read more for the sake of not clogging people's dashes, but here are some of my thoughts on fandom culture/shipping in general:

oh real quick for for transparency sake, i'll start this off by saying: 1. i don't care about the relationship status of any of the bts members. they're single to me unless they officially and publicly state otherwise without any privacy invading force involved. 2. i have no problem with fans thinking/implying bts members are queer. lgbt fans finding comfort and comradery in their favorite people isn't a bad thing. :)

now for the actual post~

the fan dynamics on twt are so different and if you even mention taehyung and jungkook in the same sentence or say that they're very obviously close friends, you might end up on some of those 'defend [insert member here]' accounts where they encourage people to block and report for the slightest of 'offenses.' and like you mentioned in your post, that's over people talking about them platonically!! or over people who simply read fic without ever insinuating they think they're actually dating.

the puritanical culture that exists in very large parts of the bts fandom (and was present in the 1d fandom as well) is so weird to witness. we can all have differing opinions on whether or not rpf is 'good' or not, but unless someone is sending fanfiction to bts personally... it is harmless. and it will always exist. you will never enter into a fan space where independent, 'non-canon' content isn't being created by fans... and why would you want to? so much of fandom culture and history is about creation (and is also super lgbt centric!!)

in my opinion, the only people who still get up in arms about shipping discourse in 2023 are those under 18 or those who have no previous fandom experience. after stanning harry styles since 2012, i have heard the 'gay rumors made them drift apart!!!' argument so many times that it is genuinely nausea inducing. (and my opinion on that is... if you are that turned off by people possibly thinking you're queer to the point where it makes you end an important friendship, you either weren't very close to begin with or you're homophobic. likely a combination of the two. gay rumors are not, and never will be, offensive. they are not something you need to protect your fave from. why is this the argument so often touted by fans? why would you WANT your favorite person's self image to be so fragile that they end friendships over rumors? and that's not even getting into the fact that skinship and performance is built into the literal DNA - lol - of kpop...)

like. maybe i'm just too old to care now but i genuinely could not give less of a fuck if people think jk and taehyung are in a relationship. i do not care. they're both beautiful people who are clearly fond of each other. do any of us know how deep that fondness runs? nope! and we never will! and that's more than okay because these are grown men with personal, private relationships that we will never be privy to... as it should be. as long as boundaries are respected, i don't care what people think to be true.

can shippers get overzealous? for sure. do the people who analyze their every move need a new hobby? most definitely. but i think it's more than obvious now that the people who go to insane lengths to invade their privacy are stalkers or people trying to dredge up dating rumors between them and women.

it gets especially transparent when you have videos and rumors online about bts members dating people they've never interacted with publicly (using 'liskook' as an example, there are youtube videos with 10million views about them. one posted ten hours ago has 52k views) but i never see them condemned with the level of vitriol i see people using when it comes to jk and taehyung. is that not weird?

idk man. there's no concise ending to this post. fandom culture just intrigues me which is why i have so much to say about all this. it's especially interesting to me how it intersects with queer culture - or directly opposes it.

[communistconsumerist]

The "Not Like Other Girls" Virus & ratbag's exit girl

2D imaginary friends are better than normie "sack-men". ratbag, at least, seems to think so given their mingling of revitalized emo aesthetics that are ever-so-known in the subculture they clutch onto within their music video. Whether the "exit girl" is leaping away from normative society through juxtaposing 2D creatures (who, mind you, are drawn to look as eccentric as they do) with sack-bags (that all look alike and act alike, and even behave alike), or if there is some underlying feminist critique the band failed to represent (apart from some drink passing): it is as if the day-and-old “normie” critique that has been passed along punks like a gene that can not be avoided—a virus, really— is as vital for the aesthetics they are attempting to explore as it is a cliché. Of course, the rejection ratbag's frontman faces in the clip by these so-called standardized sacks for normies (what novel depiction for punks to make!), heavily contrasted with all that is oh-so lively and animated in the visual world the band carves out for itself, emphasizes this best. Their performance blends a little too well with those “not like other girls” memes that were passed around Tumblr back in 2014, a cyberspace where alt-communities continue to flourish.

