#who is probably not nearly as online as most people in fandom

[xoxoemynn]

That one tag on your reblog of the Taika post is what really gets me, we *know* how pervasive Israel's propaganda is/has been, for a LOT of people this might be their first time some of the reality of the situation is breaking through (and tbh, especially if you're Jewish, we've been fed tons of propaganda playing off of incredibly legitimate fears of antisemitism and past trauma), I don't understand how people can talk about that and at the same time not extend any grace to those still trying to work their way out of the propaganda bubble. And on top of that, if you're not chronically online *and* in particular social media circles, most of what you're seeing is still the regular news biased towards Israel. In those first few days after Oct. 7th (aka, when The Letter was signed), all I saw about the situation on the mainstream news was how this was the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust, and concern for the hostages. I'm not gonna judge someone for signing something based on that saying we need to rescue those people.

Yeah exactly! I see comments/posts all the time like "wow, I never knew this. We weren't taught this in school. Thank you for sharing. I've never seen this before" and they're all framed as positive things. (Which they are! Learning and growing is good!!) But for whatever reason celebrities are expected to know everything immediately and people will flood their comments demanding a statement and if they don't say anything, or if they don't say it perfectly, suddenly they're an awful, irredeemable person. And believe me, I'm not "won't someone think of the poor, exceedingly wealthy celebrities," but that's just not a reasonable expectation to have of someone whose career is entertainment.

And you're absolutely right. It's only been recently that the news coverage has started to become slightly less biased in their reporting. My own brother, who's around Taika's age, has decided I'm antisemitic because I had simply shared a post supporting a ceasefire and listing some stats of the number of Palestinians who had been killed at that point, truly the most benign of posts you could make, but he refuses to listen to anything because "I watch the news, I know what's happening." And that's a much bigger, systemic problem than any one individual.

It would be wonderful if we had truly unbiased mainstream news coverage. It would be wonderful if our education system wasn't so heavily biased with a western slant. It would be wonderful if every citizen had the time and energy to read up on current events that they don't know much about. But that's not the reality we currently live in. And so unless someone is actively perpetuating harm (and there ARE celebrities who are doing that, but for whatever reason we don't hear NEARLY as much about them as we do about Taika, hmmmmm, wonder why that could be) it feels like a non-issue to me.

[sleep-deprived-person]

So apparently KOSA (2024 edition) is getting either thrown out until next year or put into effect in six days. That was a guesstimate based on a different person saying that's when Congress is back in session and may be false.

Update that's going in the main post at the top: it has enough support to pass Congress.

It failed the last two times because people were voting against it.

This time, KOSA has traction among the pro-LGBTQ parties. Because nobody is fucking calling their bullshit and screaming from the rooftops that calling it the "Kids Online Safety Act" is misleading.

What will it passing do?

Nothing much, only prevent any education on LGBTQIA+ (it's that stupid fucking argument about us grooming kids again), shut down nearly every fandom space on the internet, and make it required for most big tech companies to have your ID.

Want to have resources for kids to discover their identity readily available? Yes? Then fucking speak up against this stupid fucking bill.

Fandom spaces like Tumblr, Twitter (? I thought the MAGA assholes liked Musk?), Tiktok, Archive Of Our Own, and any other website that hosts fanfic or fanart? Either shut down permanently, forced to uproot to a different country and down for a while (best case scenario, and they likely won't be able to send any data, and therefore fanfics, to the US), or gutted so that you only get to put G rated cishet ships on there, if any shipping at all. How to avoid that? I've already said it: Call your fucking representatives.

Want to avoid the fucking dystopic task of being legally obligated to give big tech your government issue ID? Again, cause an uproar. Call your goddamned representatives.

If they can pass this, the ripple effects could be catastrophic.

So, for fuck's sake, any Americans that can impact this stupid fucking bill and see this? Do everything in your power to shut it down because you have until February twenty sixth (26th) to send this bill back to where it belongs.

And if you can't do that? Reblog, copy my tags, and boost the signal.

Sorry not sorry for ranting, making you scroll through that, and swearing a probably excessive amount, but KOSA is a bill with a GLOBAL IMPACT being passed by ONE COUNTRY because some old people are scared of two guys with who were told they were girls kissing within five hundred miles of a child. Fuck this shit, I shouldn't have to worry about bad bills in America but I fucking do because I use the internet and would like to avoid mass censorship. Fuck this, fuck conservatives, and fuck the fact that some boomers make your country's policies.

Now, if you won't mind me, I'm going to be up until three in the morning downloading fanfiction or copying and pasting them into a a text file if I can't so I can read them by the end of the week.

[stardustbuck]

I feel like atp even if there were plans to make bvddie canon theyre gone now. if tim minear is even half as petty as I am he would see that reaction and go u know what fuck you u actually don't get what you want now cause ur acting so goddamn entitled. like when tarlos fans got mad about the deleted scenes instead of appreciating them being released and his reaction was to say "okay fine then I just won't release deleted scenes anymore" (like I'm sure it was mostly a marketing decision but part of me thinks they intentionally released a scene about bucktommy just to prove a point.) idk man it's just really upsetting as a bi man to see the absolutely vile shit bvddie stans are saying and even tho I love the ship I now never want it to go canon cause they've fuckin ruined it

hey anon, at first let me agree with the fact that i do in fact also love bvddie a lot and i still love reading fics for them, the edits of them are fantastic and the fanart is S tier. it’s a great pairing with a lot of potential there IF the writers decided to ever go there but…

huge answer below

yeah, i agree. i honestly think before tommy was introduced again in 7x03 and the kiss in 7x04 that in my brain, bvddie was the most logical endgame for buck until it wasn’t.

i came into the show shipping bvddie much like a lot of new fans to the show but instead of hopping onto the tommy anti express hate train i found myself falling in love with buck and tommy together. at first i was still on board with bvddie still being endgame but as each episode aired after 7x04 i became faced with the reality of the situation (at least the way i see it) that bvddie might always be fanon and that’s ok because fandom keeps ships alive whether they’re canon or not. some of the biggest ships EVER are non-canon (i mean, cmon spirk? one of the OG MM ships?) so it didn’t really deter me from enjoying bvddie to this day. what HAS deterred me from interacting with bvddie content is toxic bvddies. i don’t like using the lil nicknames, idc if other ppl do, whatever, but i prefer just referring to certain kinds as just toxic plain and simple.

toxic shippers have made it difficult for anyone who multiships to interact with bvddie content. while there are incredibly nice & welcoming bvddie endgamers out there, it doesn’t overshadow the hateful ones in my online experience at least. i’ve blocked so many ppl over this ship discourse, which ive never had to do with any other fandom before the extent i have with 911. everyday i still find new ppl to block, you go under almost any comment section on the 911 insta and its filled with nasty comments abt tommy and only caring abt whether bvddie will be canon in s8. people projecting their hatred of tommy/lou onto the cast/crew of the show when it’s be said and proven time and time again that it’s quite the opposite. now im certain there’s bad apples in the bucktommy side as well, but from what ive seen online so far it is not nearly to the caliber of the bvddie side. ive blocked maybe a handful of bucktommy’s for being hateful towards eddie or being toxic overall, but ive probably blocked over 100+ toxic bvddies. i can only imagine it’d be worse if i was active on 911 twt which i’m not (thank god) but i have ventured into the tags before on there and let me tell you, it’s fucking horrifying how gross ppl are over there. twt is a cesspool for fandom anyways tho, the fucking asshole of fandom, it’s a septic tank really.

now im my own opinion which could be completely untrue of course, but just basing my thoughts on what i’ve seen online and interviews and such, tim seems to be really happy about bucktommy and idk how ppl believe otherwise. tim has expressed he loves LFJ and wanted him back on the show. tim showed up on set for the kiss scene. tim posting an entire youtube vibe abt bucktommy being soulmates that touches on the invisible string theory and explains how they accidentally found buck’s perfect match. tim sharing the deleted tommy scene is also huge but im waiting to see if he releases more (because i remember seen somewhere that he said there’d be more?) and if he does then great but it’s also still pretty telling to me after the whole karaoke fiasco.

