#hopefully publishing this late will allow anon to see it but not too many other people bc I'm scared of queen fans

[theintelligenceoflove]

how do you know that about queen

Freddie as Leatherman is one of my favorite topics thank you. i love talking about leather history, and he's the most famous leatherman in the world.

But also this is just a lot of speculation and reaching so don't take it too seriously.

so this is his "don't stop me now" outfit here's the shirt he's wearing

The Mineshaft was one of two very popular new york leather bars. The Mineshaft was like THE leather bar (though the Eagle's nest still exists and leather bars across the world named themselves The Eagle after the Eagle's nest) when you think of like sleezy sex leather bars the image in your head was probably based on the Mineshaft.^

So now that we have established that Freddie is a Leatherman (this is no other reason for a man to wear a leatherbar t-shirt in 1979) we need to talk about this

So here Freddie is dressed like a leatherman on a casual crusing night. He's got his button fly jeans, they're tight as shit, his leather belt, tight white shirt that shows off his hairy chest and of course the leather band around his arm (the only issue is despite being dressed like this he would not be allowed in the mineshaft because of his shoes, alas he was not going to a bar and had to dress so he could jump around at a concert) The armband is the most important; it's on his right arm. but first some queer flagging history.

So you've probably heard that the right ear is the gay ear to get pierced, right? I think that in America, that might have been kind of true in some places but in the leather community (and cruising culture) left/right have a lot of significance. if you were flagging left that meant you wanted to be the do-er and if you flagged right that meant you wanted things done to you. (please note I'm not saying top/bottom because when you get into it flagging for specific sex acts exists outside of the top/bottom dynamic) This is the basis of the hanky code, where each color represents a sex act and you choose your back pocket depending on whether you want to be the do-er or have it done to you. But it was also used for things like keys on belt loops (Lesbians take this one and turn it into an iconic piece of lesbian fashion) handcuffs on belt loops also, this was particularly useful for men who were up to negotiating, they would put their handcuffs in the center belt loop at their back. Of course arm bands. Or if you're really sure of being the do-er or having stuff done to you ear piercings.

Taking this knowledge, what we can then say is Freddie in this picture is flagging as "have stuff done to me." this next picture combines everything we've just learned and one other important piece of information.

Remember how briefly mentioned hanky code? The story goes in San Francisco a man named Alan Selby, founder of the iconic Mr. S Leather, and a friend had ordered some handkerchiefs but received FAR too many in too many colors. SO they decided to sell this stock they would make up a code to help gay men in the 70s find sex easier and sell the hankys. Black meant you were into heavy SM, Grey was Bondage, dark blue was greek passive/active, light blue was oral sex and red was fisting.

Now I don't know how true this was in the 70s/80s but now a day's if you see someone with for example a leather harness with red trim, or yellow trim the assumption is they're flagging.

If we take all of this information and put it together and look at Freddie who is wearing a red cuff on his right wrist (and a red bandana to boot) we can say he was looking for a fist up the ass.

NOW this all falls apart when you realize that, aside from like maybe San Francisco's Castro District gay men weren't flagging so outwardly outside of bars and cruising areas. They weren't wearing yellow hankies in their back pocket to the grocery store.

So is this picture Freddie telling the world he's into handballing? Is he letting a select few members of his audience know? or is he just wearing a red sweatband on his right wrist and a matching bandana around his neck? I don't know, we'll neve know.

At any rate it's funny to watch men get their shit twisted about Josh when Freddie was broadcasting all this.

^ the costume for the biker from The Village People (yes the ones that did YMCA) was taken from the outfits men wore to the Mineshaft, Glenn Hughes who was the original biker was a leatherman, and in fact all the characters from The Village People are based on gay masculine archetypes

[painted-crow]

Bird systems, trees, crystals, and glass

No, this isn't about yoga or anything. I'm cracking Algorithms to Live By open again for another Obscure Bird Metaphor!

The anon in the post right before this one got me thinking of a thing...

They were a burned Lion modeling Bird, talking about how they hate their system being poked at because (essentially) it's fragile and they're relying on it. I am therefore restraining myself from asking them about this 😂 but I wonder if their system is constructed differently from a healthy Bird's.

Trees

I gave this advice a while back about unburning Bird primary.

Basically: healthy systems have a structure. There’s a hierarchy of beliefs, or as I prefer to think of it, a tree--with very basic core concepts at the trunk: things like "human life is inherently valuable," which can be relied upon not to change a whole lot.

