#joan stein

[joangate]

@archivedstein :)

[turntechpotthead]

i really never make posts like this, but after my experience i felt like it was important.

this is a review of my experience in attempting to commission music from joan / @flapjackstein (other usernames in the tags)

0/5 stars - BUYER BEWARE

tldr; i waited over 2 years for my commission, was blocked before ever receiving it, called names, and treated incredibly disrespectfully when i posted about it. then i was offered more music than i originally commissioned once they realized they were wrong, then again, blocked and talked down to.

edit: after making this post they made multiple accounts to harass my and their followers/ex-mutuals to attempt to discredit my claim by accusing me of horrifying things and refused to provide any evidence.

there's no world where i could recommend them any less after this experience.

this whole debacle started back in july of 2023. joan reached out to me asking if i knew anyone who could help them make their rent. i'm not rich, but i like to pay it forward when i can! so i asked how much they needed, i was told $50 and sent $75 to show some extra kindness. they were incredibly thankful and asked if i wanted anything in return. at this point, i was happy just to have helped and said no.

a few days later they came to me asking for another $45, then another $60 the next day.

at this point i had now given joan $180 in total, so when they offered again to make music for me, i took them up on that offer and we started on the commission process. we exchanged discords, i gave them information about what i wanted music-wise and waited to hear back about my commission.

3 days later, they request another $40... i politely tell them that i'm not in a space where i can budget giving them another $40 and offered to give them help again when i could afford it.

later, they sent me a cover of a song they did, which i was confused by because it didn't seem related to anything we had discussed and was delivered with no accompanying message. i figured it was a mistake or that there would be follow up with context, but i never received a message from them again.

i was recovering from emergency surgery, so pestering them about my commission was on the back burner. plus, they came to me asking for money during what seemed like a rough time for them, so i didn't want to put extra pressure on them and wasn't in a rush.

i was particularly confused when in the spring of 2024, joan paypal requested me another $40 out of the blue with no note attached. i ended up dismissing it and declining the request, but made note of it in case it came up.

here's a screenshot of our paypal history:

anyway, my commission sits in the back of my mind but since i follow them on tumblr and see their posts often, i'm occasionally reminded i should reach out when i can, but it wasn't a priority for me.

i had gone to their profile a couple of times to reach out, but i kept seeing them in rough patches and decided not to add more stress to their plate. i honestly should have said something sooner, but my life had gotten hectic as well and, like i said, they never really seemed to not be going through it.

now cut to a few days ago, i wake up to seeing 10 hours ago i was blocked by them and banned for "inappropriate behavior" from the two groups i was in (and never posted in) made by them.

there was no way to appeal the ban or reach out to them on tumblr, so i went to discord to try and ask about it.

there were no hard feelings if they didn't want to interact with my blog, but if that was the case i still wanted the opportunity to get the commission i already paid for. unfortunately, when i went to their discord i could no longer message them.

after that i went to paypal and requested a refund with a note attached about my situation and how i'd like my money back if the commission is off the table.

i also made a post on here asking for advice about what to do! they then saw that post and proceeded to unblock me, call me an asshole and a piece of garbage before even getting the details of my situation.

i end up explaining what happened, sharing screenshots and again stating that i never got my commission.

once they realized i was telling the truth, they told me the "comments" i made about them on my post asking for advice was "terrifying" and that they "needed to stress vomit" before giving me their new discord and blocking me again.

i made one comment which was a reply to someone. what was the comment in question?

it was me telling someone concerned... exactly what they did.

i then added joan on their new discord, they profusely apologized, added me back to the groups they banned me from, unblocked me and offered to make me a second song in addition to the original one i had commissioned. they also asked me to take down my post, which i ultimately decided to private.

they let me know they couldn't easily refund me because they don't have $180 in their bank account right now.

despite their unprofessional and rude behavior, i was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt and accept the music. i'm in a rough spot too, but i don't want to make anyone's lives harder.

i shared the details of what i wanted for both theme songs and we shared some pleasant conversation.

a little later that night, joan asked me about some of my personal thoughts and fears regarding a mental disorder we both have and things that might happen further on in life. it being late at night and me feeling vulnerable, i was honest. they said they shared similar feelings, we talked about our experiences and i went to bed.

