#i had to unfollow the creator out of anger

[codesquire]

How do you talk about the Cuban Missile Crisis, and treat the US missiles in Turkey as an afterthought?

Those missiles in Turkey were one of many elephants in the room, because the US had to drop trou and helicopter in Kruschev's face.

[shinidamachu]

It's happened. I saw a post that pretty much said 'just because the artist claimed it so doesn't make it canon.' It's so bizarre, like fans can easily say "I follow anime canon" or "manga canon" like Japanese fans do (anime or manga-official, as they say over there) or even say "I headcanon that etc" but now it's straight up rejecting the creator's words as "not canon". How bizarre.

I take it you’re talking about Takahashi’s interview and the absolute cringe fest that followed?

Well, let’s say she had stated that Sesshomaru and Rin were always intended to be a potential couple instead. Would you accept as canon? Because let me tell you: I sure as hell wouldn’t. And here’s why: death of the author, babey!

An author's intentions should hold no special weight in determining an interpretation of their writing. A writer's views about their own work are no more or less valid than the interpretations of any given reader. Intentions are one thing. What was actually accomplished might be something very different. And we don’t get to cherry pick, this goes for both sides.

Takahashi told us a story. We know what we read and watched. We based our interpretation on what we thought it was pretty obvious that was given to us: a platonic relationship in which Sesshomaru was a guardian or father figure to Rin. It just turned out this was the author’s intent as well. Shippers, for a series of reasons that I won’t address here, had a complete different interpretation. An interpretation I strongly disagree with. An interpretation that was not the author’s intent. 

But honestly? This is a “them” problem. I couldn’t care less what other people ship, as much as their ship still grosses me out. I’m a big girl. I’m not afraid of unfollowing people or blocking content I don’t want to see. My fandom experience it’s my responsibility. My real beef was with Sunrise for allowing Sesshomaru/Rin to happen in a kid’s show and in one of the nastiest ways possible. But this ship has sailed (ha!), the damage is already done.

And frankly, Takahashi is also to blame for this thing to blow out of proportion. She could have been (even) more emphatic about it on her work. She could have been more firm on painels or interviews instead of shrugging and saying “you do you” because she knew the implications and she knew what it meant for Sesshomaru and for the story she created. “You do you” is for Sesskag, Sesskik, Sesskog or whatever else. Not for Sessrin. She could have shot it down. She had years to do so. Now we’re dealing with the consequences.

The truth of the matter is: this ship is problematic to say the least. And that’s why its supporters are so desperate for Takahashi and Sunrise to say they’re right. In the end of the day, I feel like everyone got what they deserved: shippers with Sunrise’s validation, the rest of us with the author’s. And everyone is free to do with it whatever they want.

Personally, Takahashi finally speaking changes nothing for me, because canon wise, Yashahime changed nothing for me, either. I’m just glad for the people who needed her to say something to separate the original Channel series they love from the Walmart take-off that tried to ruin it. Unfortunately, it came off as damage control and to the casual viewers it’s too little too late to separate Inuyasha from Yashahime. Not that Sunrise cares, as long as the merch money keeps coming.

Anyway... Good thing shippers seem to have moved on from “denial” to “anger” to “bargain.” 

Only two more stages of grief to go.

[incorrectspnforfun]

Is it just me or has this fandom gotten kinda serious??

Like I still love spn and the fandom as a whole, it’s nice to be supported by people who share the same interests as you but everything’s been blown up almost.

For instance I know the ‘walker’ premiere’s soon, something that a lot of people have worked really hard on including Jared, and some people are being so horrible about it without even watching it. Basically a lot of people are trying to make it fail because of spn and the controversy surrounding the ending, which I think is so childish and selfish. I mean if you watch it and don’t like it fair enough but if it’s just because of Jared being in it or because you didn’t like the spn finale what’s the point?

Everyone has their own opinion on the ending, which is fine, but to come for the actors and their career is so wrong and messed up.

Not only that but as a result of this the spn fandom is getting a bad reputation as toxic and immature (a lot of people assume were bitchy teenagers like???) I have several problems with that stereotype in itself but that’s not the point.

I just feel like it’s not about enjoying the show any more, but maybe that’s just me. I would love to hear your thoughts on this because you seem like a genuinely nice and friendly spn blog. Thank you, sorry it was long.

Hi! 

Don’t apologize at all! I’m sorry it took me so long to get to this, but I’m happy to answer it and talk about this now. <3 

I’ve talked about this whole thing with a lot of different people, and the whole issue still doesn’t sit right with me, but I’ll give you my thoughts and opinions and everything based on the talks I’ve had with friends/family who are also in the fandom. 

And before I get into my whole big long shpiel, I’m gonna say it now: 

I don’t want to argue with anyone in the comments. 

I don’t want a bunch of hate. 

If you don’t like what I say here, then scroll past it and ignore it. If you wanna unfollow the blog, that’s fine. 

But this person is asking me for my thoughts, maybe because they’re feeling hurt and confused by this fandom right now, like I am, and I don’t blame them, so I’m gonna tell them what I think, which means telling all of you. And if you don’t like it, then ignore it. But I’m not gonna fight with people. I will delete rude comments, because I don’t want the toxicity. 

I do try to keep this blog as positive, happy, and uplifting as possible, and I’m going to try to keep this post as positive as possible as well, but I, admittedly, have been very angered by some of the behavior of the people in this fandom, so if I come off as short and upset, I apologize in advance. 

All of that said, here we go: 

Yes. I agree with you 100%. I don’t know what happened, and I don’t know what it is, but the controversy over the finale created such a toxicity in the fandom that is killing me. 

I have always been proud to be in the fandom because we are a family. The SPN Family has always been a force for good: donating to charities, fighting for people’s rights, and just in general promoting love, kindness, and happiness. 

So to see all of that falling apart because of an ending?? Of a TV show?? It breaks me. It hurt my heart. When the controversy first started, I was in tears over everything happening, because I was heartbroken. 

Hearing that SPN fans were scaring actors and other fans off of social media because of their hate over the ending was one of the worst things I’d ever heard. And the fact that it only continued to escalate honestly made me wish I wasn’t in this fandom, if only to avoid the association. I even started avoiding a lot of my favorite SPN creators because they were being so toxic about the ending. 

Look. I loved the ending, and if you hate me for that, it’s fine. But I did. I thought it was perfect. I know there are a lot of people that didn’t. And that’s fine. We can agree to disagree. If you hate the ending, you have a right to your opinion. 

What nobody has the right to do, though, is hate on other people for their opinions, in any sense of the word. 

Jared Padalecki should not be getting hate because he loved and was proud of the finale. 

Jim Beaver should not have gotten hate because he was in the finale and was happy to be a part of something so beautiful. 

Misha Collins should not have gotten hate because he expressed his opinion about Cas’s ending and everything that came with the finale. 

Yes, they’re celebrities. Yes, they play these characters. But they are also people. They are human. 

This entire family has been built on the fact that these actors put us on their level. They respect us and treat us like we’re all equals. Don’t we owe them the same courtesy? 

This is getting a little preachy, but my point is that yes, this fandom has gotten toxic and serious and frustrating in a lot of ways, and it really hurts me on a personal level, because I love this family. I bragged for years about how positive the energy in this fandom was, and how open-minded and warm and welcoming everybody in it was. 

So to see it getting to the point where these toxic people are making a bad name for a fandom that I’ve praised ever since I joined it hurts. It hurts a lot. Even writing this is making me really emotional. 

Now. All of that said, I want to do my best to give you a light at the end of the tunnel. 

I truly believe that the true SPN Family is still out there. Whether people liked the finale or not, the fans who are screaming at actors and hating on fans who did like the finale and running stars off of social media because of their opinions are not SPN Family members. They may be Supernatural fans, but they are not family. Because I still believe that the SPN Family is filled with kindness and goodness and love, and I know that there are those of us out there who are positive. But, unfortunately, toxicity is louder--the squeaky wheel gets the grease. 

My hope, though, is that, down the line, it’s the positive legacy of this family that lives on. Because yeah, this all started because of a TV show, but it created something even bigger. And the people who are going to be surface level and hate on the show and the actors and the fans and everything because of the plot of the last few episodes don’t see the bigger picture, and, hopefully, by default, they won’t want to be a part of it. 

But those of us who still appreciate everything this show created and everything it stood for--whether we liked the finale or not--know that just because the show ended the way it did doesn’t mean the legacy of the actors, characters, fandom, or anything in between has to change or go away. 

The SPN Family has created something wonderful and beautiful. And yeah, our legacy looks a little tainted right now. But years from now, those of us who are truly members of the SPN Family--and not just the SPN fandom, because that’s an important distinction--will be able to keep that positive legacy going for years to come. 

At least, that’s what I’m hoping. 

I’ve thought about this a lot, and I’ve talked about it a lot, with a lot of people. 

And while I know everyone acting up over Walker was recent, I do feel like, all things considered, the toxicity is calming down, to a degree, and I like to think that it’ll slowly just fade out--or, at least quiet down. 

My hope is that, as the toxicity dies, the positivity will reign again, and everyone will slowly remember what this fandom should really be about--family and love.

Maybe this was too preachy, and maybe this isn’t even the type of thing you wanted to hear, but I hope that what I said gives you some comfort for a better future for this fandom--no, this family. It can be hard, with everything going on, but know that there are still positive people left. I’ve found several myself that I’ve latched onto to help me get through the negativity. And, in the end, love always wins. And family--true family--always has your back. 

And, hey, in the wise words of Dean Winchester: 

“A wise man once told me, 'family don't end in blood. ' But it doesn't start there either. Family cares about you, not what you can do for them. Family's there; for the good, bad, all of it. They got your back, even when it hurts. That’s family.” 

