#glass asks

This ended up being longer than I intended because I'm a yapper (and find fandom dynamics like this interesting) sorry hahaha.

So. To summarize. While I think that blogs that focus on unpopular opinions can be very neutral and actually an excellent tool to bring up possible issues or opening the door to some very interesting discussions and ideas in a fandom, in this particular case I think it does have some ragebaiting consequences - although I also believe that that's not truly the admin's genuine goal, just a byproduct of the asks the blog has been getting and the admin's (I'm sure well intentioned) answers.

(I also think that the best option is just to block the blog if you don't like its content tho)

BUT GLASS WHY DO YOU THINK THAT

Well-

As I mentioned earlier, the idea behind "unpopular opinions" and specially blogs dedicated to them is a bit tricky.

Unpopular opinions are, as their name says, unpopular. That means that for them to gain traction and not be ignored in a dusty corner of a blog, they need to provoque a reaction. And the most normal ways for one of those opinions to gain traction is by:

1) Not being truly unpopular, but actually well between the lines of fandom discourse - which would foment interactions via basically everyone agreeing with you (specially when it involves fandom drama or discourse)

2) Targeting an specific opinion, view or current of thought in the fandom and actually arguing against it (so not a unpopular opinion, just a controversial opinion! There is a slight difference, one specifically wants to cause a reaction against it. So yeah, low-key ragebaiting)

So. As you very well can guess, if you take those and add them to Fandom Drama you get the Mega Turbo Super Plus Buff and you will have just birthed an "unpopular opinion" that will have all the drama posters in a fandom salivating. SPECIALLY since the asks are anonymous, which essentially gives everyone an invisible knife in this fight.

NOW DON'T GET ME WRONG.

I DO think you can have healthy discussions in a fandom! And I very very much think they are necessary and having several people express a variety of ideas is GREAT and low-key a symbol of a healthy fandom. The problem is, creating that platform without fomenting drama is veeeeeey difficult. Maybe if literally everyone followed strict fandom etiquette and curated their timeline carefully and did not fall for ragebait, etc. But let's be real, that's not going to happen.

And also. Just using the term "unpopular opinion" is already leading to drama, since not going to lie, it already has a negative connotation in the fandom lexicon - which makes the people who create and read them already predisposed to look at it with their drama lenses on, instead of attempting to have a healthier discussion.

I'm getting sidetracked tho omg.

So, the thing is. For a blog like this to NOT incite drama you need for everyone to at least 1) follow fandom etiquette 2) interact with the blog both in asks and discussions in good faith and 3) for the blog itself to maintain strict neutrality and low-key mod the discussions a little bit/set ground rules (this last one is the only one that it's actually in the blog admin's hands, since they understandably cannot control the rest)

And in this particular case, I think the unpopular opinions blog fails at 3.

As I said, I very much doubt it's on purpose, I think the admin just gives their opinion as they see it and I'm positive they publish every single opinion they receive, whether they agree with it or not (so they are not trying to "censor" any opinion or intentional push a narrative through the asks).

BUT the way they answer the asks is low-key preeeeeety biased. Which is okay! They obviously can have their opinion! Nothing wrong with that!... But when you post your clear support or disagreement in a blog that already, by its very nature tends to deal with fandom discourse you are also fomenting that very discourse, and pushing it towards drama.

But why simply stating an opinion can foment drama?

Because a huge part of fandom discourse at the end of the day is validation, just wearing a different hat. When someone feels like something important to them or their beliefs (which can be as simple as "someone said something bad about something I like") has been wronged, we all have a tendency to look for support in others, to have that "hah! I was right!" moment that will soften or help us ignore the hurt. That's normal, that's human! But we have to be careful not to lash out and hurt others in turn. Because most likely they will react the same because they are humans just like you and that cycle is just not sustainable nor healthy.

Take (and maybe I'm getting into hot water with this one) the recent Nice and low-key LL poll drama lately (last week).

Following the airing of the last episodes, the Nice fans have, understandably, been taking a stand to protect their fav from the "fraud allegations" (reddit) and the overall narrative that Nice is evil, people don't understanding why he has fans and allegedly joking about him jumping and making light of his character and troubles.

The thing is. For what I PERSONALLY have seen (I have a very good grasp of the tbhx tag, but I might have missed posts and comments) the vast majority of Nice drama posts came from the Nice fans themselves. Believe me, I understand the impulse to defend your fav! I am very lucky that X doesn't really have antis, but I have seen some posts from other heroes' fans about the poll and whether X "deserves" his place that have made me frown, to say the least. So yeah, I get it. Specially since Nice's story has elements that can make it very personal and sensitive for some fans!

Buuuuuuuuuuut you could clearly seen this drama being reflected and GROWING in the unpopular opinions blog. Mainly because the admin very clearly likes Nice and agrees with this need to protect him (so, as I said, validation), and because, since the asks are anonymous they are presented as "the standard fandom opinion", so seeing an anon say something you agree with, and then the admin also clearly sharing the same opinion leaves behind the validation and starts falling into vindication territory.

So, since it's a topic you feel strongly about, and see? Everyone agrees with you and talks about how this nebulous other people in other platforms are saying appalling and obviously untrue things, so I'm going to go and write an unpopular opinion as an anon and oh! Look, more and more asks are talking about the same issue which means that everyone agrees with me which means that-

Yeah, that can very quickly run out of control.

And you can see it in the unpopular opinions blog by, surprisingly, looking at how the opinion on LL and his fans has shifted.

Until very recently, LL and his fans were regarded pretty much as any other heroes' fans (actually they were similar to X's fans). They liked one of the clearly fan favorites, they voted for him and cheered him on and were doing their own thing as normal, no problem there.

BUT then X started to overtake LL in the poll, and suddenly LL fans started to be a little desperate. So a narrative that was already there, but was pretty unpopular and nobody really paid attention to started resurrecting. Suddenly, LL would get more votes. How? Because before the end of his arc you couldn't vote for him on the poll, only for Nice - so OF COURSE all the Nice votes are actually Lin Ling's! Nice is going to have a big drop after losing most of his votes, after all, who could actually like Nice? He's a fraud, he is a conglomerate slave, he attacked the Ruins expedition etc etc etc! So yeah, we all agree nobody would actually like him, therefore all those votes are actually Lin Ling's.

(Disclaimer: this line of thought was mainly found in reddit. That's why I focused on Nice fans - and the unpopular opinions blog - bringing other platforms' drama into Tumblr)

So, because that started happening in Reddit WHILE the Nice drama was still hot in Tumblr, suddenly the unpopular opinions blog started getting submissions putting down LL and his fans, which everyone also jumped into agreeing with.

And there you have it. It was not the only reason by FAR, but the unpopular opinions blog served as a vehicle not only to keep the Nice drama going, but it ALSO helped to bring the Lin Ling hate (which was also starting to appear in reddit) to Tumblr, when before that the tag was pretty much peaceful and chill (again, as far as I am personally aware).

So, to wrap it all up, while I do think a blog like that could be a good way to foment healthy fandom discussion, as of right now it's being mainly used as a tool to support one sided fandom discourse. I think that the admin would need to remain more neutral in their answers to try and curve possible drama, but honestly? Not creating drama is unrealistic.

So my personal opinion is, if you don't agree with the asks that get submitted into the blog (and you don't feel like following fandom drama, I personally do have a gossipy vein and do like seeing the tea lmao) just block it. It will make your fandom experience more peaceful!

Omg this got long. I hope you found it interesting!

Thanks for the ask tho! As you can see, I find fandom dynamics really interesting! This was entertaining to write hahaha

And as usual. If you see typos and messed up grammar. No you didn't