Still, there is nothing punk about this notion in an age where the sort of “normie-murdering” rockism (literally, if death by 2D characters counts), which colors itself to be anti-capitalist; anti-consumerist; anti-everything-that-is-not-studded-black-and-quirky, is worn as a philogyny-weapon that fights off labels through setting up more of them. Where capital and consumerism intersect, punks have always escaped this space by actively fighting against tradition, whatever way it would manifest itself, in whatever environment it would exist. Tartan for the Brits is as counter-cultural as excessive tanning is for the Japanese, after all. ratbag reverently references this "free from all dogma" trope, but even their clip's promising "drink passing" scene weighs like a herding monster because it uses a citation method—so dated—for its quote. Frontman Sophie Brown’s spiky, characteristic punk hairdo and pro-stereotypical emo costuming (as seen on American TV) do not make this better in a day and age where her wardrobe can be found in non-Hot Topic stores. There is no clarity as to what dominant—or consumerist—culture is being fought off, other than a harmful stereotype that in its transmission has often targeted (mostly) women. How revolutionizing that the punk-monster, eclectic in its shapes, continues to target the bimbo!

At the end of the day: this normie "party culture" detested by ratbag involves women dressing to trends, unlike those "I’m-a-creep-I-don’t-belong-here" girls who resist sack-conformity (à la “all women these days look like the Kardashians" discourses) as well as abstain from drinking, and thus, do not have to face their drinks getting spiked, nor the donning pink, phallic wounds that are bound to appear underneath their dresses à la mode after. Yet, “with those clothes, she is only asking for it,” and “if only she had stayed home,” and “if only she did not have a sheep’s (sack’s) mentality, this would not have happened to her,"—right? Any kind of standardized notions of normies like these are the types of sayings that would come out of the mouths of those who have internalized the cliché juxtaposition ratbag’s exit girl is trying to leech onto. They are the type of jerk off-able notions your average pop-music hater, MAGA-believing, Joe, frees his seed to.

The clip, then, feels like a stereotype honoring stereotypes by imposing more stereotypes onto stereotypes. Tumblr otherness has become equivalent to Facebook rockism, and no rooms have an exit when their entries are shaped into geometrical forms and figures. The band, having started off on TikTok, where subcultures—or aesthetics—transact and interact with one another, fails to realize that even traditions change and “fighting norms” encompasses more than simply dragging down those that fall victim to “dominant ideology". Who, in 2023, is ratbag’s audience? What is their target, really? It all feels a bit too imaginary. 

[glitt3r-litt3r]

hi! i'm doing a presentation on the impact and community of tumblr for my media studies final and i wanted to reach out to my mutuals and fav blogs with some questions that relate to my topic. i would so totally love and appreciate if you could answer some of these for me.

it would be so totally rock and roll and awesome and amazing and i'll literally love you forever and ever and ever! :)

thank you thank you thank you!!!!

the questions(i know it's a lot, i'm so sorry):

1. how is tumblr different from other social media platforms?

2. how has the tumblr community affected you as a person/online presence?

3. do you feel more inclined to post more personal or private aspects of your life and or opinions on tumblr rather than other apps? as in do you feel you are less likely to be judged on tumblr than other platforms?

4. what are your favorite aspects of tumblr?

5. what would you do if tumblr got shut down?

6. what are some things that only tumblr bloggers would know/understand?

or

7. are there certain traditions on tumblr that you think other media sites wouldn't understand?(an example being our site wide celebration of the ides of march)

8. what are some of the largest fandoms/inner communities on tumblr? are you apart of these fandoms/communities? if yes, what is that like for you?

9. do you find tumblr to be educational in terms of academics? among other things such as politics and general life experiences?

10. all in all, how has this app changed your perspective on social media, the world, your life, and so on.

11. why do you think people should download tumblr?

12. what's your favorite and least favorite part of being on tumblr

please add anything else you find to be important!!

HiHi!! of course i can help <3

1. One key difference i've found from Tumblr vs other apps is the kind of niche community finding. When I first joined Tumblr it was because I knew there were ways to find exactly what I was looking for which was at the time for fandoms that i participated in. I wanted character analysis, fanfiction, discourse on the themes. On Tumblr I don't feel inclined or forced to share like I do sometimes on other social medias and I really enjoy the way reblogging works here! Being able to add onto a persons thought with your own has been super fun and cool.