And that family is the one that’ll come out on top. 

I know it. <3 

Lots of love to my entire SPN Family. Hang in there. <3 

[angeloncewas]

omg hiii returning to ur askbox for Discourse Reasons :) im so sorry I havent sent u anything recently ive just been busy but ummm just a disclaimer this is /nm and i think this just all has to do with us having different expierences for various reasons but i have seen a lot more dt stans absolutely shit on sbi for no reason or shit on them just bc an sbi stan (a lot of whom even like dt) made an offhanded/poorly worded criticism of one/all of them and it's just been. very upsetting? bc i used to like dteam a lot more but now it feels hard for me personally to engage in dt fan spaces/content bc a lot of those same people posting about dt are the people who ive seen actively take something that wasnt That Deep in poor faith and just shit on sbi to piss off the op instead of realizing the ccs have literally nothing to do with this stuff and if you have a problem with the stans you dont need to take it out on the ccs. obviously this can go both ways, sbi stans arent innocent in this, i just know ive personally had to block and unfollow a lot of people for shitting on sbi when their anger was actually targeted at stans who half the time werent even actually spreading hate, just criticism. this is probably just bc of who i follow but that doesnt make it any less annoying to see dteam stans pop up out of nowhere on my dash just bc they came for an sbi stan for something that wasnt actually an issue until they decided to make it an issue (ie somebody expressing their own reasons why they dont like dteam with proper tagging so fans dont see it unless they literally look for it and then still somehow ending up getting dogpiled) which then turns into like a 3 day long discourse between the two sides of mcytblr.

anyways, thanks for listening to my 2 cents! like i said, /nm i was just getting really frustrated about this earlier and then i saw you talking bit about it so i am taking adventure of ur willingness to respectfully discourse and doing so lol

hope you've been well!

—🦷

Tooth :D I hope you've been well too - no worries about not being around, I've also been v busy. Just glad you're still here tbh <3

I definitely have had that experience on Twitter, not here, but I'm really sorry you have. It sucks that we've both had ANY sort of experience like that, considering how adamantly people proclaim mcytblr to be the most superior of the platforms, but I digress.

"if you have a problem with the stans you dont need to take it out on the ccs" is just so right... and honestly vice versa too. Like as much as I am a fan of the creators, they're so removed from us that I feel like so much regarding them is so... distant. Whereas you and I (or any two people, I mean) are right here, right now, and if we have a problem (or don't !) it's really between us.

I know it can be frustrating to see people against the creators you like, but dteamblr (they're not really an organized group, but summarized for the sake of) comes close to dttwt in defensiveness sometimes. And I get it, I get the urge too, but it still does cause problems with people who are trying to exist within their own space and I do think that the worst dteam stans - on every platform - are some of the most concerning people in this fandom. I don't know how we've normalized threats and the like but OH BOY. Chill a little.

Idk. I hope you find joy in dt spaces again because it's not fair that people took that from you :/ and I hope the people of dteamblr stop going for peoples' throats all the time; sometimes it's okay to just let it be. Not everyone's gonna like you or the creators you do, and making a problem out of it or something like it is just petty.

[textsfromthefifthbasement]

Hi, everyone! Given certain recent events in the fandom, I feel like I should make my stance on cancel culture very clear. Yes, I am anti-terf and anti-racist, and I have and will in the future block people who try to interact with my posts and actively seek to dehumanize groups of people. However, I am very solidly against the cancel culture being spouted by a certain member of the fandom right now.

The truth of the matter is, the OP of the post in question does make several valid points: white writers need to take special care in how they portray and treat their POC characters, and there should be some serious discussion as to what level we allow extremely transphobic fans interact with the fandom. However, these points are ultimately obscured by the OP making unfounded claims, attacking other fans, and ultimately advocating for a treatment of POC characters that would result in even less diversity in the fandom. In fact, the OP quite explicitly stated in one post that they aren’t interested in discussing how fanfiction writers can do better with portraying POC characters, they just want fics taken down. This is very different from speaking out against specific people who actively post things trying to dehumanize groups of people.

This is not to say that people shouldn’t be angry when racism and homophobia happen. Anger is a very valid response to this. I speak as a member of the LGBTQ+ community, it still, quite frankly, pisses me off that the major terf in the fandom reblogged one of my posts before I saw what was on her blog. I never read the particular fic in question, and the OP may have had reason to be upset. But, making blanket statements about how everyone in the fandom are white supremacists because we like Leroux’s original book (there literally wouldn’t be a fandom without it), and knocking every creator’s attempt to portray characters as POC no matter the context is not the way to promote healthy diversity in the fandom. Nor is continuing to attack the author of the fanfic in question despite them trying to make amends and taking down said fic. If anything, one of the major lessons from The Phantom of the Opera should be that despite doing terrible, problematic things, there is always a way to come back if someone is willing to make amends.

If any of the above makes you uncomfortable, feel free to unfollow/block/whatever. I will probably start being more active in the fandom from here on. Please everyone, stay safe physically and mentally. My asks are open here and on my main blog, which is in the description, if anyone needs someone to talk to. (I’m just too shy to reach out on my own believe it or not lmao). Any hate sent my way will be blocked and reported because frankly I don’t have the energy left to deal with hate after these last four years. And finally, let’s normalize discussing hurtful ideas and characterizations before going full cancel culture.

[sovinly]

Hey, anon who just sent me that message?

Fuck off, you’re free to unfollow me if you like. If you wanted to alert me to something I might want to know, that was a shitty and aggressive and accusatory way to do it, and I do not have the fucking patience for it.

Amazingly, I don’t follow any authors and I super do not appreciate whatever the fuck that was. You could have, uh, for example, googled that yourself and, should that be a thing that is happening, let me know that gently. You did not.

I shall do my own googling and make my own choices and, best of all, decide that I can value the complexity of human beings. Like. I have valued the work of MUCH more problematic creators.

I am NOT the person to take your anger out on.

(ETA: I did my own googling and what are you on about??? That is not, at all, in any way what the ONE post I turned up said, and that had nothing to do with the things you mentioned? This feels like a good place for a “Reading comprehension on tumblr is piss poor/how dare you say tumblr users piss on the poor” reference. Should anyone else get weird yelly content-policing anons about the same post, happy to share more context/details on what they seem to be on about.)

[lucifer-kane]

Finally my side of this whole KFAM debacle

I’ve never had to write something like this before, so here we go. I know that there have been other people who have said things on this topic, people who I’m very grateful towards in all of this, who have come forward in this… strange time. I feel like I finally can say something after freaking out for a few days and talking with others as well online who are on this side of it all. But I feel like I finally need to say something as…. Probably the person who really started it all, I guess? As the one who made the post saying “Me casting death of the author onto kfam” Because I was finally fed up with just everything I had learned over the last year + of talking about criticisms in the show and of the creators/writers. I spent months talking to others on at least two different servers about all of this, from learning it myself, to being here in this position of what’s currently going on.

A lot started a few months ago in the Official Server, when a graphic artist posted an edit of a character of the show in BDSM gear, which, automatically, is NSFW. Some had issues and said that it got taken down, then a few hours later uploaded it once more with a spoiler cover over it. Friday morning, it happened again, this time with a group shot, but he was still there. Now. I don’t think I would have issues with this if it was posted on a server with specific channels for 18+ members of it only. But it wasn’t, and this server is a SFW only, but apparently “canon compliant” NSFW is a-okay. Which, I think is utterly ridiculous, because minors are still in there, and that should not be allowed. If you’re going to allow that stuff, at least have designated channels where only 18+ members can opt in to see that sort of thing. You can’t have both.

Two people called this out, one directly sending an @ to the mods in said server, and it was a little bit before a response happened, then two other messages were taken down, the message with the @ left in it. Kyle had also retweeted the art on twitter, and while I don’t think that was such a bad thing, his response to at least adding a warning that it was NSFW, was pretty unprofessional. The person who asked Kyle to say as such, was bullied by both Kyle and Trent on twitter as well.

Now, onto my DotA post once more. After posting that I had a few hours of chillness, up until in the middle of a call with friends, I looked over to my discord list of servers I was in, and the Official was no longer there. I panicked, left the call, and cried for a long time about it, because despite my criticism, I loved being there! I told my friends on this server, where the criticism was most of the time, and there was a few hour period of questioning what the hell was going on. It was late at night, and everyone was confused. No one would give reasoning to what was going on. Until I was vagued to have been a problem for a long time.

Now, it may have been my bluntness when it comes to text, bc you know, autism! But I don't think I've ever done anything that would warrant people to be uncomfortable, other than criticize the show (and the server at times) on my personal tumblr (twitter on occasion). Which I can see as being upset about that, but I was way too damn scared to PM a mod to talk about what was going on, because at this point, it was very obvious they hated me. I didn’t like that they never came to talk, like a civilized person, about all this. I don't want to make people uncomfortable, that's the last goddamn thing I wanna do in this world.

Now, we’re here. A few days after everything went down, to what I feel like was a simple miscommunication, I would never wish death on someone at all, that’s disgusting behavior and I don’t like that Kyle even vagued that I did such a thing. I have never interacted with him at all, even when he would come and talk on the server. I actively tried to avoid interactions with the creators because I’m not a fan of creators being this close to their fanbase, where people have actively said it makes them uncomfortable.

I love this podcast a lot, for the first year I praised it like others did as well, but then, I read some things about Kyle, and then some of the things in the show. We all know those things, the Hellen Keller episode, how Lily is written, Jacob in his whole character, and the racism in Walt. But I started being critical on main, voicing my thoughts and concerns. Because criticism is an okay thing, it helps artists grow in the things they do. And I understand not liking criticism, I don’t like it sometimes, but sometimes it’s needed, to move your art forward. Kyle’s reaction to criticism is that of a man who doesn’t have thick skin and doesn’t wanna be proven wrong in the things he does.

