#an oasis in the desert if you will

[squidsquadlove]

Please understand, I have been in fandom since 2003, I have been around hockey and hockey fandom and mainstream hockey fandom for the last two years, I have watched the Kraken and the Firebirds since (to quote Wild Bill) day fucking one, and I am not capable of speech after this. WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE YOU DOING PITNICK. Also DO NOT STOP UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES.

#coachella valley firebirds #matt tennyson #ryker evans #kole lind #tenny did you just offer to let Ryker put sunscreen on Kole?? #why is Ryker in a life vest and a tiny pool??? #why am I asking why this is a gift #an oasis in the desert if you will #Youtube

[rollercoasterwords]

the tiktokification of ao3

or: some of you fundamentally misunderstand ao3 and it really, really shows

i was talking about this with a friend a few days ago and since then i've seen multiple posts of various sorts that have just made me think about it more, so. here is me breaking down a disconnect i see particularly with younger members of the marauders fandom (i say marauders specifically just bc that's the only one i'm plugged into):

okay, so i've seen many (usually younger) marauders fans either talking online about how they wish ao3 was more like social media (specifically regarding algorithms) OR talking about ao3/fanfiction/fanfic writers as if they are operating under the same etiquette/guidelines/assumptions they would bring into social media platforms. this ranges from being mildly irritating to genuinely harmful, and i want to talk abt why.

first - you have to understand that social media, in this day and age, exists in a profit economy. and when i say social media here, i'm referring to platforms like tiktok, twitter, instagram, etc. all of these platforms exist in a profit economy where content is a product that can be monetized. this leads to a few important distinctions:

people posting on these social media platforms are generally posting with the intent to get their content seen by as many people as possible, as quickly as possible

they post with this intent because once their content is consumed by enough people, it becomes a product that they can monetize

therefore, if that content gets popular enough, these people can become influencers, where content creation is an actual job and their audience are, in a sort of vague and obscured way, similar to consumers purchasing a product

because of the profit economy surrounding social media, there are certain assumptions + forms of interaction that bleed across almost all social media platforms. the ones relevant to this little essay include:

operating under the assumption that anyone posting anything on the internet wants to go viral, ie. be seen by as many people as possible as quickly as possible in order to grow an "audience"

these influencers are creating content for us, their audience, so they should want to please us. they should also be trying to appeal to the broadest possible audience. therefore, if we dislike their content, we have a right to make that very, very clear.

in that same vein, we have a general right to critique content creators, as they are making a profit and we are the consumers purchasing their product--much like you might feel entitled to a certain standard of service in a restaurant where you are paying for the food.

when you carry these assumptions over to a platform like ao3, it creates problems. why? in a nutshell: because ao3 exists outside the profit economy

ao3 is a non-profit. it does not have an algorithm because it is not trying to sell you anything. this means that the writers posting their work on ao3 are not making a profit. we are not influencers. we are not creating monetized content to sell to a consumer-audience. where consuming content on other social media platforms might be comparable to eating at a restaurant, reading fanfiction on ao3 is more like coming over to someone's house and eating cookies that they made for free. you are in their house. the cookies are free, given as a gift. so what happens when those assumptions outlined above start to bleed over from other social media?

assuming that anyone posting fanfiction online wants their work to go viral -- i've seen this with popular fic writers getting questions like, "are you worried x isn't going to be as popular as y?" those questions are usually not ill-intended, but they demonstrate a fundamental lack of understanding about why writers post work on ao3. it's not to go viral. it's not to build any sort of online following. most of us who post on ao3 have jobs or schoolwork or other commitments, and writing fanfiction is something done for fun, out of a love for writing. those sharing their work online might be seeking community, but that is fundamentally different from seeking an audience, and in no way involves internet virality. if someone is posting fanfic on ao3 with the hope that it'll "go viral," then they likely either won't continue writing fanfic for long or will reach a point where they have to re-evalute their motivations, because seeking joy and validation by turning your art into a product for consumption just isn't very sustainable.