2. So there's two kind of answers for this. The online community as a whole is very intense for people and I find that Tumblr has lessened that pressure by allowing this sort of allowing me to share my thoughts under categories that make sense. I think it's also helped my writing skills because as everyone who follows me knows I write fanfiction duhh!! But the kind of writing I see here, the critique/praise I get, even just asking followers what they want to read makes me a better writer.

3. Definitely feel more inclined to share some stuff like my opinions on certain aspects of media. Also it's great for being anonymous because unlike instagram that's used to connect "people you know" I use Tumblr to exist with people I don't know as we engage in whatever we like which is part of the allure. If i wanted to be known on here I could but the fact that it's not forced is nice.

4. Art, fandom, memes. People are hilarious and I get to see it and giggle. I also love the ways we get to interact around movies/books/shows almost like everyone's already friends.

5. die. or something less dramatic like be really upset and long for the days which I could use Tumblr freely.

6. The importance of support through reposting/reblogging people's works. This site isn't instagram or tiktok, liking something isn't enough for artists/writers to get recognition on here. Reblogging opens up their art to an entirely different community than if it just remained on the original persons blog.

Another thing I'd like to mention is that there's definitely bad stuff on Tumblr it's not a perfect site at all. I've seen some really terrible discourse from some chronically online people that made me feel like my brain was gonna leak out of my ears lol. Good thing is, I scrolled away and it didn't cause real harm because I have media literacy and can understand when someone's wrong vs just hurts my feelings.

I love Tumblr a lot, she's like an old friend to me and I hope I don't ever lose that feeling.

[andsheoverthinks]

an exploration of top posts (how tumblr sees the world)

went into the 'black women' tag out of curiosity and was immediately like where's all the regular black women? it's literally all women with 10 lbs of makeup, sexy clothes, and impossible body proportion (do not come in my notes with the 'b-but all black women have DD's, 20 inch waist and 60 inch hips naturally!' bs), often while twerking. tee noir was so right for her 'society vs. the “average” looking black woman' video.

and then the 'asian women' tag was just porn 🤢. i couldn't scroll very far bc i was so grossed out. i tried to find a text post but couldn't (the best i found was regular selfies). and by 'porn' i don't just mean nude or erotic pictures, there was something very... exploitative and gross about the imagery. they weren't thirst traps. oftentimes the woman's head is cut out of the picture. usually she is dressed like a little girl. she is always posed submissively.

the 'white women' tag was mostly political discourse with some tiktoks of normally-dressed, normal-looking white women, or normal celebrities (like taylor swift or amber heard) fully dressed.

takeaway: black women are only relevant if they're sexy, and asian women exist as objects to be sexually exploited

just for funsies i wondered how this would track with men. the 'black men' tag has thirst traps, celebrities, regular pictures, and a lot of pictures of black women. the 'asian men' tag was mostly thirst traps. the 'white men' tag was a weird weird mess. there was one post about racism, and then a lot of divesting/wmbw (aka glorification of white men) content, confederate flag/MAGA/gun-toting thirst traps, and then clothed pictures. often w guns.

i was expecting the thirst traps in the 'men' tags but whyyyy no political discourse about white men (apart from one tiktok from fd signifier and one post from a black woman about fetishization)? is it because they're so fucking privileged and have been a protected class all along?

[loveyougoodbi]

Something has been pissing me off lately and at first I thought I wouldn't comment on it because I stay away from drama but I talked about it with a friend recently and I realized we both felt great saying it. So. Here are my thoughts and feelings as of late about Mr Harry Styles(tm).

This is mostly copied from our texts so don't mind the spelling errors and other... grammatical inconsistencies

I can't look at Harry on stage anymore. It doesn't feel authentic this time around. Listening to him Giving girls advice about boys knowing that those girls are het fans and knowing that they've paid 2 of my salaries to get that close to the stage to be able to talk to him gives me an icky feeling and I don't want to see it. I think this is mostly bc of the way he got this famous. It was the ws music video and the ws agenda that got him there and I know that all those people and full stadiums are either there bc they think they can have an orgy with him or to be able to post a tiktok about being at a harry show (influences go just bc its cool). It's just disgusting to me. I cant be happy about something that dehumanized him and made him a not likeable person. When I know its not the truth.

