#everyone deserves kindness

[fsbc-librarian]

So guys, I’m sorry, but HUGE rant incoming here - turn away now if you don’t want to hear it!

I am the biggest pusher for leaving comments on AO3. Hell, I can even break down 4 different comment types that are all perfectly acceptable for anyone feeling shy or not knowing where to start 🤷‍♀️ but authors, please remember:

YOU ARE NOT ENTITLED TO COMMENTS.

As an author, I know comments are amazing! They give you a kick, they give you fuel, they make you feel wonderful, someone has read your work and loved it!

And I love the authors: you’re giving me stories for FREE and if all it takes to to pay for this is to comment, then HELL YES! I will comment!

But you’re not entitled to my comments. You’re not entitled to anything from anyone. Respect goes both ways.

🔆

For those curious and wondering where to start, these are the four comment types I personally recommend and know that I - and my author friends - love:

Type 1: Hieroglyphics

Where the reader leaves no words, only emojis. Minimum of one (1), up to 1000.

Type 2: Basic

Short and succinct, to the point. Usually lovely, may or may not include emojis . “I loved this!”, “Wow! 🔥”, “Thank you for writing this!”

Type 3: Textbook

Where the reader leaves a three part comment that is literally perfect - compliment for the fic overall, highlight a specific bit, let the author know that you’d love to see more. “This fic is so good! I loved the bit where X fell off the couch! I haven’t stopped laughing 😂 I’d love to see more if you ever decide to revisit this ‘verse!”

Type 4: Derangement

No holds barred. Can be a wall of emojis, a step by step commentary, unintelligible flailing, overuse of the word “wow”, left in a positive manner, and quite possibly involves the theoretical throwing of Australian marsupials. It may or may not involve personal stories, tangents, shopping lists, or reminders for things that are only very distantly related to fanfiction at all.

(It should also be noted that type 4 is the type I use when my friends post work, so the ‘derangement’ descriptor is my own, and is said in good fun.)

🔆

The other side of the commenting coin is for how authors choose to respond to these comments. SO THIS IS FOR THE AUTHORS!

YOU DO NOT HAVE TO REPLY TO COMMENTS!

For those who do want to respond - but maybe you’re a bit lost about what to say - keep reading!

Type one is the easiest to respond to, if you choose to respond. Leave a single emoji in reply, a 💜 or a 🌸. Get fancy with it, and leave 1 emoji for every emoji they’ve left you. Or keep it simple and just say “thanks”.

Type two is also easy to respond to. “Thanks!” or “Thanks for reading!” Chuck out an emoji if you’re feeling fancy!

Type three can be difficult. You can still easily just say “thanks”, or you can stretch it out. “Thanks for reading! I got a laugh out of writing that bit, I'm glad you enjoyed it too! Keep an eye out, I might be tempted to come back!”

Type four is usually fun, because you usually know the person who commented, so you can respond in a manner equally deranged, or you can just send them a heart or other emoji(s) of your choosing 💜.

🔆

However.. maybe there’s something else going on, or this is an old fic, or you’re taking a break from writing and you just don’t feel like commenting.

If that’s the case that’s perfectly fine - you can leave it be. Remember, you don’t have to reply. But if you choose to? Be kind. It costs nothing to be kind, and it keeps newer people in the fandom. Maybe this commenter has just found your 6-year old fic, and didn’t realise how long ago it was written.

If you do want to reply, you can say “thanks for reading! I’m actually taking a break from writing right now, and this fic is so old I'm not likely to write any more for it, but i’m glad you liked it” or “Thanks for reading!”. Hell, you can even leave a heart 💜 or a 🌸 or the old classic 😊.

Don’t forget: commenters and authors alike, we don’t know what anyone else is going through, and most people don’t have multiple platforms, so maybe the person who commented on your work doesn’t know anything about anything you haven’t posted on ao3 in author notes.

🔆

All this to say, kindness goes both ways, let’s all just have a little respect for one another and remember there are people behind the avatars who are, entirely possibly, just trying to be nice and supportive which is exactly what we want our fandom to be.

[cor-lapis]

Fontaine is in remarkably good shape after getting completely submerged. Even Dvalin threw a few signs on roofs and whatnot

Kaveh and al-Haitham redesigns are mine (still WIP), while Nahida's is by fallencrowkarma

Masterpost of other quest sketches

[sentientsky]

“She never begs. She never gives any ground. She knows that she's right.”

