I keep seeing the take that authors on AO3 need to stop deleting their fics and instead to orphan them without any explanation of the consequences of orphaning a fic and as an author I really need to say something to this.
Stop telling people to just orphan their fics.
Orphaning a fic means giving up any and all ownership over it. No way to claim it back, edit it or delete it. Yes it's an archive but an author should still have the right to delete their work if they feel like they don't want it to be up anymore.
Readers always scream for authors to orphan their fics instead of deleting because they feel like they have a right to the fanworks that is shared with them for free. If it's so important to you to not lose a fic, download it. Also comment and encourage the authors, instead of telling them to give up all ownership to their work.
To authors, if you think about deleting your fics, there are other options you should employ first. If you don't want it connected to your name, put it into an anonymous collection. As long as it's in there, noone can see you wrote it, you still can edit ot or delete it and moderate comments on it. You can even move it to anther account, just create another one, add it as co author and then take your main account off. Then you can still edit it from your second account but it's no longer connected to your account.
If you don't want it to show anymore put it in a unrevealed collection, that way, the fic won't show up but it's still there, you can still see it, read comments and make it public again.
If you feel the urge to delete your fic, try one of these options first and see how you feel about it after a while, you can still delete or orphan afterwards, but this hopefully makes your decision easier.
Only orphan a fic if you're 100% sure. This is permanent, there is no way back from that, AO3 support will NOT help you if you did it on accident or change your mind. Don't listen to people telling you to just orphan it, make very sure, this is what you want.
I feel like simply calling JK Rowling a transphobe isn't strong enough anymore. Like. This is not your grandpa calling you by your deadname at a restaurant kind of transphobic. This is her wanting to eradicate all trans people (with an extra special hatred towards trans women specifically). This is her trying just that by personally funding transphobic hate groups with millions to push around laws in the UK. It is not hyperbolic to call her a dangerous, genocidal maniac.
It's not about cancelling a problematic writer. It's about literally trying to save lives by denying her as much money and power as possible.
My absolute gospel truth and I'm sorry this is so sappy but--where I'm living, Ilya fully changes his name to Hollander when they get married, like just fully legally changes it. And despite the fact that he continues to use Rozanov professionally ("Just like J. Lo," Ilya says.) everyone who knows them personally obviously knows what Ilya's legal name is and also assume it's a way to kind of stick it to his shitheel father. To this end, and kind of as a joke at first, people start referring to their two-person unit as The Hollanders ("Okay, the Hollanders are in room 508" etc.) but it becomes steadily less and less a joke when neither Shane or Ilya really seems to think of it as one. Ilya especially seems to genuinely love it. He'll say shit like "Oh yes the Hollanders will be there" when asked if they're coming to a barbecue like they live in a postcard. He LOVES to give his name as Ilya Hollander and he LOVES to book reservations under 'Misters Hollander' and he LOVES to say the words 'Shane and Ilya Hollander' out loud with his mouth. I also think that for their last game together in the league Ilya and Shane wear jerseys that say S. Hollander 24 and I. Hollander 81 and it's like. An end of an era type thing. And they frame the jerseys.
i think one of the takes i will stand by the hardest is that i don't think characters of color can be woobified. i think woobification involves a level of blinding love that i have not seen any character of color been shown in my time in fandom spaces, and i think the handwringing about "making sure" not to woobify [x character of color] is actually misplaced discomfort that characters of color are popular.
to convince me characters of color can be woobified you need to also convince me fandom is so antiracist that people will ride hard enough for poc that they ignore any wrongdoings by a morally grey character because they love them so much. and that is just not something i believe is happening lmao
bringing this back bc all the people who complain about characters of color being 'woobified' for some reason never ever talk about the racism these characters face. isn't that interesting? and no, it doesn't do anyone any favors to continue living in a bubble where a character of color exists and faces no racism from the fandom. that's not real and you look stupid and ignorant pretending that it is.
feeling guilty over not working on your fic is so silly if you think about like why are you stressing over the hobby you do in your free time for fun lol wip not whip
i knowwwwww in my heart ilya would love taking shanes last name and after they have kids referring to their family unit as hollanders. ilya turning around to the backseat like okey hollanders here is plan. we are going to be in and out of costco in thirty minutes. you may choose ONE item each. if we get separated we meet at optometrist. we will get ice creams on way out as long as everyone is cool and nobody tells dad. hollanders on three.
