the complete lack of action re: racism on Ao3 is so genuinely disheartening. it really seems like no one cares. people are actually defending it and insisting fans of color speaking about it is the "real problem" and not like ... racism. i hate it here.

I know people online often take one of those two sides (“ao3 doesn’t give a shit” and “ao3 SHOULDNT give a shit”), but— and I’m not speaking for the org, all this information is public— neither of those represent opinions held by the current leadership of the OTW.

In spring 2020, the board responded to open letters from fans of color, and there was an announcement of new features being worked on (blocking and muting) so that users could protect themselves against harassment, and from hurtful or racist works. The ability to turn off comments came a few months later, and the ability to freeze comment threads came in February ‘21. There was another update in April ‘21, and then a few weeks ago, the ability to block specific users from commenting on your works was rolled out. Muting (the ability to say “this person’s work is racist/triggering/simply not for me and I never ever want to see it”) is in progress, but there are ways you can do that now with site skins. The OTW is also looking to hire a diversity consultant.

As far as I know, all of this happened because of lobbying from fans of color, both inside and outside the org. These changes aren’t ever going to be enough for people who want racist works deleted— and I understand why people want that, but I hope they also understand that not only does it go against ao3’s mission statement, no volunteers are qualified to determine what is and is not racist worldwide.

Things happen slowly at ao3, for a number of reasons. But they do happen, and you can always check in on the news posts on the homepage if you want to see what’s going on.

can't believe we're all adults being forced into the club penguin level of censorship in 2024

heeppy hoolida

"maybe if i dress more boring i'll get gendered correctly by strangers" that's the devil talking

yeah they dropped a new love language. yeah a sixth one. its biting

Lil Nas X is someone who tragically had to have a wildly successful music career in order to support his true passion, being a top quality internet troll

source

Beautiful from Ordinary Days

PSA: i keep seeing posts about staying cool in extreme heat that include advice like "gatorade is bad actually!" and "don't drink fruit juice it'll just dehydrate you!" and neither of these are true!

regarding fruit juice: there's apparently a misconception that Any Sugar At All will dehydrate you, and that's simply not true. yes, sugar will make you pee more when consumed in large amounts, but 1) the natural sugar in fruits won't do this to you 2) great news! a lot of fruit juices exist without any added sugar in them! 3) honestly even having a glass of the fruit juice with added sugar won't completely dehydrate you as long as you're also drinking water throughout the day. if its hot you deserve a cold treat of a drink!!! can't go wrong with fruit juice!!!

regarding gatorade: maybe this isn't an every day drink, but guess what: if it's 110F/40C or hotter outside, and you don't have AC, or you're moving around a lot outside of the AC, and you're sweating buckets: that's when you drink a gatorade.

gatorade exists to replenish all the electrolytes (salt) and glucose (sugar) that you sweat out. YES it is meant for athletes to drink during intensive work outs and not necessarily for people who aren't doing that kind of exercise. BUT GUESS WHAT! when you're sweating buckets because you had to walk to the bus in extreme heat, that's intensive exercise. please feel free to drink a gatorade after that! that's its intended use case!!!!

no: neither of these drinks should be a total replacement for water. but drinking a lot of water and then treating yourself to a fruit juice with lunch is a good idea!!! drinking a gatorade becuase you just had to walk for 20 minutes in the heat is a good idea!!!

Please Stop Spreading Misinformation About Drinks!!! It's fine if you drink things that aren't water!!!! Yes you should probably always be drinking water but drinking something else As Well isn't going to hurt you!!!! okay!!!! its fine!!!!!!

honestly so long as you are consistently getting Any (non-alcoholic) fluids in you, you're doing great!!!!!! okay!!!! i love you stay safe <3

happy summer to dykes in tank tops and basketball shorts, goths who's makeup is melting, little kids catching frogs and fireflies, guys who just bring their guitar everywhere now, 13 yr olds very obviously in their emo phase during a family vacation, gas station employees, old people sitting on porches, and dogs swimming at the beach

i'll strangle you or i'll kiss you on the mouth

some of yall will be like “i dont care about your dreams, i dont care about your spotify wrapped, i dont want to hear about your interests, dont you dare talk to me about your trauma,” and its like. what do you even have friends for. bc it sounds to me like you dont give a shit about anything that makes them a person. what do you talk about.

important addendum: if you cant read and you leave a dumbass comment on my post im just going to block you 💛

You keep telling yourself that Namari.

artist/writer cycle

i need well meaning cis people to stop attemping to steelman trans healthcare conversations because it basically always ends with them just lying about easily checkable things "no minors are getting irreversible treatments" wrong not true "no minors are having surgery" also false, like instead just say the truth: currently some minors (few, but some) are able to access hrt that will have some irreversible changes on their body, some (even fewer) minors are able to access surgery.

the counter to transphobes screaming "these kids are being irreversibly changed" isn't "no children are accessing this care" it's "puberty is also an irreversible change" and "i think under 18s and even under 16s should be able to make medical decisions actually"

"no minors are accessing this care" means that transphobes can easily point to the examples of minors who are accessing that care, which just make us look like liars. sometimes teenagers and children need to make medical choices on their own. i think a 14 y/o should be able to get an abortion. i think trans kids and teens should be able to have the approriate care, which for some will just be like, picking a new name or haircut, and for some, sure, could be surgery.

it really does bother me how no one can seem to answer the question “what even is romantic attraction, really.” like some people are like “it’s who you wanna kiss and cuddle <3” and I’m like ok well kisses and cuddles can be either sexual or platonic depending on context. “It’s who you feel passion/desire/arousal for” well that just sounds like sexual attraction which you can have without even knowing somebody so I fail to see how that’s romantic. “It’s who you want to go on dates with” I go on dates with friends all the time plus “date” is a social construct anyway there’s really no innate difference between a date and hanging out. “it’s who you have deep feelings for” great news for you that can be literally any type of relationship. my friend told me she defined it as “who you wanna give roses to” and I’m like do u hear urself??? like the more I talk to people the more I’m convinced romance and romantic attraction is an elaborate socially fabricated illusion that has no real defining characteristics. and like there’s nothing Wrong with it being a constuct but why people are so attached to defending the supremacy of it is something I cannot for the life of me figure out