1. Be respectful. Racism, Homophobia, Ableism, and generally discriminatory/bigoted behaviour will NOT BE TOLERATED.
2. I am an adult. Occasionally I might talk about something not sfw/18+. It is your responsibility to manage what you are looking at. If you are not above 18 don't complain about anything you are seeing on my account, I tag everything. You have been warned.
3. Adding to that, nsfw asks are okay, however be respectful. I have pictures disabled, thank you.
4. Don't doxx yourselves or me, thank you <3
5. This feels like a better number to end on, so, we'll be trying to keep things fun and interesting! Enjoy your STAY!! ♡
I love asks i love asks i love asks i love asks i love asks i love asks i love asks i love asks i love asks i love asks i love asks i love asks i love asks
I've been receiving an increasing number of scam comments on my fic lately. It used to be very rare, and now I've had two in just the past couple days. It may be because my work is still available when you're not logged-in (because I didn't want to put barriers between people and my work) or because they're easier to write now thanks to AI.
I can't always see the endgame of it—like, what are these people trying to gain? Or is it just bullying for kicks? But this is just a PSA so that when you see one of those, you don't freak out, delete your account, spiral, etc. They are not real people and they didn't read your fic. Don't think of it like hate mail, it's more like a nastygram blown by the wind that ended up plastering itself across your face. It's unpleasant, but it isn't a reflection on you.
The classic kind is where they praise your work and claim to want to make a comic or video of it. This is a perfectly normal thing to do in fan spaces, the only problem is they expect you to pay. Payment is not the norm with fan work, and you have no idea what the quality of the work would be or if they really intend to make it at all. So never agree to these out-of-the-blue requests.
I haven't gotten many of these; most people asking to transform your work are legit. So (if you want the thing) just say "yes, I would love to see it! Please share it with me if you do, I'll link it!" and leave it at that. Decent artists will be happy with this, and people who are trying to separate you from your money can't work with that.
They're getting a little sneaky now though. They know they're not supposed to advertise anything for profit on AO3. So they try this approach:
I was riding high on the praise till the last line. Then I realized this person is essentially no different from somebody offering candy from a van. They tempt you with flattery, everybody likes that. Then they try to get you to a second location. To which I say,
Don't get in the van!
A normal person could have gone to my tumblr, which is linked in one of the notes, and DM'd me. They would have started out in a normal way, meaning along with praise for the fic they would probably have something they actually wanted to talk about, like "hey I liked your worldbuilding ideas, do you think that the Gorn might also do XYZ?" Or "I wrote my own fic on the same topic, would you like to look at it?" Everybody wants something and I am way more comfortable once I know it's a normal thing that normal people want: a conversation, attention, craft advice, a discord invite, whatever.
It's not weird for someone to say "hey my tumblr is XYZ if you want to connect there." It IS weird to ask to move to an undisclosed "other app" when we weren't even really having a conversation that was going anywhere. That's how I almost got scammed for a huge amount of money by a job that didn't exist earlier this year. Scammers want to go to another app because a) the app they are on has robust anti-scam rules, and/or b) they do not have an established identity on this app, so they want you to join them on an app where they've stolen someone else's identity to look more legit than they are.
Remember that a stranger is a stranger even if they are very nice about your fic!
The last one, I don't understand the endgame of at all. The call-to-action varies and sometimes there isn't one. But the root of it is that they accuse you of being AI.
Now, I hate AI. I also can detect it pretty easily. I suspect this comment is AI. I'm not sure, but the weird over-the-top word choices and the clunky phrase "bordering on an AI's calculated formality" definitely give me that vibe.
That said, I don't believe in AI witch hunts. The best proof of AI isn't generally the text, it's that it's shared by someone without a real personality or history, or someone who posts more rapidly and at more length than a human could. (Like facebook pages that post thousand-word essays every hour around the 24. That's not a person.) In this case, I can't check that. They're not logged in, and the name they're using is almost certainly stolen from someone else. (It's a real person who hasn't been active in a long time and isn't in this fandom.)
