#but don't go spreading misinformation

[5ummit]

AO3 Ship Stats: Year In Bad Data

You may have seen this AO3 Year In Review.

It hasn’t crossed my tumblr dash but it sure is circulating on twitter with 3.5M views, 10K likes, 17K retweets and counting. Normally this would be great! I love data and charts and comparisons!

Except this data is GARBAGE and belongs in the TRASH.

I first noticed something fishy when I realized that Steve/Bucky – the 5th largest ship on AO3 by total fic count – wasn’t on this Top 100 list anywhere. I know Marvel’s popularity has fallen in recent years, but not that much. Especially considering some of the other ships that made it on the list. You mean to tell me a femslash HP ship (Mary MacDonald/Lily Potter) in which one half of the pairing was so minor I had to look up her name because she was only mentioned once in a single flashback scene beat fandom juggernaut Stucky? I call bullshit.

Now obviously jumping to conclusions based on gut instinct alone is horrible practice... but it is a good place to start. So let’s look at the actual numbers and discover why this entire dataset sits on a throne of lies.

Here are the results of filtering the Steve/Bucky tag for all works created between Jan 1, 2023 and Dec 31, 2023:

Not only would that place Steve/Bucky at #23 on this list, if the other counts are correct (hint: they're not), it’s also well above the 1520-new-work cutoff of the #100 spot. So how the fuck is it not on the list? Let’s check out the author’s FAQ to see if there’s some important factor we’re missing.

The first thing you’ll probably notice in the FAQ is that the data is being scraped from publicly available works. That means anything privated and only accessible to logged-in users isn’t counted. This is Sin #1. Already the data is inaccurate because we’re not actually counting all of the published fics, but the bots needed to do data collection on this scale can't easily scrape privated fics so I kinda get it. We’ll roll with this for now and see if it at least makes the numbers make more sense:

Nope. Logging out only reduced the total by a couple hundred. Even if one were to choose the most restrictive possible definition of "new works" and filter out all crossovers and incomplete fics, Steve/Bucky would still have a yearly total of 2,305. Yet the list claims their total is somewhere below 1,500? What the fuck is going on here?

Let’s look at another ship for comparison. This time one that’s very recent and popular enough to make it on the list so we have an actual reference value for comparison: Nick/Charlie (Heartstopper). According to the list, this ship sits at #34 this year with a total of 2630 new works. But what’s AO3 say?

Off by a hundred or so but the values are much closer at least!

If we dig further into the FAQ though we discover Sin #2 (and the most egregious): the counting method. The yearly fic counts are NOT determined by filtering for a certain time period, they’re determined by simply taking a snapshot of the total number of fics in a ship tag at the end of the year and subtracting the previous end-of-year total. For example, if you check a ship tag on Jan 1, 2023 and it has 10,000 fics and check it again on Jan 1, 2024 and it now has 12,000 fics, the difference (2,000) would be the number of "new works" on this chart.

At first glance this subtraction method might seem like a perfectly valid way to count fics, and it’s certainly the easiest way, but it can and did have major consequences to the point of making the entire dataset functionally meaningless. Why? If any older works are deleted or privated, every single one of those will be subtracted from the current year fic count. And to make the problem even worse, beginning at the end of last year there was a big scare about AI scraping fics from AO3, which caused hundreds, if not thousands, of users to lock down their fics or delete them.

The magnitude of this fuck up may not be immediately obvious so let’s look at an example to see how this works in practice.

Say we have two ships. Ship A is more than a decade old with a large fanbase. Ship B is only a couple years old but gaining traction. On Jan 1, 2023, Ship A had a catalog of 50,000 fics and ship B had 5,000. Both ships have 3,000 new works published in 2023. However, 4% of the older works in each fandom were either privated or deleted during that same time (this percentage is was just chosen to make the math easy but it’s close to reality).

Ship A: 50,000 x 4% = 2,000 removed works Ship B: 5,000 x 4% = 200 removed works

Ship A: 3,000 - 2,000 = 1,000 "new" works Ship B: 3,000 - 200 = 2,800 "new" works

This gives Ship A a net gain of 1,000 and Ship B a net gain of 2,800 despite both fandoms producing the exact same number of new works that year. And neither one of these reported counts are the actual new works count (3,000). THIS explains the drastic difference in ranking between a ship like Steve/Bucky and Nick/Charlie.