Other beliefs follow from those. If you start from "unnecessary suffering is bad," you can branch into a whole lot of other stuff.

Once you've built up your tree a bit, you just start going through the world and testing everything you hear for truth. A Bird primary does this pretty much unconsciously. They also might start running into conflicts and having to prioritize.

For example, they might hear someone say "suffering is bad! Therefore we should eradicate this genetic disease... by [horrible methods]!" and the Bird will (hopefully) go "no, that is eugenics, and it is Bad because human life is inherently valuable."

So why am I talking about this?

The problem is that things aren't always as obvious as that. The trunk of your system tree might be very solid, and so might the branches that build off of it! But once you start getting into sticks and twigs and leaves, you get more potential for them to cross over each other and need pruning.* So it's very important to have this structure, so that pruning one thing doesn't take down the whole tree.

*That's an actual thing with pruning trees, apparently. I like this metaphor.

When you have time to construct your system at peace, as with a full Bird primary who develops theirs as a kid, or as with someone who just picks up a Bird model because they like it or someone they care about uses it, you usually end up with some semblance of this structure. When your system building is in response to Burning, though...

Crystals and Glass

Stable system structure (say that five times fast) takes time and patience, and is probably incompatible with the "I am relying on this prototype to keep me Okay" of using it as a crutch while Burned.

Systems work by being tinkered with. They're always a work in progress. You can try to come up with one all at once, but it's almost certainly very brittle. (This isn't a judgment on you if you're doing this--it's just, yeah, what you're trying to do is hard and it probably breaks a lot.)

And! I have a new metaphor:

In the late 1970s and early ’80s, Scott Kirkpatrick considered himself a physicist, not a computer scientist. In particular, Kirkpatrick was interested in statistical physics, which uses randomness as a way to explain certain natural phenomena—for instance, the physics of annealing, the way that materials change state as they are heated and cooled. Perhaps the most interesting characteristic of annealing is that how quickly or slowly a material is cooled tends to have tremendous impact on its final structure. As Kirkpatrick explains:

"Growing a single crystal from a melt [is] done by careful annealing, first melting the substance, then lowering the temperature slowly, and spending a long time at temperatures in the vicinity of the freezing point. If this is not done, and the substance is allowed to get out of equilibrium, the resulting crystal will have many defects, or the substance may form a glass, with no crystalline order."

Quote taken from Algorithms to Live By, by Brian Christian and Tom Griffiths, in chapter nine, "Randomness"

The annealing process is an interesting one. I'll try to explain--it's like... sometimes, if you make all the obvious immediate right choices, you can railroad yourself into a solution that isn't optimal because you aren't seeing the bigger picture. You reach what's called a local maximum: you've found the best solution available... in the tiny corner you looked in. It's like trying to pack a suitcase without taking some things out and repositioning them to see if they fit better.

This is why healthy Birds really like to poke at even their core or core-adjacent beliefs sometimes. It's why you get nerds arguing over the trolley problem for funsies. It's why Kurt Vonnegut wrote a story that poked the question, "is there any situation in which sexual assault could be justified?" (I really hate that story, and if I were in his place I wouldn't have published it, but I understand why he wrote it.)

Needless to say, these discussions can be... provocative, and our Lion friends do not always appreciate them, for very understandable reasons--especially if we don't make it clear that we don't actually expect that the discussion will change our beliefs in the end. We just want to poke at things, because they're interesting, or because we want to know how far our internal rules can be stretched and still hold true, or just out of habit.

But Burned primaries modeling Bird are not only uncomfortable with those discussions, they can actually become unstable because of them. There's no room for the usual Bird annealing process. They don't have time to spend on melting their system crystal and lowering its temperature slowly, hanging out at melting point for a while to get it to form a stable structure. They need a solid now, so they're left with glass... and glass shatters.

...Ow.

So, what are you supposed to do in this situation? Can you make it better?

I think you can, to some degree.

Ideally, you'd unburn your actual primary, but that's difficult and might take a while--you need a temporary solution, which is why you're modeling Bird in the first place.

It's probably doable to pick out some stable core beliefs, so at least you have something if the rest of your system goes haywire.

Once you have a solid core to work from, it might help to poke a healthy Bird whose judgment you trust while you're building up your modeled system, especially if your tree is currently shedding branches, because they're really good at debugging stuff and will often offer to clone one of their tree branches to graft onto yours, so you can feel better and also grow lemons or something.