As of now, because of all this, I’ve been blocked from the KFAM twitter, Kyle himself, and I think the tumblr as well (Or at least they’ve unfollowed me, I don’t care enough to check on there). And I’ve seen my friends get bullied by the creator of this show, and even members of the community. While at a lesser scale than Kyle, it’s still gross to see the fanbase act like this, especially acting like my friends and I are actively bullying them, when we just wanted one piece of art to be taken down from a space that, in all reality, has a lot of minors in it.

And finally, I just wanna talk about the server in general. I joined maybe six months after getting into the show, we were pretty far into the first hiatus at this point and I wanted more content, so, I finally beat my discord anxiety down and joined. And I had so much fun! I talked to people who I still think about, posted art, fics, did headcanons all the time. I talked in there quite a bit up until I got kicked. But the overall vibe of the discord after being there longer than a month, was not the greatest. And it took me longer than average to notice, shortly before posting public criticisms. This was when I started getting ignored more often than not, and not that everyone did that, I still had people talk to me, which was nice. But as time went on, this happened more and more, to more and more people.

People who saw my criticisms, and came to me, mostly anonymously, to say they felt the exact same way. And that’s… not a good thing. The whole “Only happy things, no negativity about the show!” attitude that is in there, is bad. You can’t criticize something you love, and if you do, you’re dogpiled onto until you shut up. This has happened to many people, not just me. There’s times where queer members of this community, will talk about themseles as some lgbt+/queer fans do. Saying things along the line of “___ is gay culture!” or “I think [x] is trans!!” and they’ll either get ignored (in the latter case) or just someone won't get the first one is a joke and get upset. Which, I can see if you’re new to a place where people say that, but don’t outright shut someone down like that, ask what it means. That goes for anything.

I enjoyed my time there, and I was super upset when I found myself kicked, distraught even. Then they started kicking more people without even a word which isn’t how you run a server, no one should get an instant ban without being talked to, and I think I would be less upset if I had been talked to, to at least tell my side. But no, I got this, and here we are. With multiple testimonies that aren’t my own, telling how horrible that server is towards some people who they don’t like, who speak out, who say “Hey maybe we should do [x].” And that’s… Not the safe environment they say they have, because I, among many others. Was also super uncomfortable when it came to some things in there.

As a queer member of this community, I, and others like me, felt ignored. Ignored in the criticism of their queer characters who were written by non-queer men, and then, as stated above. Upset at literally everything else that wasn’t good in their show. But now, we’re being painted as the villains in a way, being bullied by the creator, and others acting like nothing is going wrong. But that’s all I have to say, if prompted, I will talk more on any subject here.

I’m not angry, I never once was. At this point I find more saddened amusement in all of this, rather than anger. But. That is all, thank you for your time on this subject.

[mooifyourecows]

I'm so tired. I love hq!! but I had a solid couple of months where I didn't post because of lurkers. I was considering stopping posting and just enjoying hq!! media and leaving the fandom. The only kudos and comment emails I was getting were just "please update!" comments on a non-hq!! thing that I wrote for an irl friend(a x-over of a show I don't like w a fandom I hate) In that time my hit counts were still going up. 100 HQ!! fics... for people to tell me it's not enough. Not worth even kudos

I’m so sorry that the lack of feedback has gotten you down like this. 

And it’s like... I get it, you know? I’ve been both a reader and a writer so I totally understand each perspective. Sometimes it’s hard to muster up the energy to type out a comment. I let messages go unread for weeks because the ordeal of communicating with another person is HARD sometimes. I totally get it. Social anxiety is a bitch. I cry over the thought of making a phone call. Bro, I get it.

When it comes to fics and art, I think it’s really easy for consumers to think, “Ah it’s okay if I don’t comment because someone else will.” But the thing is, it’s gotten to the point where it seems like most, if not all, consumers are thinking that same thing.

And it must sound so annoying! To the people who only read, who are out there minding their business, it must sound so annoying to them for content creators to kindly ask for their support. It probably drives people to unfollow, to harbor resentment for the creators who eventually lose their patience and say something in anger or frustration about the lack of feedback they’re getting, despite knowing that people are out there consuming their work.

Back in the day, when I saw a creator making a snide comment online about how people weren’t showing them support, I used to think, “Ugh, that’s irritating. They should just be grateful that people are enjoying their work at all.” 

and omg I want to go back in time and kick that me’s ass. That’s such a shitty attitude! WOW! Creators are pouring hours of their time and baring their souls for the purpose of sharing their passion FOR FREE on the internet for literally ANYBODY to see! That’s INCREDIBLE. The reason why I was able to read full on novel length masterpieces was because this random person out there in the world decided to take the chance and gift it to us all for nothing in return.

And the attitude that “I don’t need to give them anything back” or “they’re annoying for asking for something in return” is such a privileged mindset. 

I was a super introverted kid back in the day. I spent every second of free time I had in my room, reading. Before I found fanfiction, I went to the bookstore every single week and I threw money at any YA novel or volume of manga that piqued my interest. Hundreds, probably thousands of dollars went into my consumption of that fiction back then. Sometimes I’d get home and start one of the books and realize, “I hate this, ugh, I spent 15 bucks for this???” and that sucked. Really sucked. 

Now, I can find writing (and art) for free that far exceeds my love for any of those past novels I actually spent money on. I don’t have to agonize in the aisle for two hours because I can only afford one book but two of them caught my eye. I can start reading something, decide it’s not my cup of tea, and stop reading it without suffering a monetary loss.

Fanfiction readers are privileged consumers.

And it’s mind boggling that any of them would actually get angry at content creators for asking for far LESS than published authors expect as the bottom line.

In the past, I found it annoying to see creators ask for the barest minimum of appreciation for their hard work.

Now, I find it annoying to see posts giving a round of applause for privileged people who give nothing in return. Because they need the validation that they’re not doing anything wrong.

Sorry Babes. If you feel like you’re doing something wrong, that’s your conscience telling you to make a change.

And it’s probably really annoying. I wouldn’t be surprised if a bunch of people stopped following me for these posts. Aren’t I a popular fandom writer? Don’t I get a lot of feedback on my fics already? 

Yep! Congrats! You figured it out! 

It’s not about me! 

I’m one of the lucky ones. I have a good group of amazing readers who go out of their way, time after time, to send me sweet messages about my updates. I’m lucky. But other writers aren’t so lucky. Other writers, despite being AMAZING and consistent and absolutely worthy of appreciation, fly completely under the radar by some unfathomable logic, and they never get the attention they deserve. And that’s why I’m so annoying about this.

I’m tired of how many content creators can admit to me how discouraged they are about their experience within fandom. I’m tired of reading a fic I think is beyond incredible and getting down to the comment section and seeing little to no feedback from readers.

I’m tired of people thinking I’m in the wrong for being tired of this.

Validate content creators. It costs zero dollars and only a tiny bit of time.

Break out of your shell, tell your social anxiety “not today”, and choke out a small little, “thank you” for the people who keep fandom alive.

Because a fandom without creators is just a room full of people who like the same thing waiting for something to happen.

[pepperstrawberry]

Heavy post...*waves to frens*

Warning: Long post... but not putting it under a cut because I specifically want new followers to read this. Mutuals and long time followers? Nothing new here, feel free to hit that page down button a few times XD

So, over the last few weeks, I’ve gained a lot of new followers... and lost some too. Now of course, I generally don’t worry too much about it (or try not to). I know some folk unfollow maybe because it’s been a while and their interests have changed, or maybe in some cases they were dealing with some frustrating things that I happen to be also talking about at the time and so they wanted to get away from it all for a while and it wasn’t really a personal thing. No judgement on that stuffs...

But, I do want to make some things clear for those that have recently followed me and might have followed just because of a cute image or two I made for magic stuffs with the new set dropping:

First: I am a trans woman. I support the full LGBTAQ+ spectrum. Yes, this includes Non-binary, Asexual, Aromantic, and all. I’m not going to argue with folks on the inclusion. It’s just that way. Oh yeah, and Bisexual, both being and supporting. This means even when a couple is not with who you think they should be with (a straight person seeing a ‘bi’ with the same or gay seeing ‘bi’ with different, you know that whole thing... no matter who a bisexual person is with, they are still bi)

Second: I’m anti-capitalist. Yes, I live in a capitalist world, and have to abide by the current machinations of it. I mean, consider things like Patreon, Go Fund Me, and the like. Those are not ‘capitalist’ (though can and have been used in that way), but are a way a community can help creators make a living without having to worry about making every product ‘marketable’. (which is why I’m against the recent shift that Patreon is doing for it’s creators, but that is a whole other post).

Third: I am a supporter of things like Black Lives Matter and other inter-sectional things. Look, the same sort of oppressive arguments, and often even the same people, are used against both people within the LGBTQA+ community AND people of color. It just makes sense to back them up as much as my fellow lgbt friends.

Fourth: Which leads me to being Feminist. 3rd wave specifically. Yes, there are crap folk that claim to be feminist, but that is the case with any group. I mean there are lesbians that are against trans woman, soo... Anyhoo, the bottom line of 3rd wave Feminism is inter-sectional support. Women, LGBT folk, People of Color, and everything like that. And before you go ‘but what about white males?’, consider that that is who holds the power right now. Well, White, Male, and Rich. But many of the things that real feminism fights for also covers things that would help out men as well. Things like better therapy and psychological help. The idea of ‘toxic masculinity’ isn’t the idea that ‘masculinity is toxic’, but that there are ways that being a ‘guy’ has been pushed that are toxic in nature, both a danger for others as well as the men themselves. Remember the idea of ‘real men don’t cry’? That’s toxic. It teaches men that being sad isn’t a manly thing, but to express anger is okay. Which is why we get a lot of these shooters doing what they do.

