#they know atlas might or will die; then he has] is quite the dramatic scenario

[unproduciblesmackdown]

Putting aside the murder mystery, do you think Chekhov’s Sicilians might be likely? Marigold acts like there’s a big problem, and besides Drago, they’re the only third party that’ve been mentioned at this point, and it feels like we’re a good way into the story.

this might be a bit of a stretch, but I got curious and looked it up. Drago is an Italian surname, but is apparently most frequent found in the country of Malta, an island close to Sicily… he seems pretty lawful good, but that doesn’t necessarily rule out some kind of connection.

i think we can have it all, i.e. i think marigold's big problem could be related to the murder mystery, since mordecai went from "well i wish i knew what marigold's big problem was" to "i am going to interrogate this guy marigold wants dead instead of killing him and hide this from my coworkers and get all stressed and say i probably shouldn't be doing this, in order to try to find out what marigold's big problem is, and bring up that i'm This Driven about it b/c of some perceived possible connection to the murder mystery"....plus how bobby arbogast said that "whatever's giving [marigold] the nervous twitch lately" is what's causing marigold to station agents to hang around / monitor / patrol the premises, which has caused the shootout on the lackadaisy triumvirate's end....which will presumably cause some direct conflict between marigold and lackadaisy, which is. a factor

anyways, that's to say it sure seems pretty centrally encompassing, and the Murder Mystery does too, and it's at least linked in that mordecai supposing it Might Be connected is making him act up and increase stakes, conflicts, possibilities, etc

to finally get around to an answer: yeah, i was kinda getting at a chekov's sicilians theory lmao, since like you say, they and drago are the only specified third or fourth parties out here, And that with any Mystery thread it doesn't hurt to be on the alert for anything that's touched on that you might go "huh, weird" or "huh, that sounds like something that Could be important" but then is kind of glossed over, or some other specific element of it is focused on instead, which in this case, is the focus on exploring a specific flashback / talking about the history between the arbogasts' funeral home and atlas / lackadaisy / viktor (& mordecai)....and it's a speculative leap to go "like, mafia?" but it's not as though that'd be so irrelevant when the general topic here is prohibition. but, whoever they are, they could still be Out There, active and relevant to the story. could've been after atlas, marigold, or both

drago's truly a mystery as well, still....his lawful goodness could sure be either "i love cops, let's keep it honorable lads ha ha" or else "i hate cops, i'm just infiltrating the treasury department, i'll help you keep cash from them / get phonecalls to potentially get out of here"....sure can't nail down naming conventions as hard evidence lol like catch us going "pretty Romantic name you've got there, horatio bruno, if you catch our drift" anti-italianly microaggressing the lackadaisy doorman, or "and they say [politicians] with [maltese-american] can't become [u.s. secretary of transportation]"....but there's the added reason to question drago of how like, gracie's saying that he never had any real info to provide, but that didn't seem to bother them, Like They Just Like Hearing Me Talk....what's the good of having informants in the periphery of marigold? setting up a really long con infiltration, having them keep checking in just so you know they're still there, and hoping it's now easier to plant people a little deeper and get Any Real Info? i'm not rhetorically asking lol, maybe there Is some high-profile treasury department raid Straightforward Explanation in it, but it's hardly guaranteed....

at this time in writing things out i went off and had an exasperating experience lmao, let's see if i can get back into the swing of things. okay, so. walking through a theory that [drago is in turn a plant at the treasury dept] it's like....for whom? so far, like you say, we don't exactly know of any non marigold / lackadaisy (or non feds) parties besides Some Sicilians. could be an as yet undisclosed fourth party. or some personal agenda of his lol. and he seems interested in marigold, and uninterested in lackadaisy....with the feds going through all this trouble with informants for no obvious benefit yet, and marigold going through all this trouble with those same informants for no obvious benefit yet, in that mordecai notes it Should Be ultimately more lucrative to keep them on & pay off some parties than kill these dues-paying people....and gracie saying he's never been able to give any useful info as that informant. if it's not about the info (or isn't it???) or not about the money (or isn't it???) then. then it would be about different things lmfao.