You might want to let them know you're having a rough time and this questioning isn't just for fun, so they don't get too far into the weeds (and let them know if they're stepping into uncomfortable territory if they do, because which topics are considered difficult is different for everyone).

Also bear in mind that you are potentially asking for emotional labor from them, depending on the topic; it might hit some of their more sensitive subjects, which they may still be willing to discuss but only when they're in a stable mood.

Alternatively, you can try leaning on a different crutch instead of, or in addition to, your model--like asking other people when you're stuck on something. This is the more direct form of the previous suggestion: instead of helping you build up your system to make decisions, you just ask for help when you need it. This is more like the "outsource your morality to someone else" tactic that's also popular with burned Lions.

Whatever you decide to do, remember to cut yourself some slack--you're speaking a foreign language here, primary-wise, and it's hard and stuff breaks and it's best if you try not to be too hard on yourself. Give yourself space and patience to recover. I'm rooting for you!

[thehoneyedhufflepuff]

2019 Top Five

Rules: It’s time to love yourselves! Choose your 5 favorite works you created in the past year (fics, art, edits, etc.) and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you brought into the world in 2019. Tag as many writers/artists/etc as you want (fan or original) so we can spread the love and link each other to awesome works!

thank you for tagging me @ninemagicks @sourcherrymagiks @f-ing-ruthless-baz @sharkmartini 💜

2019 was the year I found Carry On & this lovely fandom. It was the year I started writing & drawing again after many years of being creatively stagnant (& I wrote a LOT; over 310k published on AO3 & who knows how much is currently sitting unpublished in my Google Drive). It’s been a bit of a bumpy ride—lots of self-doubt & uncomfortable feelings about my own work—but this book ultimately gave me my creativity back, & some wonderful friends, & self-growth, day by day. I’ve been in a bit of a funk since the end of the countdown, & especially these last few weeks, so I think this will be a good opportunity for me to reflect on the things I’m proud of & try to say some nice things about my own work. Let’s get the party started.

1. Between the Lines

Y’all probably aren’t surprised, right? I feel like BTL has really helped me grow as a writer while telling a story that’s very personal & important to me. When I first started this fic, it was meant to be just a little bookshop AU. I’m very proud of what it’s become, & the reception it’s had has blown me away. I appreciate everyone who’s read it/reading it/yet to read it so very, very much. I never would’ve guessed that I’d still be working on this fic, let alone how long it would be. I think it’s probably my best work stylistically & in terms of the story, even if sometimes I cringe when I reread the beginning. (I either cringe or really like my work when I reread it, there’s no in-between.) (I mostly really like this one when I need to go back & study it.)

IDK, I’ve talked about BTL a LOT the last eight months. I’m not sure what else I can say about it right this moment, but I’m sure I’ll think of something eventually, & hopefully y’all aren’t sick of hearing about it because I don’t think I can help it.

🦖💛💙🦖

2. A Pair of Splendid Morons

This fic is still near & dear to my heart. I like to say it was the first fic I finished in the fandom, but it was actually my second (I don’t...like to talk about Merry Gentlemen. At all. I think I’ve been scarred since I got a scathing anon review in the comments [which is why I no longer allow anon comments on AO3, RIP].) (I made some...choices with that fic. ANYWAY.)

So Splendid Morons was the second fic I finished in the fandom (it’ll be a year old on Valentine’s Day; can you believe?!). It’s my second-longest (after BTL, of course, lmao) & I wrote it in just six weeks, which is lightning-fast by my standards. (This set me up to think I was a fast writer. I was sorely disappointed when I discovered that’s not the case.) It’s also my most-read fic, though BTL is super close to taking the crown.

My writing’s improved a lot since I first posted APOSM, I think, but I also think it holds up pretty well! (I do worry sometimes that I wrote Simon too soft, & there are a few mistakes I made by not properly researching [ahem, looking at you, Suitgate].) (One thing I found slightly amusing was the influx of readers this one got after Wayward Son, lmao. This fic is not in the vein of WS at ALL.) (Okay, that might be sort of false? I do mention trauma etc. in the fic, but I guess the main difference is that Simon & Baz really try to face these things together instead of apart. And also they communicate, albeit somewhat awkwardly. It’s a dream come true.)

