Gonna need everybody on here to take one for the team and start reblogging my posts at the same rate people on twitter do cause I’m gonna have a rage-induced heart attack within a month if I can’t find a way to reduce my time over there lmfao

there’s some things i really wanted to talk about especially regarding my account and tumblr as a whole, so i decided to finally make this post as a way to sort of vent out my feelings on some things.

i’m not gonna lie, tumblr has become a very different place from what it was. i started creating content 3 years ago and it’s gone through so many changes (much expected). however, i don’t think tumblr has really changed for the better, especially when it comes to content creators. this used to be a really safe space for me to come on and create works for fandoms that i enjoyed, but recently, that safe space hasn’t felt, well, safe anymore. there is constant discourse everywhere on this platform and i’ve found that many people here are just extremely bitter? it’s almost like it’s become a mean girl center and it makes it difficult to interact with others.

obviously, this doesn’t go for everyone. i’m not trying to come at people specifically or cause issues, but i have seen my fair share of problems with people on here and some of it is just completely ridiculous.

next, i’d like to discuss the elephant in the room and that’s the lack of interaction/support to writers. it is just mind blowing to me that we as creators have to BEG our followers to reblog or even send us asks. obviously, some people are new to tumblr and don’t understand it’s algorithm, but there are people on here who just simply chose not to reblog for some reason?? it’s not only discouraging, but it puts less confidence in writers and then we aren’t motivated to create content. i’ve said this before, but there is no reason why a 2k note fic should have only 100 or so reblogs. likes mean nothing on this platform. it’s not Twitter. i genuinely have gotten so tired of repeating myself that i don’t even say it anymore because i know it won’t be acknowledged.

i understand people have lives, i do too, but it isn’t hard to send an ask to a writer about literally anything. i think the last time i had an anon ask was weeks ago and i genuinely get disappointed when i ask for interactions just to receive nothing? no one is obligated to speak with me or send me asks by any means, but a little “hey! how are you?” goes a long way. i probably sound ridiculous, but it’s just how i feel about the matter.

another thing that bothers me is when a writer doesn’t write smut or suggestive content, they hardly get any interaction. i’ve seen it myself before and i’m not sure why people just ignore greatly written fics?? i understand that smut is the main appeal. trust me, i 100% get it, but fluff writers hardly get any attention and some of the best fics i’ve read weren’t even smut related. i’m not saying every person here has to read fluff or angst fics by any means, but it makes me sad that people write these fics to hardly get any interaction because it isn’t smut content. the least y’all can do is reblog it.

to discuss my account, i honestly don’t really feel the most happy here. i don’t have as much motivation as i used to and i have contemplated removing my account, but i have some great fics i’d rather not have be deleted. i might start a new account for a fresh start, but i’m still not 100% on it.

and if you read this till the end, thank you! i probably sound like a whiny baby but i just wanted to express some of my feelings because it’s been weighing on me a lot recently.

hi vaguely serious messy post about hermitblr and new members and just. letting everyone know that we’ve had history with cc interaction on here before that i think would be useful for people to learn about

Trafficblr/Hermitblr has seen a lot of growth lately, largely in part from people migrating over here from the DSMP side of MCYTblr. This in of itself is completely fine! New people jumping onto the bus with us are always welcome, and the growth of the community as a whole is really nice to see.

However, I have noticed a lot of these newer blogs sharing the same very specific behaviours, and if possible, I’d like to just make a few things about the community and our history clear. Because this isn’t DSMP, and the CCs here handle content creation and their own fanbases very differently to them.

While I’m not going to go in-depth on 2019 since I don’t have nearly as much information about it as other people do, I would like to say that back then, Hermitblr was kind of an active war zone. It was comparable to how Hermittwt is now, with infighting about shipping and similar topics being the norm (however in Hermitblr’s case many of these argument were far more personal due to the smaller fandom size). What I want to point out specifically however, is when one of the CCs, Cleo, was thrown into the community infighting. I don’t remember the specifics of it, but she was sent an ask asking about shipping, and her opinions on it, and eventually dealt with so much backlash that she was forced to leave the site entirely (this post here has a slightly more comprehensive summary, if need be).

I’m just a little concerned, because there seems to have been a slight increase in that demographic of people recently. Specifically, members of the community who want to rely on CCs to dictate what happens in fan spaces; for them to give us bullet point lists of what their exact boundaries are for every single situation.

This rarely ends well. As in, it almost always just causes infighting and hostility. There will always be people making content that will “break boundaries”, regardless of any creator’s wishes. However, this is usually mitigated by the fact that many of these CCs aren’t on Tumblr (at least not anymore....mostly). The problem arises when members of the community attempt to act as Heroes Of Justice, and go out of their way to send asks to other blogs, informing them exactly of how they’ve broken the boundaries of some 40 year old adult. This is all despite the fact that said adult will....never see whatever post went against their wishes. It just encourages policing and this weird superiority....thing, where despite the lack of content creators, people are still fighting to make sure that the site is clean from any possibly upsetting posts.

I say this all while also acknowledging that many of the creators in this sphere also don’t have a very comprehensive understanding of how fandom interacts with their “characters”. To them, “shipping” has always been RPF, and there are so many other aspects of the community that simply can’t be explained easily, as they haven’t been immersed in this culture like we have. This is to say that asking for “boundaries” is likely to get you a very confused and unhelpful answer, as the Hermits have always had a very different way of interacting and viewing their fanbase than the DSMP creators do. There is no “c!” or “cc!” to them, to put it simply.

Essentially, the Hermits are adults. They’ve been doing content creation for years, and I can guarantee you they’ve seen worse things in their lives than art of their Minecraft character kissing another Minecraft character. They’ve dealt with this shit before, and if they wanted it to stop, they’re free to make a post about it whenever want. And yet, they haven’t. They leave fandom up to us. Boundaries and rules and infighting and just...all of that? Let’s leave it to the Twitter users, please. Post what you want, make sure to tag your posts correctly, and we’ll all be fine. 

Also, while I’m going to try not to rehash any discourse about inviting CCs to Tumblr, I also do just want to implore you guys to consider that the environment on Hermittwt is partially the way it is because of the active presence of the Hermits there, with people flocking for attention or a single notice, and obsessively checking posts to make sure they’re not potentially “boundary-breaking” and such. Please just consider that many people are here to avoid the dynamics of that site. Tumblr is a site for fans, not for the CCs. So we create content here for ourselves, and not for them. Having creators join almost always leads to the culture of their fanbase on here changing, with content posted in the maintags being catered more towards them rather than the fanbase. (This isn’t to say that they can’t join!! But at least keeping in mind why many of us are here in the first place and weighing that against potential CC interactions would mean a lot).

I fear that my point may have been lost a little bit, but I hope my explanation at least brings a little bit of light to why many members of the community here are wary of Creators coming over to the site, and also of how many newer blogs tend to treat the CCs. Hermitblr has had some really bad history in the past when it comes to this stuff, and seeing newer fans bring over similar ideas from DSMPblr just worries me a little bit.

TL:DR - Just...please treat the Hermits like the adults they are, and keep in mind they have a very different dynamic with their fanbases to the DSMP creators. Asking for “boundaries” and granting CCs control of the fanbase will likely lead you nowhere; attempting to police fanspaces here just brings up bad memories of times when Hermitblr was a much more miserable place to be in. Plus, if you want CC interactions, please just go to twitter. Nobody here wants to deal with an attempted “cleanse” of the site to make it more palatable to CCs.

