Okay I'm always incredibly happy when someone reblogs something I've written, especially if they add tags that are just happy gushing
And I stand firmly behind the idea that a great way to appreciate, support and motivate fic writers is to reblog their stuff and help them spread their work to a larger audience
But as a writer I'm also intensely uncomfortable with the sense of entitlement that we as writers have started to adopt in regard to reblogs. What I mean by that is not that writers shouldn't be telling people they'd be happy if their work is reblogged... But I've seen several of these posts lately that ask for reblogs in a really commanding, even condescending manner.
Look, I get that it's discouraging to get 50 likes and 2 reblogs. The same as it is to get 300 kudos and 4 comments. Believe me, I get it on a personal level.
But just as I'm not happy about posts that claim that whoever doesn't reblog this is racist/homophobic/awful as a person, I'm not happy about writers huffing at their audiences as if standing on a pedestal, talking as if the people who don't reblog our stuff are selfish assholes who should be grateful for Our Genius.
I'll be the first to point out unfairness in regard to fic writers, e.g. the argument about commissions, author appreciation, unfair flames disguised as concrit etc. But let's all take a collective deep breath and keep things civil. We might be writing for free, but our readers' blogs are ultimately their own decision, and a polite reminder is not the same as a conceited demand.