Fifth: I’m... I guess I’m agnostic? I used to be christian, but I have found that some threads within that faith are... problematic lets say. But I find ANY system of belief (or non-belief in the case of Atheism or however you want to define it) has fringe folks that are... problematic as it were. I judge less on religious affiliation and more on how that religious faith is expressed. I would have more to say on that, but really that is the bottom line. If your faith is more about proving others wrong/judging others over just living the best life you can and helping others, then your faith is garbage. end of story. Don’t matter which god, gods, or even no gods at all you follow.

Sixth: I tend to be a bit of a critic about things. Sometimes I blow things out of proportion, sometimes I don’t go quite far enough. But in the end, I try to be as honest as I can and as clear as my rambly nature lets me. Though, as I always emphasize, I never mean to judge a person on their love of a thing. There are rare exceptions of course. Like, I will judge you if you love “Birth of a Nation” or “Triumph of the Will’ as they are both KKK/Nazi movies and white supremacist in nature. There is nothing in either to be lauded save that they were likely the first movies in their era to pull together several film elements that had already existed (really they were more a triumph of budget then of talent). If you like Game of Thrones because of how ‘realistic’ it is to do -that- to so many women (you know what that is), then yes, I’m judging you. But If you like Game of thrones for all the other reasons -in spite- of -that-, then no judgement at all. Those moments shouldn’t be enjoyed. At best, they should effect you will a visceral disgust as the moments are intended.

I used to (and sometimes still do) reblog the heavier, more ‘polictical’ posts to my other blog @pepperolitics, but after the purge messed up my adult blog, it’s harder to bother with a side blog these days. So there are times where my more direct political aspect comes to play on main.

And really? That shouldn’t be that much an issue when you think about it.

I mean, I try to stay positive and light on my main blog. That usually means the heavy subjects get put to my other blogs. Adult subjects to my adult blog (which is now effectively gone even if I haven’t actually deleted it yet) and the POLITICS go to the political blog...

But that would be the seventh thing on the list of getting to know me:

NOTHING IS EVER NON-POLITICAL.

Nothing.

Now, I will say there is a difference between ‘political’ and ‘POLITICAL’, that is to say: we are human, the way we interact with each other is inherently political. How we agree, disagree, compromise on a day to day basis is political. Manners are political.

All ART is political.

But then there is the capital ‘P’ POLITICAL, where we are talking about government, the big policies, the big moments, the major events.

Where we switch from political to POLITICAL is when we go from things that are inherent, inferred, or basically subtext to straight up text and direct.

In otherwords: I refuse the idea that me suddenly talking about politics is me “becoming” political. I have always been political, we all are. it’s just sometimes, you have to make your politics clear.

Or in other other words: White, capitalist, hurrah! jingoist soilder of things like C.O.D/battlefield is just as POLITICAL as a Woman with a girlfriend and a trans side kick or something... it’s just we have been so surrounded by the former over the latter that we think of it as the accepted norm rather then one flavor of story hero among so many others...

...okay, I’m getting extra rambly and tangental... But that was kinda the point of this post.

Some of you will disagree with some of my points for one reason or another. Sometimes in shades, and sometimes in full... But my base point is, many of my long time followers already know this about me, but some of the new folk might not. And if you are going to stick around, this is the sort of lady you are following.

Hi. I’m Anita Priscilla Barton. Many call me Strawberry, or Pepper, or even just Pep. I am a Bisexual Trans Woman, I love magic the gathering, coffee, and all my wonderful friends and mutuals. And yes, I am a political entity who’s beliefs,  shape her art and critique. Just as all of ours do.

[her0icmismatched]

I have a confession to make.

I’ve been having some issues with this blog as of late, from frequent ‘follower cullings’, to... well... to myself, and the future of this blog.

To be clear... I honestly adore the Fire Emblem fandom more than the Marvel one, despite my frequent activity in the Marvel tumblr rp group, there were times when the content of my dash would really cause my stress and anxiety to rise to the point where I needed an out and I decided to come back here after a long absence from both my Rinkah and Lethe blogs.

What drew me to the Fire Emblem RP community was the lack of bias towards multimuse-blogs, because, seriously, I think 3/4��s of this rp fandom are multimuse. But what also drew me here was just how friendly everyone was, how much fun everyone was having, how the dash wasn’t always riddled with posts raving about the latest controversies in comics, or complaining about content creators, or social and political issues. It was a breath of fresh air, and this blog became an easy escape for me when the politics of the Marvel RP community would become too much to the point where I didn’t want to do anything on that blog but hide or make stupid posts to calm myself, or just not want to deal with anybody.

But... my time here has not been all sunshine and roses.

I feel as though I’ve lost more friends here than in any other fandom I RP with. This is from a combination of poor behavior on my part, to my own anxieties and anger issues, to the stresses sometimes becoming too much. I’ve done more follower cullings (where i do a mass softblocking and hardblocking of followers I haven’t interacted with or in an attempt to remove personal/porn blogs) on this blog than any of my other blogs. Mostly from getting a large influx of followers, making starters and posts for them, and then having them go unanswered for days, sometimes weeks, sometimes months. I know, tumblr is a hobby, I shouldn’t be pressuring people or forcing them to respond to threads, but sometimes, after I put in all that effort for somebody, and then it basically getting ignored, I get offended.

But the two biggest issues that have been on my mind recently, are two of the friends that I have lost on this blog. Both happened at times when I was not mentally or emotionally able to handle these ‘breakups’, and I did not handle them well.

I won’t name names, and I don’t intend to vague post either of them. I’m not perfect, I did get angry with them, I got sad with them, I tried desperately to fix things only to see my efforts fall apart, but I am not the type to start sending hate-mail, vague posting, or making callouts.

To be honest, there are days I log on here, and I don’t feel welcome. My attempts to engage people often go unanswered, or when I’m feeling down and I try to reach out to someone for help, I get blocked or unfollowed and get told to ‘grow up’ or ‘deal with it’ or ‘nobody cares’.

For friends who have said that I can always come to them when I need a shoulder to lean on, only to be told to go fuck myself when those times eventually come... It hurts, it hurts a lot. It hurts just as much when my attempts to reach out also get ignored.

The two friends I lost, are people I had been friends with for some time, and losing them has hurt in so many ways. I reacted poorly in both cases, and I regret things I said or did during those times. I was not prepared for when those times came, but really, who can be prepared when friends decide they aren’t friends anymore? What happened doesn’t justify the things I said to them as a result and I wish I could apologize to them and make things right, but I know that won’t happen. Never.

I come on this blog some days, and despite my best attempts to keep them off of my dash, putting their urls in my tag filters so I won’t see their posts with other people I follow, I still see their URLs, I’m still reminded of them, and it brings back all those negative feelings and the hurt and so many other emotions. I get triggered by seeing old friends names appearing on my dash and them acting like nothing happened, like I was just a number they could easily throw away or ignore despite the years we’ve known each other. I know that’s not the case, or not entirely the case, but it’s what it feels like to me.

As I’ve said in my rules before, if I’m doing something wrong, or I’ve done something that offends or upsets you, please, tell me, either through asks or messenger, I’ll respond to either. I’m sick to death of feeling disgusted with myself and I just want to be a better person. But some days, I just come here and feel like I’m not welcome, like I’m not wanted, like I don’t belong here and I’m just better off deleting and never coming back.

I want to be better, to the people I have hurt, I am so sorry, I wish I could  take back the things I said, mend broken bridges, or move on, but I can’t, I’m still stuck in that moment of losing those people I cared about. 

I don’t know what to do anymore, I come on here, and feel like I’m staring at a wall, waiting for something to happen.

Again, to the people I have hurt, and to all my friends and mutuals, if I have ever wronged you in some way. I am so so sorry...

[musicofthenightphantomoftheopera]

Dear Voltron Fandom (an open letter)