Hey y’all, I’m making a quick post about sootbur/sootcest/bursonas just because I wanted to talk about it as a fandom, because people have a tendency to misjudge what it is and that often leads to hate and it can get really nasty.

First off, it is a character-centric* fandom. It mostly follows consistent characters put on by ccWilbur (though occasionally we do latch onto one off bits). These characters have no resemblance to their creator besides occasionally looks, but it is really popular in the fandom to alter their heights and looks and to further differentiate them and for fun. 

They are NOT ccWilbur unless specifically stated, and that distinction is important. To say they are him is like saying ccTommy and cTommy are the same person, or Ranboo in Genloss is the same person as ccRanboo.

They are characters put on by an actor, ccWilbur is not a murderer, a misogynist, or a zombie. (We hope.)

*There are people who include ccWilbur in their sootbur, of course, but I personally haven’t run into them in the tumblr sootbur fandom as it is bursona focused in ships. I think it would be unfair to paint this side of the fandom as rpf writers.

Second off, fandom is for the fans, acting like otherwise is a bit silly.

There is a need in the MCYT fandom (especially the DSMP side) to make sure everything is approved of by content creators, is “ok” with their boundaries. Sootbur is just for us though, how Wilbur feels about it really doesn’t matter as he will never really know about it unless you go and tell him.

Yes, he knows about the bursona side of the fandom and has interacted with it on twitter, but sootbur is, once again, for fans! It exists only in extremely small pockets in fan communities. Content creators do not and should not be heavily involved with these communities imo. This is common place in nearly every fandom.

Sootbur isn’t hurting anyone, it is just a silly set of ships. There’s no need to treat it like its somehow so much worse than DSMP ships like eretbur or fundbomb. Those ships also exist without “permission”.

Sure, maybe to you it inexplicably yucks your yums, but rather than jumping to the ship being the problem and harassing folks I implore you to consider why. Because the answer “just because its weird,” isn’t a good justification. 

This fandom is a community space, and on tumblr, is almost entirely sfw. It is not hurting anyone and is just a group of people being passionate about a specific creator’s/actor’s characters.

Thank you for reading. If you just don’t like the fandom regardless, please just leave us alone.

hey i noticed an anon mentioned submitting a lot of arcana characters and i wanted to pop in to say that that game is a racist, fetishizing mess. not only do they have a brown character who is kept literally in chains and is a vessel for one of the writers’ thinly veiled bucky barnes slavery kink, one of the bad endings features their fantasy-jewish-coded character turning into a literal bird, not to mention his numerous bird motifs.

between asra, nadia, and julian, asra and nadia are clearly more sexualized throughout the course of the game, even when fans have asked them to tone it down and stop fetishizing their “exotic” brown characters.

the fandom is and has been historically overwhelmingly hostile to fans/people of color who try to mention these problems. fans of color trying to dissuade people from writing nadia as a step on me dommy mommy queen have been shut down by elle trying to spin it into a “women can be dommes too!” issue, when the problem is that nobody would be treating nadia like this if she was white. asra gets his paid scenes hijacked by the white LI and then is painted as the toxic one in his and julian’s relationship (of which is only there due to elle’s mlm abuse fetishization) because god forbid their favorite white boy isn’t a perpetual victim.

outside of the game itself, dana rune has run a fanzine about an incestuous fire emblem fates ship (corrin/ryoma/xander) and further information can be found at the relations_zine handle on twitter. she may have scrubbed her name from it but it’s clearly her art style lmfao, and iirc she’s still in the followers/following list on that account. elle has a long history of fetishizing mlm abuse/slavery/“yaoi” on their tumblr that they’ve since deleted, but like. i googled “elle thalassiq fetishizing mlm” and immediately found posts with thorough screenshots so it existed lmfao. and even if it didn’t, it’s very evident with how they treat asra/julian/muriel.

this is heated and not thorough, but i’d like to end this by saying that this is coming from a former fan who eventually had to leave the game and fandom altogether because of the compounded issues that were never addressed, brushed under the rug, or actively encouraged time and time again. do not play the arcana. there are better games out there. and the last i was in it, the fandom was a toxic cesspool that would attack anyone, especially fans of color, who ever voiced a dissenting opinion about anything in the game. i hold my queer media to better standards and you should too. this game does not treat dark, heavy topics with respect, it treats them as fetish fodder.

Okay, I figured something like this would hit this blog eventually. The point of this blog is not for me take a stance and say what media is good and what media is bad. I am not brushing off your concerns - that’s a whole lot of awful information, and from me posting your ask, people can make their own choice about wether they want to engage with the game or the fandom. But I am just one person, and I don’t know anything about 90% of the media that is submitted here. If I excluded every piece of media that someone said was below a standard, I wouldn’t have any media left. This blog is simply a recognition game, I’m not trying to promote these pieces of media. I’m not saying that because they have queer characters that they’re fantastic or anything like that. I’m not taking any stance on any of it, actually.

This isn’t about the quality of a media, the quality of a fandom, or the quality of the representation that a character represents. It’s just a recognition game.

I am not going to get into any of these debates myself, since I know almost nothing about most fandoms here, but if you have serious concerns with a particular media posted here, send in an ask like this detailing the problems and I will post it, so that people looking at this blog can see valid criticisms before diving into a new piece of media.

As a further note, racist and antisemetic comments or tags on any post will be blocked on sight.

I will tag all asks like this with “media critical”.

i keep telling myself to quit checking up on KM spaces cause there’s literally nothing but bickering and going out of the way to find things to be mad at but I keep ending up coming back 😓 it’s so hard, I still think about them a lot and I generally enjoy doing so! They make me happy to think about, genuinely. it’s been a force of habit for so long but the vibe with no new content (I try and avoid military updates but they waft into my view every so often and I’m glad they seem to be doing ok at least) is just so nasty it’s just like can’t everyone just relax and be happy knowing they’re together??? Obviously I am the problem here and I need to stop but it’s a struggle….do I need to just go completely cold turkey on bangtan? 😂 is that what you did when you took a long break? It’s not like I don’t have hobbies and a job and stuff, but for a long time they’ve occupied a special nice place where I just think of them and generally enjoy reading people’s thoughts about them, but over the past year especially w the solo stuff it’s just gotten kinda rancid

Hello, anon

I understand you completely. If something has become part of your daily routine, on top of other activities and interests, it's normal to get the urge to check up on it. Cold turkey might not help because it increases the chances of going back to it. I'm going through the same thing nowadays. I'm aware that right now, there's barely any point in keeping up with that part of my interests online. KM have enlisted and despite seeing some military updates, I'm not excitedly/anxiously looking forward to it. Like you, I think it's nice to see that they appear fine, but personally I could live without those updates as well. Consequently, I barely discuss it even on my blog, I don't find it necessary.

Most likely, the upcoming show will be the only relevant content that makes me still keep an eye on them right now and that's because the announcement might drop at any time. By not knowing exactly when, it's enough to keep at least a part of the fandom waiting and participating online. Not a bad strategy, but a frustrating one for us.

