#fandom interaction

[mes-the-rebel-idol-boy]

what a group-[Chaotic household part 2]

Missing person is Nagisa Shiota from Assassination Classroom

[edelfan]

From an old lady who has been in several fandoms over the years...

Back in the day (I'm talking 20 years or so) I was very active in a fandom from where my Tumblr name originates (Edelfan = German expression for passionate, but respectful fan). I was interacting, as a fan, with those celebs on a regular basis, they basically knew who I was.

All of that while enjoying and writing rpf in a safe online environment (LiveJournal days).

I would never even thought about shipping in front of them, no matter how they were acting.

That's the way to enjoy nice things.

[strangeandworthit]

Saw a post tagged with RQG saying that RQG is not a very smutty fandom and I just. Have to disagree with that. Deeply. Fundamentally. But it's a really good leaping off point to say:

Don't know if you've noticed but there are circa 900/4000 RQG fics that are marked as Explicit and ~350 marked as Mature on Ao3.

Just because something was written a while back doesn't mean it's not still good! There's lots of gorgeous fanfic out there that has made me *cry* with how good it is. Much of it is not only explicit but also explores all sorts of themes and pairings and look. Just go look at the Mushblins tag.

Personally I still write RQG smut. Copious amounts. I don't publish a lot of it because of the lack of engagement! If you want to see more smut in the world: interact with the smut writers! Comment on their work and kudos and give good feedback and maybe the ecosystem will flourish again.

Anyway this is a general point about fan fiction to be honest, but it hit me right in the chest when we once could have and did have it all but the lack of engagement is what really killed things.

Also Kinktober is starting in two days and anyone who wants smut: I ring the dinner bell.

[hisuianserperior]

Fanfiction writers, artists, over the years we have had many Miraculous au works. And between crossovers, salt, crack, and more, each of them has had a different Marinette. So now I'm wondering, how would your Marinette react to Canonette. And not just her, but her world, the events going on, and all that good stuff, especially the lie. So picture it, your Nette finds herself in canon miraculous, and reads through all her diaries like Shady did. Would she blow the secret? Keep it? Not have the energy to deal with all the nonsense? How would she react. I'll put mine under the cut.

My main au Marinette, gonna call her Phoenixbug, would be deeply, deeply annoyed by everything. She and her siblings did not beat Gabe just for her to be lying about him in another dimension just for a boy she's only slightly above neutral with. She would despise canon miraculous Paris. She's friends with people she can't stand, her best friend is in Brazil, her other best friend is a completely different person, her girlfriend is dating someone else, Bustier is somehow the mayor, it's not a crossover so her siblings don't exist, and her mom isn't her mom. The only thing she would be glad for is that Canonette has a better relationship with her parents

[anstarwar]

A curious/interesting (to me) thing I’ve noticed as I’ve bounced around fandoms is that certain ones have a higher reblog-to-just hitting “like” ratio than others.

Like Star Wars fandom is really good about reblogging stuff compared to other fandoms I’ve been in and I’m wondering if it’s like a “generation who’s interested in it” related thing? Like I know Star Wars fans span many generations but I think a lot of it skews Millennial and Gen-X’er (or older)…you know the generations that didn’t grow up with IG/Twitter/TikTok, but still had internet access in some capacity…as compared to the other fandom I’m currently fixated on, Pacific Rim, which appears to have a far smaller reblog ratio (mostly just hits the “like” button and moves on) and, from my experience so far, skews younger.

I really want to do a study on this but idk how to go about that hmmm…

Also this is just with regards to tumblr as a platform for sharing art/fic/fandom creation

[whosgameisit]

Thanks @blessedblvck I received it and 💕it.

[theresthesnitch]

It's about community, y'all.

I’ve found myself recently in a fandom interaction that has left me feeling very uncomfortable, and I want to talk about it. 

I will not be sharing usernames or fic names, so please do not publicly mention who they are if you figure out who this is. 

About a month ago, I was messaged by an account that doesn’t follow me, asking me to read their friend’s fic. The initial message was very flattering–their friend was a big fan of my work, and it would be so nice for them to get a comment from me on it. Honestly, it was such a sweet message, and I said I was busy right then, but I’d make time to read it.

