Blood. Everywhere.

I'm sorry I couldn't help but nerd out. Oops. TL;DR: at the end. Caveat: not a climber, not an expert, don't know if 300 is accurate as a regular thing, BUT:

You can't summit Everest every day or even nearly. There are hundreds of days every year where you couldn't summit, and even if by some miracle you did, you'd find yourself on the highest point of the world and facing down a monsoon or a jet stream. (I don't know if there's a chance you'd ever face both? I don't pretend to understand all the ins and outs of the weather.)

When Krakauer's team were on the South Col in the '96 disaster, the winds were literally hurricane force and blowing their tents apart. So even in the right season and on days considered suitable for summiting, conditions can get deadly very fast. And the camp on the South Col is still in the death zone, to my understanding, so you're talking potentially deadly weather in a situation where without supplementing oxygen (arguably even with it?), your body is actively dying. I imagine the jet stream would just whisht you off that mountain. And camp four is still a ways from the summit. You're spending multiple days in a place which is passively or sometimes actively trying to kill you. Those are the conditions in which you're waiting for a day when you might reasonably reach the summit.

There's a window in late April to late May called Everest season for a reason; I think the actual summit window is way smaller than a month though, and then you have to pick a day and hope the weather is good to you. There's also a window in autumn but it's much shorter and most people who summit Everest (especially those who are inexperienced at those altitudes) will be doing so in mid to late May depending on the weather. And suitable weather is a moving target - even in ideal conditions, you're still in the death zone, you're still freezing and actively dying, there's still wind and the possibility a storm could blow up and kill you out of apparently nowhere. (Most of the people who die on Everest are still there, because it's expensive and dangerous to bring bodies down and risks even more lives. Some people do eventually get retrieved, but there have been bodies on Everest that are effectively landmarks that dozens or hundreds people have climbed past or even sheltered near. Apparently there's somewhere just below the summit known as Rainbow Valley because of the number of bodies in down jackets in many bright colours that are still lying there.)

Also note that some parts of the route are bottlenecks and can only be climbed safely one person or group at a time, so on both ascent and descent, there's a non-zero chance you are going to have to stand around in oxygen-poor freezing-to-death cold air while someone else comes up or down. I believe the ladders in the ice falls are generally taken one at a time, and I think the Hillary Step was a bit of a bottleneck before it was destroyed. I'm absolutely sure there are others I've forgotten or am not aware of.

So yes, you are absolutely correct that there aren't 300 people summiting Everest every day, and there are hundreds of days a year where no one is up there at all. There are, however, sometimes hundreds (or at least dozens) of people climbing Everest on the same day in mid to late May and that's when you get pictures like this:

There were apparently 320 people attempting to summit 😬

Basically, weather conditions x people paying to Do Everest™ = you have a lot of people attempting to summit in very short timeframes along the exact same route, and that's when you end up with these absurd traffic jams on a mountain that, let's be real, most of these people shouldn't be anywhere near.

(Again, not a climber, but to my understanding, the climbing on the North and South Col routes on Everest isn't the problem, it's not very technically "difficult", it's the extreme conditions that are the issue. Something that would be easy peasy at sea level can be rapidly deadly when you are hypoxic and exhausted and freezing, and also possibly have picked up something nasty before you even hit base camp because the conditions at some of the lower down bottlenecks are also actually appalling. And sometimes things that would even be survivable on Everest turn deadly, sometimes even because of these same crowds. Maybe on one day you could summit and make your way down to camp four without interruptions and grab another bottle of oxygen just fine, but if it's a different day and you're caught at the top of the Hillary step for an hour waiting for people to come up and you get that much colder and that much more oxygen deprived? And that day, you stumble or take a wrong step or are just too exhausted to keep going, and now you're dead, not because of the mountain directly, but because there were too many people, so you stayed at high altitude too long with not enough oxygen.)

POV: mister Devon Price, PhD, telling me that I am right about everything

Not noticing sounds and outside stimuli could be perfectly great for someone who is, say, in the middle of an art project at home, who doesn’t notice that someone else in the house is trying to call them for dinner. But it could also be dangerous if someone who requires substantial support is engrossed by a task, and they don’t notice their caregiver trying to help guide them out of a building while the fire alarm is going off. Sticking to a rigid schedule (key word “rigid”, not just a routine) can be very detrimental if, for instance, someone’s caregiver is no longer is able to be with them. Now their entire schedule is different, and that can cause extreme stress if they have never received coping skills to help comfort themselves during changes to their routine.