Likewise, by still checking up tumblr/twitter, I'm also exposing myself to daily fights, endless debates on relationship dynamics and so on. I find it pointless and I'd say a sign of boredom if this wasn't the modus operandi of the fandom anyway.

I made a vague comment recently, but it is terribly annoying having to read left and right troll anons baiting bloggers who then are bringing receipts to demonstrate that KM are close. Really? We're still doing that in 2024? People are talking in circles to demonstrate something that doesn't need more proving. Twitter is worse because they fight like idiots under the guise of defending. The knights in shining armour fighting for the princesses.

As to solo stans, I don't have an issue with the idea of only liking an artist and that's it. If only that would be the full definition. Anyone acting like not only a fanatic, but writing like some miserable 4chan user is someone I really can't stand. It's slowly becoming standard stan behavior and I see this in other fandoms as well, including those of western artists. It's nasty and embarassing.

When I took a break, I unfollowed almost all KM and JM focused accounts. The ones remaining I muted so I had to go to my following list and check each individually if I wanted to see what was up. My point was to not have any of that on my timeline. I think it worked for a while. Now I'm back to how it was before and I don't know how that happened. I should make some changes again.

Is there a dmbj fandom space of sort that's... Not focused on Liu Chang characters? Or to put a positive angle on it, I'd love to talk about dmbj canon and its characters and their on page/screen interactions or how the books and sites compare but I'm not really sure where to do that? Do you have a discord or tumblr tag or blog suggestions? (Or if that doesn't exist, this is a marker of interest if you make one. I think there's actually if nothing else a lot of people in this fandom who are interested in pingxie who don't know where to go to talk to each other because it seems like most of the fandom spaces apart from the yucun discord are pretty dead)

hi anon! i’m both glad and sad you asked because i get that feeling and i’m sorry to say there’s… not really much of a good answer i can give you 🫠 though i can offer the start of one at least

a lot of the problem is the people you’re talking about, for reasons i don’t fully understand myself, have come to take up most of the visibility in the public fandom spaces to almost the exclusion of anyone and everything else. this is definitely a hot and likely unpopular take, but it’s gotten to the point where ironically (as far as the english speaking fandom goes at least, the chinese fandom is very different) in some respects, pingxie has become something of a “rarer” pair these days by comparison to ships involving more minor characters, particularly ones involving the characters you mentioned, and i find wu xie and xiaoge themselves are less talked about outside of the context of those ships than the characters you mentioned as a whole. and this isn’t a post meant to dunk on those particular interests, just my opinion on what the dmbj fandom is like at this point in time. the issue is, like you said, it leaves the people who aren't interested in that lost and with no one to talk to despite i'm sure there being a lot of us that would love a place to actively engage with each other

as far as places to talk about pingxie and the dmbj canon in general outside of that, in my experience tumblr doesn’t have all that much to offer apart from a few isolated people unfortunately. just checking the main tags tells you as much, but there are a few people. but i also know tumblr isn’t necessarily the best space for genuine conversations as i get the feeling that’s more what you’re looking for (correct me if i’m wrong). there’s a bit more going on on twitter, but it’s also fairly marginal and it also depends on what it is you want to talk about (and also, it’s twitter).

for discord servers, i can suggest 3 options, two of which i’m sure you’ve probably heard of:

the “dmbj (盗墓笔记)” server (https://discord.gg/xjTSVdUP), which was the original server created before the yucun one was and is technically the largest one (the yucun discord server actually broke off from it in part to be a space more dedicated to liu sang and liu chang characters and eventually became the fandom’s most active hub). fair warning, it’s pretty dead in the sense most of the minimal talk that goes on there isn’t really about dmbj at all, and is more generally drama-oriented. it’s also not strictly dedicated to pingxie

the “dmbj book-centric fun times” server (https://discord.com/invite/z7ZNNEbv3P), which as its name suggests, is book-oriented rather than drama-oriented. it’s also pretty dead apart from one or two sporadic posts from time to time, which i see as partly the consequence of a good chunk of the dmbj fandom either not having read the books or not particularly caring about them by comparison to other things. that being said, if enough people went there, i’m sure it could be more active. this one is also not strictly dedicated to pingxie

the “盗墓笔记 - changbai mountain” server, which is going to be my biased suggestion as it’s a tiny server started somewhat recently by myself and a couple of other friends who felt the same and wanted to try and create a safe space to talk about pingxie (and other ships if relevant, though by this i mostly mean heihua for now) and the dmbj canon and its characters as a whole. it’s very small atm and as active as it can be given that, and while it’s open to anyone interested, because of previous experiences with some people in the fandom, i would need you to get off anon and dm me if you (or anyone else reading this) is interested (as long as you’re comfortable with that ofc) as i don’t necessarily feel comfortable posting a public invite. for the record, anyone interested is very welcome to dm, we really do need more alternative fandom spaces

i’m sorry i can’t help more anon, but i hope this is something of an ok answer even if it’s not the best one

I’m curious with your take on “Stans”. I joined the tomdaya fandom last January and I think the most shocking behavior and discovery I found were Stans. I’m in my late 20s and never really followed a celeb or couple before, so I never really crossed them on social. I found it almost strange and alarming at some of their behavior- or I just couldn’t relate to people creating fan accounts? Idk. I stopped following all fan accounts of TZ on Twitter, TikTok, and IG because of how uncomfortable they made me and only stick with tumblr as the community is very different and (IMO) healthier…

I’ve been following you since I joined tumblr and like that you also have interests outside of TZ and are exposed to different fans from different celebs. Do you have any opinions on the different variety of Stans (Harry Styles/Chris Evans level to TZ level)? Opinions on these “Stan wars”? Have you seen a difference in behavior from pre pandemic to post? Their overall behavior and psychology just fascinates and alarms me at the same time.

Ooo....I LOVE new/different types of questions and asks!

Anon, are you SURE you want my opinion on this?😅 Cuz I’m about to write you an essay, and it’s gonna be

REAL TALK lol.

You asked for it!

RE: Stans and Stan Behavior...

Whew, this is a tough question to answer tbh. Mainly because I have mixed feelings about this.

On one hand, I don’t think there’s anything necessarily wrong with being a stan of your favorite celebrity(ies), or anything wrong with having a blog or a fan account dedicated to your fave(s). I don’t see anything wrong with that at all?

I think the problem however comes when some stans go a little TOO far, get way too intrusive, engage in stan wars (when those actors/celebrities don’t even hate each other lol), or just become toxic overall in general in the fandom.

I always feel like there should be a clear balance when stanning celebrities. Like, it’s okay to be a massive fan, but also know your place, and realize that these “celebrities” are really just human beings just like the rest of us at the end of the day. They just have higher pay checks lol, and have to live life in the public eye. But at the end of the day, they put their pants on one leg at a time just like the rest of us.

Another thing that I think gets fans in trouble is putting their fave on a pedestal. Yea, it’s nice to think highly of your fave, but imo NOBODY should be put on a pedestal. Imo, nobody is perfect (number one), and number two, think about how hard it would be for you to live up to some measure of perfection that others have put upon you?

I think it’s best to wish the best for your faves, but at the same time, don’t expect PERFECTION.