So yeah I hate that he's famous I hope he has a real taylor swift after 1989 everyone hates him moment so that only the real actual fans remain. I don't even feel guilty for saying that.

And im sorry tumblr i know youre looking at it with rose colored glasses but there is a point where artists are so famous that the LGBT nods in their music videos (especially small ones like LNT) are more a performance than they are a statement. At the point where he is and how straight literally everyone sees him when they see him with a men they don't think omg ew gay they think omg he's so comfortable in being straight that he can even pretend to be on a date with a man omg king. Again, fucking disgusting.

And don't even get me started on. The fact that he doesn't even know p from promo anymore. He gets views and everything just by existing and by insinuating to possible orgies so he hasn't appeared on one single talk show. Hasn't done one single performance. Harry doesn't exist. He doesn't have a personality. He's just a name at this point.

Yes, I'm talking about the orgy discourse on d*ux lately that is so obviously promo. The posts even link to the video 🤢

The worst part is, he deffinitely has a say now. Maybe he didn't when ws was getting promoted cos that was about getting him out there but now we're way past that. He's up there. He's even higher than up there I don't think there's higher than this. So I'd like to think that people who are this famous can have a say when it comes to stuff like that. You're telling me that if harry said NO right now to something he would have consequences? At the level he is now? Impossible. Look at what taylor is doing. She's rerecording all her albums for fucks sake. Bc every single impossible situation is solvable when you have the people on your side. Harry either doesn't realize that yet or he likes it this way. And he's not stupid so....... I think its obvious which one it is..

I think he likes the fame. I think he would like the recognition of another grammy and I think he knows that the only way to get that is to be extremely famous and talked about. And he saw how successful the ws thing was so he's playing it safe. I think he's looking at this from a business perspective more than anything. If there's one thing I've learned about harry is that he's a businessman. This pleasing thing as well. It's insanely expensive. Like... crazy expensive. But it's a bussines. Rihanna made 80% of her fortune from her cosmetic line so harry saw that as a good business decision and did it. I think that's the only reason. I think harry is happy with his private life and has things and people that make him happy there so he treats his job as a job and does everything it requires. In a way that's a good thing and I'm happy for him. I just wish he was more.. genuine in his job as well. But then again if someone told me hey be more yourself when you're at work and don't think about money when working I would slit their throat so theres that....

[remythologise]

Hello! I found your blog via you amazingly summarizing all that's going on with the spn drama. Due to my schedules, rl stuff, some of the arcs that didn't vibe with me, my availability to find a place to watch...the rollercoaster I was used to with this fandom was more me binging it in a weekend to going months to over a year without watching it. I still haven't watched the last season(but with a fandom this big it's pretty impossible not be spoiled so I more or less know what happened) BUT oh great one I ask of thee for more information if you have it...other than being busy and whatnot, I'm not really one to keep up with the actors as well. So could you also maybe do a summary of all the stans? I'im seeing terms I haven't seen before. Who is Kelios(sp?)? Hellions?? probably messed it up but like...I guess what are the name of each legion? Who do they have alliance towards? What was their desires? Que paso?!?!?!?

Hi there! 'Some of the arcs that didn't vibe with me' me emotionally quitting Supernatural in Season 7 after they killed Castiel 😂 Anyway I totally get it, I went through the same culture shock mid-last year when I got back into SPN and tried to find where fandom was at! There's really a LOT of lore and content after 15 years though so I'll just do the broad brushstrokes based on my impressions and personal stereotypes PLEASE remember this is oversimplifying groups and individuals to tendencies and I'm very biased! Also important that there are sub-factions within sub-factions - again, I'm simplifying here!

I've also linked to the 'Super-wiki' in terms of some definitions because the Super-wiki has pages for them where the Fandom-wiki does not. Great introduction actually - only in the Supernatural fandom. There are two Supernatural wikis. One, through curation and twitter activity, supports BiBro/Wincest factions and does not support Destiel users. One is more neutral or Destiel-friendly (I don't know that the Fandom wiki has a personality/social media presence per se). You cannot make this up. There is a factional war... within use of fandom wikis.

