taking sky pictures

While searching AO3 fics, if you search for the pairing Aziraphale/Crowley, you get results for fics tagged ONLY as Asa/Anthony, because right now the tags are connected and seen as the “same characters”. This has been frustrating for me and many fans, as I do not see them as the same characters and do not want to read those fics. I wrote to AO3 to ask them to separate the tags so they aren’t linked and got the attached response. They will not do it as it was decided to keep them together. This is partially because one of the main tag wranglers for the fandom is someone who liked the ending and has been militant of their defence of it to the point of being exclusionary to anyone that doesn't hold their opinion. They've making fans who disliked it feel unwelcome. I don’t think people like this should be the only authority on tagging for the fandom.

This is part of a larger problem that makes me concerned with the direction the fandom is headed.

Those of us who disliked the finale have been tagging our posts and such appropriately so that people who liked it don’t have to see it. Meanwhile, many people are refusing to properly tag Asanthony art and fics correctly. Even though we’ve repeatedly asked for it. They can post whatever they liked about it on the main tags, while we have to sequester ourselves into corners and use specific tags so they don't see our opinions.

Or, on places like Reddit where you can’t filter so everyone sees everything, we get complaints for us being too toxic or negative if we try to talk about it. This is the internet, people are going to complain. Fan spaces have been used to complain about things people don’t like since the internet was created. I don’t understand what makes GO so different we can’t do that about something that was deeply upsetting to us. 

Even the bench, which has always been Aziraphale and Crowley’s, now has Asanthony quotes on there. Fans have been using it as a memorial and now they have to see quotes celebrating other characters that replaced the ones we love, even though Asa and Anthony never went to that bench. It means nothing to them. We’re not allowed to complain or mourn in fan spaces, now we can’t even have a bench that was always theirs? Go find a different one, or use the Tilly’s bookshop or graffiti wall or something for your Asa and Anthony pilgrimages. Write quotes for Aziraphale and Crowley on the bench. 

These are all part of a feeling many of us have of being pushed out of fan spaces. Especially after we have tried to compromise. I know there are plenty of people who enjoyed the finale who aren’t doing this. But a portion of that space is and I don’t want to see it continue down a bad path. People shouldn’t have that kind of authority over the whole fan space. I’ve already seen and talked to multiple people who have left the fandom because they feel they are being pushed out, bullied, and silenced. And many have been met with a lack of care about how all this has affected us.

They are the ones that got a happy ending and “everything they ever wanted”. Why are we the ones being pushed out? Why’s it up to us, the ones who got the shit end of the deal, to do all the work to accommodate people? We’re just asking for small things like the tags to be separate, this should be a fair compromise. I don’t understand why we’re getting pushback for a simple request.