oliver has said nothing but praises towards buck’s queer storyline. he quite literally said if you dont like it then watch something else. despite ppl saying he’s never interacted with bucktommy content online, that’s a lie because he has liked fanart of them.

aisha, kenneth & tracie have all expressed how they like tommy/lou and love working with him.

jlh said she loved bvddie before but is excited to see where buck and tommy go and then on an insta live said she doesn’t think bvddie is happening and was bombarded by toxic fans to the point of ending the live early.

ppl think it’s all some ruse to make it seem like bvddie is never happening so when it does happen it’s a “surprise” ……..

the nasty hate comments are doing nothing but exposing these types of ppl for who they are and that honestly to them, 911 is just the bvddie show to them. the people who run these social media accs for 911 are looking at these comments and cringing, they aren’t running to tim and abc being like “we must give these crazies what they want!” they’re mostly likely being ignored or honestly, as you said, being looked at and just reinforcing their decision to most likely make tommy buck’s endgame so as long as his schedule is open for filming.

what gets me the most about the hate these types of shippers spew online is how they aren’t embarrassed because they are so sooo convinced they will be right one day and therefore their insane, nasty behavior online will be justified. oliver stark literally left twt because of fans like this, people act like he was joking around, that he was shooting the shit probably because “he’s british and british people just have that kind of humor” which yes to a certain extent but let me just add these posts to set an example to why if oliver were still on twt he absolutely would not be happy with the way toxic bvddies are acting right now.

oliver (and ryan&other cast too) being positive abt bvddie never meant it was going to be canon of become canon one day. they do not decide these things, whether they believe it should or not. a lot of bvddie shippers come from previous fandoms where queerbaiting was there, where they were made fun of by actors of their ships, by the creators of the show! so i understand the frustration but oliver is not queerbaiting and buck is not a queerbait character when he quite literally is now confirmed bisexual and in a relationship with a man.

he’s just not the “correct” queer to these people. despite headcanons (hell even i hc eddie as queer!!) eddie so far, in canon, is not queer. by the end s7 he is still shown to not be over shannon and ruins his relationship with his son over this. ryan has stated in interviews he sees eddie as heterosexual, possibly pushing this because of the influx of ship discourse, and he’s glad to see a vulnerable and deep friendship that buck and eddie can have as a straight man and a queer man and how important he thinks it is.

every single thing that points to bvddie never going canon is like they’re being shot point blank in the chest. i get it, your ship not becoming canon sucks, but again, that is what fandom is for! shipping has never been about how canon smth is, there is 20k fics out there for bvddie and they aren’t canon. they can turn that into 40k, 100k, 1M if they really wanted to! instead they use their time and energy posting death threats, wishing death upon a gay character, bullying ppl online for enjoying a ship.

meanwhile from what ive seen bucktommys are rolling with goofy ass spy tommy theories created by antis and making jokes for our own fun.

so yes, i agree overall. they truly don’t deserve what they think they do. we didn’t whine and scream for a deleted scene. they did. we got ours without even expecting it and are having fun.

maybe if they behaved better i wouldn’t be so petty abt it. it’s a shame because of how much potential it has, unfortunately it is just not going that way atm. and even if it does one day, it is not because they paraded online with hate, it is because that’s the story tim and the others wanted to write and abc approved it.

🫳🎤

[the-words-we-sung]

Season 3 ending

So... It's been almost a week since the last episode, almost a week trying to wrap my head around the end of the show, trying to manage my feelings about it all.

It's hard to end up feeling the complete opposite of nearly everyone on my dash but I've come to terms with the fact that I didn't love the ending. I didn't love this last episode. (I shouldn't feel ashamed or weird for saying so but you guys loved it so much that I feel a bit like an outsider right now 😓)

I haven't been a fan of the show for as long as most of you, but it means so much to me. These characters carved a place in my heart and in my head, and they've made me happy for months now. They helped me get through some stuff, made me discover some amazing artists, meet even more amazing people through this fandom. And I loved the story. Even in its darkest, saddest parts, I loved it. I was invested.

I love Wilhelm and Simon, together and separately. They mean so much to me. And I loved season 1 and 2. It made me happy, and sad, and frustrated, and exalted. But overall, I trusted the show and I was not disappointed.

Season 3 was a lot. I liked the first 5 episodes. I can't say that I loved everything about them: I was not expecting things to get so hard for Simon, with no reprieve in sight. I was not worried about Wilmon being endgame (I know it was a big stress for the fandom but honestly I never doubted that they were endgame), but I was wondering how the show would go about tying all the knots it made (I should even say all the knots it added during this last season).

(Under a read more because it's a bit long and I don't want to bother those who don't wanna read more of my frustrated thoughts ^^')

And unfortunately the last episode was a huge let down for me. Yes, it's partly because nothing I was hoping for actually happened, but mostly, it's because the choices they made did not feel very satisfying to me: ⁕ Simon was barely there. We went from him being bullied online/offline non stop for 5 episodes to almost nothing. It makes 0 sense to me. ⁕ Kristina suddenly feeling better: she was having break down upon break down for an entire season, could barely look at her son or even just talk normally and all of a sudden she's back, smiling and agreeing to everything Wilhelm says? I'm sorry but I don't buy it? Where did this Kristina hid during the entire show? ⁕ Wilhelm deciding to not be king, talking for 3min to his parents about it, them agreeing and him running into the sunset with Simon. I'm sorry, what?? I love that they end up together of course, but it makes very little sense to me? It won't change any of the issues they had this season? They're still gonna be famous? And bullied online/offline? (Probably even more so now?). I'm not obviously saying that Wilhelm staying in line to become king was the only or the best solution, but I wanted more from this storyline. I wanted to believe it. And right now, what we got? It feels a bit cheap (and I feel bad for saying that because the ending was cute and romantic and all, but it felt too disconnected from the rest of the show for me ><)

And apart from these few points, the big issue I had with this episode was: The Angst. So that might be a me-problem, but it was too much for my poor little heart (I haven't rewatched the episode yet, and I'm not sure I'll be able to anytime soon ><). I spent like 40min of the episode with a huge knot in the stomach because the heartbreak between Simon and Wilhelm was too much to handle for me. I can see how it was beautifully made, that having lots of throwbacks to the previous seasons, the Wille song, all of that was great cinematography. But it was just too much for me. I got in the season spoiler-free but for this episode? During the lake scene I had to take a break and check online if they were actually endgame because it was starting to actually give me a stomachache. So yeah, this part might be me being too sensitive but I did not like that they made me see them fight for each other for 2 seasons and 5 episodes, but then just giving up for 40min before finally running back to each other during the last 10min. It was just too much sadness for me ><

So yeah, maybe my expectations were too high? But I feel sad, and kinda cheated. Too many things are left wide opened. Too many things make zero sense to me. And of course I'm happy we got our Wilmon endgame, but I'm less happy about how it happened.

It's a bit hard being on Tumblr right now and seeing everyone who thought it was the perfect episode >< And I don't want to "yuck anyone's yum" (as the saying goes), but I still wanna be able to share my thoughts! I probably won't write super angry/unhappy/complaining posts about the season/the finale, but I still wanna be able to chat about it. I did see some posts on my dash from people not being entirely satisfied with this ending so it's a bit comforting. And I hope we can share some nice headcanons, or just discussions about different plot points.

