snake habitat turn around

this is a sideblog

[bcdenofsnakes]

it is also because this is most people’s first sport fandom so they are not familiar with how athletes act with each other. this kind of behaviors that wm do is not even exclusive to hockey. there are many duos past and present in other sports that act in a similar way and some even way worse. if you didn’t grow up around these athletes or have never been a fan of athletes before, then it might seem like it’s so unique to wm but i promise it’s very normal especially in sports world and even in fraternities.

yeah... just off the dome, here are some good examples of that from non wm athletes:

players from team switzerland humping each other in the pregame tunnel during the iihf 2022 worlds tournament

leon draisaitl tenderly cupping an injured conner mcdavid's head

alex ovechkin and nicklas backstrom's joint life insurance policy commercial

travis konecny kissing nolan patrick's cheek in the tunnel

baseball players ronald acuna jr. and ozzie albies cuddling each other in the dugout

i don't disagree that w+m are absolutely insane about each other, but none of the guys in these clips are gay or expect their behavior to be interpreted that way lol. these types of shenanigans are SO normal for straight male athletes!

[bcdenofsnakes]

"a failure to try to understand will + mack within hockey culture vs. projecting their own thoughts/experiences/beliefs onto them" is truly the crux of the disconnect around here. every big hockey duo gets a sort of bromance-y treatment from casters, media, middle-aged guy fans, and so on. there's respect and weight given to the friendship to maintain a compelling story, but none of that everrrr crosses over into genuine 'these guys love each other romantically' convos because codependency is commonplace. *that* is the culture that they are part of and see the most. outside of like, the mack fighting edits will mentioned seeing, they are not touching or thinking about shippers. not enough know how serious people are, let alone enough to be dropping clues, or to be baiting, or anything else in between. too many times i've seen people earnestly believe they mustttt be trying to say something to us, they must know, are they lurking!?!1?1 no. lmao. the truth is that, in spaces like theirs, implying gayness between straight dudes falls into the 'so absurd it's funny' category, not weird until someone makes it. that's why it's so important to avoid going completely batshit in their faces, to the point they would have to fully confront that people are being for real. pride tape means nothing and the stripper does not love you, it will end poorly

exactly! and this is not even getting into how homophobic hockey culture itself is and how growing up in that environment has likely shaped will + mack's world views. also that attitude of people believing that they must be lurking, must be giving signs/hints... classic tinhatting thought pattern, but also shows how much tinhatting beliefs involve centering yourself in the narrative. it gets very parasocial very quickly where all of w+m's actions are viewed through the lens of how it looks to specifically to tinhatters and this assumption that w+m themselves are considering how tinhatters are going to view + interpret it. no one considers that w+m don't gaf what people editing shippy tiktoks about them online are going to think, and that maybe they actually care about what their own friends/social circle think and those are the opinions they value and are concerned about lol.

i've also seen the sentiment 'well they most likely have seen shippy stuff and haven't said anything, so that means they don't mind it/endorse it' and it's like. what do you think it would look like if they said something about it? do you think will or mack are going to post an instagram story making a statement saying "please don't say gay shit about us"??? is THAT what we want to happen before people stop? and like you said, if things progressed to the point that people got so in their faces with it that they did feel compelled to do something about it, then it's already gone far enough to do serious damage. that's what has happened to other real life public figures who have been the victims of tinhatting conspiracies and what i would like to avoid with willmack.

[bcdenofsnakes]

rpf vs. tinhatting

okay making this post for newbies to tumblr fandom, particularly willmack fans who might have come here from other places (especially if you discovered willmack via heated rivalry) and don't understand some of the words you're seeing get thrown around as there are A LOT of wrong definitions out there.

rpf: (short for real person fiction): specifically this means writing fan fiction about real people, typically celebrities/public figures, but can also include any fandom activity - putting together lore posts to make fictional speculative theories, making up fun scenarios to discuss with people, even shippy video edits. the emphasis with rpf is on the F for FICTION and the shared understanding that it's all for fun and no one seriously believes that the people involved in the ship are romantically involved in real life.

tinhatting: there's a lot more definitions of what tinhatting means out there, so let's go with wiktionary's definition to get on the same page:

tinhatting is not the same as rpf; tinhatting means you've crossed the line from fiction and now believe the speculated relationship is real. posting and discussing "evidence" of why you believe it's a real relationship is the conspiracy theory part.

does this difference make sense?

rpf = fiction. for fun. not real. make believe.