(this is still a wip, but i’m not sure if i’ll actually get around to properly finishing it—i’m posting this here just in case)

[2hoothoots]

been chatting with a friend who's playing through PN2 again and i want it to be known i will not hear anyone say a WORD about Hollis giving Raz a hard time at the beginning of the game. if anything she is OUTSTANDINGLY accommodating to this random ten-year-old who wandered in unattended off the plane in the middle of an extremely tense situation

[jonsawilldanceanon]

Lack of Morals ~ Lack of Vows

[cortex-rampage]

I find the way that BBC Merlin set up Merlin's powers in the first episode to be quite funny. I mean, we see this sort of lanky guy and it is established that he is Merlin and (according to our own common knowledge) therefore he is the most powerful warlock ever. Okay, cool. One might assume that he has come to Gaius to develop his powers, that maybe he's only in the beginning of his magical journey. But instead the exposition shows Merlin, in the pilot episode of this 5 series show, stop time and employ levitation to save someone's life with magic, and then it is announced that prince Arthur is essentially his soulmate, and their joint power will create the most glorious age Camelot has ever seen. Quite an exciting set-up. And then for the rest of the entire show this man who we know possesses TIME-ALTERING POWERS mostly uses them on-screen to do common chores and annoy and prank THAT SAME Arthur. Like that one post said, "All of it's destiny and all of it's his fault." :p

[yasamlynn]

for a show where finally for once the sapphic (+WOC!!!) couple is the one thriving, in the main focus and being the healthiest, I feel like Yasammy is still not talked about enough. It's somewhat harder to find Yasammy content than some other ships which is crazy to me.

[royaltea000]

I love doing lineart with this pen so of course I draw boobs with it ☺️

[jeffreyfrancoeur]

Can we just...stop comparing Colin to Anthony? Please? They aren't remotely close to the same person, and it's frankly disheartening to see time and time again now.

"Colin had no trauma related to love and self worth to deal with like Simon and Anthony had."

Unless I am very much mistaken, Colin and Anthony have the same father. They both watched said father die from a bee sting. They both watched their mother hold her dying husband in her arms and sob because she just lost the love of her life. The only difference? Anthony was 18, and Colin was 10-12, depending if we're talking show or book. Regardless, watching his father die absolutely gave Colin trauma.

Colin was sent off to Eton not months after his father died. He never was able to process it with his own family, because they stuck together and processed it together. But Colin had to go away to school. And when he was home, he would bring flowers and play games and try to keep everyone smiling. The only way he felt useful was to focus on everyone else's happiness and diminish his own needs.

He went away on travels each year to try to find himself, process his own trauma and experiences. His engagement to Marina blew up in his face, so he immediately left to go traveling, to lick his wounds away from the rest of the ton. And while he was gone, Penelope was the main one to read and reply to his letters. When he got back, his own family diminished him, said it was a waste of time, that his "prattling on about his travels" was boring. So what did that teach Colin? That his family doesn't care about him. Doesn't value him. Doesn't find his time, his experiences, worth it. Eloise says to Pen (in front of Colin) that she found his letters about Greece dull, and couldn't finish them.

So at the beginning of season 3, when he's returned from another summer away, after no one in his family replied to a single one of his letters, and in the carriage to the presentation, he's absolutely going to not want to talk about his travels with Anthony. "Who are you and what have you done to our brother?" You happened to Colin, Anthony. Colin is masking and pretending like his travels weren't a big deal, that they didn't affect him, when he straight up tells Penelope later that he used the time away to remake himself into a new man. To try out a new persona, away from the ton, where no one knew him as Colin Bridgerton, or as a Bridgerton at all. He was just some nameless man.

He felt like he had no one back home to care about him, so the problem must obviously be him. That there was something wrong with who he is as a person, and that maybe this new version of himself would finally make the people back home--and his family--care about him. Maybe this version would finally be the version of him that's good enough.

So when he comes back to London, he's a flirt. He plays at being a "rake." He sleeps with random women. He goes out drinking with his "friends" all the time, laughs with them at their conquests. But he doesn't enjoy any of it. His mother tells him that he's always been one of her most sensitive children, always putting others first, helping them, trying to lighten the mood. But she also says that he downplays himself for the sake of others. That he puts on armor, that he needs to not put others first so he can ensure that the armor will not some day rust and be unable to be removed. She is possibly the only person who sees Colin, truly sees him.