Dear Voltron Fandom,

You don’t know me, but I know you. Before I get into this, allow me to introduce myself so I’m not a stranger. My name is Paiton. I’m 19 years old, and I have high functioning autism, and the character I relate to and love the most is Pidge. I have traversed through many a fandom in my life so far. From Avatar:The Last Airbender, to Sailor Moon, Steven Universe, Disney, you name it! All of these fandoms are loving and wonderful in their own way. However, every fandom has a dark side; It’s just the nature of fandoms, unfortunately. Despite that, I was able to look past that, and be proud to be a part of them! But NEVER have I EVER been more ashamed of being in a fandom when I got dragged into Voltron. Before that, I heard rumors of how toxic the fandom was and all of the crazy stunts some fans tried to pull in order to get what they wanted into the show. So, I tried to avoid the show and its fandom like the plague at all costs.Two months went by and my curiosity got the best of me and I decided to check out the show just to see what all the fuss was about. Turns out I really liked the show and Pidge quickly became my favorite! Hell, I even started a Pidge Ita Bag; just added the first charm to it a couple of days ago! I started out just keeping to myself on my quiet little tumblr blog just reblogging fan art and fics as well as interesting theories and talking to my friends about it. And I can’t forget about buying Voltron fan swag! All was well, despite the occasional bits popping up about the latest fandom disasters. That is up until quite recently. I thought I had seen it all when I had to fight to defend Sailor Moon fans that were being bashed for liking Sailor Moon Crystal or for getting into Sailor Moon in general because of Crystal. I thought I had seen it all when I saw SOULESS Steven Universe “fans” telling an artist to kill herself for drawing Rose Quartz skinny. I thought I had seen it all when I saw the Brony fandom in general. But this....sending death threats to the voice actors and their families, blackmailing the creators in order yo make Klance canon, and a rumor that some antis were burning fanart?! This is absolutely UNACCEPTABLE! To those who participated in ANY of these horrible actions or any other crimes against the fandom, you ought to be ASHAMED of yourselves! Your actions are SHAMEFUL and you should /feel/ ASHAMED. People like you are a disgrace to this and every other fandom out there. You are the reason why the Voltron fandom has such a bad reputation. Now for the sake of this not being me dragging the voltron fandom for the entirety of however long this is going to be, I’m going to play devil’s advocate for a minute or two. I know that not everyone in the Voltron fandom is bad. Hell, my best friend is a Klance shipper and a Lance fangirl and she’s one of the chillest Voltron fans I know! And you want your ships to be canon, I get it. Every fan wants their ship to be canon, weather its a strait, or LGBTQ+ ship. We need more LGBTQ+ representation in...well, pretty much everything really. And it is coming. Its getting there, but  its gradual and you have to be patient! “Patience yields focus” , in the immortal words of our beloved Space Dad. But I also understand that fandoms can change things as well. The first example that comes to mind is Kim Possible if any of you reading this are old enough to remember. When Kim and Ron finally got together in the movie that was supposed to be the series finale, the fans flipped every last crumb of their shit and wrote in, demanding another season. And another season they got, ending with Kim and Ron graduating high school. So fandoms /can/ change things, but this.... Blackmail, death threats, is NOT the way to do it! If anything, stuff like that will steer people away from creating representation just because of the sheer mass hysteria it causes within fandoms! Its the toxic people in the Voltron fandom that pull this sort of stuff that steered me away from the show in the first place. To the toxic people in the Voltron fandom who call themselves proud members of the community. You know who you are. I am calling all of you out. You are not fans. You are bullies. Plain and simple. The kind that beat up the little kid with glasses and stuff them in a locker for being a nerd. The kind that steals lunch money in the cafeteria when the teacher isn’t looking. The kind that spread awful rumors about that shy little girl that likes anime, telling her that nobody would care if she died, only worse. You are the very same kind of bullies that I tried to get away from by joining fandoms (supposedly an accepting environment for people who are different and like the same stuff) in the first place. Now I am the kind of person that doesn’t have a temper. However, stuff like this is one of the very few things that get me righteously pissed off. But I don’t yell, or scream, or punch a wall. Instead, I channel that anger into fuel I can use for something else. Which is what made me write this open letter to you, the Voltron fandom. Like I said earlier, not everyone in the Voltron fandom is bad. To all of those that just enjoy the show and respect other people’s ships, or don’t give a dam about ships at all. thank you for being decent human beings and trying to clean up the mess these toxic, souless antis made of our fandom. After seeing all of this I can tell you that I am officially 1000% DONE with this bull. So I am calling the antis out. Consider this a reality check for ALL of you. This is a fucking CARTOON. The people you are shipping so feverishly together are fictional characters. Underline the word “Fictional” as in “not real”. At the end of the day, they are just a bunch of lines and colors moving frame by frame and voiced by real human beings with feelings. They are not above emotions like some of you idiots think they are. When are you going to get it through your tiny brain cases you call heads that how you are acting is childish, immature, and just plain sadistic?! I want to get something strait right now. I do not hate the voltron fandom, not at all. I hate what its become. These horrible antis and haters and toxic people are infecting the fandom like a deadly disease; like a fast spreading plague that causes the slow and painful death of its victum. However, unlike the real Black Plague, there is a cure! And a contagious one at that! So I’m sending out a call to action to every decent human being in the fandom! Those who are here just to enjoy the show for what it is with other people and have a good time, the older fans who got into Voltron: Legendary Defenders because they grew up with the older versions, the Multishippers, those who are respectful of other people’s ships,, or don’t give a dam about shipping at all, as well as those who keep their accounts as safe spaces for all fans. Do your girl a solid and help make the Voltron fandom a better place. Please, be a voice for good. If you see a fan getting harassed by an anti, just politely shut them down. Don’t go full on Leroy Jenkins and fight back, don’t feed the trolls, guys! Just politely tell them to back off and ignore them after that. Then, turn around and try to cheer up the person who got harassed! Share your favorite fan art pieces with them or give them fic recommendations! Who knows, you just might make a new friend! If you see someone you follow on any social media platform doing any of the bullshit I’ve previously mentioned earlier, unfollow them immediately. You don’t need that kind of negativity in your life and neither does anybody else. Let your followers know that your account is a safe space for all decent Voltron fans to geek out and that there is a ZERO TOLERANCE policy for antis. If someone disagrees with you on your ship or theory, politely ask them to explain their reasoning in a civil manner. Get a dialogue going so the whole thing doesn’t turn into an all out screaming match. It can be done, people! It is possible! It just takes a little effort. It may take some time, hard work, blood, sweat, and tears, but I beleive we can fix the fandom if we all work together.  Now I also want to take a moment to send a message. To the voice actors of Voltron; Bex taylor Klaus (My Queen), Jeremy Shada, Steven Yeun, Josh Keiton, Kimberly Brooks, Tyler Labine, Rhys Darby, and A.J. Locascio. To the Co-Creators of Voltron; Joaquim Dos Santos and Lauren Montgomery. I am not apologizing for the actions of the toxic part of the fandom (that’s a mess they gotta clean up themselves), but I am speaking for the good part of the fandom and myself when I say that we apologize for what these souless people have put you through. Nobody should ever have to go through that just some people want a small sense of validation in their ship being canon. We love all of you and we hope that you can find it in your hearts to give the fandom a chance to redeem itself. I wrote this in hopes of waking some people up and start to to change things for the better. At least that’s what I hope will come of this rant that I wrote all in one sitting at 4 am. Just know that we all love and respect you and I am going to try my hardest to help change this fandom for the better with the help of my friends and followers, as well as the rest of the fandom that actually has a soul and a conscience. We are going to try and remind everyone that we are all on the same side. We all love the same show and the same characters and the same story. After all, we’re all made up of the same cosmic dust.

signed,

Paiton

[theclaravoyant]

Like listen there's some shit that's a 100% no from me because it triggers intrusive thoughts for me from past abuse; and ya know what I fucking do? Blacklist! Unfollow! Block if I need to! All because someone was "abused" in a Poly Relationship which like yeah that's super shitty man; but people need to take control to make themselves safe. Plus threatening someone by telling them to kill themselves is emotional abuse and super illegal :) :)

Right?? I mean I’m a little sympathetic bc being triggered fuckin sucks bad but like... it’s not the way to go about things, and you can’t just be pulling the ‘i was triggered card’ over and over again. the fact that this person has done it multiple times suggests to me that it’s not just a knee jerk ‘i was triggered and said/did something in anger and took it too far’ either, which can happen. Having seen it over and over again by who I very much suspect is the same person suggests to me that the person is either lying, or using being triggered as an excuse to full-on attack people and it’s not good enough tbh.

READ the tags on things that’s what they’re there for, and find out how to block things. Don’t come after 3 people writing the same ship with the same tags one after the other. And if you are so sensitive to a trigger that the mere mention or even implication of something upsetting (eg tagging Character A/Character B/Character C) sets you off to such a degree that you feel the urge to tell people to kill themselves, you really need to get some help.

Readers/consumers of content, please don’t feel that I’m expecting you to tiptoe around creators and shoulder 100% responsibility all by yourself. If you find something triggering or potentially triggering in somebody’s work, especially if it’s a creator/blogger you like and want to stick with, I don’t think there’s any harm in writing to them and mentioning it, or asking them to tag it. It can also be helpful to do this off anon, or at least with some level of manners, so that creators understand where you’re coming from, especially if you want something done about it - they may be more defensive than you’re expecting, as they’ve probably had more people harass or troll them (and/or seen their friends go through it) than you might think.

On the flip side, I think as creators it’s important to be mindful that for people to protect themselves we have to give them some tools such as tags, that they can block, and I do believe in tagging triggers where possible to be helpful. Try to remember that triggers are not necessarily predictable or dark things, and that something that might seem fake or ridiculous to you, might not be so to the person going through it. Triggers are very personal and they are completely amoral - I know someone who gets triggered with memories of her abuse by a particular song, for example. Even I used to have my anxiety triggered by people holding hands of all things. People asking you about something aren’t inherently telling you it’s evil, and tagging is not censorship, so please try not to be offended when people ask you to tag. Unfortunately, expect that some people may need to unfollow or potentially even block you if they find your content triggering especially if it’s not something that can be easily avoided. But that doesn’t mean you can’t protect yourself either.

It is also important as creators to protect ourselves, and that might be in not responding to these comments, in reporting and blocking them if necessary. I don’t like holding the “you make a valid point but you said it in a mean way so I’m not going to do it” card over anybody’s head, but using your trigger(s) as a way of assessing what or who is evil and should die is not even making a valid point. So in terms of dealing with it from the POV of somebody receiving an ask like this, some advice is:

Remember that you don’t actually owe anyone anything, so you can ignore them, delete, report or block if you want to

BUT I would encourage you not to react straight away. Are they actually coming after you, or do you feel threatened because of the unexpected criticism? Maybe a bit of both, in which case, is there actually anything valid in the message eg could you be tagging better? I think I caved a bit too easily on mine, but I have also seen people not tag things like suicidal thoughts or attempts because they happened in a nightmare type scenario, but the reader is still subjected to them, so it is probably still worth tagging imo. Also, are you already using a tag they might not know about (or might be conveniently ignoring, if they’re just out to get you) which you can direct them toward so this doesn’t happen in future?