Destiel faction

People who primarily ship Dean/Cas, love Castiel and (often, although not always) Jack, and the 'found family' of Supernatural as well as the brothers, and like the post s3 seasons too. Hated 15.19 and 15.20 for killing Dean and ignoring the other characters/narrative arc of the show. Nicknamed 'Destihellers' by the Wincest faction as a derogatory term, 'reclaimed' and shortened as 'Hellers', a nickname they use affectionately to describe each other. See more info on nicknames here.

Sometimes also ship ‘Cockles’ (the ship between Misha Collins and Jensen Ackles) although generally speaking they're more respectful of the wives of the actors than J2 shippers, who are notoriously responsible for... a vast series of insane-fan misdemeanours. Historically most were also good at keeping RPF to themselves and not harassing celebrities with it directly, although recently, particularly with younger twitter fans, that has not been the case.

Sub-factions:

The ‘Desticule’ or ‘Destiel tumblr’ - general grouping of Destiel-shipping tumblr users around 20-30 years old, usually LGBT+, most who came back to the show post-15.18 after leaving it for various reasons including getting sick of the queerbaiting. Funniest bitches alive etc. and responsible for the best text posts you’ve ever seen. Can also start stupid discourse and in-group drama when they’re bored.

'POLOL' - People of Lots of Letters, a discord group (of tumblr and twitter users) that ran on the assumption Andrew Dabb was playing a hugely intricate game of 3D chess to do with gnostic symbolism among other things, and would make Destiel canon. Have since had their own factional sub-wars and fallen apart a bit. Some of their meta was and is good and interesting! Some of it was wildly off the mark. Now generally insist that Dabb/the writers were all pushing for Destiel canon and the network is entirely to blame.

Twitter fans (TikTok edition) - younger fans around 18 and younger who (FOR REASONS BEYOND ME) started watching the show around 2018-2020. Definition of 'stans'. Tend to be very loud and aggressive on twitter when Events Happen, which like. I do get, because they've grown up in a completely different media environment and this kind of Dinosaur Politicking around LGBT+ issues is beyond them. Fancam central. Anyway stream #CASTIEL for clear skin!

Twitter fans (AO3 edition) - older fans around 30+ who kept going with the show but either don't have a large tumblr presence or just prefer twitter. A lot of fic writers, GISH-ers, and BNFs in this group. Some of them are very cool and reasonable in their opinions, some of them act like the younger stans. Some of them too accepting of what happened wrt 15.19-20 in my opinion, because, in contrast to the younger twitter stans, they grew up expecting Destiel to NEVER be canon or respected. 'Can't believe we got this far' etc.

Multiship faction

Multishippers or shippers of things not as large as the two main behemoths . Sub-factions based on shipping, e.g. Megstiel and Sastiel. I don't think these groups are very large though, and seem to have very little influence in the Discourse.

Wincest faction

LARGE overlap with the 'BiBro' faction and their opinions, which I'll get to. Ship Sam and Dean romantically. Often pretend to be BiBros on places like twitter and reddit in order for outside groups to take their opinions more seriously. 'Wincesties' etc. are derogatory nicknames given by the Destiel faction.

Sub-factions:

Multiship fans - ship Sam and Dean but respect Castiel/the 'found family'. Politically overlap with the faction of multishippers, I think. I don't have a lot of insight on this group of people honestly, but I know they exist.

Bronlies - the typical BiBro and 'Wincest' shippers most people think of, twitter user 'Kelios' is one of the would-be ringleaders of this faction - typically tend to be older white midwestern women. Historically have been pretty nasty on twitter (leading to Robert Berens, writer who made Destiel canon, occasionally subtweeting Kelios). Also tend to ship 'J2' - and take it very seriously as a legitimate thing that is really real. This is called 'tinhatting'.

BiBro faction

People who think the show should JUST be about the brothers, love Supernatural s1-3 and everything after it should have been just like Supernatural s1-3. Hate Castiel, Jack, and the 'found family'. Largely loved 15.20. Go to literally any comments section on any Supernatural article and You Will Find Them complaining about how the show should just be about the Brothers. Tend to be older, straighter, and more conservative/Republican (and male) fans. (I am aware that the definition of 'BiBro' used to refer to people who just liked the brothers but there's no definitional difference now in the discourse.) The Wincest and BiBro faction are generally much more wealthy than the Destiel faction (they being younger and more diverse/queer/left-leaning in general) and would be the biggest revenue generators at conventions etc.