I've seen a bunch of "fandom etiquette" posts on my dash today and I'm going to say something that is maybe going to be unpopular but;
The absolutely pervasive mentality that unwanted criticism or critique shouldn't be given and should be ignored is why fans of color don't stay in fan spaces.
And I am not going to mince words here:
A lot of you are racist. A lot of your fan works are racist.
That might have been difficult to hear. And if it was, you should probably reflect on why that was.
"Fandom etiquette" has created a space where fans of color either bite our tongues and eventually leave or say something, get dogged on, and then eventually leave.
So much of "fandom etiquette" seems to be about insulating creatives from Feeling Bad and hostility to any kind of negative feedback is a pretty big contributor to why bigotry festers in these spaces.
#imo the potluck analogy applies- it would be rude to critique someone's icing technique at a potluck bc it wasn't as good as at the bakery #but if they had decorated their cupcakes w hate symbols it wouldn't be rude to tell them that's gross and gtfo #in fact it would be inappropriate to NOT say anything in that situation #or to complain that another guest who did point it out was 'ruining everyone's potluck' #and pointing out racism in fan works is 100% the second thing not the first! (via destructions-daughter)
I think carter vaughn as a black hockey player who has been in hockey locker rooms his entire life has learned to play the offensive when it comes to loudly being an ally and generally letting other players know where he stands so that he knows which guys are also cool and which guys are calling him a liberal cuck
Shane has been sitting on the couch in the family room, staring into space, for over an hour. Ilya, at first, tries to leave him be, but then he becomes increasingly concerned.
After ten more minutes, Ilya finally allows himself to approach.
âShane?â Ilya says lightly.
Shane just hmms back in acknowledgment, but he doesnât turn his head or make eye contact. His gaze stays fixed entirely on the black tv screen in front of him.
Ilya takes this as Shane not having an emergency needing medical attention, so he backs off, moving to the love seat on the other side of the room. He wants to stay close in case Shane needs him, but still give him his space.
So Ilya sits. And he plays Candy Crush on his phone. And he taps his foot. And eventually he starts pacing around the house, counting five hundred steps before he allows himself to go back and check on Shane. Every time he finds him in the same state.
Twenty minutes later, heâs calling Yuna in a panic.
âIlya, honey. Iâm sure heâs fine. What was he doing before this?â
âHe just got back from media day. Photos, interviews, a few TikToks. He didnât even have practice.â
Yuna laughs, and Ilya immediately furrows his brow in annoyance. He doesnât like that Shaneâs mother isnât taking this seriously. âThatâll do it! Shane just needs a minute to decompress. Leave him be.â
Ilya wanders deeper into the house, making sure Shane canât overhear the conversation. He whisper-yells anyways. âBut, heâs been in this ⌠stupor! for almost 2 hours.â
Yuna laughs again, and Ilya does not like that sheâs laughing at his concern for her son. âIlya. He is fine. He gets like this sometimes because of his autism.â
*****
Ilya does know what autism is. There was a kid at camp this past summer, Harlow, who had autism. Ilya read up about it a bit at the time, and read through the camp intake forms from Harlowâs psychologist with his plan of action.
Ilya spent a lot of time with him at camp, sometimes practicing away from the other players to give Harlow some space. The other counsellors praised him for how naturally good Ilya was with him, especially considering he had no experience.
But Shane? Shane didnât have autism. Did he?
But then. Then, Ilya is thinking about it.
Suddenly Ilya is remembering the reading he did on autism in the summer. And then heâs thinking about Shane.
Trouble making eye contact? Yeah, sometimes Shane avoids looking at him, and Ilya has to guide Shaneâs eyes to his by grabbing his chin. But that didnât mean anything?