But, AI or not, they came here to bully. This comment is calculated to make me question whether I'm robotic in my writing or should be using more colloquialisms. (Failed at that, because I'm literally writing from an alien POV; the nonhuman vibe was by design.) Once they've triggered my insecurity, they want ....an audio clip? Unclear what they could do with that, but since I am uncomfortable sharing my voice anywhere—most of my closest internet friends have never heard it, because I'm insecure about it—I didn't even consider complying. Never let insecurity or the desire to prove you're a real person make you jump through whatever hoops they think would prove something. (It wouldn't even prove anything! AI prompters are people and can easily do real-person things to support their AI creation.)
I think we should make two norms in this community:
We don't use AI, ever. There's nothing to gain. We're here for the joy of creation.
We don't accuse other people of using it, ever. It's such a crushing criticism to receive for your genuine work. Even one false positive would be unacceptable. The only surefire proof a fic is made by AI is that they said it was.
If someone accuses you of being AI, don't panic. It's almost certainly a drive-by attack that has nothing to do with you or your work. Either ignore it, or briefly state that it isn't AI and your genuine readers know that. This isn't for the commenter, but for other people in the comments who might see it. Save your effort and attention for any real comments you get. If you were a robot, you wouldn't be pleasantly engaging with your friends in the comments, now would you?
I hope this is some comfort if you've received any weird or upsetting comments. Unfortunately making your work available to readers means it is also visible to bad actors. Don't let them steal your joy in creation and participation in fan community. If you get a comment that strikes you as odd, reach out to your fandom friends or here on tumblr and ask. Very often it's part of a new scam that others have seen as well.
*Sounds of a breaking glass* Okey I saw one too many people on this webbed site being wrong about my cubito on main, so here is I, Yoshi Yoshiintheweb, nerding out about Vampires SMP, the history of persecution and social outcasts, and overall narratives and shit like this.
(Some of) You are wrong about V!Owen's backstory and I'm Crashin' Out about this: An Essey.
My Credentials: archeology student, history nerd, specific interest in folklore, accusations of vampirism and witchcraft, and high media literacy stat (I put all my points in it I have nothing eles).
This post is specifically about the claims that Owen is either lying about his backstory OR misremembering part of it because, and I quote, "It doesn't make sense that residents of Oakhurst would kill a beloved mayor over the disappearance of a hated outcast, so he must be lying". It makes sense! And here's how! This is an analysis! I have citations for academic research!
The actual rant is under the cut because it's going to be LONG.
So first off all, I must speak about what inspired this rant in the first place, and that's the claim I've seen a bunch of people make that the story Owen told at the beginning must be false (or partially false) due to the fact that Owen was a hated outcast; no one cared about him, and therefore killing Louis - a mayor that was supposed to be well-loved and trusted - doesn't make sense. Owen must be deliberately lying or misremembering how Louis actually was. This is factually wrong on multiple levels. And I want to point out that this is about THEORIES, not HEADCANONS. Headcanon whatever you want forever; I don't care, but if you are making a THEORY, you must consider what we ALREADY KNOW.
So, one may ask, Well, Yoshi, but HOW is it wrong? You've been talking quite a lot but not explained shit. Well, random tumblr user, here is why!
Owen never claimed to be HATED by the townsfolk. All we know about Owen's relation to the other villagers is that he was OUTCASTED for his illness that was thought to be contagious, and Louis was the first person to treat him like he was a human. This doesn't mean he was hated by the people. And there is much evidence that he wasn't. Historically speaking, when a person was afflicted with a disease that was thought to easily spread, they would be fully outcasted from the community, usually banished from the city or town.