the next day they sent me art of some characters we both like, i made a silly comment about it, quick chat over

then, right before i went to bed, i see the tumblr notification that i've been removed from all the groups, and when i check.. i've been blocked again... i reach out to them on discord to ask about it and go to sleep.

i wake up to this:

i've been accused of ignoring them because i didn't respond to them while i was... sleeping.

they've now blocked me from this discord as well, so i reached out to them via email and this is the interaction we had.

my email:

and their response...

no further correspondence? no samples? this is absolutely ridiculous at this point.

this is no longer worth the music, i would like a payment plan to get my money back and i cannot possibly recommend getting a commission from joan after my experiences with them.

edit:

after making this post, joan has made (and since deleted) 3+ separate accounts accusing me of various forms of abuse.

it started as this:

and when i didn't respond, they edited it and began to spam this comment on all my recent posts:

when people reached out to the accounts given to get the alleged proof, they were promptly blocked. (which i found out via multiple asks sent to me which are posted on my blog [ask 1] [ask 2])

there is more information about this in the relevant tags on my blog, but be warned that as of 08/21/25 they are still spamming these messages to anyone who will listen while providing 0 evidence for these horrifying accusations.

so in conclusion, if you post about your negative experiences with joan they will do everything in their power to discredit you and will harass you and anyone even vaguely in your proximity. i would block them and avoid interaction for your mental wellbeing.

i sincerely apologize to everyone who's gotten wrapped up in this mess, i never intended to start drama; just thought people should know they're an unreliable commission taker :/

[astralcurses]

timeline of events regarding the joan (@/archivedstein) (flapjackstein, latkestein, hallahstein, bilntzestein, etc) drama as someone whos been keeping an eye on it for Months:

-august 2023, @verydeeplyconcerned made a post calling joan (latkestein at the time) out for grooming and harassment. this flew under Most People's Radars until earlier this year (most of which found it a few days ago, myself included)

-2024, i don't have specific dates or accounts for this, but there are at least a few posts circulating from various points in 2024 regarding people being blocked randomly by joan, some of whom paid for commissions they never got

-march 2025, joan reaches out to people asking for commissions, some of whom are random people whove never heard of her before, whom she then says some nasty things to and blocks

-march 2025, she comes to Me asking for commissions. i have no spare money but i send over $10 anyway because i want to help someone i, at the time, thought of as a friend, even if it was only a little

-may-june 2025, i realize joan has blocked me. im not sure when, but my guess is pretty soon after i sent them money. this is upsetting and i do some digging through tumblr to see if i can find any answers and stumble upon posts from march, but none of the previous incidents yet

-july 2025, i stumble on the blog @archivestein (of which i am now blocked by) (not to be confused with archivedstein, with a d) who claimed to be a mutual of joans and whos pinned post at the time said something about "preserving someone who meant a lot to a lot of people. if youve been blocked by joan, it isnt your fault, but i dont have the right to speak on details." this pinned post has since been deleted in the past few days, and the blog has been taken down and put back up a few times. i followed the blog and kept an eye on it now and then. additional note, the archive blog has been up and posting since january 31, 2025. coincidentally, thats also the date of the first post of 2025 regarding joans odd behavior

-august 2025, a week or so ago. i made an alt account in order to send joan an ask that was basically along the lines of "hey, i dont know why you disappeared or whats happened, but i hope youre doing okay and i miss you." my alt account is immediately blocked and her asks were turned off. the archive blog made a post a few hours later including a screenshot of her blog, with a changed layout declaring "PURGE IN PROGRESS" and a caption like "i dont know whats going on here, but i hope it will pass"

-august 2025, a few days later, a mutual of mine dms me to say theyve been blocked by the archive blog and dont know why. i say thats weird and go to check, only to find the archive blog had been taken down. i go search tumblr and find a post by @/turntechpotthead (here) from only a few hours prior at the time about their history with being scammed by joan

-everything has since exploded. more people have come forward with more of their own stories over the last four days, and joans army of alt accounts has been starting a smear campaign against anyone who dares to speak up against her. it's a desperate, childish ploy to redirect blame and attention away from herself and onto those who bring information to light. i think that's more or less all the information i have currently, sans some smaller details.