How is this a useful measure of anything? You can't draw any conclusions about the current size and popularity of a fandom based on this data.

With this system, not only is the reported "new works" count incorrect, the older, larger fandom will always be punished and it’s count disproportionately reduced simply for the sin of being an older, larger fandom. This example doesn’t even take into account that people are going to be way more likely to delete an old fic they're no longer proud of in a fandom they no longer care about than a fic that was just written, so the deletion percentage for the older fandom should theoretically be even larger in comparison.

And if that wasn't bad enough, the author of this "study" KNEW the data was tainted and chose to present it as meaningful anyway. You will only find this if you click through to the FAQ and read about the author’s methodology, something 99.99% of people will NOT do (and even those who do may not understand the true significance of this problem):

The author may try to argue their post states that the tags "which had the greatest gain in total public fanworks” are shown on the chart, which makes it not a lie, but a error on the viewer’s part in not interpreting their data correctly. This is bullshit. Their chart CLEARLY titles the fic count column “New Works” which it explicitly is NOT, by their own admission! It should be titled “Net Gain in Works” or something similar.

Even if it were correctly titled though, the general public would not understand the difference, would interpret the numbers as new works anyway (because net gain is functionally meaningless as we've just discovered), and would base conclusions on their incorrect assumptions. There’s no getting around that… other than doing the counts correctly in the first place. This would be a much larger task but I strongly believe you shouldn’t take on a project like this if you can’t do it right.

To sum up, just because someone put a lot of work into gathering data and making a nice color-coded chart, doesn’t mean the data is GOOD or VALUABLE.

#ao3 #ao3 stats #psa #my words #fandom #I doubt anyone is even going to read this but I needed to get it out of my system and at least try to stop this from spreading #if you know me #you know I get Big Mad about misinformation #don't take anything at face value #do your own research

[royalarchivist]

Quackity: These past days I've been in many calls, and I'm not done yet. I've spoken to a lot of people and creators. I've read your comments and I'm well aware of what needs to be done to carry out this project. I want to tell you all, beforehand, that for me the team's well-being is fundamental. I'm very involved in this topic to sort it out and I want to make that very clear. I want to tell you something... I want to tell you all that the administrative staff responsible for so much harm to the project has been fired. Specifically, those who made decisions without my permission, affecting the administrative and financial area of the project. Consequently, after this, I was in charge of doing a financial analysis that's carrying out for the QSMP.

Guys, to be really honest, it was not going to last. Therefore, I've had to make deep drastic structural changes that have lead me to reduce the performance of the server down to the most essential, and this is in order to ensure the well being of everyone involved in it. Having said this, I want to give a very important update: I want to let you all know that the QSMP will have to slow down temporarily. This is to ensure this new structure adapts to the project, because it's a restructuring that's taking place. I'm letting you know, and I reiterate, there are no voluntary positions inside the QSMP.

At the moment, there will not be any more individual update accounts of all 5 existing languages in the project. In any case, during this transition, there's going to be a temporal absence of all Eggs and NPCs. I know these are difficult changes, and I repeat, it's temporary until we adjust to these new conditions that will improve the performance of this new structure that's being made from scratch, both in the administrative and financial part. I'd like to reintegrate people fro the QSMP as time goes by if a financial viability can be found for the project Taking advantage of this update to tell you guys that within the changes of the server as it is, creators will have full control of their lore and stories. The team will not intervene in the way that it was being done. Moreover, efforts will be made to change the competitive dynamics inside the game so as to ease up the game style for the creators. Like I'm saying, all of these changes, and more, are being carrying out to have the project as best as possible, and they're being done little by little. This is a whole new structure that will ensure the best continuity and experience for the creators, the community and the team behind.

Guys, I want to make very clear that this is restructuring process, and again, it's not a fast one. The server being open does not mean everything's perfect, I understand that very well. Conversations will keep taking place, communication will continue and the constant improvement of the project as well. I ask, please, for everyone's patience and understanding regarding all changes. Please do wait for official announcements since a lot of incomplete and incorrect information is being spread. I want to tell you all something- if you don't trust in these changes or have many doubts about it, and don't want to consume any more of the project's content, I understand 100%. I have a personal commitment with the QSMP and I will work until it functions in the way it is supposed to do.