Especially if it was in fact leprosy, as he multiple times claimed to be. People with leprosy were segregated from healthy people, to the point they had their own communities and institutions (such as churches or hospitals). Leprosy is literally the first disease that had a dedicated hospital just for it. THEY WERE FORCED OUT OF CITIES AND TOWNS (in England due to the edict of Edward the Third). They would need to beg or relocate to a leprosarium. They had to wear BELLS to signal to other people they were sick; the stigma and social ostracism were THAT BAD they would lose jobs and fall into poverty. That's also the reason why many people wouldn't seek treatment at all!The idea that people with leprosy were tainted, unclean, and untouchable is so deeply rooted in Western culture that it's even in the fuckin Bible - those concepts are THAT old. (You can read up on it in this artical by Herbert C. Covey posted in The Social Science Journal.)
- Note that the timeline doesn't really fit since Vampires is set vaguely in the 1800s, putting Owen's human life more or less in the 1600s. By that time leprosy had died out in Europe a lot, but I'm choosing to ignore this fact because the timeline of the SMP is a mess.
But like, what does it all mean for Vampires SMP? Well, it means that Owen HAD IT GOOD. I'm not defending the town or anything, but it shows that Owen was given a lot of grace, and it could be much worse. He was an outcast from the town itself, but he was working; he was permitted to see Louis in the first place and wasn't homeless. This means that the villagers INTERACTED WITH HIM; he was ACTIVE in the community (asking for a permit for a mill, though it might have been for his own use), able to provide for himself; a lumberjack cannot do that on his own - he needs to sell the wood to SOMEONE. Owen wasn't hated by the community; he was feared because of his disease, yes, and from his story we know they didn't treat him well or "like a human". But he wasn't HATED. He was feared, shunned, and excluded from the community but not fully hated. If they hated him, he wouldn't be allowed to be in Oakhurst in the first place. What I think happened is that he was constantly pitied and treated like a dying animal that you give scraps to but avoid if you can. He was allowed to stay because he had something to provide to the community but wasn't allowed to be part of it. He was used for the service he provided (lumber) but refused the human connection of having a community. WHICH, TBH, IS WORSE THAN BEING JUST HATED IN MY OPINION.
This is especially true with the fact that he's been sick SINCE HE WAS A BOY; a kid cannot survive on his own, he needed some sort of support! Not being treated with kindness doesn't mean he was left all alone.
Even if they DID hate his guts, it's reasonable that some people would be concerned if he disappeared. If not for the concern of Owen's well-being, then for the lumber he provided. We know that it wasn't a whole town that raised an alarm but a few people. Perhaps those people had business with him or were a bit more sympathetic; that doesn't really matter. What matters is that the disappearance of a person within a community, especially one as small as Oakhurst (2801 people is a SMALL town; people know each other, people NOTICE), is a valid reason to raise an alarm. And Louis, no matter how well loved he might have been, was the first clear lead - as they were meeting EVERY SINGLE DAY. So going to him was reasonable! Hey, Mr. Mayor, do you know what happened with Owen? Yeah, I was supposed to trade eggs for firewood with him, but he never showed up. This isn't that weird at all, that they went to him. OR EVEN SUSPECTED HIM OF DOING SOMETHING. He was a weirdo that didn't attend a lot of community activities. Sure, he's busy with running the town, but he SURE could spend one celebration with us! Paperwork will not run off! Sure, he's kind and nice and runs the town well, but he is a bit of a recluse in this situation.
LOUIS WASN'T PUT ON A PYRE FOR HURTING OWEN; HE WAS PUT ON A PYRE FOR HAVING OCCULT OBJECTS ON HIS PERSON. It wasn't an execution for murder, it wasn't an execution for vampirism; IT WAS AN EXECUTION FOR WITCHCRAFT.
