SECTOR 2814

Keep enjoying the blog if you like, it’s a fun backlog of things.

Also I ended up returning to tumblr because of The Karate Kid/Cobra Kai, run a blog on that now, and The Sandman I guess (dreamling mostly).

You can message me if you want the url.

Tumblr turned fandom content into mindless consumption instead of community. I’m no expert on human behaviour, but I’d put money on this.

Here’s the thing: a few years ago, fandom on Tumblr was just as interactive and inclusive as other fandom platforms. I mean, it was different than the old bulletin boards (bbs), LJ communities, and Yahoo groups, but we made it work. It was common for readers to reblog stories and comment on them. It was common for writers to reblog again with comments or to reply to comments in new posts. It was common to answer replies in new posts rather than privately or in the reply section (that very few users actually read through on posts that aren’t their own). When I moved into the Tumblr community, I had no problem finding my people and making friends and gushing together over all the Things™.

For deeply personal reasons, I had to take a step back from fandom life for a couple of years, and when I came returned, the landscape had changed dramatically. One of my fandoms had moved completely to Twitter. Most fandoms are on discord servers (and the interaction is still pretty thin there), and Tumblr has become a mausoleum where we just hang up pretty pictures for ourselves. Gone is the interaction. Gone, even, the epic, impassioned essays in the tags. Well, not gone entirely, but severely muted. I don’t quite know how the change happened; I wasn’t there.

I think social media as a whole has had a huge shift towards the impersonal, and it’s trickled down to fandom. I’ve been surprised by how many asks that @ao3commentoftheday has gotten recently where the sender worries about being too annoying and/or stalker-y by commenting on stories or reblogging or sending messages saying how much they enjoyed a particular fanwork. There are even asks from writers gnawing their lips over whether or not it’s appropriate to reply to comments from readers because “does that make me a stalker?? am i too annoying??”

I also believe—you can fight me on this all day and I won’t change my mind—that the Western culture of helicopter parenting has had a major effect on how “consumers” deal with “problematic” themes in fanworks. I started out in fandom as a young mother, and now half of my kids are adults; that’s my resume on this topic. I’ve witnessed a contingent of children grow up having all of their experiences curated by someone else. Any potential injury, no matter how small, must be avoided at all costs. So of course, now they’re old enough to engage in social media and, by extension, fandom (because fandom is so incredibly accessible these days), they truly believe that the onus is on the writers and artists to make sure their experiences are pleasant with nary a trigger. If we really cared about our readers, we would never produce anything potentially harmful ever. They should never have any kind of exposure to things that might hurt them, even seeing the story summaries with tags and warnings that show up while they’re searching through AO3.

Dehumanizing the content creators through the impersonalization of social media and the complete lack of personal accountability for our own experiences is destroying what was once an inclusive, fun, “anything goes” community in fandom. It’s a pity because it’s chasing away the old guard. I mean, if I wanted to write solely mainstream stories in an utter vacuum, and then have little to no interaction with my readers, I’d sell novels. I wrote fic, created fan art, and made fanvids as a way to immerse myself in the community, to make friends, to squee together. And now, what’s the point?

I NEVER WILL

STOP SHOWING ME THOSE NASTY ANTI VAPING ADS

They’re usually unskipable and very gross

She hesitates for a second, isn’t sure what to do with her hands or how to kiss a boy but goddamn it, she’s alive and Ben Solo is here, with her, and she loves him so much that she just can’t wait one more second to kiss him when she’s wanted him so much for so long and she just LAUNCHES herself at him and figures it out as she goes.

And then there’s Ben, his body broken, his life force all but gone, but Rey is alive and in his arms and he would never try to kiss her first because finally, at last, this is for her, everything is for her with no expectations. But then she kisses HIM and he can’t help it, he meets her halfway with one hand clutching the back of her neck, one arm going around her, and he nuzzles and deepens because this may be all they have but it’s THEIRS, and for this one perfect moment, they can just hold each other and know that they’ve loved each other all along, know that no matter what happens afterwards, they’ll never really be apart anymore.

Or maybe he’s just ordering a decaf.

Maybe she’s ordering sugar free because she’s diabetic, and you’re about to put her six feet under.

Or maybe she’s just ordering sugar free,

Maybe they’re ordering non-dairy because they’re intolerant, and you’re about to ruin their day. Maybe they’re allergic, and you’re about to sponsor an all black event in an open field.

Or maybe they’re just ordering non-dairy.

Maybe they ordered gluten free because they can’t process it, and you’re about to destroy their digestive tract.

Or maybe they’re just ordering gluten free.

Maybe they’re ordering this way just because they don’t want the food, for whatever reason.