#poll drama

[bookshelfdreams]

yk it's fine if you think ofmd is cringe (true) and the fandom is annoying (also true) and yes, it uses real historical assholes as vehicles for its story, and if that's a dealbreaker for you, that's also fine and cool

however

ofmd also takes a firm and explicit anti-colonialist, anti-racist stance, and to act like it's a great atrocity that it's going toe-to-toe with the fucking Captain America movies is ridiculous

sure dislike it if you want to, hating on popular shit is valid, but acting like it's in any objective way worse than something spat out by the disney industrial complex & paid for by the US DoD just makes you look like an idiot

[kindalikerackham]

ofmd fans made a lifelong mortal enemy of me when they asked black sails fans (and then stucky fans) to "be normal" and "stop being so weird about it"

like wtf

get your uwu twitter-ified brain off the "not normal about fictional characters" website

[kyluxtrashpit]

Hiya! I hope you're doing well. I made the Hottest Star Wars Man Poll, so when your posts about it were brought to my attention, I felt I should probably reach out.

The polls are just for fun. I make them with no agenda, and I run them with no agenda. I've received messages talking about bots before, but I never wanted to get into the weeds about it.

However, as the discussion about bots is bigger than I realized, I guess now is as good a time as any to speak about it:

My opinion is that the spikes in Hux votes are a mere side-effect of the poll being passed around the internet and bringing in new voters in droves. As your Anon mentioned, @tomatette's edits might's also pulled in waves of people who voted for Hux out of fidelity to her.

I'm fine with the campaigning. As long as the vote is ultimately achieved by a human clicking on the vote themselves, it's alright by me. Hell, I always reblog 'propaganda' I particularly like, and I even requested some Anakin propaganda when he was in his elimination round. It's all fun and games to me.

However.

If anyone is using bots, I'm asking nicely for them to please stop. I'm going to pull the 'I'm not mad, I'm disappointed' card on anyone botting. The polls are all strictly unserious things, so I hope that nobody is taking them too seriously.

Hi there! Sorry the nonsense has reached you, honestly lmao. I just wanted to make a post cause I was upset about the possibility (and, as I've said, I don't have rock solid proof, just suspicions based on observations by myself and others, so like. If people don't agree with me, that's fine, it's all good - I just wanted to speak out in case it was happening like, as a kyluxer, I don't want people to think that if someone is botting, that's something we as a fandom are chill with). I honestly didn't expect it to get quite this much attention either but here we are. I also want to make it clear to both you and my followers that I don't put any blame of anything on you - you're just making fun polls and that's it, you're not responsible for what people do or what drama may arise

I do agree it's possible someone just got a bunch of people to vote within a small window of time, like anything is possible, always is. I just feel like some of the increases I saw, observations from others, and things I've heard are enough to warrant suspicion. If people do or do not agree that there's a reason to think it happened, that's their choice and I'm not going to insist that my word is law and they have to believe me. I don't have receipts, I was just expressing myself and I do appreciate amicable discussion even if my mind has not been changed as of yet

But yeah I agree, propaganda and making funny edits and posts - that's not at all what I was referring to in terms of 'cheating', but somewhere it seems that got mentioned in the discussion? (3 separate people have brought this up to me lmao, like thinking I'm accusing them but I am NOT and no one better be out there accusing them either without actual evidence beyond 'oh you posted about it' cause that's a shitty thing to do) and I also want to make it clear I am not against propaganda fun. That's all just part of it. If people are mad about that, that's their problem and they should use blacklist more liberally. And if people are saying I'm saying that, then those people are either lying or are at 'how dare you say we should piss on the poor' levels of reading comprehension lmao

But yeah, I'll post this publicly, but let me know if you want it taken down and I'll delete it - I appreciate you reaching out and I'm sorry you had to deal with this, that was definitely not my intent when I made the post. I just wanted the botting, if it is indeed happening (and if it's not, all the better, I am just not yet convinced it didn't happen), to stop

And lastly, because of some of the DMs I've received: if you, the person reading this (not you the asker), are sending hate or harassment to people based on my post, FUCKING STOP IT RIGHT THE FUCK NOW, you're no better than the bad actors I was initially referring to

[chuplayswithfire]

I'm screaming, the stucky vs gentlebeard poll is killing me with laughter

Cannot believe I saw someone say that the ship being canon makes it lose points because it's about being baited

[batsarebetterthanpeople]

Dear Stucky fandom and also apparently volleyball BL fandom I don't know the name of who I have had no quarrel with up to this point.