Lastly, I want to let you know that it was being worked on for months on finalizing the integration of Korean creators to the QSMP. For that reason, tomorrow we will be welcoming the new Korean creators of the QSMP, of course, taking into account all the changes I've just mentioned. I hope you can give the new Korean members warm welcome to the project. And as you know, their schedules are earlier. For everyone who would like to watch, they will be joining at 11am Mexico time and at 9am US time. Basically, I wanted to give that update regarding everything that's being done within the project. Again, thank you for your patience and understanding- these are necessary changes and I'm glad they're being done now. And many more things will keep being adjusted.

via @QuackitySubs

#Quackity #QSMP #QSMP Official #Translated #This is very long and I bolded parts to make it easier to read #but if there's a way to make it more accessible to folks lemme know! #I personally find the bolding thing helpful but I know everyone is different #Edit: got rid of the additional ''Quackity:'' bolded parts since that's unnecessary #since. you know. he's the only one speaking here #Quackity Subs also missed a few words in here so I added those in but otherwise this is exactly what was posted #Minus the part where they said ''fro'' #I don't know if they meant for or from but that's a very vital difference so I'm leaving that as-is #IMO: It's reassuring hearing the full statement #''Please do wait for official announcements since a lot of incomplete and incorrect information is being spread'' #is an especially important reminder #There has unfortunately been a lot of misinformation and catastrophizing / doomposting going around #I understand it's a very scary stressful time for many people #and it sucks being told to be patient #but we actually DO need to be patient if we want to get actual accurate information

[alonelystargazer]

the fact that this is where jjk was originally meant to end makes me believe that jjk might end like this, with Yuji at the end of his life, cursing Megumi to live on, alone, bc everyone he cared about is gone

another terrible and angsty thought that will not happen but I'm thinking it anyway: what if yuji is able to get megumi out of the abyss but ends up dying, and seeing the last person megumi cared about die causes him to initiate the merger

#bre's posts #I better be wrong about this #I don't remember where I read that it was supposed to end after Yuji “died” so if I'm actually wrong about that I'm sorry #I'm not trying to spread misinformation #okay so I looked it up and the story wasn't going to end here completely but just that yuji was meant to stay dead

[definitelynotnia]

normalise saying "I don't have enough information on this topic to have an opinion on it"

and then staying out of it completely rather than going along with wtv opinion u imprinted from three random posts/reels/tweets and having weird misinformed debates with full confidence

#like bro it's ok to not have an opinion on something if you don't know just say i don't know and move on #there's too many fucked up things going on in the world it's perfectly natural to not have proper information on a topic of debate #just remove yourself from said debate theres no needto go marching in with limited information and spreading even more misinformation #i see so many people around my age posting random political stuff be it religious or about lgbtq or women even and they haven't read #a single article about any of these topics ever #their only source is sketchy social media posts or “dark jokes” about a certain community making them think it's cool to shit on them #or random “sigma” edits of things and suddenly the most random stuff becomes everyone's favourite mainstream political affiliation #like have you read a single policy pertaining to this government or do you have a single reason for violently hating a certain community #i understand that some people are genuinely interested in these topics and that is absolutely wonderful it's great that young people have #opinions and commentary on world issues but only when this stems from an area of genuine interest and when at least some effort to be #factual is made not when it's only done because everyone else is doing it and they have some weird sort of fomo at work or they just think #it's funny or wtv without understanding the implications of their words and actions #no one is forcing you to involve yourself in every social issue but the moment you choose to make commentary on a social issue you must take #the responsibility of educating yourself as best you can before you open your mouth

[suncaptor]

never trust any narrative about medicine that talks in 100% absolutes.