Hyperfixations? Yes, Shane loved hockey. But doesnât every NHL player love hockey? Maybe not to the extent of Shane, with his savant-like memory of stats and past players. But Shane was just smart?
Trouble reading cues in social situations? Yeah, sometimes Ilya had to ask Shane a question a few times before he understood what he meant. Or avoid using sarcasm. He generally tried to keep his words direct and to the point with Shane, which was natural for Ilya who didnât always know the english words for things. But that didnât mean Shane had autism?
But when Yuna says it, everything clicks for Ilya. Itâs like heâs unlocked a closet of flashbacks in his head, and all of the memories are coming out dressed differently.
Shane has ⌠autism?
*****
After wrapping his head around that, he asks Yuna some more questions about what he can do to support Shane when heâs like this.
His mom basically says to leave him and let him come out of it on his own, but of course Ilya is too stubborn and too much of a caretaker for that. So he takes whatever advice Yuna could give him and sets off to the family room.
First, he turns off the overhead lights in the room, and opens the curtains just a bit to let in some natural light. Then he gets to work in the kitchen, preparing Shane a snack (ants on a log) and filling up his water bottle. He had to hunt around the house for Shaneâs bottle, because he only likes to drink out of this one brand (god he canât believe he didnât realize his boyfriend had autism).
Finally, he sets a blanket and Shaneâs headphones in reach, in case heâd prefer them.
Then Ilya parks himself back on the love seat, book in hand. He plans to stay nearby Shane in case he needs him.
Ilya gets really enthralled by his book, and is able to disengage from his worry for a while. He doesnât know how long itâs been when he finally hears Shaneâs voice.
âIlya?â he sounds raspy, like he just woke up from a nap.
Ilya gets up immediately, blanket falling on the floor. He walks over to Shane, who has his arms extended out to embrace him.
Ilya, of course, goes willingly into Shaneâs arms as the other man tugs him into his lap. Ilya rests one knee on the outside of each of Shaneâs, and lets himself be pulled into his chest.
Shane holds him tightly, so Ilya mimics the gesture and wraps his arms firmly around Shaneâs back and shoulders.
Shane presses a kiss and then a bite into Ilyaâs shoulder, holding it for a moment. Itâs not terribly hard, but it probably still leaves a bit of a mark after he removes his teeth from his skin a moment later.
Shane seems more alert now, so Ilya decides to start to talk, just a little.
âBetter?â Ilya asks softly.
Shane nods into his shoulder. âYeah, sorry. Havenât gotten like that in a while.â
Ilya holds him silently a while longer before speaking again, working up the courage. âYour mom said you get like this because of your autism, yes?â
He feels Shane stiffen in his arms a bit, but doesnât let go. All he gets in response is a small nod that he feels more than sees.
âWhy did you not tell me you had autism?â
Shane shrugs. âItâs not something I advertise. Nobody in the NHL knows. I couldnât exactly tell my arch rival,â Shane puts on a light teasing tone by the end, but Ilya can see right through it.
âWell sure, but we have been boyfriends for over a year now.â
Shane squirms in his hold, but doesnât say anything.
âYou know I do not care, right? Youâre still My Shane no matter what,â Ilya reassures.
Shane sighs. âI know you donât care. I thought about telling you when we had Harlow at camp this summer, but how was I supposed to say it? âHey, I have that too!ââ
âWell ⌠yes?â
Shane pulls away from Ilyaâs embrace so he can frown at him.
âIt just got out of hand. The longer I put it off, the weirder it felt to mention it. Iâm so used to not sharing the diagnosis with people because I donât want them to treat me differently. Or make it seem like Iâm a worse hockey player because of it.â
Shane had frustrated tears on his lower lash line now that Ilya wiped away. âI get why you do not tell everyone. But I love you and I want to know so I can support you and not make it worse.â
âYou donât!â Shane is adamant. âYou, like, know me really well.â Shane tucks his face back into the side of Ilyaâs neck. âCan we please stop talking about this now? Iâm fine. Thank you for the water and the snack.â
Ilya smirks and rolls them over so Shane is underneath him, Ilya still straddling his hips.