But yeah, I guess that's why I haven't really been active this week! Trying to get over the double heartbreak of the end of the show + being disappointed with the ending! I'm gonna come back though! I miss hanging out here, I just need to strengthen my heart a little bit more :p Gonna get back to writing about my thoughts episode by episode for this season (I can't promise I can rewatch the last one though 😖 It might take me a bit of time to get there). And I want to continue my song analysis of the show!! I'm not even done with season 2 yet, I have some work to do there ^^

So see you back here very soon 😘

[bluestarjay]

Kinda part 3 to the chronically online deku thing except it's a bakugo vers ‼️‼️

Ik that bakugo is technically canonically really smart and a nerd, but he's not nearly as much of a nerd as deku, at least in regards to social media than as to pro heroes.

He's knowledgeable in pro heroes, especially all might, but I don't think he's on social media tbh.

My man goes to bed at like 8:30, I don't think he's on tiktok and Instagram and all that, yk? I think he probably has Facebook, though, bc his mom wanted him to. 💀💀

So my reasoning for this post is that I had a thought last night of deku teaching bakugo about fan fiction and fandoms and all that; like him just explaining to bakugo how Ao3 works and warning him about Dead Dove.

He doesn't know wtf a creepypasta is, so deku is just like, "The leader is slenderman, he's the one with no face, and those tendrils! And the one with the bloody smile is Jeff :3" and bakugo is just nodding along and making fun of each character. His favorite, though, is probably Jeff because he's the most badass or wtv. He'll say that they're similar and deku will go, "Oh, kaachan, that's not-"

Bakugo definitely listens to music, but like he doesn't have spotify 💀💀 he uses a cd player, and if he wants to go out and listen to music, he'll use fuckin Pandora or iTunes or even an iPod LMAO and not bc he's poor or anything bc we know he's wealthy, he's just a freak 😭😭

He believes that social media is gonna steal all your information or that it's gonna brainwash you n shit 😭 and not in like a Karen-y way, just like, "I don't fw social media. It's just gonna fuck up my schedule and steal my shit so I don't bother 😒" But his mom shows him posts she sees on Facebook, like the Ai ones or the clearly fake news reports, and he just to explain to her that they're fake.

When someone finally convinces him to download tiktok, he's a FUCKING GRANDPA he accidentally turns on the camera first and does that thing that grandparents do where they lean back when they turn the camera on ykwim 😭😭😭 and then he starts getting posts on his fyp with fandom references he doesn't get, or like people talking about fanfic references and he has to get deku to explain them. Lmao, and ik that those rickroll things piss him off sooo bad, like the fucking Kris Jenner one and every time he sees it he's just like, "HOW DO I GET THIS FUCKING BITCH OFF OF MY FYP WHO EVEN IS THIS CHICK????" Like he has NO knowledge about foreign celebrities, if you asked him to point out a picture of Taylor Swift, he wouldn't be able to cause he has no clue what she looks like, only that she's "some white bitch" 💀💀💀

[makoredeyes]

Hello, I hope you're doing well! This is probably an odd question, feel free to ignore it. I wanted to ask you as a fellow writer I admire, who is mostly focused on unpopular/dead/deep lore characters. Do you also sometimes feel like what you're writing is irrelevant and unexciting for everyone, except yourself? If so, how do you deal with this? For me sometimes this sudden realization is so crushing, that I cannot bring myself to finish a single work.

Hello! That’s not an odd question at all in fact it feels pretty relevant tbh. (Omg sorry long reply you got me going 💙)

I think I have several kind of interrelated answers for you so let me lay them out.

1- I am powered by autism and a MIGHTY hyperfixation. I have no choice I am compelled. I am blinded to all other things and so while the little bit of feedback that I do get is AMAZING and so extra sparkly motivating it is not entirely what compels me (but BOY does it help)

2- I joked with a friend just last night that, “this season is, as usual, does not have NEARLY enough Felwinter content and so I must therefore create my own.” - as she pointed out, there have been exactly TWO seasons with ANY Felwinter content at all and I wasn’t playing destiny yet for one of them. My point being, sometimes you gotta create what you want to see yourself. I’ve always found myself in some really niche corner of whatever fandom I’m in and have to do this a lot. Probably how I got to writing and drawing etc. fun thing is tho you find a really special group of people who think and love like you that way, and if it’s a smaller crowd, it’s all the more intimate for it Imo. I’ve made some super special friends in the last 9 months or so in my weird little corner here and it’s magical and I think that quality over quantity filter is awesome. (But yeah i know the validation machine is SO good too)

3- the BEST magic of borrowing from obscure content, generally unknown or undeveloped characters or lore is the creative freedom. The headcannon swapping the worldbuilding the background gathering… the RESEARCH! Gleaning what little bit I can from what we DO have. Who the fuck is timur?! We don’t know. I borrowed the beautiful designs for his face and general personality that Sylenth has developed because she’s done such an amazing job and was kind enough to allow me to play with him as she made him, and took that as jump off point for my writing etc but I have all the wiggle room in the world with but a few widely dispersed canon signposts to lead my direction and that is just so fucking fun for me.

(And that doesn’t mean more mainstream characters like Osiris don’t have their creative appeal to me either. I will deep dive on lore and character analysis for YEARS but living in the peripherals is comfy for me)

Those are all the positives to my work, but yeah, sometimes I do feel a little dejected. I have definitely felt a drop off in reader response weirdly in converse to the effort I put into my writing. Housefire has evolved into much more of a cohesive Plot(tm) that is going somewhere very specific from its origin of a few interlinked fluffy anecdotes and funnily enough about the time I started really digging my heels in and plotting and planning and putting in twists I was REALLY excited about, people started responding less. Some of my favorite fics are the least popular. Some of my art I am most proud of gets the least attention but that damn doodle of poor Felwinter getting splattered by a warsat has 200+ more notes than my next most popular art. (The shitposts always win Damnit! 😩🤣😅)

I get frustrated and yeah sometimes a bit discouraged sometimes and I spend Way Too Much time sitting here refreshing my notes because I am a sad lonely person chronically online just way too thirsty for a little validation or a conversation with someone but like. Every piece gets better. Every piece SOMEONE appreciates. Every piece **I** enjoy and is also a chance for all of that when I share it with the world and that’s exciting and good, and like I said the people in this community as niche and little as it is, are really something special, and some of the people that have come into my circle because of it make it SO worth it.

**I was done but then I read your ask one more time and I’ll add this since it popped into my head last-second:

If we are creating works for dead characters we love, we are keeping them alive.

How magical is that??

[instantpansies]

Haiii againn :3

Uhmmmm

I was wondering what your general mml hcs are :p

okay i think i'm finally prepared to answer this question!!! i'll preface this by saying i'm much more obsessed w phineas and ferb than milo murphy's law. i love mml very much but i don't have nearly as many Thoughts(tm) about it as i do pnf... even so here's what i've got

i'm not just saying this bc he's the voice actor, i think milo would listen to weird al. that and like '90s-'00s pop hits (basically canon anyway)

melissa has adhd and can't function without variety. she's always multitasking, fiddling, taking hard classes to keep herself occupied

definitely she's the type to really want one of those treadmill desks

that's part of why she gets along so well with milo, it's never the same with him. he's exciting

melissa is the most online of the main kids i think. she probably plays fps games and argues with people who disagree with her on twitter

i think melissa would be a vocaloid fan, lydia got her into it and she passed it on to amanda

btw lydia has been a miku stan since third grade

also melissa likes metal. i have no proof of this but i think she'd like it. good for studying

zack cannot stand metal though, it's grating and he can't hear the lyrics

on the topic of the main kids, i'm not super into shipping or anything but my philosophy is, they all have two hands. so casually speaking i really like the dynamic of simultaneous milo/amanda, amanda/melissa, melissa/zack (i'm not wild about them but if we don't go overboard zalissa is fine), zack/bradley, bradley/milo. they are in a circle holding hands and i like them a lot :3

however like i said that's just for funsies and i dont really really ship anyone there. i do like the dynamics of that particular arrangement though lol!