For anyone who hasn’t read it, it’s a Carry On-era canon first time fic, & it spawned my post-Carry On series that is now an AU. I still have stories to tell on that timeline, but it’s sort of hard to forget Wayward Son completely, you know? When I first started writing this, it was technically still possible. Now it’s only possible as an AU, which is fine. (I’m not really sure where I’m going with this...I just have weird feelings, lol.) OH, also this was the first time I ever wrote a sex scene. I think it’s actually pretty good for a first time (mine & theirs, lmao).

3. Housewarming

Sort of cannot believe I’m picking the smuttiest thing I’ve ever written as one of my top fics of the year, but also??? I’m proud of this fic. It’s super hard to write smut—no euphemism—& I reread this one recently & thought I did a pretty good job. (I was actually slightly ashamed after I posted it, but I got over that once I got some nice comments. Nice comments are always very helpful.) I’ll share one here, which I think is fine since AO3 comments are public anyway:

Your writing just has so much LOVE in it and you write their companionship and connection so beautifully. You know, I wasn't going to read First Bite because that's not my kind of thing and usually grosses me out, but I've loved your other stuff so I gave it a shot. Turns out, it's just that stories like that tend to focus on the kink and grit, but you focus on everything that's good between them instead. And then you show how those good things lead to the perhaps more-than-vanilla coupling.

This fic, too, is grimy and steamy, but it's also sweet because you include the right details... This is not a smut fic of the rough kinky variety. It's a smut fic about two people reveling in a sacred space/act they've created together. Props to you because the difference is palpable. (I have never in my life written so much about sex on a fic review so sorry about this ramble lmao)

Y’all...this comment meant so much to me. This is what it’s really about, you know? I’m trying to show them expressing love, & this just made me so happy. Numbers-wise, stories with a focus on sex seem to get fewer kudos/comments, & I think part of that is the anonymity factor (which I totally understand), but I just want to say that something like this means A TON to those of us who write stuff like this. Many thanks to @sappho-said-i-could ; this comment single-handedly made me much less self-conscious about this particular work. 💜

4. Crashing Through

This is one of my favorite ficlets from the countdown, & also my most popular countdown fic on Tumblr in terms of notes (not that that’s a deciding factor, but it DOES make me happy). It’s a little alternate ending to WS (just a what if? for the beach scene at the end of the book.)

Like many, Wayward Son hit me really hard. I love Wayward Son a lot, but I spent days feeling so emotionally drained, & then weeks just unable to write. This was one of the first things I wrote that even had anything to do with Wayward Son, & fun fact! I wrote it all by hand in the car on a day trip. While it’s obviously not a canon-possible scene at this point, I still really like it. (I reblogged it yesterday as part of my Fandom Anniversary Reblog Thingy that I’m doing, & I read it & thought, Huh. Sometimes I’m decent at this whole writing thing.)

I actually felt stuck when I went to write Be With Me after this, because I didn’t think I could top the way they said I love you in this one (I still...sort of prefer this to the scene in Be With Me but oh well, what’re you gonna do).

5. “Love”

Can y’all tell I don’t normally name my art pieces? I don’t normally name them. I’m super proud of this one; it was the last piece of art I made in 2019, & I think it’s one of my best. It’s one of my least “popular” pieces in terms of notes, but I still really like it a lot & I did a side-by-side comparison of this next to my first fanart last year & it was super encouraging to see my progress. Sharing art has been scarier for me than sharing writing, but seeing how far I’ve come since June was very helpful.

ANYWAY! BTL is super close to my heart, as y’all know, & I had a moment where I just really wanted to draw them in this moment where they’re finally getting some time to just be together & enjoy the newness of their relationship. This was done in copic marker for the most part, though I also used colored pencil for their blushes (my brand 😏) & Baz’s sweater. (At one point I thought I’d completely ruined the whole piece because of how Baz’s sweater was looking, but then @knitbelove gave me some sweater advice & I went back to work & held my breath & everything turned out okay in the end.) This is also the last traditional piece of art I’ve done, & I should probably change that soon. (Please give the original post some love if you’re so compelled. 💜💜💜)

I think I’m a few days late in terms of doing this, so I’m not sure who all has gone yet! I’ll tag @warriorbeeofthesea @krisrix @pipsqueakparker @icarus-n-flames @vkelleyart @singerofsimplesongs @fight-surrender @knitbelove @annabellelux @pitchpatronus @subpar-selkie @neck-mole @cynopoe @gibbarts & anyone else who sees this & wants to do it! Seriously, that means you! 😉

[newtinaweek-blog]

Frequently Asked Questions

→  WHAT IS NEWTINA WEEK?

