#so im asking you for your input

[yanderespamton78]

damn it feels so good to actually have friends who i feel safe around. like to have friends who im not worried that if they find out that i like "cringe" things they wont judge me. woah!!

@angry-avaocardo @silly1xxx @gollyimsosoevil

[apocalyptic-byler]

i think this guy just tried asking me out???

[dirhwangdaseul-archived]

idk if i have stated in so many words before but kinda weird for people not to care about the brown men of the story on account of them being men

like most people did to javi irl what the yellowjackets did in the show lol, dismissed always, no more than the little kid, he was already dead

[martyrbat]

so many of you talk about the cruel adults in your childhood that negatively effected you and caused lifelong insecurity yet you're still perfectly fine with being that mean stranger to any kid that has the misfortune of existing around you and thats just really gross !!!

[widevibratobitch]

i hate my uni sm lol i dont want to be heeeeere let me out let me out

[jen-with-a-pen]

If people aren't comfortable reblogging fics to their blog (which I am not, due to a personal history of being doxxed and humiliated to my irl friends and family), are comments sufficient enough engagement or would you rather that reader not engage with your work at all?

I feel like that came out sounding passive aggressive but I truly mean it as a genuine question and am just not sure how to rework it to sound less snarky! I see this discourse on and off from different fic writers and respect both opinions and think everyone should be able to curate interaction with their fics as they see fit.

Hi, anon.

I've been thinking carefully on how to respond to this. I can tell you're not trying to come off as snarky– which i say as someone who can't read tone for shit most of the time and whose own tone can come off aggressive or bitchy when I don't mean it to be.

I'm gonna address your ask as thoroughly as I can, if that's cool. Sorry if it's a long response. I'll put a cut in so I don't interrupt feeds ✂️

First, I want to pose a question to your question, which I mean genuinely with no spite whatsoever: why are you on Tumblr if you're not reblogging or don't even reblog?

As I've stated in other replies to the post I made a few weeks back, from the way I see it, Tumblr is literally built upon the foundation of sharing creations and content. There is no dead-set algorithm here like there is for Instagram or TikTok. Sharing is, quite fucking literally, caring here. We are able to form communities of all sizes because we share things. Reblogging is essential to the upkeep, and quite frankly the existence, of fandom and communities. Without sharing, our communities crumble and become ruins. We are actively seeing this as we speak: many mutuals and authors I follow are starting to quit writing due to passive, demanding consumption patterns and 0 engagement.

I know you probably know this, but I thought I'd restate it for answer's sake.

To answer the meat of your ask, I will pull from both personal experience and mutuals' experiences and input.

In my own personal opinion, if you are solely commenting on fics and are not engaging in anything else (no likes, no reblogs, etc.) then I personally think that Tumblr is not the site you should be on and, frankly, you should go sign up for AO3 if that's all you're going to do.

And I mean this earnestly. If all you want to do for engagement is commenting, then AO3 needs you because sharing does NOT affect authors nearly as much over there as it does here. In fact comments on AO3 are the literal equivalent to reblog on Tumblr: we don't get any and when we do it's like finding an oasis in a never ending desert.

Now in terms of what mutuals and other authors have said on the matter, it seems the consensus is that commenting without reblogging is a case-by-case basis. I'm going to quote a mutual of mine here:

"...if someone is commenting on my work but not reblogging… I'd say it's case by case. If it's just MY fics they aren’t reblogging, then it'd be a problem, but if they don’t reblog ANY [fics] I'd be more okay."

Another mutuals also put it this way:

"... I feel like there *is* both sides in this sense; yes comments are nice and engaging even though they aren't the preferred and most helpful way to boost writers..."

I feel like both of them put it into words where I struggled to. I will also say that I do agree with the point being that if you're not gonna reblog ANYTHING– no art, no content, no photos, no other fics, nothing– AND your profile adheres to the guidelines set forth in basic Tumblr etiquette (not looking like a bot and not a minor) then sure, comment away.

The verdict, in summary with my opinion and mutuals': it depends on your behavior and your interactions with other works and content.

I hate the word content but I couldn't think of another one.

But, my question still stands: why are you on Tumblr when you don't even participate in the basic fundamental function of this site?

I also wanted to take the time to address the other part of your ask regarding the doxxing and people finding out your identity.

It has been very widely known for (close to) two decades now that Tumblr is the place where you can have an anonymous identity. Truly. I've been on here for the collective half of the last decade and have been on the Internet for a little more than half my life, now, and Tumblr and fandom are literally the biggest and best places where you can be someone else. You can be completely anonymous.