tinhatting = you think it's real. other people on the rpf side of fandom will think your beliefs are delusional and that you're crossing the line with your behavior. it's not cool to do this in fandom

hockey rpf - fan fiction about hockey players - has been posted on ao3 with works backdated to 2003. that is how long people have been fictionally shipping hockey players, since before will or mack were even BORN. it is not new, and while it's fine to be new yourself to fandom, learning about how hockey fandom works is important, because the tinhatting stuff and talking about shipping on unlocked twitter, for example, is how it ends up being discussed on spittin chiclets, which leads to negative attention that none of us want.

this is important: will and mack are not in a secret, closeted relationship that can be proven by observable behavior by outsiders. if you believe this, you are engaging in tinhatting and delusional thinking. this is not a new phenomenon; people have tinhatted many other celebrities. dominic monaghan/elijah wood from the lord of the rings movies, louis tomlinson/harry styles from one direction; there are even conspiracy theories that taylor swift is secretly a lesbian. tinhatting typically leads to stalking and harassment, and eventually the people involved in the speculated relationship pull back from the public eye or even stop interacting with one another. this sucks! we do not want this!

please, if you are new to hockey fandom and enjoying willmack, try to understand the difference here. rpf is really fun and enjoyable, but tinhatting behavior can lead to really ugly things.

[bcdenofsnakes]

@tealdawn i can't reply directly to you because this is a side blog, but i fear you have missed my point. i am in fact saying that really thinking the relationship might be real is what tinhatting is. you are crossing the line from rpf/fiction/make believe when you start to speculate this way, even if you're still saying "maybe" or "might" or "hope" and don't 100% believe. you are still attempting to interpret a public figure's behavior to seriously discern their imagined private life, even if you are leaving room for doubt in your interpretation. you can rpf about any real people, because it's all fiction. it does not have to have a basis in reality. you blur the line between fantasy and reality when you start thinking your interpretation is anything other than fiction, and this is the issue. full stop.

[bcdenofsnakes]

very much agreed with that last anon + post. what some people don't understand (and why i find it particularly annoying that some are treating the username as either a hint or a 4th wall break) is that they ARE extra about e/o on purpose, but that's not because they're fucking lol. they clearly like each other a lot and prefer doing things together, that's entirely genuine and platonic- but we also have to view the things they choose to do publicly, especially on socials, through the lens of how they want other people to view them. will has talked about how they admire other duos' legacy and want that for themselves iirc, they WANT to be viewed as a unit and get attention in that way. he's even gone as far as to imply that they want to stick with the org into retirement like other sharks have. but absolutely none of that means that they're secretly dating, or the only reason that they do what they do is because that they are dating.

it's impossible for them to be oblivious to the side effects of their posts, etc, and right now i think they care more about building that legacy and association than they care about getting called gay sometimes. BUT if people are annoying enough i wouldn't be surprised if their priorities changed and they pulled back and we had less to rpf with, which would suck. every get more normal now!!!!

also i highly doubt they'll ever legit speak out against it because i think they're also smart enough to understand that will only bring more attention to it and stir more shit, it's up to the fandom to control themselves, not for them to manage us or show that approve / disapprove of what we do. the new username is not the rpf endorsement that people want it to be lol

yeah! all you have to do is look at the views on will's tiktoks when it's a joint video with mack vs. a solo video or with someone else to see the difference. willmack sells! they are for sure aware of these optics. the team itself is also clearly aware that willmack drives engagement - they've done the sleepover bobbleheads, the stepbrother t-shirts, constantly ask will + mack about each other, push that narrative. mack is a generational hockey talent who is going to fill arenas on his own, but having a hockey duo who are willing to engage in social media stuff to court engagement from fans is absolutely beneficial to everyone involved. will and mack also both have their own sponsorship deals, and their social media numbers definitely help them land those as well. to quote luke hughes, "hockey is a business."

the spittin chiclets pod's take was also insightful on the matter - they ascribed "hundreds of girls" showing up to practices to the judi jupiter videos blowing up and "that show" (heated rivalry), which is obviously a dismissive and misogynistic view of female fans, but does show the lack of nuance and understanding these guys have. sure, maybe will + mack are slightly more dialed in, but it's also very possible they lump all of this attention together as generalized female attention and don't realize that there is a subset of fans who seriously think they are dating each other. a general trend i see with willmack fans, particularly those who engage in tinhatting, is a failure to try to understand will + mack within hockey culture vs. projecting their own thoughts/experiences/beliefs onto them. you cannot assume will + mack share your own world view! it is probably much closer to what biz and whitney think, unfortunately.

also yeah - if the stalking/attention starts really crossing a line, or will or mack get partners and those people start getting harassed, that's where things will get ugly and i'd expect to see a change in behavior and them shutting down the duo thing. this is what we want to avoid!! so please everyone, get more chill now!!