really have to take baby steps and go over & over some presumptions and scrutinize them....like my confusion about mordecai in the same breath seeming to be worried about "were marigold and lackadaisy at odds after all" And "does marigold know how atlas died. b/c i thought that i did" which, yknow. Might simply be interpreted, as gracie seems to interpret it, as mordecai thinking marigold killed atlas. but we know there's some other layer in whatever shared secret he has with mitzi....have to like draw out some axes here to chart like, [mordecai killed atlas: if yes, if no] and [marigold knows what happened: if yes, if no] and whether there's any fitting Explanation for each combo and what we've seen so far. going back to a thought the other day that maybe what was so [??] to mordecai is that asa warning mitzi and saying he warned atlas too implies that asa Doesn't Believe that mitzi killed atlas, even though that's the scuttlebutt, as they say. also, sidebar, shoutout to gracie's humor in duress out here lol, in times like these i guess all you can do is laugh....anyways. it's like, if mordecai's concern is "i hope nobody knows i killed atlas"....if he's worried that Marigold knows that, i'm not sure it makes sense: so prior he'd have thought marigold believed mitzi killed atlas, but he's not acting as though he also ever thought they might kill mitzi over that. and it's not like marigold's evidently suffered after atlas's death, rather than benefitted. and, what, are they just planning to kill mordecai Eventually? idk. feels quite shaky

i'm going down the murder mystery route here to be sure lol, but hey, can't really disentangle them, and It Is My Passion....the possibility mordecai is questioning The Leadup to atlas's death / whether asa Really Did Have Something To Warn Atlas About. what does that change....mordecai Could just really really care to know. or he could be like "someone might wanna kill me, and i'm only just finding out now, and i need to ascertain this"....probably not marigold? suppose it's like, maybe anyone who wants revenge for the lodge incident. but this is evidently a lot of effort for that, And when it's like....so these people start agitating marigold overall, while mordecai's kept in the dark about things, instead of marigold just tossing him overboard to deal with it? unless, of course, this is just a reignited conflict with lackadaisy And marigold from these restored third parties....in which case, not like mordecai has much to be worried about from them directly. much like: would mordecai be very worried about a federal agent going after marigold, or after him Through marigold (though a prohibition agent would surely be more focused on the bootlegging and its central agents than even a hitman, who also only has so much info to offer (does mordecai even get to know who's higher up than asa? hardly established that he totally does))

and there's the like, timeline confusion of: say that, for whatever reason, mordecai's concern is All [marigold knows what happened re: atlas's death? they shouldn't]....asa talking about Warnings is something happening After the fact, about something that would have happened Before the fact....head in hands baja blast Musing Hard, like, god how does it figure in....if mordecai killed atlas: he wouldn't question that, only question Why [these circumstances Really came about] or Who Knows About It. if he didn't: he could question who really did, and who knows about it; apparently either way he thought marigold was uninvolved and had No Info.

wait fuck there's also the fact that mitzi thought mordecai Could have told asa something. which doesn't exactly lend itself to the idea that mordecai would live in mortal fear if he thought marigold knew anything about anything; and he sure doesn't have so dramatic an immediate reaction, even if he's willing to pull a stunt like [interrogate gracie, Who's Supposed To Be Dead]

i'm really not exaggerating that i ought to like, make charts lol. visuals would only help organize some thoughts....

