A cult is a group, often religious or ideological, that demands excessive devotion to a charismatic leader, object, or belief system, typically employing manipulative, controlling, and isolating tactics. These organizations often operate outside conventional society, using coercion or "brainwashing" to exploit members financially, emotionally, or physically.
@yazthebookish and I do not always agree on our fandom takes, we're also strongly on opposite sides of which pairing we'd like to see kick things off in the next book, but not once has she ever demanded my compliance or mistreated me because of those differing opinions. Not once has she sent people to gang up on me because I prefer Elucien over Gwynriel.
She has also never employed manipulative or controlling tactics in her posts. All she ever does is state her opinion just as I state mine and just as e/riels state theirs. Seriously, she's not doing anything that every person who has a Tumblr, IG, X, etc is not also doing. Being mad because she's got more followers than most is a jealousy issue and that's for them to work on because there's nothing she needs to do differently. If we told e/riels they need to post more Pro Elucien / Pro Gwynriel content what would be the chances of that happening? So why then do they think Yaz needs to post anything differently than what she chooses to post?
Having an opinion on a book character or a plot doesn't mean you're a cult leader. Tossing that word around while being a bully? Encouraging others to go after her? To calling her disgusting names? Imagine being that disgusting of a human being all because a content creator doesn't like the idea of two characters as endgame.