sara was a tumblr user during the equivalent of superwholock, now that that's not really a thing anymore she's gotten more into analysis and the more geeky side of dr zone fandom. she still watches the old edits though

okayyy i'm kind of obsessed w cavendish and dakota so they r always spinning around in my brain

i think brick and savannah are newer agents than dakavendish, which is why cav is kinda bitter. despite working for the agency for longer, he got stuck with the worst equipment and the most unfulfilling job possible

cav is probably a little frustrated at dakota because of this, but i'd think after so long working w him he's realized that it's not dakota's fault they can't seem to climb the ladder. they're just like that. but obviously he hasn't accepted his fate as we see in the show

dakavendish have been in the same semi-romantic semi-platonic situationship forever. neither of them has said a word. if they knew what a qpr was they'd really like that but they've never heard of it so instead they're just stuck Like That. hopeless idiots my beloved

cavendish watches ancient aliens and all those other sorts of shows about supernatural conspiracies. he half believes them. dakota watches them with him, ironically.

anyways back to the kids. lydia and buford met once at a concert for some famous orchestra, they don't really hang out but they email back and forth sometimes and exchange recipes.

lydia and amanda have been best friends for as long as anyone can remember. it sometimes seems like lydia is just amanda's sidekick, but she just prefers to step out of the way and do her part from behind the scenes. it's less stressful for both of them.

amanda hates candles. just can't stand them. they smell too strong, or never smell right, or they pose a fire hazard, or the shape doesn't fit the vibe she's going for.

related to that i think amanda has some pretty strong sensory aversions, especially to smells and certain textures

milo's backpack is essentially a pocket dimension. it's his hammerspace, so he doesn't need to think too much about what fits or not. he packs it every morning, but the stuff basically comes from already in that hammerspace. there are times when he packs the wrong things (which we see in one episode), but that's because they aren't stored in the backpack and are instead inaccessible to him

basically im saying milo is mary poppins and he can hypothetically access anything he needs at any time. issues only arise when he is caught unaware and unprepared, and that is very rare

milo and sara really like going to creeks. especially when they were little they would go to the nearest creek or pond and wade and look for creatures in the water

baljeet ran a boy bands fan blog back when the lumberzacks were active. he was shouted out once on their old social media and it's still one of his proudest accomplishments.

this isn't really an mml hc but baljeet kind of reminds me of a friend who runs a blog and a youtube channel about some really niche tech and programming stuff, and is also just a normal guy on the internet, so i think baljeet probably does smth similar

amanda and melissa have been academic rivals for a long time, but they have a mutual understanding and it's never gotten nasty. bradley thinks he's melissa's academic rival but honestly she doesn't see him as competition at all

bradley has a pretty big sweet tooth. i'm basing this off the whole carla thing if it wasn't obvious, but he definitely stops by coffee shops after school and gets the sweetest drink he can. ice cream fan as well

tbh i unfortunately do not think much about mort or chad. i dont have any hcs about them

same with the murphy parents :( i like them a lot but i dont have any thoughts abt them rn

elliot is bradley's older cousin who never really got along with him but their parents made them hang out when they were little. i'm going off vibes only here

okay so yeah that's all i can think of for now!!! i'm sure i will think of more later lmao but anyways. mml is such a good show

[longing-for-rain]

On sexual abuse, trauma, and recovery

I’ve wanted to post something like this for a long time, because of things people have said directly to me and other things I’ve seen. It strikes me how people who haven’t experienced this really don’t understand how it feels, both in the moment and in the aftermath.

The reason I finally decided to make this post is actually on a more positive note—I’m writing this just after I’ve had my first real date in years. My first real date I’ve had the courage to go on after escaping a sexually abusive situation I endured for nearly a year during the COVID pandemic. I’m writing this to say that even though what I’m talking about it going to sound bleak and disturbing, it doesn’t end there. We can still move on. I used to think I would rather die than be looked at sexually again. I didn’t even want to go out in public. But I’m sharing because no matter how bleak what I’m about to say sounds, I’m still here. We don’t have to stay trapped; we don’t have to stay silent.

I’ll put the rest below, and please, read at your own risk because I will be discussing heavy topics such as sexual abuse and the aftermath of that.

I’ve learned a lot over the past few years, but probably the most important thing I’ve learned is that the idea that recovery is quick and easy is a myth. The idea that it’s easy to get justice when you’re abused is a myth. Some people will probably get angry at me for saying this, but in all honesty, I wish I’d been warned. That’s the part I truly wasn’t prepared for—how isolated I would feel in the aftermath, and how the people and systems that promised to always support victims failed me. I’m tired of being told that it’s easy to simply report and move on. It’s never that simple.

The first time it happened, I was naïve and drunk and blamed myself. I just blocked it out. By the time it fully hit home that I’d been assaulted, it was too late. I had no evidence of the event and knew nothing would come of it if I reported it. So I didn’t. It was painful enough that it happened. I couldn’t handle also being accused of being a lying whore trying to ruin an “innocent” man’s life for no reason. That’s how women like me are treated when we try to say anything.

That was right before COVID. During COVID, I was mostly online and that’s how I got into fandom again. I found comfort there, especially after what I’d been through, but unfortunately I repeated the same mistake I’d made the first time—I was naïve, I was somewhere unfamiliar, and way too vulnerable. Someone took advantage of that.

I don’t really want to go into details, but I was sexually groomed and abused over the course of about a year. I didn’t realize it at first, because that’s the cruel thing about grooming. When it starts slowly, you don’t realize what’s happening to you until it’s too late. I spent hours a day at times on the phone with this person. What I thought was “advice” was really just her pushing me into places (sexually) that she knew I wasn’t comfortable with. To this day I still don’t know if it was because she was interested in my sexually or if she just liked the idea of “corrupting” a much younger woman into destroying herself just like she had.

But at the time, I was blind to it. I thought it was just a toxic friendship. I felt hurt and traumatized but didn’t understand how to express why I was feeling the way I was. I didn’t yet recognize it as abuse, and even the slightest hint of that was crushed by my abuser and her friends. She knew the community better than me and how to manipulate it—how to make me look crazy for trying to come to terms with what happened. So ultimately, I simply blocked her, deleted every account I’d been associated with her on, and thought it would end there.

At the time it seemed like the best option. But later, I realized what I’d done. Those conversations were evidence, and I’d gotten rid of them all. So now I’m suffering the same fate I did the first time. I have no evidence. I have to deal with what happened, and I can’t prove it.

I did try to speak up, eventually, as many abused women do. I got a taste of why rape has a 2% conviction rate, why this is a crime that goes so often unpunished. People who barely knew the situation got involved, because they were friends of friends of the abuser. I was called things like “shit stirrer” and accused of “disrupting the community” for trying to say something. I lost friends I thought I could trust, either because they sided with my abuser or because they were too cowardly to say anything. And nobody has ever apologized for anything—not one. I’ll be honest. I seriously considered suicide multiple times and attempted once. The aftermath was even worse for me than the abuse in some ways. I was still living under the lie that as a victim, I’d have support and understanding from my community when in reality it was the opposite. Sometimes I feel like if it ever happened to me again, I would actually end my life. I don’t know if I could go through this whole process again.

So yes, that’s why it’s isolating. That’s why it’s so painful; why “just report it” is bullshit. If you haven’t been through something like this, don’t even pretend to understand. You will lose friends. You will be isolated and ostracized from communities you thought could support you. You will watch people repost essays about supporting victims on their social media turn around and blame you for your own abuse. You will watch people use sexual harassment and abuse in ship wars about fictional characters and then participate in your real life abuse. People will make fun of your sexual abuse. People will tell you your sexual abuse is hot. People will tell you that they understand, then side with your abuser anyway, after you’ve already opened up to them.

