捨て猫

For those of you who haven’t seen this announcement, tumblr recently made some changes to the iOS version of the app, purportedly to comply with Apple’s content guidelines. These changes took effect on Dec 21, starting in version 22.5.1 of the iOS app. As some of you may recall, Apple’s strict guidelines were the driving force for the infamous Great Purge of 2018, which coincidentally also happened around this time of year, but it seems banning all of the female-presenting nipples wasn’t good enough for Apple.

Below is a summary of the important changes. Note that these changes technically ONLY affect those using the iOS app. If you’re accessing tumblr through a different app or operating system (Google Chrome, Android app, etc) it won’t affect you directly but it will affect your followers who use iOS so you should definitely be aware of it.

The list of banned tags has been expanded. As before, there’s no way to know which words or phrases have been banned until you try searching for them, in which case you’ll either get no search results or the following message: “This content has been hidden because of potentially suggestive or explicit content.” You may think this doesn’t concern you if you don’t post explicit material, but do not make the mistake of expecting the banned tags to be logical or reasonable. I’ve already encountered multiple completely innocuous posts (random fandom gifsets) that seem to be hidden on iOS for no discernible reason.

Blogs that have been flagged as explicit can no longer be viewed. Previously, flagged blogs just had their posts hidden from searches, but if you knew the username you could still visit it after clicking through a warning about sensitive content. Now you can’t access it at all.

Likes and reblogs from blogs that have been flagged will no longer show up in your notes. This one won’t affect most people’s user experience as much as the others, but it does mean you may be missing notes. It’s unclear if likes and reblogs from flagged blogs will still count towards the overall note total (and only be missing from the activity feed and note viewer) but I suspect that’s the case.

THE BIG ONE: ANY POST TAGGED WITH A BANNED TAG WILL NO LONGER SHOW UP ON YOUR DASHBOARD. Previously, if you tagged a post with a banned word or phrase (even if the words were used inside another tag), that post would not show up in searches, but your followers would still be able to see it on their dashboard. Now those posts are hidden from your own followers as well. This includes both original posts and reblogs. And if that wasn’t bad enough, here’s the real kicker: even if you don’t tag something with one of the banned words, if the OP used a banned tag, any reblogs of that post will not show up on anyone’s dashboard (on the iOS app). The only saving grace here, and I hate to even call it that, is that the blocked posts are still visible if you visit a blog directly or if you have post notifications turned on.

As usual, tumblr was extremely unclear and evasive about all of this in their official announcement. Not surprising, of course, since if more people were aware of these new draconian tactics I can’t imagine there wouldn’t be more of an uproar about it. Tumblr claims that these changes are somewhat temporary and that they are currently working on something that will allow for a less restricted iOS experience, but they refuse to say what that something is and when it will be implemented. And let’s just say, considering their track record, I’m not hopeful.

All of this is horrible and infuriating for many reasons, but the worst part is how insanely counterproductive it is to creating the “safe” environment tumblr (or more specifically Apple) supposedly wants.

Tags have always been used for both blog organization and filtering purposes. Tagging posts with triggers and content warnings is a common practice that gives users the ability to filter out content they may find upsetting or just don’t don’t want to see for whatever reason. By choosing to ban a bunch of unlisted “sensitive content” tags, all they’re doing is encouraging people who want to share that kind of content to come up with alternative less well-known tags or simply not tag that content at all anymore if they want it to show up on their follower’s dashboards, thereby making it more likely for someone to encounter it when they didn’t want to.

Like which Characters can buy whatever they want and which may be worrying about paying the bills at the end of the month?

I love that you wrote most wealth and least wealth and then stated Saburou and Dice, because while you probably meant that Saburou's too young to be worried about money, it looks like you meant Saburou is the most wealthy. And he is.

Ichirou: Current canon Ichirou seems mostly well-off. His rent is low thanks to Samatoki (see DoD 6), but the place he rents is much bigger than his first apartment with Jirou and Saburou. Plus, all three of them appear to be able to afford lots of fun purchases (board games, Ichirou's otaku shit, Saburou's 5 monitors, etc). Since their work is a little unusual, the BBs probably go through the flood or famine work cycle and are maybe paid in gifts of things, not necessarily cash all the time. So Ichirou might worry here or there about money, but I think he can make it work most times. If the younger Busters ever need anything, the neighborhood would also probably help out. Whether or not he'd accept that help is another story, but...