speaking of visuals, i'll break up some text with this next relevant point:

there's A Pause before mordecai dismisses "let gracie pin atlas's death on marigold to his contact," such as that maybe he considered it at all for real, and the cited reason that he'd be without a real answer....even though he sure might be withholding things from gracie here / Maybe outright lying about some things, but i also doubt there's much of that, if any....Is he lookin to join the loose ends club himself over a dead man? Maybe, i.e. this is all about Emotional Motivations re: atlas (besides that potential "i'm afraid someone wants me dead" re: atlas's Death)

there's also the thought i was having that like, i think having a diable thrust upon him that provides illumination, and this scene having literal And figurative illumination, does suggest that now having this drago thread is indeed Relevant to whatever mordecai wants to ascertain out here. mysterious how, as per the last panel in which mordecai asks if they meet regularly, and where, it's suggested that mordecai plans to meet him, or at least see him from afar / undetected....but probably the former, since what tf does he learn from what he looks like? he's not doing this For marigold, and even if he was, a name's surely sufficient. but what does he think he can say to, or ask of, a prohibition agent....becoming a higher up informant? asking for information about marigold? not like drago, whether he's himself a plant or not, would just provide said info for mordecai's peace of mind....of course, it being mordecai, he could try for the [interrogation like with gracie here] route. but that'd be all the riskier, surely. try to follow him home, and go through his shit later?? is it about wanting drago's information, drago Being the information....what could any of it tell mordecai about whether marigold knows things about atlas's death....

i've been keeping [and what of the sicilians, maybe] in mind while i've been going through these other thoughts, lol, just haven't found any places where it seems Obvious they'd fill in some potential missing detail. let's say they've been bearing down on marigold: mordecai talks of paltry competition, and is hypothetically bringing up [could marigold warning of competitors mean they know how atlas died??] like....how's it figure in. supposing they're bearing down by going the "we can do a federal raid, with plants," couldn't they do it just as, or more easily with just the nonplanted federal agents? how would that factor in to anyone knowing more about atlas's death than they should....the feds take him out to simplify some shit; marigold's ceo is worried about the same fate?? while the one informant mordecai's talked to is saying he never had good info for his contact, mordecai might not even know who he works for, mordecai might be on the right track by now knowing Of drago....waugh. or trying on: the sicilians are working With marigold, marigold's insulating b/c why?? lord.

mordecai shoots atlas, asa having warned atlas of anything beforehand makes him question if asa knows how atlas died....how? just b/c he doesn't assume mitzi killed atlas? mordecai didn't shoot atlas, knows mitzi was't even there when atlas died, it was a private affair, asa warned atlas of something and mordecai's questioning if that means asa knows what happened to atlas, which mordecai Thought was a private affair....

now trying to follow that latter [okay, suppose mordecai didn't shoot him either] idea further: suppose that mordecai Knows mitzi didn't kill atlas because mordecai was with mitzi at the time. and was told something by atlas such that he thought he knew what was going to happen to atlas, and didn't himself question this after atlas died....i'm embracing this idea that mordecai is all riled up on his Professionalism b/c his involvement in atlas's death is such that he did whatever he did b/c atlas asked it of him (generous phrasing on my part) as a Professional request. or order. so now mordecai's alllll about citing his Professional Approach; he does it at the end of his proper introduction, even. maybe atlas's "do it for the professionalism" directive was about mordecai protecting mitzi for him instead of atlas, as he usually did as that apparent semi bodyguard. maybe it was about That, but also about protecting mordecai, in a "i'm absolutely going to be killed; as my right hand bodyguard man you'll be caught up in that; so go protect mitzi instead. that's an order XD but really, it is :I"....whether That's what mordecai Blames mitzi for, damnit if he wasn't married to you he wouldn't have sent me to protect You from [whatever threat] instead and i would of stopped it, rip to atlas's self-defense abilities but i'm different

why would mitzi hand mordecai, gunman, a gun in that case....he probably has his own?? or maybe he doesn't, it was too short notice (unlikely....). or maybe it was mordecai handing mitzi a gun, instead, for good measure.