#like it does not work that way. #there's degrees of safety and side effects and likelinesses that should be weighed compared to alternatives #sometimes the risk is so low it's not super worth even worrying about but negating risk at all is still a form of misinformation #you tell someone 'there's a tiny miniscule chance you could have x disease but even if you do we are researching ways to handle and fix tha #potential side effect but if you DON'T take it the chance you will have y disease is idk 10.000 times higher' #MUCH more convincing than 'this is 100% safe and necessary considering y and you're stupid to question if it's safe at all' #especially when like. the latter is literally factually untrue so there WILL be proof against it right. #the proof against it does NOT mean it's going to be statistically relevant to the general population #but if the only people who are taking it seriously are also people spreading misinformation! #then that can just be. weaponised. #whatever #incoherents #this goes for treatment not just preventative too like. if someone says ANYTHING is 100% safe well! though if you're actually #like with a doctor and they say something's VIRTUALLY completely safe that's different I am more talking about studies #bc the doctor is using language of what things actually would matter to you as a general person in their populace #however you're still entitled to know potential side effects even if they're rare and usually that's something a pharmacist legally can #explain and will be listed in the paperwork around it

[obstinatecondolement]

I was watching a YouTube video about making zines and the person ended it with a call to action to be informed about Palestine and was like "And what better way than by reading zines???" There are. Um. Better ways...

#like zines can be very good educational resources #but also there is absolutely no editorial oversight and people can just Say Whatever and then print their zines/put them online #so yeah no #zines should not be your primary source of information when there are more reliably vetted sources available #there are many better ways to educate yourself about this particular issue! #and it is much too important to learn about through what could just be some randomer's hot takes! #right on the heels of the james somerton scandal this seems very naive ngl #also like I know I haven't posted much about palestine #but like 1) I do not think that me posting about it on tumblr dot com wields all that much power and influence politically #2) I do not want to use the negligible power and influence I DO have to spread misinformation #and I am too upset by all this to fact check everything reliably #and 3) my blog is not the newspaper and I should not be anyone's source of information on current events #so I am not going to try and be that and get too upset to use tumblr at all #I don't use twitter precisely because it's wall to wall distressing stuff about current events

[kamiitsubakii]

I'm in a mood. Anyways since I'm kind of vocal about being diagnosed with DID I want to make it clear that endogenic "systems" and tulpa "systems" are NOT welcome on my page. In order to be a system (whether it's DID, OSDD, or UDD) you need to go through repetitive trauma before the age of 9/10. The point of having a system is to protect you from the trauma you experienced at a young age. So no you cannot be a system without trauma. So please dni. Which also means, DON'T fucking come into my comments harassing me on how I'm wrong.

#rant post #anti endo #endos dni #i didn't go through severe trauma as a kid and develop did just for ppl to go “u don't need trauma to develop this trauma based disorder” #y'all spread so much misinformation on dissociative disorders and being a system it's annoying

[wowbright]

Ugh.

#the rules for influencers on strike are not unclear #they're not vague #it's not a huge gray area for fans #the only thing making it seem like a gray area is people posting their whackdoodle interpretations of it #if you really want to understand sag aftra's strike rules #go read them on the website #and if you don't understand what SAG-AFTRA means by the word influencer #go look up the page on their website that explains how and what kind of influencers can become members #but for goodness sakes please stop spreading misinformation #I keep seeing posts claiming to clarify this issue that in fact muddy the waters even more #because the people claiming to make the effort to clarify aren't actually reading the materials published by sag aftra #just stop it stop it please #I've seen multiple people today question whether it's okay to keep writing fanfic or post about a tv show on social media #which is exactly what I said would happen when people started posting that ordinary cosplayers should stop cosplaying as solidarity

[irlwakko]

friendly reminder: having a fear of roller coasters/rides for any reason is completely valid, but spreading misinformation about the safety of roller coasters/rides is NOT <3

roller coasters and rides of all kinds are incredibly safe.