Newtina Week is a week-long event meant to inspire Newtina shippers to create fanworks for the couple. Seven prompts - one for each day - are chosen based on majority vote, and listed on this blog prior to the week beginning. Each day, participants post or submit their creations, and they will be reblogged on this main blog.

→  WHEN IS NEWTINA WEEK?

The initial idea is to hold Newtina Week yearly. Hopefully, every November.

During the hiatus, it would be good to hold it around the same time as the movie would be out for us to miss our favourite pairing a little bit less.

It is possible for us to hold during the movie’s years as well, but that will be up to discussion closer to each movie release date, so we can decide as fandom if we want to hold a Newtina Week sometime before or after the movie is actually released in 2021 (and later dates).

The event’s dates will be updated in the sidebar of the main page, so you can find out more information about it as information becomes available.

→   HOW CAN I PARTICIPATE?

There are many ways to participate in Newtina Week. All decisions about the week are chosen by popular vote, from when the week will happen to what the prompts will be.

You can participate by following this blog and voting on the decisions posted here. You can vote for the week when the event is going to be happen in the polls for it. You can suggest prompts when the polls are open for it.

And, of course, you can participate by creating fanworks that fit the prompts chosen for this event.

You can also participate by signal boosting, reblogging, commenting and just enjoying the creations!!!

If you have thoughts about how to expand participation options, please tell us!!

→   WHAT COUNTS AS A FANWORK?

Whatever you can think of, basically. Fanfiction, fanart, graphics, gifs, videos, fanmixes, meta, wallpapers, icons, etc.

If it’s about Newt and Tina and their relationship, we want to see it!

→   IF I SUBMIT PROMPT SUGGESTIONS, CAN I VOTE?

Yes!

→   IF I WANT TO MAKE A FANWORK FOR THE EVENT, DO I HAVE TO DO SOMETHING FOR ALL SEVEN DAYS?

Not at all! You can pick and choose for which ones you’re inspired by or you can do all seven separately or you can do one long work that includes all seven prompts.

It is all up to you! This event is only to inspire us as fandom to create new content and have fun!!!

→   I JUST FOUND OUT ABOUT THIS TODAY, AND THE EVENT IS ALREADY HALF OVER! I GUESS I HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL THE NEXT ONE?

Nope! You can jump right in! Participation is open, meaning that you don’t need to register, or declare your intentions to join in on the fun. All you need to do is to join us along as soon and as much as you can!

→   HOW CLOSELY DO I HAVE TO STICK TO THE PROMPTS?

Not all that closely. The idea of the week is to help fans with inspiration to create something. As long as your creation is loosely inspired by the prompt, it will count.

For example, if the prompt is Hogwarts Years, and you wanted to write/draw Newt and Tina’s future kids while they are going to take the Hogwarts Express, it would be completely fine.

→   I MADE SOMETHING LAST YEAR THAT FITS ONE OF THE PROMPTS. CAN I JUST USE THAT?

No, sorry. Anything you want reblogged on the main blog must be unpublished and created for this event.

Since the idea of the event is to spark creativity for new fanworks, it would defeat the purpose if someone used old works and published them as new.

→   I DON’T HAVE A TUMBLR. CAN I STILL PARTICIPATE?

Absolutely! Feel free to spread this event around to other sites and tell everyone, who might be interested in participate, about it!!!

If you want to make things but don’t have a blog, just use the submission or ask boxes to give us a link to your creation, and it will be added here.

Anon is always enabled on both, so please don’t feel like this is only for tumblr.

But make sure you send us the link, since we are not going to be tracking any other social media/site for works during the week. As soon as you send it, they are going to be on the main blog (and hopefully reach a bigger amount of people!)

→   CAN I MAKE MORE THAN ONE CREATION FOR EACH PROMPT?

YES!!!! The more the merrier!

→   HOW DO I TAG MY CREATIONS FOR THEM TO BE REBLOGGED?

The official Newtina Week tag is #newtinaweek, although we are also tracking the #newtina tag itself.

It is better to use the first one, since it makes sure we know you are participating in the event and wants to be included in the main blog. But either way, if you post to either tag, we will see it.

