[OOC: hello! Paiko here! I just have a few things I'd like to discuss. Now, I do have to make a few disclaimers before I go on. I absolutely do not condone the harassment of anyone regardless of what I may discuss and how it may apply to anyone. I also want to make it known that this doesn't mean anything for my ask blog. I'm not abandoning it. Iceland is here to stay! I also would like to clarify that this doesn't apply to most of the people I've interacted with on this ask blog. Most of you are absolutely wonderful, and (contrarily to my portrayal of Iceland) I am a huge extrovert, so I absolutely love interacting with everyone.
That being said, I've noticed that some of us aren't too familiar with some common unspoken rules of having an ask blog, so I'll try to bring a few up, shall I?
Let's start with something simple.
1)You are not entitled to anyone's character. I'll try to say this as nicely as possible, but you're not playing dolls with your siblings where you can make demands as to how the story should go. Your version of a character is not absolute and people should not have to alter their character to fit your own mold. It is also very sucky to try and force your headcanons onto someone else. If you really dislike someone's character so much, you're more than welcome to find another ask blog.
2) your right to swing your fist ends at the tip of my nose. This one is slightly related to the last one, so it'll be a bit shorter. Do not try to force your chosen course of events onto someone else. Yes, we all love having our characters in strange little scenarios, but if someone isn't cool with that, that's a shame, but it never gives you the right to try and force them into it. Creating an arc in an ask blog community is... Hard. It's hard to get everyone on board. A great example of an arc well done is the meeting arc we had for a bit. That was funny, super sweet and it was actually quite immersive. Everyone had fun, we all caused chaos, it was great. When someone isn't entirely on board, then it gets a little unfortunate. If you want to have a full arc with a fellow ask blog you can communicate over PMs. I know not all of us care to use them, but it can be very helpful in coordinating something like this so there are no issues later on. Especially if said arc deals with any form of rivalry or conflict. Otherwise, you're just attacking someone for no apparent reason.
3) your fellow ask bloggers are not therapists. A bit of character angst can be nice when done right. It can help explore these kinds of issues in a digestible way, but when it's essentially just using mental health issues as a plot point to get the story where you want it, that's when we start having problems. I mentioned this before on my main blog, but trivializing mental health under the guise of representation really does not sit quite right with me and nor should it anyone else. My interpretation of Iceland is a really insecure teen. It plays a lot into his character and he has this self-deprecating humour that can come across as concerning at times. The difference here is that Iceland's character is not seeking help here. His character is meant to be relatable. A lot of us make this sort of joke. When it's just 'oh, this arc isn't going how I wanted it to? That's fine, let me just have the character have some serious mental problems as a result of that!' then I have a huge issue with it. If your character is the type to always complain about their life and walk around with a half empty bottle of booze belligerently yelling about their happenings, it's important that this character is treated as a punchline. Even as someone who has never and will never drink, I can recognise how funny and tension breaking a character like that can be.
4) please respect other people's personal rules. Some of us dislike shipping and whatnot for various reasons. Keep in mind that a lot of the people you interact with are minors. This isn't a dating simulator. I, for example, forbid shipping as Iceland is a minor and I am personally not comfortable with shipping him even if the other character is also a minor. If you're cool with that, fantastic! But not on my blog. This plays into the whole not forcing your storyline on someone else point, but it's important to me that people understand that when someone says they're uncomfortable with something, stay away from that something while interacting with them. I've stated wanting to keep this blog mostly PG. That is a boundary, not a request. I can and will ban anyone who disregards mine or anyone else's rules.
I'm sorry if this post came across as a little harsh. I don't mean to attack anyone. I'm just trying to ensure everyone's safety here. If you see a problem with anything I've said don't be scared to bring anything up. It never hurts to discuss.
Once again, thank you for coming to my yap session.]