When I opened the fic, it was a username that I didn’t recognize. Which is not terribly surprising, but I do recognize and notice regular commenters and people who regularly interact with me on Tumblr. (Which, by the way, is a good thing. These people all have a special place in my heart, and I love seeing their interactions.) This person also had no other fics published to AO3, and no bookmarks on their account. 

 I am an email hoarder, which means that every comment, kudo, and tumblr follow I get an email notification for is still stored in my email. I searched my inbox for the writer’s username, and nothing came up. I don’t mean nothing significant, I mean not one single comment, kudos, or follow from the account. I searched the account who messaged me, and got the same result. No one single comment, kudo, or follow. 

The thing that may not be immediately obvious from the outside is that many writers connect with each other as well. We share fic recs, snippets, and plot bunnies. We also talk about comments that we love, fans that we enjoy seeing in our notes, and significant interactions. 

Which is to say that the first thing I did was drop this fic with an explanation of what happened into the “fic recs” channel of our discord. Immediately, I find out that this is not a unique situation. Many of the writers in that discord were also approached, either by the actual writer or a friend, and asked to read it. 

I messaged the account again and asked if their friend was operating under a new username because I didn’t recognize them. Which is valid and I know people change their usernames sometimes. The friend responded that they did, but that the friend wouldn’t like them sharing it. I looked into the tumblr that messaged me then, and the account had been set up one singular day before they messaged me, with nothing more than a few art reblogs on their blog. 

At this point, I’m getting a really weird feeling from this, and I decide to just not respond anymore. I’m not going to call them out, but I’m also not going to engage. 

Yesterday, the “friend’s” account sent me another message, asking if I’d read it and telling me again that they can give their friend’s old account name if I really want it. They also mention that their friend read through and commented on a bunch of my older fics–which they did. Between May 24 and June 1, they left 17 comments on some of the very first fics I ever wrote and published. However, the way she tells me this feels very much like a quid pro quo - I commented, now where’s yours? 

I jumped back into the discords of some of my mutuals, and asked about this again. It turns out that all of us have gotten a weird vibe from them, and that this all feels like such a manipulative, creepy way to ask for exposure on your fic. 

And, because I’m me and needed more information, I went back to their fic and looked through the comments and bookmarks. 

There’s an ongoing discussion in many writer’s circles about interactions being lower, particularly comments, which you’ve probably seen crop up around Tumblr as well. While I don’t want to rehash this discussion here, the basic consensus is that most established writers are seeing fewer comments than ever, even when there’s a significant number of kudos. 

This fic has a not insignificant number of kudos, but a surprisingly large amount of comments and bookmarks, comparatively. Enough that just seeing the stats shocked me. I looked through the comments and saw lots of well known fandom writers, as well as some otherwise blank accounts. It strikes me as very odd–especially from a new, blank account and for a one shot without chapters to build up an audience. 

I jumped back in the discord and asked my mutuals about this again. Several people described really weird interactions with this individual. I heard stories about this person being really flattering when they initially reached out, vaguely complimenting the writer, then completely ghosting after the writer comments on their fics. 

I’ve debated for a bit about whether to post on this or not. The entire interaction has left such a bad taste in my mouth. I’ve no doubt that the writer and their friend are the same person, and I suspect some of their comments are fabricated as well. It’s elaborate, to a weird degree, and I feel so uncomfortable by it. 

The thing is, I love talking to people who have read my work. I love getting sent a fic rec. I read so little at this point just due to life and limited time that basically everything I read is something a mutual wrote or something recommended to me. I also really love the “it would mean so much to me if you read this” message, but only if it’s genuine. I have read first fics of new writers who sent me their own work, with their name attached, and asked me to. 

Fandom writing is a community, and that works best when we have a little give and take. But when you’re out there manipulating interactions, building up fake flattery to only not follow through, that breaks down our community. It’s unfortunate, manipulative, and honestly, a bit creepy. 

I don’t know if they just thought we (the writing community) wouldn’t notice, but we did. I’ve talked to other writers about this, and if any of my mutuals had a similar experience, I’d love to hear about it. 

To my “friend” who wrote this fic, I know you’re proud of your fic, but you’re not doing yourself any favors with this behavior. I will not be reading it. I also will not be responding to you or “your friend” any further. I wish you luck, and I hope you find what you’re looking for.