âYes, we can stop talking about it.â He presses a kiss into Shaneâs neck, sucking a little. âFor now. We are not done on this subject.â
Shane rolls his eyes but agrees.
âGood, now eat your ants on a log.â
*****
Later, in bed, Ilya is asking an unwilling Shane every single question thatâs come to his head since his phone call with Yuna earlier.
âIs that why we have to eat the same meal at least two nights in a row?â âProbably, yeah.â
âIs that why you have earplugs you sometimes wear on the bench between shifts?â Shane nods.
âIs that why sometimes you wonât look at me when Iâm sucking your dick?â
Shane turns bright red. âI donât know Ilya! Maybe! Please can we stopââ
Ilya interrupts: âIs that why in every single one of your baby photos you are wearing a t-shirt with a hockey stick on it?â
Yuna realizes that Shane and Ilya are in LOVE love when she hears singing coming from the kitchen.
âChopping carrots with Ilya,â Shane sings under his breath. âMaking salad with Ilya.â
Yuna smiles softly from the dining room. This is one of her favorite things about her son. From the time he could (barely) talk, he made up little songs about anything and everything. The first time heâd done it, heâd been strapped into his car seat and watching cars go by. When heâd caught Yunaâs eye in the rear view mirror, heâd smiled with all 8 of his little teeth and waved.
âDwiving,â heâd sung, all of 18 months old and barely able to say the word properly. âDwivinâ wiâ Mama. Wuv Mama.â
Yunaâs not sure if itâs Shaneâs way of processing the world around him, just A Thing some people do, or something special about her baby boy. All she knows is that from the first time heâd made up a little tune about Driving With Mama, everything turned into a song. When heâs comfortable and feeling at ease, Shane turns little things around him into music.
Learning to tie his shoes? âDaddyâs teaching me to tie my shoes. One lace over the other. Make the bunny ears!â
Gearing up for practice when he was 8? âGoing to practice. Gonna be great. Gonna score a goal!â
Studying for a science test? âMitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell. Everyone says it because itâs true. Moving onâorganelles and cell walls.â
Gearing up for his first Metros game as captain? âTaping my hockey stick. Going out on the ice. Gonna kick some ass.â
Itâs something so uniquely, adorably, perfectly Shane.
Today, though? As Shaneâs in the kitchen preparing a salad for lunch? For the first time, someone else sings along. For the first time in Shaneâs life, someone hears the tune and lyrics that only exist in his head and joins in.
âMaking salad with Shane,â Ilya croons along, hooking his chin over his boyfriendâs shoulder and wrapping strong arms around his waist. âPreparing lunch with my love.â
Shane smiles and sings back as Ilya nuzzles his neck. âBeing domestic with my boyfriend. Thinking of boring things we can do together.â
Ilya laughs and kisses his ear before finishing the song. âI love to be boring with yooouuuu.â
"Mixed Asian representation in American popular culture parallels how mixed Asians are often perceived by the publicâas fair-skinned, ambiguous, and exotic, but whose identities are constructed through their positionality to others. In shows that are white-led, they remain not quite white, their ambiguous faces the butts of the punchline (at times self-referentially), their backgrounds barely mentioned. They serve the story as entrancing secondary characters with no evidence of their Asianness (or whiteness, for that matter), but whose likenesses cause the audience to discern whether theyâre mixed Asian on and offscreen."
"In HBO/Craveâs queer hockey romance series adaptation, Shane Hollander (Korean-Dutch Hudson Williams) Japanese-Canadian background, never specified as Japanese, is mentioned three times. First, Shaneâs manager congratulates his team on breaking barriers by signing him. Next, his mother (Taiwanese-Filipino/white Christina Chang) reminds Shane of the community he represents. Finally, Shane mentions to his white date he was one of two Asian boys who played hockey. Despite this. Heated Rivalry includes no gestural or cultural signs of Shaneâs Asianness throughout the season. Even when Shane and his love interest Ilya Rosanov (Connor Storrie) eat dinner with Shaneâs parents, spaghetti is whatâs on the menu.