**PLEASE DO NOT** bite back in a similar tone of anger or sarcasm, it really doesn’t help anybody and encourages an antagonistic relationship between writers and readers/creators and consumers. Even if the person messaging you is out of line or is harassing you, somebody seeing this might feel that they can no longer come to you with legitimate triggers etc and have them respected.

If you feel up to it, maybe ask the person to come back and talk about it when they are in a calmer mood. (but again if they are triggered to the point of telling you to kill yourself by the mere whisper of your subject they probably aren’t up to a conversation about it)

If not, deleting the ask, and or reporting and/or blocking is 100% fine. I sometimes delete the first, but only block or report if they come back, or if it is particularly bad. Decide what works for you, but be safe.

REMEMBER THOUGH - Creators and readers can and do work together all the time to ensure that we can all have a pleasant experience in our various fandoms. I would encourage everyone who has read this far and might get the impression that we’re all a bit antagonistic, to remember that. The MAJORITY of the time, tagging works and functions like block are great backups. But when things get out of control (eg in the case that this anon is referencing) there are steps you can take. We’ve got to look out for ourselves as well as each other in this world.

[forgottenluck]

So I know a lot of people will be logging off Tumblr for the 17th.

I just wanna say that I won’t be part of that.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t fully approve of what tumblr is doing, but I think a lot of people are glossing over the main reason why they’re doing it.

By the way, please don’t reply to this. If you disagree and wish to unfollow, be my guest but please don’t reply. I shouldn’t have to explain myself more than this.

More under the readmore.

So, I know that a lot of people are upset because of tumblr’s new shit going on, but you all need to understand something very important.

Minors use this site. A lot of them.

At one time, even I was a minor on this site. (not for long, but i was). And Tumblr is owned by Yahoo, which is a company based in the USA. A country that has pretty strict laws on what Minors should and can access.

And we all know it.....Tumblr has a huge problem with the bots. We’ve all had one, a random new follower or a random message from someone you know you’ve never spoken too.....only to realize that if you even hover over their picture it’s....

Well, it’s not pretty.

My first one, I was utterly disgusted.

But just imagine if it was a 13 year old that got that. And that’s basically what has happened. Someone’s son or daughter has had that happened, and gone to their parents like “what is this mom?”.

I’ll admit, I’m not particularly fond of the way Tumblr has handled things, and likely I won’t be fond of the way they handle things in the future. They really dropped the ball on a lot of issues. They’ve attempted to handle the bots to the best of their ability, but there’s just so many of them, and they’re learning and evolving each day.

If you want to blame someone for what Tumblr is doing, blame the creators of the bots. But don’t take your anger out on Tumblr. They’re doing what they think is for the best. It’s sloppy yes. And it’s strict. And it will take time for them to flesh out things.

But ultimately, it really doesn’t affect the roleplay community. If you read in teh new guidelines, Written stuff....isn’t really affected. It’s images. It’s gifs. Sure, their flagging system needs some work....but to us, it’s just a minor inconvenience. I am aware of what this does to the adult industry on tumblr, but until Tumblr can better filter things from that industry for their minor population, this is the best thing that can be done for now.

[kenmaiii]

stop being jealous and bitter!

Now i know you cant outright just throw away your jealousy in the art community. You see a really cool popular artist or just someone with absolutely amzing art and you think “wow holy shit their art is so good i wish that was me and that i could do that....” I understand that spite can be a good thing sometimes; it can be what motivates you to improve and do well, especially if the artist is well... not the best person in terms of personality. Great, that’s even more motivation to do well right!? 

But when does all the comparing go too far?

----------------------------------------long post incoming------------------------------------------

Now i’ve had people very close to me do this. I’ve been told that im ‘popular’ which im honestly not seriously. They could probably be reading this right now, but this has been bothering me for awhile so i must get this out there. Let’s step into a certain mindset for a moment:-

You hate your artwork. You hate your current skills. Sure there are artists you like. But then there are ‘THOSE’ ones. You have very specific artists you follow just because theyre so good and popular they make you feel bitter and you still check up on them regularly to fuel that bitterness. You know good and well that they make you bitter and angry and peeved but you just keep going back.

Step back for a moment and think.... why on earth am i fucking doing this???? Comparing and feeling bitter about another persons skill or popularity and letting yourself stay sad and bitter isn’t good for ANYTHING, art aside. It’s good to want to feel validated at the work you spent time on but it WILL get tiring if you keep complaining that ‘your art is bad’, ‘your art isnt good’, ‘its shit’ or ‘garbage’. Your brain is just internalizing that and hindering your work and future improvement. It’s most importantly WASTING YOUR own time, YOU the creator. And not to sound snobby here, i really truly dont intend for that, but some of you know good and well that you keep belitting you work because you only just want people to compliment your art when youre only doing the bare minimum to improve! I can only tell you as a friend or an on-looker that i love your art so many times (as much i really do love it and hope for your improvement) if you continuously decide to still turn around and say you hate your work and tell me im wrong!!!!!!!!!!!!! Why reach for compliments then! Why continuously turn them down?

And i’m not saying you cant ever not like your art (cause it happens) or decline a compliment, but to do it every single time....it leaves a bad image for your work. You either start to believe it, or the person complimenting you will get put off from your negativity!  

It makes people feel bad, especially if theyre also artist AND also your friends. You can’t keep saying you prefer their work and still put down your own. It makes your artist friend uncomfortable. They might not know how to respond when you keep doing it. And im sure they wouldnt want you to keep making yourself feel bad. Personally, i wish all my art friends success and improvement, and i want them to love and feel proud of their work more than the times they hate it. We really need to uplift each other as artists.

Thanks.

What you think and say is what you become and if youre always negative and comparing youre gonna tear down both the person you admire and yourself. Ie, if youre constantly thinking ‘ill never be as good as this person’,’no ones ever gonna like my work’, ‘i cant color as well as they do’ or saying that your work is only ever garbage... newsflash asshole! your mind absorbs that negativity and makes you believe it! u fool!!!!! Because brains are stupid and can be your worst enemy at times! 

Sometimes you just need to stOP looking at certain peoples work completely if it gets you that bitter or angry or sad. Unfollow them! Block them! Delete their name from your search history if you have to! Stop hurting yourself and forget about them, it’s like trying to think about an ex thats moved on. Pointless.

Negative emotions such as sadness and anger are our brains direct ways at trying to reach out to ourselves.

You: seeing cool art Your mind: remembering you dont have some of those skills or popularity + comparing = sadness/ anger/ bitterness at not being able to be at that lvl withtin the same timeframe or less

Your brain is trying to tell you to fix this! But you know you might not have the tools to gain that much popularity or become so good at anatomy, coloring , compositions or backgrounds overnight, so the only solution for your brain is to self-sabotage.

It’s just the same as suddenly feeling sad for no reason. It’s your mind trying to work out a problem you never resolved. Maybe your friends haven’t replied in awhile and you feel ignored. Or you subconsciously remembered a bad experience without really realizing. You’ll get sad. Your mind is is saying ‘Hey asshole im sad. I know it might be out of your control but I’ll stay sad about this one thing until you resolve it somehow. ’ (whether it be blindly distracting yourself on purpose or fully wallowing in the feelings)

So we realized youre feeling intensely about this persons work vs your own...then what exactly happened there? The answer is pretty simple. Some kind of information processing happened in your brain. The result of this processing made the your mind conclude that one of your existing problems (art in this case) can never be solved; whether conscious or unconscious, and this explains why your mood might change all of a sudden without any kind of warning signs (in relation to what you saw). 

Inspired VS Jealousy When youre inspired youre working against yourself in a GOOD way. You’re feeling motivated to make something great! Youre feeling motivated to make something better than the last piece!! And honestly thats wonderful!!!  That is a lot nicer than being in art-block, comparison negativity hell.

YOU are the only one responsible for where you are as an artist. That goes towards every artist of every skill level! There’s always someone better than you and there’s always someone worse than you. People get better at art in different intervals depending on how much they take in or put into practicing. Some people just get some concepts and fundamentals a lot easier and quicker than others but that doesn’t mean they naturally had that ability from birth. They put in the work just as you should be doing instead of feeling so intensely negative! But when you’re jealous and negative all the time, that’s when it starts to go downhill. :/

Jealously is a very human emotion at its core. And im not saying its super easy to deal with and just suddenly get over, but there are things you can do to slowly help yourself do it at least a little less.

