formerly @jimmypagesandbrianmayshair

netflix is making a hockey show called "the sticks" that is based on a very real tragedy that occured in canada in 2018.

the show follows a minnesota high school team after their bus crashes and coming back to hockey afterwards.

in 2018, the humboldt broncos' (a junior A team made up of 18-22 year olds) bus was hit by a tractor trailer on a highway intersection. 16 people (10 players, 2 coaches, and 4 team staff members) were killed, along with 13 other players severely injured.

the memory of the humboldt broncos crash is an incredibly sensitive subject carrying a lot of trauma to both the survivors, their families, and deceased's families. the trajectory of hockey in canada was changed significantly after this tragedy.

despite this, netflix has decided to make a show using the death of young hockey players for profit. they did not consult the survivors, nor the deceased's families. they stole a canadian story for a feel-good cash grab.

None of the families even knew about this show until the media started asking how they felt.

It is taking a tragedy and turning it into a cash cow.

This was such a deeply-felt issue that even the truck driver pleaded guilty and has tried to make amends. (And as he is facing deportation after his sentence, some of the families have even started supporting him being allowed to stay in the country.) There is a real story you could be telling about community and resilience that is not just turning one of the worst days for THE NATION into cheap thrills and sensationalism.

If you watch frame by frame, you can see that Bucky pops the connection tube off when he attacks the med tech; it dangles freely from the IV bag when the guards move to point their guns at him. In real life he’d probably have torn the cannula out of his hand entirely; it happens all the time with little old ladies in my ER so I was disappointed the directors didn’t draw on that particular body horror/’ouch’-factor here.

The infusion bags appear to be one 1,000 mL isotonic saline or D5W/D5NS (dextrose/glucose in a saline solution) for tissue rehydration, and one 500 mL isotonic saline, most likely a diluent for injectable/parenteral drug administration:

Which drug? Well, it could be any HYDRA concoction, but I’d put my money on the tried-and-true fallback of some benzodiazepine. BZDs/derivatives are anxiolytic (anxiety-reducing), hypnotic (sedative/sleep-inducing), anticonvulsant (good for when you’re electrocuting someone’s brain), amnestic (affecting memory), and myorelaxant (muscle-relaxing), a nice cocktail for working with the Winter Soldier - and hey! paradoxical BZD reactions include aggression and violence (such as attacking attending medical staff), and it may also cause anterograde amnesia as well as internalised feelings of turmoil, anxiety, depression, and loss of the ability to experience and/or express feelings. Plus, withdrawal can cause depression, depersonalisation, derealisation, hypersensitivity, psychosis, and suicidal ideation - sounds like a lot of Bucky-in-from-the-cold fanfics, am I right?

Seriously, writing this, I’m wondering where the withdrawal!Bucky fanfics are - the fics I’ve read all focus on his mental issues, but what about the physiological ones? I’d really like to read a fic about Bucky coming off whatever HYDRA pumped him full of - now that’d make for some neat hurt/comfort (and a lot of curling up on Steve’s bathroom floor shaking and puking his guts out).

With the recent rumblings about censorship and work deletions on Wattpad, many users are considering posting to AO3 for the first time. If that describes you, you may have questions.

This post is a collection of resources you can use to start finding the answers to these questions. If you don’t find what you’re looking for at the links below or you have something more specific to ask, please feel welcome to post questions in the reblogs and comments here.

If you’re an AO3 pro answering questions in these notes, be kind. We were all new once, and other fans helped us then. It’s time to pay it forward.

Resources (under the cut)

At least AO3 makes it easy to find things, no matter how old or obscure.

my friend @orangestorapples made a pretty decent summary, see below

They no longer allow works:

- Created primarily for sexual arousal

- Exploitative or harmful

- Intended to shock, glorify harm, or promote hate

For their updated sexual content policies, they do not allow:

- Pornographic content (created primarily for sexual arousal)

- Any sexual content involving minors.

- Sexual exploitation, coercion, or non-consensual acts that are glorified

- Sexual roleplay, solicitation, or messaging

- Illegal sex acts in violation of applicable local and international laws, including but not limited to, bestiality, necrophilia, incest, or child sexual exploitation and abuse material

For their updated violent content policies, they do not allow:

- Content created primarily to shock or glorify harm

- Gratuitous or prolonged violence that doesn't support the broader narrative

For their updated Self-Harm and Suicide content policies, they allow:

- General, non-graphic references

- Stories that explore self-harm or suicide in a responsible, story-driven way

- Recovery, survival, or awareness-focused narratives

And do not allow:

- Graphic depictions

- Content that encourages, instructs, or glorifies self-harm or suicide

For their updated Real-World Harm and Extremism content policies, they do not allow:

- Glorification or support of real-world violence, hate groups, or extremist ideologies

- Content that promotes or imitates real-world harmful acts or actionable plans/steps on how to commit violent acts, illegal acts, or organize real-world violent crimes

For their updated Self-Expression and Sensitive Topics content policies, they allow:

- Survival stories that offer a sense of hope or support

- Could contain graphic descriptions

- Stories referencing or describing sensitive topics, in a non-glorifying way

And do not allow:

- Content that normalizes or glorifies harmful behavior

Recovery story but gay? Must be for titillation!

Sexy shifter romance that has an actual plot? Someone was a little too wolf-like one time out of three hundred chapters, so it's nothing but doggy porn!

etc.

I'm sure we can all sympathize with the part of their motivation that was "Stop posting your Nazi shit on our site!", but on a massive site with an unending queue of reported content to deal with, broad "don't post bad stuff" policies just end up causing tons of grudge reporting and auto-moderation by AI and bad judgment calls on all kinds of things the rules theoretically do allow.

I don't know where the people writing dark romance they want to monetize should go. Not Wattpad, clearly, but most of the commercially-focused options are overrun with AI and extra unpleasant commercialization.