Otherwise, you might be sorely disappointed one day lol. 🥴 Recognize that people are human, they make mistakes (just like the rest of us), sometimes we have “off” days, sometimes stress/anxiety can cause us to react to things in ways that aren’t the most “ideal”. It happens! Just like we afford ourselves some grace, we should also afford others (including celebrities imo) some grace as well. 🤷🏾‍♀️

I think we should leave room for growth and mistake-making. So many people are so ready to “cancel” someone out here these days if they don’t live up to some measure of perfection or ideal in their mind that they had smh lol. That is so exhausting... I can’t even imagine how it must feel for people living under a microscope in the public eye.

Tom & Zendaya, for example, get so much pressure from fans (imo) to behave a certain way, be a certain way, VACATION a certain way, DATE each other a certain way, have a career a certain way, be friends with co-stars a certain way, etc.

I’m like, can’t y’all just let them BE?? Geez! #REALTALK Let people just be, my gosh. 🙄

RE: Harry Styles, Chris Evans, TZ

Wow....Those are all 3 (or 4?) different fandoms girl... Each have their own pros and cons lol.

With Harry, oh boy.... I just feel like SOME in the fandom can be a bit..... unhinged. I’m sure it’s due to him being in 1D back in the day. Sometimes idk what’s worse...the fandoms of music artists or actors lol. Don’t even get me started on the Larries lol.

With Chris Evans and his fandom... I feel like a lot have a certain image of him that they want to uphold, but if he ever does something contrary to that, they turn on him like a pack of wolves lol. I swear...that tweet I posted on here when it was revealed that he was in fact dating Alba looked like something out of a stalker’s notebook lol. Some fans (of ALL fandoms imo) seriously need to really remember to separate themselves from the celebrity they love/stan over.

You have to realize that this person isn’t in your life, they don’t know you, they aren’t your “friends”, they don’t care what you think about their relationship lol, and they’re gonna keep doing whatever the hayell they want, whether you like it or NOT! 😤

I’ve already touched a bit on the TZ/Tomdaya fandom on my blog several times before, but I’ll also add that I feel like this fandom can be a bit more complicated because we have the stans of Zendaya only, the stans of Tom only, the stans of BOTH Tom and Zendaya equally, and then the stans of just them and their relationship lol. It’s almost like some weird Venn diagram of various fandoms that sometimes operate separately, and then sometimes mix in together. It can be crazy lol. 🤣

The ONE thing I would love to see from 2023 in the TZ fandom (for both together and separately) is just fans allowing them to both GROW, and evolve as adults, and to NOT expect perfection from them, or to infantilize them. I feel like SOME (not all) fans are unnecessarily harsh on TZ. That is so much pressure.

I also feel like some infantilize Tom so much, and he’s a grown man? Then, there are the fans who feel like Zendaya can do no wrong, and will cut you with a knife if you ever say anything that has ANY hint of negativity or just room for improvement lol. I can understand it...most of us have followed her from her young Disney days...so I get it lol. She’s like our sister in our heads, and a LOT of woc get a lot of unfair hate unnecessarily, so we want to protect her from all of that. But we have to also be HONEST about our faves too. There’s nothing wrong with saying that you thought a project sucked lol... 😂

But you can STILL LOVE your fave and continue to stan them regardless. I haven’t liked EVERY single project the actors I like have put out, but it’s not a big deal! Art is subjective anyway. 🤷🏾‍♀️ Idk where fans got this "it's gotta be either/or" or, "you're either on board with everything or you're against us", limited type of black and white thinking from, but it's not healthy imo. 🥴

I think one of the most toxic things in some fandoms is not allowing people to have a voice, a difference of opinion, and also thinking that if you like your fave, you can’t possibly like any OTHER actors or interests, like we’re in some kind of CULT lol. 😂

Honestly? Imo it’s OKAY to like a variety of actors. Variety is great! I think expanding your interests also helps to prevent silly stupid “Stan Wars” btwn fandoms. To me, fan wars are so dumb, especially when there isn’t any real beef btwn the two individuals in the first place. 🥴

I’ll admit that I was “Team Jacob” in the Twilight fandom back in the day lol, but I didn’t HATE “Team Edward” or Robert Pattinson. I just preferred Jacob (Taylor) more? These days, I feel like fans feel like you HAVE to “pick a side”, and to me that’s not even fair...or even healthy tbh.

Imo, VARIETY is the spice of life! 😁👏🏾

Sorry for this long dissertation and rant lol. I’m going to just stop rambling here. If you’ve even made it down this far Anon lol, I hope I answered your question. I’m very interested in the psychology of this as well.

Are we still being cringe?

Here! Fanfiction! Tumblr x Twitter cafe au

The soft blue haired adult let out a groan as they say down on their chair. It was a long day of work and finally they could relax at their favorite cafe. Pulling out their laptop they open up the documents and re-read their fanfic.

Does this makes scene? Did I make the character too ooc? Maybe I should add more angst-

“One ice Carmel latte coffee for, um Tum?” A voice called out, bringing them out of their trance. The young adult got out of their seat and jog to the counter.

“That’s me! It’s Tumblr actually.”

The waiter nodded. They had soft light blue hair, soft skin and very bright green eyes. I want to write about them.

“Excuse me? Mx. your order?” A soft voice rang out from the waiter. Tumblr snap their eyes down the the waiters hands.

“Oh, right, sorry!”

Taking their food they went back to the table and got to work. The hours pass, tumblr keep writing and editing their work. Also replying to comments and reading some of others fanfic as well.

“Excuse me. The cage close now.” The same voice rang out. Tumblr look up and see the waiter taking off their apron and putting on a sweater. Looking at the counter screen they can see that it was closing time. Quickly they gather their belongings, slightly fumbling, and put everything away.

“Ah! I’m so sorry about that!”

The waiter just nodded and the two was out the door. But sidedly they both walk down the same street. A brief moment of panic swirl inside them. What if their a serial killer? No that’s stupid….They probably live nearby? Oh wait that would make a good fanfic idea? Maybe a cute dean-

“Do you live near by? I live at the Apple apartment.”

“Hmm? Oh yeah! Same. 4th floor? You?”

“3rd! Since we’re neighbors, what’s your name? I’m Twitter. You can call me Twi. They/them pronouns.”

Twi stop walk and held out their hand. Taking it, tumblr felt two give a quick handshake.

“Tumblr. You can call me Blr. They/Them, but open to any pronouns.”

They two let go off hands and continue walking. It was a late fall day, almost winter, and the dead leaves were wet with the rain they had. Tumblr watch as Twi kick up some of the leaves. Their brown Ugg boots flinging the leaves.

“I seen many colleges students and other people come in, mostly writers? Or you one too?”

Tumblr shrug. “A bit. More of a hobby really.”

“Oh, what do you write?”

Gay sex fanfic, something found family with some hurt/comfort. Cartoon and tv shows.

“Nothing really! Just……stories ya’know?”

Twi let out a hum. “Sorry but I calm that bull. I saw your fandom stickers on your laptop. You don’t have to tell me more.”

Tumblr let out a groan. Great. “I’m working on a crossover. It’s a crossover between supernatural and tmnt! The 2003 version, I have the first few chapter posted, but I’m not the best planner so Im just winging it.”

Twi let out a snore, “Do you have a beta reader?”

Tumblr blink in surprise. “No. Why?”

“Your fic sounds cool! I can beta read it for you? If you want? Give you some ideas and thoughts? I haven’t seen the 2003 TMNT. Love the 1987 and 2014 versions. But I’m a big supernatural fan! I’m a Cas and Sam person myself. I’m also a Raph and Mikey fan too.”