[bcdenofsnakes]

i have been seeing a lot of comments under wm edits on tiktok saying they no longer care they are rpf’ing or shipping on main because will and mack are doing it too by changing the tiktok username. so i just feel like what wm are trying to do and what the fandom thinks they are doing are two different things… like i think will and mack wanted so badly to be a HOCKEY DUO like other legendary pairs but the fans are interpreting it as them wanting to come out or soft launching.

exactly this. when the sharks broadcast or brodie brazil uses the term 'willmack', do people honestly think they mean it with romantic connotations? or is the more likely explanation they are using it to mean will + mack as a hockey duo, since 'willmack' is constantly tossed around in online spaces where everyone under the sun is seeing it. even when will + mack were brought up to jamie drysdale on what chaos, he called them a hockey duo and talked about how hockey duos get more attention. that is how actual people within the hockey world view 'willmack.'

also i'm guessing a lot of these newer fans weren't around the first time will changed his tiktok handle to rebrand as a joint account (which was back in october 2025 when he posted the dumb + dumber video). here's will's comments on it:

will changed it to a solo account around the time he had that ford bronco sponsorship in the spring (so those are the likely dots i'm connecting on why he changed it), and now that the wcpsmrc handle is taken and he wanted to rebrand back to a joint account to post a new joint video, he was probably stuck with wmack271 because all the other combinations were already taken by fans lol. i mean, unless sheng asks him about it again and we get it straight from the horse's mouth, no one can say definitively why will's doing what he's doing, but let's be for real here lmao

[bcdenofsnakes]

regarding the whole 'straight until proven otherwise' discussion i think the issue for me is that people often choose to ignore all the things that do point to them being straight. like there's obviously a lot of things showing mack likes women (ex gf, trinity car ride you will always be remembered etc.), you have will talking about tate mcrae etc. and to me the issue is when people go 'well they could be gay!!!' these things are always ignored lol. and idk about their actual sexualities i just think it's stupid to act like there's not very obvious context clues showing that they at least would like to be perceived as straight. (doesn't mean you can't rpf!!!) thanks for making that post!

yes, exactly! all this!

i'm truly not interested in speculating on their irl private lives (which i know will read as insincere after my post kicking the hornet's nest about this topic lol) but i'm here for the rpf. i've seen other fandoms become extremely toxic when tinhatting has taken root, and despite making this sideblog today to make my little PSA, i've been in hockey fandom long before willmack came around. i followed will's college career before mack was drafted by the sharks. i am invested in having a peaceful fandom experience and genuinely trying to educate and reach new fans who don't understand the nuances of rpf. it SUCKS seeing spittin chiclets bring fandom stuff up to matty beniers. it SUCKS seeing screenshots of locked fic get posted on twitter for engagement bait. invasive tinhatting behaviors and bad boundaries contribute to that sort of stuff, which is why i'm desperately trying to get people to understand why it's a problem. i don't know that this is going to work but hopefully it gets through to some people!

[bcdenofsnakes]

You can “tinhat” and believe a ship is real without taking it to a place of stalking and making the people involved feel uncomfortable. Also, to the people involved, there’s no real different between rpf fics and tinhatting, the hockey players will see it the same way (so ALL of it should be kept away from them at all costs). Anyway, trying to make a moral distinction between the two is kind of bs. You can dislike tinhatting, but you can’t really act like “regular” rpf is any better.

maybe YOU can, but many people can't, and a fandom environment that encourages tinhatting beliefs is one that enables the stalking and boundary crossing whether you personally engage in that behavior or not. you are throwing your lot in with these people.

i'm not going to argue about the morals of rpf, but i think maintaining a distinction between fact and fiction is important. i think we need to constantly remind ourselves we don't KNOW a public figure's personal life no matter how much access we get. we don't know their private thoughts and beliefs, nor what goes on behind closed doors. when you start tinhatting, that line gets whittled away little by little until you can't tell the difference anymore. it's a dangerous game to play. it's less about morals and more about boundaries to be honest, as it's not just tinhatters who cross these lines; tinhatting just tends to lead to echo chambers and increased delusional thinking, which is why i made this blog to try to address it and hopefully pull some people back from the edge before they fall down this hole.