The common denominator, however, is you.

The amount of information you have on your blog is what you choose to put on it. If you state your real name, your state and city, have one of those (imo stupid) carrd things or whatever, then honey– and I mean this in the nicest way possible, truly– that is on you. I know for a fact (from good and bad experiences) that you have all of the power in the world to annonymize yourself while still maintaining yourself on the Internet. That make sense?

A couple of mutuals made very excellent points regarding this:

"...I have a best friend irl who has Tumblr and is so close to the fandoms I'm in, and she doesn't know I write here. I am anonymous on here. I'm suprised she hasnt connected the dots because my aesthetics are the same in real life..."

"...I personally think its pretty easy to be anonymous on tumblr. Especially since usually all we ask is you have that you aren’t a minor at the top of your blog..."

"...it's really easy to be anonymous on the internet [...] you can be an ENTIRELY different person on the internet..."

From that last mutual, I'll paraphrase and go off of another point they made: the fact that you do want to participate and comment negates your ENTIRE arguement because someone– anyone– can find you and your blog through said comment(s).

Your digital footprint is what you leave behind. So if you have your city and state and grade and real name and all this other shit in your blog or carrd or whatever, then you are the only one who is responsible for having put said information out there.

Hell, I've been mutuals with some people going on 2-3 YEARS at this point and the only other things they know about me is my state, general city vicinity, my cat, and what I do for a living. That's it. And we span from early twenties to married with a kid or two.

We are in charge of what we share and I implore you– as someone with a certification in legal information technology– to please educate yourself on your Internet privacy and digital footprint. Please take the time to think about your actions and the information you have online. I STILL do this to this day, even after getting certified and being on the Internet for half my life.

I am sorry that you've gotten doxxed in the past. Truly, I am. It's a horrible act and I hope you never have to experience that again. Please know I am not being dismissive of that nor trying to blame you for said acts.

But it all comes down to you at the end of the day. In general, it's you, your actions, and the consequences of your actions. And if you happen to be a minor, then I strongly urge you to rethink your decisions and maybe step away from social media and utilize critical thinking in order to asses your situation and who you surround yourself with, both online and offline. I wish I had someone to tell me that when I was 14– fuck, even when I was 18.

And I mean it when I say AO3 might suit you more than Tumblr. If any fandom site has more capabilities to be anonymous than Tumblr itself, it's AO3.

Anyways, I think that's all I have to say for you. My DMs and ask box are always open and I am open to more commentary on the matter and related ones so long as it is civil and respectful. I refuse to stop having this conversation.

Thank you for listening ❤️

[bonesandthebees]

If I can give my two cents on this (also obviously /nm, just from like a genuinely place of discussion):

I just think it's not that deep. Most of the people I've seen saying things like "they're my ocs now" are really not coming from any place of malice. There's a lot of serious stuff going on in the fandom with the content creators and it really does not hurt anyone to be like "they're mine now". It's a way for people to be like "I am not writing about the real people in any shape or form. I'm taking the base characters and writing them in aus and such. They're disconnected from what's going on."

People have been doing that for ages in fandom, even this fandom, and it's not some kind of like. crime. It's such a dumb thing to discourse about because like just let people do what they want.

Taking a character you love and writing them differently in a fic or something where they're not their canon counterpart is really really common. Not to mention the many times ccs like Wilbur have said that the characters "belong to the fandom". Also, c!Phil's wings, c!Quackity's scar, c!Wilbur's white hair streak, c!Wilbur's train limbo, c!Skephalo being c!Sapnap's parents, and so many other things in canon have come from the fans. A lot of these characters exist because people made animatics and art which inspired the ccs to keep making the story.

I think as long as you're respecting boundaries when writing them, you're pretty free to call them your oc. Like, within my own fics, I've completely rewritten c!Technoblade for one of my modern aus because of the life that he's lived in it. He's still the same base character at his core and thusly I'm respecting boundaries, but other than that, he could probably pass for an oc. Like I just don't think it's that deep to be like "these are my characters now because I don't like the people who made them."

And I detest the idea of "you hate the media so you have to leave the fandom". It's probably one of the worst takes I've seen time and time again. Like there's a difference between being negative about it every single day and being critical of how it is written. I really love this series even if I hated one part of it. I'm not leaving just because of that.

anyways if this is poorly phrased I am rather tired rn and I wrote this quickly but yeah my thoughts on the whole. I just don't think it's worth fighting over some teenagers wanting to emphasize the fact that their writing is separate from the ccs.