Here’s the best things you CAN do instead:- - Write down some of the things you find yourself feeling bitter over about, especially when you look at another artists work? Ask yourself why these specific things? If it’s something you yourself can work on in your own pieces then maybe uh do that?  - Find the time to practice your work. - Practice even more. - If it’s your style that you arent happy with think of the artstyles you like and set aside time to mimic the way that artist might draw something (hence adding that to YOUR style). Take a sketchbook page or two and just draw entirely in those styles. - Practice. I can’t stress this enough. I know artists say this a lot and it can kind of just be thrown around carelessly, but if you keep putting this off and saying you don’t want to practice or talking about how time is going by when you should be practicing things.... and STILL refuse to practice then???? I cant help you sorry. Time waits for no one, so sometimes you need to grab time by the horns and kick its ass for awhile. Put in that effort! - Please use references. Even better if you use it nearly EVERYTIME you draw something, especially yknow...if its a pose, body part or background that you know you have no idea how to properly express! Find a stock image or a variety of websites to use! Save poses that you like from online magazines, other artists and photographs you see anywhere online. I like to look at online magazines from other countries or photographers, and there are tons of places like pinterest or instagram and whatnot. - Stop comparing and being bitter. Ii cant say this enough it gets me so ticked off, but my stubborn taurus self refuses to fully go off until it all piles up and this post is the result lol. If you know you can’t let go hating on a certain artist (for no good reason) then dont hate-follow them! Don’t check up on their work constantly! Don’t even talk about them!!!!!!! Try to get them out of your head for goodness sakes. Majority of the time they dont even know who YOU are so why are you worried about what they’re up to. - STOP SHITTING ON YOUR OWN WORK. - STOP IT RIGHT NOW. - AS THE ARTIST SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO FORCE YOURSELF TO SAY ‘’hey, my work isn’t exactly where i want it to be at this point in time and it may never be but i can appreciate that i’ve gotten better at a lot of things and im better than where i was a few years/ a year/ a month ago/ even weeks ago.” - ”I’m proud of this piece and can’t wait to get even better.” - Art is a struggle that takes time, effort and a lot of work. There’s always going to be someone better than you and there’s always going to be someone worse than you. You can only strive to get to the level that would make you happiest, otherwise you will get irritated with it and feel absolutely miserable about everything you produce. - PUT IN THE WORK TO GET YOUR ART OUT THERE. Social media has been both a curse and a blessing to artists all around. It’s made it easier for us to share our work around and opened paths for making money online and at home and connecting with other artists, but competition grows everyday as more people post their work in the same market. (ie another reason why it can be hard to get your commissions out there) Also as artists we want that dopamine rush you get from people liking your stuff, i get that its gucci. -But if you aren’t tagging your works well, posting somewhat consistently, not really bothering to talk to people in certain art communities (even people in your fandom because hey potential friends and even partners on future projects), not adding your works to groups (a big problem i see with people on places like deviantart mostly), joining and sharing them in art group chats/aminos/discords, joining events to get yourself out there (such as zines/big bangs/gift exchanges etc), giving tips and advice or even little helpful tutorials to people then how do you expect to be noticed? How.  If youre not doing at least TWO of these things then hoW can you complain about not getting attention. :(

 Of course you dont have to do ALL of this. Im just saying ...if you arent out there advertising how will more people know about you? This leads to you thinking no one likes your art (skill level excluded because even my cringiest old art would have a few comments or encouragements to see my future improvement, and i still want to hide when people like/comment/reblog said old art to this very day). 

I understand mainly OC artists feel this way that no ones gonna like their characters, or it just doesnt get reblogged enough in general but thats understandable too. No one is ‘selling out’ if they only do fanart. No one is ‘snobby or scared to get themselves out there’ if theyre really enthusiastic about their stories and worlds. Otherwise we wouldnt have fandoms int he first place, theyre all someones work. And hell, good for you if you draw both. It really is just a matter of how you put yourself out there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It’ll take some time but there IS always someone out there that likes your stuff. And sometimes you just have to be content with making work for yourself, work that makes you happy. The online art world is tough especially when youre small but once you fall into the depths of bitterness its hard to rewire your mind...

This is how yall should be looking at your/others work majority of the time: You: seeing cool art  Your mind: omg thats beautiful! i wish i could draw and paint like that. i should practice more , try out some poses and anatomy or implement what they do into my work. i wanna make a cool ass piece like this too i feel so pumped to draw and work!! 

And that’s that! Do yourself a favor and be happier you bastards! Its tiring being negative and sad all the time and i want tf out of it. Its so very tiring and annoying to be sad and bitter as shit!!!!! My goD

I can’t really think of anything else to add to this and the text may appear angry sometimes as i was very heated when i wrote this but tried to tone it down a lot hfkds. Im not some ‘art guru goddess with supreme skill uwuw’ but advice is advice! It’s always up to the person listening to take it or not.

I’m gonna end this with one of my favorite art quotes of all time from t h e Arin Hanson himself. Because it really is true. 

Get yourself out there, practice towards a level that makes you content and try to have more fun with loving your work.

It’s taken me a long while to post this, as i’ve been feeling this way for...at least a couple months??? but i finally put it all out there i just needed to do this lol.  Sorry if i mightve repeated info sometimes here and there?

This post is just as much of a call out to my own actions but more so @ those of you that specifically do this! 

[sightdoll]

It has been difficult to know what to say over the last week after this bomb has been dropped on the BJD community with Lou, one of the largest counterfeit BJD makers in the world, to make the money and power grab that he is. Stealing not just the products but now their very trademarks and branding too. The companies and artists who make the dolls we love have never been so threatened. Anything I tried to write about it quickly turned into screaming and anger. Being hateful to recast owners is still not the answer. At the root this is a deeply political issue based on Chinese law that does not respect the ownership, copyright, and trademark laws the rest of the world observes. But to say that what we do as individual consumers doesn’t matter is a fallacy. If you are a recast owner, and this has spurred you to desist in buying further recast then I and most Pro-Artist people are going to welcome you with open arms. I will never berate though if you continue to buy counterfeit dolls. I’m not here for that. I’m not going to waste my energy on you though, you’ll be unfollowed and blocked. If you are actively buying recast, actively assisting and spurring others to do the same, lying and over-representing the “quality” of your counterfeits while attacking and degrading legitimate creators at every available opportunity…you ARE an Anti-Artist and NOT a member of the BJD hobby or community. You are not building it up, you are tearing it down. For your own selfish entitlement. You don’t need a doll. It’s not food. It’s not shelter. It’s not medicine. You ARE however depriving another human being of their livelihood by paying someone to steal dolls for you. It’s not a “victim-less” crime. I hope that is very evident now that recast buyers have essentially made it possible for this recasting despot to make the money and power grab that he is. I have had so many small BJD creators tell me how afraid they are to even speak out against counterfeit dolls because they fear it will make them a target and their dolls will be stolen and recasted out of spite. That’s sick.

And if you think threatening and mocking artist in this way is a big funny joke you’re an asshole and Karma is a bitch. 🖕

#BJD #BallJointedDoll #ProArtist #ProBJDartist #AntiCounterfeitBJD #AntiRecast

[kincringeemporium]

"How Do I Stop Being Kin!?”: A Helpful Guide (Long Post)

so... yup. tumblr ate some of my archive, including one of my most important posts: a list of steps on how to distance yourself from the kin community. as there’s no way (that i know of) to get that post back... here’s this! 

how to use the guide: all complaints/problems that kin frequently send when they don’t want to be kin anymore? those are in large bold. each complaint has a list of steps on how to solve it; the steps (my responses) are just in the normal font. don’t see what you need? send an ask saying you want to see it in a part 2! 

“I don’t want to be kin with (x) anymore!” 

okay! this one centers mostly around keeping lists. and as i said to the most recent anon, the first step toward stopping is wanting to stop. 

1. get two separate sheets of paper (or start digital documents you can print later). on one, write “(Your Name) List”. on the other, write “(Kintype Name) List.” 

2. fill the YN List first. write down every one of your own traits that you can name. they can relate to appearance, gender, hobbies/interests, mental health, neurodiversity, hopes and aspirations, etc. these do not all have to be good things. try to have a 1/3, 1/3, 1/3 balance of good, bad, and neutral traits. (an example of a bad trait/habit is “nail biting”, because that’s harmful. not “brown hair”. if you don’t like your hair color put “brown hair” down as a neutral trait. it’s not bad, you just want a different color.) 

3. fill the KN (kintype name) list next. do not use “i”, “we”, “myself”, in this list becase it’s not about you. 

  • if it’s a fictional character, write down facts relating to the character’s creation. who’s the author/designer/creator? what year was the source released? what type of media is the source -- a fantasy book, a video game, a movie? emphasize that the character is fictional, not real (add ‘in this universe’ if you believe in the multiverse theory) and cannot be reincarnated. 

• if it’s an animal, write down all of its behaviors: does it eat meat? what sounds does it make? is it dangerous or not? now, if you believe in reincarnation, it’s way more plausible that animals can be reincarnated and their next lives can be as humans. emphasize that even if you were the animal in a past life, you are a human now -- it is not healthy to think you literally still are the animal and/or to behave like it. 

•  if it’s a part of nature, like a star or a tree, write down all the facts about it that you know and emphasize that it is not sentient, it doesn’t have a soul, and it cannot make choices or be reincarnated. 

keep the lists with you (as a physical copy/paper). 

4. tell yourself that it’s okay to like the character, animal, or thing, it’s okay to feel that it represents part of who you are. it’s okay to feel comforted by it when you’ve had a shitty day or you’re in a bad mood. feeling these things does not automatically make you kin. write these down on a small piece of paper and keep the paper with you. 

5. even though it is okay to like the character/animal/thing, slowly start avoiding content that includes it. if you are trying to stop being fictionkin, do not watch the source. stay away from fanfic, pictures, etc, that make you have strong emotions about it. 

6. if you ever are feeling guilty about something your kintype did (and this applies mostly to villain kin), you are projecting. whether you’re feeling guilty about your own mistakes without realizing, or you want the chance to fix something/apologize, you are projecting. if you are acting out what you really, really want the villain to do -- ie, you relate to them strongly but they’re not repentant and you want them to be... rp. start a roleplay blog, write a redemption au. look back at your lists again. 

• if it’s not a villain, but you’re feeling guilty about something bad your kintype did, still do a bit of rp and keep looking back at those lists! 

7. whenever you have “kinfeels” or “kin memories”, look at your YN and KN lists. read them to remind yourself that you are not the same person as the character, not the same being as the animal, and not something inanimate. 