influencers are creating content for us, so we have a right to let them know if we don't like it -- nope!! fic writers are not influencers. yes, even the popular ones. no matter how much other people might blow their work up on social media, fic writers are still outside the profit economy. they are not creating content for an audience. they are not creating content for you. they are writing because they love it, and they are generously sharing it. if you don't like it, don't interact with it. you are never entitled to loudly and publicly proclaim how much you dislike a fic. i talk about this more here

we have a general right to critique fic writers, the same way we do with content creators/influencers -- again, no. you should not be treating fic writers the way you would treat an influencer on another social media platform, no matter how popular they may be. this is not to say fic writers are beyond all reproach; rather, it is a call-in to check your entitlement. fic writers are not little jesters entertaining in your court. they are not subject to your whims. they do not have to do things for you. they do not have to write things you like. in that post i linked on point 2, i talk about what etiquette might look like if you're really concerned that a fic writer is doing something harmful, but that is not what i'm talking about here. i am talking about the proliferation of negativity i have seen, especially on twitter and tiktok, where people essentially just talk shit about fics or fic writers as though they are entitled to have those fic writers working to please them. this is gross, and it needs to stop. you wouldn't go over to someone's house, eat the cookies they baked to share, and then spit those cookies back in their face and start shouting about what a shitty baker they are. or maybe you would--in which case, congratulations! you are Not A Good Person.

anyway, at the end of the day, a lot of this can be boiled down to: Because ao3 exists outside the profit economy, fic writers are not influencers, and you should never be treating them as though they are. i think i see this disconnect largely with younger people just because they've maybe only ever really understood social media within this sort of influencer-consumer-culture economy, and genuinely don't understand how to interact differently with the internet. so, consider this post a call-in to reevaluate the way you interact with fic writers and the etiquette you use when it comes to engaging with fanfic on ao3! i promise that ao3 being different from social media is a very, very good thing, and also a very, very rare thing, so let's treasure it and focus on fostering community rather than trying to morph it to fit the mould of influencer-audience dynamics that we see almost everywhere else <3

#tldr: fic writers aren't influencers #stop acting like they are #it only creates problems!!!! #anyway if you have engaged in some of these behaviors that doesn't make u a bad person #it just means u should maybe shift ur perspective moving forward #capitalism is a lifeless desert that grows every day and ao3 is a little oasis #let's all enjoy it while we can #instead of trying to place it within a consumer economy #ranting and raving #txt

[turtletoads]

consider. transfem gohan?

considering............

#anon you genius #gohan being an egg is like finding an oasis in a desert bro #srry i didnt technically draw him transfem 😅 the 'realizing he's transgender' idea got ahead of me #ask

[dantelionwishes]

OH TUMBLR 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺

#MY HOME....MY FRIENDS............ #I SEE ALL OF YOU #I SEE YOU ALLLLLLL #im exhausted....super mega ultra exhausted .... #u guys r my life nd blood #im like a father who finally came back with milk in hand #the father who returned. reverse horror story #I JUST HAD MY LAST DAY OF WORK TODAY AND IM SO GLAD ITS OVER #i def have to worry abt how to earn a stable amt of money sooner or later but LET ME ENJOY YOU GUYS FOR A BIT 🥺 #ur gna be so annoyed w me #i was basically on hiatus thats crayzee #ore sama da #i see the familiar usernames like an oasis in the desert

[nono-uwu]

Dawgs

great thing about being an artist is that I can make two characters that have nothing to do with eachother from completley different games interact

Also slight spoiler warning for hsr 2.1 main story in the tags (i ramble)