That’s the reality. Why is it this way? I don’t know. I think a lot of it is deeply ingrained misogyny, which is why I think it’s so so important to recognize and call out the misogyny intertwined in our culture and communities. It’s what creates the environment that allows this to happen and isolated victims from each other.

This is rambling, I know, but I’m getting frustrated by some of these anons spouting off about something they clearly know nothing about. Stop treating it like some easy thing that just goes away and that people actually care about sexual trauma and victims. They don’t.

[burr-ell]

🔥 if you’re still answering these, what’s your unpopular opinion on imodna shippers? And it’s kinda leaking into the cast? Maybe it’s just me, and I understand the cast can have their own ships but every time Dani or anyone says “imodna” I cringe.

This is probably an unpopular opinion insofar as I don't see it being voiced very often, but there are plenty of Imogen/Laudna shippers who don't live up to the fandom's reputation at all! I've joked before about how seeing a purple heart and a black heart next to each other on twitter is like seeing bright colors on an animal, but I know of plenty of people with those markers who are completely chill and just enjoy the idea of Imogen and Laudna being together. I'm friends with people who ship the pairing who really want to see more conflict and crunch, who are excited at the idea that it might end in tragedy. There are plenty of shippers who have made fools of themselves online, but I don't think we here on this side of the fandom give enough credit to the folks who are just here for a good time.

With respect to the cast, it might just be me, but I'm not really sure how invested they are in it. Some of the guests were, and I have to admit I rolled my eyes at Dusk/FRIDA/Deanna very obviously shilling it in a way that I don't think any guest characters have done for previous ships, but the main cast, aside from Ashley and maybe Taliesin, doesn't seem all that jazzed about it in the traditional sense. That's not to say they dislike it, I think they're all interested in where the story goes, but like, Travis nearly ate a can when Percy kissed Vex for the first time, and that kind of enthusiasm for Imogen and Laudna has been somewhat lacking.

I do think Dani needs to get off of Twitter. Like that "Imogen is Pate's step-dad" business or prodding Matt about Otohana? Non-fandom people are not on that wavelength, at all, and most of them probably reacted the same way Matt did when the Otohan/Liliana question came up. Those are the kinds of things you say when you spend a lot of time on Purple Heart Black Heart Twitter™ in particular, which is a fandom echo chamber that is not only uniquely divorced from but also often actively hostile to what's going on in the rest of the show. Am I biased? Yeah, obviously, but also, one of the timestamps Flando left on an Imogen/Laudna sex joke was something to the effect of "have they even been alone together since episode 65?", so the disconnect between how the cast talks about the ship and what the casual viewer sees is not going unnoticed.

[musashi]

nearly exclusively original writing sphere guy over here, are fandom people like. ok.

people keep fighting you for reasons ive never seen before in my life

I don't think most of my beef is fandom related? Idk what this is referring to but most people online who pick fights with me aren't mad for fandom related reasons, they're usually just deeply insecure/troubled and tend to unconsciously or privately resent my confidence until it gets to a boiling point.

Generally tho fandoms are pretty fun and I owe pretty much all the joy in my life to fandom. I don't really engage with people who take it seriously enough to get mad about it, if they're so hobbyless that fighting over fake people is all they can do with their free time then we probably don't have much to connect over besides the fake people in question.

So like, yeah? I'm having a great time.

[legitalicat]

20 Questions for Fic Writers.

Thank you to @foxyanon for both tagging me and giving me a clean copy of the questions so this did not have to wait until after work.

1. how many works do you have on AO3?

Just one, it's old and unimportant. I'm actually about to private it as I no longer like writing fanfic for real people.

2. what's your total AO3 word count?

Since I don't really post to AO3, I'm going to try to guess my word count from Word.

I would guess, just knowing the size of some of my larger works and how many things I fucking have in there, it would be at least 500k. Probably more. Y'all see the length of shit I post and I don't have nearly everything posted.

3. what fandoms do you write for?

Currently, HOTD, TLK, Assassin's Creed and Skyrim. Check out my requests to see which fandoms I'm willing to write for!

4. top five fics by kudos

So, my top 5 fics on here are probably

Sweet Sister (Aemond x Reader x Jace, canon)

Keeping Up With The Targaryens (SMAU Aegon x reader)

Player 3 Found (SMAU Jace x reader x Aemond, no targcest)

we can't be friends (Aemond, modern)

Forged From Death (Sihtric x reader, canon era)

This is a guess, but I know Sweet Sister and Keeping Up are my most popular ones.

5. do you respond to comments?

I try, unfortunately most of my time online is also while I'm working so things do slip by me. However I do try to stay on top of my asks and my inbox, so if you ever need to make sure I see something, those are the best ways. Unless you are in my discord server, then just message me on there.

6. what is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

It's no where close to the end, but just for what I have planned, I think my angstiest thing will be "Dragon of Valhalla".

For one shots, either "Too Sweet" (a personal favorite) or "we can't be friends"

7. what's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

What I have planned for the future of Out of Time is probably the happiest. Mostly because that is my "fix it fic".

Although when I post Alisanne's fic, that will get happy ending. Also a fix it fic.

8. do you get hate on fics?

I've not received hate, thankfully, of any sort.

This is not an invitation to start my friends are crazy (lovingly) and they will ride in battle for me before I even notice it's happened.

9. do you write smut?

Yes! Maybe not well. But I do write it.

10. craziest crossover?

"Dragon of Valhalla". It's combining a fantasy show, a historical fiction drama show, and a historical fiction fantasy video game. Truly, the deepest of brainrots.

11. have you ever had a fic stolen?

No. But again, not an invitation. See above.

12. have you ever had a fic translated?

Not to my knowledge! If anyone is interested, ever, please reach out so I can consider it!

13. have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes! Many times in fact. It was a lot easier as a high schooler who had no life otherwise.

14. all time favorite ship?

Fuck. Y'all asking the wrong person, I'm full of bi panic and my favorite ship changes A LOT because of it.

Some of my favorites though would be

Fred Weasley x Hermione Granger (back when I read HP fanfic and participated in the community)

Jess Mariano x Rory Gilmore

Robb Stark x Margaery Tyrell x Danerys Targaryen (crackship yes do I care no I love them and they should have met and dominated)

15. what's a wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

It's a private project that few people know about. I intend to finish all my things, but brain doing brain things is hard.

16. what are your writing strengths?

I think I can "emotion" really well. Make you understand it as a reader, make you feel it, without necessarily giving a name to it.

17. what are your writing weaknesses?

Smut.

18. thoughts on dialogue in another language?

I only speak English so you'll probably never catch me include it unless it's High Valyrian. I don't trust Google translate. HOWEVER, I do genuinely think it's a beautiful thing.

19. first fandom you wrote in?

Harry Potter 💀

20. favorite fic you've written?

Probably, legitimately, "Out of Time". It was my first genuine dance into HoTD fandom creating. It was my first idea in years.

I had originally written it as an Alisanne fanfiction, actually. But I didn't think anyone would read OC content and so I made it x reader, and lost passion for it in the process.

Idk who has done this, but here are some no pressure tags.

@zaldritzosrose @thenameswinterfics @lady-phasma @anjelicawrites @alexagirlie

[orchidsangel]

okay so i’m usually more of a silent follower (i’ve only like sent one ask ever) but i kinda love your posts/talks about things that you love (even if it’s not necessarily something i care about,,i just love it when people talk about their interests it’s amazing),, so i’m kinda curious about why do you think sos should have won over midnights,,, not saying that sos is bad or anything i actually love the album and sza but i was rooting for midnights honestly and personally think it deserves the title for many reasons,,, like i’m NOT saying that sos didn’t deserve to be aoty on the contrary, all the albums that were nominated are amazing and all had their big impact and the title is very subjective and ngl, this is one of those years where the nominees are all so good it’s actually quite a tough competition to choose between, but personally i found that midnights deserved it the most so i’m actually really curious to know your opinion on why sos should have gotten it

(i’ve already seen so much discourse about this for the past week on twitter but obviously. it’s twitter. so they don’t have any valable reasons except just pure hatred, misogyny, slut shaming and obviously racism)

Okay, so first off, thank you for sending in this ask and allowing me to speak about something I care about!! Second of all, when you added racism in the "don't have any valuable reasons section" what did you mean by that? I'm not coming for you or anything. I'm just curious if you meant racism towards Taylor or if you mean racism towards SZA.

anyways, now for my thoughts.