A reminder: only the first five tags that you use will show up as searchable, so be sure to put #newtinaweek or #newtina first. Additionally, if you don’t see your post reblogged within a day (or you want to be sure we get it) please just drop us a message with the link to your work and we willl reblog it.

→   WHAT TIMEZONE DO YOU GO BY FOR START/END DATES?

For now, we are using Eastern Standard Timezone (EST). But if the timezone does not work for the majority of fandom, it will be changed to accommodate the event better!

→   I FINISHED MY CREATIONS EARLY. CAN I POST THEM OR SUBMIT THEM?

The prompts are decided early – between two weeks to a month before the event starts – to give some lead time for people to work on their fanworks.

So, working early on your creations is encouraged. If you finish early, you may submit to the blog, and we will queue it up to release on the appropriate day. For example, if you finish day one’s prompt five days before the event begins, submit it, and we’ll queue it to release on that first day.

However, if you prefer to post to your own blog instead of submitting, please wait to post your creations until the day of the prompt. If you do post early, we will not reblog any of your creations until the appropriate day.

→   I FINISHED MY CREATIONS A FEW DAYS LATE. WILL YOU STILL REBLOG/ACCEPT THEM?

Yes, we will! While you’re not allowed to post early, you can always submit late. For example, you can post a day one prompt on day four if that’s when you finish. If you don’t complete a creation until the week is over, that’s fine, too.

Just be sure to tag your creations, and/or submit it to the blog to be sure we see it. And if you don’t see your creation reblogged within a day or so, please drop us a line to follow up since we check the tags less often after the event ends.

→   MY QUESTION ISN’T ON HERE!

Please, drop us a question in the ask box. Anon is on, so if you’re shy you can stay anonymous. But also we’ve undoubtedly left something off, so questions are appreciated!

[quiznakchronicle]

A collection of discourse/vent asks

So over the last few weeks we’ve gotten a bunch of discourse/vent asks, mostly from people frustrated at the number of events in the fandom and/or how they’re being managed. We understand that people turn to us because we’re the ones in the thick of all these events, but please keep in mind that this isn’t a discourse blog. We’ll answer all the asks we have in one shot in this post (under a cut) because we don’t want people thinking we’re ignoring them or don’t care about what they’re saying, but after this we won’t be answering such asks publicly anymore. In the future we’d ask that if you have a grievance regarding events in this fandom please either talk to us in private about it (send an off-anon ask to this blog or DM Mod Pidge at @ace-pidge) or make a separate post about it on your blog. If you just want to anonymously vent/rant at someone may we suggest something like @vld-rage-confessions

Thanks for understanding <3

- Mods Pidge & Shiro

Anonymous said: 12 days ago regarding that anon complaining about event capacity, I think it might be helpful to also bring up a discussion about how certan events are run. Some events are run very smoothly by mods that are mature and act professional, while others are either run by well-intentioned newbies or people who don't have the skill to run the event they are. I have had to drop out of several bangs because the mods have refused to use email for sign-ups or check-ins, instead forcing all the work on participants1/2

2/2 They put all of the responsibility for both creating the piece, communicating with partners and performing check-ins on the participants and then people drop out due to poor communication and confusion. I have asked mods to please use email and send out confirmation / check-in emails and many have been rude and self-righteous about it, calling those that ask for better modding skills lazy or entitled. I am frustrated since I have always handed my work in on time, but have had to drop

3/2 from events due to absolute silence on the part of mods. It is not good practice to run your entire event out of tumblr / twitter and expect all participants to keep checking your blog / check in with you. It is teh responsibility of mods to send out emails and check in with participants, not the other way around. it is the responsibility of mods to make sure the communication is there, and the responsibility of participants to do the work and hand it in.

4/2(sorry) I don't wnat to make a c=major call-out post or shame particular people, but I feel like this is a trend that needs to stop. Certain events (big bangs, I've noticed) are being run like drag-and-drop set-and-forget events that mods don't need to put effort in to beyond putting up a tumblr. Running a big bang is a HUGE amount of effort and if you're not willing to put the effort in to run it properly, you run the risk of burning the entire community. We need to focus on a few well-run events. Sorry, finished. (no need to publish this ask)

I think this is a very good point and in fact I was partly thinking of this ask when I made my events etiquette post with my list of advice to organizers and participants. The importance of good and consistent communication during events simply cannot be understated, it’s what will make or break your event

Anonymous said: 12 days ago thank you so much for posting the thing about too many events. i'm thinking about not accepting zines if i get in because i don't think they'll sell and i don't want to work on something for nothing and i don't know how to get that across to these mods because they think selling a hundred is good but i get more kudos on my ao3 fics than that

Honestly the situation with zines has me particularly worried, because there is actual money involved. In previous fandoms I’ve only ever seen a few zines overall, never this many and all at once. It really does saturate the market. The last thing anyone wants is for people to put in all that work only for it to flop at the end because few people actually order it. It’s not any one person or zine’s fault, because all of them have neat concepts and themes. The problem is in having them all at once.