He feels like he needs to hide his sensitive side, be less needy, be stronger, be more manly. (I would eat my hat if Anthony hasn't told him to "be a man" more than once.) This flirty rake is not who he is at his core. At his core, he is kind, and sensitive, and craves connection. He craves connection so deeply. He wants to be seen, to be loved, to be cared for, to be cherished. Ultimately, he wants someone to value him, like he does for all those around him that he cares about. His family ignored him for that entire summer, and he still brought back incredibly thoughtful gifts for each of them, that shows how much he knows them and loves them. He wants to be able to love, care for, and cherish someone in return.

How is his desire for love and to be loved and this ease in which he creates a new Colin to try and please everyone else not a trauma response related to love and self worth?

[zinnie-zoloft]

Honestly I’m so glad I gave up having heroes or idols as a teenager for much less serious reasons.

I grew up with Neil Gaimans creations being a massive part of every stage of my life, from my mother reading me Wolves In The Walls, to watching Coraline repeatedly, to binging Good Omens and Dead Boy Detectives.

These stories will remain important to me and continue to inspire me, but he won’t, arguably he was never the main reason I loved most of these stories on the first place.

I love laika studios, I love david tennant, I love terry pratchett, I love the various different interpretations of the characters from the sandman universe. There are dozens of different artists who made these characters and their stories what they are. They deserve better than to have their work tainted by one man.

Multiple women have accused him of sexual assault, even his own response sounds like a confession, I believe he’s absolutely guilty.

He’s an egotistical prick and that’s the reason why he does what he does. I refuse to give him credit for other people’s efforts in art, writing, and acting. They don’t deserve to go down with him. He doesn’t deserve to take them down with him.

[fairydrowning]

I love when girls are kind to each other and help other girls. For me it's like they are fixing each other crowns and that's so amazing.

[misspoetree]

And adding this text post meme again because it's a very important fact:

KinnPorsche + Text Posts: Arm Edition

[Character Editions: Pete Part I & II & III | Vegas Part I & II & III | Tay Part I & II | Tankhun - Part I & II | Big Part I & II | Porsche Part I & II & III | Kim | Porchay | Chan | Kinn Part I & II | Macau | Pol]

[Themed Editions: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | ?]

[Episode Editions]

[ludinusdaleth]

i dont want to bring discourse by acting like something fictional is reality, but there is a deep, genuine twist & sadness in my gut at how the majority of fandom is gleeful to prove that aeor deserved to be shot out of the sky the next few episodes. knowing frida & fcg came out of it, seeing thousands of bodies, seeing the city fight amongst itself to stop its leaders, after hearing the anger & gravity in matts own voice as he discussed the ruin of the society... i cannot, for even a second, fathom justifying it.

were its leaders terrible, terrible people, yeah. if destroying an entire society, with no known canon survivors to speak of before campaign 2, is justified because of the actions of our worst members, those in power.... well. all of us clearly deserve death of the most vile, disastrous calibre.

something does bother me deep at the back of my head, how this entire campaign has happened, and people cannot show empathy/sympathy beyond (less than half of the) main cast, when that is the entire point. you cannot look at any aspect of this in black & white and doing so says more about our psyches than you might think. not one soul in the universe wants you to think ludinus is justified. and not one soul deserves for their entire world to be slaughtered and forced into the stone age because of others violence, of a man or god.

do you not see how aeor is us?

[asexual-levia-tan]

its interesting to me when people write lily as being fragile and naive and weak to blood/violence when she literally helped defend two vampires who were bleeding to death from cat tribe members. hello? and she wields a greatsword? HELLO???

[shalom-iamcominghome]

It's weird being simultaneously jewish and non-jewish at the exact same time. Because to non-jews, I am jewish. They see someone like me, and they don't typically care about the intricacies of jewish thought and law - they only see a jew, and they react accordingly. This isn't malicious on their end, I think, it's just a consequence of not being jewish or having people close to you who are. But to jews, they know that I'm not jewish yet, correctly so I may add, and I'm treated as such.

I'm not complaining about being treated as jewish or not being treated as jewish, but I'm saying it's a weird tug-of-war where I simultaneously am and am not. I don't compromise on where I am visibly associated with jews, and as a consequence, I'm treated as a jew for good and bad. I want that, though. Even when I have been terrified of being visibly associated with jews, I wouldn't abandon it.

[demonicfarmer69]

milk found a similar friend!