"Intense studying of a favorite new topic" is normal. "Not being able to eat, sleep, or use the restroom without prompting because you can't pull away from your restricted interest for hours a day for weeks straight" is an autism symptom that can interfere with work or school and even lead to serious health problems. Having extremely restricted interests in general is also very socially isolating when you only ever want to talk about things no one else around you cares about. This isn't just things like anime or animals, it can be obscure periods of history, topics related to violence, or even the mechanics of a vacuum cleaner. It doesn't just manifest as infodumping, it often manifests as not wanting to hear a friend talk about their day because all you care about is your restricted interests.

"Not noticing sounds or social signals when focusing on an engrossing task" is normal. "Not noticing people trying to talk to you at work or getting distressed when they do get your attention" causes friction with coworkers and can indicate attention-shifting difficulties that will also make it hard to return to working. "Not noticing the sound of a car coming while you're crossing the road because you can't stop thinking about your special interest" is actively dangerous.

"Needing to know exactly what to expect before entering an unfamiliar situation" is only 'normal' if you ignore the word 'exactly.' Some autistic people have entire conversations that they want to play out in an exact way, and they'll get upset or panicked if someone says something different than their script. Others will avoid new locations or activities even if it's detrimental to their health, like avoiding seeing a new doctor or dentist without extensive support to transition between providers. Others might annoy everyone around them by asking non-stop, likely repetitive questions about what the new activity will be like. Even the most mild manifestation of this can mean rarely consuming new foods or media, traveling, or trying new fun activities, which can narrow your world and make people view you as boring or uncultured. Additionally, if someone with autism expects something and the situation isn't like they expected (even if only in a really minor way), this can be actively disorienting or panic-inducing.

"Sticking to a very rigid schedule" isn't normal at all. This doesn't mean having a schedule and not liking last-minute plans, it means risking a full-blown meltdown if something gets moved or cancelled. Dinner is half an hour late? Your therapist is sick? You always go to a specific restaurant on Wednesday, but they're closed? It's spring break and you're not going to school this week? All of these can cause upset even with prior notice and extreme panic if it's a sudden deviation. It can also manifest as intense, notably abnormal routines that look like OCD rituals.

"Taking a long time to think before responding to a complex question" is normal if you're talking with a friend and want to put thought into your answer. If you're expected to give a best-guess at work, being consistently slow is an issue. If you're slow to answer even minor questions, that's a very noticeable issue that will make others think negatively of you. People take your silence as apathy, disinterest, inattention, or ignorance. Even if you manage to give a scripted answer while you try to think, conversations move on, and you never get the chance to participate and show what you know, give your opinion, or have your input be counted for decisions.

"Spending hours or days alone sleeping or recharging after a socially demanding or stressful project" is normal. "Spending hours or days alone sleeping or recharging after routine social interactions" is not. It could be depression, it could be chronic fatigue, or it could be social anxiety, but it's not normal and it's not harmless. It can make it difficult or even impossible to handle scheduling medical appointments, communicating with a teacher or boss, seeing friends, or even basic interactions with a cashier at the grocery store.

"Needing 'all the information' before coming to a decision" is normal and healthy when taken as an exaggeration. "Needing even minor details spelled out because you can't generalize information from experience or from similar decisions" is a problem. "Being paralyzed by even minor choices without having someone walk you through every option and possible outcome" is a serious problem that can lead to missed opportunities, others getting annoyed at you, others making harmful choices on your behalf, or staying in a harmful situation because you don't feel like you have enough evidence that you need to leave even when the evidence is overwhelming.

"Not knowing how they feel, or needing a few days to figure out how they feel about something" is alexithymia. It doesn't necessarily indicate autism, but it's very common in autism, and it's not exactly normal either. Many people with alexithymia have their unrecognized emotions manifest as psychosomatic symptoms instead, like a headache or upset stomach. Many with autism don't realize they're upset about something until everything becomes too much and they explode without warning. The ability to recognize feelings is really important!

"Needing a rule or instruction to 'make sense' before they follow it" is normal and to an extent healthy. It's a problem when it means not following rules that are considered important by one's social circle or workplace. It's not just not wanting to follow unreasonable demands by unearned authority figures, it's also being rude to others because you don't understand or care about social norms. This also isn't relevant for all autistic people. Many are either overly passive or automatically oppositional (demand avoidant) regardless of how much sense the rule makes.

