#pyro situation

Heres the thing, I think that vampires smp put a lot of creators in the spotlight that were completely new to fandom culture and what surrounds it for popularity. Creators like Pyro aren't used to a large group of eyes on them in the way that some of the other creators, like Scott or Cleo, are. Thats not anyones fault, but it is something to think about.

When you think about it, Maddy and Pyros shipping discomfort IS fair. Maddy especially is constantly having her relationship with her literal irl partner overlooked in smps in favor of him being shipped with men, and has to see constant content of her partner kissing his friends. Thats so fair of a thing to be uncomfortable with. We can have a whole conversation about how shipping has been pushed so much in fandom, and how mlm specifically seems to be borderline fetishized, to the point of dumbing down complex characters to force them into a role, and especially the aphobia that surrounds that, but that is for another day.

The issue is that Pyro and Maddy are at the assumption that their word is going to actually stop any of that, or that it is any of their business at all. Fandom is usually fully separated from the creators, mcyt as a whole is the exception to that rule. While I understand where Pyro and Maddy are coming from, their posts will not remove shipping content, but it WILL encourage people to harass and harm others in the name of boundaries. Im a veteran of hermitcraft shipping discourse, and this is the pattern that is constant in youtuber spaces.

So, how do we move forward?

We keep the shipping content off the mainstream

Heres the thing, fandom is gonna fandom, ships are gonna ship. No creator can do anything about that, and if they try it will just promote harassment. There is physically no way to say "stop doing this" and it actually leading to people stopping. You aren't word of god on the fandom, you cannot control what people do.

That being said, we can be polite and take into account the cc's discomfort on the matter. So we keep it off the mainstream, have the shipping on the down low. Make it so that Pyro and Maddy will have to go out of their way to see it. That means do not share it directly with or tag the cc's, properly tag and give warnings if you are going to post it somewhere they might see it, and just in general keep it in fandom spaces where the creators aren't. And be kind to everyone involved. Dont harass the ccs or anybody who makes the content. Just keep the shipping to spaces where Pyro won't have to deal with it unwantedly, and properly tag it if its somewhere on twitter or youtube, where he might have to stumble upon it.