The lack of development in Shaneâs identity is more pronounced by the pervasiveness of Ilyaâs Russian background, which includes relationships with other Russians, language, an accent, and distinct customs. Ilyaâs identity informs how he moves through the world, a navigation threaded throughout the season, that Shane simply isnât allowed to experience."
From Resonate Voices
I'm so glad this gets talked about how Russianness is so overwhelmingly part of the story vs Shane's mixed race is nothing more than the way he looks and there is no cultural underpinning whatsoever. I know fandom has complained about it since the dawn of time, but it's nice to see it written about. The examples the article cites are almost all things Jacob added to the script because of how in the book, Shane is fully reduced to his "exotic" face and hairless body.
ETA:
For the people writing big RR defense essays in the tags about assimilation:
Yes, assimilation is a thing and could certainly be part of Shane's plotline. But it's not written anywhere. It's not addressed in any meaningful way by RR. She literally made Shane a fetishist caricature, and if you don't recognize that, you seriously need to engage with stories not written by white people about pocs.
Shane being assimilated could be a very interesting path to take if she bothered to actually research and do something meaningful with it. Because while it's possible that Shane has ZERO connection to his mom's culture (and like possible but highly implausible, bc even if you take Hudson himself as an example, who clearly doesn't speak Korean fluently, at least he has Korean aunties teaching him about K-beauty and some very subtle Asian mannerisms - I'm not asking Shane to make a tea ceremony or wear kimono but some acknowledgement of being BI-racial could take much more subtle forms), the fact that he enters the league as an Asian-looking person in itself generates a conflict of him not feeling different from any other Canadian player but is being othered because of his looks.
Also, this is a blog that is openly critical of RR's writing. I think the racial representation and biases in all the books is absolutely terrible, and I we need to talk about that and acknowledge it as a fandom so people realize it's not normal to write an Asian character be "exotic, hairless, small, bottom, submissive, stupid with a tiny dick who is evil to be more ambitious than his big, sexy, VERY INTELLIGENT, traumatised, talented big-dicked white love interest" and get diversity awards for it. Book!Shane is one of the worst caricatures I've ever seen in my life and I frankly don't know how an editor didn't point this out.
throughout the late 2000s and early 2010s, our generation was inundated with aave. it eclipsed lolcat as the "funny way to talk." ain't nobody got time fo dat turns into dat boi o shit waddup. this is blatantly not an "aracial" or "gen z" way to talk. it IS black english. not to mention the amount of black reaction images!!
WHY, specifically, is it black peoples' facial expressions that are seen as just so comical or exaggerated? analyze the history of this nation's comedy and tell me why you might be predisposed to thinking of black peoples' faces as just, "more emotive" or exaggeratedly funny than a white or nonblack person's
and throughout those years, 00s-10s, many black bloggers -- victims of the mass staff-led purge (under the cover of them being 'russian' while reichblr still exists) -- they DID tell us it was a problem, DID try to educate people who freak out at the insinuation of 'being racist,' DID argue, DID point out the duplicity and the appropriation and the gross equivalence of african american slang with unintelligence, goofiness, etc. and they were ignored, abused, cancelled, chased off, until being eventually mass deleted by our racist transmisogynistic staff.
we didn't do enough, and the generation after us gen z "kids" didn't stop the trend. using the '-ahh' suffix. rizz. no cap. ate. delulu. it's giving. it's serving. crash out. lock in. aura. tea. main character. bruh. slay. real. keep it 100.
all of the following images are or were popular reaction images! what do they all have in common?
it feels like the effort to categorize slang as AAVE and not 'gen z' or 'gen alpha' slang has really petered out. it feels like we stopped talking about digital blackface in an era where the administration is posting ai-generated videos of black women who speak and act like exaggerated stereotypes and it frustrates me because we all have a responsibility to understand our generation's role in normalizing this type of racist shit for kids today. this needs to be addressed!