The two adults were in the elevator now. When did we get here? The eleven sing and it was on the 4th floor.

“That’s my stop-“ Twi started to say. But soon stop when they feel their hand being grab. Twisting their neck the saw Blr holding their arm, while the other hand was digging around their bag. Low mutter was heard.

“Here..” Blr said. They got a market and wrote on their arm.

“This is my fanfic, and my blog info. Once you read the fic message me and I’ll send you the rest of my story and other ideas. Sound good?”

Blr let go of their hand. “Sound good to me Blr! Thank for letting me read it!”

“No problem.”

Twi then step out of the elevator. Turing back they have a small wave to their new friend and heading down to their room.

The elevator door close and Tumblr feel themselves slowing sink to the ground. A new friend! One that live in the same apartment and also reads fanfiction! Hopefully this one will stay and not get weird out by their quirks…..

Shaking their head Tumblr got off the floor. Not time to spiral into bad thoughts….They have to write!

The elevator doors open and Tumblr ran off to their room, excited. Nervous. Happy.

PAABITB had gone radio silent for a while and part of me hoped that she actually changed and was starting to do better, but she seems to have come back exactly the way she was, so I guess she must've just found a more private outlet to spew her toxicity, most likely with like-minded fandom scum who's just as bad as her.

Yeah, not only has been more active on her private Twitter and Tumblr from what my followers say, but it turns out that now, she’s uploading videos to YouTube lecturing the fandom on how to act. In fact, she uploaded one almost two weeks ago. Let’s go over it, shall we?

And before any of you act like I’m the one stalking her, just know that she still follows my blog while I’m still blocked from directly responding to her.

Also, she’s still smeared me in the past, in addition to some of the more prominent users in the Miraculous Ladybug fandom.

So yeah, if she can act like the fandom police to other users, I don’t see why I can’t give PAABITB a taste of her own medicine. Ready for a thorough rebuttal to her latest attack on the fandom from yours truly?

“Alright, we need to talk, Miraculous fandom. I get it. I seriously do. At one point, we were all naive, oblivious, and unaware of what we hated or liked. But honestly? How some of you deny or say Adrigami doesn’t work, but think Marigami works is insensitive and disgusting.”

Oh my God, people are shipping different characters together? That’s the most disgusting thing I’ve ever seen!

How many times are you going to say that it’s perfectly okay to belittle other people for their different views regarding ships while you keep acting like anyone who doesn’t ship Adrigami is a terrible human being?

“Seriously. I’m sick and tired of this. I’m seriously sick and tired of this. Not to mention you believe what the show writers tell you. You fall into their brainwashing, and look where it gets you: Nowhere.”

“Brainwashing”? What, do you think Mr. Big is in charge of broadcasting the show? Do you think anyone who doesn’t ship the Love Square is kidnapped by ZAG employees and is subjected to the same kind of torture Winston got in 1984?

No matter what you think of the writing of the show, whether you think it’s getting better or worse, I wouldn’t say they’re actually trying to “brainwash” viewers. Yes, a recurring problem is the way they try to act like certain plot elements have always been there (Ladybug mistreating Cat Noir, Marinette not being in love with Luka, Adrien and Marinette being best friends, Marinette giving Adrien a lot of advice), but I don’t think “brainwashing” is the best way to describe it.

And so what if some people still enjoy the show? It wouldn’t have five seasons if nobody liked it, wouldn’t it? The main idea behind the “Miraculous Ladybug salt” tag is so that people who are more critical about the show can discuss it without upsetting anyone who has a more positive outlook on it, because even some of the biggest salters know that not everyone can share the same opinion.

I don’t think I can speak for everyone else, but I wouldn’t call anyone who still enjoys the show “brainwashed”.

“Stop believing in them. They are not going to do anything good, and when they do, they always find a way to make it about someone that it’s not about them. You have an Adrigami episode back in Season 4, ‘Lies‘; somehow make it about Marinette because of that stupid lucky charm. Not only is that insensitive to Adrigami shippers, it’s insensitive to people who enjoy Adrien’s character.”

How the hell was Marinette the reason Adrien and Kagami broke up?

The lucky charm in the episode wasn’t important because Marinette made it. The whole point of the charm was that Adrien lied about losing it, and Kagami realized it when she had it. Adrien had to lie about losing the charm in order to come up with an excuse to fight an Akuma as Cat Noir, and as far as Kagami sees it, he’s just coming up with excuses not to spend time with her for more selfish reasons. If Adrien said he lost his wallet when Kagami saw it on the ground, the context for the situation wouldn’t change at all.

“I don’t know why you believe in the show writers doing well, but you need to break out of that shell of reluctance, and actually stand up, break out, and tell the show writers off, or at least, admit they aren’t good at writing.”

“Why can’t anyone who enjoys Miraculous Ladybug admit the writers are terrible at their jobs?” - You.

Again, I know that I see the show in a different way than a lot of the other fans online, but I don’t let my problems with the show prevent others from enjoying it. The “Miraculous Ladybug salt” tag exists for a reason.

“Because I am sick and tired of Adrigami being slandered and Marigami taking over. I’m all for gay ships, but Marigami? No. After how Marinette treated Kagami in the past, just no.”

I’m not really sure what that has to do with the writers, seeing how Adrigami isn’t mentioned at all after “Mr. Pigeon 72”, and there isn’t any real teasing for Kagami being in love with Marinette.

Also, you’re acting like Marinette still hates Kagami with a burning passion, when you forgot that Marinette felt bad about how she treated Kagami in the past after learning how she had no friends (Ikari Gozen), and even tried to get her back together with Adrien when she learned they broke up (Mr. Pigeon 72).

“And another thing; I’m really freaking sick and tired of how people say ‘Oh, the Kwamis are aroace’. That was never confirmed. All Tikki said is ‘Kwamis don’t fall in love’. She didn’t say they can’t fall in love. Maybe you don’t project or jump to conclusions so quickly, because the show writers are not good at what they do.”

Are... Are you really in a position to say that? What does that even have to do with the writers?

Again, what’s wrong with people headcanoning Tikki and Plagg as aroace? Is it because you ship the two? Because newsflash, people can have different opinions on certain characters when it comes to romance and shipping. 

“I haven’t seen a show fall this badly since... Well, I would say Star vs., but honestly, Fairly OddParents kind of fell off when they decided not to do something that easily could have been done, but besides that.”

You mean not introduce a bunch of pointless new characters to boost ratings? Not make three movies starring Drake Bell? Not make a live-action reboot that’s somehow worse than the aforementioned movies starring Drake Bell? Let me know when I’m getting warmer.

“Adrien could be better off with anyone that’s not Marinette, at least in the canon show: Kagami, Zoe Lee, Chloe (if we go from Season 2), Lila (if we go from Season 1, kind of), Wayhem, Nino, Luka, anyone around his age who actually interacts with him only a little bit. And yet, it’s still more cuter than when Marinette’s like ‘Oh, Adrien. Let’s have a frickin future with three kids and a hamster’.”

Okay, let me get this straight. You’re so against Marinette that not only are you unwilling to forgive her actions in canon, you think that Chloe and Lila, two people who have violated Adrien’s personal boundaries, would be better for Adrien than Marinette, as well as Wayhem, a crazed stalker who is arguably more obsessed with Adrien than Marinette is?