Jirou: See above.

Samatoki: Samatoki has a very nice apartment and office. He's also a high-ranking officer in an organized crime syndicate. I don't think money is a concern for him.

Juuto: Juuto has his fingers in too many illegal pies to be concerned about money. He seems to have expensive tastes but has never indicated that funding them is an issue.

Riou: Hmm... while he's very self-sufficient, he probably buys supplies from time to time for things he can't or won't make himself (tools, clothing, etc). Since he doesn't have a current job, he probably has a savings fund somewhere. I doubt Chuuouku is funding any sort of veteran assistance program, so he isn't making money, but again, he doesn't appear to purchase things often enough for this to be an issue.

Ramuda: His clothing line appears to be popular, and I would be shocked if Chuuouku didn't have a fund for clone spending. Judging by how he gives money away to Dice by the handful, money isn't a concern for him.

Gentarou: See above re: Dice. His books probably sell well, and considering he has many editors, he appears to be a pretty prolific writer.

Jakurai: His house is enormous. This man is so rich. I don't think he spends extravagantly, but money is clearly not a concern.

Hifumi: As the top host of his club, Hifumi probably has a large salary and may make more on commission (for selling drinks). Money doesn't appear to bother him, although he may only be paying a fraction of the total rent.

Doppo: Doppo appears to have significant money concerns, although this may be in part a desire to surpass Hifumi's salary (see FP/M+ 8). Still, he doesn't like making big purchases, so spending is generally an overall concern. I don't think he'd ever go hungry or anything like that - Hifumi would never let that happen on his watch.

Sasara: As a famous comedian, he does well for himself. His apartment is pretty grand, so I don't think he's strapped for cash.

Roshou: He works a second job to help supplement his teacher income even if it is against the rules. In the present day, Roshou isn't that much of a rule breaker any more, so it seems like he has a significant reason for doing this. He probably has at least some financial concerns, which is a shame.

Rei: Unless he has shady debts hidden away somewhere in his backstory, he seems pretty affluent. He's covered with bling and cons people all day. He's living the high life.

Kuukou: While he wouldn't starve against his will, Kuukou doesn't have a lot of money on him. Buddhist monks renounce material wealth and other worldly pleasures. Still, his temple would mean that he always has basic food and housing.

Juushi: I don't know if Juushi still lives with his parents in present canon, but they seemed to be pretty middle class. His parents worked long hours, but they had a nice home. He could afford things like posters and band merch but not huge expenses like guitars, which seems pretty typical for a middle class teenager with no part time job. His band probably pulls in a good amount of cash now, but again, I don't know if he lives on his own or not.

Hitoya: Hitoya's kind of a greedy bastard who appreciates the finer things in life. I say this with great affection. Those around him comment on how much wealth he has and how he accumulates it, so it's safe to say he isn't doing poorly for himself.

(found in the forward to The Hobbit Fiftieth Anniversary Edition, 1987)

They were talking about how fanfic is becoming more and more mainstream while still remaining largely transgressive. It’s such an interesting dichotomy to think about!

On the one hand, you have sites like AO3 and realities like widespread high speed internet access being more and more accessible to larger and larger groups of people. This makes it incredibly easy for anyone at all to find and read fanfic.

On the other hand, you have the roots of fanfic. It was born out of marginalized groups such as women, people of colour, and members of the queer community deciding to take the stories that had been aimed at a largely male, white, heterosexual audience and inverting them into something they could enjoy and relate to. To this day, fanfic is a place where people write the kinds of stories that don’t get made into movies and TV shows. The kinds of stories that don’t get published or end up on the New York Times bestseller list.

Fanfic used to be written and shared in secret. People used to hide it. People still do hide the fact that they read or write it. But it’s becoming something that more and more people are becoming more and more aware of.

So now there’s a spotlight starting to shine on fanfic. People who aren’t looking for transgressive works are finding them where they always were. People who think the status quo is fine are getting upset when they enter a place where the status quo is constantly being upended.

The tags on that post that I can’t find made the point that popular media is curated and sanitized and stripped of most of its controversy in order to appeal to the widest possible audience. But that also makes that audience expect all media to be curated and sanitized in the same way. When they encounter the messy, controversial, ugly, radical, difficult things that people write in fanfic, they’re unprepared.