#the details on gallaghers clothing. or any hoyo design. i felt my braincells depleting while drawing #drawing akito after that was like an oasis in a desert #anyways did you know. that it took me. around 75 pulls. for TWO copies of Gallagher #got Acheron and a lost 50/50 in the process too #i would go for more eidolons on gallagher but i don't want luocha or e1 acheron #saving for bootyhill instead #anyways. many many thoughts about gallagher and hsr #but most importantly i love this eldritch idea of a human #craving more gallagher lore as we speek #idc that he's 'evil' i wuv him #his daily messages are so sweet asdkfminh #anyways. i should also probably read a tl the event story for dogboy akito but uhhh #'m lazy #fanart #project sekai #prsk #prsk fa #akito shinonome #honkai star rail #hsr gallagher #honkai star rail fanart

[gay-artificer]

Honestly even if I didn't care for Artihunter it is so damn refreshing to see a fandom where one of the biggest ships is two random-ass characters popularly headcanonned as girls. Its usually always twinkXtwink or two random guys no matter how focused the original source material is on girl characters. So its extremely nice to see these two creatures be one of the most popular ships having never interacted and its as a yuri couple.

#Like if it wasn't them you know it would be a five pebbles ship instead #in fact i think one of the only 'big' ships pre-downpour was NSH and 5P #And ive seen fandoms with canon main character lesbian couples take a backseat to gay men ones between literally npcs #it was dire in 2016!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! #YURI SLUG SWEEP #I could care less if its a effectively a crack ship its like finding an oasis in a desert #the desert being every other fandom #rw ship stuff

[writingwhilecaffeinated]

Saw the live-action The Little Mermaid again and dragged my husband along. He was a tad resistant cause the 1989 version is very special to him, but he said at the end he actually enjoyed it! Which is huge coming from him.

But mostly this post is about how Jonah Hauer-King’s heart eyes should be illegal! I’m sitting next to my own damn husband and that look he gives Ariel liquifies my insides. It’s not fair. I selfishly demand he be required to give that “I adore you so much it hurts” look in every project he’s in from now on wtf

Like SIR.

SIR.

DO YOU KNOW THE POWER YOU POSESS?

If people don’t start writing fanfic soon I’m doing it myself dear lord

#the little mermaid 2023 #the little mermaid #jonah hauer king #halle bailey #ariel x eric #eric x ariel #give me a heart attack why don’t you #men who can look at you like you’re an oasis in the desert have an unholy power

[jane-shepard]

f!shawson fans where are the fshawson fans

#imagine me dehydrating in a vast desert with no oasis #f!shawson #fshawson #WHERE ARE YOU GUYS

[dirtyoldmanhole]

it is so nice to finally (a) figure out exactly what is it that scratches the id itch (b) be mature enough to appreciate it with 0 shame-baggage (c) and also finally be (roughly) at the level of technical quality to draw the shit out of it and be amazed at what you can do with your own two hands

#leigh you are so right it really is like finding an oasis in the desert #like sometimes the desert's so... expansive that you over time forget what the high is like. or where even to find it again. #since there was the temptation for years when younger to shove it back in a corner because it Weird. #(krad are you waxing poetic about drawing old man porn) (yes)

[annamariedarkholmes]

watching x-twitter and r*ddit try to stir up ~dissent against brevoort because he isn’t effusive over the same pet characters who’ve been front and center at the expense of everyone else not just all krakoa but since the early 2000s

#lol don’t worry gang you have books from claremont to ellis to morrison to wh*don to hickman etc etc etc kissing the rings of your blorbos #they are straight up MAKING UP rumors about him disliking the two female characters with arguably the most militant online fanbases! which.. #im sure there’s no ulterior motive for that whatsoever lol #meanwhile fans kicked up a fuss when those two characters were treated like a housewife and a sidekick respectively in their 1st krakoa bks #as if current editorial had nothing to do w that #try being a rogue or gambit fan #or a fan of literally any asian character #other than peach momoko’s new book #the most i can hope for is more hypersexualized variant covers of kwannon #or jubes getting something if xtas 97 does well #as long as mr. yellowface is eic it’s the same ol shit to me! #someone tried telling me i should be worried as a romy fan and like sir #they’ve been shit on since the mid-90s lol we are USED TO IT 😎 #the current editor just gave an interview claiming they’ve been absent all era because they’re married #meanwhile the other married couple got endless pagetime #kelly thompson’s run was an oasis in a desert #and they chased her and all their other female and nb talent off to dc soooooooo #after antarctica? #after joseph? #after rogue getting shuffled off to the avengers for almost a decade? #after rogue’s mothers being power players for five years while she’s treated like wallpaper? #after all those weird CC interviews where he claims he was going to hook gambit up with everyone and their grandma instead of rogue? #after five years of putting them on covers of books they have two lines in? #after rogue & gambit 2.0??? #nowhere to go but up lmfaooo #x

