currently having a difficult time because the current climate (both fandom and political) is not safe for me to tell the stories I want to tell. so I’m faced with a dilemma. not a damn thing can stop me from writing, but posting is getting riskier and riskier. I currently trust ao3 as a platform and the otw as an organization protecting freedom of speech and expression. but out of the main social media platforms, ironically I trust Twitter the most in terms of letting me post whatever the fuck but I trust the community there the least in terms of doxxing and harrassment. bluesky is not a good alternative for a variety of reasons, I’m iffy on fediverse instances, tumblr is absolutely fucking awful, and there’s…not much left, considering I’m obligated to exist where “the community” exists.
so where does that leave me?
I’m not really sure. I’m at a juncture where I may have to pick between safety and continuing to participate in fandom on socmed, and I wish I wasn’t so chronically online that the choice is this difficult.
I’ve had people tell me not to stop writing, not to stop posting, because that’s “giving in” to the other side in the culture war, and “letting them win,” which, sure. whatever. but until you’ve been the target of a harrassment campaign then I don’t think I’m gonna take that kind of shit from you, sorry. Like. it’s a fair point but unless you’re volunteering to be the guy that gets lit up in effigy, the moral grandstanding is falling on deaf ears. I have a life outside of this.
guidelines are changing constantly and socmed sites are getting progressively more hostile to anything deemed “problematic.” it feels hilariously exaggerated to say that creators like me are getting pushed out and silenced, lmao, but it’s true enough.
i need to balance my mental health and safety against people getting to read my work and interacting with the community. to that end, my social media accounts (Twitter, tumblr, bsky) will probably either:
go dark for some unspecified amount of time
be wiped completely and deleted
I’m not sure about my ao3 as of now.
that said, if you’re a fan of my writing, archive anything you want to keep from my socmeds and ao3 profile. screenshot it, download it, whatever. you have my blessing and my encouragement to do so. this is my only warning, because my mental health is precarious vis à vis having an online presence right now. I don’t want to be one of those ao3 authors that pulls all their work and disappears, but there is a nonzero chance I might become one at some point. though, sincerely: I think that if you really like what I do, you’ll find me if I ever leave and come back.
I’m very sorry for the dramatism of it all. I’ve been thinking (panicking) and deliberating about this a lot over the last month.
I’m currently open to suggestions on how I should move forward. and to mutuals and friends, feel free to ask for my discord or something. love you all.