#fandom toxicity

🗑️ TO THE “MORAL POLICE” HARASSING AUTHORS: YOU ARE THE VILLAIN HERE.

I’m actually losing brain cells watching this fandom implode. I need you chronically online performative activists to sit down, shut up, and listen for once in your miserable lives.

I’m seeing amazing authors deactivating, deleting their work, and leaving the fandom because a pack of rabid hyenas decided to bully them over FICTIONAL CHARACTERS.

Let’s get a few things straight, because apparently, critical thinking is a skill you lot didn’t spec into.

1. HARASSMENT IS NOT ACTIVISM.

Bullying real, living, breathing human beings over a fanfic about a video game monster doesn’t make you a “good person.” It makes you a piece of sh*t. You are not “protecting children.” You are literally traumatizing real people in the name of a pixelated antagonist. If you tell an artist to kill themselves over a ship, YOU are the problem. Not them. You. 🤡

2. IT IS A HORROR GAME.

We are talking about Poppy Playtime. A game about body horror, murder, and dark experiments. But suddenly, writing dark fics or shipping the Prototype (an eldritch abomination made of wires and meat) is where you draw the line? Stop applying real-world laws to a fictional wire-spider. “Oh, but he’s Oliver!! He’s coded as a minor!!” SHUT UP. The Prototype is a fictional entity. A monster. Authors have been writing about him since before the lore drop. Even if the lore changes, FICTION DOES NOT EQUAL REALITY. If you can’t separate a fanfic from real life, you need to log off and go to therapy.

3. “DON’T LIKE, DON’T READ” IS FREE.

The block button exists. No one is strapping you to a chair and forcing you to read Pro-ship fics or Prototype content. You are actively seeking it out just to be offended. That’s pathological behavior.

To the antis/moralists: You are not the morality police. You are just bored bullies looking for a socially acceptable target to abuse. You ruined the fun for everyone because you’re incapable of curating your own internet experience.

I’m in a small fandom to begin with and kinda realized that a lot of loud people hold a genuine hatred for me/anyone else in the fandom that likes a specific ship that I love to write. Went to Pinterest in search of some cute fanart and just found so many people shitting on it and literally wishing for people who like the ship to commit suicide… it’s not even a crazy controversial ship either????? maybe it’s because I’m returning to writing after taking a long break, but I found myself feeling disappointed and upset? And I don’t even know why really; I’ve never really felt affected by the opinions of random antis always trying to be morally superior in some type of way, until now? I feel like I should be feeling guilty for enjoying the ship even tho it brings me happiness and comfort, and it doesn’t impact my day to day regular life tasks or anything unhealthy like that.

It’s completely okay if you do not have time/the want to answer this, but I wanted to ask you- how do you stop yourself from giving a fuck about the harsh, unfair criticism, and even shame?

first of all anon, I am sending you hugs and positive vibes <3 and I want to reassure you that however you feel is valid.

as for your question, I’m afraid I may not have an answer as to how I “stopped” caring about what strangers think. not because negativity online still affects me but because I’ve never cared to begin with. I don’t know “why”, but I think it may have something do to with how extremely introvert I am. ever since I was a kid, I’ve always enjoyed living in this little world that I create for me and I’ve always preferred being alone. so like, while other kids my age were out there playing together, I preferred being alone in a quiet corner of the room without anyone bothering me. and I wasn’t lonely or anything like that. I was more comfortable being alone and indulging in whatever makes me happy. (fun fact: my parents once took me to see a therapist because I refused to play with other kids in my class lol.)

so I just… never need anyone else, much less their approval.

I mean I still have friends and people I’m comfortable being myself with, but they have to be people I actually trust and care about. so if it’s a stranger then… yeah their negative opinions automatically don’t matter to me because I don’t care about them or what they think. if they are kind to me, then yes, I appreciate them. a lot. but if they are rude then they already proved themselves unworthy of my attention. I can silence them with a single click of a block button and continue doing what I’m doing / writing what I’m writing. because 1. their opinions on me are their problem, not mine 2. fandom space, to me, is what I do for myself and my own enjoyment. so I’m not here for strangers’ approval.

that said, when I say however you feel is valid, that’s exactly what I mean. it’s okay and valid if you feel upset or if you feel like you should feel “guilty” for enjoying the ship you used to be able to enjoy with no problem. but that doesn’t mean you have to actually “be guilty”. it doesn’t mean you have to let strangers’ opinions define the ship or take away the joy the ship brings you. and it absolutely does not mean you’re a bad person for enjoying the ship. (even if it were a controversial ship, thoughtcrimes and fiction are not real.)

my advice is to ask yourself these questions:

why enjoying the ship now makes you feel like you should feel guilty? is it because of other people’s opinions on the ship? is it because you fear they will harass you for enjoying the ship?

do the negative feelings you feel overpower the joy the ship brings you?

would you still enjoy the ship normally without these negative feelings if you stopped reading online comments about the ship from strangers?

He possibly may not agree with every single word of this long post, but for sure he agrees with the general meaning which is: don't twist characters with actors, don't force actors to play roles that fit only their own sexualities, don't be invasive and toxic, understand the meaning of Heated Rivarly because the show has a crucial and potential history changing one, don't twist the actors with their characters and, last but not least, leave François and Connor alone.

My personal favorite was when they said that 'Teetee was always meant to be the top' and 'Por was always meant to be the bottom'. (Read: Nooooo)

Another favorite was how they cannot WAIT for the day Teetee grows 'more manlier' and Por 'fully embraces his feminine side and drops that cool guy act just like other DMD bottoms'. (Read: Op get therapy, I am begging)

I don't think I need to explain, in detail, why this thought process is a) heteronormative in nature , b) pretty fucking homophobic if you think about it c) fucking ridiculous

What I will say and what I always say is, parasociality is ruining this world.

Those two are actors. A C T O R S !!!!!

Their real life dynamics, bonds, preferences, styles and so on are separate from their work.

Implying that you need to 'look' a certain way or 'drop an act' and 'become more feminine' is driving me up the fucking wall more than you know.

Implying that a young and deeply socially anxious acting pair that expresses, countless times that they do not give a fuck about the 'dynamics' of their characters should 'drop the act'

The notion that all DMD actors who act in the submissive/bottom role 'dropped the act' and 'became' feminine is actually, deadass disgusting.

It is no wonder said person posted this anonymously.