Yes, Marinette’s behavior regarding Adrien is unhealthy, and yes, it needs to be addressed more, but if you’re so against how Marinette treats Adrien, then why are you okay with the way Chloe, Lila, and Wayhem treat Adrien when they all can be just as bad, if not worse in some areas?

“Just understand this: If you think Kagami’s character got better because she became softer towards Marinette, you don’t appreciate what strictness and bluntness are, and probably might be a bit of a pushover, and need to learn to stand up for yourself.”

Wow, you’re really just  going to go out on a limb and belittle anyone who actually likes the idea of Kagami and Marinette becoming friends, aren’t you?

Are you sure you actually appreciate Kagami’s blunt nature because of how it fit her personality, or because said bluntness just so happened to be directed towards Marinette in Seasons 2 and 3? What about in “Lies”, when she was “blunt” and “strict” about how upset she was with Adrien when she dumped him. And yes, for someone who hates what Marinette does in canon, you seem to forget that canonically, Kagami dumped Adrien.

“However, if you are in a difficult situation with a family who doesn’t understand the best of your frustrations, you probably should take your time before confronting the problem. Never confront the problem if you don’t know what to do. I learned that the hard way as a kid, I really did.”

Oh my God, just say the rules don’t apply to Adrien already. We all know that’s why you said that after supposedly calling Kagaminette shippers “pushovers”, because you’re aware of how Adrien rarely stands up to his father, and don’t want to look like a hypocrite... Well, more of a hypocrite than you already are.

“Just to say it, I don’t hate Chloe, and I don’t hate Zoe. I believe in what Deneen Melody said about them being like sisters.”

Not sure what that has to do with Kagaminette, the Kwamis being aroace, or Kagami’s “bluntness”, but I find it funny that you’re willing to drag Marinette for her canon actions, yet don’t hold Chloe responsible for her actions. I’m a huge advocate for Chloe redemption, and even I don’t defend the stuff she did after Season 3.

“So yeah, stop hating on characters who don’t deserve to be hated, and stop shipping things that shouldn’t be shipped.”

Mind defining what warrants hating a character in your eyes, besides being named Marinette Dupain-Cheng? And outside of incest or pedophilia, can you please explain why there are ships that shouldn’t be shipped?

Oh wait, I get it now! You’re saying that you want people to like the same characters you like, hate the same characters you hate, ship the same ships you ship, and hate the same ships you don’t hate! I cracked the case!

I know this might sound like a major revelation, but it’s entirely possible for people to have different opinions and still get along, especially when it comes to fandom stuff. You seriously think you can police the fandom and shame them into going along with your views because you say so? 

Whenever I talk about Miraculous Ladybug, while I make my views clear in my posts, I always try to make sure other people can chime in through asks and give their own opinions, because that is how we as a society express our individuality. The whole reason I started this blog in the first place was to call out Astruc for telling us to view the show in certain way. For someone who thinks we shouldn’t respect the writers at all (something I haven’t even said once, by the way), how does that make you any better?

And if you think I’m wrong, prove it. Unblock me and try to back up your claims here, so we can both talk about this like adults. I’m willing to at least try and hear you out after everything you’ve said in the past.

I think your personal opinions on the porn ban are fair enough though I definitely feel that the ban was terribly implemented especially since it was mostly an externally enforced thing rather than an active choice. For me it's important that there are places for nsfw content to exist without forcing people to completely separate their lives and livelihoods as well as a grander thing about how hyper sanitised the internet is getting at the behest of advertisers but I do acknowledge that there was a LOT of unregulated porn on Tumblr before (to the extent that it would be in almost any tag) so it's fair to be put off. I kinda just wish they had found a better balance rather than a very janky scorched earth

Don’t get me wrong, it took me a while to actually get behind the ban. I didn’t really care all that much at the time, though I was worried about some of the people I follow because the ban seemed like it was really going to effect the artist I follow, but I have to say that a year or so later and the website felt better. I honestly think it cleared out a whole lot of people that caused problems in fandom spaces and that’s why twitter is still so awful like pre ban tumblr.

And yes, the ban was handed poorly. Literally everything Tumblr rolls out is shit for a while. I remember posts of mine getting flagged but it was just a picture of my dog, who happened to be a tannish color that I’m assuming the bot thought was flesh tone? But it’s gotten better over the years and they’ve lightened up a lot more with fan art, tho I wish they were more clear on the rules.

Websites getting set on fire due to advertisers not wanting to advertise on a website with porn is a SUPER common thing. I might not be fandom Old Old but I was reading fic around the time Fanfiction.Net purged a whole lot of works for being rated M or E. It sucked then, it sucked when Tumblr did it and it will suck when it happens again somewhere else. Tumblr is a bit different in that it was less that it was porn and more that it was horribly moderated porn. I have no idea how so many people will complain about porn bots and turn around and say they want the ban lifted- my dude I swear to god it was WORSE before. The bots that are currently tagging everything are the closest we’ve had to that in a while and it’s just as annoying.

Rambles about Berserk Deluxe Volume 1 (aka V1-3) - Part 1

OKAY WELL OBVIOUSLY NO ONE WILL REMEMBER ME, but whatever, if you’re here you’re about to start getting flooded with Berserk meta again because I am rereading the series and I started doing it on Twitter but holy crap what a nightmare that is. 

Things to note: 

-I like Griffith, if that’s a problem for you then I... I don’t care, have fun with that, I don’t know. -I barely remember how Tumblr works -Honestly a lot of this is probably just going to be me talking about things I already talked about years ago but realtalk I don’t read my own old meta so like, I have no idea what i said back in the day. 

So without further ado, 

Rambles about Berserk Deluxe Volume 1 (aka V1-3)

1. I remember back in my Berserk fandom days there was a disagreement between fans on whether the Black Swordsman arc was necessary at all and whether it should have been situated after the golden age instead of having the golden age arrive as this prolonged flashback. 

The argument was  generally that the Black Swordsman arc spoils the end of the Golden Age, which it DOES but... to me that's skewing the importance a bit, right like the Golden Age is a flashback, the whole point of the entire arc is to explain what's happening in the main story which is  everything *except* the Golden Age. For various reasons the GA is the most famous/popular part and obviously the most adapted part so it does change the way people might see this since so many people come into the manga through one of the animes that really only touched on the Hawks era, but it doesnt change the fact that, in the manga, the Golden Age is literally just a long flashback, so you're *supposed* to know how it ends. 

I also think the Black Swordsman arc provides some necessary context for understanding what happens in the GA, especially re: Griffith's mindset since Griffith  himself doesn't talk much about his thoughts or feelings which has made him rather easy to misinterpret... which is actually what drove me out of Berserk fandom and into JoJo's back in the day because I literally could not stomach another argument about whether Griffith is a sociopath (no).

2. Also, the scene with Guts in the snake duke guy's dungeon (and just his early relationship with Puck in general) is pretty interesting when you consider the much later revelation about his history with the flower elf. Obviously that was almost certainly not something Miura knew  he would add when writing it, but as retroactive logic it does work very well - last time he left an elf get attached to him she ended up killing herself so you know, why do it again?