What happened, according to Owen's own storytelling, was that people were concerned for Owen's disappearance, went to Louis as they often met, found occult shit on him, and put him on a pyre. Helping out Owen was a secondary motive at that point. They didn't try to trial him for murder, they didn't try to stake him like one would a vampire, they burned him at a stake as one would a witch. There is a chance they didn't even know Louis WAS a vampire at all! And the thing about witch hunts is that they DON'T MAKE SENSE. Magic and witchcraft IRL don't exist. Every single case of witch hunts was motivated by irrational fears of people who were different or as justifications to get rid of someone. It doesn't matter how kind and good a person could be; if they were accused of being a witch, their reputation was immediately put into question as an influence of black magic. When Owen reappeared, the townspeople were expecting a thanks because THEY THOUGHT LOUIS PUT A SPELL ON OWEN. They thought they were rescuing a vulnerable, isolated man from the grasp of a witch who FOOLED THEM ALL.
For more information on witch hunts, and most importantly on the myth that grew around it, I send you to Kaz Rowe's wonderful video on the topic.
The main theme in Owen's story is the worst humanity can do when they believe something. It's not only about Owne's own belief that humanity is rotten and deserves only death but also about how humanity can actually act. It's about the dangers of mob mentality and social persecution without any concrete evidence, just things they don't understand and the things they fear. Which is inherently not rooted in any rational responses. Yes, it doesn't make sense that you put your beloved mayor on a pyre for a man you outcasted a long time ago. AND THAT'S THE POINT. There was no rational reason for this to happen. There is no rational motivation to organize a mob against a kind man; the reasoning was irrational. They put him on a pyre for being different - fear of the other, the "occult". And it didn't matter if Louis was a good man or not; it doesn't matter if he was kind or not, human or vampire. It didn't matter because the decision was made with FEAR that drives you to act irrationally. He would end up on that pyre no matter who he was. And this is something that Owen himself reflects - he thinks that he understands what's happening, he thinks that he knows what the other people think of him, and he acts accordingly - like a one-man mob. Because he's now willing to look past his own beliefs and his own fears, just like the mob that killed Louis didn't want to face the possibility that not all occult must be evil. This is what makes him different from Scott too. Scott is a monster because he lacks any humanity, he's been a vampire for so long he doesn't know what it means to be human. Owen is a monster because he knows EXACTLY what it means to be human, his humanity is still there and unfortunetly for everyone involved, it only means pain, bloodsheed and terror.
You know, an interesting tumblr transformation that's happened gradually, and which I've seen no one talk about: ask-culture has essentially dropped off to nothing.
By which I mean, asks used to be WAY more of the tumblr economy. They used to be more common to send, and receive, and see. They were integral to the collaborative, forum-like behavior of old tumblr communities, not even to speak on the HUGE number of ask-blogs that used to exist to only be interacted with in ask-form.
I'm not saying this in a vying-for-attention way but instead in an observational way: I used to get way way more asks in like 2015, even with a fraction of my follower count. I wonder if it's due to the homogenization of social media sites? There's a lot more of this divide between "content creator" and "consumer" instead of just a bunch of peer blogs who would talk to each other. "Asks" aren't really a thing on twitter, are they? And as I understand it, the closest thing to an "ask" on instagram or tiktok would be a creator screenshotting some comment and responding to it in a new reel or video or whatever those content mediums are. Are asks just too tumblr-specific? Is that aspect of the site culture dying out as more and more people converge to using all their social media sites in the same way?
it's probably from assholes making asks a minefield of trolling/harassment for years with no real blocking ability, which turned people off from allowing asks on their blogs so as a whole the site moved away from it
but now that we do have better blocking, we should try to revive it.
Do you ever read something that shifts your entire worldview, and then you're done reading but the world's still turning and no one but you will know just how much your emotions and headspace have shifted? Yeah. I just finished what was basically an entire novel on a website you typically wouldnt expect to learn profound lessons from, but here I am, with a new look on relationships and maintaining a healthy one once again. For reference, my love life is a mess in the sense that it's nonexistent. I have a history of either pushing down feelings until I've lost the person for good or pushing away the person by making my feelings known. It's never really worked out for me, the whole romance thing. Maybe that's why these things hit me so much harder, like maybe if I change this other thing about myself, the next time will turn out different.
