hey guys btw there is actually never a good reason to loudly and publicly talk about how much u dislike a fanfic!! Like. let's break this down for a sec:
i don't like it
ok, understandable. i've dnf'd lots of fics because i didn't like them. but the people writing fanfiction are doing it for free and for fun, and you don't know anything about their lives. they could be a young writer just starting out! they could be an older writer getting back into writing after years of being unable to! they could be someone going through a rough patch whose only source of joy right now is writing their silly little stories! talking about how much you dislike a fanfic literally does nothing except hurt the person writing it. that's it. it is not productive, it is not necessary. even strangers on the internet deserve basic human empathy.
ok but i really don't like it
babe, i feel u! i'm a hater too. rant about it privately. shit on it in private messages or group chats with friends. u can dislike something without dragging its creator into the town square to throw tomatoes at them, yknow?
ok but i really don't like it AND it's popular
ok? shouting about that on the internet doesn't make you cool or special or unique. it just makes you kind of mean and, honestly, bitter. like i said before, this is fanfiction. nobody is paying for it. nobody is profiting. there is no standard that these writers are obligated to meet. clearly, other people like the work. why not let them enjoy it in peace?
no u don't understand it doesn't deserve to be popular there are better fics that deserve it more!!!
talk about those fics then!! post about how much u love them!! uplift those writers!! ur tweet or tiktok or tumblr post is not going to suddenly make a popular fic lose all popularity, no matter how undeserving u perceive it to be. if this is actually coming from a place of frustration because you feel like there are other fics that deserve more attention, then just give those fics attention.
no but it's problematic
mmm ok. let's sit with this one for a second. i want you to ask yourself--is it really, really problematic? is it perpetuating harm against a marginalized group? remember, this is fanfic; it is outside the consumer economy, and the stories it tells will almost never make it to a mainstream audience. so is the story actually hurting people, or is the author just exploring something that you're uncomfortable with? because if you're just uncomfortable, then assuming the work is tagged properly, the best course of action is to just click away. as uncomfortable as it may be, people are allowed to write stories that you might find upsetting or gross or weird, and those stories existing is not inherently harmful in and of itself.
it is actively reinforcing harmful stereotypes/rhetoric/etc
okay! ok. if you are deeply concerned because you feel that this fic is genuinely harmful, then go to the writer. leave a comment. send them a message on tumblr or twitter or tiktok or wherever. explain your situation and see what they say! nine times out of ten, i'd bet that an ao3 writer means no harm and would be willing to listen and address your concerns. in fact, they might even be grateful to you for being kind enough to make them aware of a problem and educate them on it. every ao3 writer i've ever spoken to is an incredibly kind and thoughtful person; you don't need to immediately go on the attack
the writer is unreachable/nonresponsive/not willing to address or change the problematic thing
alright. if you truly feel that this fanfiction is actively harmful and can't reach any kind of conclusion with the writer, and you want to warn others who might read the fic, then do that. do that. make a post that says hey guys btw, x thing in this fic is not a good representation/perpetuates a harmful stereotype/whatever the problem is. and leave it at that! you don't need to go further and insult the writing or the person who wrote it. that is helpful to exactly no one, and if your goal is actually to make the world a better place, then you should learn how to draw attention to an issue in a way that encourages actual dialogue instead of dog-piling and personal attacks.
anyway the next time you feel the desire to post about how bad you think a fic is, feel free to use this as a guide before u do! xoxo
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i don't know why, but in the sparse five hours of sleep i got last night, my brain decided to plague me with dreams of lilia taking care of an elderly silver, up until the final moments of his life. i could hear silver's thoughts the whole time, and he was so absolutely inundated with shame and guilt it almost seemed like he was suffocating. he kept thinking over and over and over again that this all should've been the other way around. he should've been the one looking after his father in the twilight of his life. he should've been his aging father's rock, his safe place to land, his stalwart defender against a world so unbelievably cruel to its most vulnerable denizens. again and again his heart cried out in vain, it should've been the other way around.
as a child he had once wished - prayed, even, to the same force now threatening to reclaim his spirit back into its unconscious designs - for his father to live a long and prosperous life, and it was as though that very wish had backfired on him in a way he never could have possibly imagined
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Is milek an alpha, beta, or omega in this universe? also sorry if this has already been asked but does he get anything special from being half witcher or is it just cats hate him now
Ohhh, good question! That might be a topic later, because Milek has not presented yet (I go with typical omegaverse there, but kind of. Slower? Basically like another puberty added on). His secondary gender is still at question, and...
He's very conflicted. He feels guilty. He worries about Jaskier feeling rejected, or like he is somehow lesser, but... Milek doesn't want to be an omega, if he's completely honest. He has seen how is father is treated, what was expected of him at times - and he knows it's all bullshit, his father is kind and strong, intelligent and independent! But still, he's a little bit scared, and Jaskier should be here for this, and he feels really bad for feeling like this.
The witcher genes haven't helped Milek that much so far! He mostly got a fucked up immune system, his body doesn't react well to the mutations.
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ngl, it's kinda embarrassing that so many people are angry about the teaser that Matt will be GMing the next season of D20 because [checks Twitter] "its really shitty to drop the teaser now while the current season is airing and pull attention away like this, don't punish the current season by stealing from it like this" (actual complaints seen)
this teaser is largely for people who don't WATCH D20 at all, hence the longer lead time for marketing, to make sure people who don't normally keep tabs on D20's schedule know when the next season they may be interested in (because these people don't watch the current season to begin with) starts. and, honestly, there is sometimes a problem where people who aren't watching the current season are caught off guard that there is ALREADY a new season, sometimes the lead time between initial teaser and premiere feels so short.
like, I promise people aren't going to STOP watching Neverafter because of this teaser, and D20 isn't going to stop promoting the current season. "we have an upcoming project" isn't a slight against the current project, and it's baffling this is such a common thought—even outside of this specific instance, it's always confusing. I do not understand why people think this is a punishment (again, actual word someone used). why do people think giving proper attention and work to projects means you aren't allowed to speak of each of them near each other.
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