So, while I obviously agree that SOS is a great album, the part I disagree with is Midnights being a good album. I don't like it; I never did, and I probably never will. And this isn't me being a Taylor hater; I am a Taylor Swift enjoyer and have sat down and listened to a few of her albums. While none of them absolutely stunned me, I do think she's an overall good musician and can make a relatively good body of work. Midnights is a snoozefest. It's boring and doesn't hold a candle to the rest of her discography, which I feel fine saying because I know there are a significant amount of swifties and non-swifties alike that agree.

To me, midnights is nothing special, and most of the songs blend together. It's not completely bad, though; it has its good moments, but the many cons, i.e., boring instrumentals, mediocre lyrics, no super deep meanings, etc. outweigh the very few pros, i.e., Snow On The Beach ft. Lana Del Rey, but more importantly, Snow On The Beach ft. more Lana del Rey. And I just can't get behind Midnight's winning album of the year after being the pinnacle of mediocrity.

Now, if you wanna talk about impact, let's talk about impact. Midnights broke tons of records, most notably taking up all ten top spots on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, a feat that no other artist has managed to accomplish. But that wasn't because the album was good or because the general public was tuned in; it's because of streaming culture, because, like most fandoms these days, swifties are rabid and reaching for the charts. That, combined with the sheer size of Taylor Swift's fanbase, means that the album was bound to do well regardless of whether it was good or not.

SOS, on the other hand, obviously didn't chart nearly as well as midnights (although it definitely did chart, like, let's get that straight bc Snooze didn't leave the chart at all last year). But that doesn't automatically mean that it was less impactful, because charts aren't that reliable these days so you have to find other means of calculating impact, and this is when we turn to social media.

(I'll be using tiktok for reference as I feel that since the app relies on music as its #1 source of content, that's the best representation for my argument)

So I'm an avid TikTok user, chronically online, way too invested in drama that doesn't involve me, a loser, blah blah blah whatever, who cares. The point is that I spend enough time on TikTok to be able to observe many different trends going on at the same time and their musical origins. There are so. many. songs. on SOS that trended on tiktok. You could not escape SZA on that app, not even if you wanted to.

Kill Bill, Seek & Destroy, Low, Blind, Snooze, Ghost in the Machine, Shirt, I Hate U, Good Days, etc.

All songs that I've heard on TikTok at one point or another, some of them having their own designated trends to go along with certain lines, and I'm sure there's more I missed.

This specific point means so much to me because I need you to understand that I didn't listen to SOS in full until WAY into 2023 (the album came out in 2022 for reference), and each track was so familiar because I had already heard so many of them on TikTok.

Now, I'm not saying that there weren't any songs on midnights that trended on TikTok. Obviously, there were. i.e., Karma, bejeweled, Midnight Rain, that one part in The Great War, etc., but when I say that most of the songs from Midnights that trended on TikTok were pretty much always used in the context of Taylor Swift, I mean that. I cannot stress this enough. If there was a song from Midnights playing in the video, then I can guarantee that Taylor was being mentioned in that same video, whether it be the eras tour, speculation about her and Joe Alwyn's breakup, her and Travis Kelce, speculation about which Taylor's version album was coming out next, or literally anything pertaining to her at all.

You might think that this is a stupid point, but to me, it's a good example of the fact that it wasn't an album the general public was interested in. And I think for an award like Album of the Year at the Grammys, the album in question should be one that is either objectively good, incredibly poetic, and thoughtful with a deep message, or beloved by the general public, and midnights wasn't any of those.

As for the misogyny and slutshaming, I'd never in a million years agree with that and don't condone that by any means. Pure hatred, if unwarranted, isn't something I really care about either because I'm a hater at my core and have a lot of one-sided beef with people who don't know me. But I will say that most people I know who don't like Taylor Swift do actually have one or two valid reasons. It's not that hard to find them, what with white feminism, not using her platform for good, dating a known racist, and committing ecological warfare, amongst other things.

If the racism you're referring to is in regards to people bringing up her privilege as a white woman, and it bothers you that people are bringing it up, then I'm sorry, but I'm not the person you want to talk to about that because I won't agree. The Grammys have a history of snubbing black and POC artists in general to favor their white counterparts; in fact, the entire music industry has a history of it, and this situation isn't any different in my eyes.

Anyway, that's most of all I have to say. Thank you for asking again, I'd love to hear why you thought Midnights should have won.

[madamefluffnstuff]

Long Distance

Fandom: Elder Scrolls Online

Pairing: Naryu Virian x GN!Reader

Rating: T

Warning(s): Mentions of assassins, political assassination in a medieval-esque fantasy setting, long distance relationships, overall fluff.

Words: 700

AN: I noticed our favorite Morag Tong assassin doesn't get much love on here. I wanted to fix that.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Naryu stretched herself out on the inn bed, sighing in relief. Another contract finished- quite cleanly too, she thought to herself. Varon would be pleased. This particular "victim" managed to weasel their way to the top of the Morag Tong's hit list while simultaneously being extremely difficult to track. But Naryu Virian is nothing if not resourceful, and a few discreetly slipped coins (along with a cheap bottle of wine) soon got her the answer she was looking for.

However she couldn't leave town just yet; she entered under the guise of a pilgrim on a journey to honor the Ancestors. Luckily for her there was, in fact, a shrine not too far from the little hamlet. To leave so suddenly would raise alarms, and the guild would be quite cross with her if there were suspicions of their involvement.

No, another day or two should suffice. It would give the assassin enough time to solidify an alibi, gather some supplies for the trip back, and make her escape.

If everything went as planned she'd be gone before they found the body.

Suddenly the sound of running water filling a wash basin filled her ears. A thought came: a hot bath sounds delightful right about now. Not only as a treat for a successful mission, but also to make sure she got all the blood off. As she stood up to request a private bath, her foot bumped her knapsack and a small envelope slipped out of the opening.

Her eyes widened a bit, how did she forget about that? After all, it was hand delivered by a courier just this morning. For a brief moment she had thought her cover had been blown until she saw the handwriting. The Dunmer woman knew that handwriting from intimate experience. Many surreptitious notes passed back and forth from the owner, along with many maybe-not-so-discreet glances across crowded rooms. One of those notes and glances even lead to a late night meeting behind some stables for a heated and passionate kiss.

Naryu snatched up the letter and plopped back on the bed as she very carefully broke the seal.

"N,

I hope this letter finds you well. Not getting into too much trouble, right? Though knowing you, my sweet, you're getting into all kinds of trouble.

Things are relatively well. I'm back in Vvardenfell helping the Mages Guild recover some old tomes. It's a bit dull, but the coin is good. Right now I'm in Seyda Neen, where I will then make my way to Vivec City. We'll see what happens after that.

I miss you terribly. Things just aren't the same without you, especially when I don't get to hear your voice. I'd like to swap stories with you again when we meet up. Mine are not nearly as exciting as yours but I know you like to hear them anyway.

You're probably on a mission right now, so just make sure to stay safe and be careful. Write back whenever you can, my dear.

All my love,

V.

P.S. Come visit soon. The dogs miss you."

A dreamy sigh escaped her lips. "V" for Vestige. Most people knew them as a war hero, a savior, maybe even a walking good luck charm, depending on who you asked. But Naryu knew them as someone else- they trusted her enough to tell her their story, of Mannimarco's betrayal, Coldharbor, and losing their soul to the God of Despair and Domination... it was crazy to hear.