Black people will never stop talking about this, but when we are on sites such as Tumblr, where so many of the white people feel that not only are they not racist, but that calling their racist behavior racist is emotional warfare on them, they will make sure to keep Black voices as silenced as possible.
Also, a lot of the Black people who got deleted or run off of the site weren't even accused of any type of Russian anything. A lot of them were just run the fuck off by the white Tumblr base on harassment shit.
you can find the post here. forgive the length, but this is just an unedited rant. love you all.
there are a lot of things that irk me about these âauthorsâ who have been caught red-handed, and will continue to be, or manage to edit their fics in time, and manage to avoid being caught. but i think iâll talk about the biggest thing.
itâs not a stretch to say that fandom has always lived and died by the attention economy; and that makes sense. itâs a public platform, and you post in the hopes of being heard. anyone who tries to tell you that theyâre completely detached from that very human impulse is lying. but more than that, i firmly believe that fandom has always been about community, first and foremost. fic, in particular, is about the community of creation. the amount of hands that touch a fic before its published are innumerable. it could be 1, it could be 100, and that really is the beauty of it. i donât think i need to restate what this doc says; it speaks for itself, and i wonât waste my time rehashing already tread territory. but i want to tell you guys that iâm so, so fucking angry about this. i am, in ways i canât even express.
but let me spin a yarn. when genai first really began to circulate (2019, maybe 2020? 2021?), i remember that so much of the language was about âdemocratizingâ artistry. i thought it was bullshit then, i still do now. what, if i may ask, is more democratic than creating? anyone can do it. itâs easier now than ever. you need a pen and a piece of paper â and you can do so much with just that. fuck, you donât even need that: you could just use your fucking phone!
how the fuck does ai democratize what has already always belonged to the people? and when it came out that ai was stealing from artists to churn out cheap, uncanny approximations of their hard work, well, that cemented it. nothing about that is democratic, no matter what some might try to say about certain people âhoardingâ talent. we used to rally around artists. what a sad, sad fucking state affairs weâre in now. i say that with all sincerity.
look. as this continues to circulate, people will continue to post about how these few authors caught have disappointed them; how they feel duped, betrayed â and theyâre right to. some of them (you know who you are) have egregiously exploited peopleâs genuine desire to support artists, and done real harm to others.
and while thatâs also important, i want us to think bigger for a second. i want you to think about how bad faith actors like these people have robbed you of real community. community is a give and take: you give and are given back to in return. thatâs the beauty of it. thatâs whatâs collaborative about it. when these so-called âai authorsâ use these machines to write, they do not give back. they take your ability to decide whether or not you want ai in your fanspaces. they rob you of community with people who also care about writing, about these characters, and of joy.
be honest with me: havenât you ever felt so demoralized by how fast some of these authors have written? how âeloquently,â how consistently? i know i have. maybe thatâs pushed you to write harder, to become better. and i think thatâs great. but its just equally as likely that youâve closed your doc because of that. or that youâve seen some ai hack churn out a prompted work with the same premise as one youâve spent months on, and decided to stop. these things coexist â and this is what ai takes from us. it makes us afraid to experiment and put ourselves out there, because the things we see other people âcreateâ are machine-made, and technically âflawless.â when once your imperfections as an author mightâve been a chance for you to grow and improve â no matter how embarrassing it mightâve been! â now, because of these ai prompters, they just engender shame.
and they want that! these ai prompters donât want you to grow alongside them; why would they? theyâre not growing. theyâre just feeding slop to a machine thatâs slowcooking the earth. theyâre churning out bullshit for easy clicks; more fuel for the attention economy.
no amount of fucking âcontentâ is worth this: this crushing sense of disappointment and betrayal. we come to these spaces to find community with people who love the things we love; who care about the stories we do. ai is completely antithetical to that. i believe that.
i mean fuck it. fuck ai to death! and fuck anyone and everyone who thinks it has a space here, in a place where human emotion, experimentation, and expression ought to be our top priority.
Just want to throw it out there that I love getting comments on my fics but I usually dont reply to them right away. I tend to reply to them slowly and save them for when I'm having a bad day since they usually cheer me up!
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