Sub-factions:

Reddit bros - literally anyone who visits r/supernatural. Well, that's not fair - there are people who post reasonable opinions on there, but it's pretty rare and they get downvoted a lot. Like to talk about 'toxic Destiel fans' 'ruining the show' and how Dean is a straight man who is straight and could never possibly be gay. Might even think the confession was platonic despite all evidence to the contrary. I'm Not Homophobic I Have Gay Friends, But No Gays on MY Show!

Old Guard - group of older fans who overlap strongly with the Wincest faction, but might not necessarily ship Wincest.

GA faction

'General Audience' - These are the group of audience members that aren't 'online' so to speak; most watch the show on TV as a Casual Viewing Experience (are therefore also sometimes referred to as 'casuals'. Mostly their opinions tend towards BiBros, but they have a vast range of baffling views thanks to being Not Online and usually Not caring about Supernatural that much or thinking that deeply about it.

Sub-factions:

People who simply watch Supernatural on TV and then don't think about it very much after that.

I said they weren't 'online' but that's not entirely true; I'd probably classify people on Supernatural Facebook Groups as GA, along with friends of friends who post statuses about how 15.20 was a neat finale that wrapped up the series.

Conclusion

Supernatural is famously the show that appeals to both Republicans and Democrats, literally All Orientations, so there's a WIDE range of factions. However, most warring online boils down to Destiel vs. Wincest/BiBro - the war that started in Season 4 and has simply never ended. In terms of the 'actors' and their stans, in general, Wincest/BiBro fans love Jared, like Jensen, and dislike Misha. Destiel fans love Misha, like Jensen, and dislike Jared. Of course as with everything, there are variations and this is just a generalisation. But that's the summary of it, from my perspective!

This didn't even get into Sam girls, Dean girls and Cas girls. God. Anyway.

Hope that answered your question, anon!

[colorisbyshe]

getting an influx of followers because of that fuckin tiktok post so i guess... i’ll make a post like this to warn people

i’m stephanie. i’m old and tired and get mean when i get sent discourse asks so if you see posts where i’m stating an opinion and being an asshole, you can send asks for clarification but any asks trying to change my mind will just result in me being a bigger asshole

i have a cat named tuna i hope you all love her. i have two other cats but mostly i just want you to focus on HER she is amazing

this is a sideblog and so if you ever reply to one of my posts and @catwsbisexual replies that’s me. i also have a kpop sideblog (@riskyaim) and an anime/video game sideblog (@finitefantasy) and a 1d/general music blog that is essentially dead lol(@ltbisexual) but i mostly post all my random thoughts about those things here because i have no control

and i’m always looking for book recommendations specifically for books about gay elves i do not know why but this urge exists deep within me. just little fantasy books about gay elven bitches. i am literally only cultivating a tumblr following in the hopes that ONE of you can give me this.

[aahsoka]

So having been on tiktok for a bit I wanna talk a little about it.

What I like

It’s actually rather entertaining to scroll through up to 30 second videos one after the other. Sometimes the humor falls flat or it’s not your taste, but the algorithim is quite good at recommending the kind of content you will like.

I joined right when there was a big trend going around about sharing your culture, and soon after a Blackout trend where non-Black creators stopped posting for a day & spread/supported videos by Black creators. So I ended up with a fairly diverse fyp or “for you page”. It also quickly gathered that I am bisexual, so I get plenty of lgbt+ content. There’s some art mixed in there, some cosplay, some historical costuming/seamstresses, lots of avatar jokes lately, musical theatre content, fashion, girls in bikinis on rollerskates (in outer space), commentary on political issues, body positivity, all the kinds of stuff I like. To get a feed that caters to your interests you just have to watch & like videos you’re interested in & eventually it gets a feel for what you’ll watch and what you won’t.

Theres a trend where people say which ‘side’ of tiktok they’re on and I get ‘science side of tumblr’ flashbacks but I’ve mostly avoided the “straight” and conservative sides of tiktok. I would be considered a part of “woke”, “alt” (as in alternative) and lgbt+ tiktok (there are separate ones for each letter of the acronym). Possibly also “theatre” and “cosplay” tiktok. These categories are nebulous and you’re usually part of multiple communities; its just as arbitray as ‘science side of tumblr’ was.