#roller coaster #amusement park #theme park #seriously as someone who has a special interest in these rides but yet simultaneously does not enjoy going on them: stop spreading misinfo #a fear or even a phobia is not an excuse to spread misinformation to try to scare others #personally i 'fear' these rides because i don't like the feeling they give my body #but i know that they're safe. i would never tell someone that a ride is unsafe unless it ACTUALLY demonstrably was (e.g. orlando freefall) #(and note that in that case the ride was MANUFACTURED safe but was MADE unsafe by HUMAN TAMPERING which is why i call it 'unsafe') #also if you're super interested in amusement park death like me don't use your knowledge to intentionally scare someone #'ooh someone died on this ride ooooh scawy' i will hit u on the head <3 #we should treat amusement park victims with the utmost respect not exploit them for a scare factor #also we can acknowledge amusement park accidents while also acknowledging that amusement parks are overwhelmingly safe

[anti-transphobia]

Forever annoyed that "don't speak over marginalized people", the notion that marginalized people are already spoken over, and their oppressors need to actually listen and learn before speaking about complicated topics and need to do so in support of not OVER them, so quickly turned into "I'm not x so I can't speak on x issues". Like the "don't speak on this if you're not this" started out so well meaning because it was about people needing to actually take the time to learn before talking about issues they didn't previously understand! Now it's just an excuse for people to never learn about the issues minorities face or to actually stand up for them in any meaningful way

#forming an opinion is so natural and also important. you can't just stay 'neutral' on everything just because marginalized groups arent #a collective that either fully agrees or fully disagrees with something #you will always have 'lol im x and i dont care about bigotry' folks. always. always always always #you've gotta use your god damned brain and do what's right instead of going 'im not allowed to have an opinion on this' #it's literally just looped around to ignoring issues again. like saying 'racism is bad' isnt good enough when you stay quiet #when your friend is being racist because they're a poc being racist to another poc #and that situation is too 'unclear' for you #ive seen that happen a ton. fucking get over it. yes they're going to respond negatively to being called racist literally everyone does #get over that fear of backlash and stick up for people!!! #this is why radqueers are a plague. their entire stance is 'we dont care enough to think so everything is good and okay' #and has done horrible shit like spread RAMPANT misinformation about mental disorders such as DID #which makes life so much harder for people with DID. and all disorders as they get romanticized instead of actually understood #so the people with the '''bad symptoms''' get shunned #the amount of times I've heard horror stories of actual systems getting abused and forced into all kinds of shit because of endos....... #anyway neutral stances are for things that don't really hurt people or dont matter or #for when youre in the position of actually learning and forming a position #which in that case its meant to be temporary. temporary!!!!! #radqueers dni

[rubberduckyrye]

Man people in the Genshin player base who are tired of Genshin need to like. Just stop playing.

No, that free skin selector is not to incentivize players to buy that Genshin Themed PS5. It's a perk of buying that PS5.

You should not be buying a PS5 for some throwaway primogems and a free paid skin selector.

I know everyone's mad because the data miners said the skin selector was going to be free for everyone, but. Well guess what? That's kind of what happens when you get data miners. And why I've even stopped watching the Livestreams.

Because spoiling any aspect of the game just kind of ruins it for me. The free skin? Had I, maybe, not invested in Klee's skin, I would be annoyed about learning that what I thought was going to be my chance to get a free Klee skin was a lie, but I'd still be more annoyed at the data miners and the people spreading it around than HYV. Like they're the ones who lied, HYV wasn't taking back a free gift or something.

Again.... if you're not having fun with the game, stop playing. You're not doing anyone any favors by not enjoying yourself and making it every one else's problem.

#just kinda salty about this #Saw a YTer who had spread the skin selector leak misinfo and then half of their video was whining about how poorly-- #--HYV treats its Genshin players #Like bro YOU were one of the ones who spread the misinfo #it's so clear you're putting the blame on HYV for a feature they never announced or planned to announce as a feature that would be free #YOU got your hopes up. YOU spread misinformation. #Like DGMW HYV is not your friend #they are a company #they want your money and don't care about you #but just??? Stop playing #literally just stop playing you're clearly burnt out and/or burnt from what you think this company owes you as a player #(Spoilers: HYV is a company. Stop assuming they're going to give you what you think you're owed for supporting their franchises.)

[nysus-temple]

It's incredible, in the wrong way, that this needs to be said, but...

Wikipedia is not a primary source.

Look, I use it too, sometimes it can work, but you can't jump at anyone going “did you know that—” and then answering that you read it on Wikipedia. Most of the places where the info comes from are not primary sources, but secondary ( or even not true ), from later authors. And unless those authors list their actual primary sources for their works, then they're not reliable.