Even crazier to think they'd trust her, an assassin, with such a secret.

Those in her line of work were discouraged from having romantic relationships, so Naryu was definitely pushing some boundaries by having this long-distance one. However what Varon didn't know wouldn't hurt him. As much as she wanted to keep the letter she knew it would be best to get rid of it. The fireplace downstairs would work nicely...

But that could wait until tomorrow. For now she was going to read it over and over again and hear their voice in her head until the sun rose for a new dawn.

It would suffice until she could hear it again with her own two ears.

[mariacallous]

Long gone are the days when fan fiction was treated as a guilty pleasure, exclusively consumed on a glowing iPad screen under the covers at night and never to be discussed outside of Tumblr. We’re living in an age where Supernatural star Misha Collins boasts about Dean/Castiel fanfic stats on Twitter, a Harry Styles fanfic on Wattpad has been adapted into a major movie franchise, and even Academy Award–winning filmmaker Chloé Zhao openly admits to writing fan fiction. The hobby has become a cultural phenomenon, referenced casually in shows like Euphoria, Only Murders in the Building, 13 Reasons Why, and Bob’s Burgers. And who could forget Archive of Our Own (more widely known as AO3) snagging that Hugo Award in 2019?

Born in 2009, AO3 is one of the biggest fan fiction sites today. It’s an open source, multi-fandom archive for transformative fanworks that, as of January 2023, is home to approximately 10.5 million works across over 55,000 fandoms, ranging from big names like Stranger Things and Marvel to the most niche corners of the internet you could imagine. AO3 is pretty much a household name now, at least for any Gen Z or millennial with some degree of online presence. And as fan fiction has become more mainstream, there’s also seemingly been a push by some users for AO3 to keep up technologically. More specifically, for the archive to function … well, more like TikTok. Picture a “for you” page greeting you as you log in to the archive. It automatically recommends your next fanfic to read, like an oh-so-helpful friend plucking a book off the shelf for you that they just know you’ll love.

Let’s be clear though: This idea isn’t going to see the light of day. “An algorithm is never going to happen,” Claudia Rebaza, a volunteer for AO3’s parent group, the Organization for Transformative Works (OTW), tells me outright. But the debate about whether AO3 should have an algorithm reveals what’s special about fan fiction and the importance of maintaining a space where creative works can just exist.

I get it. As someone born in 1997, it’s hard to remember a time before algorithms, rankings, and personalized recommendations. It feels like every place on the internet is trying to become more like TikTok, from Instagram with its Reels (until Kylie Jenner complained) to Twitter’s “for you” feed. For better or worse, the world today feels deeply online. When nearly every aspect of our lives feels optimized, it makes sense that some want fan fiction to keep up with the times too. 

But here’s the thing: AO3 isn’t social media. It’s simply a space that hosts an enormous collection of works. It’s basically a library on your phone. Being a nonprofit run entirely by volunteers distinguishes AO3 from other fan fiction sites like Wattpad, which is an entertainment company. “AO3 is designed to be an archive, not a social media site, and we’re a nonprofit that will also never run ads,” explains Rebaza. “So we’re not trying to make people spend more time on the site or make anything go viral.” 

Another aspect that sets the archive apart is its lax content policy. While the site still draws the line at some content—explicit material of real minors, flat-out plagiarism—nearly all fanworks are allowed. The only major requirement is that users must tag works containing rape/non-con, graphic violence, major character death, or underage content (alternatively, authors can simply tag “Creator Chose Not to Archive Warnings”). But as long as it’s properly tagged, it’s probably permitted “no matter how awful, repugnant, or badly spelled we may personally find that Content to be,” per the site’s terms of services.

It’s a policy that has been both praised and criticized. But one of the reasons for AO3’s hands-off philosophy is that fan fiction has historically faced a great deal of opposition and censorship. For instance, Fanfiction.net (FF.net), one of the first major fanfic sites on the web, banned all works based on anything by Interview with the Vampire author Anne Rice after she reportedly threatened legal action. (The law as it pertains to fan fiction is murky, but OTW believes nonprofit, transformative works fall under “fair use.”) In 2002, FF.net began implementing a strict “no NC-17 content” policy. Then in 2012, the site famously deleted a large number of stories, presumably ones deemed too mature. The move was widely coined the FF.Net purge by fans, and it sparked concerns about potentially disproportionately affecting authors of slash (same-gender pairing fics).

AO3 is one of the few remaining places on the internet where you alone are responsible for curating the content you consume. You’re armed with only a search bar and the use of tags and filters, sent out into the Forbidden Forest to find whatever your heart desires. And sure, that may feel like a daunting task, especially if you’re used to the likes of TikTok. But part of the beauty of it being algorithmless is that you can hand-pick the works you’re looking for and also easily avoid content you don’t want to see. If AO3 were to implement an algorithm, it’s highly likely you would encounter a lot more content you would have otherwise filtered out, scrolled past, or simply just been blissfully unaware of.

An AO3 algorithm could present a problem not just for readers, but for creators as well. Harassment has long been an issue in fandom, but it feels more intense and intimate in the social media age. In the early 2000s, ship wars and heated discourse mostly lived within the confines of forums, under usernames that nobody would care enough about to track down. Now? Not so much. Hollie, a moderator for the 329,000-member group r/fanfiction on Reddit, tells me how she’s seen things change over the 15 years she’s been involved with fandom. “Fandom has become more clustered into a smaller number of spaces, rather than being able to easily separate into different groups. [So] people with very different interests and takes overlap,” she says. “Don’t get me wrong, there were ‘sporking’ (mocking fics) sites back in the day, as well as bullying and ship wars, but for the most part, people complained in their own groups about how terrible their rival ship was or how gross they found certain kinks or whatever. They didn’t usually go to the creators/shippers’ social media and fics to complain at them.” (Plus, if your fandom self is even slightly intertwined with your public persona, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that you will at some point be harassed, threatened, or even doxxed over fictional characters.)

An algorithm would only further knock down these walls. If someone really dislikes a ship or trope for whatever reason, one might assume they would go out of their way to avoid such content by using tags and filters, or simply interact only with fans who have similar taste. But if the algorithm shows people something they hate, they might feel more inclined to engage with that content and go out of their way to make it known just how much they hate it. 

There’s something quietly beautiful about AO3 not making it easy for us to snap our fingers and have a personalized story recommendation fall into our laps. I’d liken browsing the archive to wandering into a bookstore, picking a novel off the shelf, and being pleasantly surprised by how good it is. Sure, you might head to a genre you know you enjoy or gravitate toward a familiar author or friend’s recommendation. But when it comes down to it, you picked the book. Maybe an algorithm would have found a story you liked just as much, maybe not. 

Algorithms and modern technology can be convenient for discovering new content and tailoring things to your personal taste, but they can also impose their own limits. Sure, streaming is great—but are we really taking advantage of this infinite amount of content if all we see is Netflix’s top 10 and Recommended for You tab? Or are we perhaps missing out on shows we would have enjoyed, if only we’d known about them before they were canceled after one season due to (supposedly) low viewership? Is the skill-based matchmaking algorithm used in multiplayer online games like Call of Duty actually helping us enjoy gameplay more? Or is it ruining video games altogether?

If you’re on TikTok, you’ve likely experienced seeing a video on your “for you” page that you never would have clicked on yourself. Sometimes it’s merely annoying (no, I’m really not into watching people eat that Pink Sauce); other times, it can be outright distressing. For instance, if you’re into cute cats, the algorithm might think you actually want to see a viral video mocking domestic abuse. Algorithms often lack the ability to distinguish tone, and they generally don’t account for triggers or content warnings. It’s like shelving Stephen King’s It in children’s fiction just because the characters are kids.