The format reminds me of snapchat a little, and I love to talk to myself on video & post dumb thirst traps for my friends (none of which I’m attracted to so idk what my goal is there) and make stupid jokes. So this app is kinda perfect for my attention seeking side & hyperactive tendencies. Its very easy to consume on a short attention span, though not as easy as vine was.

Being in quarantine, its a way for a lot of people to engage in hobbies that involve community. Cosplay is pretty popular, as its a fun way to show off a costume & dress up & have fun without having to attend a convention. I enjoy the way lip synced audios can be used to emulate the character someone is dressed as; that’s something you couldn’t really do unless you were really good at impressions. Its a nice succinct way to show the process of creating a cosplay as well.

Those who enjoy theatre, but cannot perform in shows at this time, are able to create mini-monologues & sketches as well as sing parts of their favorite songs. Its an avenue through which to perform without putting anyone at risk of the virus. It’s also an easy way to show off your talents without having to go through the audition process & actually get cast in a show as a prominent enough role that someone will notice it.

It’s a convenient format for discourse and educational videos. Nice, short, easily digestible tidbits that stay in your mind. This extremely catchy song, for example: “Black neighborhoods are overpoliced, so of course they have higher rates of crime, and white perpetrators are undercharged, so of course they have lower rates of crime. And all of those stupid stats you keep using are operating off a small sample size. So, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up”.

As well as other videos where people take the time to explain historical events, satirize racist arguments to demonstrate why they are wrong, talk about prevalent tropes in movies, teach a few signs in ASL, share facts about their culture, etc, etc. I have found there are quite a lot of people there from unique and fairly unknown cultures and backgrounds- and this is a place where they’re able to share their culture & existence with people all over the world. There are a thousand different viewpoints. Their videos are doing far more for diverse representation than any other platform, I’d argue, as everyone is extremely visible on the app. (‘Their’ as in the creators, not the app itself).

I also have enjoyed coming across new artists on the app. It’s really fun to watch the process they go through, as most art videos deal with the whole creation of a piece. It’s inspiring. I have also come across a painter who’s work I’m in love with, and a woman who makes and sells the CUTEST ceramic mugs, and I need to purchase some stuff from them both.

Now onto the bad:

Unfortunately, the app doesn’t have much in the way of a filtering or warning system. I talked about that tiktok of the kids coming across human remains? That was just on people’s fyp. Just popped up. No warning. No reason for it to still be up. Traumatizing.

You can click on a video and say ‘not interested’ (I do this to literally every video I get where some girl is thirsting after kylo ren 🤮..... like I want the star wars videos just not THOSE videos). However, it doesn’t seem to know exactly why you weren’t interested, because I still get those videos from time to time. There’s no content filter where I can blacklist the kylo ren or any other hashtag.

There’s some very shitty content. There are racist conservatives. Misogynistic teen white boys. Really weird thirst traps. Videos where people lip sync to something with a straight face and tag it with #acting. Harmful body image trends. I thankfully stay very clear of this, but this kind of content makes me worry for the minors on the app. The one’s who don’t have enough of a concept of self yet to realize they don’t need to be able to do the newest pointless beauty trend to be beautiful, to realize it’s ok for them to be gay, to realize how predatory some adults can be, etc etc.

It is extremely easy to come across minors on the app who don’t look like teens. One time I went to a girl’s page and it said she was FIFTEEN. I’m usually good at guessing ages but something about this app messes that up. I wish there was a way to separate people under 18 and adults. Where I don’t have minor’s thirst traps popping up on my fyp. Where pedophiles don’t get a chance to curate that fyp intentionally. If anyone reading this has kids, I highly recommend they make their tiktok private or only viewable to friends.

Just like any site, there are plenty of bigots. Lots of racist comments. Plenty of transphobia. Any hatred you’ve seen elsewhere, of course it exists on tiktok. I have actually zero clue if you can report people & if it works. Most people seem to send a video commentary to their haters or duet a video of a racist pointing out their racism. I’ve heard of creators blocking people, however. I remember a tiktok of a Black woman who’s video somehow went fairly viral in Poland and now she gets a lot of racist comments from this large group of random racisf Polish followers she has and its extremely time consuming to block them all, as there’s no mass block feature.

