#tldr we joke that no one knows we're here and then are shocked to remember wait this is a public place anyone can be here

[acerace]

The thing is, Scott clearly loves interacting with fandom. He said it himself- one of his favourite things about Twitter was interacting with fans and seeing fanart. And that he missed being able to do that after MCC 14. So it doesn't surprise me in the slightest that he's actively engaging in the Tumblr empires fandom (and 3rd life too); the 3rd lifers would send each other fanart and animatics all the time, and Scott seemingly tells his friends about the empiresblr antics he finds funny.

If Scott genuinely had a problem with something or was uncomfortable, he would just block and move on, like he actively advocates for this policy himself in his August 1st stream. He knows how to navigate the internet, you don't have to worry over him being uncomfortable because if he was, he'd stop engaging with it.

And it's perfectly valid to freak out when Scott mentions fandom stuff, because imo it's like you're hanging out with a group of friends- you're going to act differently when it's just you guys and when a teacher walks by. But the thing is, the second you post anything on the internet, the second that fic leaves your Google drive or you share that art on discord or in the main tags, there is a chance other people will see it, right, and in a fandom based on other internet users, the chance is decently high that they'll see stuff too! And the thing with public discord servers is that anyone can join- Ranboo's public server has 430k people. Michelle Obama could be there and you wouldn't know unless she posted a selfie. With a smaller fandom like Empires, there's going to be less people, but that doesn't change the fact anyone could theoretically join- if Michelle Obama was a big Ldshadowlady enjoyer there's nothing stopping her from hopping into one of the various empires servers.

And when we joke about how much better Tumblr is than Twitter and pspspspssps the ccs over, especially the ccs who had a bad time on twt, well, we shouldn't be surprised to find that a) they at least look through the tags and b) that they like it here. I think the thing is we all got so used to the idea of no one knowing about Tumblr, constantly talking about how no one realizes we're here or saying that the site is dead, that we forgot it is still very much an active and public site that anyone can visit. This is not a private discord server- Tumblr is literally the original blue hellsite and biggest fandom space online.

Yes fandoms are for fans first, which means this is our turf, the ccs don't decide what we can and can't do, the fan content is removed from them, but they also have the right to check out this fan content themselves. Same thing as Misha Collins tweeting about destiel hitting the big number in ao3 fics, something he'd only know if he looked at fandom. If Scott sticks his head in here and goes "wow you guys are hilarious I'm gonna stick around" he can! And he can curate his own experience the same way we tell everyone to do. Scott being here ultimately means nothing and changes nothing- and this is going to sound a bit mean I know, but if you don't feel comfortable posting things with the knowledge he could see it, then I have bad news for you: he could always see it, he's just being more transparent about it now. Anyone can see what you post online, Scott is not invading your personal space here, we are in public and anyone can see everything, so if this knowledge of his presence changes what you post, then you probably weren't posting with this idea in mind in the first place.

Personally, I think we have nothing to worry about as a group, and that if Scott (or anyone else) wants to vibe on Tumblr or in a public discord than he can. Anything to get the ccs off Twitter <3