Flagless Coining and Our Community (or lack thereof)
[pt: Flagless Coining and Our Community (or lack thereof). end pt]
@radiomogai, @rwuffles, @daybreakthing, @dragonpuff17, @angelomour, @felidaety, @sugar-sweet-fawnwife, @necrozmi, @abyssbxy, @neopronouns, @emailmeurheart, @leibotomy, @your-neighbour-coining, @rabidbatboy, @missilia-mogai. apologies for the large taglist; im tagging large mogai blogs, along with anyone who has shown interest. my thoughts may be all over the place; i have a lot to say, but struggle with putting my thoughts together in a seamless manner.
i dont make many flags. if youve been watching my blog for awhile, you will notice this; almost all of my original coining does not have flags attached to them. this is also the coining i enjoy the most! ive been very happy not making any flags for my coining. it takes away pressure from me; so many of my coining droughts have been because i have been able to produce a good flag.
these coins i love, however, barely gain any traction; almost all of my flagless coining has single digit likes and reblogs. the reblogs i do get are from archivists, who arent necessarily engaging with my posts because they like my work, but because they have a job to maintain. this has been eating at me for awhile; how can i put my heart into something i love, and get nothing in return?
perhaps its silly for me to be angry my posts arent getting engagement, especially on a place like tumblr, known for its non-existent algorithm. but the issue is, i cant help but read into it. i dont make flags because, most days, i physically cannot. im in an unstable environment that kills my motivation, and i also experience diagnosed chronic fatigue; i rarely ever have the spoons to make a cute flag.
which brings up the issue of other coiners. i consider my disability pretty mild; my fights with flag making is more of an internal struggle. what about those with visual impairments? joint issues? what about the people who physically cannot make a flag most days, if never at all? i dont make flags due to my disability; how many other flagless coiners have that same reasoning?
ive noticed a lot of larger coiners have upsetting views on this topic: without naming names, i have seen many coiners say that theyre scared of posting flagless coins, that they feel like their posts need a flag to be valid. this attitude gets reflected in large coining events, as well. my friend @emailmeurheart has a very good post about @coinfight's exclusion of flagless coins, and how it sets a worrying precedent in the community; this text(link) contains a link to this post. while this issue has been revolved, it still reflects my concerns.
in response to this, ive seen a solution come up that also worries me; coiners making separate blogs for coining labels without flags. i do not think these blogs are inherently bad, or that the coiners making them are at fault. i do think its a reflection of this communitys standards; why do people, who are often disabled, feel this pressure to segregate themselves? it also feeds into the precedent that only posts with flags mean something.
ive seen people say that this attitude is largely influenced by social media culture, and they are absolutely right. we often only engage in posts that are eye-catching: bright images, colorful text, etc. ive seen donation posts have to resort to this tactic to get any traction, and its upsetting. but flagless coiners cant put bright, colorful text in their coining posts; this in itself is often very inaccessible, and again dissuades people from engaging.
almost every flagless coiner i know doesnt make flags due to disability. whenever that be fatigue and exhaustion, mobile impairments, worsening vision, or just not having the spoons to make that effort. it poses a very interesting question; for a community that tries so hard to fight for disabled people, why dont we ever really reflect that? why do we isolate the people we say we care about? these are minor reflections of ableism that quickly pile up over time. most people reflecting this do not mean harm, and truly want to support their fellow coiner; how can we work on improving this?
the easiest way? engage! follow flagless coiners, like their posts, reblog their content and add it to your hoards. take some more time to be aware of your social media content, and read flagless coining posts in full; this skill will not just help you in mogai perusing, but general social media literacy!
another idea i had is to make flags for these flagless coins. oftentimes these coiners do want flags for their posts, but are incapable of making them. if flags encourage people to look at and support coining posts, why dont we make more of them? it would make a coiners day, uplift their work, and help people in our community!
of course, these changes cannot be made without identifying and supporting flagless coiners; here is a list for you to browse and support! if you have read this far, feel free to reblog with your favorite flagless content! it is not necessary, but heavily encouraged :) these can be dedicated blogs, specific posts, general non-coining projects; support your fellow community!
@frailcute; an anonymous coining blog ran by mod wolf (fluff/fluffs) and mod lycan (mu/mur)! frailcute has an incredibly charming gimmick; most of the coining is done by other people! folks submit their coining ideas into the mods inbox, and they platform them to a wider audience! most of the terms posted on this blog are flagless as a result.
@doomfulpage; a dedicated flagless coining blog ran by violet (she/xir)! doomfulpage is a self indulgent flagless coining blog ran by one of my dear friends. you will often see violet post terminology, subterms, and a lot of slashveral content. and i mean a LOT of slashveral content. violet has all the slashveral you could ever want!
@destoral; a dedicated flagless coining blog ran by the angelomours (hwe/shy/daze) and a co-mod (he/vamp/bug)! destoral is a roommate duo who post plenty of unique coins, mostly gender subterms for boys, girls, xips, and hexes! the co-mod, jace, has also posted awesome stuff, most notably a series of black exclusive presentations!
@scr-ppup; a general coining blog ran by kataja (he/it/xe)! scr-ppup does a variety of coining, both with flags and without. scr-ppup posts dozens of incredible terms, mostly revolving around songic genders, horror/suspense/slasher movies, neoumbrella coining, and whump related terms!
@catastrophe-coins; a primarily flagless coining blog ran by wish (it/its)! catastrophe-coins often coins labels under gender systems, including genderfreak, genderauthor, genderperformar, and genderkiss! it also coins lot labels related to flux labels, cryptids, and hoards!