[bcdenofsnakes]

I agree with most of what you're saying in your post about rpf, but I just want to add that it's not really a 'conspiracy theory' to think someone might be queer? your post is kinda giving straight until proven otherwise. idk its not really offensive to say someone might be gay? I get where you're coming from and yeah Larry and Gaylor are easy to point to and say 'look at these ~crazy~ people who think celebrities are secretly gay', but c'mon, it's just as tinhatty to think they are dating any girl they are associated with - I just think equating the possibility of someone being gay to a conspiracy theory is a bit harmful. we don't know that they're definitely straight either and calling them straight could be called a conspiracy theory too. idk if this makes sense I just think it's not the craziest thing ever to think someone could be gay. 'you shouldn't speculate on real people's sexualities' argument is never really extended towards the people who think they're straight is all I'm saying

no i hear you, and my post does not say i think they are dating any girl they are linked with either. i don't know their personal lives, nor do i super care about any alleged dating/hookup rumors. the tinhatty conspiracy here is specifically that will + mack are dating each other and whatever "romantic" moments people think they're observing between them prove it. and tinhatting does exist with straight couples - i believe that tessa virtue and scott moir have some tinhats, for example - though you see it a lot more with queer male ships.

as far as speculating on real people's sexualities... sure i generally agree we shouldn't default to people being straight, but there are some complicating factors when it comes to hockey players specifically. there are no out queer active male nhl players because of hockey's toxic culture. hockey culture is heteronormative, homophobic, racist, and misogynistic - you don't have to dig much to find examples of this stuff at all levels of the sport. players like will and mack are most likely to assume that everyone around them believes that they are straight, because straight is the default in hockey, and the kind of homoerotic touching they do is the norm with this presumption of straightness (you can find countless examples of things like ass slapping, pretend humping, hugs, even fake cheek/neck kissing amongst nhl players - this is regular hockey behavior across the board, even if will + mack do it a lot).

does any of this mean we know 100% how they identify? no, obviously not. i don't have any more personal insight into their private lives than the next person. but my point is a) their behavior is not particularly unusual for a hockey player, so trying to read into it to "prove" anything seems silly to me when you consider them within the CONTEXT of their environment, specifically when it comes to being in a secret relationship with each other and b) if we entertain the idea that either one of them DOES identify as queer but hasn't chosen to come out because of the potential repercussions, isn't trying to prove they're gay and outing them before they're ready a shitty thing to do?

[bcdenofsnakes]

rpf vs. tinhatting

okay making this post for newbies to tumblr fandom, particularly willmack fans who might have come here from other places (especially if you discovered willmack via heated rivalry) and don't understand some of the words you're seeing get thrown around as there are A LOT of wrong definitions out there.

rpf: (short for real person fiction): specifically this means writing fan fiction about real people, typically celebrities/public figures, but can also include any fandom activity - putting together lore posts to make fictional speculative theories, making up fun scenarios to discuss with people, even shippy video edits. the emphasis with rpf is on the F for FICTION and the shared understanding that it's all for fun and no one seriously believes that the people involved in the ship are romantically involved in real life.

tinhatting: there's a lot more definitions of what tinhatting means out there, so let's go with wiktionary's definition to get on the same page:

tinhatting is not the same as rpf; tinhatting means you've crossed the line from fiction and now believe the speculated relationship is real. posting and discussing "evidence" of why you believe it's a real relationship is the conspiracy theory part.

does this difference make sense?

rpf = fiction. for fun. not real. make believe.

tinhatting = you think it's real. other people on the rpf side of fandom will think your beliefs are delusional and that you're crossing the line with your behavior. it's not cool to do this in fandom

hockey rpf - fan fiction about hockey players - has been posted on ao3 with works backdated to 2003. that is how long people have been fictionally shipping hockey players, since before will or mack were even BORN. it is not new, and while it's fine to be new yourself to fandom, learning about how hockey fandom works is important, because the tinhatting stuff and talking about shipping on unlocked twitter, for example, is how it ends up being discussed on spittin chiclets, which leads to negative attention that none of us want.

this is important: will and mack are not in a secret, closeted relationship that can be proven by observable behavior by outsiders. if you believe this, you are engaging in tinhatting and delusional thinking. this is not a new phenomenon; people have tinhatted many other celebrities. dominic monaghan/elijah wood from the lord of the rings movies, louis tomlinson/harry styles from one direction; there are even conspiracy theories that taylor swift is secretly a lesbian. tinhatting typically leads to stalking and harassment, and eventually the people involved in the speculated relationship pull back from the public eye or even stop interacting with one another. this sucks! we do not want this!

please, if you are new to hockey fandom and enjoying willmack, try to understand the difference here. rpf is really fun and enjoyable, but tinhatting behavior can lead to really ugly things.