If you think Taika Waititi is ugly you genuinely might want to get your eyes checked. Rhys Darby is a matter of taste. I'm not a Taika Waititi Stan, there's plenty to criticize about him. His looks are not one of those things. He's an objectively attractive man. You sound like the guys who call Margot Robbie mid when she takes off her makeup, it's embarrassing

[reign-life]

Because I noticed two instances of Poll Blog Drama(and am expecting more ngl), let's vote

[ncarnesir]

Further data exposure. Reminder I've rounded the format but excel uses exact numbers to make calculations. I'm not calculating the vote variation for Other cause it makes no sense. Color code for % column: Green variation higher than the total vote variation Orange variation lower than the total vote variation Darker green/orange the most variation Blue about the same (within 2%) than the total vote variation

No conclusion here, just data and facts.

Edit 09/04 to add round 9 data Edit 10/04 to correct round 9 numbers. I am deeply sorry I somehow forgot to move a formula and it was calculated all wrong! Edit 10/04 (2nd) to add round 10 data Edit 11/04 to add round 11 data and I won't update anymore (since the final will happen over 1 week)

My personal conclusion is that no bots were used at anytime but of course you guys make your own opinion.

[aadamantine]

i follow like 90 polls about anime characters and wtf are dungeon meshi fans smoking. why are they taking over polls. how did that one chick stand toe-to-toe with fuckin Noi in the hot person poll. How is the food guy beating DATA (FUCKING DATA) in the autistic poll im going to punch the next dungeon meshi fan I see (not because they did something wrong but because I hate what they stand for)

[chatxkilluaxnoir]

Welp; just got Blocked by a Creator I liked.  Once again, I not really completely sure why.

I never even really interacted with them all that much.

Like, I have blocked sometimes blocked people too; that I haven’t interacted with all that much and/or at all really too sometimes, but still, I am sad.

I did really like this creator and their fic(s).

(and it is not the firs time it happened either.  Like, for example, another creator seemingly blocked me too, and in that case, I literally interacted with them none at all instead of just barely, like this creator.  And once again, I was said, because I also, really liked them and their fic(s)).

Oh well.

I am sad, but it happens I guess.

I hope they unblock me someday though.

(Seriously though, was I blocked just because of some poll shenanigans or something like that?  That is my only guess as to why.  Because that is the only time I have even really talked about this creator at all (and I wasn’t even talking to them) on here was during when some polls were going on.  And yeah, I was against this creator’s creation in one poll, but in another poll I voted for them and want them to win.  So yeahhhhh.  

(It is not like I don’t like them or their stuff all; that isn’t true.  I like them quite a bit.  They just had the bad luck to go up against one of my favorites ever in one poll, so I had to vote for them and not him).

If not though; I get it.  Even if I am disappointed by it.  I get it.

[cottagecore-raccoon]

Disclaimer: I know that some folks continue to wear some or all of these items in the 21st century. This is more asking what you wish would become fashionable again so you could wear it without receiving any second glances from strangers

[tarantula-hawk-wasp]

Obviously you might have varying opinions for specific fandoms but generally if you think across many of them which do you prefer?

[bookshelfdreams]

the Blackbonnet vs Stucky poll is back on my dash & it made me realize the untapped comedic potential that is people's hatred for our show

I think we should be doing these polls forever with worse and worse opponents

Blackbonnet vs Drarry. ofmd vs Attack on Titan. you get the idea.

the discourse would be extremely funny

[kindalikerackham]

The Black Sails Drama Highlights™️

Like, what the fuck happened over there?

Lucky for you, I was there on the ground floor (even sent in some propaganda that elicited a truly baffling response from the poll runner) because I'm a nut for goofy little tumblr polls and a nut for best little lesser-known-tv-show Black Sails.

Alright, so. @/pirate-battle (from here on out referred to as OP -- the Original Pollster) was running, as one might expect, a pirate bracket. At first glance, it wasn't explicitly presented what the criteria were, so people voted on their preference, often moving along pirate icons (Hook from Muppet Treasure Island)/characters from active fandoms (TAZ), etc etc you know the drill. (Although they later clarified they were looking for favorites, not the "best pirate.")

OP's first mistake, I think, was the assumption that a silly goofy little tumblr competition about characters archetypically ungovernable would remain silly goofy and with minimal strong language.

But this wouldn't become visible until they made their second mistake, creating a first-round poll between James 'brutually murdered a crewmate in the first episode solely to maintain power for his revenge-quest against England' Flint of Black Sails vs Stede 'notable used tissue' Bonnet of OFMD. They did recognize some of the coming danger even with that post, tagging "#I predict slaughter in the tags"

O Apollo, strike down these children with prophecies that bite them in the a--

Anyway. Predictably, there was slaughter in the tags. Violent language rather typical of the tumblr that I came from (the tumblr of the early 2010s), but seemed to be utterly shocking to some OFMD fans.