^^ I actually wrote this out a while back but didn't get around to uploading here!!
Still applies though, I've read a lot more things since, and a vast majority has gotten me to rethink things in life!! Not necessarily agreeing with everything I read, but thinking about all the different perspectives there are, and encouraging myself to work on thinking beyond myself when I make decisions. Not gonna lie though, being aware in the exact moment is still a task, since I've spent so much of my life using escapism and staying in my own head. I regret it a lot, because I've missed out on so much just because I couldn't get out of my own head.
This blog is a little peek into my mind I guess, hope me sincerely screaming into the void will get an equally sincere reply someday,,
So, I started this blog on a whim. I was feeling particularly drained and exhausted from an assignment, and decided I needed a private space to vent. I had also recently finished reading a fanfic that involved an anonymous blog. Which is when I came up with the idea for this! Is it the best idea I've ever had? Probably not. Is the origin something I will take to my grave? Maybe! I thought the fic (while unrealistic) was very enjoyable, and some of the blog descriptions gave me ideas for my own. Technically, this is far from my first blog, but it is the first one I will be trying to keep quiet to people I know in person. Hopefully I can manage at least a little bit of online interaction without that though, I do love talking to people and I figure this blog would be more fun with people to reply to!!
With that out of the way, what are things I'd like to do on this blog, in addition to these journal entries?
Here's some of the ideas I've brainstormed so far:
• Journal entries (obviously)
• Recipes (I like to bake sometimes, so I'd include an image of my final product!)
• Reviews (movies, shows, books, and food) of things I've tried
• Ranking/tier lists! (Lighthearted ones)
• Infodumps (this might still fall under journal entries? But because I could go on and on for a while, this will have its own category for now)
• Anonymous replies, only answering anons (my asks are already open)^ since that last one is something I thought of from the start, I'll follow this post up with brief guidelines for my ask box!! :)
I'll leave it to the ask box to suggest anything else they'd like from me!!!
Also, that assignment that had me very close to crashing out? It got done, which is why I never followed up on the first post the same night like I originally said. I was productive!! So all I did was set up the account and first post, outline another post and go back to the assignment that was due in less than 30 minutes (I turned it in a bit after midnight but the prof seems to be lenient with that if it's still submitted the night it's due because who else would be awake at that hour if not a dedicated/desperate student? (I'm the latter by the way) Hopefully all goes well!! My assignments are almost all caught up on, so the stress should lessen any day now. (I say, knowing full well finals are right around the corner)
Lastly, I got rejected from my dream program this morning. I feel like I'm taking it way better than I expected, honestly. I didn't cry, just asked for a hug or five and carried on with my day. It didn't feel like the world was ending or anything, either. Now, it's been several hours since then, and I feel a kind of,, dread? I have another program I got accepted to long before this rejection, so that probably softened the blow, but the anticipation of starting a new program AND the stress of finishing my current one is getting to me. Just a bit. But it'll be okay. Everything will turn out, you'll see! My trip home is almost over, so I should wrap this post up and get to working on the ask guidelines to post together.
Thanks for reading! (I should come up with a group name for whoever reads these, maybe send in some ideas?)
Hi there, this blog isn't here to cause problems. My general Idea for this blog is to have a place to kinda anonymously ramble about things. It could be anything from simple joys of my day, rants about things I found frustrating, fun facts I found interesting, or if anyone ever finds me interesting enough, to reply to anons'questions and stories with advice and whatnot. I may not reply directly but make a post to try to help indirectly! I'm not super sure about the direction I want to take this blog in just yet, but I've decided that I should have an outlet instead of letting everything swim alone in my own head. So starting today, that's what I'll be doing. There will be no reblogs, and images only when relevant, because everything on this blog will be posted according to my whims; aka whatever mood I'm in that day. I'll keep this one short and make my actual entry for today soon. I'm currently not even writing this on the actual site, I'm writing on my own little archive program. I'm gonna set up a neat little blog page and go from there.