[confusedhazel]

ok i’d be offended if i didn’t look up “homestuck original” and find that a lot of other people were seemingly banned from the community for no reason. i couldn’t have done anything inappropriate because i only lurked </3

edit: i also can’t find joan (the owner’s) account anymore. idk if something happened to it or if i was blocked for some reason??

edit edit: ok after doing more research it seems joan (landmineblogging) is actually really horrible with scamming and blowing up at people i have no clue how i didn't know this. but let me add on to that conversation by saying that they are extremely parasocial with their followers, regularly referring to them as their friends and contacting them personally for donations and conversation and such. it's strange to be sure, and i'm just bringing it up because i haven't seen it mentioned before.

[vintage-vermin]

I started following Joan Stein on here a bit earlier in the year. I knew nothing about them. The selfies, poetry and how they talked about themselves. I felt like I was seeing someone doing their best against terrible odds. I wished them well, I reaffirmed little things to them when it seemed they needed it. I never had a bad interaction with Joan. At most they ignored me once or twice while I was starting a bit in the reblogs. But whatever, can't hold a grudge on that. Never commissioned them but I did donate a little. Week or so ago it all gets weird. I find myself blocked and removed from the Trans Rights group and Joan's Book Club. Now that I can't see Joan's posts or direct replies to those, I do see older posts of people claiming the same thing happened when I search for Joan. Then I find the already strange Archive blog. The blog never made that big of an effort to archive a lot of Joan's personal writing or posts that came back a lot because they resonated with them. But whatever, I followed it. Things were getting weird and worrisome. When I got purged, I check the blog and see a few others with the same situation. I had tried to reach out to Joan on KoFi and received a message back I couldn't really deal with. For as open as Joan seemed, I still had no idea what to say when they were distressed. I tried to pass on that Joan was at least still moving and if some one could help me talk to them. Comment removed. Replies blocked. I was honestly a little mad that everyone wished them well, but not in person or by sending a supportive message. No one reached out. Just thoughts and prayers. Real fucking helpful. And I'm being thrown out for awkwardly caring. And now I hear the blog deleted itself and one with a vaguely similar name is just throwing random pics in the Joan Stein tag. I don't know what to make of all this honestly. There's nothing on this either. It's a niche internet personality who may have had a breakdown. All we have is tumblr asks from people on anon to maybe like 4 people on the whole website. Maybe when the dust settles I can see what really happened, but for now I vaguely miss the enigmatic Joan that was displayed through poetry and ominous pictures, I didn't care about Homestuck, but I just saw some parts of myself reflected in them. And like the animal I am sometimes, I wanna hang with people who have the same wounds and help them a little.

[ecto-brologist]

regarding joan (archivedstein; [pancake/bread reference]stein)

they had been policing me on how i post or what i post on my blog and claimed that i cluttered the homestuck tag with stuff they personally didn’t like apparently enough times to warrant a block from them 🤥 which is funny because im like crazy organized abt tagging properly on here…

anyway this was joan’s last message to me and i also used it to quit a job bc it was so funny

[wingsonghalo]

Hey if anyone ever gets a message from @/archivedstein asking if you want a music commission, I recommend you don't work with them. I was having a good time working out commission details with them...

...when they suddenly blocked me for not answering for three days. Over a weekend. In August.

I work at a university and our first day of classes was yesterday. My creative partner was unpacking from moving and unable to help me put together materials. Again, they were the one who approached ME, and then suddenly imposed an arbitrary deadline on me with no warning. It's rude, unacceptable, and deeply hurtful. I even tried to reach out on Bandcamp...

...And received THE RUDEST REPLY.

I couldn't even respond to that because they had blocked my email as well.

How does anyone expect to do any business at all like this??? Completely ridiculous.

Anyway yeah. Just wanted to maybe prevent anyone else from getting baited and then rudely abandoned like I did. Spread the word.

[zal-cryptid]

I gotta commission new Misfits in Toyland music cuz I just found out that Joan Stein is a horrible person.