#fandom tagging

[betss1256]

Yeah, my biggest fear is not experiencing the found families I’ve read in books, so what?

[jetskiithejester]

The Ao3 tag holy shit what's happened to Tony? is finally canonical. After a decade or more.

So have at it, Marvel Comics whumpers. Tag your relevant fics.

Yes, it is under the umbrella of the MCU fandom. To get into the why of that, and a full, uh, breakdown of how Ao3 works best for larger fandoms within megafandoms is a whoooooole other post. For today I'm just going to enjoy this.

And plan to shake that man around in his tin can next time I write about him.

[the-final-sif]

Hi Sif! I saw you addition to my post and I wanted to follow up and say that I did a more complete analysis looking at every character on the Dream SMP. I definitely didn't think my original post was going to spread as far as it did, since it was me just gushing my surface level thoughts. Part of the reason I followed up with a more thorough look was that I didn't want to let misinformation spread without actually looking at the full data.

I agree with some of your points but I would like to push a little and say that I do think that there is still a gender bias. While Hannah's situation might be more related to her later addition to the server and lack of prominent romantic relationships (beyond Tinarose, which still counts as a rarepair by numbers), the numbers for Niki are a significant outlier considering her early presence and involvement in numerous character/story arcs, especially compared to some characters that fared better than her.

I obviously can't control for every variable and every reason the numbers may show what they do. And there are many, many reasons people can and should use tags the way they do. But I think it is not too far-fetched to say that the Dream SMP fandom does have a problem with overusing tags that don't actually portray what happens in their fic AND with under-valuing characters with marginalized identities, which are partially reflected in the way relationship tags and character tags work together as they do today.

Here's the thing, I actually don't think that Niki's story count is weird at all, I think you may just be underestimating how popular certain pairings/platonic relationships are.

Let's take a comparison that I think is more than fair, c!Punz. Punz has a pretty comparable if not larger impact on the story than c!Niki. particularly towards the finales he plays different roles in them. But outside of c!Dream he doesn't have a lot of other major relationships that are popular in fanon, outside of him and c!Purpled. Despite this, c!Punz is often important to the plot, and he joined a full month before Niki did. Hell, he joined before Tubbo and just after Tommy.

But look at his top 10,

He does have 2/10 of his top relationships, but it's platonic/romantic drunz, so just different flavors of the same relationship. Outside of that, you see all the same super popular ships that you saw on ever other characters. It's just what happens in fandom.

As it turns out, some dynamics are just incredibly popular. DNF alone has nearly 25k fics written just for it. So honestly, with that many raw fics, it's hardly surprising that about 5% of them happen to feature Punz. Which ends up being more fics than the rest of his relationship category.

It's not that Punz is being incorrectly tagged in these fics, it's just that DNF is incredibly incredibly popular, and by virtue of that you end up here.

SBI similarly has about 21k fics, and Wilbur & Tommy have about 22k.

Niki's numbers aren't particularly weird, it's just that these particular dynamics are extremely popular. If you filter out just those three insanely popular dynamics, you get this,

Niki ends up in 4/10 (sorta 4/9 since one of these is just "no romantic relationships" which people use as a relationship tag for some reason rather than just putting that in additional tags).

I'm not saying that there aren't gender biases in how certain characters are treated. To some extent people often feel less comfortable shipping female creators because people in the past were being creeps about it and forcing it onto female creators in their chats (lots of creators had to address this with their chats, Techno included). Which will lead to a specific decline in the amount they get tagged in the ship section.

What I am saying is that I don't actually think there's a gender bias in how characters are tagged, and I don't think ship stats are a good way to prove that. Characters can be important to a story and not be tagged in the ship section. Also, frankly, a lot of times authors force in or tag a "popular" ship just to get more attention for their story, even if that ship isn't a huge part of the story.

I'm also not rely sure what exactly you want to see happen with a post like that. Like, should people not tag female characters that are relevant to their story if they're also tagging a really popular ship? I don't think that's a good idea. It is just kinda being the fandom police if that really is your take on it, if you come at it from the perspective that you get to decide how other people should tag. I know you said you weren't trying to be that, but like, that's how it comes off.

Some people will tag based on relevancy, some people tag as warnings. Both are valid methods of tagging, and you don't have a right to control how other people use their tags. That's something I believe very strongly in.

I've also never really been fond of turning enjoyment of characters into a moral thing either. People will enjoy what characters they connect to for any number of reasons, and shaming them for not enjoying particular female characters has never done anyone any good. I've seen it a thousand times before in every fandom I've been in and all it does is make people feel guilty. What actually does a lot more good is instead being excited about the female characters you like, and creating interesting fandom content for them that helps get other people interested.

If you want more people to be passionate about something, start from a point of passion, not a point of shame.

[bosspigeon]

i have not been terribly creative as of late and it makes me sad so i'm gonna post a few of my favorite lil sketches i've done semi-recently

[crispynipple]

3 fandom tag:

I was tagged by @angstgods

RULES: choose any three fandoms (in random order) and answer the questions. Then tag some friends.

I choose:

Yuri!!! On Ice

91 Days

Haikyuu!!

The first character you loved:

YUURI OMG SOMEONE SAVE HIM

Corteo obviously like have you ever tried having a conversation with me when i saw the first episode??