Anonymous said: 12 days ago I don't know how recently the problems with dropouts have started getting worse, but it could also have something to do with school starting back in a lot of places. If students didn't think about school starting or didn't expect to have more work this year than last year, they might be dropping stuff because of that. Oversaturation is definitely a problem we have, but things might even out a little bit in a few weeks once people adjust and it might get a little bit better? Hopefully?

That’s definitely a possibility. As I’ve said in the past it’s very important to consider your long-term life/work/school schedule when considering whether to run or sign up for an event. I have noticed in the past week or two less new events have popped up, so either I’m not finding them lol, or we’re heading into a lull which will hopefully allow things to even out

Anonymous said: 12 days ago on top of "too many events", there are a lot of /competiting/ events. 3 keith zines (for example) are all gonna compete with each other, period. people only have so much money to give, so someone buying 1 keith zine can't spend THAT SAME money on the other 2. (nor can they spend it on a lance zine, klance zine, etc). thinking these don't compete is the 1st mistake. creators are gonna spend time making things no one will buy and the mods are gonna lose money producing it.

Yeah, I touched briefly on the situation with zines a bit further up. I think the one saving grace for these zines is that while they may all be in production more or less at the same time they don’t go on sale at the same time. But I definitely hear you. We all want all the zines to do well, but like you say people aren’t made of money

Anonymous said: 12 days ago confession: im in an event run by the worst mod ever and its incredibly fucking frustrating. it feels like they dont give a shit about the event. i applied to their zine before i knew that but if i get accepted i WONT participate and in the rejection i will tell them why (its been over a month). they havent done ANY check ins as scheduled have basically disappeared and my artist hasnt replied either. im so mad i want to cry and drop out and never do an event again. this hurts us too you know

Aw Nonny I’m so sorry you’re stuck in this situation... The flipside of poor event management is fandom creators like you being turned off from participating in projects and that’s really upsetting. Fandom events should be a source of fun and creativity, not stress and anxiety. I’m so sorry, I hope in the meantime since you sent this your situation has improved ;A;

Anonymous said: 12 days ago Guys please don't encourage mods who are continuously late on their dates or end up canceling their event due to their poor planning. I get that you want to treat them well but not giving honest feedback ("please keep to the schedule in the future" or "I'm disappointed this was cancelled") tells them that there are no consequences to their bad management. But there are: one week only had 2 participants. Zines aren't making money. Too many events + bad mods = poor participation. I'm sick of it.

This is important. If the way something is being run isn’t working it’s important to say so, otherwise how will the mod grow and learn to do better in the future. I know it feels like “calling out” but it needs to be said. Seeing an event to completion is a partnership between the organizer(s) and the participants and both sides need to be proactive and be willing to listen to each other

Anonymous said: 10 days ago My 2 cents on the events discourse: they're optional so don't sign up. Personally I'm sick of having shitty mods and terrible experiences so i won't be doing anymore vld events. Sucks because i love fandom events but apparently no one who runs them gets the point of them so...

Yeah, I’m seeing more and more people saying they’re just not gonna participate in anything anymore and it sucks that it’s come to this. I totally understand though ://

Anonymous said: 8 days ago dear people who follow QC: we do not have unlimited money. zines for profit are going to continue to do worse because more people will hit their spending limits. we do not need multiple character zines, ship zines, or race zines (galran/altean/etc). if you think galra keith, nature keith and gen keith don't compete with both each other AND the lance zines then please take an econ class before launching. we have plenty more seasons, let's not run this fandom into the ground, shall we?

Anonymous said: 6 days ago I'm quitting fandom events. There are so many bad mods and it's made this experience really terrible for me. I'm telling you in hopes that you publish this ask so people who see it will think about if they're modding for 15 min of fame or if they're taking it seriously. Enough is enough

I think I’ve pretty much said everything further up, so I’ll just leave these last two ones here like this