So, please, don't use the well-known “argument of the ignorant” to justify your facts you made up. For the ones who don't know, that argument consists in "if there are no sources saying that THIS didn't happen, then is possible it has happened and we don't know!" Those, dear, are theories, not sources nor arguments.

I know getting primary sources is hard, but that doesn't justify misinformation, sorry if that broke your heart into pieces, buddy.

#spent 3 years of researching info about Dionysus. still going. #some random peeps spread misinformation. they get a lot of attention #people jump at me saying i'm wrong. according to the Wikipedia or to any modern author #it just. screws me up a little. you know #i know this blog is made for fun. and i try to act civil everytime #but. just. seeing people act like this. makes my motivation go away #Dionysus wasn't born the 25th of December! Shut the fuck up! Please! #that's just a little piece of everything that can cause misinformation #and not just Dionysus. yeah. he's just the main figure of this blog. shock. i know #guess i will pin this. or whatever. just leave researchers alone #if you're gonna come up with that bullshit #don't even get me started on how natives are treated towards the misinformations of they culture #stories. and history #i hate each and every last one of you. who has ever done things like that #time to take deeps breathes now #rant #wikipedia #sources

[the-blackdale]

..

#screaming crying throwing up in my pillow #the trojans did not kill cassandra why would she say tha 😭😭😭 #this is blatant misinformation on the internet #im having a literal breakdown over a fuck ass song whats wrong with me #you cant just go around and say things like that #no the trojans didnt beleive her but thats because apollo curse her #and the 'people' who didnt beleive her #were the trojans #the Mycanae people belived her just fine #and it was Clytemnestra #wife of agamemnon who killed her #she was NOT a trojan #plss dont spread misinformation about the ladies of troy I would literally cry #im literally crying cassandra was my baby u don't get to have her 😭😭

[ratgirlcopia]

makes a 3-hour long hbomberguy-style video that's just me trying to trace the origins of the statement that copia's favorite drink is evaporated milk.

#copiaposting #i shan't do this. but imagine. #i know the wiki is full of garbage and generally uncited so it's less about finding a source where the evaporated milk thing exists— #and more about finding out who first said it existed. #there are a lot of random unprovoked bits that tf has dropped across interviews. maybe this is one of them. but i can't prove that. #unless of course i was to go through systematically cataloguing every interview he's done in the last five years. #at some point in my life i'm sure i'll be bored enough to do that. but even then i don't expect to find proof of evaporated milk. #like. i saw in real time after brisbane how easy misinformation spreads around here lol. #posts with HUNDREDS of notes and no footage links going around saying copia was talking about feeling sick and frail. #and then you watch the footage (that you have to dig up yourself) and he's complaining about the HEAT WAVE. oh my god. #online community that loves nothing more than dramatically misinterpreting every word out of that guy's mouth.

[wild-at-mind]

Honestly really upset about the James Somerton thing.

#the plaigerism is really bad but honestly think the lies are worse #todd in the shadows who i already really like and respect as a longtime fan put up a video where he showed the worst ones #they are mostly lies and not misunderstandings or fuck ups #just...why to people do this i just don't know #anyway if you are going to repeat something you heard in a video essay to someone else please please research whether it is true first!! #this is vital to stop misinformation spreading #tumblr already has a serious problem with this about queer issues #i remember during the ace discourse years (which were already awful) a weird 'queer is a slur' vs 'queer is not a slur' debate started #which was mainly people claiming that all the people on their side were good and all the people on the other side were bigots #the marginilised people were all on their side and the bigots were all on the other side #it just got like....what the fuck are we doing?? :( #the ace discourse era may be thankfully over but the debate i described above is still going on #it's just fucking sniping and neither side is listening to the other i can't bear it #anyway my point is tumblr has been doing this way longer than james has so please resist the urge to do this #everything in history is more complicated than that...everything! #personally i think that's what makes it great and have found the reality is much broader and better than making up my own #to keep myself happy...you know??

[blorbocedes]

i have no source for that literally just made it up🤭

#spreading misinformation on the internet or manifestation? You decide #all the articles I read did imply that though #that jense and nico would be brought on to fill the gap but I don't think they'll be going to every race