It really continues into his early attitude with Puck in general, even in the later chapters until he gets used to having the guy around.

3.  Going into the priest-and-daughter chapter (The Brand), it's interesting to see how much of Griffith's stupid Promrose speech he's still carrying around with him.

Priest: My nephew became a mercenary and died 

Guts: WELL THAT WAS HIS DREAM RIGHT, I MEAN HE DID WHAT HE WANTED NO MATTER WHAT, SO WHAT HE DIED ITS FINE, WE’RE FINE.

4. He’s also inherited Griffith’s nasty habit of swallowing his guilt by pretending he’s actually totally cool with people dying because of him. I remember back in the day people used to say Guts comes off as a psychopath or a villain type early on, and I kind of get it, but I do think it’s fairly obvious from the beginning that he’s bullshitting himself. And then of course that becomes VERY evident after his encounter with the slug count and Theresia.

4. In an old interview Miura had mentioned that Casca’s presence post-Eclipse, really the reason she survived the Eclipse to begin with, was to prevent Guts from dissociating form the Eclipse and letting the memory go dull. That does make sense to the writer in me, but the reader in me is like, how could he forget, the eclipse never really stopped happening for him. hes still being attacked everywhere he goes. 

I actually kind of miss the horrible effect of the brand.

5. This has nothing to do with the story but if I’m paying 50 bucks for a huge deluxe edition of Berserk, I feel like I should have gotten the colored pages in color. Just saying!

6. I really just... love Guts so much? His wildness especially in those early days, his apparent fearlessness which is actually just a pretense since per Puck he’s actually afraid basically all the time AND WHO WOULDN’T BE? 

7. I know this gets said a lot but Guts’ sword is obviously used metaphorically a LOT, I mean if I keep doing these things (why,...) it will just come up over and over again, him and his heap of raw iron. But also all his other swords.

8. One of the things I really deeply love about Guts is watching him fight. I could watch the battle scenes in the OVAs forever, and the thing I love about it, aside from watching this person who is in so many ways unsure of himself and his value and his relationships suddenly become absolutely sure and confident and just transform into a force of nature. I bring this up here because I reached the part in the slug count story where Guts reveals the depth of his skill with a sword and its one of my favorite moments in the Black Swordsman arc. 

9. Guts and his rage at people being nice to him.

10. So one of the things Miura did a lot is... this kind of sequence where you get a visual parallel and often text about someone else that is meant to clue the reader in on what’s going on with a different character entirely. This is the first of them - where we start to understand what happened with Guts through this comparison with Vargas, who was mutilated and lost his loved ones to monsters - the specifics of the mutilation are even direct parallels to Guts’ wounds from the Eclipse. In some cases this storytelling technique is very difficult for me to interpret and analyze because I’m not an especially visual person? But I do make an effort to pay attention to it because it’s done a LOT and in some cases those parallels are the only way you ever have a situation or emotion directly addressed (eg. the King and Griffith in the dungeon, which is just the King and Griffith talking about the King in a way that we’re meant to understand applies to Griffith but yeah anyway that’s several volumes in the future). 

Also the ENTIRE final confrontation with the Slug Count is literally 75% this exact storytelling technique so its not surprising to me that the first use is a parallel between Guts and Vargas, particularly with the later parallels between the Count and Fermto/Griffith.

11. And there he goes again, covering his pain and guilt and self-hatred with rage and disdain. Genuinely one of the things that frustrates me about Western Berserk fandom is the stubborn inability to perceive the nuance in Griffith’s character yes, but also in Guts’s character. He is so often perceived as just the metal badass on a vengeance quest because he hates Griffith so much and hes actually a pretty complicated person with extremely complicated relationships with himself and Casca and Griffith and so much of it is literally just stated outright that I have no fucking idea how people miss it, it is the weirdest thing I have ever encountered in any fandom ever and I don’t understand why it happens. Anyway.

12. So, the obvious interpretation for this scene would be that he’s thinking about the ever ambitious Hawk who ended up self-destructing... but I actually think he’s talking about himself. He’s shitting on himself for having dared to imagine that he could step out of Griffith’s shadow and do something that made him Griffith’s equal and, in the process, ended up abandoning the people he loved in a way that led to Griffith turning into a demon and Casca being raped and going mad, killed his surrogate family and got him permanently maimed. 

Now let me be clear, I don’t think it’s his fault. But I think he thinks it’s his fault because he aimed too high and accidentally broke Griffith. Which, I mean, he is aware that he’s the one who did that by this point.

And that is why, even though he identifies with Vargas, even though he is frustrated and pained by Vargas’s situation, he also holds Vargas in contempt. Because he sees himself in Vargas, and he hates himself.

...

It’s 3am, I’m gonna stop now. Bai!

seen a lot of posts “preparing twitter users for tumblr” and as a multiplatform individual, i’m gonna make a lil critical, maybe controversial we’ll have to see, “preparing tumblr users for twitter users” post. from the get-go, i think full-time tumblr users have to accept this one thing: they are not better than twitter users, as twitter users are not better than them. they never have been. the things tumblr users use to define twitter users and what’s so bad about them compared to “take a shot every time someone says ‘this is why tumblr is the best site’” tumblr are almost always consistently traits found in tumblr users also. there are an equal amount of pros and cons between the few differing traits of tumblr users and twitter users, and when twitter users bring in the pros, that will be a good change and not something to stomp feet about “they change everything this is not how tumblr fandom is >:(“ - some changes will be good, e.g. music fandoms on twitter are typically better at spreading the news about votings for awards - that is a good thing and will help more people support their favourite artist. so i really dread when twitter users do come over and in rolls tumblr users’ superiority complex, that very much and to a great extent exists. if anything, it makes tumblr users the less likeable of the two to me because rarely would you see twitter users basing their whole personality around mocking tumblr users, whereas it’s arguably a frequent occurrence vice versa for often ridiculous and hypocritical reasons. from my observations, let’s serve up some harshbrowns: your discourse has never been superior, and is often very much the same, use of words primarily found on twitter have never been inferior - it’s just internet slang, a thing that has always existed, always evolved, and that tumblr simply probably haven’t caught up with yet. a social media site is a social media site, with toxicity and bliss working alongside one another all the time, and most of the lines you draw between twitter and tumblr are not real and to anyone who uses both sites at an equal balance are laughable. when you make your posts preparing twitter users to be tumblr users prepare them for the differences in the actual site, such as the algorithm, the use of tagging, reblogging, liking. stop saying stuff like “don’t do this twitter thing bc we will make fun of you >:(“ that has always just been a you problem, because most of those things you don’t like on twitter have been a thing on tumblr, and the people who say such things will often do those things themselves. it’s also important to acknowledge they’re leaving twitter because of what’s happening on there right now - i highly doubt they’re going to want caroline from dakota, usa telling them not to do x irrelevant thing they don’t like bc it’s too associated with another site - if arguments start because of this, don’t post “aw i knew this would happen i told you so twitter users are the worst >:(“ because, once again, the reason such an argument has started in the first place a you problem. in conclusion, it’s high time everyone grows up, basically.