[handsomejack-ingoff]

Handsome Jackingoff are we mutuals... Do you love me,, ? /j

we are mutuals and i love you dearly no homo. you dont take up a large percentage of my dash but every time i see you on it i light up a little because i dont have many borderlands mutuals. ur very treasured 😋🫶

#youre like a little oasis in a desert of everything else #the stuff you reblog is always a breath of fresh air compared to my usual dash 🫂

[drippling-thoughts]

There is nothing worse than being thirsty as a woman during the after-work hours when the only shop nearby is a kiosk where a group of drunk men block the way😐

#its like dying of thirst in the desert with an oasis right in front of your eyes #okay maybe im melodramatic but hopefully you get the point

[pegging-satan]

“Sky casino” is such a romantic name though. It has such a nice ring to it. It sounds so whimsical pleasant. Like a place you’d visit in a nice dream. It’s heavenly, almost. I’ve also come to associate Sigma’s colours with it; lilac pink white and orange clouds like a halo. Mwah. Immaculate

#just this combination of words it’s so 🤌🤌🤌 #it sounds like a place in Stardew valley. cindersap forest. pelican town. ginger island. calico desert. sky casino. see? it fits right in #it’s a place you can only access once you build an obelisk in your farm so that you only access the #casino when you’re rich enough. like a place you can access late game. I mean i know there’s like a club in the oasis but like yk it would #be really nice heh ya know what I’m sayin? #bungou stray dogs #sky casino #sigma bsd #.txt

[xoshepard]

before i go to bed i just gotta shoutout @inquisitioneffect and @clericofshadows for making the mods that have my boy orion looking SO right 😭 doing his makeover was so much smoother than i expected bc you guys have such excellent mods ❣️❣️❣️

#tirah talks #we stan 😤 #there are so few mshep mods for both hair and clothes ESPECIALLY for LE1 #but then there you both were. oasis in a desert.

[maaaxx]

Just walked almost 3 miles to get water because apparently my college has never heard of putting it in the vending machines 😌

#im dying #just like two posts ago i was like 'i can walk 8 miles' AND GOD SAID BET IM SENDING YOU ON A 3 MILE JOURNRY #just because i can doesnt mean i want to #i got this funky little mushroom guy tho #there was a pretty girl at the store that had nice hair #theres no side walks #i live in a rural area so like theres no side walks when i walk by my road either #but theres no semi trucks going 50 mph 5 feet away from you too #so like #i am but a man in a desert seeking an oasis while having hallucinations #max thinks shes relevant

[samkyle]

Idk why I ship them, but I do

Click for better quality

I haven't draw any 'bots since forever ! I'm happy with how they look in my new style :D

I was kinda scared I couldn't draw transformers anymore tbh 😅

Anyway, Sunstreaker's easly one of my fav tf ever and I also realy like Mirage ! And for some reasons my brain decided that they'd be cute together. And ya know what ? I'm just gonna roll with it !

Process

#drawing #fanart #transformers #tf #transformers fanart #tf fanart #sunstreaker #mirage #sunstreaker/mirage #is there a name for their ship ? #rare ship #tf rare ship #can I call them the oasis shipping ? #since you usually see the mirage of an oasis when it's realy sunny in the desert #maccadam #tf rare paring