Fanfic isn’t big media. Fanfic authors aren’t being edited and filtered and polished - and nor are their works. The clash between the expectations of people new to fanfic and accustomed to popular media and the realities of what fanfic is and what it’s being written for - that’s part of this struggle that fandom is going through right now. It’s been going on since the beginning of course, but it’s getting louder every year.

I’m still thinking my way through this, but it really does make a lot of sense to me. If those were your tags, please let me know so I can credit you with the ideas at the core of this post.

Fandom has historically been dominated by the weird. Weird people, weird stories. That isn’t a bad thing. A lot of folks in fandom wear weird as a badge of honour, something we reclaimed from bullies and other abusers who slung the word and related ones at us. We are not normal and do not seek to be normal. If that idea bothers you, you are still welcome, but know that you are a guest. A lot of folks in fandom have been burned by aggressive normalcy, and start baring teeth when it intrudes into our spaces.

The author is dead. All this means is that the original canon author or authors can tell you their interpretation of the story, but they cannot control your own interpretations or imagination: their interpretation is no more or less important than anyone else’s. Something being noncompliant with canon does not make it badly-written.

Alternate universes exist. If someone wants to write characters from a serious crime drama in a sitcom, they are allowed to do that. If someone wants to explore what would happen if that horrific mass murderer was redeemed or never evil, they are allowed to do that. If someone just really likes dragons and wants to write about everyone being a dragon, they are allowed to do that.

If you write fanfic, you are also an author, so you are also dead. Once you release your ideas into the wild, other people can and will do weird things with them. The sooner you accept that, the better.

You will find porn of it if you go looking. If you don’t, some folks will take that as a challenge and go make some. As long as good-faith efforts are made to keep out people who shouldn’t or don’t want to see it, there is nothing wrong with this.

A canon being made for kids and teens does not mean that all sections of the fandom are for kids and teens. Adults can be into works for the younger set, and as long as there are clear boundaries between work that’s appropriate for kids and work that isn’t, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that, and absolutely nothing wrong with adult or dark works based on those stories.

Some people will really hate your favourite characters. Some people will think your favourite pairing is gross, or boring, or that the characters would be better off with someone else. Some people will think that show or game or book that got you through the roughest moments of your life is absolute trash. And that’s okay. Not everyone has to like your favourite things.

Someone writing dark stories about terrible things happening to your favourite characters, even dark stories that may mirror some trauma you’ve been through, are not writing about you. They’re not. It is none of your business why they’re writing it. Their only duty to you is to make sure you can avoid their work if you want to. Again, the sooner you accept this, the better off you’ll be.

It’s okay if you want to write something dark and depraved. Lots of people do, and if it’s weird, well, fandom has historically been dominated by the weird.

It’s okay if you want to write nothing but fluff.

It’s okay, no matter what you want to write.

Just be courteous and tag your work. Even if all you want to tag it with is “this may contain dark topics.”

Most fanfic is straight.

These are the best hard numbers I have (with multi/other including all fics labeled as more than one of m/m, f/m, and f/f along with ones labeled as multi/other):

AO3 is the gay porn bookstore, so AO3 is the site that cares about:

Being free from corporate overlords

Not monetizing your data in creepy ways

Minute and detailed kink labeling

Protecting the freaky content

If you hate Bad Kinks, that’s fine. Just know that you will never get the kind of labeling AO3 has from the people who pander to the mainstream. If you want to get rid of The Bad Stuff, the kind of websites you’ll end up with are a sea of nigh unsearchable het, like Wattpad. And the same kinks will be there. They just won’t be labeled clearly.

People imagine that fandom is mostly queer because their own bubble is, because queer stuff sticks in their mind more as anomalous, making it seem more frequent than it really is, and because the only places that label clearly are the queer ones.

No, literally no one missed that. For you, the big thing is underage. For someone else, it’s RPF existing at all. For someone else, it’s rape-as-kink.

I reiterate: If you hate Bad Kinks, that’s fine. But AO3 looks how it does because it’s opposed to censorship. A site less opposed to censorship would also be less into this type of metadata and would have less clear labeling.

Trying to impress cats and failing is universal 

“Awake… But at what cost.”