The rumors about what works with the algorithm and doesn’t abound. I’ve heard well lit videos get more views. Many people suspect they have been shadowbanned for speaking out about current events. TikTok will remove the audio from videos sometimes if they deem it controversial enough. Most of us know they were criticized recently for intentionally keeping Black creator’s videos from being seen (a catalyst for the Blackout, actually). Or you may also recall when it was criticized for widely removing lgbt+ content. Those creators are fighting to be seen the same amount as straight cis white creators are allowed to be seen with no effort.

The effects some trends could have on teen girls. So many of them are already so uncomfortable in their own skin simply because of societal standards, but the absolutely meaningless challenges people come up with on tiktok make it so much worse. One trend was based around whether your finger touched your lips when you put it in your nose. Or if you could get your clasped hands around the back of your legs and over your butt (if they get passed, you have a flat ass, if they get stuck, its big). These completely arbitrary signifiers of the things you need to have in order to be pretty, are far more ridiculous that anything I have seen yet in my life. I worry about little girls taking these ideas to heart. There is a very kind body positive community on the app & I hope more people can find that.

There’s also that thing where they steal your data. Like most apps. But apparently they got a lot more invasive than usual, so I would look into it before making an account; if you want to do that.

I think the apps users can be great & its a pretty intuitive set up. It certainly deserves its popularity solely as a creative form of social media. That being said, its owners are so so insidious & do the worst things. Just like all other social media, its controlled by the worst kind of people. Who can never figure out how to effectively get rid of nazis or keep kids safe from adult content.

These are my less serious gripes with the app:

1) Lip syncing

When people lip sync and don’t do any kind of skit, joke, etc, just look as if they’re saying what someone else said; I hate that. I have to go back and find the original tiktok so I can like it instead. You literally did nothing interesting by ripping off someones audio and moving your lips along to it. So many people on this app are creative and so many others lack any semblance of creativity.

Also people are too easily impressed by lip syncing to kinda-fast songs. I lip synced to like....10 seconds of the devil went down to georgia and two people praised my lip syncing abilities. Like, I can also sing and talk fast, out loud, isn’t that more impressive? more skillful? The fiddle playing in that song is impressive, not the fact I can lip sync ‘the devil went down to georgia, he was lookin for a soul to steal, he was in a bind, cause he was way behind.’ Have you ever seen someone play Johnny’s fiddle solo????? It’s insane!!!

Rather than see someone lip sync to the verse in Stressed Out 2x faster than normal (which is, extremely simple and the song was overplayed and ingrained into our collective consciousness) and go WOW what about someone.....doing the verse out loud. You can litterally just mouth random words and look like you’re saying the right ones. It’s driving me crazy lmao. I’m set to become a God of tiktok because I have a repertoire of fast songs and rap verses memorized. It’s not even an uncommon skill to speak or sing quickly, people literally make rap music for a living! Listen to it maybe.

2) “Acting”

I am begging you to stop making me sit through those horrible POVs. I cannot take another girl not quite fake crying towards the camera as she lip syncs the words from a song that apply to the random situation she decided she was in. I cannot take another boy who thinks its sexy to stare into a camera and smirk in every single situation he creates.

Back to lip syncing, making facial expressions along to words isn’t really acting. Try saying the words out loud perhaps? The inflection you use with your lines is a pretty big part of acting. Like you can lip sync all you want, just stop tagging it with #acting.

3) Comedic timing, or lack thereof

You don’t need the entire intro to sit there looking at the camera waiting until the first line starts and you can lip sync to the part that’s the joke. You could cut off at least 15 seconds. Brevity is the soul of wit.

When your joke involves both reading text on screen and listening to the song for the punchline, if it isn’t done prefectly, its so difficult to follow. I can’t read a paragraph in 5 seconds. Paraphrase.

4) self deprecating artist audio

the audio thats like ‘this wont get views’ ‘I suck’ ‘you probably won’t see this anyway’ LOVE YOURSELF

It sucks when people dont enagage with your art but it sucks worse when your value in yourself and you art is based solely on receiving that validation. Please find a healthy medium.

Also you’re asking for pity, and you don’t want that. You want people who genuinely love your art for what it is.

5) editing videos is really hard how do you make such cool & smooth transitions????

please help me I don’t understand

Finally

here’s my account if you’re interested