to be sure, atlas being like "the [threat] are after me, imminently. mordecai, go bodyguard my wife instead, as my loyal and Professionally Committed employee who's really good at that and i wouldn't trust anyone else haha get outta here" and mordecai doing so, grabbing onto that Professionalism with both hands such as to have a death grip even now, resenting mitzi for atlas's death (b/c mordecai couldn't be present, though he thinks he knows how it happened) has given me a pang....Possible, though still has weaknesses like "what would the [threat] be such that mordecai considers it to have been a private affair if he didn't shoot atlas himself (which, if he did, i'm also embracing the theory of: it was also at atlas's Professional Request / Order)" / "what would be bearing down on atlas with enough short notice / Certainty that he couldn't manage to avoid his own death despite seeing it coming at all, even if he sent his best bodyguard elsewhere"

whether atlas was slowmo diving in front of a bullet for mitzi here (figuratively), which, who would be going directly after her? doesn't seem like the kind of thing that would be phrased as Mitzi's culpability/fault....and, i dunno, if it was obvious that atlas died To Save Mitzi / Lackadaisy overall, mordecai might be devoted to either party. certainly atlas didn't request it of mordecai outright; while mitzi doesn't act like "oh i have to keep lackadaisy up & running For Atlas," rather than that she knows maybe it'd be better to close, but she's kinda doing it for Possibility still / old times' sake....makes most sense that of course atlas died Because of lackadaisy, but he didn't like refuse to take some approach in which he Could've Lived to instead die to better ensure its continuation. if that makes sense.

mentally rotating everything furiously, i'm reluctant to wrap up any of these posts as if i'm bound to just suddenly Solve That Mystery, what's new scooby doo....musing on the possible chekov's sicilians again for good measure....how much changes if mordecai thinks that marigold knows who killed atlas, and he doesn't? that he wants to Know if marigold Knows? that he wants to find out and get revenge on whomsoever it was, supposing in this case, of course, it wasn't himself? that maybe atlas lied to him about who/what was threatening him, whether or not he was then like "professionally shoot me" or "professionally leave me and make sure nobody shoots my wife, who isn't even living with me at this time, things have visibly deteriorated"....

augh it's quarter to one a.m. all of a sudden and i've mostly just talked about the murder mystery some more lol. but it's a "yeah maybe" from me re: your original question lmfao. and a standing invite to any and everyone to muse on this mystery with me / send insights/ideas

[itsclydebitches]

Is it bad that I feel Penny’s 2nd permanent death has cheapened the stakes to me to such an extent I don’t care if the character’s life are in danger or even ended? Unless they die in a particularly gruesome manner…I don’t care. Penny’s death was cheap, tasteless, and I think sucked all the stakes to me.

I've personally had a problem with RWBY's death stakes ever since Weiss' injury in the Haven fight. Making that an episode cliffhanger when we all knew RT would never commit to killing one of the main four, using that as the means of unlocking Jaune's semblance, and then, importantly, never following up on how Weiss deals with a near-death experience felt quite cheap to me. It was a moment where death/grievous injury was used only for the week long shock value (similar to Oscar's disappearance in Volume 6) and a means of furthering Jaune's abilities rather than Weiss' emotional growth (particularly egregious in a show where 99% of the cast already has their semblances unlocked. Revealing them in a dramatic, life-or-death situation was never an expectation). The fact that it was such a departure from how the story treated Yang in the past — committing to her injury and allowing her time to come to terms with it — just made it all the worse.

However, though this was one moment out of one volume that fans might be willing to overlook for a variety of reasons, Volumes 7-8 just failed so spectacularly and so often that yeah, death has no real meaning in this show anymore.

Let's tally things up:

Clover dies in large part to Qrow's stupidity. This is never acknowledged.

Qrow instead swears vengeance against Ironwood. They never meet again.

Whether everyone agrees or not, this entire situation came too close to queerbaiting for some fans.

Clover's corpse/the environment is badly animated, leading to confusion about whether he actually died.

Oscar is shot off of Atlas in a move that would have been a killing blow if not for Ozpin's unexpected magic. He never works through this and likewise never even explains things to the rest of the group, adding to the secrets issue.

The councilman is randomly shot by Ironwood, signaling his fast-track towards villainy.

The Ace Ops and, more importantly, Winter all witness this, yet it has no impact on them remaining loyal until leaving him serves the plot.

Ironwood tearing the flesh off his arm to save everyone from Watts is treated as evidence of his lack of humanity and the prosthetic he gets carries is designed to highlight how Evil he is now.

