#fandom spaces

Anyone who has lived through a long-distance relationship knows the problem is rarely the big moments. It is the in-between hours that wear you down, the stretches between calls when there is simply no one to narrate your day to. That gap is exactly where AI companion platforms have quietly found their footing, and where SweetDream has built something worth noticing.

On sweetdream.ai, the appeal is less about novelty and more about presence. You design a companion whose personality and voice feel right to you, then talk to them the way you would talk to anyone you miss. The conversations are emotionally intelligent and remember context, so the relationship has a thread running through it. There are voice messages for the morning, real-time phone calls that sound genuinely human for the lonelier nights, and AI-generated photos and even video that give the companion a face you recognize.

yes I said addicts

I know a lot of people say on here 'if you use c.ai unfollow me' and 'AI doesn't belong in fandom' which I agree with, but I think the anger is directed to the wrong place

As a recovered c.ai addict/over user and as someone who has many friends who are deep in their own, c.ai is like a rabbithole.

It targets teenagers/young people, and most users I find are dealing with some kind of loneliness.

Now some of you are probably thinking this is ridiculous. How could someone get addicted to an AI chat bot? But I want you to put yourself in these kids shoes.

You know how hard being a teenager is, especially if you're dealing with a mental illness of some kind. Maybe you experienced it yourself, maybe not, but imagine dealing with all that, having a deep sense of loneliness and finding this place where you're promised an escape where you can talk to characters and people that bring you so much comfort, where you can get the social interaction you crave without having to worry about being judged or messing up.

Sounds enticing, right?

To them, it's harmless fun. it's like a interactive fanfic, where they get to play a role in the story and dictate the outcome, but for them it's taking a place in their lives where friends and human interaction should. I know multiple people who have told me that if they're not doing school or using c.ai, they're dead.

Again, these are kids. They don't see it as an addiction. They see it as an iconic, silly thing they do. It's not drugs or alcohol, so it can't be an addiction, right?

There's hundred's of thousands, if not millions, of kids with that mentality using c.ai, and c.ai isn't stupid. They're a business. There's ads on the app, they sell these kids chats to google to train gemini, and there's a goddamn subscription you can buy. $15aud a month. To get more c.ai features.

when you avoid kids because of your pedo OCD you are treating them as objects

and ironically that is materially worse for them than interacting with them even if you're someone who is usually engaged in NSFW spaces.

i recently came to this realization because i was talking to people about fandom spaces and proship and antiship and how regardless of the stance of those involved, children are more likely to be groomed in general because these spaces strongly discourage adults from interacting with kids at all. this ties a lot into adults' moral OCD over being considered pedophiles and to be so fucking honest

YOU TREATING KIDS LIKE A POTENTIAL OBJECT OF ATTRACTION DEHUMANIZES THEM AND HURTS THEM WORSE THAN ANY FRIENDLY INTERACTION YOU COULD HAVE WITH THEM

IF YOU BAR KIDS FROM SOCIAL SPACES AND PREVENT THEM FROM HAVING HEALTHY RELATIONSHIPS WITH ADULTS THEY WILL BE PUSHED INTO SEEKING RELATIONSHIPS WITH ADULTS WHO WILL TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THEM

This happened to me and this happened to tons of fucking people where we were kids because adults either wouldn't talk to us out of fear of being called predators or would condescend to us because they saw us as dumb annoying children so we either turned to lying about our ages or talking to any adult who would listen to us which was often people who would take advantage of us!!!!!!!! When you refuse to treat kids like people and push them out of places where they could learn to develop healthy boundaries, connect with people and learn about themselves and their place in the world you HURT THEM worse than interacting with them would. Do NOT pretend like you're protecting kids with your avoidance, you're literally just like everyone else. You are doing what the system already does. Deal with your OCD the way you would if it made you scared of any other group of people INTERNALLY AND THROUGH EXPOSURE THERAPY

Fanfic discourse in the Hannibal fandom is exhausting. Whatever argument you have for why the Hannibal fandom is "too dark," I need you to trust that we've already heard it, especially within the last few months, even though the show is a warning of its own. If you could survive the episode with the flesh angels, you can survive scrolling past someone's completely-optional-to-read fic on ao3 where Hannibal and Will's age gap is made intentionally larger, or a fic where Hannibal does something to Will that he didn't consent to (which is the basis of the entire first season, by the way). Learning to be okay with dark fanworks is part of being in a fandom based on dark IP, and if you can't do that, I'm going to suggest that you reassess which fandoms are/aren't for you.

If you don't like dark content, don't enter fandoms based on shows about dark content. If you can handle the heat of watching Hannibal, and you've decided that you want to engage with the fandom, you have to be comfortable with understanding that the fans --- who are mostly adults, by the way --- love the show because we appreciate Bryan Fuller's ability to make a beautiful story with macabre topics, and many of us are going to engage in discussion about macabre topics. At the end of the day, well-made transgressive art isn't going to have a sanitized fanbase. If you want a cleaner, tamer fanbase, find a source material that isn't about murder and cannibalism and manipulation and psychological torture and corruption and crossing boundaries. That's all you need to do.

As for the fact that most Hannibal fans are adults, I want you to know that the age of fans in a fanbase matters. Adults are going to be talking about adult things, since we are allowed to, and it's just annoying to get anon asks from kids saying things like "Why do you --- a fan of The Dark Themes Show --- enjoy writing about dark themes?" And, yes, it's usually clear when a high schooler sent it.

In a fandom like Hannibal, don't be surprised if people block you or refuse to follow back on the basis of age. We don't want to talk about dark topics --- especially dark sexual topics --- with people who aren't old enough to consent. It's a respect thing, as well as a protection thing (on both sides). If you want to engage with all (or even just most) aspects of a fandom as a teenager on Tumblr, find a fandom that's more populated by other teenagers. If you're okay with the fact that the Hannibal fandom is largely adult, you have to be okay with the fact that we discuss adult things. That's just how it works. Not every fandom is for everyone, and it's a matter of introspection to find out what you really want.

If you like the depth of Hannibal and Will's relationship, but you don't want a dark fandom, get into BBC Sherlock or House MD. If you just want a fun fandom that you can use to relax without challenging the way you think, get into the MCU or a sitcom or something. Stop walking into The Discomfort Room just to get mad when something makes you uncomfortable.