(this entire response is also /nm it's just a discussion)

I think we're just seeing different sides of twitter because I understand saying they're your ocs in a non-malicious way, but I've genuinely been seeing more intense takes on the situation in a way that just irks me. Also, I'm not referring to making them your ocs as in just putting them in different aus and keeping the core of their character, because I do that too! But they're not your ocs in that sense. You're still taking their characterization from canon. They still share the same names and aspects of their appearance with a cc. And again, I'm all for people just having fun in fandom don't get me wrong, I'm just seeing it phrased in certain ways on twitter that's really irking me.

Also of course you can be critical about a piece of media you're in a fandom for. I'm critical of a lot of writing choices in dsmp. That's not what I'm referring to. When I say if you're not having fun then leave, I'm referring to the people who literally hate every aspect of the media and fandom and that's all they talk about. Like, you're just making yourself miserable at that point, y'know?

Overall, I didn't mean to start a discussion on this, but that's my fault for not clarifying when I made my post. I just don't like the discussion going on on twitter right now because it just feels very weird and toxic in a way that's bugging me and I wanted to complain about it. But I'm not trying to attack teenagers for emphasizing their writing is separate from cc's, and that's not really what I was referring to. I can understand why my post might've sounded like that though so I totally get your point here.

Again this is /nm, but I'd rather not make this a whole thing so if anyone else sends me asks on this I'm not gonna answer them unless they have a really good point I wanna speak on.

[strxnged]

HI HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! I DON’T KNOW IF IT WAS TODAY OR THE DAY BEFORE OR SOMETHING BUT EITHER WAY I HOPE U HAVE FUN!! thank u for being my one fun mutual 🫵

OH INK thank you so much! it is indeed today! thank you very much for the message you're very kind <3

[yoshistory]

i really fuckin hate my current roommate situation for multiple reasons. one of which is due to him deciding to quit her job immediately after i moved down here i had to be the only leaseholder with a secret roommate situation. and now. their gate system is changing and uses an app to open the gate with a verified occupant's phone number. fuuuuck im like banging my head against the wall

[narutomaki]

get me OUT OF HERE

[skeletalheartattack]

you pirate tv shows right? please?

thought you were asking about if i watched pirate shows at first, but yes i pirate shows and movies. unless you're the cops in which case no... i pinky prommy i dont 😇 do you see my cute little halo. would someone who pirates media have one of those?

[dailyfigures]

Ok i mean. And i dont want this to sound like im ok with people sexualizing minors but.

Is miku even specifically a minor? Like i know her age was originally stated as 16 when she first came out but theres also been so many versions of her that i dont really think its a stretch to say that she could be an adult there. She has been depicted in a nonsexual context as being 18-20 and generally didnt look different so like.

I mean personally i look almost identical now to how i did when i was 16 so even from an irl perspective its not really weird

I think since miku is essentially just a mascot for some software and doesnt have much personality other than "cheerful" its not particularly weird like how it is when people take teenage anime characters and "age them up" except they change nothing and just make them naked

i get what you're saying anon and i'm actually not sure whether she's always meant to be a minor, i never thought about it before. i know for neon genesis evangelion they sometimes choose to portray the girls as adults in figures so maybe miku is meant like that too?

i wouldn't say she looks like a kid in the figure however i have always known her as a kid so it's kinda hard for me to just mentally switch to seeing her as an adult and being comfortable with it, especially since i'm not sure whether she actually is portrayed like an adult there.

[vampiricsheep]

I don't WANT to study for statistics i want to DRAW

[moodycarcass]

I feel like w the uprise of ppl trying everything in their power to not be a "nightmare commissioner" to artists we've doubled back to something significantly worse where ppl just repeatedly go "looks good! :D" to the wips the artist is explicitly sending to critique throughout the process and posting "bro why does the commission I bought look so ass" afterwards in which case I think the artist is allowed to come to your house and rip your head clean off your shoulders with their teeth

[tchaikovskym]

Man this day sucked balls

[nyacchiiatos]

btw i figured i would just say this here as a reminder. wlw ships and sapphic content in general is a huge comfort for me as another sapphic individual and i like to hc lots of my favs as such, since we hardly get anything for ourselves. if you have a problem with that then feel free to unfollow, idc about your "theyre just friends/its forced/i see them as siblings etc" bullshit. this is my own blog and ill ramble about girls kissing as much as i feel like, thanks 🙏