Fria dies which has little emotional weight because we knew nothing about her. She was quite literally only a vessel for the powers and was treated as such by the story.

The Hound, introduced as an incredibly formidable foe, is done in by a badly developed power and a falling suit of armor. There's no interest in who that faunus was, only what this implies for Summer.

Hazel death is confusing af. He couldn't have burned to death that fast. Oscar's cane shouldn't have hurt him based on what else we see. Where's the body? All of this follows a split-second "redemption."

Vine sacrifices himself and no one cares because we knew nothing about him. Also it's kind of weird to frame his heroic suicide as, you know, heroic after a volume of telling Penny she can't do the same. It's just weird mixed messaging.

Rhodes was killed incredibly fast by his kid student and although I care a little about him, the general consensus is that this was a girlboss moment because flawed men trying to help are the worst, right? Far worse than a villain we established in Episode One.

Watts presumably burns to death off screen.

Ironwood presumably drowns off screen.

Jacques is blown up without any of his family knowing about it. He's blown up because Winter just... left Ironwood's gun-gun by the cell?

The community is still debating whether Maria and Pietro are alive. Was Amity still falling? Was there any way off? Why don't any of the characters worry about them, one of whom is Pietro's daughter?

Yang "dies" after a single hit and only Blake gets to react to that.

The rest of the group (plus Jaune) quickly follow, to the surprise of no one.

Penny is resurrected with little fanfare, is stripped of her cyborg nature, gears up to take on Cinder with Weiss and Jaune, is instantly taken out, and then convinces the healer of the group to kill her.

The Altas arc has so much death and grievous injury — clearly trying to be the next Volume 3 — and yet none of it has an (enjoyable) impact on me. Sometimes that's because RT is killing off side characters they never bothered to develop. Sometimes it's because the writing is so confusing idek if the character is dead. Sometimes it's because the circumstances induce anger rather than grief. Penny's second death definitely caused a reaction, but not the one RT was going for. I was frustrated with how badly constructed this suicide was, disappointed in how the circumstances leading up to this erased so much that's wonderful about Penny's character, and yeah, disgusted that we were right back to that Volume 5 Weiss scenario: here's the graphic death/almost death of one of the girls to forward his story. Only this time, instead of just getting a cauterized spear to the gut, RT thought assisted-suicide via sword was the way to go.

Penny's original death was heart wrenching. Pyrrha's was tragic due to how avoidable it was. Roman's was shocking and perfect for setting the new stakes. We didn't know if Ozpin survived, but back then that was the point — a mystery to reveal next volume — not because the scene was badly constructed, or the writing seemingly just forgot that characters existed. And again, flawed as it was in some respects, we got a story of Yang losing an arm and coming to terms with that. Now, we get the story of a man losing his arm and that makes him lose his intelligence and conscience too, I guess.

I'm trying to think of a post-Volume 3 death that hit home and I'm coming up short. But deaths like Sienna or Tock, while carrying their own problems, didn't really hint at the over-arching problem with character deaths the story now has. With the comparative wealth of fatalities we got in Volumes 7-8, I was finally able to step back and go, "Wow. Right...none of that did anything for me." And yeah, as one of the most shocking deaths, as a second death, and as one of the oldest and most beloved side characters, Penny encapsulates that best of all.

[ourimpavidheroine]

so are you saying you never want a comment that disagrees with you? sorry, not trying to be rude, just asking. I don't mean the other kind of comments like transphobic or whatever.

Well, I’m glad you don’t mean transphobic comments (or any others of that ilk) because no one needs to justify and/or explain deleting those. 

What it comes down to is the difference between critique and criticism. A fair amount of readers don’t know (or care, in some cases!) the difference between the two.

A critique is something that the writer (or artist, or whomever) could potentially find useful in improving their craft. 

A criticism is simply complaining about what you don’t like. There is no benefit at all to the creator in question.