I honestly dont even remember. When i first saw the show i barely paid attention to the point where if you asked me what was happening i would not be able to tell you but now im so deep in the fandom that i cant get out. I love all the characters but the first one that i really remember falling in love at first sight was Tendou give him love pls

The character you relate to the most:

A mix between Yuuri, Yuri, and JJ because im depressed but well dressed, an asshole but with feelings, and just supremely narcissistic lmao

Im not sure there’s not anyone i really relate to? If i HAD to choose then id say Nero because i dont mean to hurt people it just happens yo. I try to make everyone happy but once you stab me in the back youre dead to me lmao

MY BABy BOY KENMA BECAUSE IM SUPREMELY SHY AND WOULD RATHER BE ALONE DOING MY OWN THING AND I DESERVE SO MUCH LOVE iM-

The character you’d slap:

There’s literally no one in the show id slap i love them all someone help me. Maybe Christophe for cumming on the iCE TOO DAMN MUCH

Three words. Frate and Valbero. Those two can die. oH WAIT THEY ALREADY DID FUCKING BLESS

Any character that will make another character feel like shit. Like if you attack my children then you gonna catch my hands

Three favorite characters (these are in order of preference):

I love them all equally dont make me choose

Corteo, Avilio, Fango

Tendou, Kenma, Yachi

A character you liked at first but not so much anymore:

I still love all the characters lmao

If i had to choose id say Nero. After the Corteo incident i was salty as hell towards him

None lmao its hard to hate characters in that show

A character you did not like at first, but they’ve grown on you:

Yuri omg i used to hate him just cos he was the opponent but now i love him

Fango. Once again he was the bad guy so i automatically hated him but yOOOOOOOOOOOO HES INTO WHIPS YO AND HE KILLED SOMEONE AND FORCED HIS FOLLOWERS TO EAT THE DUDE HE KILLED BY PUTTING HIS MEAT INTO LASAGNA AND FEEDING IT TO EVERYONE THATS SO BADASS

USHIJIMA AND OIKAWA OH MY GOD I HATED THEIR GUTS but now i believe they hate fuck in their free time lmao

3 OTPs:

Victuuri, Otayuri, Phichit x His ice skating dream from episode 11

Corteo x Life, Avilio x Happiness, Frate/Valbero x Death

Everything but KuroTsukki. Miss me with that shit

I’m tagging @killer-serve and all my followers to do it. Have fun!

[dropseedgrass]

Sooooooo disappointing when something is highly recommended, has a lot of comments or kudos if on A03, has the pairing you are searching for listed right on top and in the summary, you’ve carved out time from your busy schedule to read it, and then… it’s not actually there. Or it’s there in the last two lines while one or both of the pairing are actually part of several other unlisted relationships. Just tag the dang thing properly so people who want to read all these sex scenes and emotional scenes outside the preferred pairing can find it! I don’t enjoy being misled.

Author, just be honest. If you didn’t want to write the featured paring and only added it in the last few lines to get eyeballs on your fic, at least put in the other pairings? Or mention it? Somewhere? I see it especially in Sherlock fandom and good omens fandom where we are meant to apparently just accept there will be detailed or hinted at sex scenes between (usually Crowley or Sherlock in this case) and another character or OC but not list it on the pairings. And occasionally, the listed pairing doesnt even have purposeful scenes together and then suddenly I’m meant to believe all along Sherlock wanted John desperately or Crowley wanted Aziraphale when they haven’t even spent time together in the fic?

[theothercourse]

Serious question

I'm looking for opinions here, trying to gauge things on tumblr and how the fandom has changed. Most fanfic authors in the hiddleston fandom maintain a taglist to notify readers when a new story is posted. I have never kept one for a number of reasons. 1) I never wanted to be a nuisance to anyone. Tagging people unsolicited seems so intrusive to me, unless it's something that you know the other person would be interested in and hasn't seen it. 2) I don't think my updates are incredibly earth - shattering or important. I figured those that wanted to keep up with a story would do it in their own way in their own time. 3) I've only ever had one person ask me to tag them since I've been posting. Yes, maybe I should've tagged that person since they've since gotten bored with me and I haven't seen them in my notifications since. 4) who would I tag? And on what? Some readers don't care for all my stories. And that's fine, I understand that. I hope that the dynamics are different between each of the couples and with each story and they appeal to different people. That was part of my goal with writing. 5) I never wanted to tie people down or make them feel obligated to read my stories. I never wanted to get the like/reblog/message out of obligation or habit. I hoped to earn that on my own. If a reader felt compelled to, they would like it or reblog it or comment on it. I wanted to earn it based on my own merit. I'm only explaining this for several reasons. My updates have slowed considerably because of some nasty messages I received. I don't post hate on this blog, I won't do it. Not on this blog. Theothercourse, for me, is something I treasure very much. I'm proud of all that I've done in my writing, how far I've come, and the improvement I've seen in my own writing. I have some habits that need breaking, as any writer does, and I'll never amount to anything more than offering my stories for free online. I don't see myself as a novelist. I like doing this in my free time. And I honestly don't believe that I'm good enough to be published. But, I digress... this blog is a source of pride for me. It's my original content and my contribution to the hiddleston fandom, however and whatever that means. Somehow this amazing actor has become my muse, and I don't see that changing. For a man so lovely and pleasant, polite and respectful, I wanted this blog to reflect that. But the way stories are posted on tumblr has changed, and maybe I should evolve with that change. I don't know. I'm still very much on the idea that readers shouldn't feel obligated to read because I do write for myself. I edit and post on here for readers, to enjoy and hopefully with any luck leave kudos, or a message or send me an ask. That's my reason for posting. You don't have to like it, and if you don't please tell me why. I can take constructive criticism. I've had a few, and I do take them. I want to improve. I don't want to keep making the same mistakes. I have more followers on this blog than I ever imagined I would. I'm honored and grateful to have each one of you here. When I was growing up and as a child/teenager, nobody believed I would amount to anything. And in a way, I've always believed that to be true, but this blog is a testament to the fact that I do have some worth, and maybe a modicum of talent on my own. I can't help but feel that I'm losing readers because I haven't been evolving with the fandom. Do you think that's true? Am I missing out on something?