Exposition time: It should be noted here that there exists at least two-ish different kinds of users of tags. Those that use them to scream personal thoughts into the void and/or whispers into their mutuals' ears, and those sneaky little fools who will peruse everyone's personal little screams/thoughts to their internet buddies. And original posters are relegated to suffer the yelling/whispers without choice.

So that slaughter, in the tags, those rivers of blood through the whispers of a fervent fanbase of a violent and freeing queer show, did reverberate around other users, regardless of etiquette.

And for some of those very sweet very uwu our flag means gay fans, that was.. very scary. (Must be all those spooky theatrics with the smoke and mirrors).

(....Idk??? Maybe I'm just battle-hardened from superwholock, but saying a tag a la "AHHHHHH I'm going to rip something's head off my BOY BETTER WIN" just doesn't really phase me?? Nor does "#I'm literally going to k/m/s if x wins." Overkill? Yeahhh... But this is tumblr. We invented overkill for the media we like. And again, this was in someone's tags.)

Moving on, as tags of that violent nature starting pulling through, and people started vigorously defending black sails as a franchise over ofmd, myself and others sent in some propaganda of my own, urging OFMD fans to really understand that Black Sails is mostly incomparable to OFMD and... Black Sails is just kinda better. Cuts deeper. Genre difference at work here.

Soapbox Side Note: Black Sails can actually be kind of game changing, especially for a show that came out in 2014. There's so much to say about it but it's hard to talk about without spoiling. I might add a link to a good 'things to know' post if you're looking to get into it.

Anyway. OP was starting to lose it.

Like, I really just don't think they had mentally prepared for how truly feral Black Sails folks were/are about that show, and how they were willing to get all HRRRRRRR CHOMP CHOMP CHOMP about it.

Additionally... OP was white, and they were super duper unprepared to engage with any of the discourse about racism that these shows dig up (They're about pirates, and a lot of pirates engaged in the slave trade. Or had freed slaves on their crew. Some even owned slaves themselves. It was complicated and pirates are typically a white fantasy vehicle and anyway I'm getting off-track--)

OP started to really fan the flames with more and more visibly emotional responses

They said "it's not a competition" between the two shows, despite it... being a literal competition...

They called people out for "gatekeeping," but didn't really define what it meant in the context of saying one gay pirate show was way better than the other.

They told Black Sails fans not to express negative feelings towards OFMD on the internet (because good representation is the god us internet queers pray to, and we wouldn't want some network exec to say "oh those mean people on the internet, better not renew the popular pirate romcom" obvi)

After some more of this, they then threatened to overturn the results of the poll entirely and remove Flint from the poll wholesale, despite the fact that he had won. (Which is hilarious if you know anything about Flint in Black Sails. He's literally That Guy That Makes People Break Democracy Attempting To Unseat Him).

Finally, after a day of trying to ignore the fact that they'd become a meme within black sails circles (one post even screenshotted then with "new copypasta just dropped" yikes), they threw in the towel. And bless them, I do think they needed the break. They were kind of going through it.

In conclusion,

The Black Sails fans pulled what I might even daresay to be,, , a fuckery "of censorship and fear",, over OFMD fans and some poor unprepared poll runner who had no skin in the game, while using only strong language and some mild mean-spirited memes (95% of which in their own tags and posts).

[kyluxtrashpit]

VERY sus how you made your post about people botting the hottest man poll and all of a sudden hux is losing? i think you hit the nail on the head. i’m sorry but in no world does general armitage rat hux appeal to more people than anakin, cassian, or any of the other more recent outs, especially all of these votes coming through right in the final hours of the poll

So it's interesting that you sent this a few hours ago and now the poll has ended with Hux surviving yet another round (honestly, I had hoped to monitor the poll in the last 2 hours or so and take screenshots so I had some real, shareable evidence, but I was back to work after a week off and I had some big shit to deal with, so I honestly completely forgot the poll existed at all until I got a MASSIVE influx of messages while working sooo lmfao). Cause like, to me, this kinda supports the theory too, you know. Another piece of circumstantial evidence I suppose. I would love to know when it shifted and how quickly

Now, tbf, I love Hux lmao, I love him almost as much as I love Kylo, and I'm also gay so judging men's attractiveness is extremely biased for me (spoiler: I like the ones with more femme features lmao, like Kylo is the most attractive to me, but he also carries the highest number of traditionally "feminine" physical features, so really I'm not the right person to ask XD), but even based on like. I suppose objective attractiveness? Yeah, Hux should've been out by now, like sorry dude lmao, I love you but it's true. In truth, I think Poe should probably win based on objective physical attractiveness, even though I haven't voted for him sldslkdk

[tidesreach]

"black sails fans are so mean" "this is a reign of censorship and fear" yeah well everyone is a monster to someone since you are so convinced that i am yours i will be it