Safety and practicality issues aside, an algorithm would ultimately just plain suck the fun out of AO3. I don’t want to see only the biggest, most popular content. I want to live in the corner of my little niche fandom, enjoying whatever weird things I like regardless of how many views, kudos, or comments are involved. In a world dominated by algorithms, stats, and virality, let me have my fan fiction.

[fox-bright]

So much fucking One Piece *everywhere* online.

TW: sexual assault, domestic abuse, gaslighting, manipulation, drug use, suicide

When I was in my mid-twenties I dated a serial rapist. Lived with him, in fact, attended the same dojo, and we talked sometimes about marriage. I loved him very much.

He was superbly charismatic, which is how he got away with many bad things. He had a lot of friends, and a lot of defenders, because it was so difficult to believe him capable of the things he did--and because he was good at making friends. Good at bringing people together, at seeing the edges where they'd fit. He was a little goofy, came off occasionally as kind of stupid and almost always as generally harmless, and many of the people he introduced to each other will probably be friends for the rest of their lives.

It was also amusing to him, on occasion, to drive a friend or girlfriend to near-suicide. "If one of them does it, I can use that story later to make people sorry for me," he said, at the end of everything when he was finally willing to be honest with me. When he knew that no one else would believe me, and he could reveal himself plainly with no threat to himself.

In 2016, years after our horrific breakup, he took a probably miscalculated (or even uncalculated) dose of a designer psilocin prodrug without a spotter, and while under its influence he stabbed himself several dozen times. The New York Post, salacious rag that it is, suggested that his death might have been part of a "pagan ritual." I thought for some time that it had been a murder, that some family member of one of his victims had decided to take a bit of evil out of the world. But it was just him being as stupid and arrogant as he always was, and thinking, as he always did, that he was invincible.

(A mutual acquaintance said that they thought possibly he got so high he could hear his conscience for the first time in his entire life, and took the honorable way out.)

(It does not escape me that if that is the case, he still managed to do it in the nastiest, messiest, most selfish way possible, as his wife came home that evening and found him.)

I was at a weekend house party a year or so after he killed himself, and another person there didn't know that I was that Gen, the one he still talked about until he killed himself--but I knew who she was, a lover-after-me. She was openly grieving, and I gave her cupcakes and silently wished her well, and avoided all conversation of him. At the end of that party our host--who had been dancing the same conversational waltz all weekend as I had--sank tiredly into the couch beside me, rubbed their face, let out an exhausted giggle. "I'm just so glad he's dead." they said.

It's been nearly fifteen years since the breakup, and most of eight years since he died. My life is entirely transformed, though I probably am not. I'm in a lot less pain, and I take a lot less shit; it would be difficult for one such as him to prey on me now, I think. But at the core I doubt I am much different.

While he lived, his favorite thing in the world, his biggest fandom, was One Piece. He was overenthusiastic about it, easily made giddy. A sincere fanboy, in way that like so many of his other behaviors was somehow endearing.

It's very weird this week to keep being reminded of him, and know how happy he'd be to get to see it happening.

I keep remembering being at the Saturday-night dance at a big anime convention in 2007 or so, throwing ourselves gasping out the double doors to sit in the cool hallway outside the ballroom and gasp for a few minutes. We were lying on the carpet fanning each other and laughing quietly when the opening notes of a dance remix of Folder 5's "Believe" came on, and his face just lit. And we hurled ourselves to our feet and back inside to dance until we were exhausted.

All of the ads and incessant saturation of One Piece live action stuff right now isn't what I'd call triggery, not the way some other things still are, but it...aches. A little. To be reminded, again, that he could have been wonderful, and instead he was a monster, but there were still parts of him capable of childlike joy without artifice. And those parts are lost with all the rest of it.

There isn't any point to writing this. I'm tired and sad today, and should probably bake something or work on a quilt, some thing to do with my hands and remind me of my place as part of the world. We do go on, those of us who can, and I suppose that's all there is to it.

[copperbadge]

Hey Sam, was wondering if you've seen any info or statistics regarding Autism / ADHD in fandom? There's nothing in Wikipedia and not sure where to look. Thanky Muchly!

I don't think that information exists, tbh, and if it does I don’t know if it’s reliable. Anecdotally I know that most of us believe neurodiversity is much, much more prevalent in fandom than in non-fandom populations, and I think it’s true, but realistically it’s also mainly people looking at their own fannish social circles.

TLDR below but basically unless you have limitless funding and staff it's nearly impossible to even gather the information accurately -- it may be out there but I’d be skeptical. The TLDR is just because I like talking about this stuff :D

There are a number of problems with trying to provide actual numerical stats on this. Start with fandom -- what are we identifying as fandom, and how are we identifying participation in it? Does sports count? It's undoubtedly fandom. How do you measure who's "in" fandom or not? I follow AS Roma, an Italian soccer club, but I don't know the chants, don't own merch, and don't participate in discussion or attend games. I do read fanfic and listen to podcasts about it. Am I part of fandom? (I mean, yes, but not because of AS Roma, probably.)

Does someone who religiously watches a TV show but ONLY watches it, and isn't online about it, count? What if they aren't online but talk it over with a dedicated group of viewers at their place of work? What if they ARE online about it but have some super rancid takes about it that indicate it's obvious they don't understand what's going on? When we say fandom do we really mean people who write and read fanfic? What about people who don't do that but do meta, or gifmaking, or art? Are we taking everyone's word for it when they say they're in fandom, or looking at each person's online behavior against a rubric?

So, you have a problem just identifying who is and is not in the culture you want to study. You also have a problem in that you have to rely on those people self-reporting reliably, and determine whether you're going to count people who don't have an official diagnosis, or who refuse to provide the data. (I would possibly refuse. Past experience with people outside of fandom trying to study it statistically has not been positive -- oldies, who here remembers those two dudes who thought slash was the female equivalent of trans fetish porn for men? -- while people who are of fandom trying to study it sometimes get pushback because it’s their community and they’re a bit close to the matter.)

Okay, so approach the problem from the reverse -- look at a pool of people with ADHD and Autism (how do you get that pool? Well, it's probably at least EASIER than identifying fandom, you might have access to a clinic or social services records of some kind) and pick out the people who are fans among them. But you can't really do this, either, because what you're doing then is identifying how many neurodivergent people are in fandom, not how many fans are neurodivergent. Your pool necessarily does not include any neurotypicals. So you can say X percent of neurodivergents are into fandom, but that doesn't answer the question of whether fandom has a higher degree of neurodiversity than non-fandom. (You could possibly compare percentages in neurodivergent populations versus neurotypical, although the issue of "what is a fandom? We just don't know" still stands.)

So yeah. I've never seen numbers and would not necessarily trust them if I did. At the least I'd want to read an extensive methodology.

It seems very self-evident that fandom would be a place neurodiverse people congregate, because of tendencies to hyperfixation, and also because fandom (believe it or not) is generally an extremely accepting space, so people who have experienced a lot of social rejection are less likely to experience it in fandom. Note: LESS likely, not UNlikely, I know fandom has its issues. But fandom's inherent tendency towards acceptance of the weird is why neurodivergent and queer people tend to find their way to it. Or so the theory goes. How do you gather data on that? Download all of tumblr and do keyword-scan analysis? Man, I'd be intrigued by who would fund that, actually, and what the results would be. If there are any billionaires out there who are interested, hmu, I’ll project manage the shit out of it for decent pay and a strong benefits package.

In any case, the probable-best method of gathering this info is a voluntary survey where you accept peoples' self-identification (of both "being fannish" and "being neurodiverse"), which is fine, but not ideal, and you're still dealing with the issue of it being self-selecting.

Uh.

So.

As a fan, I think the answer is "this is probably true but we have no good data."

As a data scientist, the answer is *long, mournful scream* *interested look* *return to screaming*