So let me give an example:

CRITIQUE

Wait, I’m confused here. Is Wu in love with Qi or not? It’s not clear from that last chapter. 

Why is this helpful? Well, it tells me that the reader is not picking up what I am putting down, so to speak. Now, there could be several reasons for this. It might be that I have not played all of my cards yet - I may have something planned and I am deliberately writing a slow reveal. In which case, all is well! It might be, however, that I have something clear in my head but I am not getting it across to my readers as well as I think I am. In which case, this is very important information! This is good feedback! I can go back and look at my work with a critical eye and say, you know, the reader is right and I am being too vague here, so I need to address this with more clarity in the next chapter (or whatever). I have gotten these kinds of comments and I always publish them. I value them, very much. 

CRITICISM

I was really into this story until you introduced polyamory. It’s a terrible idea. I hate it.

What is the purpose of this remark? Will it help me to improve as a writer? No, it won’t. Will I change my story line because of it? Not even close. Is there anything that I, as a writer, can do with this remark? Absolutely not. But see, that’s the entire point of criticism. When people post comments like that it is all for themselves. There is no real exchange of ideas happening there; there is no response I can give as a writer to them that will be satisfactory. I am certainly not going to apologize because a reader doesn’t like what I have done with a story, be it characterization or plot. Why on earth would I apologize? I’m not sorry I wrote it that way. The reader is under absolutely no obligation to continue reading my story; they certainly haven’t paid for it. Only once has any of the readers leaving these kinds of comments been a reader that had left any kind of other feedback for me. In other words, people who make those kinds of comments have never bothered to engage with me before and are still not engaging with me. They just want to make a dramatic exit and have the last word. Why on earth should I indulge them in this? 

I’ve been active on the internet since 1992; I have watched the rise of the comment section trolls. They don’t actually care about whatever it is they are trolling, despite their strident claims to the contrary. They’re just there to fuck shit up. People who care about something want to enjoy engaging with other fans, not proving other fans wrong. That’s your litmus test, right there. Is this person trying to engage with me in mutual enjoyable discourse or are they there to prove me wrong? If it is the former, then go for it, even if it might get a little heated (because that happens sometimes). If it is the latter, then fuck ‘em.

As I said earlier, my own personal troll here doesn’t actually like my fic and has said that directly. They are reading it for no other reason than to make horrible comments on it. (And this only came about after months of not actually reading my fanfic but coming here on Tumblr and asking my “opinion” on ATLA and/or TLOK which was a transparent excuse to reblog my answers with really nasty commentary on them, attempting to somehow prove me wrong. It was only after I stopped biting on their Asks that they actually went and started reading my fanfic.) I’m not going to help them do that by leaving their comments up on my work; it’s abuse, plain and simple, and I do not feel under any obligation to help an abuser. Especially not my own. My troll has tried over and over again to tell me that I am wrong for deleting their comments, by the way. They absolutely want me to help them by being complicit in my own abuse. Which is, in fact, a textbook abuser’s move; hell, it’s number one on the list. And it’s just not going to happen.

I have watched a lot of young and/or fragile writers pour their hearts and souls into writing fanfic, only to walk away because a reader felt entitled to leave useless, unhelpful and sometimes even cruel criticism. That goes for young artists as well; I’ve seen the absolutely horrible bullying that goes on here on Tumblr. Sending Asks telling an artist to kill themselves! What the actual fuck! It’s why, quite frankly, I have gently dissuaded my daughter from getting a Tumblr account and posting her art here. Those kinds of comments would devastate her. There is a big difference between telling an artist, “Hey, you know, I see you whitewashed Korra there, and as a person of color I’d really like to tell you why that’s a hurtful thing to do us and oh here are some links that explain about it as well,” and telling them to kill themselves or die in a fire or never draw again. But see, that’s the thing. There is a real sense of entitlement that comes with leaving criticism that just blows my mind. To me, it reads as if the consumer of the art thinks that the creator actually owes them something, even if that something is forcing them to pay attention to the consumer by leaving unhelpful, rude and sometimes even abusive commentary. I strongly disagree with this. Creators are not obligated to their fans. Or as Neil Gaiman once famously put it, “[The Creator] is not your bitch.” 