8. try new things and (now i’m not saying this to be a bitch) go outside. i mean it. vitamin d is good for you. you don’t have to exercise, but if you are able to, go for it. visit the library, the park, a coffee shop, the mall, anywhere. test out new hobbies, like 

• writing fiction (could be about the character/animal/thing, if this is how you maintain a connection with it while not identifying as it) 

 • traditional drawing  

 • digital drawing 

 • sewing, knitting, or crochet 

• writing movie critiques/analyses 

• jewelry making 

• making non-kin-related selfcare 

• sports 

“I want to get out of the community, but I’m not ready to let go of my kintypes!” 

so you’re not ready? okay. this is still your first step. you will fuck yourself over badly if you push yourself to 100% stop being kin before you can function without it. this is true in situations like abusive households or trauma: if you pretend that you’re someone else who’s never had to deal with those things, you are using escapism to let off stress and unwind. 

1. change your blog theme. i know it sounds dumb and unrelated. however, having a visual change will make you more inclined to change other things -- and it will start to tell other people in the community that you are able to change. 

2. update your about, kin page, and byf. take things like “don’t follow if you don’t see me as (kintype)”, “no doubles”, and kin-related discourse out of those pages. anything that typically appears in kin cringe comps? take it out. (look through my blog for example of typical cringe comp material.) 

• don’t say “literally me”, “100% me”, “ID” about the kintypes you list. 

• instead of having separate sections for “primary”, “secondary”, “tertiary”, things like that... just say “kintypes” once and list them/insert their pictures. 

• do NOT link to others’ blogs saying “this person is my (canonmate name)!” or “i found my (important canonmate)! 

• whatever your stance on ace discourse... take that out of your pages. i have no idea why, but the kin community is fucking overrun with people thinking that aces/aros aren’t lgbtq+. removing this discourse from your blog will remove you from another common kin community behavior. (it’s totally okay to post ace/aro positivity, but don’t involve yourself in heavy discourse and don’t put “Aces/aros are/aren’t lgbtq!” on your about/kinpage/byf.) 

3. if you list kin friends or kin blogs on one of your pages, consider taking out the links and just describing the friends/blogs. this will distance your blog from the network of kin on here. 

4. instead of requesting “kintype selfcare/positivity” from those kin resource blogs: 

• reblog aesthetics that remind you of the kintypes, but is not labeled as “(kintype) aesthetic”. 

• make some aesthetics yourself based on the kintypes. if you’re tagging, then just use general tags (ie, “kin”, “otherkin”, or “fictionkin”), not specifically the character’s name or the type of animal you identify with. 

• write positive affirmations for yourself, such as “i got enough sleep so this will be a better day!” or “i didn’t lie in bed all day so i feel motivated!” or “i ate something healthy instead of junk food!” 

• if you’re writing affirmations specifically about a kintype, don’t refer to the kintype using “i” or “we”. instead, write “(character) tries their best to fix wrongdoings, so i will too!” or “(character) makes an effort to overcome anxiety, so i’m going to try harder too!” or “(animal) isn’t inherently bad/gross; it’s trying to survive like me!” 

• basically, when writing positivity/affirmations, pick a trait that the kintype has that you want to have too. don’t just say “i have this trait because i am (kintype)!” 

• sorry not sorry, but the overwhelming majority of the positivity on those blogs is useless. it might make you feel better for a couple minutes, but it’s superficial. even if the person running the blog genuinely wants people to feel better, they are still operating under the obligation to give positivity. 

it is not as genuine as it should be. the person doesn’t know who you are, and they might not know a lot about the kintype. the positivity from those blogs is generic, ie, “even if you’ve done some bad things, you’re not a bad person!” You need specifics, which only you can come up with -- because only you know yourself. when something is vague or general, we think deep down that it’s not true. (btw, that’s the same psychology behind the “sounds fake but okay” meme.)

5. if your mutuals get into kin drama, or if you see kin drama on your dash, stay out of it. it does not matter right now if these people are your best friends in the world, because once the drama dies down, your url is still all over those posts. even if the people who started the drama delete the posts, other people have everything saved. the things you said in anger or anxiety or whatever are still on tumblr. and tumblr has an extremely difficult time recognizing that what someone said three months ago doesn’t define what they say now. 

6. unfollow people who have ‘typical cringe comp material’ on their pages and/or people who frequently are involved in drama. 

• if they have “ask to unfollow” on their pages, unfollow anyway. if they harass you about it, block them (and maybe report for... violating community guidelines. or harassment). DON’T PUT THIS ON YOUR PAGES. EVER. FOLLOWING YOU IS NOT A CHORE. MAKING PEOPLE ASK PERMISSION TO UNFOLLOW YOU CAN CAUSE THEM HUGE AMOUNTS OF ANXIETY. IT’S SHITTY AND ENTITLED. DON’T DO IT. 

7. if you’re going to send hate to antis, i can’t stop you, but for fuck’s sake, do that on anon. (”what!?” you say as you read this post. “but don’t antis think anon hate is cowardly!?”) you just don’t want to be known as someone active enough in the community to send off-anon shit. 

8. if i have or another anti/cringe blog has screenshotted your post/page, ask for it to be removed. no promises that other blogs will remove your stuff, but here on kce and over at @only-on-tomblr, we will. having your content up on popular cringe blogs can definitely get you recognized among the community, and you don’t want that. 

“I don’t want to rely so hard on being kin -- I want kin to be a casual thing!” 

1. first off, follow the “i want to get out of the community” list. you don’t have to stop identifying as kin, you just need to distance yourself from that network of over the top, hardcore kin people. 

2. recognize that kin is your coping mechanism. it is okay to use escapism (that’s what kin is tbh) to cope. it is okay to step away from reality, unwind, then go back to reality after a few hours of doing kin stuff/rp. 

3. recognize that any coping mechanism is going to be harmful when you take it too far. when it goes too far, it becomes an obsession. (because i am sure someone’s going to say this, i’m not dragging special interests. those are not the same as coping mechanisms gone wrong and this post does not relate to special interests.) 

4. guess what? you don’t need just one coping mechanism. and because you’re not completely dropping the kintypes, you need to focus your kin-related energy into a creative outlet. what i mean by that is... write about them. draw pictures of them. do commissions, even for people who have the same kintype. not to mention, if you write about/draw them a lot, you are getting so much better at those skills. 

5. optional: it would also help to make lists of your traits and the kintypes’ traits, like in the first section of this post. 

6. as with the other sections, do not refer to the kintypes as “myself”/”i”. 

that’s about it 

Other things you can do 

• write a brief analysis of an episode, movie, chapter, etc in which the character/kintype appears. what does the person/being do and why? how do their actions result in the episode/chapter/game/movie ending? how do other characters react to it? and how is this different from what you would do, right now, if you were in the same situation? (obviously no one has to see it, so doesn’t matter if it sucks) 

• interact with people who have the same kintype so you can become more comfortable with “doubles” and thus be less intense about being kin 

• when you’re watching/reading/playing/listening to new media (’source’), and you begin to have “kinfeels” for someone, step back. put the book down. pause the show or podcast. remind yourself that this is fiction. even if the multiverse does exist, your kintype cannot cross between universes and ‘be’ you. you are most likely projecting onto the character or you are inspired to create a similar character/oc. 

• aaand.... here it comes... oh god. oh no. limit your time on tumblr. do not spend all day on this forsaken hellsite.  

Things to absolutely NOT do 

• post anything like “why did the author put me/kintype in a relationship with a girl!? i’m gay!” all that does is imply that you think you have some kind of ownership over someone else’s character. it makes you look like you want everything to go your way -- and not everything can. i am not saying that to be a jerk. 

• ask people to unfollow you. as i said before (now, i don’t have anxiety so this isn’t from firsthand experience), do you have any idea how much anxiety that causes people? and how shitty a thing it is to do? 

• harass someone over being a double 

• tell them to unfollow/stop interacting because they are a double 

• compare being kin to being trans or nonbinary. for fuck’s sake. there’s no such thing as a “kingender”.

                     - even if your kintype was female in ‘your source’, but wasn’t                                  female in canon... that does not mean you are trans and it does                            not mean the kintype is trans.    

                    - even if you are trans yourself, it has absolutely nothing to do with                        you identifying as kin. they are not related. you are a trans person                        who also happens to be kin.    

                   - things like “canidgender: a gender that feels tough and ready to                           defend, a gender that makes you feel alert, a gender that....” are not                     real. gender is not an emotion. besides, these descriptions have                            nothing to do with gender. 

  • say that you have dysphoria about your kintype. again, if you have dysphoria, it’s because you are transgender/nonbinary. you do not have “species dysphoria” about your astral ears. just because it’s listed on google with a definition does not mean it’s legit. 

• use ‘kin pronouns’ like glitch/glitchs/glitchself. ne/nes/neself. star/stars/starself. it/its. the very concept of kin pronouns suggests that gender is automatically tied to kin. it’s not. and you are not an object. 

• send people hate or get into discourse about headcanons involving your kintype 

• tag art as “me” or “kin” or “id”. even if the artist says it’s okay, avoiding this is another way to distance yourself from a harmful community. if you need/want to keep a tagging system, just tag it with the character’s name or the type of animal. 

• tell someone that they are “your (important canonmate). 

• especially do not tell someone that your characters dated and that you must begin a romantic relationship because of that! 

• insist that someone just has to remember something that you remember! here’s an appropriate exchange on this. 

              you: “do you remember when our kintypes had that huge fight, then                     made up and dated for a few months? we drifted apart and stopped                    dating.” 

              them: “no... i recall something different.” 

               you: “oh. well, that’s okay!” 

comments i just know i’m going to get (they’re useless. don’t post them and don’t send them to me) 

• you’re policing our identities! 

•you can’t dictate how we cope! 

• you can’t take away our fun! 

• how would you know how this stuff works? you’re not kin! 

• ableist! 

• go do something productive! 

• i don’t care. i’m doing these things anyway! 

-k