I'm the nonnie that wanted advice, thank you for agreeing! English is not my native language, so I will try to make as much sense as I can. First, I want to say that this is not about the RNM/Malex fandom (I follow several people from that fandom, you being one of them, since I ship Malex but this is not about them). One of the reasons I created a Tumblr was to enjoy my ships and to try to connect to other people, since it's hard for me to make friends in real life. So, little by little I started to interact with blogs of that other fandom, reblogging their stuff, commenting, sending asks, even sending some messages. And some people started to talk to me, however, it feels very forced, it feels like they are trying to be nice, but they really don't want to talk to me or include me. And I can easily see that because other “newer” blogs, like mine, get treated differently, much more friendly, and they don't get ignored which I feel like I do. I'm always the one that has to make the first move, but with others it's not like that. I know that I'm jealous, and I shouldn't be, but I have wanted so bad to belong somewhere that I can help it. I don't know if I should just give up, stop trying, and get out of that fandom. Maybe I'm the problem, and I'm just never going to be able to connect to people. Sorry for coming to you with this, it's just that you are always so nice and kind that you made me feel like I could ask you this. You don't have to answer, I know it's too much and that you have nothing to do with it.

Oh nonnie, I'm so sorry that you're feeling that way. :(

I know how hard it is to get into a fandom, especially when you're not a writer or a fan artist/gif maker (i.e. a "contributor" - even though people who comment and send asks are just as important, but I hope you understand what I mean).

On top of that, Tumblr is honestly a terrible platform to make fandom friends (at least in my experience).

What Tumblr is lacking imo (and what makes me miss Livejournal an awful lot) is a way to have any kind of [ongoing] discussion. Or proper [nested!!!] comments. Yes, you can reply to a post, but unless someone checks the notes, no one will see that reply.

Basically, Tumblr is everyone just sitting on their personal island (i.e. blog) yelling into the void, hoping that someone else will hear them. And even if someone hears them yell, and maybe even replies, it's almost impossible to have an actual conversation, let alone build friendships. Tumblr's just not designed for that.

Personally, I’ve had much more luck on Twitter or Discord to find “my people” - platforms much more suitable for conversations, and the focus isn’t as much on “contributing” (in the form of providing or sharing content). (Personally, I loathe IG, but it’s also a platform where you can comment, and that probably also works for some people).

So, my advice would be: try to find “your people” outside of Tumblr. Maybe there’s a Discord server for your fandom where you can actually talk to people (and more than just one person at a time, also people who might not live in a different time zone and won’t reply immediately when you send them an ask 🙃).

If you don’t have Twitter, maybe set up an account and see whether the platform is for you (it’s not for everyone, I know, but I love it and it’s my favorite), but in my experience it’s much easier to get in touch with people there than on Tumblr.

Tumblr is nice for sharing content (even though that’s become a bit of a lost art these days, reblogs are a near extinct art form tbh :P) but it’s shit for forming and becoming a member of a community. And I say that as someone who’s been on this hellsite for over a decade, and has always “contributed” - in some  way at least.

In short: it’s not you, nonnie. I’m sure you are lovely, and anyone would be lucky to have a fandom friend like you who puts so much effort into connecting with others. And I’m truly sorry that you feel like it’s your fault.

It’s not. It really isn’t. (And feeling a bit jealous is a perfectly understandable reaction. You’d be surprised how often I’ve felt like someone who looks at fandom through a window from the outside but is never part of it. That feeling SUCKS big time).

I really hope you’ll be able to find like-minded people elsewhere, where it is easier to connect and talk to people.

Wishing you the best of luck, nonnie! (And hey, if you’d like a Twitter fandom friend, let me know, I’m always happy to chat with people on the bird app) ❤️

(bitb spoilers) theres no issue with the shipping i think, its just that people just think that its weird that that's the only thing the community is focusing on? like i saw someone say something along the lines of "rat was literally smeared across the wall but all yall care about is making the pcs kiss..."

oh wait heads up please don’t send me about the gore i’m very weak in the knees abojt this stuff o(-( this situation i get it though so dw. even wording like this just makes bad visuals pop up in my head so I’m ignoring it best as possible 👍 (<- would’ve been fine but I listened to the ep so it feels more Real and harder to ignore when I see the words if that makes sense?)

anyway yeah I do understand that. kinda hypocritical- I could make the same argument about almost every bit of ship content regardless of genre. i think it’s because “romance” and “horror” are so far from each other that focusing on one over the other feels like completely ignoring the other. like.. idk it’s fandom nature to focus on ships lol that’s not gonna change just bc it’s horror. as long as people don’t forget that the source material is, in fact, horror then what’s the problem?

I’ve also seen a lot of bitb art (on twitter at least) that has been marked as having gore in it. and on both tumblr a Twitter the majority of art is either character art or just them three together with no ship stuff. idk! it just seems like.. be the change you want to see in the world ig. talk about the horror more, theorise, encourage discussions, etc etc. if any one of these ppl complaining about bitb polycule but ship fnc welllll..

we’ve only just started what it going to be 3 more episodes of straight up horror content though. i’m sure people will have more to talk about wrt the horror once there’s something more concrete - this episode was about setting things up and that includes the relationships these pcs have with each other - and it’s all incredibly interesting relationships! we don’t have a lot of solid stuff to work with yet wrt thheir characters so it’s easier to just go with stuff like reading into them as queer lol

this is very disjointed I’m very distracted. tldr: I think the fact it’s a horror shouldn’t change the fact that people Will focus on character relationships and that will often include non-platonic relationships and will “soften” the fan content down. if you want to criticise shipping culture in fandom say it with your whole chest not just when it comes to horror content

I think the thing about tiktok is that it isn’t introducing new problems, aside from the stray 2010 YouTube-esque prank challenge. It only accelerates or exacerbates existing issues with social media. Before tiktok, most social media was marketed towards adults. Children still end up being one of the biggest user bases on most platforms, with users aged 13-18 making a significant portion of Twitter or Instagram. Tiktok is one of the few primarily intended for children. Given that the vast population of the world is adults, it ended up getting users of all ages, but that doesn’t negate the huge chunk that is literal children.

And as many people on here have noted, a lot of the drama (especially in the fandom realm) is recycled. Whether it started on aol in 1998 or tumblr in 2012, it’s probably been discussed a hundred times over by people 13+. Almost a rite of passage at that point, but needlessly redundant.

Vine also contributed to the acceleration of video content. Although the strict 7 seconds allowed for witty comedy, it is ironic to hear the vine generation accusing 30 second videos of ruining attention spans. It’s also interesting to note that platforms such as tiktok and YouTube are both switching to longer form content (relative to their original length), although the damage is already done. That’s a symptom of digital culture in general, not any specific app.

Another huge criticism I’ve heard is the idea that certain real life behaviors are devolving. While this is undeniable, it is again true for all platforms. Again, YouTube challenges often spanned from innocent to annoying to deadly. Twitter changed how people communicate, with hashtags and online slang. Every platform has its own memes, which sometimes get distorted or filter into real life.

Overall, tiktok definitely has flaws. Yes, it’s a huge data breach, but I don’t feel any worse about it than I do Facebook, which just lost a lawsuit to the FCC. Yes, certain aspects of real life are altered by it, just like any majorly successful platform. As social creatures, we are easily manipulated by the allure of what apps like Twitter or tiktok offer. We all still scream into this void, but real life people still read our posts. There should be changes and adaptions made, but that (like most issues) requires massive overhaul of certain notions, including the idea of constant mental stimulation and the need to always be doing something.