It’s not that big a leap to go from leaving a comment telling a creator that you don’t like something to stalking someone online to making actual threats and/or doxxing them. The anonymity of the internet makes it very easy, in fact. Internet trolls that cross over the line from being an entitled asshole to engaging in actual illegal behavior had to start somewhere. And that start isn’t by reading half a chapter of fic and backing out to find something else they like better or just scrolling past art they don’t like, you know?

Every single time a writer leaves up garbage commentary on their work, they are giving their tacit approval of a reader’s belief that they are entitled to shit all over said work. 

It’s not the same when it comes to a professional writer, of course. For one thing, they are being paid for their work. For another, reviews on Goodreads or Amazon or on review sites aren’t about engaging the author in discourse about their work. Authors (unless they are Anne Rice or something, wooo-weee) are not responding to reviews. Reviews are all about readers getting their chance to let other readers know how they felt about the work. Dude, if I am going to be shelling out cold hard cash for a book then I’d like to read some nuanced reviews of it first, for sure. I ignore the stupid troll ones, of course. Most of those get downvoted anyhow because nobody likes a troll but a troll.

That being said…do we leave reviews on AO3 or Tumblr in order to tell other readers how we felt about a writer’s work? No. We do not. We leave comments, because we are engaging in fandom discourse with the writer, someone else who loves the fandom as much as we do. 

Reviews and comments are not the same thing, kids. There’s a reason why they are two separate words. There is a reason why AO3 and Tumblr (and fanfiction.net, etc.) very deliberately use the word comments and why Goodreads and Amazon and The National Book Review use the word review. Language matters.

In other words, comments ≠ reviews.

Fanfic is not the same as original published work. Fandom is made up of people who love their particular fandom; fanfic is written by writers that are creating transformative works out of love. (Not that we wouldn’t mind money or anything, but that’s not the end goal.) Two completely separate worlds. Sure, sometimes the lines get blurred - I myself once met a writer at a signing whom I admired and embarrassed the hell out of myself by fangirling all over him. (He was very gracious about it.) But he was there to do a signing, not chitterchat over Tumblr for hours over why it is Bolin can lavabend but not metalbend. Totally different scenario. There are quite a few published writers here on Tumblr who engage with their fans, but they are still not engaging with them over their book reviews, I can tell you that much.

And in any case, who the hell scrolls down on AO3 to read all of the comments before they read the fanfic anyhow? I’m not saying that it couldn’t happen, I’m just saying it’s not the general practice. Not even fanfic readers are using the comments section as a means of deciding whether or not they want to read a fic. People read the tags and the summaries and go by word of mouth when it comes to choosing a fanfic to read. Again - comments section, not a review section!

Some fandom creators can handle critique or criticism and some can’t. Some writers leave up all the shit commentary on their fics and that’s fine. It’s their choice and I’m all about choice! But for me, I’m not going to be any part of teaching a reader on AO3 that they are entitled to shit all over someone’s work just because they don’t understand what the hell the comments section is for. I surely am not going to allow them to think that it is okay to be an asshole in my comments section just because they think it is somehow their god-given right to be one. Freedom of speech does not mean I have to let you take a dump all over my front lawn, you feel me? Go crap all over your own space.

It may not hurt me, a crusty old bitch who could care less if some stranger off the internet is offended by polyamory. But it could hurt and discourage other fanfic writers and anyone who has followed me for any length of time knows how much of a Tumblr Mom I am. I want to encourage new creators. I want to support them as they feel their way about, as they try to improve their work. I try to give as much written support as I can in terms of commenting, reblogging, etc. But I also want them to understand that they are not under any obligation to deal with the haters. Comments are not meant to be reviews; they sure as hell are not meant to be criticism. Leaving up hate on my own work does not get that message across to either the haters or the creators who are having to deal with that hate, as far as I am concerned. And that’s why I won’t do it.