"Not putting energy towards expectations that seem unfair or arbitrary" is normal when you only frame it in terms of makeup or elaborate grooming. It's extremely unhelpful to pretend many autistic people don't struggle to maintain even basic hygiene or comply with even basic social norms. Most of this website would hypocritically call them gross or cringe.

Even people with low support needs or level 1 autism struggle. The difference between subclinical autistic traits (having a "broader autism phenotype") and clinical autism is impairment. Trying to reframe every autism symptom as something harmless, quirky, or normal screws over even autistic people who don't need much support. As the person above me said, it's also flat out dangerous for higher support needs autistics.

Me: you will not earn what you desire by banging the cabinet door.

My cat: This is a test of wills, is it not? We shall see if your ability to put up with my incessant banging outlasts my eternal lust for snackie treats. Years of conditioning have hardened me for this purpose. bang bang bang

Me: ksst!

My cat, throwing herself to the ground like she's been shot: Oh! Oh I have been assailed in my own home! Have mercy, have pity! Surely in the cruel darkness of your heart there is some mote of goodness that might stay your hand! Do not strike me, I pray you!

Me: ok

I present to you: the floating ao3 comment box!

From what I've seen, a big problem for many people is that once you reach the comments at the bottom of a fic, your memory of it miraculously disappears. Anything you wanted to say is stuck ten paragraphs ago, and you barely remember what you thought while reading. This fixes that!

I'll give a little explanation on the features and how it works, but if you want to skip all that, here's the link.

Edit: Yes, this also works on mobile!

The extension is visible as a small blue box in the upper left corner.

(Side note: The green colouring is not from the extension, that's me.)

If you click on it, you open a comment box window at the bottom of your screen but not at the bottom of the fic. I opened my own fic for demonstrative purposes.

The website also gives explanations on how exactly it functions, but I'll summarize regardless.

insert selection -> if you highlight a sentence in the fic it will be added in italics to the comment box

add to comment box -> once you're done writing your comment, you click this button and the entire thing will automatically copied to the ao3 comment box

delete -> self explanatory

on mulitchapter fics, you will be given the option to either add the comment to just the current chapter or the entire fic

The best part? You can simply close the window the same way you opened it and your progress will automatically be saved. So you can open it, comment on a paragraph, and then close it and keep reading without having the box in your face.

because it's fiction. my favorite character is In-ho from squid game, the guy responsible for the deaths of more than 400 people each year, does that mean I condone murder in real life because my favorite fictional character is a murderer????

I feel like the reason it's fine and normal when people like villains who are "just murderers" but the second it's anything sexual and/or anything that involves a female character it's "OMG SO YOU'RE OKAY WITH SA AND ABUSE IN REAL LIFE???" is because deep down people still see sex as something ugly and dirty, and women as "something weak that must be protected at all costs", and that's just sad.

a lot of women have rape fantasies. a lot of normal couples enjoy cnc kink, and these couples have normal, healthy relationships. because it's all fiction and fantasies. it's NOT. REAL. no one in real life is being harmed.

I'm a woman. and a lot of my whump fics, the majority of them, are about rape. that doesn't mean I think what I write and read is okay in real life. it means I'm mature enough to separate fiction from reality.

"surely it can't be good for young children and teens to see relationships like that" — young children and teens should learn the differences between fiction and reality, they should learn what's right and what's wrong, FROM THEIR PARENTS. it's NOT people on the internet's job to censor themselves in order to try and shield random people's kids from things that are inappropriate for them. THAT'S THEIR PARENTS' JOB. if your kids are on the internet and if they choose to read something I post, that is rated and tagged properly, then it is NOT my responsibility to hold their hands and teach them right from wrong.

I don't have to censor myself for other people's kids. I will not censor myself for other people's kids. if your kids click on my works, that's on them. I already rate and tag my warnings properly.

you don't have to like these taboo topics in fiction. you can be uncomfortable with them. but your personal feelings and discomfort still don't give you the rights to judge other people for their taste in fiction. it doesn't give you the right to control or shame people for how they create their art or how they enjoy their fictional stories.

there are things in fiction that I am uncomfortable with, but instead of judging people who like these things, I mind my own business.

last but not least, I hope everybody who sees this post — and wants to write about dark, taboo, messed up things — writes those dark, taboo and messed up things that they want. and I hope they do so unapologetically.