I do not understand what is happening with fandom right now.
TLDR: registered accounts on ao3 are leaving multiple rude comments on fics (and in particular replying to complimentary comments to be rude). Unfortunately you can only block 20 people. So I have chosen to no longer engage with them and be more assertive in leaving positive comments.
*edit- you can actually block 2000 people. Which feels enough for just a reader, but not enough for prolific authors who may have to deal with this to a ridiculous degree*
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Twice this week I have had people on ao3 reply to my comments on fics just to be mean.
In one comment I had talked about something in the chapter that I liked and what I was looking forward to- and the replyguy decided to butt in and say that the part I liked didn’t actually make sense. (Rude to me AND the author).
I was heated in my response to them where I also gave a plausible way for things to make sense and they clapped back saying that it must mean that I knew they were right. (And that is absolutely not the case. They shit on what I had to say when I was trying to be nice and appreciative to the author and it felt like they were turning that into something ugly.)
I ended up deleting the comments on the thread and have gone back to read the entire WIP and leave new comments on every chapter. The author was super sweet in replying to my new comments, they even apologized for not deleting the reply guy’s comments sooner because they have been leaving crap comments like these all over their fic. (THE AUDACITY).
And then later tonight, wouldn’t you know it. I got a new one from someone else on a different fic. They were mocking that I said I was curious how a a secondary character would end up turning out (because this is a fic and not cannon, and though fics often lean into cannon for this character, I have seen plenty that take a vastly different approach).
Replyguy 2.0 decided to question if I have ever watched/read the source material because duh this character is the character as established in cannon.
And 1. What if I never had read it or watched it? Why should you give a flying fuck? And 2. It took everything in me to not respond to be like oh I’m so sorry I didn’t assume that characters are only allowed to be the same as in cannon in fics- unlike the one fic you have written in your profile. The fic in question is tagged with a f/f relationship for a character who canonically marries a man (no hint at being non hetero in cannon) and was never friends with the other girl in cannon, a character tagged as abused who was not abused in canon and a character tagged as trans who was not trans in cannon (and granted I know there can be a lot of leeway in cannon for things that aren’t mentioned specifically, but still). Like why do you think you can do whatever you want when it comes to writing fanfic- but others have to adhere to strict rules? Or readers should assume adherence to strictly following cannon?
But damn. Why are people trolling the comments on fics that are not their own? To respond negatively and without the grace or respect they expect to receive themselves?
Now I am out here worried that any comment I make will be attacked because they think the comments are for everyone and not something used specifically to thank/hype/talk with the author. I don’t want to get those notifications- but it makes me feel like if I comment on a fic- then that fic will be a target for this nonsense.
I know there are fanfic recs now on tiktok and things and it is becoming more mainstream- but heaven help the children. This isn’t even a lack of fandom etiquette. It is just a lack of etiquette.






















