They're talking about fandom, but I don't run a fandom blog and the part about asks and the struggle of online friends is here, too, I just thought I was doing something wrong.

Every time I see a reblog of someone answering an ask I think "what am I doing wrong where people are so afraid of me?"

It gets to the point where 'this is deliberate passive-aggression and you're just supposed to know the difference between someone ignoring your post because they have nothing nice to say and someone just not being online to see it so it gets buried on the timeline' is tipping heavily into the perception of negative signals that I am just blind to.

I think I have a pretty legit reason for being wary of making online friends, and idk how widespread that is, but I *thought* I had two friends, and it turns out I was horribly wrong and the consequences of me being wrong landed me in a month-long depression rot where they, and myself, blamed my neurodivergence for their shitty behavior and my inability to pick up on it fast enough. And like... nobody is harder on me than myself, and I consider myself an incredibly perceptive autistic. I recognize signals you're not even aware you're giving.

And I missed these two.

It's very hard interpreting tone through text and after getting burned by two people simultaneously, it's easier to think someone is being mean or just apathetic and keep my distance vs trusting them and having this happen again.

And I stay out of fandom (beyond quietly posting my fics) precisely for this huge uncertainty where you don't know if someone is a raging bully until they reveal themselves by turning on a dime the moment you unknowingly insult their blorbo and they take one line out of context and extrapolate it to presume about your entire personality, beliefs, and values.

Now that's my excuse. What's everybody else's?

Like,I'm in a discord server and it's a really fun and chill place to hang out in,there's not a lot of people there yet an it's currently going through a rebranding

But if you're looking to socialize,have fun and just chill and talk bout your interests and hobbies, maybe ya could try joining

We're also LGBTQ+ and neurodivergent friendly too (it would be ironic to post this on Tumblr if we weren't) You can join the Daydreaming Ship

Shiphttps://discord.gg/JuYUxQKQ

Do sharks actually make noises?